Bluntly: will the floods be to Alberta what Sandy was to New York?
Is it an incident so intense that those who are otherwise inclined can no longer remain complacent about climate change now that a remote probability has disturbed their home ground and their self-interest? Or will it take another? And another. And another.
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UPDATE: Analysis – and warning – from Bob Sanford, a Canadian hydrologist:
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UPDATE: Even New York City’s ambitious $19.5 billion plan to protect the city from future
climate-related threats may not be sufficient. While in Calgary, the denial machine is gearing up.
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Calgary correspondent Jack Hope has published pics from the flood zone, particularly how it affected transit.
7 Avenue at City Hall Flooded – No Trains Running Downtown
It’s going to take a lot more than that I think.
I have to agree with Andrew, it’s going to take a lot more to knock Albertans out of their complacency. The fact of the matter is that Global Warming Denial is still a significant chunk of the mentality here, although many would deny that they are in denial in polite company. Then there’s a much bigger strain of ‘well China and the US aren’t doing anything so let’s get rich while we can.’ This train of ‘thought’ and its cousin, ‘we can’t fix it so might as well develop the hell out of the place,’ absolves people of any sense of individual responsibility, at least in their own minds.
The easy wealth that comes with oil and the political culture here breeds this sense of fatalism that nothing can be done so might as well just get it out of the ground and get rich while you can, since the world is screwed anyhow.
Then there are the fools who actually think the pathetic tiny measures taken to mitigate oil sands development is actually minimizing or even preventing green house gas emissions…
Money can create whatever combination of ignorance, fatalism, or greed is necessary. The fact that the vast majority of said money continues to flow into a tiny percentage of people’s hands (say 1%) doesn’t detract from people crawling all over each other to get whatever scraps are left over. Even if it’s contributing to wrecking the planet.
What will be interesting to see is their views of climate change (or don’t) and whether the government should act.
I agree with Andrew and Jack, unfortunately. It’s going to take more than this to change minds in Alberta.
Also, that interview with Bob Stanford was very factual and thorough, but I think the majority of people would have tuned it out after about 15 seconds. Message to scientists of the world: when you are talking to the media, don’t talk about algorithms, much less name specific models or phenomena named after obscure scientists.
There is clear evidence within Alberta’s borders, plain for anyone to see, that the climate is changing. The Athabasca glacier grew to its largest size in 1845, and has been shrinking ever since. This is also evidence that climate change is not anthropogenic.