Excellent, as always. Not so certain about the last paragraph. Switching to become vegetarian has costs. I think Bjorn Lomborg makes a cost benefit analysis in his books. Switching to vegetarianism would require cutting down of some forests to provide more land for agriculture. I have friends that became vegetarian and quite quickly needed to start talking iron tablets. Not certain changing to a diet that requires the taking of more pills is such a good idea. We are animals. Our bodies are adapted to eating of meat and vegetables. Maybe room there for some genetic engineering. Niall Ferguson in his book Doom mentions that the time for a large atmospheric volcano is overdue and that when this occurs we will go very quickly from global warming to global cooling.
The number and size of fires in B.C.and Alberta are a hard sell to me . I’ve lived here for 75 years . The last three years have been the worse by far. Human caused fires is a reality , but lightning causes far more.
Why there have been more fires or fires burning larger and out of control has a lot to do with how tinder dry the forests are. The lower snow falls and lack of rain.
The last part of your article nailed it - human population has been instrumental in the demise of Planet Earth. Views of cities with 'wall-to-wall' people needing huge amounts of food & energy to survive. Industries mowing down tropical forests to plant such things as 'cheap palm' oil. I heard one person say that Earth has a 'cancer' that is going out of control & that is 'humans'. I had trouble arguing with that statement.
Unfortunately there is not the collective will to do much about it, and it’s an “after you, then me” thing with fingers fingers pointed at developing nations, unwillingness to change, so called leaders merrily lying and denying....absent a global call to action and acceptance amongst developed nations that upper and middle class standards of living need be cut back: we are screwed..period ..full stop...done..face it- nobody who hasn’t already come to realize the issue is now suddenly going to wake up and change..
Great article. Trudeau and King Charles fearmongers and misguided. As is the media in general esp CBC. But not sure about becoming vegetarian. Mankind has eaten meat since forever. Ending cattle from blowing wind from their rear ends to help stop climate change?
While I appreciate this perspective, I fear it will make complacent too many nay-sayers. Prior to Tonga, there were world events that were devastating. I think of the dying Sahel, which was the cause of the Arab Spring events. I recall the fires in California and Oregon where I once lived.
I wish the article could have been written more "and, and," conjoining the causes, rather than the tone of one, not the other. I doubt that so many scientists and humanitarians could be so ignorant, and this singular perspective the sole truth.
Thank-you Diane for this very well-written science based article! As a geologist,it is extremely frustrating to see that the rock records clearly hilite ongoing climate change since the creation of our planet Earth (4.6 BILLION years ago!) , yet we are constantly bombarded with misinformation and downright BS from the likes of the UN's IPCC and the ultimate Armegeddonist Antonio Guterres who naively thinks humans can simply turn a climate switch on/off. In turn ,these views are parrotted by the likes of our own ideologically twisted PM and his sidekick(s) who are going to ultimately lead our great country to financial ruin with their attempts to control geologic processes. Such folly.
I never realized that natural cause contribution was so significant. I am the penultimate capitalist free enterpriser therefore I believe that costs of acquisition will ultimately modify human behaviour. For example if Australia lamb is too expensive you will consume local and if local is too expensive you will adjust what you eat. Less travel and localized living and working will be commonplace. Carbon tax is only effective if it’s universal. I sure Trudeau must knows the earth is round and we share the same atmosphere.
What Diane exposed so well is that there are many reasons for our climate change and it behooves readers to read other perspectives than the ones presented by Al Gore, Greta Thonberg, any UN official and the media. A good book to start with is Bjorn Lomberg's "False Alarm" And yes volcanos do have a big effect on our climate it only makes sense. As well as over population. Final thougt. Until Russia, China and India get with the program and stop building coal plants I will not buy into the self flagellation of the western world in the insane push for green energy at such a fast pace. Ev's are not the answer but part of the problem.
What a refreshing article. My constant rebuttal regarding ‘climate change’ is that it’s part of a cycle. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered Canada and the top third of the USA 10,000 years ago. It was nearly 2 MILES thick. It melted! Heaven forbid! A natural part of long term cycles that are ongoing.
Keep up the excellent and well informed reporting you bring. Of course the politicians don’t want to comment.
Great column and the first time I've heard about the impact of these volcanoes - thanks!
