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News Breakdown: What Do Canada's Wildfires Mean for Climate Change?

  • alexisgtrifon
  • Jun 15, 2023
  • 2 min read

Updated: Aug 23

By Alexis Trifon


Last week, images of New York City and its skyline enveloped in yellow smoke have consumed the news and social media. Fires in Canada, particularly in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, have brought record amounts of smoke to the eastern coast of the country and the United States, affecting cities like New York and Philadelphia. Typically, wildfires of this magnitude do not strike Canada until later in the summer; this is unprecedented. According to The Washington Post, 4.7 million hectares, which is equivalent to 11.6 million acres, have burned down. Additionally, The New York Times reported that over 20,000 Canadians have been displaced as a result.

While specific research linking these wildfires to climate change is limited, there is a clear correlation between the two when examined within a historical and scientific context. Warmer temperatures, a lack of rainfall, lightning, and the El Niño weather pattern—a climate pattern in the Pacific—are all causes of the Canadian wildfires. A study published in Environmental Research Letters found that, from 1986 to 2021, the 88 largest fossil fuel and cement companies have contributed to about one-third of all forest fires in the Western United States and Canada. Kristina Dahl, the study's author and climate scientist, said, "We hope that people who are in communities that have been affected by wildfires will see this work and think about whether they want to hold these companies accountable."

As a society, we tend to ignore the intrinsic value of nature and settle for an "anthropocentric" environmental value system. Anthropocentrism refers to a human-centered perspective; for example, when humans perceive themselves as the sole environmental managers across all systems and prioritize economic growth or exploitation over the rights of nature.

Wildfires obviously have negative consequences for humans too. As mentioned before, Canada's recent wildfires displaced over 20,000 people, creating a migration crisis with economic troubles for both the government and those displaced. Also, more than 100 million Americans were on air quality alert. Dr. Kari Nadeau, an expert in climate change and health, states that an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 20, which is relatively low on the scale, is equivalent to smoking one cigarette per day.

Canada, and by extension, the world, currently lack the policies and infrastructure to effectively respond to wildfires and climate change. It will take effort from all of us—including intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), governmental organizations (GOs), and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs)—to shift our environmental value system to that of ecocentrism because climate change knows no borders.

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