Canada and the climate crisis: a state of denial 3

Unlike the rest of Canada, BC, Alberta, and the territories have no humidex heat warnings because historically humidity in the Canadian west was not a big problem. However, because of the climate crisis humidity in the west of the country has already risen and is highly likely to rise much more, bringing with it deaths if humidity, as well as temperature, are not taken into account. 

Table 2 
Recommended Actions Based on the Humidex Reading

IMPORTANT: Consult with the OHCOW humidex-based response plan for how to interpret and use this chart. ALWAYS follow steps 1 to 5 as listed in this plan. Also, see the Humidex-based Heat Stress Calculator. (https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/humidex.html)

 

As human-caused climate change cranks up the heat in Canada, it's also likely to lead to more humid days, changing life and posing a threat in regions that aren't adapted to muggy summer weather.

Projections show parts of British Columbia and Alberta, where people are used to dry heat, could see a significant rise in days with humid, sticky weather. 

Vermilion, for instance, typically saw around one day a year between 1981 and 2010 where the humidex climbed above 35 (humidex is how hot it feels when temperature and humidity combine). The latest humidex projections from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) show that if the world cuts greenhouse gas emissions and reaches net zero by 2050, the increase in high humidex days could be limited to just five days a year by the end of the century. ...

Farmer Charlotte Wasylik said that many hot and humid days would make farm life in central Alberta more difficult — whether it's haying, repairing a fence or caring for livestock. Even the breed of cattle they have, Bos taurus, was bred for cooler temperatures. But if the world continues to develop a fossil-fuel based economy, high humidex days in Vermilion could jump to as many as 34 a year by the end of the century. ...

She said the next generation will have to find ways to adapt to new extremes because chores often can't wait for the weather to improve.

Not just uncomfortable, but dangerous

While humidex — like wind chill — is a familiar way of measuring what the temperature actually feels like to people in central and eastern Canada, it's a more foreign concept in the West.  "The further west you go in in the country, you generally don't have as much of an input of humidity," said Armel Castellan, a Victoria-based warning preparedness meteorologist with ECCC. "It's definitely there to a certain extent because we can't live in an environment that has no humidity, but it's ... less of an overall part of the equation."...

Humidity adds another layer of danger to heat because when there's too much moisture in the air, sweat doesn't evaporate as easily, making it harder to cool off. Everyone experiences heat differently, which means hot and humid conditions are riskier for some people, especially seniors and those with certain underlying health issues like diabetes. ...

People who aren't used to humid heat could also be especially vulnerable to new extremes, said Kenneth Chow, a climate scientist with the Canadian Centre for Climate Services at ECCC. "It's kind of novel to them," he said. "If they've previously never experienced any [high humidex] days, going from zero to 30 days on average would be quite significant and — depending on their capacity to adapt — might strain and put a lot of people at risk." Even Medicine Hat, known as the sunniest city in Canada, didn't used to see many days with high humidex. Depending on greenhouse gas emissions, it could go from around two days a year with a humidex above 35 to between 13 and 51 by the end of the century, according to ECCC's projections. It's a shift already felt by locals. "There's been a change," said Brian Stauth, managing director of public services for the City of Medicine Hat. "[Humidity is] certainly not something we would have thought of as Medicine Hatters a decade ago, but we do now." ...

Depending on greenhouse gas emissions, Edmonton could see the number of days above a humidex of 35 climb from around one a year to between four and 31 by the end of the century. Calgary could go from zero days with a high humidex to between one and 25.  British Columbia, too, could see significant change — Vancouver could go from one day a year with a high humidex to between six and 27 days. Currently, Alberta and British Columbia are the only provinces that don't trigger heat warnings based on humidex. ...

There's also no humidex trigger for heat warnings in the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, but projections show those regions are not likely to see many days over a 35 humidex within the coming decades. ...

Heat waves can be especially dangerous for seniors, low-income people and those with mental health issues. Luke Palmer, an emergency planning and risk supervisor with the City of Lethbridge, said the city wanted to make sure it's ready to protect the most vulnerable. That's why Lethbridge created its own city-defined heat warning. If local officials evaluate the weather forecast and determine conditions are severe enough — be it the temperature or humidity — the city can identify a local emergency, warning citizens and opening cooling centres, even if the temperatures don't meet provincial heat-warning criteria.

The power was created in 2022 and Lethbridge has yet to use it, but Palmer said it's a tool in their back pocket to make sure they're prepared.

Scott Johnson, a spokesperson for Alberta Health, said that the province is also evaluating its approach to extreme heat and humidity, "which are becoming a more regular occurrence.

The BC Centre for Disease Control is also evaluating its heat warning criteria and humidity is one of the factors being considered in the analysis.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/humidex-projections-western-canada-1.690...

Methane is not only a major contributor to global warming with a molecule of methane having a global warming effect 84 times greater a molecule of carbon dioxide, it also is a major air pollutant creating ozone, other toxic substances and smog associated with health risks including birth defects. Yet, the Trudeau Liberal government is only now drafting new methane regulations. Let's hope for the planet's sake the fossil fuel lobbyists don't dominate the new regulations. So far Canadian air quality regulations have been weak.

When methane is flared or combusted, black carbon (a key component of fine particulate matter), nitrogen oxides and additional volatile organic compounds result. Photo by Marcin Jozwiak/Pexels

With smoke-filled skies blanketing Canadian communities, air quality is top of mind. The oil and gas industry has a role in creating wildfire conditions. But it’s important to recognize that fossil fuel extraction affects air quality and human health in more ways than one. 

Methane — a powerful greenhouse gas that “hits the climate hard and fast” by warming the atmosphere 84 times as much as carbon dioxide on a 20-year time scale — is widely recognized as a serious climate change contributor and a “low-hanging” opportunity to economically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But methane is an air-quality and health problem, too. While methane does not directly compromise air quality or harm health, it’s closely associated with toxic pollutants that do. Some are co-emitted with methane, some result from its mitigation, and some are produced by its presence in the atmosphere. Therefore, it is imperative we take action to reduce methane emissions to combat climate change and prevent associated contamination of the breathable atmosphere and health harms.

A draft of the federal government’s new methane regulations is expected soon. Federal regulations — while critical — should be complemented with community-driven action that approaches methane as an air-quality and health issue. ...

When methane is vented or leaked during oil and gas production, transportation and storage, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hydrogen sulphide come along for the ride.  When methane is flared or combusted, black carbon (a key component of fine particulate matter), nitrogen oxides and more VOCs result.  Methane’s presence in the atmosphere also leads to the formation of ozone (one of the main constituents of smog). And its warming effect causes more frequent wildfires, which means more particulate matter in the air. ...

Each ingredient in that toxic cocktail — VOCs, hydrogen sulphide, black carbon and fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxides and ground-level ozone — is associated with severe health problems, such as preterm birth, birth defects, cancer, cardiovascular disease, nervous disorders, severe respiratory problems, diminished mental healthand increased mortality. Ground-level ozone alone causes one million premature deaths per year, and methane is responsible for half of those. ...

International studies have shown communities situated near oil and gas infrastructure have worse air quality and worse health outcomes (not to mention billions of dollars in resulting annual health-care costs). 

Research in the Canadian context is scarcer, but more is on the way. Researchers at St. Francis Xavier University (StFX) are examining air quality and health outcomes in communities close to active wells in Western Canada.

Preliminary results indicate some municipalities in regions such as Red Deer, Grande Prairie, and Lloydminster, among others, may have more exposure to harmful pollutants than other Alberta communities. An examination of health data will soon reveal whether members of those communities suffer comparatively high rates of disease.

The federal government has set significant emission reduction targets and is about to release strengthened methane regulations following a much-improved proposed regulatory framework. 

Still, we can’t afford to be complacent.  Canada’s track record when it comes to meeting its climate commitments leaves a lot to be desired. No funds were earmarked in the 2023 federal budget for a promised Centre for Excellence on methane detection and elimination that could help improve Canada’s national emissions inventory, which consistently underrepresents actual emissions.  

At the same time, inadequate industry compliance and ineffectual energy regulatorsundermine regulatory efficacy. Existing and proposed federal policy may be strong in principle but often falls short in practice. More methane action and awareness are needed to protect Canadians from harmful associated air pollutants.  ...

Canada doesn’t have strong air-quality protections. Canada’s Ambient Air Quality Standards are considered objectives, unlike the United States, Europe, and Australia,which have legally binding ambient air-quality standards. The provinces and territories set their own additional objectives and standards, and since they have jurisdiction over resource management and emissions from fixed sources, it falls to them to address the environmental impacts of industry.  However, when it comes to protecting local environments and human health from harmful industrial activity, the track record of the provinces is disheartening. 

Some change has resulted from action taken at the community level, where the environmental and health impacts associated with methane are felt. While the burden shouldn’t fall on communities to advocate for their own well-being, community action on air quality can work, and there’s proof in Alberta. 

Starting in 2008, increased heavy oil and bitumen operations in Peace River drove up emissions of methane and, correspondingly, hydrogen sulphide — also known as sour gas. 

Sour gas smells strongly of rotten eggs. Residents of the area reported experiencing a host of health problems, including trouble breathing. When enough people complained to the Alberta Energy Regulator, it enacted a regulation designed to curb the noxious emissions.

Sour gas and methane emissions fell dramatically. 

Community concerns — especially those of Indigenous and other racialized communities — are too often ignored. But the story of Peace River shows that, at least sometimes, if communities press hard enough on air quality, energy regulators just might act.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/07/04/opinion/methane-air-quality-...

ETA:

These wildfire firefighters are protecting our safety under extremely dangerous conditions. Many of them are indigenous -a far greater proportion than their percentage of the population. Many of their homes are on the frontlines of these wildfires, but they are also protecting all Canadians homes. Considering the risks to life and hard work involved, they are definitely underpaid and typically this is a seasonal job. It is not surprising that the federal and provincial governments have taken advantage of these workers, since they are often not in full-time jobs and for many they are also indigenous. Across Canada we need to do what BC has done in making this a year-round job and we need to ensure that they all get good pay, training and benefits should be part of the job. 