With respect to the higher than usual (record setting!) wildfires in Canada, I have found it very interesting that while British Columbia and Alberta are experiencing these fires, the US Northwest has, until this week, only had 15-20 fires burning at one time - yet those regions share similar topography and weather conditions.
Also of interest is the fact that during the pandemic and international travel restrictions in 2020, western Canada had almost record LOW levels of wildfires.
I know this is excessively long, sorry, but the topic is the most important topic of our lifetimes.
Bjorn Lomborg is, to put it mildly, an outlier. To set him up against the IPCC, which represents the overwhelming scientific consensus over 50+ years, is not readily comprehensible.
Another of the dwindling number of human-caused climate deniers is Alex Epstein, author of a huge volume called Fossil Future. He appeared at a congressional committee and Nancy Pelosi asked what he had to offer; Alex said he was a philosopher and could teach them how to think straight, pretty ballsy I thought, as his only credential is a BA from Duke U. Alex’ thesis is that we (humans) will eventually turn to nuclear energy but meanwhile we must rely on fossil fuels; I agree with him except that he means generations and I think we should be looking at immediately.
The EOS article is interesting but I’m baffled by the conclusion ‘Mother Nature is in charge.’ That might have worked before the industrial revolution but now? It isn’t Mother Nature that has spewed carbon into the atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities, especially the past 50-60 years; the scientific consensus is frankly overwhelming that we humans are, as the lawyers say, both the causa sine qua non and the causa causens of the planetary warming that we are facing. It’s the carbon, the waste product of burning fossil fuels that is causing it, not undersea volcanoes or forest fires that have been with us since the dawn of time.
As Lomborg bangs on about forest fires and how they are declining these past 20 years (he chooses his time periods quite carefully, and is just as selective with his facts), these recent Canadian fires have totally upset his apple-cart, as they are estimated to be TRIPLE the size of anything we’ve seen in this continent these past fifty years. These fires are unprecedented in extent, as are so many of the understated ‘climate events’ we are now experiencing every year, and far from “not spiraling out of control,” they are completely out of control.
You have come down clearly on the side that says there’s nothing much we can do about it, except “around the edges,” but then what you say is not around the edges but is totally central to the way humans now live in the developed world, and intend to live in the developing world, viz. eat less, travel less, use less energy, go vegan, etc. This is never going to happen except under massive duress, and maybe it will come to that as the planet goes on heating. (It actually does work pretty well in North Korea, but that’s not much of a role model.)
Maybe the UN General-Secretary is sounding alarmist, hysterical, Armageddon, extreme, Doomsaying and so on, and let’s face it, the media will always and forever follow the maxim: “if it bleeds, it leads,” but the cautious and sober scientists of the IPCC are, if anything, over-cautious and downplay the gravity of what is upon us. There are so many reputable and reliable sources; Bjorn Lomborg is not one of them. But Alex Epstein, though he’s a shill for Big Oil, is right that the world will not come off fossil fuels until a better energy source is found; meanwhile, we’ll continue to burn.
Thank you Diane, excellent reporting. Again you put a complex matter into perspective where an average person can better understand the complexities that impact us all in so many ways. Your article shows how "little control" we really have over life changing events. Yes, our efforts can try to help improve the environment and save the Earth, but Mother Nature still rules. The human measures come at great financial expense to so many which in the grand scheme of things seem almost useless / ineffective. Yes, we must continue to try to improve and protect our lifestyle. In today's world where technology is so vital (power of the internet and our many devices), one volcano could destroy our connectivity. That's scary and I'm not sure AI could save either.
"The volcano launched an “unprecedented” amount of water vapor into the stratosphere, said Patrick Sheese, a climate physicist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study. But the event’s impact can’t compare with that of human emissions, he said. Even if the eruption increases temperatures as the simulation predicted, that’s only a small, temporary lift toward the 1.5°C threshold. Decades of research have shown that humans are still responsible for most of the warming. scientists you cite actually refute you. From their sctual newsletter.
I agree that the media frequently hypes the man made component of climate change. But your column does us no favors. Climate change is multi faceted. Some of the causes are things we can change. Volcanoes are not one of them. Giving the global polluters a pass is a mistake. What were you thinking, Diane?
