In this short 2018 video Molly Leblanc, a species at risk and biodiversity biologist with Coastal Action, talks about the roughly one million ounces of mercury left behind by mining companies in Nova Scotia, typically dumped in nearby wetlands.
Of 64 historical gold mine districts — each of which can contain dozens of individual mines — only 18 districts have been analyzed for mercury and arsenic accumulation in living things, the study found. There are more than 360 individual mines across the 64 districts.
The province experienced waves of gold rushes dating back to the 1860s that left a legacy of mercury and arsenic contamination.
Mercury was used to separate gold from crushed ore, and the waste from that process was usually dumped in nearby bodies of water. Arsenic, a naturally occurring mineral, was released into the environment as part of the mining process.
On the eve of the summer solstice, something very worrying happened in the Arctic Circle. For the first time in recorded history, temperatures reached 38°C (101°F) in a remote Siberian town – 18°C warmer than the maximum daily average for June in this part of the world, and the all-time temperature record for the region.
New records are being set every year, and not just for maximum temperatures, but for melting ice and wildfires too. That’s because air temperatures across the Arctic have been increasing at a rate that is about twice the global average.
All that heat has consequences. Siberia’s recent heatwave, and high summer temperatures in previous years, have been accelerating the melting of Arctic permafrost. This is the permanently frozen ground which has a thin surface layer that melts and refreezes each year. As temperatures rise, the surface layer gets deeper and structures embedded in it start to fail as the ground beneath them expands and contracts. This is what is partly to blame for the catastrophic oil spill that occurred in Siberia in June 2020, when a fuel reservoir collapsed and released more than 21,000 tonnes of fuel – the largest ever spill in the Arctic.
So what is wrong with the Arctic, and why does climate change here seem so much more severe compared to the rest of the world?
Smoke from wildfires cloaks the skies over Siberia, June 23 2020. EPA-EFE/NASA
The warming models predicted
Scientists have developed models of the global climate system, called general circulation models, or GCMs for short, that reproduce the major patterns seen in weather observations. This helps us track and predict the behaviour of climate phenomena such as the Indian monsoon, El Niño, Southern Oscillations and ocean circulation such as the gulf stream.
GCMs have been used to project changes to the climate in a world with more atmospheric CO₂ since the 1990s. A common feature of these models is an effect called polar amplification. This is where warming is intensified in the polar regions and especially in the Arctic. The amplification can be between two and two and a half, meaning that for every degree of global warming, the Arctic will see double or more. This is a robust feature of our climate models, but why does it happen?
Fresh snow is the brightest natural surface on the planet. It has an albedo of about 0.85, which means that 85% of solar radiation falling on it is reflected back out to space. The ocean is the opposite – it’s the darkest natural surface on the planet and reflects just 10% of radiation (it has an albedo of 0.1). In winter, the Arctic Ocean, which covers the North Pole, is covered in sea ice and that sea ice has an insulating layer of snow on it. It’s like a huge, bright thermal blanket protecting the dark ocean underneath. As temperatures rise in spring, sea ice melts, exposing the dark ocean underneath, which absorbs even more solar radiation, increasing warming of the region, which melts even more ice. This is a positive feedback loop which is often referred to as the ice-albedo feedback mechanism.
Melting Arctic sea ice is increasing warming in the region. Jonathan Bamber, Author provided
This ice-albedo (really snow-albedo) feedback is particular potent in the Arctic because the Arctic Ocean is almost landlocked by Eurasia and North America, and it’s less easy (compared to the Antarctic) for ocean currents to move the sea ice around and out of the region. As a result, sea ice that stays in the Arctic for longer than a year has been declining at a rate of about 13% per decade since satellite records began in the late 1970s.
In fact, there is evidence to indicate that sea ice extent has not been this low for at least the last 1,500 years. Extreme melt events over the Greenland Ice Sheet, that used to occur once in every 150 years, have been seen in 2012 and now 2019. Ice core data shows that the enhanced surface melting on the ice sheet over the past decade is unprecedented over the past three and a half centuries and potentially over the past 7,000 years.
In other words, the record-breaking temperatures seen this summer in the Arctic are not a “one-off”. They are part of a long-term trend that was predicted by climate models decades ago. Today, we’re seeing the results, with permafrost thaw and sea ice and ice sheet melting. The Arctic has sometimes been described as the canary in the coal mine for climate breakdown. Well it’s singing pretty loudly right now and it will get louder and louder in years to come.
Global CO2 emissions could drop by as much as seven percent in 2020 due to the pandemic, researchers suggest
A UN report last year said emissions needed to drop by 2.7 percent a year to keep warming well below 2 C, and 7.6 percent a year to keep below 1.5 C.
