Unprecedented Climate Challenges: Unraveling Canada's Summer of 2023

By Erika Pietrzak, July 25, 2023

Canada provides a prime example of what manmade climate change can do not only to a nation, but how climate change does not stop at international borders.

Photo Credit: National Park Service Climate Change Research

Canada experiences climate change at twice the rate of the world average. Estimates place Canada’s economic growth at half its current rate by next year because of climate change. Experts believe that the cost of climate change in Canada will be about $25 billion in 2025. By 2030, the annual loss due to climate change in Canada will be almost $12 billion. In twenty-five more years, Canada can expect to lose half a million jobs because of climate change. Last month, Canada released the first-ever national climate adaptation strategy, but why does Canada need this so badly?

Crawford Lake

In 1950 as nuclear testing began, a new era scientists dubbed the Anthropocene era (the age of humans) began and Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada has been selected as the golden-spike, or the spot with perfect preservation of the dangerous impacts of humans on the earth. Crawford Lake is one of 12 golden-spikes, it has been dubbed the birthplace of the Anthropocene era. This is because the lake also holds evidence of industrial pollution, climate change, and species extinctions. The sediment uniquely displayshow the area responded to temperature changes throughout the earth’s history because of its undisturbed nature. The Anthropocene Working Group claims that Crawford Lake is one of the sites to see the human-made impact we are leaving on the earth. Crawford Lake’s bed has geochemical traces of nuclear testing, specifically radioactive plutonium. The sediment at the bottom of the lake contains decades of environmental history, but the explosions in the 1950s have left “an indelible imprint on Earth’s geologic record.”

Whether or not the Anthropocene era will be added to the earth’s timeline is yet to be decided by scientists, but many agree that at least there is an Anthropocene event in which “human activity has fundamentally altered the geology, atmosphere and biology of the earth.” This means that humans are no longer just influencing the earth’s sphere, but controlling it.

Rain

Canada suffers from a common climate change problem with water: too much or not enough. Canada has experienced droughts and floods over the summer season. Heavy rainfall has landed in Canada after the wildfires and may offer some relief. However, this downpour may also result in flooding around western Canada. With this downpour may also come lightning strikes which can ignite more wildfires. Rainfall also results in runoff and pollution in the waters that some of Canada’s economy relies on. The downpour even caused sewage flooding in Montreal and flooded homes.

The frequent hurricanes and storms have made some investors pull out of Canadian companies. One storm this month in Canada caused two tornadoes to touch down, damaged more than 100 homes, and caused 300 people to evacuate. In the worst two hours of the storm, Montreal received almost as much rainfall as it typically does for the entire month of July. Ice storms and heavy rain plague Canada, especially in the northern provinces. Many of the ice storms in Northern Canada have morphed into heavy rain, causing great melting, erosion, and landslides across that portion of the country.

Wildfires

With climate change worsening, the fire season in Canada gets more deadly every year. Starting in Nova Scotia and now spreading across the nation, wildfires have taken Canada over this summer. Lightning from the storms across the country has combined with the low levels of rain to cause trees to catch fire resulting in more than two thousand wildfires. This is Canada’s worst fire season ever and 24 million acres, about the size of Indiana, have been burned. For this time in the season, Canada has experienced more than fourteen times the average number of wildfires. This is particularly harmful sinceCanada’s forests contain higher levels of carbon than most forests do.

These wildfires have also worried the Canadian economy because they are detrimental to the timber industry, have upended oil and gas companies, and harmed the tourist industry. Oxford Economics estimates that Canada will experience a 0.3-0.6 percentage points loss to its economic growth because of these wildfires. Canada’s government claims that “climate change could potentially double the amount of area burned by the end of this century with potential economic consequences like lack of timber supply and changes in which tree species make up the majority of forests.”

Air Quality

The wildfires in Canada have worsened the air quality around North America. Wildfire smoke contains PM 2.5, a pollutant particulate matter. PM 2.5 enters the lungs and bloodstream of anyone who inhales it. While most of the time PM 2.5 only causes irritation, it has also been linked to lung cancer. The carbon monoxide released during the wildfires also causes reduced oxygen to the body and brain. Smoke particles can linger for weeks, causing poor air quality for much longer than the fire ever burned. During this wildfire season, there has been a significant increase in hospital visits and hospitalizations.

With air quality warnings reaching my hometown near Washington D.C., the Canadian wildfires have caused some of the worst air quality records all the way down to Texas. Montreal recorded the poorest air quality on record in late June. The air quality issues created by the wildfires are exacerbated by the increase in pollutants and particle matter lingering in the air as a result of changing weather patterns such as less rain. A recent study in Nature showed that wildfire smoke inhalation results in lower test scores and a decrease in earning potential for those who breathe it in.

Heat

Part of the reason that we have experienced such a hot summer is a change in the solar cycle. The current 11-year cycle lands its peak in July 2025, but the sun is growing increasingly active and thus we may see this cycle alter slightly with a maximum in mid-to-late 2024 instead. Thus, the June temperatures in Canada, and around the world, have been “significantly” higher than normal. The heat allows for diseases to move easily, which may be one reason that a deadly fungus has now made its way into the country.

The Canadian Arctic is warming at three times the global rate. Permafrost, ice that stays frozen throughout the entire year, is now starting to melt. This melt, according to the Canadian government, “threatens homes, roads, and important cultural sites as well as marine and coastal environments,” particularly harming indigenous communities. The warming is especially harmful during the winters as the season is now warm enough not to kill off many of the animals it used to, which harms the natural ecosystem. A prime example is pine beetles, who destroy the wood of trees, harming the Canadian timber sector. By reducing the availability of wood, the Canadian housing industry is also in shambles as a housing shortage plagues the nation.

Jet Stream

The jet stream is a “ribbon of fast-moving air that flows from west to east over the Northern Hemisphere and controls the weather systems” through pressure changes. It is formed because of the cold temperatures in the poles juxtaposing the warm temperatures near the equator. Patterns in the jet stream create heavy rain when moving south and droughts when moving north. The jet stream is weaker in the summer because the temperatures are not as far apart, the rising temperatures are affecting the jet stream by making it even weaker. By warming the poles 2-3 times faster than the rest of the world, the temperature distance is becoming smaller. This weakening of the jet stream, allows air to linger for longer before being cycled, another reason why the air quality has become so poor in many places. This is corroborated by an 83% increase in stagnant air days. 

The weakening jets stream is also a cause for concern because “[w]hen it slows or gets stuck, high- or low-pressure weather systems that correspond to the jet stream’s ridges and troughs intensify, stretching out rainy episodes, heatwaves or droughts for days — or even weeks — at a time.” This summer, the jet stream paused over Canada, trapping hot air in the area and causing a heatwave that helped the wildfires spread.

Conclusion

Canada provides a prime example of what manmade climate change can do not only to a nation, but how climate change does not stop at international borders. The age of humans is upon us and from rain to fire, we are seeing extreme conditions that endanger wildlife and humans alike. With detrimental outcomes to the economy, nature, and people of Canada, solutions are desperately needed. Now the big question remains of how impactful the national climate adaption strategy will be to this country in climatic shambles.

Change The Chamber is a bipartisan coalition of over 100 student groups, including undergraduates, graduate students and recent graduates.