Guest post by Mel reviewing a recent globe and mail article.

Environmental disasters have been happening in British Columbia more and more frequently
such as extreme heat events and the terrible flood that happened in Sumas prairie in November 2021.

The rainforest biome in British Columbia has been impacted strongly by human activity.
According to a study completed by Megan Kirchmeier-Young, forest fires have become more
expensive to manage and more widespread as a result of human activity.

The article, “B.C. wildfires stoked by climate change, likely to become worse“, does not
include details on what human activities have factored into climate change. The article only
states that Dr. Kirchmeier-Young’s study confirmed this conclusion. The Government of Canda
website*, however, states “Human activity is the main cause of climate change. People burn
fossil fuels and convert land from forests to agriculture. Since the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution, people have burned more and more fossil fuels and changed vast areas of land
from forests to farmland. Burning fossil fuels produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas…
Carbon dioxide is the main cause of human-induced climate change.”

The article also does not state what actions humans should take to reduce our impact on
climate change, but I have studied this, and I think the best way to reduce carbon dioxide
emissions is to reconsider transportation. There are many ways that people can burn less fossil
fuels in their transportation such as limiting travel by plane, traveling by train, carpooling to
reduce the number of gas burning cars on the road, buying electric vehicles, and choosing to
travel by bike. We need more infrastructure to support these alternate travel options such as
expanded train service and bike lanes.

If we are going to spend millions of dollars to address climate emergencies such as forest fires
and floods, we should spend the money instead to reduce the causes of climate change. By
reducing carbon emissions, we won’t have as many issues to address from climate change. We
need to take responsibility for our part in causing climate change and make better decisions in
the future.

• https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/climate-change/causes.html