Excellent, as always. Not so certain about the last paragraph. Switching to become vegetarian has costs. I think Bjorn Lomborg makes a cost benefit analysis in his books. Switching to vegetarianism would require cutting down of some forests to provide more land for agriculture. I have friends that became vegetarian and quite quickly needed to start talking iron tablets. Not certain changing to a diet that requires the taking of more pills is such a good idea. We are animals. Our bodies are adapted to eating of meat and vegetables. Maybe room there for some genetic engineering. Niall Ferguson in his book Doom mentions that the time for a large atmospheric volcano is overdue and that when this occurs we will go very quickly from global warming to global cooling.
The number and size of fires in B.C.and Alberta are a hard sell to me . I’ve lived here for 75 years . The last three years have been the worse by far. Human caused fires is a reality , but lightning causes far more.
Why there have been more fires or fires burning larger and out of control has a lot to do with how tinder dry the forests are. The lower snow falls and lack of rain.
The last part of your article nailed it - human population has been instrumental in the demise of Planet Earth. Views of cities with 'wall-to-wall' people needing huge amounts of food & energy to survive. Industries mowing down tropical forests to plant such things as 'cheap palm' oil. I heard one person say that Earth has a 'cancer' that is going out of control & that is 'humans'. I had trouble arguing with that statement.
Unfortunately there is not the collective will to do much about it, and it’s an “after you, then me” thing with fingers fingers pointed at developing nations, unwillingness to change, so called leaders merrily lying and denying....absent a global call to action and acceptance amongst developed nations that upper and middle class standards of living need be cut back: we are screwed..period ..full stop...done..face it- nobody who hasn’t already come to realize the issue is now suddenly going to wake up and change..
Great article. Trudeau and King Charles fearmongers and misguided. As is the media in general esp CBC. But not sure about becoming vegetarian. Mankind has eaten meat since forever. Ending cattle from blowing wind from their rear ends to help stop climate change?
So come on the volcanoes
While I appreciate this perspective, I fear it will make complacent too many nay-sayers. Prior to Tonga, there were world events that were devastating. I think of the dying Sahel, which was the cause of the Arab Spring events. I recall the fires in California and Oregon where I once lived.
I wish the article could have been written more "and, and," conjoining the causes, rather than the tone of one, not the other. I doubt that so many scientists and humanitarians could be so ignorant, and this singular perspective the sole truth.
Thank-you Diane for this very well-written science based article! As a geologist,it is extremely frustrating to see that the rock records clearly hilite ongoing climate change since the creation of our planet Earth (4.6 BILLION years ago!) , yet we are constantly bombarded with misinformation and downright BS from the likes of the UN's IPCC and the ultimate Armegeddonist Antonio Guterres who naively thinks humans can simply turn a climate switch on/off. In turn ,these views are parrotted by the likes of our own ideologically twisted PM and his sidekick(s) who are going to ultimately lead our great country to financial ruin with their attempts to control geologic processes. Such folly.
I never realized that natural cause contribution was so significant. I am the penultimate capitalist free enterpriser therefore I believe that costs of acquisition will ultimately modify human behaviour. For example if Australia lamb is too expensive you will consume local and if local is too expensive you will adjust what you eat. Less travel and localized living and working will be commonplace. Carbon tax is only effective if it’s universal. I sure Trudeau must knows the earth is round and we share the same atmosphere.
What Diane exposed so well is that there are many reasons for our climate change and it behooves readers to read other perspectives than the ones presented by Al Gore, Greta Thonberg, any UN official and the media. A good book to start with is Bjorn Lomberg's "False Alarm" And yes volcanos do have a big effect on our climate it only makes sense. As well as over population. Final thougt. Until Russia, China and India get with the program and stop building coal plants I will not buy into the self flagellation of the western world in the insane push for green energy at such a fast pace. Ev's are not the answer but part of the problem.
What a refreshing article. My constant rebuttal regarding ‘climate change’ is that it’s part of a cycle. The Laurentide Ice Sheet covered Canada and the top third of the USA 10,000 years ago. It was nearly 2 MILES thick. It melted! Heaven forbid! A natural part of long term cycles that are ongoing.
Keep up the excellent and well informed reporting you bring. Of course the politicians don’t want to comment.
Great column and the first time I've heard about the impact of these volcanoes - thanks!
