Almost all of the worst, most recent Canadian heat waves were made much more likely by human-caused climate change

Environment & Climate Change, Canada

  Nine of fhe the ten worst were made "much more likely" because of climate change. Story here. 

YET ANOTHER HEAT WARNING

 

WE TAMPER WITH THE "CARBON BOMBS" AT OUR PERIL

SCIENCE DENIAL & HELLFIRES. A LETTER.

 Dear Editor,

Seldom has contempt for science sunk as low as it has now. And my beloved Manitoba may not only be one example of that, but the worst! Winnipeg has long hosted what is perhaps the most renowned environmental “think-tank” the world has never heard of - “The International Institute for Sustainable Development.” Just the other day, the IISD revealed, Canada is home to no less than twelve fossil fuel reserves which it calls “carbon bombs.” (I call them the dirty dozen.) Just one, under Alberta and BC, has the potential to blow Canada past her emissions targets thirty times over. And, “If the resources from all twelve are extracted and burned, it would be catastrophic for the world's efforts to slow rising global temperatures.” Yet, “down the street” in the halls of power, our University-educated Premier is gleefully embracing more pipelines and the shipping of oil through Hudson Bay. Mr. Premier, how do you really think future Manitobans will regard your legacy as they lose their homes, fleeing for their lives to escape evermore frequent and devastating Hellfires?

Larry Powell,

SHOAL LK MB

Canada is Sitting on Twelve Carbon Bombs.

 International Institute for Sustainable Development

Just under the surface of B.C. and Alberta, in a rock formation known as the Montney Play, lies enough potential greenhouse gases to blow past Canada's 2030 emissions targets 30 times over. It's one of 12 fossil fuel reserves researchers in the journal Energy Policy have identified in Canada — called "carbon bombs" — that would each release a billion tonnes or more of carbon into the atmosphere if their resources were extracted and burned. This would be catastrophic for the world's efforts to slow rising global temperatures, the authors argue.

Here  is where those "bombs" are.

MY LATEST LETTER IN THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

 DEAR EDIITOR, 

If our current crop of political leaders at all levels (Liz May excepted), is intentionally setting out to poke the gods of climate calamity with a stick - it couldn’t be doing a better job! In a grotesque display of either “eco-stupidity” or “climate illiteracy,” it’s gleefully setting out to turn (or burn) Canada into “an energy superpower!” That’s eerily identical to the goal uttered by Stephen “climate change is a Socialist plot” Harper more than a decade ago. And it’s all under the phoney guise of “nation-building.” These poor sods either don’t know, or care, that you can’t gain an upper hand on the climate beast by unleashing evermore greenhouse emissions into our air. And the main opposition voice federally, isn’t speaking out AGAINST these abominations, but going to bat for the gasoline car instead. As for our newly-minted PM, who’s shown loudly and clearly on the public stage he understands that climate change is "an existential threat," must not be acting out of ignorance or stupidity now, but rather something resembling malice aforethought. When you think about it, what could go wrong when we elect a world banker as our supreme leader? Perhaps the saying, “at least the Tories stab you from the front,” is true, after all. In any case, if any of them love their children, they have an odd way of showing it.

Larry Powell

SHOAL LK MB

An Unusual Sight Over Canada’s Arctic: Wildfire Smoke

By Vjosa Isai New York Times

Elizabeth Mikkungwak thought the nearby garbage dump must be on fire. Acrid smoke clouded the skies over Baker Lake, a tiny Arctic hamlet and the only inland community in Nunavut, the largest in area of the three northern territories in Canada.

A safety alert issued by the authorities in the hamlet in May gave the real reason for the smoke: wildfires on the Prairies.

Wildfires in northern Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency via Agence France-Presse

This year has been the second worst on record for wildfires in Canada, after 2023. Canadian officials warned earlier this week that heat and dry conditions would persist across the western provinces into September, priming the area for continued blazes.

[Read: What to Know About Canada’s Fire Forecast]

Wildfire smoke has in recent years become a more important factor in summertime outdoor recreation planning.

American politicians complained in July that Canada’s smoke spoiling their summers. Some outdoor tourism operators in the Atlantic provinces were dealt a blow this month when the premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick took drastic steps to prevent accidental fires caused by humans, banning outdoor activities such as hiking and fishing in forested areas. There have been outdoor pool closings in Newfoundland, canceled professional football practices in Manitoba and shuttered youth soccer tournaments in Yukon.

Even the Arctic has not been immune to disruptions.

Letting in an outdoor breeze is a simple delight during the summer months in the Arctic, where windows are otherwise frozen shut for most of the year. But the smell of wildfire smoke was too pungent for Ms. Mikkungwak of Baker Lake.

“We couldn’t open our windows,” she told me.

The smoke is another reminder of the effects of climate change, acutely felt by those living in the parts of Canada that depend on colder temperatures to maintain their way of life.

Wildfire smoke is, historically, extremely rare in the Arctic. But it has been a more common sight this year because of the combination of powerful winds, atmospheric conditions that have kept the smoke at ground level and the geographic proximity of wildfires across northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

For the first time in its history, Baker Lake experienced wildfire smoke cover for three years in a row, from 2023 through this year, said Crawford Luke, a meteorologist in Winnipeg who works at Environment Canada, a federal department.

