Wildfires 2010

I cannot see past the house across the street - no trees - no mountains - no river - just a wall of grey smoke.   Even the dog sneezes when she spends time outdoors as the air quality is very poor.   I think I'll take another anti-histamine while I consider the fact that most of our summers may be like this one - hot , smoky, and miserable. 

An article in Scientific American states

fires are not just a result of a changing climate, they're also contributing to the overall warming trend much more than imagined, the authors report. As vegetation burns, it releases stored-up carbon into the atmosphere, speeding global warming and thereby exacerbating conditions that may generate a greater incidence of wildfires in the coming years. But across the globe, fires have been getting larger and stronger. "We are witnessing an increasing instance of these megafires," says Thomas Swetnam, director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fires-fuel-climate-change

In other words, wildfires are partly a result of climate change - and accelerate climate change at the same time.   BC is particlarly vulnerable to this feedback loop due to all the pine beetle killed trees.   A wonderful prospect......

Water Woes

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/mar/24/basic-countries-water

The headline point of the report is that by 2030, unless substantial changes are made to conserve water and build new supplies, there will be a 40% gap between projected water demand from a bigger, richer global population, and "accessible, reliable" supplies. 

Water shortages are not merely a future problem in the Interior of BC.  http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wsd/plan_protect_sustain/water_conservation/index.html

With 25% of the fresh flowing water in Canada, British Columbia appears to be richly endowed with water supplies. However, the increase in population growth, the expansion of industry and agriculture, and the potential for climate change impacts all place enormous pressure on the province’s water supplies. Snowmelt and rainfall contribute to the water supplies across B.C. But precipitation is limited in the summer months, when the demand for water increases and the supply availability decreases. Water conservation is critical in summer months but year round water conservation has significant benefits as well. Reducing water consumption decreases the amount of water that requires treatment, as well as sewage and infrastructure costs.

http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/drought/maps/bc_90_av_s_e.pdf

Please click on the above link for a drought map of the Pacific Region according to the government of Canada.  And I predict the drought will worsen this summer due to El Nino......

I'm very glad Kamloops City council decided to install water meters.

Vancouver, BC Under Water

Ok - not quite. 

http://www.straight.com/article-298192/vancouver/get-ready-rising-sea

Bing Thom Architects has investigated how global warming might transform Vancouver’s shoreline if no dikes are built. ...Keenan, who chairs the Vancouver planning commission, pointed out that sea levels are based on average tide, but climate change will be accompanied by increased storm surges. “You have to add on high tide and the impact of a storm to look at the development area that will be impacted,” she said....So what is the likelihood of dramatically higher sea levels? According to Hadi Dowlatabadi, a professor at UBC’s Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability, a key consideration is what happens to the glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. In a phone interview with the Straight, Dowlatabadi explained that as the oceans absorb more heat, they will expand. “Our current thoughts are that the amount of heat that is being absorbed by the oceans has already committed us to a sea-level rise of 40 or 50 centimetres this century,” he said.....Meanwhile, the U.S. Geological Survey reported last month that ice shelves are retreating from the southern section of Antarctica because of climate change. This area contains five major ice shelves, including the Wilkins Shelf, which has lost more than 4,000 square kilometres since 1998. The Larsen B ice shelf, which was in the same area, collapsed in 2002.

If we cared about our grandchildren,  we would all be working to reverse climate change. And working to mitigate its effects and  figure out how to adapt.  And working to create a truly sustainable way of life.....

NASA Photo Of Pine Beetle Kill

http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld/

Mountain pine beetle populations have exploded across western North America, as fewer colder nights freeze the insects and keep their numbers in check. The beetles feed and lay eggs in pine trees; eventually, a large enough infestation can kill the tree. The current infestation in British Columbia’s forests, which began in the 1990s, is ten times larger than any other on record. In this 2006 false-color image, trees damaged and destroyed by beetles, shown in red, yellow and brown, cover a wide swath in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. Healthy, growing forests take up carbon dioxide (a powerful greenhouse gas) and produce oxygen. Dead forests release carbon dioxide when trees decay, and could accelerate warming. The Canadian Forest Service predicts that beetle-damaged Canadian forest tracts will release 220 megatons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere by 2020.

Click on the link, scroll to the bottom, and click on animals/plants  in the image gallery to see the satellite photo.  Dead trees cover a good portion of the BC Interior, not just the Cariboo.  Ask any forestry worker if climate change is a problem.