Extreme heat : more frequent and more severe heatwaves

 

A wake-up call on climate change 

by Richard Cannings

Richard Cannings, MP

Jul 9, 2021

Last week was a remarkable week, a watershed moment in the Canadian—and global—climate crisis. The temperature anomalies that British Columbians experienced in those four days were greater than any anomalies ever witnessed by humans since temperatures have been recorded. The town of Lytton destroyed the Canadian all-time extreme temperature record three days running, then on the fourth day was itself destroyed in a wildfire that raged through the community in a matter of minutes.

Two people died in the Lytton fire and hundreds of lives were changed forever as homes and businesses were lost. The high temperatures sparked more fires, and the smoke clouds from those fires sparked an unprecedented barrage of thousands of lightning strikes across British Columbia. There are now more than 200 wildfires throughout the province.

Last week was a wake-up call for all of us who knew about climate change but thought of it as something in the future, something that wouldn’t really affect our own lives. For the first time, many of us now realize how climate change is affecting us right now. As Lytton resident Gordon Murray said on CBC, “We are a small, rural, Indigenous, low-income community, and we are at the spearpoint of climate change. But it's coming for everybody.”

I grew up in Penticton, and for the first time in my life it was simply too hot to be outside for more than a few minutes at a time. Summers here used to be defined by the sounds of lawn sprinklers and cicadas, the smell of suntan lotion at the beach. Now almost every summer is dominated by the sounds of water bombers overhead and the smell of smoke.

And the impact of the heat dome was felt just as dramatically—in some ways more so—in the Lower Mainland. Hundreds of people died from the heat there. Let me repeat that—hundreds of people died.

Agricultural crops were impacted throughout BC—cherries and raspberries literally baked on the branches. Irrigation systems were maxed out as we tried to save our gardens and shade trees. Billions of mussels and other intertidal animals were literally cooked along the coast of British Columbia. Trees in the rainforests turned red.

Many people talk about this as the new normal. This is not a new normal, it’s a new baseline. Summers will not get cooler as we battle climate change. Greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere stay there for centuries. Our challenge is to dramatically reduce and finally stop those emissions. IF we do that, we can minimize the additional damage we do to our climate, minimize future temperature increases and the frequency of catastrophic flooding and droughts.

I’m hoping that the silver lining in the black cloud of last week’s heat wave is a new sense of urgency, a new, deeper understanding of the critical importance of taking climate action seriously. The pandemic has shown us what we can accomplish quickly when faced with a clear crisis. We need to face climate change the same way and stop making only tentative moves to a clean energy economy.

Young people are deeply concerned about their future as climate change continues to impact our world. Workers are deeply concerned about their future as they see good jobs in the fossil fuel sector disappearing. We have to face these challenges and take bold measures to allay these concerns. To fight climate change like we mean it and create new jobs in a new energy sector at the same time. We can do this. We know what we have to do, but we need governments at all levels to show the will to do what is necessary.

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Tragedy in fire-ravaged Lytton, B.C., could be catalyst for global action on climate change, expert says | CBC Radio

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Climate scientist says that the events in B.C. could inspire innovative ways to combat the problem

CBC Radio · Posted: Jul 05, 2021 3:45 PM ET | Last Updated: July 5

Two cars, pictured above, incinerated in Wednesday's fire that engulfed Lytton, B.C. (Jon Mundall)The Current14:19

Preparing for the consequences of a warming climate

There's only one feeling that Lytton, B.C., resident Gordon Murray has when remembering fleeing his home last week: "numb." 

After recording Canada's highest ever temperature (49.6 C) last Tuesday, Lytton was consumed by flames the following day — forcing its 250 residents to flee. 

A motorist watches from a pullout on the Trans-Canada Highway as a wildfire burns on the side of a mountain in Lytton, B.C., Thursday, July 1, 2021. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

Murray, who spoke to The Current's Matt Galloway, says the destruction of Lytton is a stark warning that there needs to be immediate action on climate change. 

"We're the canary in the coal mine," he said. "Climate change is happening now [and] it's happening fast."  

"Everything seems the same and seems fine until it changes in an instant, and everything's gone."

While the exact causes of the fire that destroyed most of Lytton are under investigation — the heat wave contributed to tinder-dry conditions, but the B.C. Wildfire Service said human causes were likely behind the ignition — the numerous wildfires burning across the province have led many to wonder how extreme weather is going to impact B.C. in the future. 

Mark Maslin, a climate change professor at University College London, U.K., argues that the ongoing events in B.C. are a very real example of disasters to come.

"What really upsets me is we've had many of these warnings before about extreme heat waves and climate change, and people are only now just starting to listen," Maslin said. 

"I'm really hopeful that, firstly, the Canadian government, and then other governments around the world, will suddenly take notice."

A 'new normal'

The tragedy in Lytton and the subsequent B.C. fires have created a conversation among experts about how western Canada can deal with wildfires in the future. 

The Merry Creek Wildfire