This is climate breakdown
Our own Snowmaggedon in January. A major ice storm in March. Flood warnings in April. Smoky air from western wildfires. Unprecedented sizzling heat. Drought conditions. Low water level warnings. Four area wildfires in August.
Climate disruption is not some distant concern for future generations, or something inundating small island nations. It’s in our backyard now.
To quote Al Gore, watching the news “is like taking a hike through the Book of Revelations.”
Researchers have been raising the alarm for decades. When my daughter was born 30 years ago, the second global climate report said “projections … confirm the potential for human activities to alter the Earth’s climate to an extent unprecedented in human history.”
Nothing like meeting your potential.
By mid-July, Canada’s wildfire season was already declared the second-worst on record.
More than 70 per cent of Canada was “abnormally dry,” according to John Pomeroy, director of the Global Water Futures Program in Saskatchewan. Locally we were asked to cut water consumption by 20 per cent and we were under a total outdoor fire ban for weeks. And we were battling our own wildfires.
We’re part of a world that saw alarming record temperature levels on land and in the oceans last year. That heat is not just killing people, crops, livestock, and wildlife, but also fish and coral reefs that provide habitat to a quarter of the world’s marine life. It’s melting glaciers and polar ice caps – the earth’s air conditioners. We’re seeing less ice cover on the Great Lakes, meaning more shoreline erosion.
It’s a fundamental disaster on many levels. And it’s only going to get worse, thanks to the rapid increase in heat-trapping C02 emissions, which is also making storms more severe and widespread, Pomeroy told CBC recently.
That’s heavy. But I’ve decided I’m an apocalyptic optimist. We’re folks who believe we can still reduce future devastation by rapidly winding down our dependence on fossil fuels – coal, gas, oil, natural gas. We no longer have time for incrementalism. Burning the stuff is trapping the excess heat and hurting us now.
Amidst it all there is good news. Last year 40 per cent of global electricity came from clean sources like wind, solar, and hydro. That was up from 31 per cent just one year earlier.
This summer, the World Court ruled that countries are obligated to prevent harm to the climate or be held liable for damages. And shortly after, a South African court blocked an offshore oil and gas exploration project because it did not consider the project’s long-term impact on the climate.
For our part we can prod the federal government to make sure its new national energy corridor focusses on clean energy.
We can demand they hold firm to that zero-emission vehicle mandate that would see all new light-duty vehicles sold in 2035 be electric or plug-in hybrid. We need to stop arguing that we can’t meet that deadline. Let’s discuss how we can.
Provincially, we need to push for more renewable energy and a moratorium on natural gas expansion. Locally, it’s important to support all of the above. And individually, we can all do what we can to reduce fossil fuel pollution.
Climate devastation has hit our home. We need to protect it. Join with others to write those letters, make those calls, show up for those rallies. This is everyone’s fight now.
This fear mongering must stop. I, for one, am sick of it. And , stop quoting Al Gore. He’s a charlatan, (a person falsely claiming to have a special knowledge or skill), who became a billionaire from preaching nonsense that has been debunked so many times, it’s not even funny. The VAST majority of people aren’t buying what the ‘climate activists’ are selling. And when you observe the lifestyles of said ‘activists’ it’s obvious they don’t even believe the words coming out of their own mouths.
I must disagree with you on EVERY level. This is not fear-mongering, this is reality. “The VAST majority of people” actually ARE buying this because they are living through it and they can see that something has to be done before we destroy this planet completely. And I don’t see what you say you see about the “lifestyles of said activists” either. I’m wondering who is the actual “charlatan” here and I don’t think it’s Al Gore!
Lead the way. Stop using oil. Walk the walk.
Again Wendy — look at the lifestyles of the ones who are preaching the loudest about ‘climate change’ and explain why they do the exact OPPOSITE of what they tell the rest of us to do. It’s obvious they don’t believe the words coming out of their own mouths. They preach for one reason and one reason only. IT PAYS WELL.
Deepest thanks to those who stopped the solar project at the Carden Alvar Provincial Park area…put your solar panels over parking lots or on rooftops. We must stop destroying the very nature that sustains our life on this planet…humans are not its only inhabitants but we are the only ones who will completely destroy it. Please God save us from ourselves.
Further to my previous comment…my source is the Kawartha Lakes Weekly dated October 9, 2025, which I read with great relief…Thanks for caring.
Climate changes. There is nothing we can do to stop it. It’s part of evolution. As climate changes, some species become extinct and others emerge from the ooze of it all. Why human kind thinks we are more special than any of the other species that come and go is beyond me. When people say “we must do something to stop it”, they mean you must stop using petroleum products. Most make excuses to explain why their lifestyles are exceptions.
For so long as wars continue to rage across the globe, and for so long as the examples our leaders model for us are the spending of fossil fuels to jet here and there to meet others who jet here and there, we cannot meet our climate change goals. Because the admonishments issued always affect the poorest among us, we should probably stop recriminating the vulnerable and start looking at ways to adapt to what is likely to be increasing Revelations. https://youtu.be/mkRqQQWu_mA?si=NR10ojvDCv5HXEG1
This well-summarized article makes clear some of the facts, and I emphasize facts here because others are not using them, and the global breadth of concern, from Saskatchewan to the World Court. Some other facts: the planet is getting significantly warmer; just look up the average global temperature by decade for the last 30 years. The trend confirms what Ginny is saying. And it’s going up much faster than at any time in recent history (look up the famous hockey stick graph of global warming, which has proven out over time and further research). I know it’s hard to grasp that massive snowstorms and massive wildfires can have the same cause. Again, look at trends. The fact that so many scientists agree on something should also give you pause. This is existential. But kudos to Ginny for offering an out, providing that all of us, governments at every level, industries near and far, and each of us as individuals have a role to play. But we all have to get on it. I’m willing to bet that we stagger through somehow, but then again, we may not.
Alan — the hockey stick graph has been proven to be complete nonsense. You’ll have to do better than that. Al Gore is not a good source for facts.
Guy — the hockey stick graph is a good example of how science works: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/02/hockey-stick-graph-climate-change Certainly there was controversy, but it was worked out and the data proved out, most notably in the recent year-by-year data from thermometers. Now if you have data to counteract that rather than a blanket statement with no backing, I’d like to see it.
More verification of the hockey stick curve by this fact checking site: https://www.verificat.cat/en/the-hockey-stick-climate-graph-depicting-an-unprecedented-rise-in-temperatures-in-the-20th-century-is-reliable/