Why do politicians not take climate change more seriously? Because voters don’t vote for it! Climate change seems very far away and voters think other, more immediate issues are more important. They’re not.
Every issue — healthcare, housing, homelessness, affordability, deficits — all will be made more severe with a worsening climate. Imagine being homeless in a heat dome, or homeless because a wildfire wiped out your town. (The residents of Lytton are still waiting, three years after it combusted under record 49.9 C heat.) Deficits? The B.C. Government spent $1 billion fighting wildfires last year, more than twice the previous year.
And yet, the effects of our continued and wanton burning of carbon-emitting fossil fuels are accelerating. The jet stream is starting to break down. That’s an atmospheric firehose that pushes weather systems along, but it’s no longer reliable. Storms are getting stalled, dumping 12 inches to 18 inches of rain at a time. Extreme weather events like these have seen a staggering increase in the last 20 years.
Weather has always been hard to predict, but without the jet stream’s control, weather could become chaotic and even more unpredictable.
The gulf stream brings warmth to our Atlantic coast and Western Europe, but it’s breaking down also. Greenland’s ice sheet is melting faster than previously expected, pushing the forecasted collapse into the next few decades. What would that look like?
Clear air turbulence is now causing one third of all air accidents, according to the NTSB, the U.S. agency that investigates such things. This includes many serious, injuries and several deaths. These incidents have been increasing in the past few decades and are linked to climate change. Clear air turbulence strikes with no warning, no storm or visual clue and no chance to prepare.
CO2 molecules act like little heat pumps, absorbing energy from the ground, quickly releasing it into the air and then repeating. With an increasingly energetic atmosphere, clear air turbulence could increase significantly in the next decades. With more and greater turbulence, will flying become too dangerous?
One party has shown a less than half-hearted effort on confronting climate change. They are still refusing to protect our old growth, even as our carbon-absorbing forests continue to be decimated by more intense wildfires. They are promoting or subsidizing increased fracking, increased natural gas export and yet another pipeline while continuing to starve our public transportation system. And now that party has killed the carbon tax, their only effective tool against climate change.
Another party promises the same, even worse. And without remedy, climate change catastrophes will increase.
We have many intractably serious predicaments before us. Climate change will make them more difficult, as well as bringing its own set of troubles.
Even an especially odious government, and the damage it causes, will only be temporary. The ensuing climate devastation will be ruining our lives for decades.
Cynthia Montgomery
Maple Bay
