Transition Brockville archive
Tag : Extreme weather (122)
CBC News / Ellen Mauro / 06 December 2019
O’Brien lives on Erie Shore Drive, a stretch of road near Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario that was originally built as a dyke.
It’s prone to flooding, but O’Brien and her neighbours aren’t alone in their struggle. Many communities along Lake Erie have faced a challenging combination over the past year: record-high water levels and significant erosion of the shoreline.
This double whammy has caused property sizes to shrink as the lake swallows land, and has forced some homeowners to make the painful decision to either continue to try save and their lots or abandon them.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
The Energy Mix / 04 December 2019
It was judicious use of mental health expertise, along with many, many sandbags, that enabled Fargo, North Dakota to weather the challenges of the epic 2009 Red River flood.
That was one of the experiences that pointed to a basic precondition for building communities’ ability to face the climate emergency: Recognizing climate change as a profound threat to mental health, responding with messages of “hopeful realism” and ongoing compassion, particularly for older adults and children, and helping communities acquire the psychological and social resilience to cope.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
National Observer / Carl Meyer / 21 November 2019
The Bank of Canada says it wants to develop ways to stress-test how the country’s financial system will hold up against the possibility of punishing future scenarios borne by the climate emergency.
The initiative is part of a broader research agenda on climate change, announced this week by Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn A. Wilkins during a speech in Montreal.
“The Bank is devoting analytical firepower to understanding how climate risks are shaping the macroeconomy and financial system,” Wilkins said.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
Reuters / Robert Birsel / 14 November 2019
While the politicians argue, concern is growing about the impact on the health of a warmer world.
In China, health officials have reported a rare outbreak of pneumonic plague after two cases were confirmed this week in Beijing.
The two were infected in the province of Inner Mongolia, where rodent populations have expanded dramatically after persistent droughts, worsened by climate change, state media said. An area the size of the Netherlands was hit by a “rat plague” last summer.
The wider implications for health are sobering.
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
National Observer / Nicole Westman / 08 November 2019
As climate change makes natural disasters more common and more extreme, cities and communities are working to improve their resilience—their ability to withstand disaster, and bounce back quickly when it occurs. But disasters don’t just cause physical damage; they can leave communities struggling mentally and emotionally, as well. Working to shore up physical structures only tackles part of the problem, says Gerald Galloway, a professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Center for Disaster Resilience at the University of Maryland. “If a community can’t stand on its own two feet psychologically, all the work on having stronger buildings isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
[ FULL ARTICLE ]
Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks / 07 November 2019
The assessment will help the province better understand where and how it is vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and will provide information to communities to help them undertake a more strategic approach to adaptation planning and infrastructure investments to prevent and mitigate climate change risks.
“Our government is taking action in the global fight to reduce emissions and strengthen our resilience to the impacts of climate change that are already happening in our communities, such as more frequent extreme weather events and flooding,” said Jeff Yurek, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. “This impact assessment will help the province, municipalities, Indigenous communities and other local partners make more informed and timely decisions to keep communities and people healthy and safe.”
[ FULL MEDIA RELEASE ]
O’Brien lives on Erie Shore Drive, a stretch of road near Chatham-Kent in southwestern Ontario that was originally built as a dyke.
