This week's heat wave serves to painfully underscore the findings of the latest report of the International Panel on Climate Change.
Author of the article:Allison Hanes
• Montreal Gazette
Publishing date:Aug 11, 2021
Publishing date:Aug 11, 2021
A haze and smog filled skyline of Montreal as seen from Ile-Sainte-Hélène, on Monday, July 26, 2021. On Tuesday, temperatures hit 38 C with the humidex by noon.
PHOTO BY ALLEN MCINNIS /Montreal Gazette
As if right on cue, a heat wave has smothered the Montreal area.
Temperatures hit 38 C with the humidex by noon on Tuesday. Environment Canada issued a warning advising people to drink lots of water and find ways to stay cool. The city activated its heat emergency plan, offering cooling stations for those without air conditioning and extending pool hours. We have only to remember the deadly summer of 2018, when 66 Montrealers perished, to see how dangerous extreme heat can be.
But all this discomfort serves to painfully underscore, right here in our own backyard, the findings of the latest report of the International Panel on Climate Change.
This week’s update from the network of climate scientists working under the auspices of the United Nations confirms what we ought to know by now, or at least what we feel when we open the door and walk into a mass of humid air. The climate crisis is here. It’s happening now. And time is running out to avoid the worst of this human-caused catastrophe.
The IPCC report confirms with greater precision the warnings we’ve been hearing for decades. By the 2030s, Earth will reach the 1.5 C maximum threshold for planetary warming set out by the Paris Accord. The Arctic will be ice-free at least once by 2050. Sea levels will continue to rise for centuries, perhaps millennia.
The IPCC offers various scenarios, all of which point in the same dire direction they always do. At least one participating scientist rightly questioned the utility of continuing to devote so much effort to proving climate change is occurring, given the undeniable expert consensus at this point. Except to provoke a public reaction and attempt to spur government action, our energies would indeed be better spent on trying to correct course.
So what are we doing, and what must we still do, to face this monumental challenge?
According to UN Secretary General António Guterres — and every credible scientist — we must accelerate the transition away from the coal and other fossil fuels that got us into this mess in the first place. Nation states must lead the way, of course, with the Paris Accord as their road map. But they need to go further, faster. The next round of climate negotiations that will take place in Glasgow in November will be crucial. The bar for reducing emissions must be raised substantially.
The European Union and the United States have already committed to drastic cuts on the road to carbon neutrality. So has Canada, along with implementing a carbon tax, banning the sale of new vehicles with combustion engines by 2035 and enshrining carbon reduction targets in law. But is it adequate? Recent comments by Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson suggesting that oil exports via the new Trans Mountain pipeline are needed to finance new green initiatives have created cognitive dissonance.
Quebec is part of a carbon market with California and unveiled a green strategy largely predicated on exporting cleaner hydroelectric energy to the northeastern U.S. It is investing in public transit and offering incentives for Quebecers to switch to electric vehicles. But it is still not doing enough to tackle our own largest and fastest growing sources of greenhouse gases: transportation emissions. The incoherence of a planned “Troisième Lien” in Quebec City will only exacerbate tailpipe pollution and promote sprawl.
Montreal is among the cities leading the charge globally against climate change. Mayor Valérie Plante announced an ambitious ecological transition plan to make city buildings carbon neutral by 2040, reduce vehicle use by a quarter over the coming decade and create an emissions-free zone downtown. Her administration’s efforts to set aside more green space in this dense city have been laudable, but there are some thorny outstanding matters. Notably, the Technoparc Wetlands, which sit partly on lands owned by a city entity, must be preserved.
Citizens, too, must do their part — like reconsidering our addiction to long commutes in SUVs. But our most important responsibility in the coming months will be exercising our civic duty. A federal election call is said to be imminent. And there are municipal elections in November.
It is incumbent upon all of us to hold our leaders to account in this country and demand stronger measures in every city, suburb, town and village to avert climate disaster. Our votes are our voice. At this critical moment for humanity and the planet, we must use these wisely.
The oppressive heat will be long gone by election day. But we must not forget its searing message about what lies in store if we fail to change.
As if right on cue, a heat wave has smothered the Montreal area.
Temperatures hit 38 C with the humidex by noon on Tuesday. Environment Canada issued a warning advising people to drink lots of water and find ways to stay cool. The city activated its heat emergency plan, offering cooling stations for those without air conditioning and extending pool hours. We have only to remember the deadly summer of 2018, when 66 Montrealers perished, to see how dangerous extreme heat can be.
But all this discomfort serves to painfully underscore, right here in our own backyard, the findings of the latest report of the International Panel on Climate Change.
This week’s update from the network of climate scientists working under the auspices of the United Nations confirms what we ought to know by now, or at least what we feel when we open the door and walk into a mass of humid air. The climate crisis is here. It’s happening now. And time is running out to avoid the worst of this human-caused catastrophe.
The IPCC report confirms with greater precision the warnings we’ve been hearing for decades. By the 2030s, Earth will reach the 1.5 C maximum threshold for planetary warming set out by the Paris Accord. The Arctic will be ice-free at least once by 2050. Sea levels will continue to rise for centuries, perhaps millennia.
The IPCC offers various scenarios, all of which point in the same dire direction they always do. At least one participating scientist rightly questioned the utility of continuing to devote so much effort to proving climate change is occurring, given the undeniable expert consensus at this point. Except to provoke a public reaction and attempt to spur government action, our energies would indeed be better spent on trying to correct course.
So what are we doing, and what must we still do, to face this monumental challenge?
According to UN Secretary General António Guterres — and every credible scientist — we must accelerate the transition away from the coal and other fossil fuels that got us into this mess in the first place. Nation states must lead the way, of course, with the Paris Accord as their road map. But they need to go further, faster. The next round of climate negotiations that will take place in Glasgow in November will be crucial. The bar for reducing emissions must be raised substantially.
The European Union and the United States have already committed to drastic cuts on the road to carbon neutrality. So has Canada, along with implementing a carbon tax, banning the sale of new vehicles with combustion engines by 2035 and enshrining carbon reduction targets in law. But is it adequate? Recent comments by Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson suggesting that oil exports via the new Trans Mountain pipeline are needed to finance new green initiatives have created cognitive dissonance.
Quebec is part of a carbon market with California and unveiled a green strategy largely predicated on exporting cleaner hydroelectric energy to the northeastern U.S. It is investing in public transit and offering incentives for Quebecers to switch to electric vehicles. But it is still not doing enough to tackle our own largest and fastest growing sources of greenhouse gases: transportation emissions. The incoherence of a planned “Troisième Lien” in Quebec City will only exacerbate tailpipe pollution and promote sprawl.
Montreal is among the cities leading the charge globally against climate change. Mayor Valérie Plante announced an ambitious ecological transition plan to make city buildings carbon neutral by 2040, reduce vehicle use by a quarter over the coming decade and create an emissions-free zone downtown. Her administration’s efforts to set aside more green space in this dense city have been laudable, but there are some thorny outstanding matters. Notably, the Technoparc Wetlands, which sit partly on lands owned by a city entity, must be preserved.
Citizens, too, must do their part — like reconsidering our addiction to long commutes in SUVs. But our most important responsibility in the coming months will be exercising our civic duty. A federal election call is said to be imminent. And there are municipal elections in November.
It is incumbent upon all of us to hold our leaders to account in this country and demand stronger measures in every city, suburb, town and village to avert climate disaster. Our votes are our voice. At this critical moment for humanity and the planet, we must use these wisely.
The oppressive heat will be long gone by election day. But we must not forget its searing message about what lies in store if we fail to change.
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