https://www.nationalobserver.com/2019/01/09/opinion/forest-fire-smoke-aha-moment-climate-change-action-2019
[links in online article]
Forest fire smoke: the "aha" moment for climate change action in 2019?
By Peter Nix in Opinion | January 9th 2019
Our ancestors may have once lived in smoke-filled caves. After this
deadly forest fire season, we should be less smug about the superiority
of our modern lifestyle.
Climate change in 2018 caused massive forest fires due to drying
conditions. If the fires were far away, lungs became unhealthy from
drifting black smoke we could not avoid — as happened here in B.C. If
the fires were close, death came to people on highways and in homes from
fire tornadoes people could not escape — as happened in California.
My hope for 2019 is that suffocating black forest fire smoke will act as
a personal call to action on climate change. Because if smoke does not
kill us directly, burning fossil fuels will destroy our modern
lifestyles through related climate change weather events hurricanes,
floods, rising oceans, and droughts.
There is no need for further debate about whether climate change is real
in 2019. The planet's climate is changing rapidly, so you and I must act
to minimize these tragedies. There are solutions.
Exxon has known since the early 1980s that climate change would destroy
many lives, but still encourage us to burn fossil fuels. So in 2019, we
must act by reducing our consumption of oil and gas.
Political leaders routinely mislead us about climate change, for
example, by repeating the lie that exporting LNG gas, or building oil
pipelines are somehow moral strategies for acting on climate change. For
them, it's all about getting votes. So act by voting for politicians
willing to speak the truth about climate.
And another thing you can do in 2019 is invest in solar energy. Solar
creates more employment per unit of energy than do fossil fuels, with
virtually no emissions of greenhouse gases. And it's about a third the
cost of hydro power — even in oil-rich Alberta, some of the cheapest
available energy is renewable energy.
For my part, I converted my pension fund into 192 solar energy panels
which provide energy for my electric car and heats my house. And I sell
the surplus for about 10 cents per kwh, a financial return of four to
five per cent per year - comparable with many investment funds.
But BC Hydro now makes it difficult to sell excess electricity into the
grid, saying we do not need more energy because of the Site C dam —
ignoring the moral need to prevent severe climate change by replacing
the two-thirds of B.C.'s energy that comes from fossil fuels with
renewable energy.
For example, replacing gas cars with electric will require the energy
equivalent of one more Site C dam. To make our entire economy electric,
make that seven more dams. As we know, however, building hydro dams is
difficult, costly, and slow.
Alternatively, solar energy is a simple, low cost, and sustainable
technology that can replace fossil fuels. It can be installed quickly by
individuals at home, by buying shares in cooperatives or small
companies, or by supporting municipal energy utilities owned by
taxpayers. That will take time, but it's a start.
Very importantly, the sun's photon rays of energy are free and cannot
be privatized by corporations. So individuals and communities can have
energy independence from inefficient, expensive, and uncaring power
utilities.
So do not let ghostly ancestors laugh from their smoke-filled caves as
you flee dangerous forest fire smoke in the years ahead. Renewable solar
power can reduce human tragedies from these climate change events by
reducing our use of oil and gas.
My hope is that the visible and deadly black smoke from forest fires in
2018 will be the "aha" moment to motivate all of us to take action on
climate change in 2019.
Peter Nix, Cowichan Carbon Buster
Maple Bay, B.C.