In an effort to mask its lobbying efforts the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), which represented Big Oil’s interests, has set up astroturf campaigns to fight for fossil fuel development and lobby Canadian governments to support the industry.  The Pathways Alliance that was established in 2021and is taking an increasing role in fighting for fossil fuels  focuses on supporting Carbon Capture and Storage (CCUS) through Canadians' tax dollars as continuing to provide a means to keep producing fossil fuels while achieving net zero emissions when the evidence is that CCUS can only capture a tiny fraction of emissions. There is also a war going between the big and small fossil fuel producers over the direction of their lobbying and actions. CAPP is also closely aligned with the Conservative Party, which has cost them in its ability to lobby the Liberal government. Pathways Alliance is providing them a different means of pushing for government support. 

[CAPP and Pathways Alliance registered federal lobbyists based on records from July filings. Graph by Canada’s National Observer]

For decades, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) has represented Big Oil’s interests, wielding a multimillion-dollar budget to set up astroturf campaigns to defend fossil fuels, deploy scores of lobbyists to shape government policy and attack critics. But in recent years, the oilsands majors appear to have become apprehensive about the industry lobby group and are going their own way.

There’s been no public divorce between CAPP and the Pathways Alliance members (the country’s six major oilsands producers: Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Cenovus Energy, ConocoPhillips, Canadian Natural Resources and MEG Energy), but a close look at lobbying records and the statements made by oil majors paints a picture of an industry seeking credibility –– and increasingly finding CAPP at odds with that goal, say industry watchers.

The Pathways Alliance was officially launched in June 2021 with the goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in oilsands operations by 2050. That goal is anchored by a proposed multibillion-dollar carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) trunkline — essentially, a massive pipeline connecting the companies’ oilsands operations to a storage hub to trap carbon dioxide emissions. When the alliance was formed, the six companies explicitly called the project “ambitious” and said it would require “significant investment” from both industry and governments.

In effect, the Pathways Alliance was announcing a charm offensive to convince the federal government to pony up cash to reduce the sector’s emissions.

To do this, the Pathways Alliance uses a team of lobbyists to work politicians and bureaucrats on Parliament Hill. As of July 2023, it had 18 registered lobbyists on its roster, reflecting minimal change from two years ago when its team numbered 17. However, comparing the alliance’s known lobbyists with CAPP’s registered lobbyists reveals CAPP is struggling to gain traction.

In 2020, the year before the Pathways Alliance was officially launched, CAPP employed at least 37 lobbyists at the federal level. That number has been slashed 40 per cent to 22 lobbyists as of July 2023. ...

The drop in number of registered lobbyists tracks with CAPP’s ability to finance its political efforts. CAPP does not report its exact revenue, but its 2021 membership form shows dues were $3.99 per barrel of oil (equivalent) –– an industry term used by companies to combine oil and gas reserves into a single unit of measurement. Based on 2021 expected production statistics, CAPP would have had a core budget of about $16 million that year. If its members drop production, or cancel membership, it hurts CAPP’s war chest.

The drop in number of registered lobbyists tracks with CAPP’s ability to finance its political efforts. CAPP does not report its exact revenue, but its 2021 membership form shows dues were $3.99 per barrel of oil (equivalent) –– an industry term used by companies to combine oil and gas reserves into a single unit of measurement. Based on 2021 expected production statistics, CAPP would have had a core budget of about $16 million that year. If its members drop production, or cancel membership, it hurts CAPP’s war chest. ...

One reason the Pathways Alliance members would want to distance themselves from CAPP is because if the goal is to extract billions of public dollars to pay for a carbon capture plan, it helps to look like a team player. CAPP has been clear its political allegiances lie with the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), Stewart said.

“I felt like from 2015 through to 2019, CAPP had a pretty explicit political strategy of trying to defeat the Liberals,” he said. “That failed in 2019, and then it failed again in 2021.”...

“They overplayed their hand with the direct alliance with the CPC, which is not a good look if you're going to show up and lobby the Trudeau government the next day,” Stewart said.

As fossil fuel companies pivot from outright climate denial to wanting to appear to have a credible plan, being affiliated with CAPP is increasingly viewed as a liability, he added. 

“That's what Pathways is all about, is having a credible story to tell, and CAPP didn't have that,” he said. “So Pathways gets mountains of good press.”

Former environment and climate change minister Catherine McKenna, who served in cabinet from 2015 to 2021, told Canada’s National Observer that CAPP was “extremely problematic.” ...

Oil and gas companies are “making historic profits, largely off of an illegal war, which they're returning to shareholders and through executive compensation rather than investing in the transition,” she said. “And at the same time, they continue to lobby behind closed doors against policies that are needed… for Canada to meet its international commitments.

Despite the Pathways Alliance boasting of its commitment to climate action, McKenna says the companies’ absolute emissions need to go down significantly, not just their emission intensity, and that to date, only “a fraction” of their investments are flowing into clean technology.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/07/19/analysis/big-oil-rebrands-lo...

In the last three days Newfoundland has faced both record-breaking temperatures and record-breaking downpours as the climate crisis hits yet again. Ten days ago the news was "Heavy rain is expected to continue for much of western Newfoundland, ... with areas from Port aux Basques to Gros Morne under a rainfall warning. About 50 to 80 millimetres is in the forecast, with higher amounts possible in localized areas especially over higher elevation. Environment and Climate Change Canada is warning that more flooding is possible, as well as washouts and landslides. The west coast is expected to see showers throughout the week before sun and warmer temperatures on the weekend." (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/rainfall-warning-fl...)

The sunny weather turned out to be record-breaking temperatures, that "should 'sound alarm bells' for other climate impacts, says climatologist".

Record-breaking temperatures hit Newfoundland. (Bert Savard/CBC)

ot and humid weather felt across Newfoundland and Labrador this week is part of a growing trend that one climatologist says will incur serious consequences.  Memorial University climatologist Joel Finnis told CBC News Thursday this week's hot weather, which broke humidex records in parts of the island, is part of a shift that has been noticed over the last couple of years. "It's much more common to get extended periods of high temperature like we're seeing now," Finnis said.

Based in St. John's, Finnis said there have only been four days in July, so far, that were below 20 C and quite a few days that were above 25 C. "Based on the long-term forecast, it looks like that's going to go on for the foreseeable future," he said. "You take a look at stretches of very warm conditions like that, you recognize it happened the year before as well, you start to realize that things are shifting toward much warmer summers. That has a lot of consequences."

Those effects include changes to pest and tree environments, the condition of ground cover and sea ice melt. 

Melting sea ice is the biggest noticeable shift, Finnis said, adding that has been raising alarms for him for a long time. "That sea ice is disappearing in the Labrador sea relatively quickly and, frankly, across the entire Arctic sea ice loss is well ahead of schedule, relative to what climate models said we should be expecting," he said. "We're talking decades of where we thought it would be, and that leaves us recognizing that some parts of the environment and climate system, and earth system overall, are changing faster than we're anticipating, which really should ... sound alarm bells for us in terms of other changes, too." ...

Extreme weather events are becoming more common in Newfoundland and Labrador.  Finnis points to Hurricane Fiona, which decimated communities along the southwest coast of Newfoundland in September, along with heavy rain on snow events witnessed on the west coast that caused severe and sudden flooding.  "It's things like those high wind events, it's things like those heavy precipitation events, those rain or snow events as well, that I think are going to have a bigger impact on us overall than some of these heat waves," he said.

That's not to say the province shouldn't prepare for future heat.  Finnis said high temperatures, like those experienced this week, should tell us we need to think about how we operate in our environment, cities and workplaces. "We can't live and work in the cities that we've built for a cold environment in the same way if we're starting to hit long stretches of hot weather," he said. "We need to adjust our activities. It really is a stark reminder for me that we need to adapt, accommodate and change how we interact with this environment."

He said changes have been happening, slowly, gradually and consistently, and embedded with other events happening at the same time.  He points to Canada as a whole, where record-breaking temperatures are being experienced across the country, as well as the U.K., Europe and the United States. "It's hard to ignore anymore," he said. "It's not that the changes are necessarily new, it's that we're just really starting to pay attention because of some of these extreme events."

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/weather/topstories/record-setting-temperatures...

Earlier this year scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) delivered "their ‘final warning’ on climate crisis: act now or it’s too late". Already "weather extremes are “increasingly driving displacement” of people in Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America, and the south Pacific."

1.5C above pre-industrial levels is the threshold beyond which our damage to the climate will rapidly become irreversible. Photograph: Janez Volmajer/Alamy

Scientists have delivered a “final warning” on the climate crisis, as rising greenhouse gas emissions push the world to the brink of irrevocable damage that only swift and drastic action can avert.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), made up of the world’s leading climate scientists, set out the final part of its mammoth sixth assessment report on Monday.

The comprehensive review of human knowledge of the climate crisis took hundreds of scientists eight years to compile and runs to thousands of pages, but boiled down to one message: act now, or it will be too late.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said: “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.”

In sober language, the IPCC set out the devastation that has already been inflicted on swathes of the world. Extreme weather caused by climate breakdown has led to increased deaths from intensifying heatwaves in all regions, millions of lives and homes destroyed in droughts and floods, millions of people facing hunger, and “increasingly irreversible losses” in vital ecosystems.

Monday’s final instalment, called the synthesis report, is almost certain to be the last such assessment while the world still has a chance of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, the threshold beyond which our damage to the climate will rapidly become irreversible.

Kaisa Kosonen, a climate expert at Greenpeace International, said: “This report is definitely a final warning on 1.5C. If governments just stay on their current policies, the remaining carbon budget will be used up before the next IPCC report [due in 2030].”

More than 3bn people already live in areas that are “highly vulnerable” to climate breakdown, the IPCC found, and half of the global population now experiences severe water scarcity for at least part of the year. In many areas, the report warned, we are already reaching the limit to which we can adaptto such severe changes, and weather extremes are “increasingly driving displacement” of people in Africa, Asia, North, Central and South America, and the south Pacific.

All of those impacts are set to increase rapidly, as we have failed to reverse the 200-year trend of rising greenhouse gas emissions, despite more than 30 years of warnings from the IPCC, which published its first report in 1990.