BP chief executive Bernard Looney thinks that’s great. Then it means if we can cut emissions by seven percent every other year, we can stay within the limits and maintain our Paris Agreement restrictions.
Who would hold them accountable for the years they are not cutting emissions on par with with the Covid lockdown? How would they keep track? BP has several international interests making it hard to track them all. For that matter who is keeping countries accountable let alone one company?
In its annual Emissions Gap Report, the United Nations Environment Program did a study to see how were were all doing globally. As disappointing as the results are, the experts wanted to see how Canada was measuring up. ‘Catastrophic’ is the word that came to mind.
The small decrease Canada is seeing from the pandemic, it is a small drop in the bucket to what is needed. Hopefully, Canada won’t promise the cure could be introducing the coronavirus to the public again.
According to an email received by Global News from Donald Wright, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick who studies the politics of climate change, he says we can’t comprehend the amount of damage being done and that we’re spending, “not only our carbon budget but the carbon budget of our children and grandchildren.”
Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, told the Globe and Mail targets were being delayed and new ones would have to be set once we’re clear of the pandemic. That’s the truth! However, to be completely transparent it’s only part of the truth. The real truth falls along the lines of most the provinces are using the pandemic as a cover to get away with jacking up their emissions and pollution and hoping the rest of the world isn’t following suit. Of course we know. But who are we going to tell?
We often hear about Canada being one of the largest oil producing nations in the world. On the Canadian government website it is proudly announces these key facts:
Canada is the fourth largest producer and fourth largest exporter of oil in the world
96% of Canada’s proven oil reserves are located in the oil sands
96% of Canada’s oil exports go to the U.S.
GHG emissions per barrel of oil produced in the oil sands have fallen 28% since 2000
This was Canada’s position at the end of 2018. China has actually moved up to fourth place putting us at fifth. There are those that take a lot of pride in proclaiming this fact, but it isn’t to be bragged about.
United States
Saudi Arabia
Russia
China
Canada
15 billion
12.4 billion
11 billion
4.9 billion
4.6 billion
Although China isn’t ahead by much, there isn’t any comparison of our production compared to the other three. For that matter, Iraq and Iran aren’t far behind us. These four could be described as minor producers. But hey! Who wants to play in the minors? Much better to be the fifth largest. It’s good for our self esteem, if nothing else.
Then again service-producing industries, industrial production, manufacturing, real estate/rental and non-business sector industries show a higher GDP at basic prices. With better incentives, loans and tax breaks these industries could be encouraged to increase production and development. Lower prices for oil and gas wouldn’t be as devastating to the country compared to what we are seeing now.
Transitioning to sustainable energy resources would increase the GDP. Jobs would be created and people would be healthier. A majority of this can’t be exported but there would be a lot of good paying jobs for years. A progressive government would understand this and prepare for it. As it is, Alberta premier Jason Kenney called the energy transition an ‘ideological scheme ‘ .
“These are all exceptional initiatives that will assist in bringing back a more stable investment environment in Alberta and Canadian energy and bring back foreign and Canadian investment in energy — and job opportunities for Albertans,” he said.
The federal and provincial government feverishly support the oil and gas markets. The Paris Agreement wasn’t legally binding and the rhetoric spewed by politicians was self-gratifying, ambitious and lies. There isn’t any question Canada will miss the emission targets the government set for the country. With the lack of diversity and government support in the country, it isn’t much wonder we are referred to as laggards.
Aaron Wherry’s article on the CBC website suggests we may need a climate law. He claims last fall ‘s campaign Trudeau promised to set “legally-binding” emissions targets. However, this isn’t the first time a politician has made a promise. If such a promise was going to be a new reality, the first thing to do would be to stop all the oil and gas subsidies that was also promised during a previous election.
A prolonged heatwave in Siberia is “undoubtedly alarming”, climate scientists have said.
The freak temperatures have been linked to wildfires, a huge oil spill and a plague of treeeating moths.
On a global scale, the Siberian heat is helping push the world towards its hottest year on
record in 2020, despite a temporary dip in carbon emissions owing to the coronavirus
pandemic.
Temperatures in the polar regions are rising fastest because ocean currents carry heat
towards the poles and reflective ice and snow is melting away.
In this short 2018 video Molly Leblanc, a species at risk and biodiversity biologist with Coastal Action, talks about the roughly one million ounces of mercury left behind by mining companies in Nova Scotia, typically dumped in nearby wetlands.
We often hear about Canada being one of the largest oil producing nations in the world. On the Canadian government 