Since the 1950s, Canada has experienced atmospheric warming across the country. Starting in the mid- 20th century, the primary contributor to the phenomenon, known as climate change, has been the anthropogenic release of greenhouse gasses (GHGs). The major GHGs can be considered to be water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone, methane and nitrous oxide with water vapour being the most important. However, water vapour’s atmospheric concentrations are tied to the temperature of the planet, the warmer the planet is, the more water is evaporated. Therefore, while it does act as the most important heat trapper, it’s effects are managed by the concentrations of other GHGs in the atmosphere, namely CO2. Because CO2 is released by the burning of fossil fuels, the more humans put into the atmosphere, the more of a warming effect occurs, therefore increasing the production of water vapour and amplifying the effect of CO2 on the planet’s warming. By decreasing the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere, one would be decreasing the concentration and effect of water vapour in the atmosphere[i].

 

Climate change occurs when these GHGs act like glass in a greenhouse by allowing solar radiation in while trapping heat radiating from the earth. The sun emits shortwave radiation that is able to pass through the layers of GHGs in the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface. The Earth then emits longwave radiation that, because of its change in wavelength, is unable to penetrate out and is instead absorbed by GHGs in the atmosphere. This effect, known as the “Greenhouse Effect”, alters the Earth’s energy balance allowing more energy in than out and represents the basic principal surrounding the cause of climate change[ii].

 

Impacts

 

The warming of the planet is just one of many impacts that Canadians face from climate change. The reality is almost all sectors of society at some point deal with an issue that is a result of human-induced climate change. Human health is affected by impacts such as heatwaves, vector-borne diseases (Lyme disease, malaria), poor air quality as well as food and water contamination. Impacts affecting water quantity are also of great concern for rivers and lakes across Canada as well is the increased frequency and intensity of forest fires and drought. Losses due to an increase in invasive pests and disease, are becoming more prevalent and threaten food supplies. Biodiversity has seen the effect of climate change in the area species distribution, physiology, abundance and life cycle timing causing an alteration in the relationships and habitats of organisms.

 

The natural resource sector is also vulnerable in the face of increased climate extremes such as heat, cold, and precipitation as well as the associated natural hazards that arise during exploration, development, processing and transportation. These impacts have had an effect on the economy, as seen in the insurance industry who is dealing with an increase in damages to homes and businesses caused by severe weather events, such as flooding and wind damage, which are increasing. These same impacts can be seen in the tourism industry affecting seasonal recreation as well as nature-based tourism.

 

All of these impacts put stress on the infrastructure of a city, affecting our health and quality of life, and underline the importance of having well-maintained infrastructure to ensure the community is more resilient, lessening the severity of climate-related impacts. As the planet warms further, these impacts are becoming more severe, frequent, and expensive to manage (if manageable at all). It is through mitigation and adaptation that the fallout from these impacts are managed, reduced and prevented.

 

Mitigation

 

In the face of these impacts, mitigation represents the most immediate step that can be taken by any individual, business, or institution to climate change. In the context of climate change, mitigation refers to any strategy or action taken to remove the GHGs released into the atmosphere, or to reduce their concentrations[iii]. Mitigation can vary in scope, ranging from the individual to the corporation or even from the national to global level. To the individual, mitigation can be anything you do to shrink your carbon footprint. This could mean a person biking to work instead of driving, carpooling, or even taking public transportation. It can be the difference in going for a bike ride or a hike instead of going on a road trip. Reducing idling or the use of alternative zero-emission vehicles such as e-bikes or electric cars can all reduce, or even eliminate, one’s transportation-related emissions. One can decrease their emissions when going to get groceries by buying from local vendors which reduces the emissions associated with the transportation of food, while at the same time purchasing fresh food and supporting the local economy. However, not all emissions are as obvious as those associated with transportation – energy consumption also represents another key source of GHGs.