The world heats up in response to the accumulation of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so every year in which emissions continue to rise eats up the available “carbon budget” and means much more drastic cuts will be needed in future years.

Yet there is still hope of staying within 1.5C, according to the report. Hoesung Lee, the chair of the IPCC, said: “This synthesis report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a livable sustainable future for all.”

Temperatures are now about 1.1C above pre-industrial levels, the IPCC found. If greenhouse gas emissions can be made to peak as soon as possible, and are reduced rapidly in the following years, it may still be possible to avoid the worst ravages that would follow a 1.5C rise.

Richard Allan, a professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said: “Every bit of warming avoided due to the collective actions pulled from our growing, increasingly effective toolkit of options is less worse news for societies and the ecosystems on which we all depend.”

Monday’s “synthesis report” is the final part of the sixth assessment report (AR6) by the IPCC, which was set up in 1988 to investigate the climate and provide scientific underpinning to international policy on the crisis. The first three sections of AR6, published between August 2021 and April 2022, covered the physical science behind the climate crisis, and warned irreversible changes were now almost inevitable; section two covered the impacts, such as the loss of agriculture, rising sea levels, and the devastation of the natural world; and the third covered the means by which we can cut greenhouse gases, including renewable energy, restoring nature and technologies that capture and store carbon dioxide.

The “synthesis report” contains no new science, but draws together key messages from all of the preceding work to form a guide for governments. The next IPCC report is not due to be published before 2030, making this report effectively the scientific gold standard for advice to governments in this crucial decade.

The final section of AR6 was the “summary for policymakers”, written by IPCC scientists but scrutinised by representatives of governments around the world, who can – and did – push for changes. The Guardian was told that in the final hours of deliberations at the Swiss resort of Interlaken over the weekend, the large Saudi Arabian delegation, of at least 10 representatives, pushed at several points for the weakening of messages on fossil fuels, and the insertion of references to carbon capture and storage, touted by some as a remedy for fossil fuel use but not yet proven to work at scale.

In response to the report, Peter Thorne, the director of the Icarus climate research centre at Maynooth University in Ireland, said next year global temperatures could breach the 1.5C limit, though this did not mean the limit had been breached for the long term. “We will, almost regardless of the emissions scenario given, reach 1.5C in the first half of the next decade,” he said. “The real question is whether our collective choices mean we stabilise around 1.5C or crash through 1.5C, reach 2C and keep going.”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/20/ipcc-climate-crisis-...

In the United States in the midst of a multi-pronged record-setting climate crisis heat wave, Republicans and the Supreme Court are denying life-saving water to many people, but especially to First Nations, prisoners who often are left with toilet water as their drinking water, and working class people whose job is outdoors, combining racism and classism, while providing enormous amounts of water for new factories for chip and battery making. This is also interacting with the severe water shortage across American southwest in a the climate crisis-induced megadrought that is the worst in 1,200 years (https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/02/14/megadrought-in-southwest-is...). The megadrought has caused the waterlevel in Lake Mead to drop 143 feet (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/us/lake-mead-drought-water-shortage-clima...).

This is the same drought that is also hitting the Canadian prairies and which is predicted to turn part of the Canadian prairies into a desert. "We're moving into a multi-year pattern here where we're at risk for prolonged drought and additional fire," she said." (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/summer-weather-lookahead-pra...)

Last month, the Texas Tribune reported that Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill nullifying local ordinances that require construction companies to grant their workers 10-minute breaks for water and shade every four hours. Photo by ia huh/Unsplash

The heat waves wracking the country are bad enough on their own. But they’re colliding with another crisis: The water is running low.

Throughout June, persistent triple-digit temperatures have blanketed the Bible Belt, sometimes exceeding 120 F. This unrelenting heat wave has spurred lasting power outages, hailstorms and tornadoes and physical illnesses across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas — a “ring of fire” effect of self-reinforcing air currents, humidity and heat domes wreaking damage across the South.

In some parts of Texas, the Weather Channel noted, the heat wave has “rewritten the history books for all-time record heat.” Punishing as the ordeal has already been for tens of millions of Americans, this hot weather may last through early July and leak into the Southwest, potentially hitting Arizona and New Mexico with more wildfires and gusty winds. As ocean-surface temperatures breach alarming thresholds, killing off thousands of fish, and El Niño makes its grim return, the South’s plight makes clear that this season will set another record for climate change-fuelled extreme weather.

In the midst of this disaster loop, plenty of attention has turned to regional electricity capacity. Oklahoma and Louisiana are still repairing storm-wrecked power lines, and Texas’ standalone, notoriously weakened grid has again asked residents to voluntarily cut back their energy use, including air conditioning. ...

Among the devastating health effects of searing heat, which kills more Americansthan any other form of extreme weather, dehydration is paramount. Excess, unchecked body-water deprivation resulting from sweat and dry skin — as well as lack of ready water supply for intake, thanks to heat-linked system breakdowns and drought conditions — can presage more dire physical ailments like kidney damage and high blood pressure, leading to heart attacks and strokes. Despite this fact, some of these heat-wave-ridden states have taken steps to reduce their residents’ water availability. Or, as in the case of Mississippi, they’ve continued to neglect longtime drinking-water crises even as the terrible heat comes to town.

Last month, the Texas Tribune reported, Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law a bill nullifying local ordinances that require construction companies to grant their workers 10-minute breaks for water and shade every four hours — even though Texas sees the most heat-related labour deaths of any state. The law doesn’t go into effect until September, but the types of consequences it will have are already apparent: In Dallas, which has such a soon-to-be-nullified regulation on the books, postal worker Eugene Gates Jr. died of heat illness while travelling his letter-carrying route. Near Dallas, the city of Boyd is facing a boil-water notice thanks to a damaged system, while an important High Plains aquifer is gradually running dry.

The essential workers the Lone Star State relies on during these nonstop climate crises — to transport mail and supplies, to fix strained water and electricity infrastructure, to manage outdoor food sources — will be the first and hardest hit by the fatal heat their jobs won’t let them avoid.

It’s not just Texas; most states, with the exception of California, Oregon, and Washington, have no mandatory heat protections for outdoor labourers. Still, insidious ways of limiting even more water relief are spreading. The Supreme Court recently denied the Navajo Nation the right to have the federal government ensure its access to steady, secure water infrastructure. The baffling ruling arrives at a moment when Navajo Nation citizens, about half of whom lack reliable plumbing, are being incentivized to further reduce water consumption thanks to a federally mandated interstate deal to ration water portions afforded from the Colorado River. It also comes at a moment when Arizona stands to build out large industrial facilities for battery manufacturing and chipmaking — both of which require ample amounts of water use.

Another group of Southern Americans feeling the piercing sun without guaranteed water on hand: prisoners. Just about every state suffering through this heat wave is known for fostering carceral conditions that deprive their populations of basic necessities — like water. In Texas, whose legislature refuses to properly fund prison cooling services, incarcerated people dealing with malfunctioning systems are often forced to consume and cool themselves with dirty toilet water. ...

Across huge swaths of the country, an already-pressing heat wave is set to fester and worsen in the following months. Yet local and national governments seem entirely unconcerned about the precious need for available potable water, even as those struck by blistery conditions need it more than ever. What will it take to finally get their attention?

https://slate.com/technology/2023/06/texas-heat-wave-extreme-heat-water-...

A new scientific study says that the heat wave and wildfires hitting Europe, China, and the US would be near impossible without the climate crisis. It also warns "Almost all societies remain unprepared for deadly extreme heat, experts warn."

The heatwaves battering Europe and the US in July would have been "virtually impossible" without human-induced climate change, a scientific study says. Global warming from burning fossil fuels also made the heatwave affecting parts of China 50 times more likely. Climate change meant the heatwave in southern Europe was 2.5C hotter, the study finds.

Almost all societies remain unprepared for deadly extreme heat, experts warn. The study's authors say its findings highlight the importance of the world adapting to higher temperatures because they are no longer "rare". "Heat is among the deadliest types of disaster," says Julie Arrighi from the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and also one of the authors.  Countries must build heat-resistant homes, create "cool centres" for people to find shelter, and find ways to cool cities including planting more trees, she says.

In July, temperature records were broken in parts of China, the southern US and Spain. Millions of people spent days under red alerts for extreme heat. Experts say extreme heat can be a very serious threat to life, especially among the elderly. According to one study, more than 61,000 people were estimated to have died from heat-related causes during last year's heatwaves in Europe.

"This study confirms what we knew before. It shows again just how much climate change plays a role in what we are currently experiencing," said Friederike Otto from Imperial College London.  Climate scientists say decades of humans pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere are causing global temperatures to rise. But not all extreme weather events can immediately be linked directly to climate change because natural weather patterns can also play a part. Scientists in the UK, US and Netherlands in the World Weather Attribution group studied the recent heatwaves to identify the fingerprint of climate change. Using computer models, they simulated a world without the effects of emissions pumped into the atmosphere to the real-world temperatures seen during the heatwaves.

The North American heatwave was 2°C (3.6°F) hotter and the heatwave in China was 1°C hotter because of climate change, the scientists concluded. The world has warmed 1.1C compared to the pre-industrial period before humans began burning fossil fuels.  If temperature rise reaches 2C, which many experts warn is very likely as countries fail to reduce their emissions quickly enough, these events will occur every two to five years, the scientists say.

The study also considered the role of El Niño, a naturally occurring powerful climate fluctuation that began in June. It leads to higher global temperatures as warm waters rise to the surface in the tropical Pacific ocean and push heat into the air. The study concluded that El Niño probably played a small part but that increased temperatures from burning fossil fuels was the main driver in the more intense heatwaves. 

A run of climate records have fallen in recent weeks, including global average temperatures and sea surface temperatures particularly in the North Atlantic. Experts say the speed and timing is "unprecedented" and warn that more records could tumble in the coming weeks and months.

Dangerous wildfires in Greece forced thousands of people to evacuate hotels at the weekend. Experts say that the hot and dry weather created favourable conditions for fire to spread more easily.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66289489

In BC wildfires wildfires have "forced hundreds under evacuation order, alert as flames threaten communities", as Kamloops, Cranbrook, Sparwood and Invermere are all threatened. 

