B.C. climate news: Crews battle 147 wildfires in B.C. Trump cancels plans for offshore wind projects
Check back every Saturday for more climate and environmental news or sign up for our Climate Connected newsletter
In climate news this week:
• Crews battle 147 wildfires in B.C., with 41 new fires overnight Friday • With fires burning across B.C., is it safe to continue with travel plans? • Alberta heat wave brings added wildfire risk • Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects
Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere, increasing the planet's surface temperature.
The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, including researchers from B.C., has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as the province's deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a code red for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing.
According to NASA climate scientists, human activities have raised the atmosphere's carbon dioxide content by 50 per cent in less than 200 years, and 'there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.'
As of July 14, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 429.61 ppm, slightly down from 430.51 ppm last month, according to NOAA data measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a global atmosphere monitoring lab in Hawaii. The NOAA notes there has been a steady rise in CO2 from under 320 ppm in 1960.
Climate change quick facts:
• The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than it was in the 1800s. • 2024 was hottest year on record globally, beating the record in 2023. • The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48 C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, it breached the 1.5 C threshold at 1.55 C. • The past 10 years (2015-2024) are the 10 warmest on record. • Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850. • The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires. • On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much 3.6 C this century, according to the IPCC. • In June 2025, global concentrations of carbon dioxide exceeded 430 parts per million, a record high. • Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C. • There is global scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that humans are the cause.
(Sources: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, UNEP, NASA, climatedata.ca)
Latest News
Number of active wildfires in B.C. jumps to 147
Firefighters in B.C. are gearing up for a busy long weekend, as the number of active wildfires jumped to 120 Friday, up from 90 on Thursday.
Much of the province is parched from continuing hot and dry conditions. Although heat warnings have been lifted for parts of the B.C. Interior such as the Okanagan and Fraser Canyon, temperatures are still expected to be in the low-to-mid 30s, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Heat warnings remained in effect Friday for Fort Nelson, and the North and South Peace regions. Lytton is under an air quality alert because of the wildfire smoke.
Meantime, The wildfire near Peachland that forced hundreds of residents to quickly evacuated their homes just days ago is no longer out of control and the evacuation order has been lifted for all residents.
On Vancouver Island, an evacuation order was issued for properties in the Nanaimo region including waterfront properties on the north side of Cameron Lake and a portion of Little Qualicum Falls Provincial Park.
The Wesley Ridge wildfire, which is burning on the north side of Cameron Lake, is considered out of control and has grown to 2.45 square kilometres from 0.2 sq. km. on Thursday.
The Nanaimo Regional District on Vancouver Island declared a state of local emergency because of the fire, about 60 kilometres from the City of Nanaimo.
Read more on the wildfire situation here.
—Tiffany Crawford, The Canadian Press
With fires burning across B.C., is it safe to continue with travel plans?
If there were a weekend that could be described as peak summer in B.C., this would be it. Local vacation destinations see a surge of visitors as the cities empty out a little.
But with forest fires raging across the province, is it advisable to travel?
'The August long weekend feels like the height of summer for us,' says Ellen Walker-Matthews, CEO of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association, where a wildfire is burning near Peachland. 'We welcome people to continue with their plans.'
The patio at Bliss Bakery in Peachland was busy on Thursday, said owner Barry Yeo. Guests enjoyed baked goods and a water show as helicopters picked up buckets of water from the lake.
The bakery has a strong customer base, but business triples in the summer months, he said. 'It should be business as usual this weekend,' he said.
Harrison Hot Springs is also open despite a wildfire burning about 20 kilometres away on the eastern shore of Harrison Lake.
'The village and the resort are very much open,' said Erinn Kredba, interim executive-director of Tourism Harrison River Valley. 'This is a long weekend and businesses still need people to come.'
Read the full story here.
—Glenda Luymes
Alberta heat wave brings added wildfire risk
With Edmonton and most of north and central Alberta under heat warnings from Environment Canada, Alberta Wildfire officials enter the long weekend on pins and needles.
With daytime temperatures expected to exceed 30 C until a predicted break on Sunday, conditions are all too perfect for the ignition and spread of wildfire. And, it's the long weekend, when many Albertans and visitors to this province will be pitching tents and gathering around campfires.
'The hot weather is driving up the fire danger in most of the province,' said Josee St-Onge, an information officer at Alberta Wildfire.
She said the only regions not under increased risk are parts of southern Alberta that have recently received a lot of rain, and the Rocky Mountain region.
Not only does the hot weather increase the risk of fires starting, it provides optimum conditions for existing blazes to spread. There are currently 53 wildfires burning in Alberta, 11 of them rated as 'out of control.'
—Edmonton Journal
Trump administration cancels plans to develop new offshore wind projects
The Trump administration is cancelling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development, the latest step to suppress the industry in the United States.
More than 3.5 million acres had been designated wind energy areas, the offshore locations deemed most suitable for wind energy development. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is now rescinding all designated wind energy areas in federal waters, announcing on Wednesday an end to setting aside large areas for 'speculative wind development.'
