You must be a sentinel

You’re kind of unusual. Don’t be offended — I think I must be too. 

It takes a peculiar kind of person to grasp the catastrophic risks we’re running by heating up the planet.

You’re probably one of them. A kind of sentinel.

This winter, we need sentinels like you more than ever. Our goal is to raise $150,000 to keep climate change at the forefront of Canada's national conversation. Will you join our community of forward-thinking supporters today?

Isn’t it infuriating that the mounting toll of climate catastrophes don’t seem to trigger a massive push to prevent things from getting worse? Or that most politicians still won’t even acknowledge that burning fossil fuels is the main cause of the problem?

Even more to the point: how can it be that climate action has turned into a political punching bag? How can it be dropping down the public’s priorities as we head towards an election?

There are lots of explanations floating around, but one of the simplest might be that it requires a certain type of imagination.

The type that projects forward and imagines where the trends are headed. Maybe the kind of sentinel who can’t stop projecting forward — absorbing the warnings from scientists and marrying them with the jarring evidence of climate disasters. And then responding, not with self-protection and avoidance, but an urge to protect. To warn others and take action.

It’s a kind of hypersensitivity. It can feel like a curse. It can be maladaptive. It might sound self-aggrandizing.

It’s hard to predict how societies and politics will handle extended droughts, violent flooding and the displacement of populations. Sentinels aren’t always right.

But why would we take such enormous risks with our only home? And how can we possibly impose them on people that already live in poorer, hotter countries?

If you feel like a kind of sentinel, I hope you find my weekend newsletter useful. And that you’ll support the journalists at Canada’s National Observer who cover climate change with the priority it deserves.

When you donate you’re helping other sentinels, just like you, to stay connected with up-to-date reporting from Canada and news from around the world. 

Your donation pushes climate change along the national agenda even when people are overwhelmed by other issues. 

Your support is especially important when people are overwhelmed by other issues. That’s when we need sentinels most of all.

You’ll be in good company. We’re grateful to count government ministers, NGO leaders, activists, CEOs, UN delegates, university professors, and more among our supporters who rely on our journalism to understand Canada’s changing climate. Your support means we can continue to help inform millions of Canadians about the essential climate stories that affect their lives.