A handout photo from the BC Wildfire Service shows a wildfire in southeastern British Columbia that has charred three square kilometres and is threatening more than 1,000 properties, including a ski resort, west of Invermere. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-BC Wildfire Service **MANDATORY CREDIT**

The highly visible Horsethief Creek wildfire in B.C.’s Columbia Valley has forced the evacuation order of at least 25 properties and placed more than 1,000 on evacuation alert.

The fire, which broke out Monday, is about 300 hectares in size and burning approximately seven kilometres north of the Panorama Mountain Resort and 10 kilometres west of the District of Invermere. It is suspected to be caused by lightning.

Al Miller, mayor of the District of Invermere, said the fire has residents concerned and it isn’t that far away from some of the communities, including the Panorama Mountain Resort. “It has been very visible and certainly, especially, later on in the evening when it got a little darker, it was very eerie,” he said. Miller said it was windy Tuesday morning, which added more concern to the fact the fire might grow. He added that some residents have already started moving horses and livestock in preparation for a possible evacuation order. “We have a very good emergency response centre set up in Cranbrook,” Miller added. In addition, winds near Kamloops and Cranbrook are fuelling more aggressive fire behaviour.

The Ross Moore Lake fire, burning south of Kamloops, has more than 300 properties on evacuation order. Wildfires officials said cooler weather and some rain has calmed the fire’s behaviour but at least one remote cabin has burned in the blaze.

The St. Mary’s River wildfire, burning north of Cranbrook, has burned more than 4,000 hectares and so far has forced more than 51 homes to be evacuated.

The Lladnar Creek wildfire, burning near Sparwood, forced an evacuation alert Monday night for all properties on Upper and Lower Matevic Road and all properties in Sparwood Heights and south of Sparwood Heights Drive. Residents should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Wildfire officials said equipment has now arrived to fight this fire and ground crews will be putting in machine guards on Tuesday in areas that are safe for workers to enter.

About 1.4 million hectares of B.C.’s forests have burned so far this year.There are currently 464 active wildfires in B.C., more than 200 of which are considered to be out of control.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9855284/bc-wildfire-latest-evacuation-orders-...

Scientists are emphasizing that "The consequences of the warming planet are playing out across the world not only in terms of the heat records broken but through floods, wildfires and severe storms." In fact, extreme weather events are now so common they are driving up insurance rates by enormous amounts. Canada has been particularly hard by the climate crisis this year. 

July 2023 is on track to be the hottest month ever recorded, and may be the hottest month in the last 120,000 years, scientists have said (Picture: Getty Images Europe)

In Canada, 4,785 wildfires have burned through over 12 million hectares of land, some of which were caused by increased lightning and drier-than-usual ground.

Nova Scotia, which saw this year the largest wildfire in its history, is now dealing with flooding so severe it's been called "more than a one-in-a-hundred-year" event.

Wildfires and extreme weather events are becoming common enough that they're driving up insurance rates, some experts say.

Speaking at the presentation of the record-breaking temperature data on Wednesday, an executive with a Canadian organization that focuses on climate change spoke to what she's noticed in recent years. "My Canadian family comes from Nova Scotia, which is currently in its fourth state of emergency in the last year," Catherine Abreu, executive director of Destination Zero, said at the news conference. "I think all of us can reflect on the terrible impacts that we and our communities are experiencing from the extreme climate change." 

Abreu said the forecast from Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist at Leipzig University in Germany, serves as yet another desperate plea from experts to take action to slow the warming of the planet. Haustein said that comparing data collected through paleoclimatology to the temperatures this month suggests July could be the hottest month in 120,000 years. Abreu highlighted renewable energy as one of the key ways to lower the reliance on oil and gas, allowing for what she called a more sustainable future. "We need to unlock the level of ambition to address these impacts and to claw our way back from this runaway climate crisis," she said. 

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/it-s-possible-july-could-...

Although wood is often described as carbon-neutral by logging and bio-fuel companies that argue that trees that are can have their released carbon set off by planting new trees. However a new study in a leading scientific journal, Nature, shows why that is not the case. The study concludes that the cutting down of trees releases three times more carbon than flying. 

A new study shows that cutting down trees for paper, furniture and fuel emits three times more carbon than flying. Photo by Jeffrey Beall/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Whether used to heat your house or build it, wood is often touted as carbon-neutral, especially by biofuel and lumber companies and even some environmentalists. The logic seems simple enough: Sure, logging unleashes planet-warming carbon into the air, but that can be replaced with new trees that suck carbon back out of the air. 

But this doesn’t reflect how the emissions from harvesting wood actually work, according to a paper published this week in Nature. Even when the carbon captured by new trees is taken into account, wood consumption accounts for about one-tenth of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions, the study’s authors found — less than electricity and heat generation, but more than passenger cars.

“The bottom line is you got a lot of emissions coming from wood harvest, and we don’t pay attention to that,” said Tim Searchinger, senior fellow and technical director for agriculture, forestry and ecosystems at the World Resources Institute and a co-author of the paper. 

The emissions associated with timber harvests mainly come from burning logs and pellets for fuel and from rotting branches, leaves and roots left in the forest or tossed in landfills, where they decompose and release carbon into the air. 

Searchinger and his colleagues found that global demand for wood will grow by 54 per cent between 2010 and 2050, largely driven by fuel and timber products like woodchips, as well as paper and cardboard. Logging to meet that demand will cover an area roughly equivalent to clear-cutting the entire continental U.S. The resulting climate pollution is likely to measure 3.5 to 4.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year — about three times the emissions from aviation and roughly equal to the deforestation caused by agriculture. ...

Searchinger argues that researchers and policymakers haven’t accurately estimated the climate cost of wood use in part because they’ve counted carbon-capturing forest growth as an “offset” — as if new trees compensated for the missing ones — even when that growth would happen naturally. When trees are in the ground, especially when they’re young and growing fast, they absorb carbon. Many of the forests in the Northern Hemisphere were cleared in past centuries and are now regrowing and accumulating carbon on their own, whether or not they’ve been logged recently.

Even for older forests that aren’t regrowing as quickly, “you’d be better off” leaving them unharvested, said Houghton, noting that we’ve got a “long way to go” before our use of wood is efficient enough — say, by not burning so much of it — that the emissions from logging could be fully offset by forest regrowth. ....

Still, Searchinger said there’s a silver lining to the study. His team’s findings don’t mean that more carbon dioxide is getting into the atmosphere than scientists had thought, just that some of those emissions are coming from an activity that hadn’t been accounted for. And it can be fixed: This big chunk of pollution is human-caused and can be human-reversed. In other words, governments can take steps to reduce the emissions by limiting logging and encouraging more efficient uses of wood, like burning less of it, Searchinger said. The alternative means an even hotter, smokier planet. “If we don’t do anything,” he said, “these emissions are going to grow.”

https://grist.org/economics/wood-climate-friendly-logging-emissions/

Scientists are already studying how this summer's climate crisis induced Canadian wildfires are changing the environment, the need for forest thinning to reduce wildfire fuel (something indigenous people have been doing for centuries), threatening species and even accelerating evolution. 

Two months into the 2023 peak summer fire season from June through August, Canadian wildfires had burned more than 25 million acres of land, disrupted the lives of millions and spread beyond the traditional confines of western Canada east to Nova Scotia. The phenomenon attracted renewed attention as smoke drifted to heavily populated regions, turning the New York City skyline orange and drifting across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe by late June.

Understanding the many risks and impacts of wildfires is at the heart of several projects at ORNL. Henriette "Yetta" Jager, an ORNL scientist whose research sits at the intersection of energy and ecology, has studied how selective forest thinning can both remove fuel for wildfires and provide plant material for conversion into biofuels.

"It's a complex topic," Jager said. "The science is showing that although it may be difficult to remove undergrowth and thin trees in some roadless areas, simply leaving old growth forest alone may cause more harm than good. For at-risk species such as spotted owls, letting fuel build up can cause larger and more widespread fires that can be worse in the long run."

Jager has worked with colleagues to build a framework that can support decision-making around forest-thinning practices, landscape patterns and even spatial firefighting tactics. Results of their work could be used to protect terrestrial and aquatic species that need safe passage to move away from wildfire and then return later.

"Wildfire disturbance is a part of nature, and species are adapted to it, but we're in a different situation now with climate change," Jager said. "There are going to be big shifts in when these fires happen, their size and severity, which will cause big shifts in vegetation and new impacts on animal species. By continuing our research, we can help forest managers plan for these shifts."

Advancing the understanding of wildfire effects on the carbon cycle is a focus for ORNL scientist Fernanda Santos. She studies not only single events, but also repeated wildfires over decades. She examines what these fires portend for the land's ability to lock away carbon. And, conversely, her work evaluates how fires can become a source of carbon emissions during wildfires and potentially intensify the warming cycle. The world's soils hold more than 3 gigatons of carbon -- triple the amount in the atmosphere -- and roughly 70% of the top layer of all soils has been exposed to fire at some point.

Her research illuminates the anticipated changes as the land evolves in response to fire. "A lot of people think of evolution as something that happens over centuries," Santos said. "But the idea of rapid evolution, including how plants and soil microbiomes rapidly adapt to increased fires, is relatively new. Will we see more or less biodiversity after repeated fires? Ultimately, we want to know how fire affects these environments, including belowground."

Fire affects plant functional traits as well as the diversity and function of microbes and other organisms in and around the soil that can alter plant and soil quality, Fernanda and colleagues said in a special issue of Functional Ecology examining knowledge gaps in the study of wildfire evolutionary impacts. Changes in wildfire regimes related to a hotter climate, like greater recurrence and severity, have been reported to accelerate the transition from tree- to shrub-dominated ecosystems, for instance. Fire's evolutionary influence can be seen in the selection of plants with traits such as thicker bark and fast germination and resprouting and can result in less plant diversity.

