Abby Shin

Join the rallies across Canada!

There are so many issues today, to say it’s overwhelming is an understatement. Genocide, climate change, the trampling of Indigenous rights, mass extinction, inhumane labour, housing shortages, oligarchs, AI, resource scarcity, billionaires, authoritarianism, far-right extremism, attacks on migrants, plastic pollution, violence against women, and on, and on, and on. But what if I told you that all of these problems can be traced back to similar origins? A globalized system placing value in power and profit, rather than people and planet.

It’s hard to make that argument in everyday conversations, you’re quickly painted as a communist, a hippie, someone taking the easy way out by blaming things everyone has accepted to be true.

However, those who study these issues are all saying the same thing. It can all be tied back to the colonial, capitalist system. One grounded in unbounded extraction, one that treats Earth’s limitations as mere externalities, one that was created before we knew how important the delicate balance of Earth’s species, ecosystems, and functions were to our literal survival, and before we knew (and began experiencing) how serious the consequences would be if we manipulated them too much.

When you think about this, and think about how new and miniscule these global systems are in the timeline of Earth, our current systems seem like an ironic experiment – except everyone of influence is ignoring its obvious failure. I then challenge you to look back on history, on the ancient civilizations that met their demise, on the great conquerors who’s stories end in self-defeat. How have humans not learnt their lesson by now? Overstretching the exploitation of the Earth and its people has never worked.

The Draw The Line movement connects these social and ecological issues we are all facing today. It aims to the unite everyday people in a time when it seems like there is no choice but to exist at the whims of a system that no longer properly represents science and values. There is still power in a united People, as is emphasized in one of my favourite quotes right now:

… the pressure reaches a breaking point, the plates slide, and the earth quakes. That same thing happens with science, culture, and laws. Ideas push against the status quo. Activists ramp up the pressure, using every lawful means and sometimes breaking the law. They are chastised, ridiculed, imprisoned, and killed. But eventually, opinions, values, and paradigms shift – Dr. David Boyd, The Rights of Nature, pg. xxxiii.

Now obviously, the Draw The Line movement is not one of violence, where there is risk of imprisonment or death. But this quote underlines that it is possible to make change, with enough pressure. I encourage anyone reading this to join a Draw The Line rally near you. For those in Toronto, it is being held on Saturday, Sept 20th, 2PM at Yonge and Dundas Square.

Learn more about Draw The Line here!