'It's us': Human activities unequivocally causing climate change, UN report says

WINNIPEG -

A new report sounding the alarm on climate change says the impact of humans is undisputed.

The report by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body for assessing the science on the issue, paints a grim picture of a warming earth and calls for immediate action to reduce emissions.

“They use the word unequivocal and that means, ‘Yes. It’s us.’ And we need to deal with it,” said Danny Blair, a University of Winnipeg geography professor and co-director of the Prairie Climate Centre.

The report says greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are responsible for 1.1 C of warming since the late 19th century.

It predicts over the next 20 years the global temperature is expected to reach 1.5 C of warming.

“And what that means is that Manitoba is going to continue to see climate change march on,” Blair said. “We’ve already seen quite a substantial amount of climate change — observable, noticeable climate change — in Manitoba, especially in the winters.”

Winters have on average, become shorter and warmer, Blair said.

At Holiday Mountain in La Rivière, shorter winters have become a problem, but now drought has forced the operators of the downhill ski area to cancel their upcoming season. The doors will stay closed because they don’t think they’ll be able to make snow.

“The Pembina River’s experiencing a massive drought and that is where we get all of our snowmaking water from,” said Bernice Later, general manager of Holiday Mountain.

Later said Holiday Mountain has a permit to use 17 million gallons of water from the Pembina River but it, and several other rivers in Manitoba, are flowing at exceptionally low levels.

“The climate — it decides how our industry is going to survive. It’s the only uncontrollable aspect of our business,” Later said. “Unfortunately, just this drought is in charge right now. Mother Nature has decided we just can’t operate this season.”

Declining river levels are also threatening drinking water supplies, wildfires have prompted evacuations and livestock producers are downsizing herds because they are running low on feed.

At the 1.5 C mark, the report says we’ll see increasing heat waves, longer warm seasons and shorter cold seasons. But without immediate rapid and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions limiting warming to close to 1.5 C or 2 C will be beyond reach, the report warns.

“There are many ways we can do it in terms of our choices for transportation, choices in terms of how we heat and cool our homes,” Blair said.

He said buying locally and leaving the car at home when you can are a couple of small ways individuals can make a difference. But he said government policies to incentivize these changes are needed to make it easier for people to take the bus or ride a bike.