The scientists also pointed to the need for more research into how fire may affect plant-fungal interactions in forests. More severe and repeated wildfire may also impact the sensory cues that animals, including insects, pollinators and herbivores, typically use to avoid fire and result in additional implications for biodiversity in a changing climate, the scientists said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230802162517.htm

A new report from Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service today leaves scientists deeply pessimistic about the entire global community being able to prevent the acceleration of the climate crisis as new data shows Canadian wildfires have more than doubled the previous record for greenhouse gas emissions and now "account for over 25% of the global total year to date" this year, thereby creating a positive feedback loop that exponentially accelerates greenhouse gas emissions ever more. 

An aerial view of wildfire of Tatkin Lake in British Columbia, Canada on July 10, 2023.

BC Wildfire Service | Anadolu Agency | Getty Image

Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service on Thursday said that accumulated carbon emissions from Canadian wildfires had soared to 290 megatons in just the first seven months of 2023. That is already more than double the previous whole-year record and accounts for over 25% of the global total year to date. Astonished climate scientists have warned that the unprecedented nature of what’s happening in Canada is a harbinger of what’s still to come.

The intensity of Canada’s raging wildfires have generated record levels of carbon emissions, the EU’s climate monitor said Thursday.

Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) found that accumulated carbon emissions from Canadian wildfires had soared to 290 megatons in just the first seven months of 2023.

 

That is already more than double Canada’s previous whole-year record and accounts for over 25% of the global total year-to-date.

“In recent years we have seen significant wildfires in the Northern Hemisphere, but this year’s fire activity in Canada is highly unusual,” said Mark Parrington, senior scientist at CAMS.

“The weather has played a part, with warm and dry conditions increasing the flammability of vegetation and increasing the risk of large-scale fires. We support users in mitigating the impacts through monitoring the fire activity and intensity, and the emitted smoke,” Parrington said.

This year’s wildfire season has been the worst on record in Canada, with more than 13 million hectares (roughly 32 million acres) burning so far — scorching an area larger than the size of Portugal or South Korea.

 

Plumes of smoke from hundreds of blazes have blanketed vast swathes of the country in recent weeks, forcing tens of thousands of people to leave their homes and triggering air quality alerts in northern U.S. cities.

The haze of wildfire smoke even drifted across the Atlantic to southern Europein the second week of June, also causing flight delays and the cancelation of many outdoor events closer to home.

Astonished climate scientists have warned that the unprecedented nature of what’s happening in Canada is a harbinger of what’s still to come.

CAMS said warm and dry weather this year had created tinderbox conditions conducive to the extraordinary scale of Canada’s wildfires.

It added that the climate emergency is making such conditions more likely and boosting the chance of a longer fire season — to which El Niño conditions may also have contributed.

The report comes as large-scale fires continue to rage across Canada’s western provinces and territories, including within the Arctic Circle.

There are currently 1,036 active fires burning nationwide, and 663 of those are classified as “out of control,” according to data in a real-time dashboard operated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Significant wildfire activity was also observed in the far east of Russia over June and July, CAMS said, although these fires have not been as widespread as during the summers of recent years.

CAMS said wildfire seasons typically occur from May to October in the northern hemisphere, with peaks in July and August coinciding with the hottest and driest months of the year.

For Canada, this means the blazes could continue for weeks or even months to come.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/03/canada-wildfires-emissions-more-than-dou...

As if to prove the last article is correct, in a mind-boggling development that makes one wonder whether the Danielle Smith Alberta government lives on the same planet as the rest of us, the day after Europe’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service warned that "Canadian wildfires have more than doubled the previous record for greenhouse gas emissions and now "account for over 25% of the global total year to date" this year, the Smith government announced that it is halting the approval of "all new renewable energy projects — effective immediately for six months, using the excuse that it needs to review "how these projects affect land use, the power grid and how they’ll be cleaned up down the line". In 2022, Alberta led Canada in "renewable energy growth , accounting for 77 per cent of the 1.8 gigawatts of solar and wind generation capacity that came online that year". Many think this halt in renewable energy projects that already have $25 billion in new renewable energy investment planned may not be for just six months, but an ongoing ban to appease the oil industry. 

This is the same Alberta oil industry that has left at least $123 billion, according to Environmental Defence and up to $260 billion in inactive and abandoned oil wells for taxpayers to clean up(https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2019/02/04/Alberta-Mega-Oil-Gas-Liability/#:...’s%20prEnvironmental Defenceesentation%20indicated%20the%20full%20cost%20of%20cleaning,three%20times%20the%20provincial%20debt%20of%20%2471%20billion). 

This is the same Alberta government that for decades "dramatically downplay decades of spills of crude oil and saline water — reflecting profound dysfunction and pro-industry bias within the regulator"(https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/02/16/news/decades-albertas-energy...) and allowed the oil industry to be " one of the biggest sources in North America of harmful air pollutants" (https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/oilsands-soas-1.3599074)

Stopping the growth of the renewable wind and solar energy in a province that has more sun and wind per unit of land than anywhere else in Canada, seems like an attempt to prevent its already extremely rapid growth from becoming an alternative energy source in the province. How insane can this government get? Much of the renewable energy investment is already thinking of moving elsewhere. 

On Aug. 3, Alberta announced a moratorium on new approvals of renewable energy projects. Photo by The Kids and Kahlie/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Alberta is pausing approvals for all new renewable energy projects — effective immediately — while it reviews how these projects affect land use, the power grid and how they’ll be cleaned up down the line.

Reactions to the six-month moratorium have been mixed. Environmental groups say it's yet another one of the United Conservative Party’s attacks on climate action, while a large association of rural municipalities is applauding the province for taking “bold action” to address its concerns about regulating land use and ensuring companies will be accountable for the cost of eventually decommissioning renewable projects. 

Tim Weis, an industrial professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Alberta, was surprised on many fronts and called the government’s approach an “amateur” and “pretty reactionary decision.”

Alberta’s renewable energy market has exploded in recent years, and today’s announcement “sends a bizarre signal in a province that likes to tout itself as an electricity market that's predicated on open competition,” Weis told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview a few hours after the announcement.

“It's strange to pick a particular segment of an industry and hit the brakes on it, especially in the middle of, you know, currently the biggest market for investments in the country,” said Weis. 

The province was on track to see $3.7 billion worth of renewables construction by 2023, creating more than 4,500 jobs, according to the Business Renewables Centre, which connects renewable energy producers with people looking to buy clean power. Analysis from Clean Energy Canada suggests that Alberta’s clean energy sector will grow the fastest of any province or territory between now and 2050. 

The moratorium runs until Feb. 29, 2024, and applies to approvals of new renewable electricity generation projects over one megawatt. Alberta’s Utilities Commission is currently reviewing 15 renewable, thermal and energy storage projects that will be affected by the pause. During this time, “Albertans will still be able to install renewable energy products in their homes and communities will be unaffected by this process,” according to the provincial government. The government said the six-month moratorium was in “direct response” to a letter it received from the Alberta Utilities Commission and “concerns raised from municipalities and landowners related to responsible land use and the rapid pace of renewables development.”  “This is a pretty blunt instrument to solve issues that people have been talking about for a long time,” said Weis. Before becoming a professor, Weis was most recently an adviser to Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, spent a year as a policy director with the Canadian Wind Energy Association, and worked at the Pembina Institute from 2002 to 2014.

The UCP’s moratorium on renewables is “another attack on climate action … bad for business, bad for the environment and bad for Albertans,” said Keith Brooks, programs director at Environmental Defence, in a statement.

“Stopping now makes no sense. Albertans are already reaping the benefits of renewable energy,” said Brooks, pointing to the jobs and investments renewable projects are creating, as well as revenues for cash-strapped municipalities. “This latest move threatens all of this.” Brooks points out that the fossil fuel industry has “disrupted close to 900 square kilometres and left tens of thousands of inactive and orphan wells,” which Environmental Defence estimates will cost a minimum of $123 billion to clean up. Earlier this year, Imperial Oil made international headlines for failing to notify downstream communities about an ongoing leak at one of its tailings ponds in northern Alberta. "According to Premier [Danielle] Smith, massive tailings spills that endanger Indigenous communities don’t constitute an emergency — but the potential for expanding cost-effective and proven climate solutions at a time when Canada is burning somehow poses a threat,” said Caroline Brouillette, executive director at Climate Action Network Canada, in an emailed statement.

The Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA), in sharp contrast to environmental groups, is applauding the decision. RMA president Paul McLauchlin said the association didn’t request the moratorium on project approvals but is “so appreciative” that the government “delivered a solution that far exceeded our expectations.” ...

Alberta led Canada for renewable energy growth in 2022, accounting for 77 per cent of the 1.8 gigawatts of solar and wind generation capacity that came online that year, according to data from the Canadian Renewable Energy Association....

The Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank, said the moratorium puts 91 projects and $25 billion in investments and associated jobs for Albertans and revenues for municipalities at risk....

But Weis questions whether the moratorium will actually be limited to six months.

“That's what we're being told today. But yesterday, no one knew this was coming,” he said. Six months might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but the “massive uncertainty” it has caused “runs the risk of being a bigger deal in people's long-term confidence in the market,” said Weis. Investors can turn to Saskatchewan or Manitoba, or look south of the border at states like Montana. And, even though the moratorium is only directed at renewables, he said it creates uncertainty for all other projects in the electricity market.

Questions about decommissioning renewable energy projects and their impact on land and the power grid are important and need to be addressed, he added. For example, Weis said end-of-life plans for wind turbines were frequently discussed when he worked at the Wind Energy Association. 

But these questions and issues also aren’t new and don’t need to be dealt with using a “sledgehammer,” he said.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/08/03/news/alberta-puts-six-month-...

Thick wildfire smoke has given Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley the second worst air quality rating in the world as the climate crisis continues to cause environmental, economic and health problems. 

A wall of smoke from the  from the wildfire in the South Okanagan Patricia McKillop

Thick wildfire smoke has seeped into the Okanagan Valley, casting a pall on what would otherwise be a sunny summer weekend.

