While planet earth is on fire Pierre Poilievre pours more fuel on the fire.
2023 has been the most devastating year on record for fires in British Columbia, with over 22,500 square kilometres (sq.km.) of our forest destroyed as of early September.
This compares with the previous record of 13,543 sq.km. burned in 2018.
As temperatures rise, our forests become so tinder dry that a lightning strikes or human carelessness can cause ground debris and neighbouring trees to ignite, which then can almost instantly develop into a raging inferno — destroying forests, homes, and entire communities.
Couple this with 2023’s severe drought conditions and we have a recipe for disaster.
Both issues — higher temperatures and less rainfall – have been caused by our climate crisis, which in turn is primarily due to our excessive carbon output.
Wildfires in August 2023 alone saw prolonged evacuations in West Kelowna and in the Shuswap area, with at least 189 structures partly or fully destroyed in West Kelowna and at least 168 structures lost or damaged in the Shuswap. Wildfires in the area continue this September with 450 hectares on fire in Peachland as of September 18th and evacuation orders and alerts issued.
Wildfires in the Northwest Territories in August 2023 were so severe that the entire city of Yellowknife was endangered and residents were evacuated for three weeks. Hay River residents had to evacuate for a month.
On August 8th 2023, the community of Lahaina on the island of Maui in Hawaii was basically destroyed by an enormous wildfire travelling at such high speed that it caught everyone off guard. An estimated 97 people have died. This fire was the direct result of what has been termed a ‘flash drought’ exacerbated by very high winds which caused the fire to travel at breakneck speed. As in B.C., the climate crisis was the cause and it in turn can be blamed primarily on the world’s carbon output.
Perhaps paradoxically, our climate crisis is also intensifying levels of rain when it does come, as well as increasing wind velocities, and changing the paths of hurricanes and tropical storms. Examples abound. As B.C. continues to struggle with drought, the Maritimes are recovering from the aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Lee. It was only one of a number of excessive rainfalls to hit the area this year.
It’s no longer unusual to see drought followed by extreme rainfall, with devastating consequences. In 2021, B.C. suffered from both, with an extreme drought throughout that summer followed by torrential rains in mid-November that inundated rivers which then overflowed, washing out highways and causing flooding in Abbotsford and surrounding areas.
The combination of periods of drought and extreme rainfall caused by the climate crisis recently produced the most devastating and unimaginable tragedy in Libya, when on September 10th this very dry country was hit by an intense torrential downpour. The epicentre was the coastal city of Derna. The rainfall was so enormous that it caused what should have been impossible, the collapse of two aging dams, releasing tidal waves of water onto tens of thousands of innocent, mainly poorly housed Libyans.
The United Nations has reported that as of September 18th, over 11,000 people have lost their lives and a further 10,100 are missing. More than 30,000 residents have been displaced out of a population of around 150,000.
The above are only some of the climate-related tragic events that have occurred this year. There are many, many more. Mother Earth is on fire. We can expect that next year will be even worse and the year following even worse than that.
All of this is primarily due to the fact that we continue to increase carbon emissions despite these desperate warnings from our planet.
And what is Pierre Poilievre’s response? Get rid of the carbon tax. As I explained in detail in my September 13, 2023 blog, the carbon tax is recognized by experts around the world as one of the most effective way of reducing our carbon output.
It is on this one issue alone that I say Pierre Poilievre is not fit to stand for election as Prime Minister of Canada.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (September 21, 2023): 417.60ppm
One year ago (September 21, 2022): 416.31ppm
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