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Here’s your weekly update with what you need to know about global climate change and the steps B.C. This week’s update includes information about the climate and ecological crises in the week of March 14-20, 2022.
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This week in climate news
- Hollywood stars demand that Royal Bank stop financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.
- Climate change and earlier allergy seasons are tied together
- Madagascans are struggling through long periods of drought
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for years that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome in June, and flooding would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate crisis.
Last August, it issued a “code red” for humanity and two weeks ago the panel, made up of hundreds of scientists from around the world, said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing.
For the most recent news on climate and environment, check back here every Saturday. By subscribing, you can also receive up-to-date B.C.-focused news delivered to your email by 7 a.m. here.
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Climate change quick facts:
- The Earth is now approximately 1.1 C warmer today than it was in 1800s.
- Globally, 2021 was fifth warmest year ever.
- The atmospheric CO concentrations have risen due to human activities2 Nearly 49 percent more than the pre-industrial levels in 1850.
- The world is not on track for meeting the Paris Agreement target to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 C above preindustrial levels. This is the upper limit to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
- 2015-2019 were the five most warm years ever recorded. 2010-2019, however, was the warmest decade ever.
- Based on the current carbon dioxide emissions trajectory, the temperature could rise by as much as 4.4% by the end century.
- In 2019, the concentrations of greenhouse gases reached new heights. Carbon dioxide levels reached a new high of 148 percent from preindustrial levels.
- To keep temperatures below 1.5 C, emissions must fall 7.6 percent per year between 2020 and 2030. Temperatures must also drop below 2 C per annum.
- 97% of climate scientists agree the climate is warming and believe that humans are to blame.
(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization,UNEP, Nasa, climatedata.ca)
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LATEST CLIMATE NEWS
Hollywood stars demand that Royal Bank stop financing the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern B.C.
Actor Mark Ruffalo leads a group of Hollywood stars calling on the Royal Bank of Canada not to finance the Coastal GasLink natural-gas pipeline through northern B.C.
Ruffalo and more than six dozen actors, musicians and others in the entertainment industry signed an open letter to RBC urging them to drop their financial support for the project, which they say infringes on the rights of the Wet’suwet’en people.
He said the hereditary chiefs have been ignored, while corporations deal exclusively with elected Wet’suwet’en leaders “put in place by the colonial government, and not the rightful titleholders.”
A petition to the bank calls for it to “stop funding fossil fuel expansion … RBC must end the funding of extreme fossil fuel expansion projects, specifically fracking and oilsands.”
Scarlett Johansson and Leonardo DiCaprio are among the No More Dirty Banks signatories.
—Joseph Ruttle
Climate change is causing allergy season earlier in Metro Vancouver
It’s not your imagination: The itchy eyes, that congested chest and those nose tickles that lead to violent bursts of sneezing are indeed arriving earlier in the season, and lasting longer.
The evidence, experts say, suggests it’s tied to climate change.
It is being felt in B.C., across the nation and all over the globe, said Cecilia Sierra-Heredia, a lecturer at SFU whose research delves into the connection between climate and allergies.
“It’s very consistent with the signals we’ve got from previous years and it’s directly linked to warming temperatures because of climate change,” Sierra-Heredia said.
Add to that earlier and longer allergy seasons to heat islands, atmospheric rivers, wildfires and floods, as well as other human-caused problems.
—Gord McIntyre
Federal ministers believe a national flood insurance program was needed
To protect homeowners in high-risk flood areas, federal, provincial, and territorial ministers are working together to create a national flood insurance program.
After two years of hard work, a task force consisting of representatives from the Insurance Bureau of Canada and government leaders is expected to release a final report about the program in the spring.
Thursday’s regularly scheduled ministerial meeting was focused on climate change mitigation, following a year filled with heat waves, wildfires, and flooding across the country.
In 2021, British Columbia was particularly hard hit. The provincial coroner’s service said 595 people died during an extended heat dome last summer. Record flooding in November caused at least 15,000 people to be evacuated. The two events are believed combined to have killed over 1.3 million farm animals.
—The Canadian Press
Yemeni city looks back to its ancient past to survive climate change
For thousands of years, a network of aqueducts and basins helped Yemen’s port city of Aden cope with both floods and drought. The ancient channels are clogged today by plastic bags and drinks cans.
Officials from the city believe that restoring the Tawila Cisterns back to their former glory will help ensure water supplies during dry spells, and prevent floods in the rainy seasons.
“I know my city’s history, and I want to bring that history to the present,” said Gelal Haykal, a 28-year-old member of the local council in the city’s flood-prone Crater districts, named for their location within a dormant volcano.
Since the 15th century B.C., the Tawila Cisterns would channel rainwater through a series of locks, filling up a half-dozen tanks before spilling out into the sea, according to UN-Habitat, the United Nations’ settlements program.
The channels are made of volcanic ash and stucco and run between the cragged ranges. They divert rainwater away from the oldest and lowest parts of Aden, and save residents from flooding.
—Reuters
Madagascans are struggling through long periods of drought: A green island turns to red
There are very few trees left in this once fertile area of southern Madagascar to slow down the wind. Red sand blows everywhere, onto fields, roads and villages, and into the eyes and hearts of children who wait for food aid packages.
The area has been transformed into a dustbowl by four years of severe drought, the worst in decades.
“There’s nothing to harvest. That’s why we have nothing to eat and we’re starving,” said mother-of-seven Tarira, standing at a remote World Food Programme (WFP) post near Anjeky Beanatara, where children are checked for signs of malnutrition and given food.
More than a Million people in southern Madagascar are currently in need of food handouts from WFP, a United Nations agency.
—Reuters