Depending on where you look, the situation goes from bad to worse. Using the province’s Air Quality Health Index site, the greater Kelowna area was rated at a six out of 10, meaning the air poses a moderate risk to human health. The North Okanagan saw a rating of eight, which is a high risk and the South Okanagan was at three, which is a low risk. A site called IQAir assigns a numeric value to the air quality, and there Kelowna was sitting at 162 by Friday afternoon, which is deemed unhealthy. According to the site, Kelowna’s  PM2.5 concentration, a measure of particulate matter in the air, is currently 15.6 times the World Health Organization’s annual air quality guideline.

If the Okanagan city were large enough to be ranked among the site’s list of the dirtiest air in the world, it would be second worst, right below Dubai, United Aram Emirates, and above Nairobi, Kenya. ...

Ongoing heat is stoking fire activity and that’s creating some soupy air, particularly in the Okanagan. Gail Roth, a senior air quality meteorologist with the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, did note that in recent years the number of days with poor air quality has grown. “Since 2017, we have been seeing much more, higher concentrations of wood smoke for longer durations and it will change regionally from year to year in the province, but in general, we certainly are seeing an uptick in wildfire smoke,” she said. ...

For the Okanagan, Roth said the smoke is thicker in the north, near Vernon, becoming increasingly heavy and high risk in Kelowna and is somewhat moderate in the South Okanagan and no great improvement is expected in the days ahead, though she pointed out that smoke forecasting can be difficult. ...

The prospects for clean air next week, however, remain to be seen and what that means for health is different for different people. “When it gets to the high-risk categories, that’s when it gets more restrictive,” Roth said. “And what I would recommend us for folks to look at our bulletin. But, in general, if you’re someone who has pre-existing conditions, you may be more sensitive. And  healthy  younger populations may be less sensitive.” In general, however, a high ranking means it’s time to pay attention to what you do, she said. “Definitely pay attention to your symptoms because everyone is different.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/9878370/thick-smoke-okanagan-b-c-interior-low...

On August 22nd to 26th, Vancouver will host the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility with representatives of 185 countries attending.

Environmental leaders from 185 countries will gather in Vancouver, Canada for the Seventh Assembly of the Global Environment Facility from August 22-26. Building on recent diplomatic breakthroughs on biodiversity loss, toxic chemicals, and the high seas, the GEF Assembly will be a critical stocktaking for 2030 goals to end pollution and nature loss, combat climate change, and propel inclusive, locally-led conservation.

It is set to include the launch of the Global Biodiversity Framework Fund, a new source of funding for protecting species and ecosystems globally. The GEF was selected to manage the new fund at the COP15 Convention on Biological Diversity summit in December 2022 and its governing Council approved plans for this in June 2023 in Brasilia.

The Assembly will bring together ministers, government officials, business leaders, environmentalists, leaders of international agencies and environmental conventions along with representatives of youth groups, civil society, and Indigenous Peoples to discuss solutions to ensure a healthy planet with healthy people.

 https://www.thegef.org/events/seventh-gef-assembly

In the Yukon, the town of Mayo, as well as other parts of the territory, has been evacuated as climate crisis induced wildfires continue to ravage all regions of Canada.

Yukon government ministers and representatives of its Wildland Fire Management, emergency measures and emergency social services branches briefed reporters on firefighting efforts and the assistance being provided to evacuees on Aug. 7. (Jim Elliot/Yukon News)

Following a weekend that the officials concerned with the threat of wildfires in the Yukon say saw a significant increase in fire activity, impacts on communities in the territory’s North and Central regions continue.

In response to the Talbot Creek Fire the Village of Mayo was evacuated. The fire remains south of the Stewart River while Mayo is to its north. The evacuation was called efficient and orderly by Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee during an Aug. 7 briefing on the fire situation. The Talbot Creek Fire is currently burning an area of 7,476 hectares. It is about four kilometres south of Mayo and remains out of control. At the Aug. 7 meeting, fire information officer Haley Ritchie said the fire moved mostly northwest on Aug. 6 but a westward shift in the evening caused by favourable winds was good news and offered extra time to respond to the fire’s growth on Aug. 7. It is hoped that easterly winds and cooler nighttime temperatures on Aug. 7 may slow the growth of the fire further. Ritchie said a “modified response” is being employed on the fire, meaning Wildland Fire’s goal is not to extinguish the fire but to stop it from impacting Mayo. She said all available resources are in use to safeguard properties and public safety. A dozer guard is being built on the edge of Mayo, six air tankers and four bucket helicopters dropped retardant to slow the growth of the fire and more than 40 Wildland Fire personnel are working in the area. Controlled burns to remove fuel from the fire’s path are being considered should conditions allow.

Greg Blackjack from the territory’s emergency measures organization noted that the Village of Keno and Hecla mine have been placed on evacuation alert due to the threat fires pose to the Silver Trail. Ritchie said road access is also the quickest way to get crews and equipment to work protecting Mayo but that the Silver Trail could still be used by first responders even if it is closed to the public.

Dale Cheeseman, a representative of the territory’s emergency social services branch said 124 Mayo residents have registered as evacuees. All those who left the community are being asked to register in order to access services and to let responders know they are safe. 

Wildland Fire is also continuing its response to the East McQuesten Fire, which prompted a second evacuation of most workers from Victoria Gold’s eagle mine late last week. Ritchie said no structures or power poles have been damaged by fire but added that fire could burn around the perimeter of the mine site and threaten its access road.

The North Klondike Highway was closed intermittently on Aug. 6 due to the Gravel Lake Fire. Fires have also impacted the Dempster Highway in recent days. Motorists are being advised to use the Yukon 511 website to check on highway conditions before setting off. Blackjack said its important that information about the highways reaches tourists as well as locals.

While it is still not being directly threatened by fires, Old Crow remains very smoky with a special air quality statement from Environment Canada in place since last week and a heat warning is also in effect as daytime highs reach the high 20s. Ritchie said the fires in the area are being monitored by satellite with possible impacts on Old Crow and important heritage sites being considered. “We know people are struggling with smoke exposure, and we’re keeping a close eye on those fires, we’re still trying to get an aerial flight to do a survey of those fires as well, but smoke does make that difficult, with it challenging visibility,” the fire information officer said. Blackjack noted that an emergency planner has been on site in the village since last Thursday. “We’re aware of the concerns with the smoke and we worked with ESS to establish clean air centers and bring in extra equipment such as fans and filters for individuals homes, as well as air conditioners. The priority is to keep people in the community safely and comfortably,” Blackjack said. He added that people will be relocated to areas with cleaner air if it is necessary for their health.

As of Aug. 7, 127 wildfires were active in the Yukon and 134,184 hectares had burned since the start of the season. “So while this number of fires has put a strain on our resources, we’re collaborating with partners, and we’re importing additional resources from outside the territory. Starting Monday, today, eight initial attack crews from Newfoundland and Saskatchewan will be arriving in the territory to support efforts on the Talbot Creek fire up in Mayo,” Ritchie said during the Aug. 7 briefing. The arrival of a crew of 20 from Nova Scotia was also discussed during the briefing.

New fires continue to start, including some around Teslin that Wildland Fire is responding to with monitoring and structure protection efforts. “This is an unusual season. Normally we’re in wrap up mode at this time, but with the weather we’re having the wildfire season is extending far beyond what we’re used to. And that is having sure a taxing effect on our incredibly conscientious civil service who’ve been fighting floods and fires all season,” said Yukon community services minister Richard Mostyn at the Aug. 7 briefing. Just how much longer the fire season will last remains an open question. Ritchie said there’s not much certainty about conditions beyond a few days in the future but that temperature and humidity play a big role so fire behaviour is expected to change with the seasons.

https://www.yukon-news.com/local-news/mayo-evacuated-as-fire-situation-r...

All of Asia, has faced, major extreme weather climate crisis induced events this summer. Iran began a two-day shutdown of businesses and government offices Wednesday as temperatures throughout the country were expected to reach 104 degrees or higher.(https://news.yahoo.com/iran-declares-two-day-holiday-143101132.html) India has had blistering record-setting heat waves with temperatures reaching 49 degrees Celsius in some areas (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/02/india-heat-wave-in-pictures.html). Korea has endured massive heat waves and flooding.  China has been hit hard by heat waves and typhoons this year, including by Typhoon Doksuri, one of the strongest storms in years that travelled 2,000 km inland, something previously unheard of in history as typhoons and hurricanes are normally coastal events, raising more questions about what new types of environmental disasters the climate crisis will bring. In Bejing, 31,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes as 100 cm of rain, normally a month's rainfall, fell in one day on the city. Another typhoon, Khanun , is on the way. The Philippines was also hit by Typhoon Doksuri.

A civilian rescue team help flood-stranded people onto a rubber boat in Quanzhou in southeast China's Fujian province on July 29, 2023.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in Beijing after Typhoon Doksuri, one of the strongest storms in years, dumped torrential rain across China and left at least four dead, as forecasters warned another hurricane-level storm was on its way.

Like much of the world, China is reeling from extreme weather events this summer. Heat waves scorched China earlier than usual this year while records have been set worldwide for global temperatures, ocean heat and the loss of sea ice.

Doksuri hurtled into the southeastern coastal province of Fujian late last week, weakening as it carved its way north but bringing huge amounts of rain to at least five northern Chinese provinces since Saturday. ...

More than 31,000 people were evacuated from the Chinese capital as of Sunday night, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Another half million people in the Fujian were forced to evacuate from flooding, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Xinhua reported two deaths from the storm in Beijing as of Monday, while another two fatalities were recorded in northeastern Liaoning province, according to CCTV.

The precipitation in Beijing could break records as nearly 40 inches of rain is projected to pour over the southwestern parts of the capital and neighboring Hebei province, according to the China Meteorological Administration on Monday. 

Heavy downpours are expected to continue through Tuesday, increasing concerns about dangerous flooding and landslides.

On Monday, nine districts of Beijing were under a red rainstorm alert, the highest in the country’s warning mechanism, while the weather signal was downgraded to the second-highest level in other parts. At least 95 other weather warnings were issued across the country.

The intense downpours prompted the temporary closure of several railroads and highways in the capital, while schools also remained closed and people were told to stay indoors. ...

Doksuri is the most powerful typhoon to make landfall in China and the strongest storm to hit Fujian since Typhoon Saomi in 2006, according to CNN Weather based on preliminary information. The closest and most powerful storm to pass near Beijing was Rita in 1972.