 

Every method of generating power has an associated carbon cost. Often one source of power may seem clean because it has no direct emissions associated with it, but the reality is it generates emissions indirectly from other less obvious sources. A coal power plant produces direct emissions through the burning of the fossil fuel coal, where as a nuclear power plant produces no direct emissions, but rather indirect emissions created from the mining and refinement of uranium to the construction and eventual decommissioning of the plant [iv]. Purchasing energy from green sources such as solar represents the ideal option for a person looking to reduce the carbon footprint associated with energy production. The bottom line is the best way for one to curb their energy-related emissions is to simply reduce consumption. Turning off lights, using clothes lines instead of a dryer, or turning off the air-conditioning in favour of a fan are all simple actions that can have a significant effect on how much energy a person consumes. In conjunction with these simple changes, one could even further decrease their energy consumption by improving their energy efficiency and method of generation at home. The Ontario government, through its Climate Change Action Plan 2016, intends to help home owners purchase and install clean-energy systems such as solar, geothermal and heat pumps as well as efficiency improvements such as  insulation which can significantly reduce the energy costs and consumption of a home[v].

 

The responsibility of reducing GHGs does not rest solely on the individual. Governmental bodies also have a variety of options when it comes to discouraging promotion of fossil fuels. Municipalities have the power to enact a gas surcharge that would increase the price at the pump or to institute congestion charges that operate during peak hours, both with the aim of encouraging the use of zero-emission vehicles[vi]. Higher levels of government can enact broader policies such as including the cost of carbon into product pricing to discourage the purchasing of carbon intensive products while promoting ones that are not. This not only discourages the individual from carbon-poor choices but also encourages corporations to will look for less carbon-intensive products. The funds generated from all these policies would be reinvested into their areas of focus to provide lower carbon infrastructure and services.

 

The Ontario government released its long-term vision for combatting climate change in its Climate Change Strategy (CCS) which pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050, and build a prosperous low-carbon economy. It recently released its short-term strategy in the form of the Climate Change Action Plan (CCAP) of 2016 which falls in line with the long-term CCS as well as with other provincial and state plans in place. Currently, the Federal government hosting a national discussion to hear the opinion of Canadians. In conjunction with the general public, the Federal government is using climate plans, such as the CCS and CCAP, Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan, the Québec Climate Change Action Plan as well those from the other provinces and territories to create its National Climate Strategy. This strategy will build on the goals and targets of the Paris Agreement, ratified by Canada in April 2016, which are based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change of 1992 whose objective is to "stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system"[vii].

 

Adaptation  

 

Mitigation is a step in the right direction, but alone it is not enough. To overcome climate change, the world needs to break free from the carbon system. Adaptation will see the world shift to a new system, one that will change the behaviour and everyday patterns of people, businesses, and governments. Even if the entire world were to move to a zero-carbon system tomorrow, climate change would still exist and would continue to exist for years to come. This is due to the phenomenon known as climate lag. The reality is we have not seen the full temperature rise from the CO2 we have already emitted. This lag has been estimated to be in the range of 25 to 50 years. It is the Earth’s oceans that are responsible for this lag. Much like a pot of water which takes a few minutes to boil on a stove, there too is a lag associated with the warming of our oceans, and therefore the planet[viii].

 

Adaptation in the context of climate change refers to the ability of a system to adjust to climate change in order to reduce its vulnerability, and increase the resilience to observed and anticipated impacts of climate change[ix]. It is government policy that will act as the major driving force in inducing shifts in behaviour and planning across the world. In the face of increased instances of intensive precipitation related to climate change, storm water management systems and improving their capacity becomes essential in preventing flooding and costly damages. With increased precipitation comes increased runoff which increases the amount of pollutants being swept into local ecosystems. Therefore, clean storm water systems with a larger capacity represent an adaptation which will filter the increased runoff while at the same time be able to funnel large amounts of water quickly, thereby reducing the potential for flooding.

