"Just before Christmas, two Australian firefighters died battling a blaze spurred by record high temperatures that have swept the country — just as the government was celebrating rising coal exports.
For people trying to take action against climate change in 2020, it is easy to be dispirited by the fact that rich countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States continue to produce more carbon while international climate negotiations end in squabbling.
If anyone could be excused for giving in to despair, one candidate might be Mark Jaccard, energy economist and adviser to world leaders, who has watched successive deadlines pass and global temperatures rise over a career trying to guide the world away from what he and other climate scientists call an economic and even an existential crisis.
While he is saddened by missed opportunities, Jaccard, known in global climate circles as a leading architect of British Columbia's successful climate struggle, wants to tell the world there is hope."