Before hitting Fujian it had killed at least 39 people in the Philippines and lashed parts of southern Taiwan. 

The rains inundated large swathes of farmland and homes in Fujian, causing nearly $60 million ($428 million yuan) in direct economic losses, Xinhua reported. More than 6,333 hectares of farmland in Fujian were damaged and over 151 hectares suffered complete crop failure, the state media outlet said.

And there is little relief on the horizon. Even as Doksuri tapers off, authorities are preparing for incoming Khanun, the sixth typhoon projected to hit China this year.

Forecasters expect storm tides to hit coastal areas of eastern Zhejiang province from Monday to Thursday as Typhoon Khanun draws closer, prompting local authorities to activate the lowest out of a four-tier emergency response level on Monday, Xinhua reported.

Khanun is gathering strength in the Pacific Ocean and has been upgraded to a Category 3-equivalent typhoon by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. It’s forecast to draw close to Japan’s southern Okinawa islands over the next two days and begin a slow crawl through the East China Sea....

Asia, the world’s largest and most populous continent, is reckoning with the deadly effects of extreme summer weather, as countries endure blistering heatwaves and record monsoon rains.

While most of northeastern China is inundated by rainfall, the neighboring Korean peninsula is suffering from deadly heat waves. 

At least 10 people have died from heat-related illnesses as South Korea swelters under a heat wave that has brought its highest temperatures so far this year to parts of the country, according to data released Sunday by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). 

Just two weeks ago, torrential rain in South Korea killed at least 41 people from landslides and flash floods, including at least 13 dead from a flooded underpass that trapped vehicles in the deluge. 

This weekend, a total of 1,015 people suffered heat-related diseases, which the KDCA defines as heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat syncope and heat edema. 

More than a quarter of those affected by the heat were aged 65 years and older, while around 20% were aged between 50 and 59....

Since late July, heat wave warnings have expanded to most of the country with temperatures soaring over the weekend to between 33 and 39 degrees Celsius (between around 91 to 102 degrees Fahrenheit).

On Saturday, a number of cities reported their highest daily temperatures so far this year. The city of Gyeongju saw temperatures reach 36.8 degrees Celsius (98.24 Fahrenheit) and Jeongseon county saw temperatures reach 36.1 Celsius (96.98 Fahrenheit), according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

Seoul’s affluent Gangnam district saw temperatures reach to 35.7 degrees Celsius (around 96.2 Fahrenheit), while North Gyeongsang Province saw temperatures reach 38.1 degrees Celsius (100.58 degrees Fahrenheit).

A heat wave warning remains in effect on Monday, which signals daily maximum temperatures are expected to be 35 degrees Celsius or higher for more than two consecutive days.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/31/asia/china-beijing-typhoon-doksuri-khanun...

Hawaii has a warning for the rest of the world: the climate crisis changed the island paradise from"lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging." This flash drought when combined with Hurricane Dora and fire-prone invasive species has killed 36 people, with many more expected to be found later, and burned much of Maui, including a large part of the city of Lahaina. 

In this photo provided by Tiffany Kidder Winn, a man walks past wildfire wreckage on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Lahaina, Hawaii. The scene at one of Maui's tourist hubs on Thursday looked like a wasteland, with homes and entire blocks reduced to ashes as firefighters as firefighters battled the deadliest blaze in the U.S. in recent years. (Tiffany Kidder Winn via AP)

Hawaii went from lush to bone dry and thus more fire-prone in a matter of just a few weeks — a key factor in a dangerous mix of conditions appear to have combined to make the wildfires blazing a path of destruction in Hawaii particularly damaging.

Experts say climate change is increasing the likelihood of these flash droughts as well as other extreme weather events like what's playing out on the island of Maui, where dozens of people have been killed and a historic tourist town was devastated.  “It's leading to these unpredictable or unforeseen combinations that we're seeing right now and that are fueling this extreme fire weather,” said Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of British Columbia's faculty of forestry. “What these ... catastrophic wildfire disasters are revealing is that nowhere is immune to the issue.”

FLASH DROUGHTS

Flash droughts are so dry and hot that the air literally sucks moisture out of the ground and plants in a vicious cycle of hotter-and-drier that often leads to wildfires. And Hawaii's situation is a textbook case, two scientists told The Associated Press. As of May 23, none of Maui was unusually dry; by the following week it was more than half abnormally dry. By June 13 it was two-thirds either abnormally dry or in moderate drought. And this week about 83% of the island is either abnormally dry or in moderate or severe drought, according to the U.S. drought monitor. 

Maui experienced a two-category increase in drought severity in just three weeks from May to June, with that rapid intensification fitting the definition of a flash drought, said Jason Otkin, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  Otkin co-authored an April study that shows that flash droughts are becoming more commonas Earth warms by human-caused climate change. A 2016 flash drought was connected to unusual wildfires in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, he said.

Even in the past week there’s been “a quick acceleration” of that drought, said University of Virginia hydrologist Venkat Lakshmi. Flash droughts occur when the rain stops and it gets so hot that the atmosphere literally sucks moisture out of the ground and plants, making them more likely to catch fire. “Plants are getting really, really dry,” Lakshmi said. “It's all related to water in some ways. The most destructive fires usually occur during drought. If an area falls into drought quickly, that means there is a longer window of time for fires to occur,” Otkin said. “The risk for destructive fires could increase in the future if flash droughts become more common, as some studies have indicated.”

INVASIVE GRASSES

Elizabeth Pickett is the co-executive director of the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, a nonprofit that works with communities across Hawaii on wildfire prevention and mitigation. Pickett said there used to be massive tracts of land occupied by irrigated pineapples and sugar cane, and as those businesses declined and ceased, the lands were taken over by invasive, fire-prone grass species. “The problem is at such a large scale, 26% of our state is now invaded by these grasses,” she said Thursday. “The landscape that has been invaded is steep, rocky and challenging to access. It’s a really hard landscape. You can’t just go with a lawn mower.” When these grasses burn, they burn into the native forests, threatening endangered species, and then the forests are replaced by more grass, Pickett said. 

WHAT'S FANNING THEM?

Major differences in air pressure drove unusually strong trade winds that fanned the destructive flames, according to meteorologists. Trade winds are a normal feature of Hawaii's climate. They're caused when air moves from the high-pressure system pressure north of Hawaii — known as the North Pacific High — to the area of low pressure at the equator, to the south of the state. But Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the islands this week, is exacerbating the low-pressure system and increasing the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” said Genki Kino, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Honolulu.

Hawaii's state climatologist, Pao-Shin Chu, said he was caught off guard by the impact Dora had from roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers) away. “Hurricane Dora is very far away from Hawaii, but you still have this fire occurrence here. So this is something we didn’t expect to see,” he said.

Strong winds, combined with low humidity and an abundance of dry vegetation that burns easily, can increase the danger of wildfire, even on a tropical island like Maui.  “If you have all of those conditions at the same time, it's often what the National Weather Service calls ‘red flag conditions,’” said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University. 

HOW CLIMATE CHANGE PLAYS A ROLE

“Climate change in many parts of the world is increasing vegetation dryness, in large part because temperatures are hotter,” Fleishman said. “Even if you have the same amount of precipitation, if you have higher temperatures, things dry out faster.”

Clay Trauernicht, a fire scientist at the University of Hawaii, said the wet season can spur plants like Guinea grass, a nonnative, invasive species found across parts of Maui, to grow as quickly as 6 inches (15 centimeters) a day and reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) tall. When it dries out, it creates a tinderbox that's ripe for wildfire.  “These grasslands accumulate fuels very rapidly,” Trauernicht said. “In hotter conditions and drier conditions, with variable rainfall, it's only going to exacerbate the problem.”

STRONGER HURRICANES

Climate change not only increases the fire risk by driving up temperatures, but also makes stronger hurricanes more likely. In turn, those storms could fuel stronger wind events like the one behind the Maui fires.  That's on top of other threats made worse by climate changes. “There's an increasing trend in the intensity of hurricanes worldwide, in part because warm air holds more water," Fleishman said. “In addition to that, sea levels are rising worldwide, so you tend to get more severe flooding from the storm surge when a hurricane makes landfall.”

While climate change can’t be said to directly cause singular events, experts say, the impact extreme weather is having on communities is undeniable.  “These kinds of climate change-related disasters are really beyond the scope of things that we’re used to dealing with,” UBC’s Copes-Gerbitz said. “It’s these kind of multiple, interactive challenges that really lead to a disaster.”

https://www.timescolonist.com/weather-news/flash-drought-invasive-grasse...

There are several warnings for Canada in the climate crisis disaster that happened in Hawaii. Officially there are 55 dead but over 1,000 are missing as the only bodies identified so far are those outside of buildings. The incredible speed with which the wildfire raced through Lahania is a warning that something similar could happen here, as of course it has in Lillooet BC and the next time the death toll could be much higher. The fact that Hawaii had the world's largest integrated system of all public warning system in the world "but there is no indication that the 400 warning sirens posted throughout the island chain sounded on Tuesday" shows the folly of trying to use mass cellphone emergency signals instead of having sirens blaring loudly and continuously everywhere, also reminding Canadians of the RCMP misuse of Twitter to warn people of the largest mass killer prowling the highways of Nova Scotia a couple of years ago. Wires connected to cellphone towers were some of the first to burn. The Hawaiian disaster shows how climate crisis events, especialy those combining wildfires with other events such as hurricane, can occur so rapidly that you cannot outrun if you do not immediately escape. In Hawaii, the road was so hot tires were catching on fire, bringing cars to a stop with people dying as a result. It is time to stop talking about the climate crisis in the future tense and talk about it in the present before it gets exponentially worse. Having already pointed out the limitations of cellphones, I still believe that Canada needs to expand broadband coverage to all people in Canada, because it still is of some value in emergencies for communication, especially in isolated communities, which are often the communities most threatened by wildfires.

A brush fire near Lahaina's Kauaula Valley in Maui has forced evacuations.

 

At emergency shelters, animal sanctuaries and on social media message boards, family and friends of the 1,000 people still missing after the Maui wildfires are desperately trying to reconnect with loved ones.

