The Friends of Science have strong criticisms for Canada's National Adaptation Strategy to prepare for climate change..The federal strategy announced November 24 has five areas of focus: disaster resilience, health and wellbeing, nature and biodiversity, infrastructure, economy and workers. The document predicts climate change will cause $25 billion more in losses by 2025 than if the climate stayed as stable as it was in 2015 — ironically the same year the Trudeau government took power..A handful of cabinet ministers were quoted in the media statement on the strategy..Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said, “Climate change is the biggest single threat to human health.”.Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities, warned “[H]urricanes, floods, and wildfires … are only going to intensify.”.The strategy earmarks $284 million for community prevention and mitigation activities, innovation in wildland fire knowledge and research, and establishing a Centre of Excellence for Wildland Fire Innovation and Resilience. Another $164.2 million will give Canadians “free, up-to-date, and authoritative flood-hazard maps.”.The non-profit Friends of Science works closely with the CLINTEL international network of 1,400 scientists and scholars who challenge prevailing climate change narratives. Michelle Stirling, a spokesperson for FoS, said the narratives are based on “greed, crony capitalism, and ideology,” not science. She said last year’s flooding near Abbotsford, B.C. should not be blamed on carbon emissions..“Fraser Valley's agricultural area used to be a lake — Sumas Lake. It was drained and dyked for farmland, but for decades, the dykes were not maintained or upgraded, while in the meantime the scope of local agricultural activity, facilities, human settlements increased,” Stirling told the Epoch Times..“This region had the highest flood waters in 1894. Atmospheric rivers are not new or related to climate change. They are attributed to subsurface volcanic eruptions in the ocean which affect ocean temperatures and the El Nino and La Nina cycles, according to Prof. Wyss Yim.”.Only $489.1 million is for the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, while $59.5 million will establish more stringent “climate-informed” guidelines, building codes, and standards. A handful of multi-million dollar spending envelopes include awareness and communications initiatives..“We're going do more communications about how best to protect your house and you can put in special fireproof cladding on it, blah, blah, blah. Well, the town of Logan Lake in BC just went through an extreme wildfire season and survived using very practical simple tips from FireSmart. It's already there, you don't have to throw millions of dollars at it,” Stirling said..FireSmart is a collaborative effort of nine B.C. organizations along with Parks Canada and the Ministry of Forests. A video on the FireSmart website narrated by town fire chief Doug Wilson says its community adopted the principles in 2013 and that they helped save the town from a forest fire in August 2021..Stirling said most wildfires begin with negligence, arson, or an accident. The Chinchaga Fire Storm, when man’s carbon footprint was much smaller, remains the largest in Canadian history. It burnt 3.5 million acres of forest in northern BC and Alberta in 1950, leaving the sun in a bluish haze across the continent..The strategy’s first guiding principle is to “Respect jurisdictions and uphold indigenous rights”, while the second is to “Advance equity and environmental justice.”.The principles also forbade “maladaptations,” perhaps hinting at solutions that may include fossil fuels. Its analysis of Vancouver’s heat dome of June 2021 cited “intersecting vulnerabilities”, and found the 619 deaths disproportionately included those over 70 or living alone or in low-income neighbourhoods..Stirling believes climate change is not the suspect in these deaths. She addressed the heat dome issue in a one-hour YouTube presentation three months ago, the .pdf for which was posted to the Friends of Science Calgary blog in September..“Regarding wild claims of 'climate change causing extreme events' — the 'heat dome' in BC that tragically killed many elder vulnerable people in Vancouver region, and which encompassed the sudden wildfire that burnt down the town of Lytton, was the result of a Mobile Polar Anti-cyclone — a kind of 'foehn' or Chinook wind scenario around Lytton,” she said..“None of the 'climate adaptations' like wind and solar or GHG emissions reductions would address this in any way.”.The strategy’s media statement also connected Hurricane Fiona to Canada's need to prepare for climate change, although Canada only produces 1.5% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
