B.C. Climate News: Residents urged to conserve water as drought conditions worsen | June hottest month on record - Vancouver Sun

Weekly roundup of climate change news to July 16, 2023 | Vancouver Sun

Here's your weekly roundup of local and international climate change news for the week of July 10 to July 16, 2023.

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This week, climate scientists said June was Earth’s hottest month on record, and that it marked the first time a June temperature was 1 C above the long-term average.

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B.C. Climate News: Residents urged to conserve water as drought conditions worsen | June hottest month on record Back to video

The B.C. government warned of serious drought conditions as more than 300 wildfires rage across the province, including one that claimed the life of a 19-year-old firefighter. And concerns were raised about farm workers and heat-related illness.

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Here’s all the latest news concerning the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, and the steps leaders are taking to address these issues.

In climate news this week:

• B.C. residents urged to conserve water as drought conditions worsen

• Farm workers at increasing risk of heat-related illnesses as B.C. summers get hotter

• NASA says June was the hottest month on record globally

The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned for more than a decade that wildfires, drought, severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and more intense because of the climate emergency.

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The panel has issued a “code red” for humanity and last year it said the window to stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 C was closing. In April 2022, it released a report with solutions for how to drive down greenhouse gas emissions, mainly by transitioning away from fossil fuels.

There is a scientific consensus on climate change (NASA reports that 97 per cent of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human activity is the cause.) Several studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of global warming.

Check back here every Saturday for a roundup of the latest climate and environmental stories. You can also get up to date B.C.-focused news delivered to your inbox by 7 a.m. by subscribing to our newsletter here.

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Climate change quick facts:

- The Earth is now about 1.2 C warmer than it was in the 1800s.
- Globally, 2022 was the fifth warmest year on record, while 2016 was the hottest.
- Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
- The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change.
- On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much as 4.4 C by the end of the century.
- In April, 2022 greenhouse gas concentrations reached record new highs and show no sign of slowing.
- Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C.
- 97 per ent of climate scientists agree that the climate is warming and that human beings are the cause.

(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, UNEP, Nasa, climatedata.ca)

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LATEST CLIMATE NEWS

B.C. residents urged to conserve water as drought conditions worsen

B.C. residents are being asked to do their part to conserve water as drought conditions parch the province.

Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma called on residents, farmers, businesspeople and industrial plant operators to take urgent steps to cut water use.

She highlighted a report from B.C.’s River Forecast Centre that said the combination of record heat in May followed by early snow melt and persistently low levels of precipitation have created historic drought conditions across the province.

“Water is a precious resource and we are fortunate to have some of the best water in the world,” Ma said at a news conference. “Every drop counts and that’s why everyone needs to do their part.”

The report by hydrologist Jonathan Boyd said most of B.C. has received rainfall over the past year between 40 per cent and 85 per cent of annual average precipitation.

Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

Farm workers at increasing risk of heat-related illnesses as B.C. summers get hotter

After working in fields under a beating sun, some B.C. farm workers return home to sweltering housing, says an advocate for seasonal agriculture workers who is calling for better protection against extreme heat.

Raul Gatica, spokesman for the Dignidad Migrantes Society, said he’s asking the federal government to investigate six B.C. farms for not providing workers with ways to cool down during hot weather.

“The problem is not just the need of air conditioners, but also that the employer didn’t implement measures like having cold water, shadows or cold rags at the workplace and during the long working hours,” he said Thursday.

As global heat records were broken last week, B.C. data shows extreme heat is making more workers sick.

Between 2018 and 2020, WorkSafeBC accepted an average of 40 claims a year for heat stroke. The number jumped to 115 in 2021, the year of the heat dome, and remained high in 2022, at 81.

Read the full story here.

—Glenda Luymes

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NASA says June 2023 officially hottest month on record

June was the hottest month on record globally, according to NASA’s climate scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

NASA — which uses the period from 1951 to 1980 as a baseline to understand how global temperatures change over time — made the announcement on Thursday.

The news comes as Environment and Climate Change Canada experts told Postmedia that Canada set heat records for three days in a row last week, mainly because of heat waves in B.C. and Quebec.

