Editor:
In light of the recent extreme heat, breaking all-time records not just in fractions of a degree but by several degrees both here and across the province, it’s high time that we push for immediate action on the climate emergency facing us. We can expect ever more intense climate events both in number and severity as CO2, a potent greenhouse gas resulting from the burning of fossil fuels, continues to accumulate in our atmosphere (now above 400 ppm), reducing our chances of maintaining a livable planet. The 40 billion+ tons of CO2 humanity adds to the airshed annually remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and is only one of the GHGs that our industrialized societies emit.
At Davis Bay Beach on the hottest day of the heat dome, I saw many whole dead crabs and some withered starfish that had obviously succumbed to the extreme heat. Indeed, a UBC marine biologist estimated that the heat may have killed more than a billion seashore creatures and predicts many more such deaths in our warming ocean.
Business as usual poses huge risks for our children and grandchildren, a fact well understood by amazing Swedish teen Greta Thunberg, who demands action from all world leaders. The transition away from fossil fuels is not only doable, but everyone’s individual and collective responsibility, and needs to happen now.
Gayle Neilson, Elphinstone
