Canada on Fire

Dr. Peter Carter, Paul Beckwith and Regina Valdez discuss the fires in Canada, some of which caused bad air quality in many cities along the Eastern seaboard as far south as the Carolinas as well as other fires in boreal forest areas.

This video was recorded on June 9th, 2023, and published on June 11th, 2023.

Some of the topics discussed:

• How Greenpeace published an article called ‘Turning Up the Heat, Global Warming and the Degradation of Canada’s Boreal Forest’ in 2008 where the term ‘the boreal carbon bomb’ was coined and how this would lead to vast amounts of greenhouse gases being emitted.
• How these Canadian fires impacted New York City.
• How Spring drought conditions contributed to fires, first in Alberta and BC, then the East coast Canada in Nova Scotia, and finally in Quebec causing a record number of fires to occur.
• How every degree Celsius in warming leads to 12 percent more lightning strikes.
• How cities in India and China routinely experience bad air quality such as was recently experienced in New York City with PM 2.5 counts of greater than 500 micrograms per cubic meter and how dangerous this is to human health.
• How boreal forest burning presents a double whammy impact in that you not only release huge amounts of CO2, but you also lose the carbon sink for a much longer period of time.
• How one can make a personal impact by reducing or eliminating the consumption of red meat.
• and much more . . .

Links

• Turning Up the Heat: Global Warming and the Degradation of Canada’s Boreal Forest

• Projected increase in lightning strikes in the United States due to global warming

• Fires Burn Across Quebec

• IQAir (Air Quality Index)

• Air Quality: Pollution Shortening Lives by Almost 10 Years in Delhi, Says Study

• Particulate Matter

• NASA – Air Pollution Impacts on Health

• Climate Reanalyzer

• Comparative Environmental LCA of The Impossible Burger with Conventional Ground Beef Burger (pdf)

• Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger Life Cycle Assessment: A detailed comparison between a plant-based and an animal-based protein source

• What is the healthiest diet?

Regular Panelists:

• Dr. Peter Carter - MD, Expert IPCC Reviewer and the director of the Climate Emergency Institute

• Paul Beckwith - Climate Systems Scientist. Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Paleoclimatology Laboratory as well as at Carleton University

• Regina Valdez - Program Director, Climate Reality Project, NYC. GreenFaith Fellow and LEED Green Associate

Video Production:

• Charles Gregoire – Climate Reality Leader, Electrical Engineer, Webmaster and IT prime for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum

• Heidi Brault - Climate Reality Leader, BA(Psychology), Library & Information Technician Diploma - Video production and website assistant - Organizer and convener, Metadata technician, COP28 Team Lead for FacingFuture.Earth and the Climate Emergency Forum.

Attributions:

Background Music:

• Title: Through the City II
• Author: Crowander
• Source: Free Music Archive
• License: BY-NC 4.0

Image and Video:

• Image and Video Attributions