Help us illuminate a path forward

When I talk with my friends about our warming climate, one sentiment comes up over and over. Not denial. Not even anger. What most people feel is resignation.

My friends and I are at a stage in life where, in our younger days, we thought we would be starting a family. Instead, what comes up in our conversations is paralyzing pessimism about bringing children into a future climate-shattered world. In the climate community, we often frame the fight as one for our children and grandchildren. What I failed to consider is that we will not have a future generation to fight for if we have already given up.

I am witnessing a crisis of hope and I am terrified by the way it intensifies our climate crisis. It’s not just my friends, I see it everywhere. I would not be surprised if you have witnessed the same.

My friends still care deeply about making a better world but they don’t understand what a path forward could look like. If they cannot envision what climate recovery could look like, it is no surprise they lack hope, let alone action, for a better future. The absence of light at the end of the tunnel is total darkness.

That is why I am asking you to donate to Canada’s National Observer’s spring fundraiser to support journalism that lights a path forward through the climate crisis. We only have 4 days left to raise $55,000 to reach our $100,000 goal and meet our reporting budget. If we don’t hit our goal, our climate reporting will have to shrink at a time when our country cannot afford to lose it.

In my life, I’ve always turned to journalism when I am seeking to understand the world around me.

I first fell in love with journalism as a teen reading my parents’ subscription to Time magazine. I was desperately trying to understand my place in the world and the big issues that shaped me. The complex threads of Hong Kong migration that led me to Vancouver, the fight for gay civil rights that gave me the safety to be with my partner, and the crisis of our warming climate that has now become the defining challenge of my lifetime. Reading about these stories helped me understand the issues that most impacted me and inspired me to keep fighting for my communities.

This is what led me to work in journalism. I want to help people understand themselves, their communities and now, most urgently, to help them understand our planet, in the same way journalism helped me growing up.

Through understanding there is hope. That is the role of CNO’s journalism in the climate crisis.

Whether we are highlighting climate solutions, holding the powerful accountable, or untangling climate misinformation — our journalism provides an informed understanding and a hopeful path forward for our planet to millions of Canadians, including policymakers, CEOs, NGO leaders, university academics and activists.

Your investment today is an investment in Canada’s National Observer’s capacity to help keep the hope of a better future alive for all Canadians. A vision of a better, climate-safe world that we are inspired to fight for and raise the next generation in.

The information battlefield of today is not the same one you saw a decade ago. We are not just combating the climate denialism of yesteryear. We are in a battle for hope against a wave of defeatism propped up by powerful fossil fuel groups that want people like you to give up.

The forces pushing against us are daunting. A rapidly shrinking media landscape, extractive tech giants banning news on their platforms, and relentless climate misinformation sweeping our feeds.

But what holds our journalism strong in the face of these challenges is our community of donors. It is no exaggeration when we say our reporting cannot exist without donations from readers like you. If only 1.4 per cent of people who receive this email donate $100, we’ll meet our goal immediately.

Will you join our spring fundraising campaign by June 3 to raise $100,000 and fund Canadian journalism that illuminates a path forward through the climate crisis?

Until June 3, become a subscriber for only $49.99 (that's 64% off) during our spring subscription drive and read all of our climate coverage.