Humans are a lamentably short-sighted species. Sure, we understand some of the basic underlying principles that govern our existence, but that knowledge seems to have little overall impact on the way we conduct ourselves.
Take, for example, cause and effect. We understand that if we hit our hand with a hammer, pain and possible fractures will ensue. Similarly, we know that if we toss a match into flammable material, a fire will follow. Ergo, unless there is something really wrong with us or our intent is to build a bonfire, we tend to avoid such behaviours. Beyond understanding such immediate consequences, however, our thinking tends to get a tad fuzzy.
Take, for example, the ever-increasing occurrences of forest fires. We know beyond a doubt that climate change is greatly exacerbating their threat, the fire season starting earlier and, in some cases becoming a year-round phenomenon. Yet when we think of the consequences of forest fires, we tend to think only of their relatively short-term effects: property destruction, carbon release and future mudslides, the absorption capacity of the land having severely been compromised.
As the following report shows, however, there are much more insidious cnsequences, ones that remind us that when we talk of ecological systems, everything is interconnected.
When you follow these changes, many lead straight back to the Arctic. Imagine, in the midnight black of Arctic winter, when eastern North America was in the grip of severe ice and snow, it was actually above freezing in the Arctic. There was meltwater atop the ice. This summer, temperatures inside the Arctic Circle broke through 90F. The old, thick ice is now breaking up taking the science types by surprise. British Columbia used to boast that our verdant forests made us some great "carbon sink." Now we've turned into a giant "carbon bomb."
ReplyDeleteAnd our government's response has been to double down on flooding world markets with bitumen, the highest-carbon, most energy intensive ersatz petroleum of them all. No disconnect there, is there?
I saw Catherine McKenna state the obvious, that the B.C. fires show the importance of fighting climate change. Too bad her government has taken itself out of that fight, but I'm sure her words will be a comfort to those confronting loss, respiratory distress, and lost tourism dollars, eh, Mound.
DeleteWe understand simple cause and effect, Lorne. But complexity makes us stupid.
ReplyDeleteWe still seem to be largely captive to the reptilian part of our brain, Owen.
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