Allan Maynard, Author at Environment Matters

And Now For Some Good News To Start 2026

by Allan Maynard | Jan 9, 2026 | A Sustainable Future, Climate Change, Featured

Misinformation - Science and truth be damned

Good News To Start 2026

NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS TO START 2026

Astounding advances in renewable energy – ‘almost free’ electricity. Can this be possible?

Allan Maynard, MSc. – January 2026

“Science” the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science has named the advancement of renewable energy the science breakthrough of 2025.

After witnessing 2025, there is no doubt that we would welcome some good news. In terms of the climate, 2025 was one of the three hottest years on record despite the anticipated cooling from La Niña. It was also the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through the threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting the mean global warming to no more than 1.5 C since preindustrial times. It was another year when people around the world were slammed by the dangerous extremes brought on by a warming planet. Backwards policies in the USA and several “petro-states” will not alter these realities. Despite the enormous challenges, it is clearly imperative that the world accelerates the transition away from fossil fuels.

So yes – some good news is welcome. The renewables revolution is THE BRIGHT SPOT. This good news can be overlooked because it’s incremental, technical, economic, and dispersed. In my view, the major milestones don’t receive nearly the recognition they deserve.

RENEWABLE ENERGY IS MUCH MORE ENERGY EFFICIENT

It is now widely understood that fossil fuel is a wasteful, politically unstable and poisonous way to produce energy – whether that be to heat a home or power a vehicle. Fossil fuel energy must be extracted in some way, stored, transported (ships, trains, trucks, pipelines), refined, and finally the refined product shipped again. Overall (on average) only about 35% of the energy first mined becomes useable energy to generate heat, motion or electricity. Almost 70% is lost before it ever reaches a consumer. https://rmi.org/the-incredible-inefficiency-of-the-fossil-energy-system/

This is a definite negative factor for heavy oil from Alberta (and YES – from Venezuela) as the initial extraction process is highly energy intensive.

Another example – Electric Vehicles (EVs) are significantly more efficient at converting energy to motion than gasoline cars. Electric motors achieive 70-90% efficiency compared to the overall efficiency of internal combustion engines which lose 70-80%, of the energy as heat. – https://eleport.com/ev-vs-ice-comparison/

THE SMART MONEY – RENEWABLES ARE BEATING OUT FOSSIL FUELS

Over the past 5 years about twice as much was invested in renewables, and electrification, compared to oil, natural gas and coal. Since the year 2000, investments in renewables increased 10-fold – IEA’s World Energy Investment report

When the Paris treaty was signed (2015), renewables were considerably more expensive than fossil fuels and were not widely implemented. However, the drop in cost and spread of solar and wind has outstripped virtually all predictions. Even though the world continues to dawdle politically in its response to the climate crisis, clean energy is booming, responsible for almost all new energy capacity

Solar energy is now widely considered the cheapest form of energy in the history of humankind. According to a recent study, solar energy is expected to become even cheaper in the coming years, with costs projected to fall by as much as 60% by 2030.

https://www.wtsenergy.com/solar-cheapest-energy-source-in-history-factor/#:~:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20these,much%20as%2060%25%20by%202030

Wind energy has also advanced in many significant ways, with a focus on bigger, more efficient turbines (taller towers, longer blades) for onshore use, rapid offshore growth that takes advantage of stronger winds, and other innovative concepts. All of this is driven by falling costs, improved lighter materials and supportive infrastructure for better energy capture, and grid integration.

Energy storage is crucial to the success of renewable energy and has also seen amazing breakthroughs in recent years from innovations in battery chemistry and AI technology driven energy management. This allows the stabilisation of energy networks and the reduction of dependency on fossil fuels to ‘fill in” when there’s less wind or solar rays. An example – Finland has activated the world’s largest sand battery that can heat an entire town for a week in the winter. https://polarnightenergy.com/news/worlds-largest-sand-battery-now-in-operation/

Good News To Start 2026

Good News To Start 2026

Here are only a few (of many) notable examples that demonstrate the reality of the achievements in renewable energy systems.

