Canada is on fire, underwater and overheating. Here's what we can do about it
In June, Edmonton recorded more rain in a single weekend than the city typically sees in a month, overwhelming its stormwater system and leaving residents taking turns through the night to bail out their basements.
On July 1, a heatwave gripped Ontario and Quebec: Temperatures reached 37°C before exploding into violent thunderstorms that knocked out power to thousands of homes on Canada Day.
On July 14, wildfires tore through northwestern Ontario. Collins First Nation was destroyed, its residents fleeing by boat, as dozens of First Nations communities faced evacuation orders across the region.
These events, despite their dramatic consequences, are only the beginning of a much larger story.
Flooding in Alberta, wildfires in BC and Manitoba, heatwaves everywhere — an unrelenting series of extreme weather events are affecting Canadians from coast to coast. What used to be described as "once-in-a-generation" disasters now arrive regularly somewhere. The question is no longer whether another event is coming, but where and when it will strike.
Climate change fuels unpredictable, extreme and increasingly frequent weather events. It means a yellow sky most summers and difficulty breathing through wildfire smoke — Canada averages roughly 8,000 wildfires a year, burning 2.5 million hectares of land. It means homes and........