Offshore wind lease sales were anticipated off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Maine, New York, California and Oregon, as well as in the central Atlantic. The Biden administration last year had announced a five-year schedule to lease federal offshore tracts for wind energy production.
Trump began reversing the country's energy policies after taking office in January. A series of executive orders took aim at increasing oil, gas and coal production.
The Republican president has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. One early executive order temporarily halted offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and paused the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. In trying to make a case against wind energy, he has relied on false and misleading claims about the use of wind power in the U.S. and around the world.
Read the full story here.
—The Associated Press
How Trump-vetted scientists are trying to shred the climate consensus
A new report from the U.S. Department of Energy says projections of future global warming are exaggerated, while benefits from higher levels of carbon dioxide such as more productive farms are overlooked. It concludes, at odds with the scientific mainstream, that policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions risk doing more harm than good.
Released Tuesday, the report is part of an effort by the Trump administration to try to end the U.S. government's authority to regulate greenhouse gases. It's the output of scientists known for contradicting the consensus embodied in volumes of research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose work is approved by virtually every nation.
Publishing an alternate approach to the science of global warming on the same day that the Environmental Protection Agency said it plans to revoke the endangerment finding — a determination that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare — marks a step up in the administration's war on regulations. Since its adoption in 2009, the endangerment finding has become the bedrock of many US environmental rules.
Climate experts say it will hobble the country's efforts to rein in rising temperatures and lessen the impacts, such as more intense storms, droughts and wildfires. The federal government's own research shows climate-fuelled extreme weather is already causing $150 billion in losses a year in the U.S.
Read the full story here.
—Bloomberg News
City of Ottawa four years behind in releasing greenhouse gas emissions reports
The City of Ottawa is four years behind in releasing greenhouse gas emissions reports and environment groups are left wondering just how much fossil fuels the city burns.
Usually, the city releases public reports tracking the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced within Ottawa, but the last report was released for the 2020 emissions inventory findings.
That 2020 report said community emissions had decreased 15 per cent since 2012, but a further reduction of five to six per cent would be needed to meet Ottawa's climate targets in the next five to 10 years.
Angela Keller-Herzog, executive director of the local environmental activist group CAFES Ottawa, says the city has a commitment to make those reports to the public.
'It's really important for countries and cities to be tracking their greenhouse gas emissions,' she said. 'If we're going to do something about the problem, we need to figure out where our emissions are coming from. 'Unfortunately, in the last few years, the city has been somewhat neglectful.'
Read the full story here.
—Ottawa Citizen
High in India's Himalayan mountains, yak herders struggle to survive a warming world
Carrying her one-year-old son on her back, Tsering Dolma herds a dozen yaks into a stonewalled corral as evening approaches in the desolate mountains of India's remote Ladakh region.
A few herders tending livestock are the only people visible for miles on the windswept plains where patchy grass gives way to gravelly foothills and stony peaks. For generations, herders such as Dolma have relied on snowmelt that trickled down the mountain folds to sustain the high-altitude pastures where their herds graze. But now, herders say, the snow and rain are less predictable, and there is less grass for yaks to eat.
'Earlier, it used to snow and rain, but now it has reduced a lot,' the 32-year-old says. 'Even the winters are getting warmer than before.'
Much of the herding, milking and gathering of wool is done by women in Ladakh, an area near Tibet that was part of the ancient Silk Route. It's work mostly done by hand.
In another valley, Kunzias Dolma is busy making tea with yak milk and checking her yak butter, while spinning her Buddhist prayer wheel with her right hand. The 73-year-old, who's not related to Tsering Dolma, has spent her life around yaks, working long hours to make products from their milk and sewing blankets from their wool.
But that way of life is threatened as climate change makes Ladakh less hospitable to yaks and many in the younger generation seek other jobs.
Read the full story here.
