It's Climate Change I tell'ya!! IT'S CLIMATE CHANGE!!

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,005
9,469
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Hilary remnants to seep into Canada, but won't do much for B.C. fires:
History is being made on all fronts across western North America but for all the wrong reasons. Southern California saw tropical storm warnings issued for the first time ever as Hilary threatens to bring catastrophic flooding.
1692551605667.jpeg
Meanwhile, in B.C., wildfires have scorched the most hectares in terms of area burned in the province's history -- more than 1.7 million as of Sunday, Aug. 20, according to the BC Wildfire Service. The fires have led to a degradation in air quality levels for many areas in B.C., becoming quite unhealthy for some.

Hilary’s moisture will continue flowing north over a large heat dome parked over the central United States, bringing cloudy skies and rain deep into the heart of Western Canada heading into this week.
Local authorities in Los Angeles have warned their people to board up windows, stack sandbags, and refuse to testify against the hurricane in a court of law in order to avoid being suicided. "The threat is real," warned McBeely.

At publishing time, several weather sources had confirmed that they are struggling to track the storm as their weather prediction servers were mysteriously drenched in bleach and smashed with a hammer overnight.
"We are seeing Hilary continue to weaken as it approaches the West Coast, so we have high hopes that it will not cause any, um... suicides," said meteorologist Fritz McBeely to reporters. "But we must be aware, this storm is highly unpredictable and could potentially suicide anyone foolish enough to stand in its way."
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,506
3,274
113
Climate change and its impact on Canadian eating habits
Author of the article:Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Published Aug 20, 2023 • Last updated 13 hours ago • 3 minute read

Headlines are dominated by reports of wildfires in Maui, Hawaii, Yellowknife, and the raging fires in Kelowna.


These wildfires pose a significant threat to British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley, a region that contributes a remarkable 25% to the province’s total agricultural output. The Okanagan Valley plays a pivotal role in the cultivation of apples, peaches, pears, and various tree fruits, serving as the primary producer.


The process of replacing trees in the event of damage can take several years, which is unsettling news for both farmers and consumers alike.

The media inundates us with increasingly frequent and destructive natural disasters, making it clear that climate change has become a major player in our reality. But how does this affect our dietary choices?

In partnership with Caddle, our lab conducted a nationwide study, surveying 5,450 Canadians about their eating habits measuring the impact of climate change on their perceptions of food security. The results, based on a survey conducted just a few weeks ago, are revealing and raise questions about the growing influence of climate change on what we put on our plates.


The survey reveals that more than half of Canadians, a staggering 52.3%, are either very concerned or extremely concerned about climate change. This concern is not unfounded, as 73% of Canadians believe that climate change is affecting weather patterns, resulting in higher temperatures in Canada.



When it comes to food production, 61% of Canadians believe that climate change is impacting Canada’s ability to produce food.

However, it is heartening to note that despite these concerns, 60.3% of Canadians believe that we will continue to have access to the same foods, regardless of climate-related changes and patterns. This suggests a certain confidence in the resilience of our food system.


Yet, Canadians are worried about food availability. Nearly half, or 47.1%, fear that climate change will affect food availability. Some have already noticed these changes, with 40.1% of Canadians reporting alterations in the availability or variety of certain foods during the summer over the past few years.

What is even more intriguing is that environmental concerns are now influencing the dietary choices of some Canadians. Nearly 38% of them often or always consider the environmental impact of their food choices during the summer. This demonstrates a gradual shift toward a more sustainable diet, one that is conscious of its environmental footprint.

However, there are regional disparities across Canada.


Quebec, with 48.1%, has the highest percentage of respondents who consider the environmental impact of their food choices during the warmer months, while Saskatchewan, with only 26.4%, has the lowest percentage. These differences may be attributed to various factors, including regional dietary habits and awareness of climate issues.

This is where urbanites’ proximity to agriculture varies greatly from one province to another.

In conclusion, the findings of this study clearly indicate that Canadians are becoming increasingly aware of the connections between climate change and their diet. The natural disasters that regularly afflict our country make us reflect, and environmental concerns are increasingly influencing our dietary choices.


It is crucial to note that the growing awareness of climate issues in our diet does not necessarily mean we should panic or completely give up meat, for example. The transition to a more sustainable diet can be gradual, by choosing environmentally friendly options, when possible, while still enjoying the foods we love.

Small actions, such as buying local and seasonal produce and reducing food waste, can have a significant impact on reducing our ecological footprint. The key is to stay informed, make informed choices, and support more sustainable agricultural and food practices, which benefit both our health and the planet.

– Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,506
3,274
113
Sweltering temperatures bringing misery, setting heat records in central U.S.
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Juan A. Lozano
Published Aug 20, 2023 • 4 minute read

HOUSTON — Sweltering temperatures lingered Sunday in a large swath of the central U.S., causing misery from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes.


Record high temperatures were recorded in Texas and other states. People were told to chug extra water while mowing lawns or exercising outdoors and to check on neighbours to ensure air conditioning is available. The extreme heat prompted Texas’ electric power grid manager to ask residents to voluntarily conserve power for three hours on Sunday night.


“These high temperatures can impact our friends, families and neighbours who may live alone, especially if they limit their use of air conditioning,” Sarah Russell, commissioner for the St. Louis Emergency Management Agency, said in a statement. “We urge everyone to stop and visit loved ones to ensure they are healthy and well during this extreme heat.”

The Dallas-Fort Worth area was expected to reach 43.3 C Sunday after hitting 42.2 C Saturday, said Sarah Barnes, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The record high for those dates was 41.7 C, set in 2011.


The area is not cooling off enough at night, Barnes said.

“That’s really going to contribute to an increased risk of heat-related illnesses,” Barnes said Sunday. “That’s the main concern when it comes to people and the heat.”

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Sunday asked the state’s 30 million residents to voluntarily reduce power use for three hours at night because of “extreme temperatures, continued high demand and unexpected loss of thermal generation.”



ERCOT’s request for voluntary power conservation was the second such request in the last three days. The agency said it was not in emergency operations. Many residents still view the power grid nervously more than 2 1/2 years after a deadly winter blackout.


The heat wave causing misery this weekend is just the latest to punish the U.S. this year.

Scientists have long warned that climate change will lead to more and prolonged bouts of extreme weather, including hotter temperatures.

The entire globe has simmered to record heat in June and July. And if that’s not enough, smoke from wildfires, floods and droughts have caused problems globally.

The National Weather Service set an excessive heat warning Sunday for parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. Heat advisories or watches were also in place in parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota.

Tourism in New Orleans often slows during the peak of summer heat and that’s happening as temperatures approach 37.8 C.


NOLA Poboys is closing two days a week for now, said Lucas McQueen, one of the restaurant’s chefs. “I can’t wait to be complaining about being cold,” McQueen told WWL-TV.

The temperature reached a record high of 40 C for the day Saturday in Jackson, Miss., as people walked between indoor and outdoor events at the Mississippi Book Festival. Volunteers distributed chilled water and people used handheld fans while chatting with authors and shopping for books at large tents outside the state Capitol building.

Houston on Sunday added to its ongoing streak of high temperatures at or above 37.8 C. Through Sunday, the high temperature in Houston has been at least that for 22 days. Sunday’s high was 42.2 C, breaking a record for the date that goes back to 1909.


The stifling heat in Texas overwhelmed people taking part in orientation for new students at Prairie View A&M University, 77 km northwest of Houston. University officials said they were reviewing operations after 38 students were hospitalized Friday night after suffering heat-related illnesses, including dehydration. One student was taken by helicopter to a hospital in nearby College Station, while 37 were taken in ambulances to other facilities, Waller County EMS Chief Rhonda Getschman told KBTX.

“It’s very easy to overheat quickly in this Texas heat. We highly encourage everyone to stay indoors as much as possible,” Getschman said.

Much of Iowa is expected to see high temperatures in the upper 30s Sunday and Monday, followed by three days where the reading will likely top 37.8 C.


The heat was worrisome for Sunday as thousands were expected for the final day of the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. In a Facebook post, fair officials urged patrons to visit air-conditioned buildings, take regular breaks and stay hydrated.

Forecasters expected high temperatures to reach 37.2 C to 39.4 C through Friday in St. Louis and heat’s only part of the problem: Excessive humidity will lead to a heat index of up to 46.1 C each day. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that if the prediction holds, it will be the worst stretch of heat in St. Louis since August 2014, when temperatures rose to about 35 C for seven straight days.

Similar heat is expected all week in Little Rock, Ark., prompting the community to open several cooling centres for people who live on the streets or without air conditioning.


