OIL PRODUCTION A "CONSTANT" AMID A DEEPENING CLIMATE CRISIS (A VIDEO)

Canada burns - Canada’s relentless battle with record heat and devastating wildfires

Jamie Sandison - Canada's National Observer

My analysis of data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reveals a staggering revelation — more than 150 monthly temperature records have been broken across Canada this year. Details here.

Danielle Smith Rips Off the Mask

The Tyee

Alberta Premier,
Danielle Smith.

Her combative, gaslighting persona was put away for the election campaign. It was back this week. Details here.

Climate change more than doubled the likelihood of extreme fire weather conditions in Eastern Canada

World Weather Attribution

During May and June 2023 Canada witnessed exceptionally extreme fire-weather conditions, leading to extensive wildfires that burned over 13 million hectares. Story here.

Extreme heat in Canada, US, Europe and China in July 2023 made much more likely by climate change

WORLD WEATHER ATTRIBUTION

Following a record hot June, large areas of the US, Canada, Mexico, Southern Europe and China experienced extreme heat in July 2023, breaking many local high temperature records. Details here.

Please also read; 

Climate crisis made spate of Canada wildfires twice as likely, scientists find

Being a child in this climate is daunting. Are we doing enough to help?

National Observer

“There is no rain in our community. We walk for more than eight hours every day to get water,” Drought forced Dawele*, 14, from Ethiopia, to drop out of school.she explains. “Because of this, I couldn’t attend class and was forced to drop out. I love mathematics and want to be a teacher, but now I don’t know what my future will be.” Dawele is just one of 15 million people in the Horn of Africa who can no longer go to school because of severe drought.  STORY HERE.

Greenhouse gas emissions at ‘an all-time high’ causing unprecedented rate of global warming - global scientists

EurekAlert - Peer-Reviewed Publication

MAYNOOTH UNIVERSITY

Human-caused global warming has continued to increase at an “unprecedented rate” since the last major assessment of the climate system published two years ago, say 50 leading scientists.         STORY HERE.

OLD LARRY LETTERS

AUG 2019

Dear Yellowheadians, 

Earlier this summer, in a letter in the Crossroads, I complained about a huge multi-million dollar roadbuilding project on Highway 21, south of Shoal Lake. While I wasn't crazy about the noise or the violation of my personal space, that's not why I'm writing this. 

Here’s why.

The United Nations warned some time ago that the construction sector needs to cut back on its huge carbon footprint “yesterday” if we are to meet our obligations under the Paris Climate Accord. Yet, either out of ignorance, apathy or downright defiance, a steady stream of diesel trucks rumbled through Shoal Lake for weeks, from dawn to dusk, right past my living room window. 

Scant months ago, the Parks and Wilderness Society reminded us that world biodiversity (the variety of plant and animal life on Earth) is declining faster now than at any other time in human history. Yet that did not stop the trucks from making hundreds of round trips a day, hauling copious loads of gravel from a mine which has, for years, been transforming a beautiful stretch of the Birdtail Valley west of here, into an ugly hub of commerce.

Yet my letter was met with a deafening silence. Why? I have no idea. But one very disturbing possibility has come to mind since. Could it be that many simply do not believe that climate change is real; that we humans are behind it; or that its consequences are already widespread, deadly and getting worse? 

A study by UBC seems to raise the chilling possibility that this is, indeed, the case. It finds that school curricula in at least a few places in Canada, including Manitoba, present the science as not being settled yet!  It pains me to say this, but - if this is what is being taught - it's a lie! The science is settled! There’s an overwhelming and longstanding consensus among the world’s top climatologists. We humans are altering the nature of our atmosphere by the amount of fossil fuels we're burning. This is trapping heat close to the earth’s surface. And, if we do nothing, the only home we have could morph into a place that’s not just inhospitable, but downright deadly, even for the healthiest among us! Ironically, the month just past, when the road construction was at its peak, was globally, the warmest July on the human record!

So, would Planet Earth have been spared from a worst-case scenario had my "least favourite" road project not gone ahead? Of course not! But are we doomed to that worst-case scenario if every community in the world barges ahead with “business as usual,” as mine, sadly, is doing?  Absolutely!

Larry Powell

Shoal Lake, MB.

Contamination of the marine environment by Antarctic research stations:

EUREKA ALERT

Monitoring marine pollution at Casey station from 1997 to 2015 

Please also read; 

Black carbon footprint of human presence in Antarctica

New research method determines health impacts of heat and air quality

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO

Even moderate temperature increases can cause more emergency hospital visits and deaths. Story here.

Is Earth ready for some sunblock?

 MOTHER CORP News

Big ideas for slowing climate change — and big risks, too