Columnists
September
Well, well, September has arrived. In the past this has been my favourite time of year. September is usually a bit warm, but the evenings are cooler. The trees put on a great colour show. The beaches and roadways are quieter. The farm stands are full of delicious veggies and fruit. But, right now, I can’t help but wonder how the H E Double Hockey Sticks July and August managed to sneak past so quickly! I didn’t manage to have all of the meals on the patio I was expecting to enjoy. I didn’t finish scraping the paint on the front porch, nor did I even buy the paint to refresh the patchy mess that I’ve left. The barn is still full of bags of garden waste waiting to be taken to the dump. Garden waste from the spring, that is. And I haven’t spent nearly as many lazy days reading novels in the backyard.
Instead of kicking back and enjoying the splendidness of September, I found myself thinking about how frighteningly unpredictable the weather has become. It’s not easy to relax about how the climate is changing when most of the lead news stories are about out-of-control wildfires, gale force winds, torrential rain and record high temperatures. (Yes, I know the difference between weather and climate.) Sometimes I find it very difficult to enjoy a day without wondering what the next five or ten years will bring. A friend who lives in California was excited about the rain that was heading toward the city she lives in, last week. She said, “It’ll be great to have a bit of rain. My garden is looking very dry this summer.” Less than twenty-four hours later she’s up to her knees in water, her garden has all but disappeared and her roof was in danger of caving in due to the volume of rain that fell in a very short period of time. After the rain had passed I asked her how she had fared and the story she told was quite frightening. I wanted to ask her if she thought her garden had received enough water—but only because she is a bit of a climate change denier. I say “a bit” because I believe, like the rest of us, she’s hoping if she doesn’t pay attention to the issue of Climate Change it’ll go away. It won’t. We’re looking down the barrel of a loaded pistol right now. The IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) Sixth Assessment report of 2021 found “human emissions of heat-trapping gases have already warmed the climate by nearly 1.1 degrees Celsius since 1850-1900”. We can’t pretend any longer. We’re going to be seeing hotter temperatures, more severe storms, increased drought, warming oceans, food shortages, loss of species (including us) and all of the spin-offs from those perils. And while the Christmas snow storm of 2022 was awesome, chindropping, amazing, impressive and all of those other superlatives, it was a warning. It was the window envelope in the mailbox with the words FINAL NOTICE splashed across the front.
I am, at once, paralyzed and mobilized. Should LOML and I be putting our own disaster plan in place? What about our kids and their kids? I worry about them. Should we be hoarding nonperishable food, bottles of water, stacks of cash, medical supplies, making sure our portable stove has fuel and buying a host of solar-powered devices to see us through a crisis? What about a generator? How long would a “crisis” last? Why would I bother to prepare for it? Maybe we could just blindly manage. One day I promise myself I’ll start stocking up on canned food and bottled water and buy something juicy to throw on the BBQ. Should we be using a BBQ? I, too, might be a bit of a denier, like lots of all y’all, I watch the news and read the newsfeeds about how we can reduce our carbon footprint and wonder if the “powers that be” should be shaking a great big finger at the corporate polluters. This country seems incapable of loosening its grip on oil and gas, having approved an offshore oil and gas project just one year ago, then continuing with a pipeline that clearly shouldn’t happen. Canada’s emissions are heading downward, overall, but there is a substantial gap between “current policies and Canada’s NDC target”. Should communities insist that new builds are equipped with solar panels?
Grrr, I just wanted to read a book, drink a coffee and enjoy September.
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