For many, the weather is mostly a superficial topic of conversation among strangers. But these days, the bizarre weather seems to be on everyone’s lips.
Winter temperatures in Canada have increased by two to three degrees Celsius over the last 15 years. Last year was the second warmest year on record. This year could break that mark as seasonal record highs hit the province last week. Temperatures in Canada have been above average for the last nine years in all of the seasons except spring 2002 and 2004. This green holiday season is affecting Canadian industries tremendously.
Ski resorts in particular are having difficulty coping with the weather.
“Never, since I have been involved in the ski industry, have I had to live through such a hard beginning of the season,” said Normand Daigneault, Director of Mont Gabriel’s ski station.
Nevertheless, Daigneault stressed that the ski season has officially started and there are still enough trails open to make a visit to the Laurentian ski resorts worthwhile. And if the warm weather continues?
“No comment, because it’s just going to put the industry down the drain,” said Daigneault.
The warmer temperatures are affecting Canada on a larger scale as the Arctic and Antarctic ice caps continue to melt. An ice island the size of a small town recently broke free from Canada’s Ayles ice shelf, one of only six ice shelves in the country.
Less snow could also be harmful to Canada’s agricultural industries. Representatives from the Quebec maple syrup industry say that, while the warm weather is increasing tapping opportunities in the short term, in the long term, milder winters could result in thriving foreign tree species that could potentially wipe out the maple.
Judith Patterson, a geologist and professor in Concordia’s Environmental Science program outlined some of the issues facing the industry, “The snowcaps that we used to get served two purposes. It prevented the soil from eroding, and when it melted in the spring it soaked the field and it gave the soil the moisture that was necessary for the crops to grow.”
The same snow caps also elevate our rivers during the spring thaw and lower levels of snow could be harmful to hydroelectric dams on the Saint-Lawrence. But what’s causing all this climate change?
“Increased levels of greenhouse gas concentrations [mainly CO2] in the atmosphere are correlated with the increase in global temperatures, and are believed by scientists to be responsible in large part for the warm winter,” Patterson explained, adding that normal temperature variations and a warm spell caused by El Nino – a phenomenon of warming coastal waters in the Pacific – are also to blame.
Greenhouse gases are created when fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal are burned for energy purposes and also by forest fires. When it comes to emitting greenhouse gases, industrialized countries are the worst polluters.
“On a per-capita basis, Canada is one of the worst,” explained Damon Matthews, an assistant geography professor at Concordia. “It is partly because we live in a very cold climate and we are very spread out. So we have to drive to get from one place to another. The U.S. is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and China is catching up very quickly.”
So what can be done?
“Recycling is all well and good. But that is not reducing CO2 emissions. One thing I advise people to do is to go to websites where you can calculate your own personal carbon emissions or carbon footprint,” said Patterson. She also encourages people to watch Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
“The rate of climate change that we see right now is much faster than anything that has happened in the last several hundred thousand years,” Matthews stressed.
“Industrialized countries are much better equipped to adapt to climate change than the non-industrialized ones,” said Matthews. “Holland has been dealing with the rising sea level as an issue for hundreds of years. If sea levels go up by a metre, they will have to increase their dikes by one metre. Whereas to dike off the coast of Bangladesh is a completely insurmountable challenge.”
“There is no doubt is my mind that the trend towards warmer winters will continue,” Matthews said, “as long as we continue to put greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.”
Calculate your carbon footprint at:
www.safeclimate.net/calculator