China is leading the race by far. China’s current rate of renewable installations puts it on a trajectory to transition to 100% across all energy sectors and eliminate all air pollution and carbon emissions from energy by 2051. The USA by comparison (at the current rate) won’t get there until 2130.
Starting in 2026, many Australians will get at least three hours of free electricity every day through the new “Solar Sharer” government program, designed to use excess midday solar power, reduce bills, and stabilize the grid. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2503532-australia-is-getting-free-electricity-will-other-countries-follow/
A BIG FIRST – Australia is actively planning to sell renewable energy to Singapore through a massive project, which involves building the world’s longest undersea cable to transmit solar power from a huge Australian solar farm. This project aims to supply a significant portion of Singapore’s energy needs, making Australia a major green energy exporter and helping Singapore meet its sustainability goals. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/21/australia-greenlights-19bn-solar-project-to-export-power-to-singapore
Solar energy is not just for southern areas. For example, Switzerland is actively installing solar panels at high altitudes, particularly on alpine dams and mountainsides, to leverage stronger sunlight, colder temperatures, and snow reflection for increased winter power generation, a key part of their strategy to boost year-round renewable energy. https://noticiasambientales.com/energy/switzerland-covers-the-alps-with-energy-the-solar-push-aiming-to-redefine-europes-ecological-transition/
In Europe – New EU rights are empowering communities and even individual households to generate, consume, and sell their own renewable energy (wind, solar), reducing reliance on external suppliers. This concept of community energy is likely to accelerate.
The Chinese multinational corporation, Hauwei, has filed a patent for a new type of solid-state electric vehicle (EV) batterythat could significantly change the future of clean transportation. The technology promises a driving range of up to 3,000 kilometers on a single charge and the ability to fully recharge in just five minutes. https://carnewschina.com/2025/06/18/huaweis-3000km-solid-state-battery-patent-with-5-minute-charge-ignites-industry-race/

I wish it weren’t so, but Canada and the USA are somewhat behind in transitioning away from fossil fuels. The USA will especially fall behind due to the backwards politics of the day. Despite this, some states are making advances. Texas (wind), California (solar), and Washington (hydro) lead U.S. states in overall renewable energy generation. Canada (especially BC and Quebec) is blessed with abundant hydropower but has also undertaken some major wind and solar projects. – https://renewablesassociation.ca/news-release-canada-powers-ahead-clean-energy-transition-takes-centre-stage-at-electricity-transformation-canada-2025/

THE TRANSITION TO RENEWABLES IS INEVITABLE AND NECESSARY

As Rebecca Solnit (columnist from The Guardian has stated about this topic, ‘even cheap is a misnomer – wind and sun are free and inexhaustible.’ We need to invest in the technologies to harvest and distribute this energy, and many jurisdictions are on track to do just that. Challenges abound in achieving what needs to be done, but the advances of the past decade demonstrate how success can be greatly accelerated when properly supported through evidence led governance leading to effective private/public partnerships.

The obvious advantages need to be promoted more widely. Renewable energy is cleaner (in all ways), more affordable and more advantageous in terms of political stability by providing energy independence away from only a few fossil fuel rich countries and large corporations – some of which are predatory and untrustworthy.

Our warming world is an existential threat to humankind, so it is essential to phase out the use of polluting energy. It is good news to witness significant progress on this front. Let us hope that these advances accelerate even more, such that this good news will become even better news over the next decade.

OTHER REFERENCES

https://www.science.org/content/article/breakthrough-2025#:~:text=To%20many%2C%20the%20continued%20growth,2025%20Breakthrough%20of%20the%20Year.&text=That%20promise%20comes%20against%20a,Belém%2C%20Brazil%2C%20in%20November.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-plummeting-cost-of-renewable-energy/

https://www.vox.com/climate/377072/data-energy-trends-renewables-transition-escape-velocity

https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/emerging-wind-energy-trends/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211467X25000732

Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products

by Allan Maynard | Dec 4, 2025 | Featured, Plastics, Toxics

Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products

Even cookware, clothing and make-up – have ‘forever chemicals.’ Can we reduce our exposure?

Allan Maynard, MSc. – November 2025

I wrote a series of articles in 2022 about toxic chemicals in the environment (see link below). Despite more research and some regulatory initiatives, the human population around the world is still exposed in many unnecessary ways. This is an update on the most worrisome class of chemicals – called “forever chemicals” (PFAS), because they take decades or even centuries to break down. A such, it is a class of chemicals that should have been heavily regulated decades ago. Even more egregious, the current US administration is proposing to loosen PFAS regulatory requirements and even expand their use on crops.

REMINDER – WHAT ARE FOREVER CHEMICALS (PFAS)?

Approximately 350,000 man-made chemicals are currently on the global market, including plastics, pesticides, and industrial chemicals with about 2,500 new chemicals, introduced each year. Thousands have not been properly evaluated.

This vast array of chemicals is divided into various classes – one such class is– PFAS – which stands for – get ready now – per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. It is an umbrella term for a family of over 12,000 chemicals that, due to a very strong bond between carbon and fluorine, are prized for their indestructible and non-stick properties. The exact number of PFAS is not really known as hundreds of so called ‘byproducts” are created in the manufacturing processes.

Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products
Click image to enlarge.

WHAT PRODUCTS CONTAIN FOREVER CHEMICALS (PFAS)?

PFAS can be found in non-stick cookware (frying pans, air fryers, rice cookers), parchment paper, fire retardants, stain and water repellents, furniture (as a fire retardant), waterproof clothing and shoes, children’s clothing, takeout food containers, food packaging, carpets and textiles, tents, yoga mats, rubbers and plastics, electronics, dental floss and even make up – such as lip gloss and mascara. This is a long list – and it worth asking – are many or even most uses necessary? I would say a resounding – NO!!

Also sprayed on crops: There are over 60 PFAS registered as active pesticide ingredients permitted in the U.S. for use to kill fungi, insects or weeds. PFAS can also be found in pesticides as inert, or inactive, ingredients, which means they don’t address pests directly but can enhance how well a pesticide works. Unfortunately, manufacturers in the USA aren’t required to disclose individual inert PFAS in their products. PFAS are more stringently regulated in Europe. Canada has a planned phaseout of PFAS, but it will take years to be fully implemented.

WHERE ARE FOREVER CHEMICALS (PFAS) FOUND IN THE ENVIRONMENT?

The answer is everywhere – even in remote locations:

Water: Found in drinking water sources, surface water, oceans, and groundwater.
Air: Can be present in gaseous form or attached to particles and aerosols, which can travel long distances.
Food: especially in fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed with PFAS pesticides – and also in meat, fish and processed food from packaging.
Soil and sediment: Contamination occurs through sources like landfill runoff, contaminated soil, or direct discharge.
Biota – due to bioaccumulation

Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Products

WHAT ARE THE IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH?

The answer? We just don’t know! The recoded cases of illness from exposure to PFAS is associated with the manufacturing process affecting people working in or living near, the factories. As an example, starting in 1998, multiple lawsuits were filed in US courts against DuPont in relation to C8 or PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), a specific PFAS, used to produce Teflon. Local farmers, residents and company workers claimed illnesses and livestock mortalities linked to pollution from DuPont’s Parkersburg plant in West Virginia. Intense monitoring studies found that residents who drank water from wells near the plant, had a median level of PFOA, 7.6 times more than the average American. In 2012, a science panel concluded (from these studies) a “probable link” existed between C8 and six diseases: kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and high cholesterol. Since then, there have been numerous individual lawsuits with DuPont settling over 3,550 of these for 671 million dollars.

In terms of day-to-day exposure from air, water and food, there is no clear answer to the question of long-term human health. What is known though, every human on the planet has detectable levels of PFAS in their blood.

My one-egg cast iron frying pan and yes, it is non-stick without chemicals.

WHY TAKE THE CHANCE? CAN WE REDUCE OUR EXPOSURE?

The simple answer – YES – by researching before buying cookware, clothing, furniture, cosmetics, etc. Do we really need waterproof jackets? Is it necessary to cook with a non-stick pan? Do our couches need to be stain-resistant and fireproofed?

• Use safer cookware: Swap nonstick pans for stainless steel, cast iron, glass, or ceramic alternatives. The same goes for air-fryers and parchment paper. Teflon pans can be especially concerning if they get heated too high or if they are scraped (as bits of coating will get in your food). A good cast iron skillet and some stainless-steel pots is all you need.

• Use glass for storing food: – even sandwich bags may contain PFAS.

• Filter tap water: Use a pitcher, faucet, or under-sink filter certified to remove PFAS, or a reverse osmosis system. PFAS have even been found in rainwater.

• Limit takeout and packaged foods: It is especially important to not heat food in plastic, grease resistant containers. For sure – I would avoid buying heated food that is stored in plastic – such as rotisserie chicken for sale in most grocery stores.

• Rethink microwave popcorn: Make popcorn on the stovetop instead of using microwave bags, which likely contain PFAS.

• Avoid certain fish: Limit consumption of locally caught freshwater fish, as they can accumulate PFAS.

• Choose non-treated textiles: Look for clothing, carpets, and upholstery that are NOT labeled “stain-resistant” or “water-resistant”. There is mounting evidence that we are breathing in PFAS from such products.

• Clean regularly: Damp dust surfaces with a microfiber cloth and vacuum weekly with a HEPA-filter vacuum to reduce the amount of PFAS dust in your home.

• Check labels: Look for “fluoro” or “perfluoro” on product labels, which indicates the presence of PFAS. Some products may use other PFAS, so be mindful of this.

