A boiling point, green-hushing, Big Plastic bags, and a drought dial goes dry

The Colossally Irrational Report - Hot Mess End of July Edition, 2023

My Scottish/Irish ancestors arrived on the east coast of Turtle Island in the late 1700’s or early 1800’s and were part of several waves of genocidal colonization of the Indigenous people who were already here. I know I have benefited as a result, and I find this deeply troubling. I like to start every new post by explaining my family’s history and keeping this foremost in my mind (and my writing) at all times. I moved west with my family in the 1970’s and am grateful to be here, producing this newsletter in Moh’kinsstis, and the traditional Treaty 7 territory of the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani, as well as the Îyâxe Nakoda and Tsuut’ina nations. This territory is also home to the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland. I recognize that the land I now work and live on was stolen from these nations (truth) and I support giving the land back as an act of reconciliation.

July was something else, wasn’t it? Oh boy, did things get wild.

UN chief Antonio Gueterres has warned the world has now entered an era of “global boiling.”

Here in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith continues to act like everything is just fine, while our northern boreal forest continues to burn. Her biggest concern is the threat to fossil fuel profits. Since her letters to the Prime Minister continue to go unanswered (he’s a terrible pen pal), she released another indignant statement on July 15:

“Not only are the contemplated federal targets unconstitutional, they create investor uncertainty and are extremely harmful to the Alberta and Canadian economies. I was also alarmed to read the minister’s belief that oil and gas production is likely to be reduced by 75 per cent by 2050. This belief does not align with any credible forecast of future world energy consumption, which continue to see oil and gas dominating the energy supply mix for decades to come.”

Smith was responding to an interview that federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault gave to the Euractive Media Group on July 13. In fact, Guilbeault was quoting his numbers directly from two very credible organizations.

“If you look at the reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) or the International Energy Agency (IEA), we know that we will likely still use fossil fuels in a carbon-neutral world by 2050. But we will be using far less fossil fuels than today. The numbers broadly point in the same direction: we will likely go from around 100 million barrels of oil per day to something like 25-30 million barrels per day – a 75% reduction.”

Smith’s response went on to threaten that the province “will not recognize any federally imposed emission-reduction targets for our energy and electricity sectors under any circumstances unless such targets are first consented to by the Government of Alberta.”

She’s hinting at another legal battle, which is the last thing we need. Meanwhile, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) is warning that legal challenges of all sorts make meeting emissions targets more unlikely. 

“To prevent green-hushing* and ensure the longevity of corporate engagement on climate, regulators must step in to provide greater legal certainty surrounding the risks associated with voluntary climate commitments.”

*Green-hushing is when companies do not publish their climate progress to avoid accusations of greenwashing from the public.

Some companies believe the reputational and legal risks associated with voluntary climate commitments outweigh the benefits, according to the CBA. They want an equal playing field and regulatory certainty. This is nothing new for an industry that knows it isn’t trusted by Canadians, and would rather all competitors follow the same rules set out by the government. This is why they’re calling for changes to the Competition Act as well.

Big Plastic bags for everyone

Alberta’s Environment Minister, Rebecca Schulz was in Ontario this past week and announced ahead of time that she would be handing out free…get ready…plastic bags. Is this a stunt she learned as a former senior communications officer at SaskEnergy. This is a woman with zero experience in the environmental field and for her first important meeting, she pulls a juvenile PR move.

I kid you not.

Instead of handing out empty Co-op bags and being generally bratty, Schulz was supposed to be there talking emissions reductions with Canada’s environment ministers. It seems the ministers were mostly there to push back on any and all federal environmental regulations that might hurt the fossil fuel industry, including their chemical brothers-in-arms.

This all goes back to the federal government’s labelling of plastic as “toxic” which nobody in their right mind would disagree with. Nevertheless, the designation is being challenged in court by what is affectionately known as “Big Plastic.”

Karen Wirsig of Environmental Defence said:  

“It’s shameful that some of the biggest plastic makers – Imperial Oil, Dow Chemical and Nova Chemicals – are leading a coalition to try to crush environmental regulations in Canada. Plastic poses health and environmental threats at every phase of its existence; there are countless cases of wildlife ending up injured or dead because of plastic pollution. Enough is enough. The government has taken an important step to regulate plastics. Corporate interests must not get in the way.”

Of course, Alberta is joining in the legal challenge, because apparently we haven’t already handed over enough of taxpayers’ money to law firms, we haven’t done enough of industry’s evil bidding, and Big Plastic can’t handle this on their own, those poor, hapless bastards.

Big Plastic is reportedly thrilled to have Alberta’s UCP government on its side. I’m sure it will help their case tremendously. And of course, if their public image isn’t already going down the tubes, having Smith and her merry band of cabinet ministers on side is surely not going to help.

Dry drought monitor but everything is normal?

