The Great Miss on Climate Change: the Canada Letter
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Version 0 of 1. Canada has a lot of fresh water. Every year its rivers spill out about 7 percent of the world’s renewable water supply into oceans. But in the era of climate change, that doesn’t mean Canada is without water worries. As heat waves continued to bake the coastlines of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, this week the province moved the area’s drought rating to its second-highest level, urging coastal residents to cut back on water use. Tina Neale, who keeps tabs on water levels for the province’s Environment Ministry, told me that her group was particularly concerned that the flow of three rivers on lower Vancouver Island might fall to dangerously low levels that could endanger fish and which might force the province to limit how much water communities, householders and industries could draw. Drying up rivers aren’t the only problem linked to B.C.’s heat. Last year was one of the worst seasons on record for forest fires in B.C. This year is shaping up to be not much better. As of Friday morning, there were 741 wildfires active in the province. Of course, B.C. isn’t the only place in Canada or the world that’s heating up and drying out this summer. Earlier this week, I changed planes in England after reporting at the Tour de France, and was stunned to see the grounds of Windsor Castle as brown and desiccated as the landscape I’d just witnessed in southern France. [Read: U.K. ‘Heat Wave’? Irish ‘Drought’? Unfamiliar Words for Unfamiliar Times] In Japan, where record temperatures have made some outdoor pools too hot for swimmers, the consequences have been severe. Temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius (that’s 104 degrees Fahrenheit for American readers) have sent 57,534 people to hospital for heat-related reasons and killed 125 others over the past three months. [Read: In Japan, Deadly Heat Wave Tests Endurance of Even the Most Stoic] And of course, Canada had its own grim toll of heat-related deaths in Montreal last month as my colleague Dan Bilefsky reported. [Read: Record-Smashing Heat Wave Kills 33 in Quebec] But here’s the thing: The world had an opportunity to prevent all this. We fumbled it. Nathaniel Rich spend a year and a half reporting a two-part article for The New York Times Magazine, where he is a writer at large, looking at the period between 1979 and 1989 when the causes and consequences of climate change first became well known. What he discovered is as fascinating as it is frustrating. “We had an excellent opportunity to solve the climate crisis,” Nathaniel wrote. “The world’s major powers came within several signatures of endorsing a binding, global framework to reduce carbon emissions — far closer than we’ve come since. During those years, the conditions for success could not have been more favorable. The obstacles we blame for our current inaction had yet to emerge. Almost nothing stood in our way — nothing except ourselves.” The article comes shortly after Doug Ford, the relatively new premier of Ontario, said that he was joining Saskatchewan in a court challenge of the carbon tax the federal government will impose on the two provinces. While Mr. Ford’s government has promised to come up with an alternative way to reduce emissions, it has offered virtually no details. And this week in Washington, the Trump administration eased pollution restrictions and fuel economy standards for cars. Take time this summer weekend to read Nathaniel’s article about one of history’s greatest near misses and its consequences. [Read: Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change] I’m delighted to announce that we will be holding our first New York Times subscriber event in Ottawa on Sept. 5. Julie Davis, a White House correspondent, will take time off from the United States’ midterm election campaign trail to discuss the vote’s significance for Canada. She’ll be joined by Jonathan Martin and Astead Herndon, two political reporters. The vote could have implications for President Trump as well as areas vital to Canada’s interests, such as trade. It’s all happening at the National Gallery of Canada, and I’ll be moderating. [Buy Tickets: Canada and the U.S. Midterm Elections] A new month means a new list of recommendations from Watching, our guide to screens big and small, for Netflix viewers in Canada. They include “Touch of Evil,” one of my favorite films (despite several flaws), directed by Orson Welles and in which he also plays a supremely corrupt police captain. Matt Groening, the cartoonist who created “The Simpsons” and “Futurama,” is now back with a new series, “Disenchantment.” It is set in a “medieval realm,” and Watching reports that it features Abbi Jacobson of “Broad City” as the voice of Princess Bean, “an alcoholic royal whose chief companions including a tiny elf (Nat Faxon) and her own ‘personal demon’ (Eric Andre).” [Read: The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix Canada in August] —I had been eagerly awaiting Dan Bilefsky’s article about new uses for old churches in Quebec. It appeared this week and it doesn’t disappoint. Dan found that at least one former church in Montreal hosts fetish parties. Another serves as a restaurant for the socially disadvantaged as well as down-on-their-luck artists. —Curtis Rush, a regular hockey contributor to The Times, has a very different sort of article about the sport this week. It introduces the six Azmi sisters who, wearing hijabs under their helmets, have become a force in the Toronto Women’s Ball Hockey Association. —After decades during which grocery stores grew to factorylike proportions, small is the new thing. Kim Severson, who reports about food for The Times, visited several shops. Among them: Nada in Vancouver, where everything, including toothpaste, is sold without packaging. —It’s perhaps not surprising that researchers at the University of British Columbia found that pedestrians talking or texting on their phones are slowpokes when crossing the street. But they also concluded that distracted walkers might be more vulnerable to being hit by cars and trucks. —Jacques Wirtz, a Belgian who started with a flower nursery in 1946 and later reshaped gardens worldwide as a landscape architect, has died at the age of 93. —Lassie always got help when Timmy was in trouble. Scientists have now looked into how helpful your dog would be. —Apparently not content with merely being the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos of Amazon is transforming himself into a style icon. —Apple became the first company with a value of $1 trillion this week, making it the king of a small group of megacompanies that grab a disproportionate share of corporate profits. (By comparison, Canada’s gross domestic product — the value of all we make — was about $1.6 trillion last year.) Economists are exploring the power and influence wielded by these huge entities. For workers and consumers, their findings are discouraging. |