• Limit cosmetics: Eliminate the use of cosmetics and personal care products that contain PFAS.

• Buy organic foods – this is much harder due to affordability – but it is very concerning that PFAS are used to spray crops.

There is a wealth of information on the internet if consumers want to research prior to buying. However, the challenge with all this, is the lack of forced (or regulated) disclosure from manufacturers of the products we buy and the producers of the food we consume. This needs to be addressed at the policy level – and I am not confident that this issue will be properly addressed when the industry lobby has an untoward sway over the political process.

https://www.environmentmatters.ca/a-daily-dose-of-chemical-exposure/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/18/california-pfas-forever-chemicals

https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/2025/11/ewg-finds-california-crop-fields-showered-25m-pounds-pfas

https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/high-levels-of-dangerous-forever-chemicals-found-in-californias-most-used-insecticide-2023-05-02/

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/dangerous-pfas-chemicals-are-in-your-food-packaging-a3786252074/

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

by Allan Maynard | Jan 16, 2025 | Climate Change, CoVid, Trusting Science

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

THE REAL ENEMY – MISINFORMATION: SCIENCE AND TRUTH BE DAMNED.

The Covid crisis provided a clear but tragic example on the dangers of neglecting truthful information. Climate change will continue to prove this point on a much greater and even more tragic scale. We must know what science tells us and heed factual warnings.

Allan Maynard, MSc. – January 2025

“Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”

― Timothy Snyder (Author and Historian) – “On Freedom”; “On Tyranny”

“If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’—well, it never happened. If he says that ‘two and two are five’—well, two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs …” George Orwell – the essay “Looking Back on the Spanish War” (1943)

Post truth – defined as “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief” – entered into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2016 after the election of Donald Trump.

It is hard to not be completely discouraged. I have followed and embraced the need for science-based decision making, for over 50 years. I could never have imagined the storm of misinformation and outright lies, that we are witnessing today. Even concepts of truth have been hammered to death. The city of Los Angeles (LA) is facing an unpreceded crisis of a nature that was predicted decades ago. While some media outlets are communicating the truth that climate change is the predominant factor in such such disasters, the president elect, and the extreme right-wing media are using this devastation to finger point and foster misinformation while falsely denying the role of climate change. It clearly shows the way political polarization, misinformation and propaganda can increase the confusion that engulfs natural disasters at a time when reliable information is crucial. It is appalling.

Do facts even matter anymore? How can the hard truths of reality be communicated in a post truth world with such dogmatic and poisonous rhetoric enhanced by snippets of code designed to promote imagined threats and fears of ‘others’. Miscommunication is designed to elevate emotion over logic to distract from the hard realities of the many highly complex issues the world is currently facing. This continually places humanity in grave danger.

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

TRUTH DECAY

The term “truth decay” has joined the post-truth lexicon that includes such now familiar phrases as “fake news” and “alternative facts”. And it’s not just fake news either: it’s also fake science (manufactured by climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers), fake history (promoted by Holocaust revisionists and white supremacists), fake citizens on Facebook and X (created by Russian trolls), and fake followers and “likes” on social media (generated by bots).

It becomes easy for political leaders to lie their way into office. The success of the Trump campaign was based on the ability to peddle a web of lies from a bully pulpit. This chronically untruthful man is the master of distraction. If he can, without evidence, convince millions of voters that he won the 2020 election and that the rioters that stormed the US Capitol were “peaceful patriots”, despite what millions witnessed from TV coverage with senators and representatives running for their lives, it then becomes easy to state that climate change science is a hoax. It becomes easy to deny his bungling of the Covid pandemic.

Politicians around the world have co-opted inconvenient knowledge and evidence-based realities into silly culture wars and attacks on personal freedoms. Experts become “global elites” or “socialist wackos”. Knowledge that is inconvenient becomes “woke” and often mocked.

TURNING AWAY FROM EXPERTISE: LEARNING FROM COVID

I know – The Covid pandemic is now ‘old news’ but it provides a very stark lesson. Two very dark and challenging 2 years followed the discovery of Covid 19 in late 2019, with more than 14 million deaths worldwide. But it could have been worse. In an unprecedented time, several safe and effective vaccines were developed. The vaccines prevented an additional 20 million deaths according to a recent international review – https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19-vaccines-saved-estimated-20-million-lives-1-year By 2022 most countries resumed their lives without the fears of the past 2 years.

There was a very bad side to this story that was very hard to watch. Misinformation and disinformation spread faster than the virus itself. Even more egregious and dangerous was the embrace of some components of such anti-science claims by many political leaders. Donald Trump was one of the most vocal of all world leaders in this anti-science rhetoric.