Last month, the Phoenix area broiled under a record-setting 31 days of daily high temperatures of 43.4 C or above. The historic heat began blasting the region in June, stretching from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert. The previous record was 18 straight days in 1974. In July, the continental United States set a record for overnight warmth, providing little relief from daytime heat for people, animals, plants and the electric grid, meteorologists said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports just 600 to 700 heat deaths annually in the U.S. But experts say the mishmash of ways that more than 3,000 counties calculate heat deaths means the public doesn’t really know how many people die in the U.S. each year.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
37,506
3,274
113
Deluge from Tropical Storm Hilary hits California after making landfall along Mexico’s Baja coast
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Jordi Lebrija
Published Aug 20, 2023 • Last updated 8 hours ago • 5 minute read

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Deadly floodwaters inundated streets across Mexico’s arid Baja California on Sunday as Tropical Storm Hilary moved ashore carrying torrential rain into Southern California, and concerns mounted that flash floods could strike in places as far north as Idaho that rarely get such heavy rain.


Forecasters said Hilary was the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years, bringing the potential for flash floods, mudslides, isolated tornadoes, high winds and power outages.


Hilary made landfall along the Mexican coast in a sparsely populated area about 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Ensenada, on a path to hit mudslide-prone Tijuana Sunday evening, threatening the improvised homes that cling to hillsides just south of the U.S. border.

At least 9 million people were under flash-flood warnings as heavy rain fell across normally sunny Southern California ahead of the brunt of the storm. Desert areas were especially susceptible along with hillsides with wildfire burn scars, forecasters warned.


Mud spilled onto highways, water overwhelmed drainage systems and tree branches fell in places from San Diego to Los Angeles. The weather service said tornadoes were possible Sunday afternoon in eastern San Diego County.

Southern California got another surprise in the afternoon as an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.1 hit near Ojai, about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt widely and was followed by smaller aftershocks. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injury, according to a dispatcher with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.

Hilary could wallop other Western states with once-in-a-century rains, with a good chance of it becoming the wettest known tropical cyclone to douse Nevada, Oregon and Idaho. Hilary was expected to remain a tropical storm into central Nevada early Monday before dissipating.


By 2 p.m. California time, Hilary was 115 miles (180 kilometers) south-southeast of San Diego, the National Hurricane Center reported. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph) and was moving northwest at nearly 25 mph (41 kph).

Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said that while Hilary had weakened from a Category 4 hurricane, it’s the water, not the wind, that people should watch out for most — some areas could get as much rain in hours that they typically get in a year.

“You do not want to be out driving around, trying to cross flooded roads on vehicle or on foot,” Brennan said during a briefing from Miami. “Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States in the past 10 years, and you don’t want to become a statistic.”


Hilary is just the latest major climate disaster to wreak havoc across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Hawaii’s island of Maui is still reeling from a blaze that killed over 100 people and ravaged the historic town of Lahaina, making it the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Firefighters in Canada are battling that nation’s worst fire season on record.

The Mexican cities of Ensenada and Tijuana closed all beaches and opened a half-dozen shelters at sports complexes and government offices.

One person drowned Saturday in the Mexican town of Santa Rosalia when a vehicle was swept away in an overflowing stream. Rescue workers saved four other people, said Edith Aguilar Villavicencio, the mayor of Mulege township.


Mexican army troops fanned out across Mulege, where some of the worst damage occurred Saturday on the eastern side of the Baja Peninsula. Soldiers used bulldozers and dump trucks to help clear tons of boulders and earth clogging streets and roads that were turned into raging torrents a day earlier.

Power lines were toppled in many places, and emergency personnel were working to restore power and reach those cut off by the storm.

Brennan said rainfall could reach between 3 and 6 inches (7 centimeters and 15 centimeters) in many areas. Forecasters warned it could dump up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) — a year’s worth of rain _ in some isolated areas.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has officials inside California’s emergency preparedness office and teams on standby with food, water and other help.


In coastal Carlsbad, just north of San Diego, 19-year-old Jack Johnson and his friends kept an eye on the waves, determined to surf them at some point Sunday.

“It’s really choppy out there, not really surfable yet, but I think we can find a good break somewhere later,” Johnson said. “I can’t remember a storm like this.”

San Diego schools postponed the first day of classes from Monday to Tuesday.

Authorities issued evacuation warnings Saturday for Santa Catalina Island, urging residents and beachgoers to decamp for the mainland, and for several mountain and foothill communities in San Bernardino County. Orange County sent an alert for anyone living in a wildfire burn scar in the Santa Ana Mountains’ Silverado and Williams canyons.


Los Angeles authorities scrambled to get homeless people off the streets and into shelters, and officials ordered all state beaches in San Diego and Orange counties closed.

