In a world cluttered with things and events, it’s easy to forget how interconnected everything is.
Remember the old song about anatomy? “The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone,” etc. Forests and grasslands seem considerably different (and they are), but river systems, weather events, and plenty of birds and wildlife demonstrate that they share a great deal.
Some events, especially those of long duration, can be central to numerous seemingly unconnected occurrences. Consider the now long-term changes to the climate. A mere 1.5 or so degrees of planetary warming is creating all kinds of impacts, most of which are decidedly “unfriendly.”
Impacts on nature are dramatic. Mountain rockfalls are more common due to unpredictable melts and freezes. Migratory species get out of sync with their prey. Coral reefs are bleaching, destroying the environmental niche homes of thousands of undersea species. Australian wildfires reportedly killed over 3 billion animals. Under an Indian heat dome, monkeys were falling out of trees, dying of heat. Oceans are rising, threatening coastal habitation.
In Canada last year, burning forests added more carbon to the atmosphere than all the vehicles in the country. Towns and cities are burnt by wildfire. Drought and heat lower agricultural output, leading to a reduced GDP. Forests ravaged by pine beetles, which now better survive winter freezes, lose commercial value even before they might burn.
The historic flooding in BC in 2021 caused enormous damage to highways and other infrastructure. Both major railways suffered washouts, with major economic implications. Thousands of people were forced to abandon their homes, only to find them half ruined on their return, costing millions in insurance claims. Thousands of animals and livestock died.
When thousands of refugees fled Syria for Europe and parts elsewhere (including Canada), it was nominally because of civil war. But the war was partially caused by six years of climate change-caused drought, destroying thousands of farms and agricultural villages.
Heat and smoke pollutants have exacerbated various illnesses in city and country, particularly pulmonary pathologies, but also cardiovascular problems, and even depression. More illness leads to greater medical costs and strain on our healthcare systems, aside from the misery of being ill.
Budgets at every level of society have felt the impacts. Cities and towns coping with flooding are redesigning drainage systems to try to cope. Rising food costs due to lowered agricultural activity are hurting the poorest and most vulnerable. House insurance costs have exploded upward, and in some locales is now completely unavailable due to increased risk. Our house insurance has gone up 268% in six years.
Meanwhile, the billionaire class lives it up.
According to Oxfam, fifty of the world’s richest people produce more carbon through their investments, private jets and yachts in just over an hour and a half than the average person does in their entire lifetime. Elon Musk struts around the Trump administration eviscerating the government, complaining about the burden of taxes, promising to cut “wasteful” programs like Medicaid and Social Security. A billionaire doesn’t need them.
Here in Canada complaining about the carbon tax was more popular than doing anything about our emissions problems, and politicians like Danielle Smith next door and our own previous MLA can’t wait to expand oil and gas.
Fortunately, we’ve been assured by Donald Trump that climate change is “a Chinese hoax.” Everything will be “great.”
