Notices by Bentley (bentley@canada.masto.host), page 2

🧵#TeachableMoments: #Jasper & All That Smoke

Life comes at you pretty fast these days but when Alberta has a week like last week it's clear that if we don't stop & take stock it'll pass with the typical partisan food fights & nothing learned. That's not good enough /1 #yyc #abpoli

Anybody saying "this is just summer" about all that #smoke & #wildfire is either misinforming or disinforming you, difference being the degree to which they KNOW what they're saying is UNTRUE. Neither is useful in deterring future #Jasper-like disasters or worse /2 #Climate #ExtremeHeat

The week that saw the utter destruction of ~ 1/3 of the town of #Jasper & over 1.3 million Calgarians breathing #VeryHighRisk #AirQuality started with Sunday July 21, 2024 being the hottest day in recorded history. The record didn't last a single day. /3

#HeatWave #ExtremeHeat #Climate

We keep breaking all the wrong kinds of records. This week was shocking to live through it but nobody that values science, data & facts should be surprised. Scientists warned us for a long time. It's here now. It's no longer academic & should never've been "political." /4

#Climate #Jasper #Wildfire https://www.cbc.ca/news/climate/climate-warming-copernicus-record-united-nations-1.7224438

The math here is elementary: human-caused #ClimateChange dramatically heats the planet. A hotter planet means longer #DrySeasons creating more kindling or FUEL from our forests, resulting in larger, more destructive #Wildfire & a WHOLE LOT MORE SMOKE /5 #Climate #Jasper https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/climate/earth-hottest-years.html

Anybody can claim all the #Wildfires we now experience are just "what happens in summer" so long as they're either oblivious to the available data or outright denying it. On average, 2.5 million hectares burn in Canada each year. Last year we hit 18.4 /6 https://globalnews.ca/news/10141857/canada-wildfires-side-effects/

Anybody can claim ALL THAT SMOKE 1.3 million Calgarians now experience is just "what happens in summer" so long as they're either oblivious to the available data or outright denying it. In the 80s & 90s #YYC used to average just 12 hrs of #smoke a year. Last year we hit ~ 500 /7

It's not just that we're breathing WAY MORE SMOKE these days, we're also breathing WAY MORE TOXIC SMOKE, which we know because we monitor #AirQuality & where we've always rated it from 1-10 our last few years have forced us to create a right-off-the-charts rating called "10+" /8

It's that 10+ #VeryHighRisk air that kept many Calgarians (including this one) locked into their 30+ degree apartments shut off entirely from any fresh, cool night air. It's awful. And then you find out we might lose #Jasper. /9 #AQHI #HeatWave https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-air-quality-high-risk-wildfire-smoke-1.7275491

Same folks that first denied
#ClimateChange was real then last year told you increased #Wildfire was due to an evil #MassArson cabal now gaslight that we're actually not experiencing an increase at all, that what just happened to #Jasper is #JustSummer. Reckless. And wrong. /10 https://thenarwhal.ca/wildfire-canada-explainer/

#Jasper happened in 2024, one year after the worst #wildfire season (in hectares burnt up, so far) in Canada's recorded history. In Alberta last year we broke our own wildfire record BEFORE AUGUST at which point both #Yellowknife & #Kelowna needed evacuations IN THE SAME WEEK /11

I'm not #JasperStrong I'm #JasperAngry. It was all predicted. #Jasper was preventable, as were the 600 Canadians killed from #ExtremeHeat in BC in 2021. It's irrefutable: keep on as we have & the only certainty is MORE JASPERS & MORE DEAD CANADIANS /12 https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/do-banff-and-canmore-need-to-burn-before-alberta-acts-on-climate-change/article_ecd5ddde-4db5-11ef-a7c7-7bfa76010850.html

#Solar Power Is Bigger Than Oil For The First Time In History https://jalopnik.com/solar-power-is-bigger-than-oil-for-the-first-time-in-hi-1851541096?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=jalopnik_twitter via @jalopnik

"Royal Bank of Canada on the defensive over criticism of fossil fuel financing - Accused of being Canada’s biggest financial backer of fossil fuel projects, the bank is feeling the heat, even if it doesn’t say that publicly" #Climate #ClimateVillains https://thenarwhal.ca/royal-bank-fossil-fuels-reputation/

I'm sure someday somebody will explain to me why ANY #CarbonCapture should be publicly funded given #BigOil's own executives admit it's a boondoggle. https://www.desmog.com/2024/05/21/despite-advertising-carbon-capture-exxonmobil-saw-marginal-role-for-it-in-fighting-climate-change-shell/

‘We’re living climate change now.’ Latin Americans bring #climate worries to high court. https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2024/0506/climate-change-victims-court

Small reactors don’t add up as a viable energy source https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/engineering/small-reactors-dont-add-up/ #science via @CosmosMagazine

#FossilFuel Companies Build Structures To Hide #Methane Flaring From Satellites https://cleantechnica.com/2024/05/03/fossil-fuel-companies-build-structures-to-hide-methane-flaring-from-satellites/amp/

Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7 Billion Solar for All Grants to Deliver Residential #Solar, Saving Low-Income Americans $350 Million Annually and Advancing Environmental Justice Across America https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/biden-harris-administration-announces-7-billion-solar-all-grants-deliver-residential #EnergyTransition #Climate

Sheep, solar and crops. How some Alberta farms are creating ideal growing conditions https://www.lakelandtoday.ca/beyond-local/agrivoltaics-charge-up-the-farm-greir-wurz-pearce-ivanchikov-8503145 #RuralAlberta #abpoli #Climate #Solar