Letter: ‘This is climate change’ and we can no longer pretend it is a problem of the future

By Letter to the Editor on July 24, 2024.

Dear editor,

It was warm in Medicine Hat when I visited last April, but I see your forecast today of 37C; sheesh!

While Calgary isn’t quite that hot, we’re currently in another one of our several 32C days this summer, which used to be very rare. At nighttime, with all my windows open, my apartment is typically still 28C at midnight; it takes a long time to cool down when the outdoor temperatures don’t drop until the wee hours.

This sounds a lot like something I read by reporter Amy Westervelt, who wrote: “Four years ago I was covering a wildfire in California and the fire chief told me ‘This is climate change. I’ve been a firefighter for 30 years. Conditions have changed. We’re not seeing the cooler temperatures and higher humidity at night, which is when we used to get a break’.”

As retired AB Fish and Wildlife biologist Lorne Fitch wrote a few months ago in the Western Producer, “Climate change isn’t our future, it is our present. Declining river flows, persistent drought, increased temperatures, heat domes, greater evaporation and more wicked weather events signal our world has changed.”

Finally, in 2008, two years after leaving office, former premier Ralph Klein said, “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that global warming would become such a hot issue.”

Alberta is in a much more difficult place now, because we have failed to heed his warning and we continue to repeat his mistake of being caught flat-footed in meeting the climate crisis.

Let us no longer pretend it is a far-off problem, because it is reshaping our lives here and now.

Sincerely yours,

Roger L Gagne

Calgary

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