For some reason there remains debate about it's existence on the various social media platforms, despite the entire scientific community trumpeting both its validity and consequences. People are dismissing it with a wave of their ambivalent hand, and it doesn't help that certain political leaders have publicly condemned the overwhelming proof of significant changes happening right before our collective eyes, attempting to convince their followers that the science community is bunk. Despite the warnings from our most learned minds, people who by the way have nothing to gain from spreading misinformation, a vocal number of keyboard warriors continue to fill the Internet with half-truths or blatant lies in an effort to convince those straddling the line that those same learned minds are all "quacks" bent on fear mongering.
What puzzles me is why ... what do they hope to gain? Or, is it what they hope to maintain?
Give the video a watch (CLICK) if any of that interests you.
Suzuki enlists experts in various fields to explain how the interconnectedness of Nature, when disrupted, will precipitate significant changes with a cascading effect on what we have come to treat as normal, throwing the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears of the global economy. One of the most chilling sentences comes thanks to Ben Kirtman, a leading climate modeller, and I'm paraphrasing, "Even if we stopped polluting CO2 and methane completely today, there'd be 30 more years of warming." Even if Kirtman is off a little on his calculations, it's entirely likely that things could get significantly worse before they get better.
The air quality warnings in July 2026 are a direct result of those shifts in weather, the horrendous outbreak of wild fires across Canada and their resulting smoke plumes that drift 1000's of km as the winds blow, only existing due to the extreme heat and drought conditions brought on by those factors listed above. Actual climate change involves things that are difficult to see in everyday life, and those with their heads in the sand are quick to protest, "I'll believe it when I see it!", but when those same are forced inside due to the hazardous conditions like those few days, it would be ridiculous not to acknowledge something's not right. Millions of hectares ablaze is releasing untold amounts of new CO2 into an already impacted atmosphere.
Look at Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst (so far) nuclear catastrophe, as proof that Nature will always find a way to reclaim the damage we humans have inflicted on her. Despite lingering radioactivity, populations of grey wolves, brown bears, European bison, and Eurasian lynx have returned to the area and thrive in densities similar to, or higher than, uncontaminated nature reserves. (LINK) The scope of the forest takeover where approximately 70% of the abandoned territory has now reforested, untended gardens and ruined structures have been actively reclaimed by vegetation, demonstrating Nature's power to reclaim her own once left behind after humans move away. It's worthy to note that those 1000's of hectares of new trees are busily scrubbing the CO2 out of the local atmosphere.
That is heavy stuff!
Unless you're a US politician, and then the issue is Canada's incompetent forest management ... SMH.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out that these wildfires aren't anything new since they've been happening for millions of years, and with Canada's Boreal forest being the largest continuous one in the world, much of which is inaccessible, prevention management simply a ridiculous notion. Most of those wildfires were the result of lightning strikes but the composition of the forest floor with all of the peat, windfall, loam, and detritus, fires might lie smouldering for a while before a full fledged ignition. What has changed is the level of infrastructure that is consumed by these wildfires, contributing its chemical release to the smoke, causing increased concern when it travels 1000's of km to denser populations.
It took decades of ignoring the consequences to arrive at the place where we are now, making possible solutions to the damage extremely difficult, expensive, and inconvenient to our accepted life style, but the mountain of evidence has reached Everest proportions prompting potential consequences for billions on the planet. I need to point out, however, that the fear mongering about of human extinction is bunk, IMHO, and only feeds the flames of those who argue that the scientists are wrong. The impact of the changes will most certainly change the way we co-exist over the coming decade with increased natural disasters, violent weather events, disappearing coastlines, and declining farming successes, all of which could legitimately lead to the deaths of millions, if not billions, in the most extreme outcomes.
However, if you didn't know, Nature will always win.
I am in no way purporting to be an expert on climate change, but I am interested, and I am trying to help where I can by examining habits that contribute to the problem. The purpose of this is to ask readers to stay well informed from REPUTABLE sources, and make any changes that are comfortable (or even mildly uncomfortable) in an effort to help, no matter how small. It's a huge issue and the entire planet needs to embrace solutions to mitigate and manage the damage our greed has inflicted on our home, the only habitable choice for us at our present technological abilities.
What are we waiting for?
