The town of Jasper has been consumed by fire, with 30 percent of its buildings (homes, hotels, and businesses) destroyed. Parts of this majestic park are now ash.
The conditions were terrifying. A wall of flames up to 100 metres high ripped through the town. Emergency responders without breathing apparatus had to withdraw as the smoke was so bad. Strong winds drove the fire, traveling five kilometres in 30 minutes.
Fire crews in Jasper battled to save infrastructure, such as the sewage plant and hospital. In a cruel irony, this included the recently completed Trans Mountain pipeline that continued to operate during the fire, feeding more CO2 into the air that makes fires more likely and more devastating.
Climate Disaster
Scientists have warned for nearly 50 years that pumping CO2 into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) will produce hotter and longer summers, the very conditions that create “monster” fires.
Last summer’s record breaking fires in Canada should have been a wake-up call. Instead, corporations, with support from politicians, continued to increase the production of fossil fuels.
For decades the big corporations that produce oil, gas and coal tried to deny the science. Their profits are huge, $4 trillion in 2022. These profits come from creating climate disasters: not only fires but super-charged hurricanes, devastating heat waves and massive floods.
Canadian companies are fully involved in this deadly activity. They now are getting massive subsidies from the government to develop carbon capture — a pipedream.
Canada’s fossil fuel sector is shedding jobs. Socialist Alternative has pointed out that the main jobs that will result from the burning of fossil fuels will be emergency responders, construction workers rebuilding after the damage of fire and floods, health workers and trauma counsellors.
Politicians’ Hypocrisy
On July 25, Alberta’s Premier Danielle Smith teared-up while talking about the destruction of Jasper. A great act, but utterly hollow. Smith has campaigned to expand production of fossil fuels at the same time as restricting the expansion of renewable energy.
Prime Minister Trudeau also offered his words of support: “As the heartbreaking images from Jasper emerge, I want to thank the brave first responders.” He bought the Trans Mountain pipeline, has continued to subsidize the fossil fuel industry, has supported LNG and wants to develop a massive new oil field off the coast of Newfoundland. His words are empty as his deeds made fires like these more likely.
BC’s NDP Premier Eby said similar nice words as Trudeau: “Reports coming out of Jasper are heartbreaking. My thoughts are with emergency and firefighting crews. Stay safe. BC stands with you.” The NDP has given massive subsidies and deployed the RCMP to push through the fossil fuel bomb that is the LNG pipeline and export terminal.
Fossil Fuel Jobs Myth
The fossil fuel industry tries to justify its environmental destruction by claiming to provide good jobs. While jobs in the industry are relatively well paid, they come at a very high cost. Apart from the environmental havoc, what about the costs of repairing the damage of fires, floods and hurricanes?
One of the two rail routes through the Rockies, the CN rail tracks though Jasper, were closed for several days, adding to the cost of transport and goods. The other rail route passes through Golden, which was threatened by fire a few days ago, although it has been stopped from reaching the town and the tracks.
The jobs created by destruction, driven by fossil fuels, are not paid for by the corporations. The suffering of people losing their homes, the devastation of the environment and the dangers that emergency responders face are the costs of the oil companies’ profits. Money can never make up for the pain and loss, but as a minimum the costs of fires and the repairs should come directly from the profits of the fossil fuel industry.
Corporate bosses and their politicians sit in safe offices praising the emergency responders who risk their lives and health, yet they continue with policies that make future devastating fires more likely. Action rather than empty words would be more useful.
The Entire System is Failing
As well as the fossil fuel bosses and their kept politicians, the entire capitalist class is wedded to fossil fuels. After years of conferences, they are sending more CO2 into the air than ever before. The amount of methane and nitrous oxide — two other climate change gases — in the atmosphere are also increasing. Capitalism relies on burning carbon for their profits.
Later this year, another climate conference will convene, again in an oil-producing dictatorship, Azerbaijan. The outcome will be lots of hot-air words, but very little action — just as happened at the previous ones. Humanity cannot rely or wait on big business and politicians to act.
A great union leader, Mother Jones, said “Mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.” Today we mourn the losses in Jasper, both in the town and in the park, as well as in all the other homes, communities and forests devastated by wildfires.
We need to fight like hell so that the living have a future free from climate hell. That means overthrowing the capitalists.
Real changes that benefited humanity have all come through mass action. Socialist Alternative demands action that tackles the climate disaster:
- Immediate tax on fossil fuel corporations to pay for the damage they cause
- Protections for workers working in extreme heat including establishing a legal maximum working temperature
- Rapid phasing down of fossil fuel production, replacing it with renewable energy production and storage
- Re-training and guaranteed jobs for the any displaced workers
- Public ownership of the energy industries, with workers’ democratic control, to plan the energy transition