We can now refer to mountains of evidence that clearly prove that jurisdictions (countries, individual states, cities, counties, etc.) that did NOT properly heed the advice from infections disease specialists recorded excessive mortality rates – for reference see data at the end of this article – numbers don’t lie). It was especially egregious in the USA, resulting in the country having the highest mortality rate among peer western democracies. Between 118,000 and 248,000 more Americans would have survived the pandemic if all states had followed proper restrictions and vaccination rates, according to findings recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). That is 40 to 83 times higher than the death toll from 911. A quote from the New England Medical Journal – “This crisis has produced a test of leadership. Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test. They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy. The report also stated that “the magnitude of U.S. leaders’ coronavirus failure is astonishing”

This tragic outcome should have been a central message over the past 4 years. Trump was in charge, and he failed very badly. Many believe this should have been an impeachable offense. But how can this failure be properly communicated in a post truth era when our information universe has become so fractured with lies outcompeting truth and thereby obfuscating realities?

Misinformation – Science and truth be damned

SOCIAL MEDIA – IS NOT JOURNALISM

Social media is the head of the snake in the spread of false information. Technology doesn’t just spread lies but profits greatly from them. Multiple studies have clearly shown that social media platforms were greatly complicit in the politicization of the pandemic especially by increasing vaccine hesitancy around the world and fostering anger at precautions such as masking – one of many such studies – https://www.jmir.org/2022/2/e35552/

It was not just social media. There are now several studies showing the harmful coverage of Fox News which is the most watched cable news outlet in the USA. Fox repeatedly minimized the threat with anti-science rhetoric: link- one of many such studies – this from Cambridge University – https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-analysis/article/effect-of-fox-news-on-health-behavior-during-covid19/426C07EADC0D1E49D4AD26233C4CB9B8

DANGEROUS TIMES AHEAD IF EXPERTISE IS DISMISSED

Humanity is facing many highly complex issues: the climate crisis, human migration, food security, inequality, extremism, lack of housing, living costs, addiction, mental illness, artificial intelligence, cyber security, antibiotic resistance, and the threat of another pandemic which is a question of when not if. There is a dire need for reliable information.

On the plus side, there is a wealth of knowledge in how to approach these issues. There are millions of good people devoted to their fields of expertise. However, there are dangerous times ahead when proposed solutions to these complex issues, become negatively politicized or even worse dismissed, as was the case for Covid, and continues to be the case for climate change. As stated by Carol Off in her new book “At a Loss for Words”, – ‘Rarely has there been a more dire need now for concerted global effort and cooperation’.

It is understandable that election outcomes become primarily based on short termism and personal ‘kitchen table’ needs within that short term. It is unfortunately a day-to-day concern for billions around the world. As such, in the 2024 elections, concerns about putting food on the table today, took precedent over ensuring the world can produce enough food a few decades from now. This was the curse of the incumbents in most of the 2024 elections. But does the turning towards the more extreme right of politics offer solutions? I would say a simple NO! Was it properly understood that food prices were greatly affected by supply chain issues following the global pandemic? Is it generally understood that fires, floods, heat waves, and droughts, all greatly enhanced by climate change, will continue to put pressure on the costs of the global food supply?

It is now clear that climate change was the big loser over the 2024 slate of elections. I certainly wish I could feel more optimistic, but I am not confident in many of the choices made from the 2024 elections with billionaires (having clear conflicts of interest), anti-vaxxers and climate change deniers gaining positions of power. Moreover, the information ecosystem is expected to be further tested as social media platforms like Facebook roll back much needed fact-checking programs. Tech oligarchs now own much of the information universe and can control what is seen and what is not seen. They are now the DEEP STATE.

I wish I could end on a positive note – but – we are clearly heading in the wrong direction. There will no doubt be a rise in resistance to wrong-headed retrogressive policies, as well as exposure from the media when rash promises will not be kept or dangers from bad policy become evident. Will this be enough? Time will tell.

COVID Mortality Rates – a few examples – data are in mortalities per million of population – source Our World in Data – https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Canada – 1538; USA – 3642; Germany – 2182; BC – 969; Wa (Washington State – 2277; Denmark – 1511; Sweden – 2682 – note Sweden initially attempted keeping open in the initial phases of the pandemic – a herd immunity approach); California 2842 – with LA initially hit hard); Florida – 4433

More references

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/02/01/science/covid-deaths-united-states.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52588682

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4794767-covid-19-restrictions-savings/

Book by Carol Off – https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/729716/at-a-loss-for-words-by-carol-off/9781039008434

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0275074020941683

Climate Change Close To Home On Election Day

by Allan Maynard | Oct 30, 2024 | Climate Change

IN BRITISH COLUMBIA – CLIMATE CHANGE CLOSE TO HOME ON ELECTION DAY.