—The Associated Press
Related
B.C. Wildfires 2025: Lytton blaze triples in size | Evacuations as wildfire in Peachland spreads | Haze settles over Metro Vancouver
Report warns new housing in B.C. high-risk zones could cost billions in damages
Arctic plants adapting to climate change faster than scientists thought: study
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
5,000-year-old pits discovered in Germany reveals haunting Neolithic secrets
Archaeologists in Germany made a stunning discovery of numerous ritual pits that belonged to the Salzmünde culture, revealing a prehistoric society that struggled with internal and external changes. At the Gerstewitz archaeological site in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, these sacrificial pits, which were more like treasure troves, held the remnants of houses, ceramic vessels, human and animal bones, and converted oven pits. Archaeologists first discovered the Salzmünde Culture, a regional subset of the greater Funnel Beaker Cultures, in 1921. According to a new study published in Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt – Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, the burial ritual of these prehistoric people was 'particularly striking.' Their sacrificial rituals were no less remarkable. Researchers report that the pits they uncovered reflect people in crisis, due to climate change and threats from the north. The Salzmünde Culture needed help In anticipation of constructing a new SuedOstLink powerline, archaeologists investigated the area to ensure nothing of historical or cultural value was buried beneath the surface. Substantial and significant cultural material surfaced that illuminated a prehistoric society grappling with instability. Twelve sacrificial pits contained the remains of burnt houses and offerings, though the dog bones and human skulls stood out to archaeologists. They measured about 6.4 to 9.8 feet wide by 6.5 to 8.2 feet deep, according to Popsci. With the inclusion of two unbroken ceramic vessels, archaeologists believe that they were offerings. Study authors continued that the Salzmünde placed weathered dog bones, showing traces of fire, next to a human skull. It did not show any signs of weathering, thereby communicating to archaeologists that these pits remained open for an extensive ceremony, or the dog bones were kept elsewhere for an extended period of time. But the bodies of two people that they found appeared to have been moved to this location later. 'This case, too, suggests complex, multi-stage rituals,' study authors wrote. Why did the Salzmünde Culture set up these elaborate rituals? Based on a broader viewpoint, archaeologists suspect that they performed these rituals 'in high frequency and with…intensity.' As per LBV, they appeared to create ritual performance spaces where animal sacrifice met a burning of houses, along with the manipulation of corpses. It seemed to be a rite that took place over time. Sources indicate that Central Europe experienced a deterioration of climate in the 4th millennium BC. Archaeology News continued that the Bernburg Culture was also encroaching upon their territory. So, these larger threats might have propelled the Salzmünde Culture to take drastic measures and cry out for help. Who are the Salzmünde? The Salzmünde culture, a regional branch of the Funnel Beaker groups that spread along the middle and lower course of the Saale River, was already known for its peculiar funerary practices. At the eponymous site of Salzmünde, discovered in 1921, burials were found beneath layers of broken pottery and remains of burned houses, along with numerous cases of interpersonal violence and post-mortem manipulations, such as the relocation of skulls and long bones. These reflect a people reaching to their ancestors or a higher idea for support through trials and tribulations. Read the study in Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt – Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Artemis II on track for moon flight, looking to launch as early as February 2026
The crew of 4 astronauts undertaking NASA's 2026 Artemis II mission say the moon flight is on track for its launch next year. Speaking at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on July 30, the crew say there are possible openings for a launch in February.
Gizmodo
3 hours ago
- Gizmodo
How to Watch One of the Most Dazzling Meteor Showers of the Year
Skywatchers are in for a treat: The Perseid meteor shower—one of the brightest and most active of the year—is about to hit its peak, according to the American Meteor Society. The Perseids are an annual meteor shower that started in July, but astronomers expect the light show to be at its best between the evening hours of August 12 through to August 13. Famous for its typically high volume of swift, bright meteors, these burning space rocks leave long streaks of colorful light across the night sky in their wake, according to NASA. The Perseids' ability to produce fireballs is due to large chunks of material falling from the comet Swift-Tuttle as it makes its way around the Sun—every year Earth passes through the trail of debris and dust the comet leaves behind, and the interaction between that debris and our atmosphere is what causes the Perseids. Under ideal conditions, the Perseid shower can produce 50 to 100 shooting stars per hour, the agency says. This year may be a little different, however, as a near-full Moon during those peak hours could make it especially difficult to see the Perseids in their full glory. 'In 2025, the waning gibbous moon will severely compromise this shower at the time of maximum activity,' the AMS states. 'Such conditions will reduce activity by at least 75 percent as only the brighter meteors will be visible.' The August full Moon—also known as the Sturgeon Moon—rises on Saturday, August 9. That means that while it won't be completely full when the Perseids peak, it will still be bright enough to blot out some of the falling meteors. But there are things you can do to improve your chances of seeing some. The number one rule of skywatching is to create the darkest conditions possible. You can't change the brightness of a near-full Moon, but you can take advantage of the shadows it casts, according to EarthSky. Instead of standing out in the open, choose a spot in the shadow of a tree or building—just make sure it doesn't obstruct your view. This will block out the moonlight and make it easier to spot shooting stars. It's also important to select a viewing location far from sources of light pollution. The more rural your spot, the more meteors you'll see. Looking at a smartphone, laptop, or tablet can affect your vision, too, so put them away and enjoy the view. Even under a bright Moon, the best time of night to see shooting stars is between midnight and pre-dawn. This is when the sky is darkest and the Perseid shower is most active. During these hours, Earth is positioned so that you are on its leading side, according to The Planetary Society. This allows you to watch meteors as they come straight at the planet. The Perseid shower is especially visible in the northern hemisphere because its radiant—the point in the sky from which its meteors appear to originate—is somewhat north on the sky's dome, The Planetary Society says. While the shooting stars are actually falling from the comet Swift-Tuttle, they look to our eyes like they come from the constellation Perseus, hence the name. You don't have to stare directly at the radiant to see them, however. In fact, the ideal place to look is 45 degrees away from this point. The shower will remain active through the end of August, but is most dazzling in mid-August. And if you don't manage to catch the Perseids, don't fret. Another meteor shower is just around the corner: The Geminids, which also occur annually, will take place under moonless conditions in December, according to NASA.
