There was something almost Hollywood-like about the sky that hung over New Westminster on Sunday night.
The golden-red light that glowed behind the heavy haze was eerily beautiful, in an apocalyptic, beginning-of-the-end-of-the-world sort of way.
And it was a sobering reminder that it’s about time we all started taking climate change – and all its associated effects on the planet – seriously.
We’re done with the deniers and with the governments that push environmental issues to the bottom of the pile in a quest for economic growth in unsustainable forms.
We simply can not afford to take our world for granted anymore.
Consider these numbers, courtesy of Sierra Club B.C.: In the past five years, B.C. has had an average of 320 wildfires per year, burning 12,744 hectares. This year, with most of the summer still to come and no rain in sight, there have already been 843 fires and 129,028 hectares burned.
And it seems unlikely to be improving in the near future, as scientists are predicting hotter, drier conditions for B.C. over the coming decades.
So what, you may ask. Once we invest in air conditioners, swimming pools and SPF 50, what’s not to like about this new, California-like climate of ours?
Well, how about the fact that record low snowpacks and record high temperatures are affecting the Fraser River salmon run? Water flows are low, temperatures are high, and that threatens the health of the salmon returning to spawn.
And if you don’t care much about the fish, well, what about us humans? Metro Vancouver reservoirs are at their lowest level in more than 25 years, and Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are already on the highest level of water restrictions.
The rest of us are heading that way fast. And that stands to mean far worse than just letting our lawns go brown. Drought threatens the health and viability of our agricultural industry – and thus the very food we depend upon.
Every single aspect of our lives, and the life of our planet, depends on a world in balance, where our temperatures and our rainfall levels reflect the temperate rainforest we’re meant to be living in.
This parched and scorching world we’re inhabiting this summer could well be on its way to becoming our new normal – and that’s a reality with frightening and far-reaching consequences.
Let’s just hope governments – at all levels – respond to the urgency.
Because this smoky air we’ve been breathing isn’t just part of the lazy hazy crazy days of summer.
Our planet is sending us a message – and it’s about time we listened.