On election day in the province of British Columbia, a major rainstorm lashed the south coast sending rainfall records tumbling. The disconnect in politics was also demonstrated that day when almost 1 million residents voted for a party that denies the reality of climate change.

Allan Maynard, MSc. – November 1st, 2024

The atmospheric river weather system that lashed British Columbia’s coast on the day of the provincial election (October 19, 2024) sent daily rainfall records tumbling in North Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish, Vancouver, West Vancouver, White Rock, Langley, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope, Nakusp and the Agassiz and Pitt Meadows areas. For example, West Vancouver saw 134.6 millimetres of rain, smashing the record of 34.8 millimetres set in 1970. In North Vancouver – where I live the storm dumped an astounding 344 mm of rain – more than double than from the November 2021 storm that washed out the 3 major access highways to Metro Vancouver.

It is worthwhile to watch to this video clip. This is climate change right at our doors — in this case on Panorama Drive in Deep Cove where many friends live.

YES – WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD MAJOR CLIMATE EVENTS – BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT.

It is well understood that individual climate events (wildfires, floods, droughts, windstorms) cannot be specifically labelled “caused by climate change”. This reality (i.e. – “we have always had storms”) is a well-used push back from those denying the destructiveness of climate change. While it is a fact that regions of the world have always experienced extreme events, it is different now. The events are made worse by climate change.

Hurricanes over increasingly warmer oceans, are becoming more intense, causing greater rainfall and have a greater coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas.
Forest fires are increasing in intensity, frequency, and size. Moreover, the fires are occurring at higher altitudes and in more northerly regions – even Siberia – thus threatening carbon rich tundra.
Heat domes are more frequent, lasting longer and causing more fatalities.
Rain events – such as we just experienced in North Vancouver are much more extreme and often hitting land that has been dried out from droughts and thus unable to absorb the extra water.

Yes – there have been major events, but we have never seen entire towns and communities such as Jasper, Fort McMurry, Lytton, Yellowknife, Lahaina, etc., burning to the ground and/or requiring complete evacuation. In 2023 – in Canada – 250,000 people were on the move due to fires. In 2022, one-third of Pakistan, a breadbasket nation, was flooded. Hurricane Helene laid waste to 6 states in southeastern United States. Its sheer wind force and deadly floods left behind a path of destruction stretching over 500 miles from Florida to the Southern Appalachians, super-charged by ocean water that was much warmer than normal.

So – to repeat, the world has always experienced major events, but climate change is making them much more devastating. The science is clear on this.

AND YET – THE DISCONNECT IN POLITICS (BC AND ALBERTA EXAMPLES).

BC – The disconnect in politics was best summed up by the BC Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau after the BC election. “It’s a strange time in politics when during an atmospheric river, people come out and vote for a party that’s denying the reality of climate change.”

In this short sentence that says so much, she is talking about the BC Conservative Party who collected almost 1 million votes in a surprise outcome. This is a party that campaigned on backtracking on almost all aspects of environmental policy even, strangely enough, going as far as a plan to reverse the ban on single use plastics. Their claim that environmental policy is a burden to the BC economy flies in the face of facts. Environmental policy is not a moral judgment that ignores economic imperatives. Indeed, BC is the only province in Canada other than Ontario, with a triple-A credit rating from Moody’s. The province is the third least indebted and holds some of the highest average wages in the country. Why then – the need to backtrack?

Alberta — In August 2023, the governing United Conservative Party, instituted a 7-month moratorium on the approval of renewable energy projects, leaving a legacy of dozens of cancelled projects, legal uncertainty and a flight of strategic capital. The capacity of the cancelled projects adds up to more than 8,600 megawatts of generation — more than enough to power every home in Alberta according to a report by the Pembina Institute.

Elections matter – that is clear. It is well understood that each party running in our recent election and in other elections around the world have policy objectives to address many serious issues such as health care, cost of living, housing, drug addiction, homelessness, overall security, crime rates, education and more.

We clearly must have rationale dialogue with a variety of viewpoints, in tackling these highly complex, nuanced issues. But why the disconnect in addressing needed action on climate change and ecological destruction? Why do conservative parties around the world, continue to hide behind the defense of ignorance on this crucial threat? This is what we voters need to be asking. I outlined this in more detail in my October article “Vote With Knowledge – There is no Planet B” – link below – that also has references used for this article.

