The Canadian government released a report yesterday that reveals some pretty alarming discoveries about the rate of global warming in our country.
Namely, that Canada is heating up significantly faster than the rest of the world. And yes, it’s “driven by human influence.”
“Both past and future warming in Canada is, on average, about double the magnitude of global warming,” reads the study, titled ‘Canada’s Changing Climate Report (CCCR)’. Furthermore, “Northern Canada has warmed and will continue to warm at more than double the global rate.”
It should be noted that the second fact is somewhat the result of geographic misfortune. Changes in our atmosphere tend to be most extreme at the poles, which means our Arctic isn’t getting hotter because of our own behaviour, but rather the behaviour of the planet as a whole. Still, it’s a pretty concerning situation: The annual average temperature in Northern Canada increased by 2.3 C between 1948 and 2016.
Some other findings you should worry about: Canada’s oceans have warmed, become more acidic, and less oxygenated; warming in Canada is projected to intensify in the future; summer’s could bring an increased risk of water supply shortages; coastal flooding is expected to increase in many areas of Canada; and we should expect more precipitation (less snowfall, more rainfall). Here’s how Basquiat might have interpreted the last point:
The good news is, well, nothing really. The report concludes with a resounding¯\_(ツ)_/¯
“Beyond the next few decades, the largest uncertainty about the magnitude of future climate change is rooted in uncertainty about human behaviour, that is, whether the world will follow a pathway of low, medium, or high emissions,” reads the report.
It should come as no surprise that the release of the CCCR coincides with Justin Trudeau’s Carbon Tax coming into effect.