There’s been a horrible sexual assault/sexual consent trial happening here in my country. Five young guys beginning their careers in the minor hockey leagues. Each with their own lawyer. Lots of alcohol and admissible and inadmissible detailed texts between the boys. One young woman.

A police department trying to make up for a shoddy first investigation with a more thorough second investigation. Three attempts to have a fair trial. It’s a salacious and horrible train wreck, and I don’t believe anyone envies the judge presiding over it. All of us in the cat seats are fascinated and rooting for a fair trial and justice.

Except

Have you ever noticed that when any of us are accused of doing something wrong, our automatic default is not FOR justice? Our automatic default is always to clear our name, freely use whatever loopholes are available, and defer and delay, doing everything we can to minimize our pain and the penalty.

Whether it’s speeding tickets or vehicular accidents, very annoyed customers or irritated employees, acts of god or acts of man, NONE of us ever admit we’re in the wrong. Whatever happened to us, whatever we are accused of, whatever it is, we are not guilty. And even if there is a small chance we might be, our first defense is to get ourselves a damn good lawyer. To get us off with the least amount of pain.

Justice is NOT What We’re After

FREEDOM is. And that is human nature.

I believe ‘human nature’ is why we seem to fail to recognize the frequency of extreme weather events, the acceleration of wildfires, and the dramatic increase in sustained oppressively hot temperatures. Seriously, these are not just (the proverbial) train wrecks occurring all around the world. Rather, they are urgent calls for action. Yet, we are exceedingly slow to shift our focus from minimizing our own pains to understanding the impact on all.

Because JUSTICE (no matter how you define it) is NOT what we want, FREEDOM is.

And That Is The Rub

When it comes to Climate Change, there is a growing group of people who recognize that our behaviours need to change. And there’s still a much larger group of humans who know they crave more, need more and deserve more. Neither group is using the right words for the other group to understand, let alone join forces with.

The Climate Defence Strategy

Just like those hockey players with their lawyers, we’ve all become experts at defending our lifestyle choices. We hire our own “legal teams,” aka the voices in our heads that justify why we can’t change:

“I’m just one person, what difference can I make?”
“China pollutes more than anyone!”
“I work hard, I deserve this vacation/car/house.”
“Technology will save us.”
“It’s too expensive to go green.”

Sound familiar? We’re not seeking climate justice – we’re striving for climate freedom. The freedom to keep living exactly as we always have, without consequences.

The Inconvenient Truth About Convenience

The real kicker? Climate change isn’t actually accusing us individually of a crime. It’s more like a massive class-action lawsuit where we’re all both the defendants AND the victims. The evidence is piling up! Record-breaking heatwaves, floods that used to occur “once in a century” now happen every few years, and insurance companies are pulling out of entire regions because the risks are too high.

But instead of examining the evidence and saying, “Maybe we need to change something,” we continue to hire better lawyers. We cherry-pick studies that make us feel better. We point fingers at everyone else. We delay and defer, hoping someone else will solve it for us.

What If We Chose Justice Over Freedom?

Here’s the thing that keeps me up at night. What if we approached climate change the way we wish those hockey players and young lady would approach their trial? What if, instead of trying to get off with the least amount of pain, we actually looked for justice?

Climate justice doesn’t mean giving up everything good in life. It means acknowledging that our choices have impacts beyond ourselves. It means being willing to make some changes, not because we’re guilty of a crime, but because we care about what happens next.

Small Acts, Big Impact

I don’t know how to fix the Justice versus Freedom battle completely, but here are a few ideas that might help us move forward:

Start with honesty. Instead of “I can’t do anything about climate change,” try “I haven’t prioritized climate action yet, but I could start small.”

Make it personal. Connect climate action to things you already care about – your kids’ future, your community’s safety, your wallet, your health.

Choose your battles. You don’t have to become a perfect eco-warrior overnight. Select one or two changes that feel manageable and begin with those.

Find your people. Join a community group, volunteer for environmental projects, or discuss shared concerns with your neighbours. Justice feels more possible when we’re not going it alone.

The Verdict We Can Live With

And like the sad and sordid tale that is playing out in the courts, ultimately NOBODY is going to be happy with whatever verdict, punishment or sentence climate change imposes on us if we keep fighting it. But maybe, that’s not the point.

Maybe the point is this: We get to choose our response!

We can keep hiring lawyers to defend our old way of life, or we can start building the new one.

The beautiful thing about choosing justice over freedom? We might discover that the life we build together – one that works for everyone, including the planet – actually gives us a deeper, more meaningful kind of freedom than we ever had before. This is not a daunting task. It is an opportunity for positive change.

What’s one small step toward climate justice you could take this week? Not because you have to, but because you want to be part of the solution. Share it with someone you trust.

Take the first step. The future is waiting for your verdict. Your actions matter, and they really CAN make a difference.