November 29, 2010

Being a Canadian, you are used to heavy snow falls and freezing cold winters. You almost expect it to be this way and if it isn't you immediately call "CLIMATE CHANGE!" and grumble about how 10 years ago it wasn't this way. Even as a 20-something year old I catch myself thinking "when I was younger, winters were snowier" (as a reference to my first winter in Montreal in 1996/97 when cars were literally covered to their roofs in snow, and then of course the famous 1998 ice storm).

Well times are a-changin' and with it brings perhaps milder winters for Montreal and certainly harsher winters for Europe. Anyone who has friends or family in Britain right now will know of the heavy snowfalls they're been receiving, particularly in Scotland. My grandfather who lives near Aberdeen, Scotland sent through pictures of their backyard and the novel amounts of snow they've recieved. My cousins are snowed in and enjoying snowdays. Yes, remember snowdays? They seem like a thing of the past here - no amount of snow is enough to close schools here it seems!

This brings me to my point, which is that with climate change comes necessary adaptation. One of the main reasons Scotland is having such a hard time with this snow is because they are not equipped to deal with it. Even the basic infrastructure such as their roads, what with all the winding country roads, are not exactly winter-friendly.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/transport-environment/scotland-s-a-whiteout-and-it-could-cost-millions-1.1071307

Indeed, as an article in The Herald says, hundreds of schools are closed, runways at the airports are being closed and about 3000 homes were without power earlier today:

Councillor Robert Aldridge, environment leader at Edinburgh City Council, said: "We're dealing with an unprecedented situation here: more snow has fallen in the last 72 hours or so than we had in Edinburgh over the span of a few weeks last winter - approximately 14 inches of snow has fallen since Friday evening and more is on the way."

(for a detailed article, and more photos, check out this article: Scotland’s a whiteout ... and it could cost millions)

Clearly then, with Climate Change, certain adaptations are needed in order for humans to cope with changes such as increased snow fall (or decreased ice coverage in the arctic for the Inuits, or higher sea-levels for those living in coastal regions). This is going to be a big theme in the COP16 talks happening in Cancun as of today. As suggested by a guest-lecturer in my enviroment class today, he believes that adaptation is the way to go (as opposed to climate mitigation) because with increasing information it is becoming more and more evident that climate change cannot be stopped and so we must focus on making humans better equipped for dealing with the inevitable changes.

However, one thing to think about is how these changes may relate to naturally occuring changes in weather patterns. Recall my post on October 24 for more on this.

Depressing I know, to think there might be nothing we can do to stop climate change. But do not let this mean we should just stop trying! While it might not be 'stopable' it certainly can be slowed down and our actions definitely influence the degree to which our planet warms. But more on that later...