Vote With Knowledge – There Is No Planet B

NOTE – for those not in BC – the final outcome (pending 2 recounts) – The New Democratic Party (NDP) have a majority (47 seats), The Conservatives are the official opposition (with 44 seats) and the Green Party has 2 seats – coming very close to holding the balance of power. The Green Party is more likely to vote in favour of NDP policy as opposed to Conservative policy. As another aside – the voter turnout was 57 %. That to me is shockingly low.

Vote With Knowledge – There Is No Planet B

by Allan Maynard | Oct 4, 2024 | A Sustainable Future, Climate Change

Vote With Knowledge – There Is No Planet B

Allan Maynard, MSc. – October 2024

About 50% of the world’s population – literally billions of people – are voting in 2024. I wish I could be sure that the state of planet earth (climate change and ecological collapse) would be a deciding factor. There is no turning away – the world is in a crisis beyond even the direst of predictions that date back into the late 1800s. The warming planet is wreaking havoc over the entire globe – intensifying forest fires, droughts, sea- and land-ice loss, rising sea-levels, unprecedented and unpredictable flooding, and other storm events. Our oceans, home to more than half of all the world’s species is 30% more acidic signalling the most rapid shift in ocean chemistry in the past 50 million years.

The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes per hour which is 20% more than predicted. This is likely to accelerate a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), with severe consequences for humanity.

The crisis is real, it’s major and must be addressed much more aggressively than in the past number of decades.

A stranded car sits in flood waters as Tropical Storm Helene strikes, in Boone, North Carolina, U.S. September 27, 2024

CASE CLOSED – IT IS US

The science is clear – human activity (the burning of fossil fuels) is the cause of this crisis. This clear fact becomes highly inconvenient to those with vested interests in business as usual. Trillions of dollars of assets will have to be left in the ground as the world moves away from energy based on fossil fuels. The industry response to this inconvenient truth has been massive investments for misinformation and disinformation campaigns designed to undermine the science. Unfortunately, this investment has had success with many voters still believing that the science is not certain. BUT IT IS CERTAIN.

The degree of scientific certainty about the impact of greenhouse gases is now comparable to the level of agreement on evolution, plate tectonics, germ theory and the impacts of cigarette smoking. The consensus is almost 100%. Here is a list of 200 scientific organizations all over the world (science academies and associations) that hold the position that Climate Change has been caused by human. action. https://www.opr.ca.gov/facts/list-of-scientific-organizations.html

This is not a trivial list and covers almost all relevant science around the world. Those of us in high-emitting countries cannot hide behind a defence of ignorance.

WHY THEN – A POLITICAL DIVIDE?

It is hard to fathom, with the clear evidence concerning the severity of the crisis and the overwhelming scientific agreement, that this issue would not then be approached in a bipartisan manner – that is “all hands-on deck.” But this is clearly not the case. ‘Right wing’ (or conservative) political parties around the world have been fighting, and at times even mocking this scientific consensus.

There are many studies in the literature examining this situation. Evidence of a link between people supporting right-wing political parties and climate-change scepticism was identified in a 2022 study from the University of Oxford and the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences (see reference below). One common denominator seems to be a general distrust of scientific consensus. This also seemed the case in the response to the Covid pandemic.

There is no doubt that Big Industry, with vested interests in business as usual, takes advantage of this distrust by funding campaigns to exaggerate it by obfuscating the science. It is in their interests to support politicians that can take this distrust and nurture it into the realm of conspiracy theories and culture wars. They shamelessly treat misinformation as a political strategy. Unfortunately, these campaigns have been successful in delaying or even reversing the needed progress. This is one of the major reasons why the crisis is now so extreme.

Consider Brazil under the administration of Jair Bolsonaro. From a shocking increase in deforestation (over 50%) to the approval of over a thousand new pesticides (many banned elsewhere), his administration was a disaster for Brazil but also for the world. It will take decades to reverse this damage – if at all.

And then there is the United States with an election coming up in November of this year. The choice could not be starker with Donald Trump the worst possible choice who gets everything wrong about climate change and ecological destruction, even mocking world- renowned American scientific and technological expertise. It is a willful ignorance beyond anything I could possibly imagine, and yet not surprising given his bizarre detachment from reality on most issues (the 3^rd link in the references below is an excellent article on this by Bill McKibben). Big Industry would like nothing more to again have such a useful idiot in the White House based on his promise (along with a blatant request for donations) to completely reverse the important progress made over the past 4 years and in previous decades (more on that below).

