The Burning Question: Canada climate change—Dr. Nathan Gillett interview—Radio Ecoshock 2019-04-17
Channel: Stop Fossil Fuels
Date: 2019-05-09

As the second largest land mass on the planet, Canada is warming at twice the global average. The vast Canadian Arctic is heating three times average. The impacts spread around the world. Leading scientist Dr. Nathan Gillett explains a new climate change report from the Government of Canada.

Radio Ecoshock has listeners all over the world, so I try to keep a global perspective. But now we need to talk about the second largest country in the world: Canada. After 10 years of being shut out from talking with federal government scientists, during the Harper regime, today I talked with climate scientist Nathan Gillett from Environment and Climate Change Canada. He told us the rate of warming in Canada was double the world average.

You may think global warming would be good for colder places like Canada. A new report from the Government of Canada warns against that myth. The country has already warmed about twice the world average, and will continue to heat up faster than the rest of the planet during this century and beyond. Scientists project more flooding, more wildfires, extreme heat events, strange winters, and damage to the seas surrounding Canada’s vast coastline.

Here to explain is one of Canada’s top climate scientists. Dr. Nathan Gillett received his PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the University of Oxford. He is a Coordinating Lead Author of the chapter on human influence on climate, in the upcoming IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. Nathan leads research into climate impacts for the Canadian government.

Show by Radio Ecoshock, reposted under CC License. Episode details at https://www.ecoshock.org/2019/04/the-burning-question.html

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SHOW DETAILS
With my next guest Paul Beckwith in mind, I asked Dr. Gillett when the sea ice might be gone in summer, the so-called “Blue Ocean Event“. He suggested that might come around the year 2050. As you will hear, Paul Beckwith thinks the Blue Ocean Event will come much sooner, possibly in the next decade.

The rest of the world tends to think about “Canada” and “cold winter” in the same sentence. But winter here has already changed. In fact, most of the new warming from climate change has come in the winter. That means earlier snow melt, different conditions for spring rivers and flooding, possibly a longer growing season, and difficult changes for both animals and plants. Although the Canadian Arctic is warming at three times the global mean average temperature, southern Canada is warming at twice the rate.

Even so, the new report “Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action” warns parts of the country could experience shortages of freshwater. As an old Canadian growing up with so many lakes and rivers, that seems hard to believe. How could some Canadians face water shortages, despite annual precipitation going up?

I always remember our Canadian fire expert Mike Flannigan telling us on Radio Ecoshock that thin soils in Canada’s north can dry out to a tinder state in just three days. You could have rain, then three days of heat, and then poof! forest fires. We are already doing emergency fire planning here in the West.