Speaking of going down the tubes, with things heating up in Alberta this summer, the threat to the water supply in the southern half of the province is coming into clearer focus.

The City of Calgary issued a statement this week declaring that it had moved the dial on its imaginary drought monitoring dial from “normal” to “dry.” 

“This decision is based on our ongoing monitoring of precipitation levels, reservoirs and lake levels, stream flow rates in rivers, and water demand, among others,” said the statement.

The City is calling for voluntary measures to reduce water usage. Despite the dial moving to “dry,” they say the water levels in the Glenmore Reservoir remain normal. But upstream, “the flows in both the Bow and Elbow Rivers are well below normal for this time of year due to the low snowpacks and early snowmelt in the Bow and Elbow River Basins.”

So, if I’m hearing this correctly, the dial is set to “dry” but the reservoir is “normal” and the upstream supply is below normal. Should we be worried or not?

Communication, which we saw firsthand during the pandemic, is always a bit muddied by folks trying to avoid speaking in plain language. This is usually done out of a fear of overstating a risk. Most people would rather downplay risks, which we’ve had plenty of examples of throughout the climate change spiral. 

No one likes to be the bearer of bad news.

There isn’t a week that goes by that we don’t hear of new developments in the climate crisis, where scientists admit things are turning out to be worse than they predicted. You would think we’d learn, but…nope. 

Disappearing glaciers are a big problem

Southern Alberta is one of the regions in North America at high risk of drought due to climate change. According to John Pomeroy, a hydrologist at the University of Saskatchewan, the Rocky Mountains have been found to be warming faster than the rest of Canada, in part due to their distance from bodies of water.

Sadly, government policies and scientific studies are now focused on what to do when the glaciers disappear rather than on stopping it from happening. 

He said if and when the glaciers disappear, it could create problems for cities for water intake and treatment.

The City of Calgary says that although they anticipate demand to increase, “water treatment operations continue to meet customer demand, delivering safe, high-quality drinking water. The current condition is focused on water quantity, not water quality.”

With melting glaciers, Alberta’s province’s agriculture would also suffer, Pomeroy says, with “farmers struggling to irrigate their crops and feed their livestock, leading to higher prices in grocery stores.”

And there’s more. Glaciers are melting more quickly due to soot falling from wildfires, according to climatologists.

“The smog and ash in the air, when that settles on a glacier surface, it makes it darker, and a darker glacier absorbs more energy. And that energy translates into higher melt rates.”

Big “straws” sucking up groundwater

For a preview of what could happen in southern Alberta, we should be paying attention to the drying up of the Colorado River.

“A team of scientists at UCLA estimated that from 2000 to 2021, rising temperatures led to the loss of about 32.5 million acre-feet of water in the Colorado River Basin, more than the entire storage capacity of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir. The scientists said that if it weren’t for the effects of climate change, the river’s reservoirs probably would not have declined to the point of triggering the first-ever government-declared shortage.”

The surface water threats are highly visible, but threats to groundwater are just as significant.

“Lots of people have trouble relating to groundwater because it’s underground and you can’t see it,” says Dr. Masaki Hayashi, PhD, who is a professor at the University of Calgary and has been researching groundwater supplies in Alberta for decades.

Most rural residents draw their water from a well, which relies on groundwater.

“It’s like putting a bunch of straws in one cup and drinking from the same cup. The more straws that go in, the more rapid consumption from the cup…Sometimes a ‘big straw’ (for example, industry) comes in and takes more water, which causes the water in the cup to decrease faster.”

The investigative journalists at Reveal had an excellent podcast episode recently on the subject of groundwater supplies in Arizona, and what is becoming an international scramble for control over food and water. 

The podcast talks about the importance of governments understanding the amount of groundwater available, the replenishment rate, and protecting supplies for everyone.

In 2008, the Alberta government began a project to map and inventory groundwater resources, but progress has been slow.

Protecting water and ourselves

To look at ways of tackling the wide range of challenges related to water, the University of Alberta launched a new interdisciplinary research centre this month.

“We're trying to cover the entire water cycle,” says Associate Director, Evan Davies. “That would include rainfall, infiltration into soil, runoff into rivers, groundwater — the whole hydrological cycle — as well as how water is used in society in municipal, industrial, commercial and agricultural contexts, and how all of that affects the environment.”

Let’s hope they come up with some solutions…and soon.

Just a reminder, you can follow me on Mastodon for more regular climate news and Alberta political commentary.

Here are a few photos from my recent photography project documenting the goings-on along 17th Avenue SW in Calgary.

See the full album of photos. I’ll be adding more over the summer. Part One (with more of a story) can also be found on my Wordpress photo blog. Part Two will be coming soon.

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Finally, what can I say that hasn’t already been said…I leave you with someone whose sweet voice, and brave artistry is permanently seared into our souls. Thank you Sinéad O'Connor.