There are two things that most of us can’t avoid: taxes and the weather. In my neck of the woods in Canada, we have endured a long and hard winter from mid-November to mid-April. We seemed to be breaking a record almost every other day — be it for temperatures or different forms of precipitation such as snow, sleet and freezing rain. Meanwhile, extreme weather patterns were reported across the U.S. and in different parts of the world. The headline statement in a recent federal report, commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada, indicated that Canada has warmed “twice as fast” as the entire planet since 1948. Boy, it sounds like we’re in big trouble now!
Despite numerous international reports confirming some form of climate change, there are still nay-sayers running around with their heads in the sand. Anything that affects the climate affects us all. Every sector of our economy is affected, be it agriculture, tourism, transportation, insurance, manufacturing, energy, etc., etc. We have seen an increase in damaging floods, droughts, fires, tornadoes, cyclones, hurricanes, etc., etc. You can’t turn on the evening news broadcasts without at least one story being about a severe weather event.
Already, many communities and industries are beginning to prepare and adjust for future climate change. From an economic and survival point of view, they have no choice. This represents the greatest challenge to humans, and ignoring or denying it does no one any favours — while doing so is at one’s peril. Yet, here we have a leader of the world’s wealthiest nation and biggest contributor to greenhouse emissions, simply looking the other way. Instead, blind policies are implemented that will even make the situation worst, all in the name of populism.
On top of which a new World Bank report concludes that climate change will transform more than 143 million people into “climate migrants” escaping crop failure, water scarcity, and sea-level rise. For example, many of the migrants from Central America fleeing to the north are farmers who can no longer eek out a sustainable living because of the impact of climate change on their farmlands. So while I might complain in the comfort of my home about the miserable weather we’ve been having, my circumstances are nothing compared to the misery facing many populations around the world. Think about it!
FROLITICKS 