With respect to the higher than usual (record setting!) wildfires in Canada, I have found it very interesting that while British Columbia and Alberta are experiencing these fires, the US Northwest has, until this week, only had 15-20 fires burning at one time - yet those regions share similar topography and weather conditions.
Also of interest is the fact that during the pandemic and international travel restrictions in 2020, western Canada had almost record LOW levels of wildfires.
Is anybody looking into these patterns?
I know this is excessively long, sorry, but the topic is the most important topic of our lifetimes.
Bjorn Lomborg is, to put it mildly, an outlier. To set him up against the IPCC, which represents the overwhelming scientific consensus over 50+ years, is not readily comprehensible.
Another of the dwindling number of human-caused climate deniers is Alex Epstein, author of a huge volume called Fossil Future. He appeared at a congressional committee and Nancy Pelosi asked what he had to offer; Alex said he was a philosopher and could teach them how to think straight, pretty ballsy I thought, as his only credential is a BA from Duke U. Alex’ thesis is that we (humans) will eventually turn to nuclear energy but meanwhile we must rely on fossil fuels; I agree with him except that he means generations and I think we should be looking at immediately.
The EOS article is interesting but I’m baffled by the conclusion ‘Mother Nature is in charge.’ That might have worked before the industrial revolution but now? It isn’t Mother Nature that has spewed carbon into the atmosphere in ever-increasing quantities, especially the past 50-60 years; the scientific consensus is frankly overwhelming that we humans are, as the lawyers say, both the causa sine qua non and the causa causens of the planetary warming that we are facing. It’s the carbon, the waste product of burning fossil fuels that is causing it, not undersea volcanoes or forest fires that have been with us since the dawn of time.
As Lomborg bangs on about forest fires and how they are declining these past 20 years (he chooses his time periods quite carefully, and is just as selective with his facts), these recent Canadian fires have totally upset his apple-cart, as they are estimated to be TRIPLE the size of anything we’ve seen in this continent these past fifty years. These fires are unprecedented in extent, as are so many of the understated ‘climate events’ we are now experiencing every year, and far from “not spiraling out of control,” they are completely out of control.
You have come down clearly on the side that says there’s nothing much we can do about it, except “around the edges,” but then what you say is not around the edges but is totally central to the way humans now live in the developed world, and intend to live in the developing world, viz. eat less, travel less, use less energy, go vegan, etc. This is never going to happen except under massive duress, and maybe it will come to that as the planet goes on heating. (It actually does work pretty well in North Korea, but that’s not much of a role model.)
Maybe the UN General-Secretary is sounding alarmist, hysterical, Armageddon, extreme, Doomsaying and so on, and let’s face it, the media will always and forever follow the maxim: “if it bleeds, it leads,” but the cautious and sober scientists of the IPCC are, if anything, over-cautious and downplay the gravity of what is upon us. There are so many reputable and reliable sources; Bjorn Lomborg is not one of them. But Alex Epstein, though he’s a shill for Big Oil, is right that the world will not come off fossil fuels until a better energy source is found; meanwhile, we’ll continue to burn.
Thank you Diane, excellent reporting. Again you put a complex matter into perspective where an average person can better understand the complexities that impact us all in so many ways. Your article shows how "little control" we really have over life changing events. Yes, our efforts can try to help improve the environment and save the Earth, but Mother Nature still rules. The human measures come at great financial expense to so many which in the grand scheme of things seem almost useless / ineffective. Yes, we must continue to try to improve and protect our lifestyle. In today's world where technology is so vital (power of the internet and our many devices), one volcano could destroy our connectivity. That's scary and I'm not sure AI could save either.
Thank you for your informative article.
"The volcano launched an “unprecedented” amount of water vapor into the stratosphere, said Patrick Sheese, a climate physicist at the University of Toronto who was not involved in the study. But the event’s impact can’t compare with that of human emissions, he said. Even if the eruption increases temperatures as the simulation predicted, that’s only a small, temporary lift toward the 1.5°C threshold. Decades of research have shown that humans are still responsible for most of the warming. scientists you cite actually refute you. From their sctual newsletter.
I agree that the media frequently hypes the man made component of climate change. But your column does us no favors. Climate change is multi faceted. Some of the causes are things we can change. Volcanoes are not one of them. Giving the global polluters a pass is a mistake. What were you thinking, Diane?