And this is only the beginning - From the Cluttered Desk with Keith Roulston

Last week, as wildfires left thousands of people homeless in suburbs surrounding Los Angeles, the European Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that in 2024 the average world temperature exceeded the 1.5°C amount over pre-industrial average temperatures which scientists had warned us would be dangerous for human life.

 

The 2024 temperature exceeded the high set in 2023. In fact, the five years leading up to last year had each been the highest temperatures since between 1850 and 1900, the period to which today’s temperatures are compared.

 

The California fires come after months of rain not falling in the area. They are not the first signs of the destructive effects of climate change. Last summer, the resort town of Jasper was closed to the public for long periods because the town was partly burned by wildfires. Alberta’s wildfire agency responded to 1,210 wildfires in 2024, exceeding 2023’s record-breaking total of 1,080.

 

And although the fire season has ended, beneath some of Alberta’s snowy cold, “zombie” wildfires are smoldering, slumbering dragons waiting for air and warmth in the spring to snarl back to life.

 

The year before last, 2023, Canada faced forest fires in almost every province. But are we ready to change this drastic situation? In Canada, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre has argued long and hard against the carbon tax, and voters seem ready to vote him into power.

 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who shut down wind-farm expansion and opposes the carbon tax, talks about building a new submerged highway below the 401 so we can have even more people driving. His popularity remains high. 

 

Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta, the province that has suffered so many wildfires, has argued against the climate tax, because, of course, much of her province’s wealth comes from producing oil and gas.

 

South of the border, President-elect Donald Trump is an outspoken opponent of efforts to reduce the use of carbon. When California was suffering from multiple fires, Trump blamed the situation on the Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom for a lack of water for fighting the fire, saying Newsom had diverted water to replenish wetland areas.

 

Right now, politicians attacking attempts to battle climate change are a good excuse for those of us who just don’t want to change our habits to fight the crisis. 

 

I’ve heard people question why Canadians should clean up our environment by burning less gas and oil when the rest of the world continues to pollute. Indeed, while leaders dating back to former President Jimmy Carter in the 1970s have tried to alter North Americans’ use of carbon-based fuels, economic transformation of population giants China and India has put millions of tons of carbon pollution (often supplied by places like Alberta) into the air.

 

Besides, we’ve come to like foreign travel that puts millions of tons of jet fumes into the air. We like to drive, even if most people would rather have their work closer to their homes. As individuals, we’re not willing to pay the price that must be paid to save the environment.

 

Lately I’ve been seeing advertisements for cars that celebrate new “muscle cars” that burn gasoline to speed up to 200 kilometres per hour, when our top speed limits are 100 kilometres per hour. The advertisements are more tempting than advertisements for environment-saving, carbon-neutral electric cars.

 

Despite the warnings of the European Copernicus Climate Change Service that global temperatures are going up, as an old man, I’m not likely to suffer the worst effects of climate change. My grandchildren, however, are going to live in increasingly uncomfortable times. My generation can help by cutting back on the pollution we cause. While the amount of carbon I put into the air may be trivial in terms of the immense problem, I can make my effort. And if I make my effort and you make your effort and enough of us make an effort, we can begin to alter the future.

 

Yes, it’s an immense problem and, in the end, actually challenges whether our human society can continue to exist. But we can only solve the problem if we take up the challenge to change. That doesn’t mean supporting Pierre Poilievre’s and Donald Trump’s vows to stop trying. It doesn’t mean buying cheaper goods from Third World giants that are so worried about growth that they’re willing to risk the future health of their citizens.

 

It means each of us doing our part: finding the most efficient way to heat our homes, finding the most fuel-efficient cars and driving them less, staying home even though we know friends went to Europe or elsewhere.

 

Climate change depends on each of us making climate-saving sense.