The hot weather, combined with early snowmelt and very little precipitation, has led to historical drought conditions in B.C., forcing the government to plead with residents Thursday to conserve water.

Other international agencies tracking climate change — including the U.S. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service— also declared this week that June was the hottest on record.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

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Study finds marine heat waves cause mass seabird die-offs in Pacific Northwest

Seabirds in the Pacific Northwest — from cormorants to petrels and auklets — are at risk of mass die-offs from a warming ocean, especially during an El Niño or a marine heat wave because of climate change, according to a new study.

New research led by the University of Washington uses data collected by coastal residents along beaches from central California to B.C. and Alaska over 28 years to understand how seabirds have fared in a warming climate.

What they found was that marine heat waves indirectly lead to massive seabird die-offs between one to six months later. The paper, published July 6 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series, measures the magnitude of mortality events above long-term normal.

The researchers used surveys of birds found dead on beaches from 1993 to 2021. They found that massive mortality events, with death tolls over 250 million birds, occurred about once a decade.

Read the full story here.

—Tiffany Crawford

’Long days ahead,’ says Eby as B.C.’s wildfire evacuation orders and alerts climb

Escalating wildfires and worsening drought across B.C. signal challenging times ahead, with the province and nation facing the worst fire season in 100 years, said Premier David Eby.

Evacuation orders and alerts were expanded Tuesday near several wildfires in B.C.’s northern regions as communities try to keep residents safe and the BC Wildfire Service battles an increasing number of fires.

Eby, in Winnipeg for a meeting of premiers Tuesday, said help is on the way for fire-threatened communities, but the coming months could see conditions not experienced in a century.

The Regional District of Bulkley Nechako ordered more properties evacuated late Monday near two out-of-control fires in the Burns Lake area of central B.C., including a 3.5-square-kilometre blaze just east of the village, not far from Highway 16.

Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

’Kind and thoughtful’: 19-year-old firefighter who died in B.C. is identified by her brother

A 19-year-old B.C. firefighter who police say was killed by a falling tree near Revelstoke on Thursday has been identified by her brother as Devyn Gale, who was a former member of the B.C. gymnastics team and a star pupil at her high school.

Gale’s death comes as B.C. battles more than 360 fires across the province. Emergencies Minister Bill Blair said Friday he had mobilized federal resources including the military to aid in the province’s wildfire fight.

Nolan Gale said in an Instagram post that his sister was “kind and thoughtful,” and he’s grateful to have grown up alongside her.

Revelstoke RCMP said in a news release that does not name Gale that the young firefighter was working on brush-clearing in a remote area where a fire had started.

Mounties said her team lost contact with her before finding her pinned under a fallen tree. They immediately gave her first aid, but she succumbed to her injuries after being airlifted to a hospital in Revelstoke.

—The Canadian Press

Fireflies facing threats from climate change and light pollution

Aaron Fairweather remembers seeing fireflies as a child for the first time, a swarm of twinkles flashing across the surface of a lake near Saint John, N.B., illuminating a summer’s night.

Fairweather, who uses they/them pronouns, was fly-fishing with their father at the time. Now, the research associate at the University of Guelph fears that threats such as climate change and light pollution could snuff out these luminescent insects, depriving future generations of the “magic” they experienced as a child.

“It’s really sad to see that one of these childhood marvels _ these insects that make us say, ‘Isn’t the world incredible? These organisms can produce their own light and see how beautiful the natural world is’ — we’re losing them.”

While the number of fireflies has remained steady this summer compared with last year, overall numbers of these bugs have decreased by about 35 per cent over the last five decades, Fairweather said.

There are 173 species of fireflies in North America that have been identified by scientists, and 29 are found in Canada, said Candace Fallon, a senior biologist with the American conservation group Xerces Society, which is lobbying the United States government to extend endangered status to fireflies.

Fallon is the lead author of a study published in 2021 in the journal PLOS One, suggesting that up to one in three firefly species may be threatened with extinction and that some species might disappear before they are even discovered.

Read the full story here.

—The Canadian Press

Biden and King Charles III zero in on generational challenge of climate change

President Joe Biden and King Charles III, two leaders who waited decades to reach the pinnacle of their careers, used their first meeting in those roles Monday to zero in on the generational challenge of climate change, prodding private companies to do more to bolster clean energy in developing countries.

