Burning the Climate From Both Ends

From coal to oil to gas, our profligate use of cheap, abundant fossil energy has been instrumental in triggering the existential peril, climate breakdown, that now besets the world. It has backfired in many ways - malignant population growth, unsustainable increases in consumption and, of course, greenhouse gas emissions fouling of our atmosphere and savaging our once mild climate.

It is hard to overstate that damage our fossil fuel addiction has inflicted on life on Earth.  Yet here in Canada we have a government that slavishly pursues perpetual, exponential growth and the expansion of fossil fuel production and export even as the Liberals' rival Conservatives castigate the government for not doing more, faster to despoil Earth for future generations. 

The Trudeau government promises to slash greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel extraction and transmission. Then again, empty promises are the Liberals' long suit.

Our myopic dependence on the fossil energy industry is bolstered by no end of greenwashing. It'll pay off in the end, we're told. The cheque is in the mail.

One thing the government does not advertise is the link between fossil fuel-driven greenhouse gas emissions and the toll the fossil economy takes on today's climate, especially the wildfires that now afflict western North America. The smoke and CO2, along with carbon monoxide (CO), from these wildfires may negate our best efforts to curb emissions.

As the American west faces increasing threats from big blazes that are fueled by a climate that’s growing warmer and drier, researchers have documented the impact of smoke on public health. But scientists are increasingly finding that the fires may be part of a feedback loop that could accelerate the change in conditions and that health impacts officials have long warned would worsen with climate crisis, may in fact already be here.

“Our research contributes to the growing body of research that shows that fires – in particular Pacific north-west region fires – are becoming more important for North American air quality” said Dr Rebecca Buchholz, a project scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research.

A growing body of research has shown how wildfires raging across the west can impact the air locally and afar, with the potential to affect millions across the country. Last year the sun glowed ominously red as far away as New York City, shrouded in haze from land burning on the other side of the country. In 2020, which had the worst wildfire season on record, levels of the most dangerous type of air pollution rose by 7% in the US even after the pandemic shutdowns delivered steep reductions in fossil fuel use.

The toxic output from fires is dangerous, contributing to an estimated loss of more than 15,000 lives in the US each year. Some scientists say that number will double by the end of the century. Smoke from western fires has also been attributed to up to 5,900 asthma-related emergency department visits a year, according to a separate study published last year. Nearly three-quarters of these visits and hospital admissions tied to smoke inhalation were outside the western US.