Across the region, municipalities ran out of free sandbags and grocery shelves emptied as people stockpiled supplies. California’s Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve were closed.

To the north in Nevada, Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency and activated 100 National Guard troops to assist with problems from predicted flooding in western Clark and Nye counties and southern Esmeralda County. In Arizona, wind gusts neared 60 mph (97 kph) in Yuma County, where officials gave out thousands of sandbags.

“I urge everyone, everyone in the path of this storm, to take precautions and listen to the guidance of state and local officials,” President Joe Biden said.

Meanwhile, one of several budding storm systems in the Atlantic Ocean became Tropical Storm Emily on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was far from land, moving west in the open ocean. Also, Tropical Storm Franklin formed in the eastern Caribbean. Tropical storm watches were issued for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

In Sept. 1939, a tropical storm that roared into California ripped apart train tracks, tore houses from their foundations and capsized many boats, killing nearly 100 people on land and at sea.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
113,009
12,705
113
Low Earth Orbit
It sure rained alot in the SW US deserts this year. Friends in Tempe AZ posted some gorgeous pictures of the deep green desert in full bloom. Quite spectacular.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,005
9,469
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
The Trudeau government and its supporters want you to believe you are a climate denier if you don’t agree with their climate change policies.

That, by implication, you are somehow responsible for this summer’s wildfires and flooding across Canada.

This ‘You’re either with us or with the climate deniers’ political rhetoric is nonsense.

As Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has noted, we could reduce our industrial greenhouse gas emissions to zero tomorrow and it would have no impact on human-induced climate change, because our contribution to global emissions is too small.

Meanwhile, the Trudeau government has praised China for years on climate change.

China is the world’s largest emitter. It burns more coal than the rest of the world combined. Using coal to produce electricity is the single largest source of global emissions.

What is true is that carbon taxes and carbon pricing mean higher costs for Canadians.

What isn’t true is the Trudeau government’s continuing claim its carbon tax/carbon pricing regime leaves most Canadians better off financially in those provinces paying it, because of rebates.

As the Parliamentary Budget Officer has reported, when the negative impact of the carbon tax on the economy is factored in, most Canadians paying the federal carbon tax end up worse off financially.

In that context, being skeptical about the federal Liberal government’s climate change policies isn’t climate denial.
The Liberals’ approach to addressing climate change also contradicts the views of most Canadians, according to a recent Nanos/CTV poll. It showed that while they’re concerned about climate change, they’re skeptical about the way the Trudeau government has addressed it and worried about the costs.

The poll found 64% of Canadians surveyed believe extreme weather events are the result of climate change (meaning human-induced climate change), while 28% believe it’s the result of natural variations in weather with 8% unsure.

But 65% also said a carbon tax is an ineffective way to encourage people to use less fossil fuels, 53%, said a carbon tax is ineffective in combatting climate change and 67% said this is a bad time to increase carbon taxes.

There is nothing illogical about holding all of these views simultaneously.

It certainly has nothing to do with climate denial.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
26,005
9,469
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Libs on Climate Net Zero at COP26 in Glasgow Scotland where they state that they will get Canada to Net Zero by 2050.
This was going to be accomplished using a combination of nuclear, Hydro, and natural gas for power generation….BUT….but the good folks in Scotland at COP26 didn’t want nuclear and natural gas power generation as part of the solution?

So they’re saying ditch Coal, but don’t replace it with nuclear or natural gas for power generation. That leaves Hydro if you got it, and then wind & solar which are intermittent, so they don’t cut it. Oh well. Guess what they also opposed at COP26, or at least many of them…Hydropower.

Now here’s perspective from today, right now, in the green quagmire that Canada is being steered into by our current government. This is well worth the watch…
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
113,009
12,705
113
Low Earth Orbit
Libs on Climate Net Zero at COP26 in Glasgow Scotland where they state that they will get Canada to Net Zero by 2050.
This was going to be accomplished using a combination of nuclear, Hydro, and natural gas for power generation….BUT….but the good folks in Scotland at COP26 didn’t want nuclear and natural gas power generation as part of the solution?

So they’re saying ditch Coal, but don’t replace it with nuclear or natural gas for power generation. That leaves Hydro if you got it, and then wind & solar which are intermittent, so they don’t cut it. Oh well. Guess what they also opposed at COP26, or at least many of them…Hydropower.

Now here’s perspective from today, right now, in the green quagmire that Canada is being steered into by our current government. This is well worth the watch…
What planet are they from and why do I have to freeze in order to cool it down?