B.C. heatwave a sign of things to come, warns climate advocacy group

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Record-breaking temperatures are just something we’ll have to get used to, according to a climate advocacy group.

Karen Tam Wu, B.C. director of the Pembina Institute, says the heatwave that took over the Pacific Northwest, including B.C., is a preview of how climate change can dramatically impact our lives and why urgent action is needed.

“Climatologists have been careful not to attribute any single event to climate change but have been clear that the models do indicate that this is the kind of extreme weather event that we can expect with more frequency with climate change,” she told NEWS 1130.

“On the coast here, we’re very used to moderate temperatures, and we’re seeing periods of colder weather than we’re used to and we’re now experiencing hotter weather than we’re used to.”

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Tam Wu says people living in this region need to think about adapting. She notes B.C. has been “fairly good at” assessing climate change risks to its economy, communities, and infrastructure. However, she says the next step is to plan how to adapt to those risks.

“The B.C. government … has released a draft strategy on its plan to adapt for climate change,” she said.

There are also steps we can take and upgrades we can make to protect our homes from future weather extremes and make them more comfortable to live in.

“We need to think about, how do we design our buildings so that we’re much more comfortable in them to withstand those swings in temperature? And that includes things like changing out the windows that we install in our homes and buildings, increasing insulation, and looking at installing heat pumps, which provide heat in the winter but also, importantly, for times like now, they provide air conditioning,” she explained.

Related video: B.C. air conditioning biz booming for installations and fixing busted AC systems

Research from the Pembina Institute suggests retrofitting could generate tens of billions of dollars in economic development, and create up to 200,000 jobs across the country.

“I think that the other thing to keep in mind that’s important is we have the short-term necessity to assess and plan for our risks of climate change, and we also have to look at how we bend the carbon pollution curve, and that needs to start now,” Tam Wu said, adding steps like reducing carbon pollution from homes and buildings, from traffic and transport, and industrial sources can help get us on that track.

Temperatures have soared across B.C. in recent days, with Monday marking the peak of the heatwave. Some areas saw temperatures rise well into the 40s, with places farther inland, in the Interior, seeing even more extreme heat.

Lytton, B.C. broke the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada for three straight days, with the latest at 47.9 C on Monday. That is nearly five degrees higher than the record set is Saskatchewan in 1937.