The Climate Change Collective is an initiative where the blogging community unites behind a common goal. As many countries around the world suffer through another long hot summer, Jamie from JamieAdStories keeps the conversation going with his ideas on policy change to reverse global warming.
Is a long hot summer too much of a good thing?
Like most Canadians, I look forward to summer. After enduring what always feels like endless months of cold snowy weather, summer is a chance to get outdoors and to enjoy what feels like a more relaxed pace of life. But how hot is too hot?
There’s no denying that weather patterns around the world are changing. In southern Ontario, where I live, this summer has been far wetter than usual. The east coast of Canada has seen torrential rains and horrific flooding. And in beautiful British Columbia, where I was vacationing on Canada’s west coast in July, it has been hotter and dryer than normal and the province is struggling to contain forest fires that are forcing people from their homes and threatening the lives and livelihood of many.
My daughter recently moved to the interior of British Columbia where the fires are too close for comfort. In Ontario, we’ve been experiencing air quality warnings, and hazy smoky skies from faraway fires, for most of this summer. But these pictures Laura sent me the other day show just how close the threat is for her. Areas just 10 kilometres outside the city where she lives have been under an evacuation order.
We need to worry…and we need to act!
Yet, despite the evidence, climate deniers continue to say these extreme weather events are one-offs and there’s nothing to worry about. But we need to be worried! And we need to act.
Jamie’s post puts forward several creative suggestions of policy changes governments could make to reverse climate change. I encourage you to give it a read and to consider what other policy changes could be made. In your next general election, vote for parties who are willing to make real change.
There is no doubt that people and governments are taking the heatwaves seriously but I am hearing too much about defending against the weather. Making the planet more weather-proof is not only expensive and very difficult but it avoids dealing with the obvious. The time has come to make fossil fuel consumption a less favourable option. We need to turn back the clock and undo some of the damage we have done with industrialisation and urbanisation.
Jamie, JamieAdStories
Warmer Weather – What’s Not To Like?
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About the Climate Change Collective
The Climate Change Collective was born out of an exchange that took place when I left a comment on a blog post by Jamie Ad Stories. Jamie and I wanted to find a way to keep the climate change message top of mind for everyone, so I put out a tweet to see what kind of interest there would be in a climate-change-related blogging collaboration. The Climate Change Collective was born!
The members of the collective take turns writing a monthly blog post sharing their unique perspective about climate change. After the post is published, the rest of the group keeps the conversation going by sharing a link to the post on their blogs along with their thoughts and ideas.
If you’re a like-minded blogger and would like to join our collective, please get in touch. More voices joining the conversation means more attention to the problems plaguing our planet!
More Climate Change Collective posts
If you missed any of the other posts in the series, here they are:
- How climate change impacts your health…and your wallet
- Understanding how climate action redefines our future – Molly, Transatlantic Notes
- Travel with climate change – Jamie, JamieAdStories
- How climate change impacts animals – Caroline, Enviroline Blog
- How our need to shop is ruining our planet – A Sustainably Simple Life
- Residential solar panels: 2022 year in review– A Sustainably Simple Life
- How you can reduce your energy consumption and save money by saving the planet – Crisbie Coach
- 6 ways to reduce the environmental cost of experiences
- Returning to past habits – Smelly Socks And Garden Peas
- How green spaces help our planet A Sustainably Simple Life
- The benefits of active travel – Could it save you and the planet? – Midlife on Earth
- A Greener World – Debunking Myths About Climate Change – Molly, Transatlantic Notes
- Microforests – A tiny idea with big potential
- The impact climate change has on food security and how to help – Caroline, Enviroline Blog
- Reconnecting with nature and self by disconnecting from the world – A Sustainably Simple Life
- Wrapping Up Doesn’t Have to Be a Waste – Jamie, JamieAdStories
- It’s cold outside – The difference between weather and climate
- Our climate action does not need to be perfect – Molly, Transatlantic Notes
- How climate change in the Arctic affects us all
Thanks to Jamie for being part of our Climate Change Collective and for ideas on creative policies to combat climate change.
What changes would you like to see governments make to reverse the impacts of climate change? Tell me your thoughts below.
Yes, so many of us remain in denial and keep doing the sorts of things we (at least those of us who are blessed/privileged to live in a developed country like the USA and Canada) have grown up thinking we have a right to do — flying in planes on vacations or for work, driving in fossil-fuel-powered cars, eating meat, etc. etc. etc. As anyone who has lived with an addiction or an addicted friend/family member can attest, denial can be an extraordinarily potent force. Clearly we (with lots of disinformation from the fossil fuel industries…) have done a very poor job educating ourselves about how chemical and biological processes unfold. Every iota of fossil fuel we burn these days just tips the scale of catastrophic change a little more steeply… Deep breath in. Deep breath out.
It is difficult to get people to see the need for change, until it affects them personally. Even then, many will continue to make excuses and deny there is a problem.
I definitely fly more than I would like to, mainly for work-related trips, although I try to be as responsible as I can about it.
It still amazes me that even though we are seeing real time results of climate change there are still those who think we don’t need to act urgently. Where I live in Ohio we experienced some dangerous air quality from the wildfires in Canada. I hope more people see that summer weather can indeed be enjoyable but that it also carries some warning signals.
It really is scary how far-reaching the impact of the wildfire smoke is, Molly. I don’t ever recall us being affected by it until a couple of years ago but now it’s happening all the time. That alone should be a wake-up call for people.
Thanks so much, Michelle. Somedays I wonder what it will take to shake some sense into folks. We have family in Alaska and the news about the Mendenhall glacier flooding Juneau is shocking…and it should make the urgency clear, but some folks just don’t see it? Hard to understand.
You’re right that some people just don’t want to see it. We saw a report on the news the other day that farmers in Alberta refuse to admit that the current severe drought has anything to do with climate change. Of course, Alberta has made it rich off of oil, so I shouldn’t be surprised by that.
It is disturbing to see how much the glaciers are melting. We went to the Columbia Icefield in Alberta in 1997 and again in 2015. When I compare my pictures, it is shocking to see how much the glacier has receded in 20 years.
Oh my…the fact that you have your very own photo evidence IS shocking. Thank you for all you do to build awareness to drive behavior change. Grateful to you! ❤️
I’ve been having such a hard time adjusting to our changing weather in BC. I’m really not used to all of this heat that we’ve been getting and I know it’s just going to keep getting hotter as the years go by. It’s interesting to hear how different parts of the country are each getting different new extremes of weather, like the rain back east. I feel like these are such clear signs of changing climates that can’t be ignored and yet they are essentially ignored when policies are so slow to be enacted. I’m so glad we’re having these conversations!
I was so surprised at how dry everything was on Vancouver Island when we were there. Did you see the news report on CBC last week about the droughts in Alberta? Many people they interviewed flat out refused to acknowledge that climate change has anything to do with it.
Thanks for your input on this. I feel sorry for Canada as such a beautiful place is being unsettled because of pollution largely caused by urban areas nearby. Glad you had a nice summer break.
Thanks Jamie. Back to work today. Moving a little slowly this morning.