Tuesday September 05, 2017
Is Canada prepared for climate change? Adaptation is key, say experts
cbc.ca
[This includes a radio interview as well as text. An excerpt of the text is below, but there is more at the link.]
'You're far better off to prepare and get ahead of the curve than just keep waiting for these things to happen,' says Blair Feltmate, head of the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo. (uwaterloo.ca/Ben Shannon)
Listen 46:02
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The Current's new series, Adaptation, looks at at the surprising, innovative, and sometimes ill-advised ways individuals and communities accommodate a rapidly shifting world.
In August of 2014, the southern Ontario city of Burlington — just west of Toronto — was hit by a torrential storm, causing severe flooding that wreaked havoc on the homes of its residents.
The flood changed everything: from the city budget, to home renovations where thousands of people realized that climate change was happening right below them. People described sewage spewing like a fountain from their basement drains.
Around 10 per cent of the city's houses — 3,500 homes — were damaged by the flooding, the consequence of two months' worth of rain that fell in less than eight hours.
"I lost 80 per cent of my whole life belongings. I had the highest claim from that sewage flood," says Burlington resident Carol Solis.
Carol Solis had two floods in her basement in Burlington in 2014. She says the loss from the damage is 'astronomical.' (Kristin Nelson/Carol Solis)
She says in addition to repairs, her insurance claim included having to move out and live in different places with her daughter.
Solis estimates, in total, it amounted to a half-a-million dollar claim.
"The loss was just astronomical ... memories, pictures, childhood toys — you name it. It took me two years to literally get my life, my head back together to realize the loss and to let it go."
Instead of waiting for the next storm to hit, the city decided to take a proactive approach and have now become a leader of climate adaptation as local politicians work to help residents prevent basement flooding in their homes.
Anna Maria talks with Mayor Rick Goldring at his home in Burlington, Ont. He is helping his city adapt to climate change after his home was one of 3,500 homes in the city flooded in August 2014. (Kristin Nelson/CBC)
"I used to think that when you say adaptation you're throwing up the white flag and you're surrendering to climate change," Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring tells The Current's Anna Maria Tremonti outside his home.
"But the reality is that we know where we are with regard to increases in temperature and more extreme weather events that we do have to adapt," he explains.
"Even if we reduce carbon dramatically now the temperatures are still going to climb ... so adaptation is as crucial as mitigation."
continues at the link |