Iqaluit, Nunavut’s capital, which is on Baffin Island, just north of Quebec, had a record 19 hours of wildfire smoke cover this year. The last time the city had endured any wildfire smoke was in 1999, for one hour, Mr. Luke said.

Rankin Inlet, another larger community, had 71 hours of smoke cover this year, the second-most observed on record since 2023.

[Map: Tracking Heat Across Canada]

The presence of smoke in northern communities is a growing cause for concern, said Susan Natali, an Arctic ecologist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Falmouth, Mass. Researchers are working on installing low-cost sensors in communities that can monitor smoke as it becomes more prevalent, she said during a media briefing last month.

The ugliness and the danger.

Wastewater tailings ponds near Fort MacMurray, Alberta, Canada.

 

Lytton, BC under evacuation threat again, as hundreds of wildfires burn across Canada

Canada's National Observer

This week marks the four-year anniversary of a deadly wildfire that destroyed the British Columbia village of Lytton and the community is again under threat, with a fire burning out of control north of the community, setting off evacuation orders and alerts. Story here.

On Carney's agenda, climate is nowhere and everywhere

Canada's National Observer

Throughout Mark Carney’s whirlwind first months on the job, two words have remained conspicuously absent from the prime minister’s messaging: “climate change.” Story here.

Wildfires could be harming our oceans and disrupting their carbon storage

University of British Columbia.

Wildfires pollute waterways and could affect their ability to sequester carbon, new University of British Columbia research shows. Story here.

Wildfire smoke over Calgary.

CLIMATE MISINFORMATION TURNING CRISIS INTO CATASTROPHE. REPORT.

 THE GUARDIAN

Coordinated campaigns that misrepresent the scientific consensus on climate change are undermining public trust and discouraging political engagement, finds a report from the International Panel on the Information Environment. STORY HERE.

To fight wildfires and heat waves, Manitoba needs a climate plan

CCPA 

FACING a record-breaking heat wave in early May, Manitoba has had a devastating start to its unofficial fifth season — fire season — as wildfires continue to ravage communities and smoke blankets much of the province. Climate change is no longer a distant problem for future generations — it is here now. Story here.

Newfoundland and Labrador's big offshore gas bet clashes with climate reality

Canada's National Observer

Offshore natural gas is Newfoundland and Labrador’s latest pitch for development that it claims will be “part of the solution to the global path toward-net zero emissions” despite ample evidence that fossil fuels like oil and gas must be phased out to reach climate targets. Story here.

A LETTER ABOUT THE CBC AND CLIMATE CHANGE

 I'd like to congratulate David Cochrane (CBC TV's "Power & Politics") for pointing out the negative consequences that building more pipelines will have on our ability to fight climate change. I may have missed something, but he is the very first journalist I've noticed who has directly reminded politicians (held them to account during a scrum or news conference setting) of that "inconvenient" connection. Of course, then AB's Premier went on to try to counter his point with misleading responses of her own. "Oil sands (not a direct quote) produce fewer emissions per barrel." Apparently that's true. But given that skyrocketing production is, and has been for some time, ECLIPSING those reductions, IT MATTERS NOT in the overall scheme of things, does it? The end result is MORE EMISSIONS. Smith also pointed out that the majority of fires were STARTED by people! This, too ignores the inconvenient fact that the reason they rapidly flare up into Hellfires, is because manmade climate change has spawned severe drought and "kindling-like" conditions in the forests. Put another way, if c.c. were removed from the equation (i.e. it never happened), the harm caused by arsonists, mindless smokers, quadders and campers) would surely be infinitesimal, compared to now. I still long for the day when misleading statement like Smith's would ALSO be challenged and corrected by the media....maybe one day.

THE DISCONNECT IS PALPABLE

 Until authorities recognize the science - that human behaviour here on Earth is behind these worsening conditions, we are only aggravating problems for present and future generations - our kids & grandkids. WAKE UP, SHEEPLE!                 A proud but disappointed Manitoban.

Smoke from out-of-control wildfires forces hundreds from their homes in a Manitoba First Nation.

CBC News

The Chief of the Pimicikimak Cree Nation, 500 k north of Winnipieg, David Monias, says some were left stranded for hours thanks to a beurocratic evacuation system. Story here. 

Earth is heading for a second year above 1.5°C climate goal.

New

Scientist

After record temperatures in 2024, climate scientists had expected this year to be cooler, but instead the planet seems to be heading for a second year above the 1.5°C climate goal. Details here.

A University of Manitoba study warns Arctic could be ‘beyond recognition’ by 2100

University of Manitoba 

A groundbreaking study warns that the Arctic is undergoing rapid and dramatic changes due to accelerating global temperatures, with potentially irreversible consequences by the end of the century. Story here.

WMO report documents spiralling weather and climate impacts

Prevention Web (UN)

The clear signs of human-induced climate change reached new heights in 2024, with some of the consequences being irreversible over hundreds if not thousands of years, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which also underlined the massive economic and social upheavals from extreme weather. Story here.