Experts say Sask. RMs' vote against climate change policies not rooted in fact

Representatives of Saskatchewan's rural municipalities voted overwhelmingly at a recent convention in favour of a resolution saying carbon dioxide isn't a pollutant and calling on the province to step away from climate change initiatives.

Some experts who study agriculture and climate change say the resolution isn't rooted in fact and missed out on why farmers should want to address climate change.

The resolution on CO2, made at the annual meeting of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) in mid-March, says "policies that vilify CO2 are illogical and unpredictable and will undoubtedly create an uncertain amount of negative impact to our existing crop production systems and economy."

"Be it resolved that SARM will ensure that any policies that unduly target naturally occurring CO2 will be deemed as illogical and dangerous. We move that Saskatchewan remove itself from any national or international agreements that reference net zero."

The resolution is written with misleading, confused language about climate change and policy, said Darrin Qualman, director of climate crisis policy and action with the National Farmers Union.

"It talks about vilifying natural CO2 and of course no one is vilifying that. And indeed, the whole focus on natural CO2 is a red herring. The CO2 that's causing the climate problem isn't natural CO2, it's CO2 from human sources," Qualman said in an interview on CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky radio show.

He said the real issue is that there's too much CO2 being put into the atmosphere, regardless of the source.

Ryan Brook, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan college of agriculture and bioresources, agreed with Qualman. Brook said statements like SARM's are harmful because they can mislead the general public and promote misinformation.

He covers climate change in some of his university courses and has heard comments from some of his students that echo SARM's resolution. He said his goal is to focus on facts: human-caused climate change is real and CO2 is a greenhouse gas that drives climate change.

"We need [CO2] to survive, but we've pumped thousands upon thousands of tonnes of it, from fossil fuels and other things, into the atmosphere — and so we've overloaded that with too much carbon dioxide."

Another common argument he hears from deniers is that the climate has always changed and will always change, so worrying about it now is pointless.

"Many people think of that as a 'gotcha point.' It is not," Brook said, adding the speed of climate change happening now is basically unprecedented.

"It's about changing very rapidly, beyond perhaps our scope to fully adapt."

SARM's resolution states that "any policies that are designed to punish the critical natural CO2 cycle are not only illogical but dangerous to the balance of natural food production."