From October 31-November 12, world leaders will meet in Glasgow, Scotland for the 26th United Nations climate change conference () hosted by the UK in partnership with Italy. This is especially important because it is the first time since the historic Paris Agreement in 2015 that the participating countries will present an updated plan on how to reduce their . Their common goal is to cut carbon emissions down to by 2050, which could possibly limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
While countries are preparing for COP26, countdown The Lancet on health and climate change has published “code red for a healthy future”. This report is an analysis written by climate scientists, public health experts and political scientists that monitor how climate change is affecting people’s health globally. According to the latest findings, it doesn’t look good. Extreme heat causes that lead to wildfires, which people’s livelihoods and destroy crop harvests, which in turn creates food insecurity that is a reality in 2021.
Who doesn’t remember the heat wave followed by a high number of out-of-control wildfires in Western Canada in spring and early summer? Even though the Lancet report mentions that Canada’s government is taking steps in the right direction, with carbon pricing and a law mandating new cars and light-weight trucks to be zero-emission by 2035, those initiatives likely won’t be enough for Canada to reach its emission-reducing goals. Sadly, our beautiful country is one of the few whose greenhouse gas emissions have increased since 2015. This increase is mostly due to oil and gas production.
After a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was published in August, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, issued a statement saying that Canada is heating up faster than the global average. One of the reasons for this is our proximity to the North Pole; scientists have found out that global warming is at the Earth’s poles.
All of this shows the importance of COP26 and why our world’s leaders need to make it a success. How do you deal with heat waves? Is climate change affecting the way you do business? Let us know on social media, or email us at lesbonsmots@lesateliers.ca.
1. “What Canadians need to know about how climate change is affecting their health.” CBC. Oct 20, 2021. 15 mins. Intermediate/Advanced.
2. “Climate change might be spiraling out of control. What does that mean for Canada?” Global News. Aug 9, 2021. 11 mins. Intermediate.
3. “What is COP26? Here’s how global climate negotiations work and what’s expected from the Glasgow summit.” The conversation. Oct 20, 2021. 12 mins. Beginner/Intermediate.