MONTREAL -- David Suzuki and almost 250 university professors across Canada have signed a letter supporting environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion and its calls for radical change to combat the climate crisis.
The letter cites Laval University and the University of British Columbia's commitment to withdrawing investment from the fossil fuel sector and wants all Canadian universities to follow those schools' leads in leaning towards renewable and green technology. In addition, the letter demands that the Canadian government take "drastic measures to deal with the climate emergency."
"We represent a diverse group of academics at colleges and universities across Canada, who can no longer remain passive in the face of climate change caused by human activities," the letter reads. "In the immediate future, we face the possibility of the collapse of the global ecosystem and immense social upheavals, and we have very little time to act."
In addition to Suzuki from UBC, 10 Concordia University professors, 35 from McGill, 26 from Universite de Montreal and three from UQAM signed the letter along with other professors from across the country.
"As a rich country having historically contributed more than the world average to greenhouse gas emissions, Canada has a moral and real obligation to reduce its emissions at a much faster rate than the average," the letter reads.
The letter also demands that Canada create binding legislation to stop the loss of biodiversity and reduce carbon emissions of zero by 2025.