 

This means identifying the impact and what is affected by it, and then what needs to be adapted so that the impacts may be managed now and into the future where the impact may be exacerbated. If an increase in the frequency of intense precipitation is the climate-related impact being responded to, then the affected medium would be a city’s stormwater drainage system. To adapt to the current, and anticipated future increase in periods of intense precipitation, the capacity of the system would have to be modified to accept the worst case scenario likely to be experienced in the future. However, with increased precipitation comes increased runoff which increases the amount of pollutants being swept into local ecosystems. Taking adaptation even further, green stormwater systems with a larger capacity represent an adaptation which will filter the increased runoff while at the same time be able to funnel large amounts of water quickly preventing floods.  Better urban planning and fewer impermeable surfaces can also attenuate the amounts of runoff. The end result is resilient infrastructure that protects against the threat of climate change while improving the quality of water flowing through the system.

 

Shifts in behaviour and a re-evaluation of human practices in the face of climate change can revolutionize all sectors of human life. Take the meat industry as an example. This is an industry that has been regarded as a large contributor to climate change due to the significant amount of methane and nitrous oxide released from animal waste and the energy required to grow their feed . Enter zero-waste farming. Thinking outside of the box, a new system of farming has been developed that utilizes the negative effects of meat farming and turns them into a positive solution. In this system, the GHGs being released from animal waste are collected and used as power for the farm, and the surrounding area[x]. The waste is then superheated for days to provide a fuel source to grow a plant called duckweed. This plant grows extremely fast and is then used to make grain to feed the livestock[xi]. This adaptation is not only cost effective and sustainable, but it bypasses the problem of emissions associated with the raising of these animals while providing clean energy to the surrounding area[xii].

 

Governments also have the power to employ the psychology of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ when approaching carbon-based product advertisement. Much like the tobacco industry before it, the restrictions on the advertisement of carbon-based products would be a step in the right direction in the face of a future influenced by climate change. Instead of gasoline-based car commercials, people would see?? electric car commercials or ads in the paper for solar powered generators instead of gasoline powered ones. This would have a profound effect on the purchasing patterns of people drawing the mind away from machines reliant on carbon fuels and allowing it to focus on the idea of renewable energy as a way of powering the machines of today as well as tomorrow.

 

Adaptations like this are spurred by innovation in technology. The investment by the government in areas such as renewable energy technologies work towards creating new ways of sustainably approaching sector activities, allowing industry to break away from the archaic carbon system. Incentive programs in conjunction with emerging new energy efficient technologies can promote the purchase of zero-carbon technologies. Improved urban planning that reduces urban sprawl promotes the practicality of non-motorized vehicles are just some of the ways the government can use its influence to curb human behaviour and purchasing patterns. All of this requires research and a thorough understanding of climate change and the effect it has on all facets of human society. Only through investment in research and the inclusion of climate change considerations in all decision-making process can Canada truly consider itself prepared for the current and future impacts of climate change.

 

 

References

 

[i] Dunbar, B. (2008). Water Vapor Confirmed as Major Player in Climate Change. Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/vapor_warming.html

[ii] Working together to fight Climate Change. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://climatechange.gc.ca/default.asp?lang=En

[iii] IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/vol4/index.php?idp=204

[iv] Kleiner, K. (2008). Nuclear Energy: Assessing the Emissions. Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.nature.com/climate/2008/0810/full/climate.2008.99.html

[v] Climate Change Action Plan 2016. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from https://www.ontario.ca/page/climate-change-action-plan

[vi] Congestion charge. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.politics.co.uk/reference/congestion-charge

[vii] United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. (1992). New York: United Nations, General Assembly.

[viii] Climate Lags. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.climatevictory.org/lags.html

[ix] IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://www.ipcc.ch/ipccreports/tar/vol4/index.php?idp=204

[x] King of Poop Power | The Tyee. (n.d.). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/07/07/KingOfPoopPower/

[xi] Growing Duckweed. A Fish Feed, Biofuel & Water treatment. (2015). Retrieved August 05, 2016, from http://bioponica.net/growing-duckweed/