The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its latest report yesterday in Japan, warning that the nations of the world are not doing enough to slow climate change. Governments risk physical changes such as increased droughts, wild fires, and floods but also much greater stress on fresh water and decreased crop yields that will affect human health and well being.
These changes are happening now. While Canada is coming out of a harsh winter across much of the country, other northern regions (such as Alaska and Scandinavia) experienced a much warmer winter than usual. And last year’s flooding in Southern Alberta – with $6 billion in damages – was Canada’s most expensive “natural disaster.” Toronto’s July 2013 flash flood caused $850 million in damages. These are the sorts of outcomes IPCC scientists warn are becoming more frequent and severe.
Action is needed now. “Delaying actions to cut carbon emissions will cost more and be less effective,” said Christian Holz, from Climate Action Network Canada. “Acting now saves lives and delivers many other benefits such as green jobs and more sustainable economies, to our communities and the environments they depend on,” he said.
CUPE calls for GHG reductions across all spheres of Canadian society to limit planetary warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, which is considered a manageable and realistic warming threshold, based on scientific evidence.