In my Province – British Columbia we are facing an election in on October 19^th, 2024. The Conservative Party is led by John Rustad, who has a long history of doubting climate science and the need for climate action, going so far as hinting that climate policies are a plot to control people. He has back-pedaled somewhat now saying that he believes climate change is real, but it’s not a crisis and wants to tackle crime, drugs and affordability problems first. Of course, those issues are also crucial but why back-burner environmental issues?

This also goes for the Federal Conservative party led by Federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre who has voted against the environment and climate nearly 400 times during his 20-year career as a Member of Parliament, according to House of Commons voting records. His campaign slogan is to “Axe The Tax” (carbon tax) but evidence based proposals to deal with climate change are minimal. The Canadian election likely will not take place until October 2025. We need to watch this one closely.

Click Image to Enlarge

IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID.

“It’s the economy stupid” was a phrase coined by James Carville in 1992, when he was advising Bill Clinton in his successful run for the White House. Unfortunately, there has been a preponderance of false thinking that economic growth must take precedence over environmental protection This is a false premise. The two go hand in hand.

Firstly the negatives of inaction – consider the current and rising costs of environmental disasters. For instance – the U.S. set an unwelcome record for weather and climate disasters in 2023, with 28 disasters that exceeded more than $1 billion in damage each. Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic winds and flooding has inflicted heart-breaking misery to millions along with over 100 million dollars of damage and economic loss (according to an early estimate).

The global cost of climate change damage is estimated to be between $1.7 trillion and $3.1 trillion per year by 2050. Lives are upended causing massive increases in human displacement. As of May 2024, the number of forcibly displaced people in the world has reached a staggering 120 million. The insurance industry has now been completely upended.

And now consider the economic opportunities taking action – When Joe Biden was elected in 2020, his administration embarked on one of the most significant climate agendas in history. Did the economy suffer? NO!! In fact, nearly 16 million new jobs were created, including almost 800,000 manufacturing jobs. For the environment, $370 billion is being invested to combat climate change, and to date, there’s been more than $100 billion in private investment and roughly 100,000 new jobs created in clean energy manufacturing (see reference below). Worldwide, renewable energy jobs have almost doubled in 10 years to 13.7m jobs, according to the World Economic Forum). Renewable energy, mostly from the sun and wind, seems to be reaching some sort of takeoff point. By some calculations, the world is now putting up a nuclear plant’s worth of solar panels every day.

ARE VOTERS AWARE ENOUGH?

Our societies around the world are facing so many acute issues needing the attention of those we elect. Many seem so pressing and urgent in the shorter term. However, for our future of our children and grandchildren, climate change and ecological destruction cannot be delayed or set aside. Over my 50-year career in the field of environmental science, I have witnessed some amazing leaps of progress, but I have also experienced major bouts of frustration and exasperation at setbacks – mostly due to Big Capital’s control over politics. It’s been a case of 3 steps forward, 2.5 steps back. I have 7 grandchildren (ages 9 to 20). I want their futures and the futures of generations to come, to be secure and safe. It is my hope that voters will feel likewise, take steps to be duly informed on the crises we face, and support candidates who will take the needed action. Business as usual is not an option.

REFERENCES – some of these are from certain media outlets and all provide links to more complete back up literature. Here also, are 3 books that I recommend that are highly readable and informative.

BOOK – “FIRE WEATHER – A TRUE STORY FROM A HOTTER WORLD” BY John Vaillant – Alfred A. Knopf publisher – 6/3023

BOOK ‘THE CLIMATE BOOK” – Greta Thunberg – a collections of writings by over 100 experts on all relevant aspects of the crisis. Penguin Press – 2023

BOOK – “SAVING US – A CLIMATE SCIENTIST’S HOPE AND HEALING IN A DIVIDED WORLD” – Katherine Hayhoe. Simon and Schuster, 2021.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-01-12-link-between-climate-scepticism-and-support-right-wing-populists-study

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2020.1864005?journalCode=rics20

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/sep/06/presidential-election-climate-crisis-project-2025-trump

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-truth-about-climate-action-versus-economic-growth/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/a-record-28-billion-dollar-weather-and-climate-disasters-struck-the-u-s-in-2023-noaa-says

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/climate-loss-and-damage-cost-16-million-per-hour/

https://civil-protection-humanitarian-aid.ec.europa.eu/what/humanitarian-aid/forced-displacement_en#:~:text=120%20million%20forcibly%20displaced%20people,68.3%20million%20internally%20displaced%20persons

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-look-at-the-economic-impact-and-progress-of-bidens-inflation-reduction-act-so-far

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/10/irena-renewable-energy-jobs/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/09/28/hurricane-helene-tropical-storm-updates-saturday/75417411007/#