What climate change would mean for Canada’s famous landmarks

Source(s): Maclean's

By Rosemary Counter

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The first thing a tourist might notice in 2100 at Nova Scotia’s Peggy’s Cove is—not surprising in the least—an ever higher sea level slowly swallowing the picturesque lighthouse. Sea levels of southern Atlantic Canada will experience the largest local sea-level rise in the country; at the same time, the region itself is slowly shrinking about a millimetre per year. “Over the course of a century, that’s 10 centimetres, and under a high emission scenario, sea level could rise upwards of a meter,” calculates Blair Greenan, research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The lighthouse today sits only about 5 metres above sea level, he notes, so visitors in 2100 might not reach it without getting wet.

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Ottawa will have to do better than just survive floods—it’ll have to become a city that both moves and floats to accommodate changing weather patterns. “This is going to take a whole lot of planning, and we should be thinking about it already,” [says Frank Seglenieks, water resources engineer with Climate Change Canada]. For example, say you’re building a dock. “Instead of building it solidly along the shore, you’re going to build a floating dock that moves up and down.” The same could be true for houses, which should be carefully constructed to treat floods not as fluke but as the new norm. If Seglenieks were building his dream house in Ottawa, he’d stay far from the unpredictable river. “I’d look for the highest that the river has ever been in recorded history. Then I’d build even higher than that.”

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An increased wildfire risk means Albertans in 2100 could live under constant fire watch and will have to practice regular safety and evacuation drills. No news on what strange futuristic tech might deliver it, but residents will likely subscribe to something like today’s Alberta Emergency Alert, which Banff residents diligently practiced in May to prepare for a catastrophic wildfire that Banff fire chief Silvio Adamo called “a very likely scenario.” Then and now, homes should be stocked with emergency supplies, a first aid kit, respirator masks to protect the lungs against particulate matter during the inevitable decline of air quality, plus a detailed escape plan to evacuate.

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With too many buildings crammed atop too much heat-absorbing pavement, dense cities like Montreal with too hot temperatures have the unfortunate fate of getting even hotter. An “urban heat island” is just as it sounds: Too many humans and human activity, not enough cool breeze or green space. Officially, Montreal currently counts just one “hot” (30 degree plus) day per year; but in the worst case scenario for 2100, there will be fifteen of them. A 6 degree temperature climb in an already hot city won’t just be unbearable, it will be dangerous and even deadly. Last summer, 66 people died during a Montreal heat wave; 80 per cent of them were not outside in the scorching sun, but in their own homes.

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