The meticulously choreographed gathering at Windsor Castle injected substance into the type of encounter between president and monarch that historically has been more about ceremony. After the arrival formalities, Biden and Charles participated in a climate-focused roundtable with officials from the financial and philanthropic sectors. John Kerry, the U.S. envoy on climate, also attended.

The 74-year-old Charles, who was crowned in May, has long fought to protect wildlife and battle climate change. Biden, for his part, identified climate change as one of the four crises he was determined to confront as president. He signed a sweeping legislative package last year that includes nearly $375 billion in climate-related incentives.

Biden, 80, last had formal talks with Charles, then prince, at the COP26 U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 2021. The U.S. president also attended the state funeral of Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September as well as a reception for heads of state at Buckingham Palace the night before the service. Biden did not attend Charles’s coronation, sending first lady Jill Biden instead.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

European Union lawmakers back a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change

The European Union’s parliament on Wednesday backed a major plan to protect nature and fight climate change in a cliffhanger vote that had the 27-nation bloc’s global green credentials at stake.

After weeks of intense lobbying against the plan, the legislature still supported the general outlines of a European Commission bill in a razor-thin 324-312 vote with 12 abstentions to send it onward to negotiations with the member states.

The plan is a key part of the EU’s vaunted European Green Deal that seeks to establish the world’s most ambitious climate and biodiversity targets and make the bloc the global point of reference on all climate issues.

The vote “marks a significant milestone in our commitment to fulfilling the Green Deal,” said MEP Mohammed Chahim of the center-left Socialists and Democrats group.

The plans proposed by the European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, set binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species, with the aim to cover at least 20 per cent of the region’s land and sea areas by 2030.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

Kerry to visit Beijing for climate talks amid efforts to revive relations between US and China

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to Beijing next week to discuss strategies for limiting global warming, amid a push by the world’s two largest economies to reengage on multiple issues following a sharp decline in contacts.

Kerry’s office said he will arrive Sunday and depart July 19. He is due to meet with his counterpart Xie Zhenhua, with whom he has established a strong working relationship.

“During meetings with PRC officials, Secretary Kerry aims to engage with the PRC on addressing the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” Kerry’s office said in a press release, referring to China’s formal title, the People’s Republic of China, and the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled to be held in the United Arab Emirates in November and December.

Kerry’s visit comes on the heels of one by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who appealed to China on Saturday for cooperation on climate change and other global challenges and not to let disagreements about trade and other irritants derail relations.

Read the full story here.

—The Associated Press

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A glance at carbon numbers:

- B.C.’s gross greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 (latest available data) were 64.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e). This is a decrease of 0.9 MtCO2e (one per cent) from 65.5 MtCO2e in 2007, the baseline year for emissions reduction targets.
- B.C.’s net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020 were 63.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e.) This is a net decrease of 2.0 MtCO2e, or three per cent, since 2007.
- B.C.’s net emissions in 2019: 67.2 MtCO2e, an increase of 1.5 MtCO2e, or two per cent, since 2007.
- B.C.’s 2030 target: 40 per cent reduction in net emissions below 2007 levels.
- B.C.’s 2040 target: 60 per cent reduction.
- B.C.’s 2050 target: 80 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 were 670 million tonnes, up from 659 million tonnes in 2020.
- Canada’s 2030 emissions target: Between 40 and 45 per cent reduction.
- Canada’s 2050 emissions target: Net-zero.

GUIDES AND LINKS

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B.C. Flood: Read all our coverage on the Fraser Valley and beyond

Frequently asked questions about climate change: NASA

Climate change made B.C. heat wave 150 times more likely, study concludes

B.C.’s heat wave: Intense weather event is linked to climate crisis, say scientists

Expert: climate change expected to bring longer wildfire seasons and more area burned

Vancouver outlines its Climate Emergency plan

COVID-19 may have halted massive protests, but youth are taking their fight for the future to the courts

Climate displacement a growing concern in B.C. as extreme weather forces residents out of their homes

Do you have a story idea about local efforts being made to address the climate and ecological emergencies? Please email tips to ticrawford@postmedia.com.

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