By Natalia Ros
The nature has always had its freak moments: from earthquakes, to floods, to tsunami, to droughts, we have seen our planet experience it all. Extreme weather and environmental conditions have always been and will always be… with a little “but”, however.
Toronto Environmental Alliance director Franz Hartmann pointed out the storm delivered just over two-thirds the amount of rainfall expected to be more typical by 2040 according to climate change models.
The science has built an unappealing climate change model that predicts that in some 27 years, by the time we are in 2040, we will have moved up by about 3C degrees world-wide. A slight change in temperatures of only 3C degrees will mean melting of the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic permafrost, both of which are already thinning. What can this mean for our planet?
Scientists around the world are very concerned about the gradual melting of the Arctic permafrost and the Greenland’s ice, and they got a good reason for this. Melting these ice caps will accelerate global warming even farther and will provoke unpredictable climatic effects. You see, there are several outcomes to this:
- If the Arctic ice melts and the Arctic gets dried out, the carbon trapped in the ice will be released into our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide gas (CO2).
- If the Arctic ice melts and the Arctic gets wetter, then the trapped carbon will be released in the form of methane gas into our atmosphere.
How do these two outcomes compare?
Well, the danger of methane molecules is much greater than that of the carbon dioxide molecules. “If 1% of the carbon released on a short-time scale were methane, we would have the same greenhouse impact as if the 99% released is carbon dioxide, according to the NASA.” (source: http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/2013/06/13/permafrost-warming-in-the-arctic-worries-nasa-scientists/).
And why does it matter so much that the greenhouse effect will be so powerful? Well, because “greenhouse effect” is the term used to explain the phenomena of the thinning upper layers of our atmosphere, which lets more f the sun’s warmth (or, more accurately, heat, or even radiation) into the lower levels of atmosphere where they become trapped and have all kinds of negative effects: from skin cancer, to dead crops, to shallow lakes, to increased levels of radiation, to … you can continue here with anything that you can imagine!
Well, back on the subject, and just to put things into perspective, the Toronto freak storm of July 8, 2013 had only about 63% of the amount of water dropped onto the city of what’s expected to be the norm by 2040. Farther, it has been said that while storms like this were a normal occurrence every 100 years or so up until now, from now on they may become a yearly reality.
Are we well prepared?
Let’s think for a bit:
- Toronto’s downtown is covered with concrete and asphalt causing the water flow into the sewage wells which, in cases of heavy rain become over-filled and spew the water out like gazers. Is this telling us that we are well prepared? Likely not.
- Toronto’s hydro system becomes affected almost every time we have a major storm and thousands of people live without electricity for days after that while the hydro employees try to figure out where the problem originates and how to fix it. Is this telling us that we are well prepared? Likely not.
Knowing the weaknesses of our city’s infrastructure and not doing much about it, it feels like we are sitting on the time bomb. While these storms are occurring less frequently than they potentially could in the future, perhaps the city needs to proactively pursue infrastructure upgrades starting with some smaller, easier achievable improvements? Why not, for example, reduce the amount of concrete and asphalt in the downtown core and to create more storm retention ponds in the downtown core to allow the water seep through the ground and alleviate the load on sewage system.
Can you think of any other ideas that Toronto could do to become better prepared for freak storms and other natural disasters in the future? Please share in comments.
Earth Make-Over 