With each day the bad news spreads. A gigantic wildfire now covering some 4,000 km2 is spreading through northeastern Alberta and into Saskatchewan — devastating much of Fort McMurray, the city in the heartland of the tar sands. Some 90,000 residents have been displaced and thousands of homes, many local industries and businesses, destroyed.
What's turning northern forests into tinder? Biggest reason is climate change, but that’s not all
A sudden shift in the wind at a critical time of day was all it took to send a wildfire out of control through Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 people out of their homes in what has become the biggest natural disaster in Canadian history.
Earlier this week, Darby Allen, the regional fire chief for the area, minced no words when he was asked what might happen now that more than 1,600 homes have been destroyed.
Even fire scientists are stunned by the scale of disruption and damage wrought by an out-of-control wildfire that swept into Fort McMurray, Alta., on Tuesday. But when it comes to the underlying factors that allowed the blaze to become so severe so quickly, experts say larger forces are at play and there is a growing risk of similar events occurring across the northwest.
Even fire scientists are stunned by the scale of disruption and damage wrought by an out-of-control wildfire that swept into Fort McMurray, Alta., on Tuesday. But when it comes to the underlying factors that allowed the blaze to become so severe so quickly, experts say larger forces are at play and there is a growing risk of similar events occurring across the northwest.
Crystal Lameman is a member of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation, a single mother of two, and the treaty co-ordinator and communications manager for Intergovernmental Affairs and Industry Relations in the Beaver Lake Cree Nation.
I was one of the first to sign the Leap Manifesto, and I helped write it.
It’s no secret that the drop in the price of oil has hit Alberta’s fossil fuel economy hard and hit Albertan families even harder. Our province lost over 51,000 oil-related jobs in 2015 and there’s no sign of them coming back any time soon.
The good news is that with increased provincial leadership and with the right policies and investments in the green economy we can put people back to work and create jobs in a province that desperately needs them.
Recent proposals to use B.C. hydropower as a substitute for coal power in Alberta should be viewed in light of new research showing that in the long-term, B.C. has little energy to spare, and that any substitute power would in fact be originating from the United States.
[Website editor: Alberta could 'potentially reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of oilsands operations by 13 to 16 per cent' by using hydroelectric power. Why trash just one region when we can trash two in order to trash the world's climate even more?]
VICTORIA — The B.C. Liberals have lately promoted building a new electrical transmission link to Alberta as a way to sell green power to a neighbour while attracting federal infrastructure dollars for job creation.
