It’s easy to make jokes about how you’re looking forward to global warming when it’s -15°C. But climate change has many effects on us, some of them dramatic. They include:
- Our summers are warmer with more heat waves. This can cause serious health issues for Ontarians. In Southern Ontario, the number of days over 30 degrees Celsius will likely more than double by 2050.
- Our winters are warmer, with fewer extreme cold days and less snow overall. This affects our tourism and recreation activities.
- We are seeing more intense and severe storms, including tornadoes and floods. Flooding is now the number one reason for household insurance claims in Ontario.
- Our farmers are affected. Extreme weather damages crops through hail and flooding. While milder winters can reduce heating bills for livestock barns, they help some pests and diseases survive the winter, while others spread further across Ontario. This poses a threat to our economy and our food supply.
- Water levels in the lakes, including the Great Lakes are dropping due to less ice cover and hotter summers. This affects shipping, fishing, recreation, shoreline property and water quality. More than 70 percent of people in the province depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water.
- Infrastructure and personal property will be affected by more frequent, extreme weather events. Impacts range from softening of pavement during summer heat waves and cracking of concrete during freeze-thaw cycles, to road washouts, to ice and windstorm damage.
- Warmer temperatures increase the risk of infectious diseases such as Lyme disease or West Nile virus as insects move further north.
It’s important that we all do everything we can to protect our province from the harmful effects of our changing climate. What can we do? Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using less electricity, using your car less, and wasting less in general. And you’ll also benefit by saving money, protecting our air and water, and more.
We can also adapt to the effects of climate change. The following tips can help you and your family prepare for weather-related events, including poor air quality, floods and storms:
- Protect your home from flooding (for example, by using backflow valves).
- Know where to shut off electricity and gas in homes in the event of a flood.
- Pay attention to air quality advisories and heat alerts.
- Create an emergency kit with enough supplies to support your family and pets for 72 hours.
- Use a rain barrel to gather water for gardens and lawns. This takes the strain off our storm drainage systems.
