The September 2023 issue of Maclean’s had a feature story, “Canada in the Year 2060.
The summary headline for the article pretty much summed up a sobering future forecast: “Summers lost to fire and smoke. Biblical floods. Dying forests. Retreating coasts. Economic turmoil and political unrest.”
Not something to add to your beach vacation reading list!
But we read it so you don’t have to.
And for those interested, here are the “Cole’s Notes” about what’s in store for Canada in the next 40 years if the earth warms by 2 degrees as it is now projected to do.
The author, Anne Shibata Casselman, opens the article with the statement, “It’s going to be a weird century,” after taking in her detailed analysis, we agree.
Casselman’s description of how climate change will damage and influence our lives and environment is difficult to imagine. However, we’ve already had a small taste of what’s to come with this season’s fires, droughts and floods in Canada.
Twenty years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the fires and floods of this year. If you’re older than 25 and grew up in Canada, you probably don’t see the same types of summers and winters that you enjoyed as a child.
The seasons you remember from childhood seem turned upside down lately.
Who knew? But there is actually a term for the feeling of loss and melancholia that kicks in as your familiar home environment changes into something unrecognizable before your eyes – solastalgia (distress caused by environmental change).
Many of us are suffering from a thing we didn’t even know was a thing a few years ago. And 2023 has just reinforced our anxiety, our solastalgia.
For those of us already feeling solastalgia, stick with us for a few more paragraphs, as it will get depressing here for a bit. But we promise this article has a silver lining if you read to the end.
Based on current scientific data and research, Casselman summarizes our future with this ‘happy’ picture.
- Winters as we know them will no longer exist, with less snow but more rain and more days of extreme heat yearly. Mountain glaciers will disappear, snow-pack will decrease, and drought will increase due to less run-off. Instead of snow, deluges of rain will trigger avalanches and floods. Remember pond skating as a kid? It is no longer an option in many places.
- Extreme weather events will increase in frequency with more heat domes, higher winds, more intense storms, bigger rain deluges, and severe flood and drought cycles. If you thought 2023 was bad, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
- Forest fires will burn hotter and for more extended periods. Fire seasons like this past summer will become the new normal, only more extreme, with smoke constantly polluting our air, poisoning us, destroying our boreal forest and smothering our crops. Plus, wildfires of this size create their own weather, spawning hail, lightning and tornadoes, resulting in a positive feedback cycle of further destruction. Hmmmm… yikes!
- Canada’s landscape and physical geography will change. From Nunavut to PEI, coastlines will recede as rising sea levels eat up the land, and melting ice will make once-passable rivers too dangerous to navigate. This will make areas currently habitable and populated into inhospitable wastelands and change our landscapes into something barely recognizable. Solastalgia anyone?
- People will lose their homes, and climate refugees will increase as people are forced to move from area to area, trying to find safer places to live. Casselman indicates that thousands of Canadians will be forced to leave the places they love most, especially those near rivers, coastlines, forests and mountains. This is already happening in 2023.
- It’s going to get expensive. Climate change means fewer jobs, more infrastructure costs for repairs, extreme food costs due to crop failure, not to mention the increased need for healthcare due to dangerous weather. Estimates say the effects of climate change could cost Canada $100 billion per year.
- Political extremism will continue to rise. Uncertainty about the future means anxiety and fear for most people, and more and more Canadians are losing faith in the government to protect them. When people lose hope, they become vulnerable to radicalization, which can manifest in revolutionary acts.
For all of this bad news, there remains hope.
We do not need to resort to a world of Mad Max dystopia.
Young Canadians who inherit the country are more energized, aware, and ready to make a difference. Their future is at stake, and they can see it daily in real-time. Climate change is no longer some abstract prediction. We have already seen young activists the world over making concrete differences.
If there’s one thing we know in Alberta, our communities stick together in troubled times! When push comes to shove, Albertans open their hearts and homes and help each other. Look at how Albertans welcomed folks fleeing the wildfires this summer.
The more community comes together, the more resilient we become.
Working together, is the answer; frontier isolationism is not. Plus, Albertans are crazy inventive and new energy solutions and innovative ideas are happening quickly.
Casselman ends her article with a message of hope. There is still time to act, but we can’t afford to delay anymore. She reiterates that working together is the answer forward.
Right now, focus on the many small things you can do to help combat climate change.
If we all do our part, changes will happen much faster than possible if we wait for action from the top down – the recent non-action of the Alberta Government proves our point all too well.
You’re not alone if you’re feeling distressed about our changing climate.
Climate anxiety is a real thing impacting many Canadians.
You can use Access Mental Health over the phone or online if you need someone to talk to.
Together, we can turn the tide. Divided, the future looks bleak.
Thanks, Macleans, for the reminder.
