Welcome to the tenth edition of Climate Now! Our biweekly blog posts where we discuss meaningful and ongoing sustainability initiatives and climate activities. This week we will be highlighting the wildfires in Canada and what they mean for us. Let’s get into it.
This past week New Yorkers came face to face with something they had never seen before. Each and every city goer encountered a haunting apocalyptic haze which covered the entire area. Residents of other northeastern regions, such as Washington DC, also witnessed the intense smoke. The cinematic filter came from the over 400 forest fires burning in Canada. With over 13,000 residents evacuated and almost 10 million acres already burned, this is a marked start to Canada's fire season.
Canada has seen active fires for about a month now in over 10 of its provinces. The more recent fires, with their extremity witnessed by thousands across its borders, have been burning in eastern provinces, specifically Quebec and Nova Scotia. These are some of the worst fires Canada has encountered with almost double the yearly average of land burned, within only a month of the start of its fire season.
There are a variety of factors which contribute to wildfires, such as lightning, human error, as well as warm and dry climates. However, the extremity of the blazing seen in Canada has led many to wonder if this is a taste of what our future will look like. With rising and record breaking temperatures being recorded across the northern hemisphere, fires are likely to increase in quantity, as well as in their intensity. This is due to a variety of reasons. As high temperatures dry out soil and land, the ground becomes much more susceptible to burning, with potential to cause even more damage. This is heightened by increased levels of drought seen in places like Canada. Additionally, for each Celsius that the temperature rises, it has been found that 12% more lightning will occur. As the cause of about half of forest fires in Canada, this is a dramatic increase. Fire seasons in Canada, as well as other countries, have been increasing in length over time.
These recorded changes in climate and natural disasters could have drastic effects on our society, if they are not counteracted. While devastating, these recent events will provide researchers with more information and data regarding the larger trends we are seeing in today's world.
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