Webcam in Kelowna pointed towards the west. Watch the fire creep down the hill towards the city
Webcam in Kelowna pointed towards the west. Watch the fire creep down the hill towards the city
Climate change makes these fires more likely every year, so what are we doing about it? I don't want my children to inherit ashes and badlands.
I'm in Alberta. Our UCP overlords are still investigating the serial arsonists that are starting all these fires. FFS, how can we have even a modicum of hope that we can do anything with meatballs like that in charge?
Alberta voted for it. Fair and square. They will only have themselves to look in the mirror and blame, when everyone with a brain is long gone, and they can't get anyone to reliably fulfil their services.
Or when the cheque comes due for their behaviour. But I ain't holding my breath on that.
We will all need to come to terms with the scope and scale of our predicament - climate change is not 'the' problem, it is one facet of the overall collapse of the biosphere that we are causing (see: planetary boundaries). Guaranteeing some livable future for our children will require revolutionary change in our economic systems and our relationship with the environment. Real mitigation will involve: reserving our remaining carbon budget for critical activities (heating our houses, food transport, etc), significant build-out of resilient systems (local sustainable/regenerative agriculture), and preparing for a less complex economy with much lower energy use. We can do this in a controlled way over the next few decades, or in a chaotic way when we are left with no other options. It doesn't seem like the public is ready or willing to have these conversations yet.
I'm in complete agreement. Humanity will transition to sustainability the good way or the bad way. The good way involves making some tough decisions and calculated sacrifices, while the bad way involves despair, famine, mass migrations, war and genocide.
But it will all eventually settle down to sustainability, one way or another. That's why I'm an optimist.
What should we do about it?
Stop having kids, and encourage others to stop having kids
Canadians, like most developed countries, already have a very low birth rate. If you want to reduce the growth of human population, you have to look at countries and regions where the birth rate is significantly higher than two children per woman.
If you are concerned about the carbon footprint of individual people, you need to look at where most of that carbon goes and what can be done about it. In Canada, the two major contributors are heating and car use, both of which would be reduced by transforming suburban single family home developments into walkable medium density mixed-use neighborhoods.
Scenic view :(
It's a nice little resort. We were back visiting the hometown and stayed there a few nights and it was cozy and pretty.
That forecast, woof.
That can't be good. Oh gosh, Kelowna....