Given the general reluctance of our federal government in relation to climate change, it’s refreshing to learn of the frank recognition by Canada Parks that climate change is one of the greatest threats to our best-loved places. Canada Parks has also reportedly successfully completed its own international negotiations on climate change, signing a trilateral accord with US and American Parks.
Meanwhile, Ontario has quietly released its second Annual Climate Change Report, in time for Copenhagen. The Report emphasizes that Ontario now has the fourth lowest per capita GHG emissions in Canada, and makes sunny projections about the future effectiveness of recent initiatives such as the Green Energy Act. However, there is little data about progress to date.
Internationally, an avalanche of data is being released on the rapid march of climate change. For example, the UN Weather Agency announced that this decade will very likely be the warmest ever recorded. The National Center for Atmospheric Research released similar data for the US. Even Toronto had the first snowless November in 70 years. We enjoyed the warm weather, but it’s such a bad sign…