The death toll from the wildfires that swept through Maui with breathtaking speed rose to 55 on Friday, with officials warning that figure only accounted for victims who were found outside of buildings.

Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told NBC’s Today show on Friday that officials were awaiting specialist FEMA search and rescue teams to begin the grim task of going door-to-door to look for survivors and assess the extent of the casualties.

“We will continue to see loss of life,” Governor Josh Green said at a press conference.

Survivors have told how they had no warning of the danger until seeing flames and hearing explosions. Officials sent alerts to mobile phones, television and radio stations, but the reach was limited with power and cell phone coverage down.

Hawaii has what officials describe as the largest integrated outdoor all-hazard public safety warning system in the world, but there is no indication that the 400 warning sirens posted throughout the island chain sounded on Tuesday. 

Terrifying images of Hawaiians who hurled themselves into the ocean to escape the fires show survivors clinging to the ocean wall while being sprayed with sea water and fire embers.

In Lahaina, the entire town centre filled with art galleries, churches, bars and souvenir stores have been wiped out. Hundreds of homes have also been destroyed in the historic seat of government for native Hawaiians.

The town’s historic Banyan Tree in Lahaina was smouldering but still standing on Thursday. “Just about the only thing left, other than the Lighthouse,” Hawaii senator Brian Schatz wrote on social media.

On Friday, cell phone reception, electricity and water were still down to 11,000 residents on Maui, and supplies were shipped in by boat with many roads still closed. 

Firefighters have contained 80 per cent of the Lahaina wildfire, and are continuing to tackle flare-ups at two other large fires in Kihei and Upcountry Maui.

Thousands of displaced families hunkering down in emergency shelters are in desperate need of supplies, Ms Engel told The Independent.

“I don’t think the world understands how awful this is,” she said.

https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/maui-fires-missing-sur...

Once again we have seen that Canadian cities largely built to meet the needs of rapidly expanding growth in the middle of the twentieth century are failing to meet the extreme weather conditions created by the climate crisis, with the flooding in Ottawa being just the latest example. The costs of adaptation to this new climate will be extremely high - the alternative of doing nothing being exponentially worse. For extreme rainfall, cities need to become more like sponges, using green roofs, rain gardens, etc. to help absorb the rain.

The massive rainfall on Thursday proved too much for Ottawa's stormwater management system. Some experts point to natural solutions. (Giacomo Panico/CBC)

More than 75 millimetres of rain was dumped on the nation's capital Thursday afternoon, a deluge so intense it temporarily overwhelmed drainage systems.  "We had a three-hour thunderstorm, something I've never experienced," said River ward Coun. Riley Brockington.  He said many residents told him they were convinced their storm drains were blocked. They ran to the end of their driveways to find nothing — not even a single leaf. "It's just like cars that try and get on the Queensway at rush hour. There's only so much capacity the Queensway can [handle] until cars slow down or stop," Brockington said.

Even the best and most modern culverts would not have been able to accommodate such an unusual rainfall, he said, arguing that the city's system performed just as it should.  But with the city itself projecting that the volume and intensity of rainfall will increase, some experts are calling for a change in strategy.

This issue is common to many major Canadian cities built to support rapid urban growth in the middle of the last century, explained Alexandra Lesnikowski, the leader of Concordia University's Climate Change Adaptation Lab.  With extreme weather events becoming more common, upgrades are a major economic challenge that will require planning, Lesnikowski said. "They will [have to] spread the cost of updating their stormwater and sewer system in a way that makes it financially manageable for them to undertake," she said.

Left unchecked, flooding can push cities to make difficult decisions about whether living in areas prone to these sorts of disasters is preferable or even possible. 

Usman Khan, an urban hydrology expert at York University, said the central issue is that roads, rooftops and parking lots inhibit the water cycle and encourage flooding because excess water can't be absorbed.  "The concept of a sponge city is to basically try to mimic this natural behaviour that we've taken away," he said.  "Introducing green areas like green roofs, rain gardens, vegetated swales can help temporarily hold water in the same way that a sponge does during rain events — and then release it slowly over time."  It's something the city has toyed with in the past, providing financial incentives for people to add a rain garden or a driveway made with permeable concrete, or adding bioswales — vegetated channels capable of holding runoff — to streets in Old Ottawa South and Sandy Hill.  ...

While the ideas may seem at odds with Ottawa's moves to intensify downtown areas and address a growing housing crisis, some experts say these ideas can go hand-in-hand. They can also be expensive — but, so are the alternatives. "If you look at flooding, say across Canada over the last 10 years, 20 years, we're seeing every time a major event happens, it's classified as the most expensive natural disaster," said Khan. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/flooding-is-a-problem-the-sponge-c...

The Northwest Territories has declared a state of emergency as the community of Enterprise is 90% destroyed by wildfire and Yellowknife is partly under evacuation order, with the rest of the city of 20,000 under evacuation alert. Five other communities have been told to evacuate bringing more than 6,500 the number of people told to evacuate the NWT.  Forth Smith and Hay River and the military has to airlift hundreds to safety. The hottest day ever recorded in the Far North just occurred in July in Fort Good Hope with temperatures hitting 37.4 C. Of course this has nothing to do with global warming, according to climate change denialists.

A wildfire burns in Hay River, Northern Territories, on 15 August.Photograph: Morgan Monkman/Reuters

A raging wildfire in northern Canada is inching closer to the biggest city in the Northwest Territories.

Local authorities on Tuesday night declared a territory-wide state of emergency and an evacuation order for the outskirts of Yellowknife, with the blaze just 10 miles (16km) away. Residents were ordered to leave a 22-mile stretch of Highway 3, one of the main roads in and out of the city.

“We find ourselves in a crisis situation and our government is using every tool available to assist,” said Shane Thompson, the territory’s minister of environment and climate change.

The city of 20,000 people is on high alert as authorities warned of the possibility of a larger evacuation order.

Five other communities in the territory have been told to evacuate, while a number of others are on alert. The town of Enterprise has been 90% destroyed.

Falling ash and visible smoke are likely in Yellowknife as the 163,000-hectare (402,000-acre) fire spreads.

Some people had to be airlifted to safety. One man told a CBC radio reporter that he was sent to an evacuation centre more than 600 miles from home, in northern Alberta. “They’re dispersing us all over the place,” he said.

Yellowknife is roughly 250 miles south of the edge of the Arctic Circle.

This summer alone, Northwest Territories has seen more than 2m hectares burned – a figure that is set to increase, with 236 wildfires currently active across the territory.

July saw the hottest day ever recorded in the far north of the country when Fort Good Hope – a community about 500 miles north-west of Yellowknife – hit 37.4C.

In the NWT, Fort Smith, Hay River, Kakisa, Enterprise (which is now 90% destroyed), Jean Marie River, and K'atl'odeeche First Nation communities have all already been evacuated because of the imminent threat of wildfires. The wildfire that destroyed Enterprise moved 75 Km in one day, something never seen before.

People leaving in a panic under evacuation orders and as fires burned in the forests around them led to an increase in car accidents in the NWT.

• People in Hay River, Kát’odeeche First Nation, Fort Smith, Enterprise, and Jean Marie River have been told to leave their homes.
• Cabin and home owners on North Prosperous Lake, North Prelude Lake, all of River Lake, and Highway 3 between km 284 and km 320 were told to leave.
• Yellowknife’s city council has declared a local state of emergency, but the city is not under an order, alert, or notice to evacuate.
• Highway 1 is closed from the Alberta border to kilometer 140, Highway 2 is closed, Highway 3 is closed between Behchok and Yellowknife, Highway 5 is closed, and the Jean Marie River access road is closed.
• NorthwesTel says it will be at least 24 hours before South Slave communities can use their phones and internet again.
• First responders left Fort Smith and went to a safer place.
• The Canadian Armed Forces are sending 124 soldiers to help fight wildfires in the territory. They are due to arrive on Wednesday. ...

​Most of the towns in the South Slave area were told to leave on Sunday because multiple wildfires either directly threatened the towns or threatened to shut down highways that connected them to the rest of the territory. ...

When Enterprise caught on fire, it was closer to Kakisa at first. But on Sunday, strong winds pushed the fire almost 40 kilometers to the east, where it eventually reached Highway 2. 

“[Fire] SS052 has taken over Enterprise. Crews are currently figuring out how much of the building has been destroyed,” says the territory’s website.wildfire update web page.

Like the NWT, BC is facing extreme fire behaviour is likely as B.C.'s heat wave and dry winds persist in the next few days as the climate crisis continues everywhere in Canada and the world. 

The Eagle Bluff wildfire is seen burning from Anarchist Mountain, outside of Osoyoos, B.C., in a Saturday, July 29, 2023, handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Michelle Genberg

The British Columbia Wildfire Service says hot and dry weather is contributing to “extreme fire behaviour” in the southern Interior as a ridge of high pressure settled over the province this week, sending temperatures soaring and further drying fuel in the forests.

Neal McLoughlin, with the predictive services unit of the wildfire service, says the ridge of high pressure bringing the heat is expected to break down in a few days in the Interior. But he says once the unseasonable heat is over, the breakdown of the high-pressure ridge could bring strong winds, a cold front and dry lightning. He says the lightning could start more fires that would spread quickly with shifting winds and has the service “very concerned.” McLoughlin says wildfire crews are continuing to do controlled burn work and urged people to report any wildfire activity as early as possible to give firefighters a leg up to deal with new ignitions.

There are about 370 wildfires burning in the province and 149 of those remain out of control, with 13 considered of note, meaning they are highly visible or threaten communities.

The service says a half dozen new fires in Strathcona Provincial Park on Vancouver Island were caused by lightning strikes, and they are being monitored for now. The wildfire service and emergency crews had to evacuate about 80 people on Wednesday from Cathedral Provincial Park outside Keremeos due to wildfires.

Two fires in the area, the Crater Creek wildfire and the Gillanders Creek wildfire, merged amid high winds on Tuesday, growing to about 100 square kilometres and prompting evacuation alerts and orders by the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen.

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/heat-wave-and-dry-winds-causing-extreme-fire-behav...