B.C. climate news: B.C. ministers urge residents to have go-bags, insurance before floods and wildfires

B.C. climate news: B.C. ministers urge residents to have go-bags, insurance before floods and wildfires


In climate news this week:
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• B.C. ministers urge residents to have go-bags, insurance before floods and wildfires
• Amendment to Peru law raises fears of Amazon rainforest destruction
• Trump officials weigh Earth Day move against green groups
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Human activities like burning fossil fuels and farming livestock are the main drivers of climate change, according to the UN’s intergovernmental panel on climate change. This causes heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, increasing the planet’s surface temperature.

The panel, which is made up of scientists from around the world, has warned for decades that wildfires and severe weather, such as B.C.’s deadly heat dome and catastrophic flooding in 2021, would become more frequent and intense because of the climate emergency. It has issued a code red for humanity and warns the window to limit warming to 1.5 C above pre-industrial times is closing.
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According to NASA climate scientists, human activities have raised the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide content by 50 per cent in less than 200 years, and “there is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate.”
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And it continues to rise. As of April 14, 2025, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen to 428.15 parts per million, up from 427.09 ppm last month and 426.65 ppm in February, according to NOAA data measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory, a global atmosphere monitoring lab in Hawaii. The NOAA notes there has been a steady rise in CO2, from less than 320 ppm in 1960 to over 421 ppm one year ago.
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Source: NASA/NOAA
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Climate change quick facts:
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• The Earth is now about 1.3 C warmer than it was in the 1800s.
• 2024 was hottest year on record globally, beating the record in 2023.
• The global average temperature in 2023 reached 1.48 C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2024, it breached the 1.5 C threshold at 1.55 C.
• The past 10 years (2015-2024) are the 10 warmest on record.
• Human activities have raised atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by nearly 49 per cent above pre-industrial levels starting in 1850.
• The world is not on track to meet the Paris Agreement target to keep global temperature from exceeding 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, the upper limit to avoid the worst fallout from climate change including sea level rise, and more intense drought, heat waves and wildfires.
• On the current path of carbon dioxide emissions, the temperature could increase by as much 3.6 C this century, according to the IPCC.
• In April, 2022 greenhouse gas concentrations reached record new highs and show no sign of slowing.
• Emissions must drop 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 to keep temperatures from exceeding 1.5 C and 2.7 per cent per year to stay below 2 C.
• There is global scientific consensus that the climate is warming and that humans are the cause.


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(Source: United Nations IPCC, World Meteorological Organization, UNEP, NASA, climatedata.ca)
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Latest News
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B.C. ministers urge residents to have go-bags, insurance before floods and wildfires
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The B.C. government says residents should start preparing for wildfire and flood season with go-bags and insurance, as emergency response officials watch the snowpack and drought levels.
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The coming spring runoff and the prospect of extreme heat or rain events could lead to flooding in some regions, though officials say the snowpack is lower than average and there is “potential for prolonged drought this year.”
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The B.C. Wildfire Service says the province could see an “active spring wildfire season” due to drought conditions, and warns of higher fire risk unless there’s “significant and sustained” rainfall in the near future.’
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Forests Minister Ravi Parmar says the severity of the upcoming wildfire season is unknown, and B.C. residents should “do their part to help protect their homes and communities.”
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Parmar says the wildfires in California earlier this year were a “stark reminder” of their destructive powers, and this year’s fire season in B.C. will likely be affected by ongoing drought conditions.
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Read the full story here.
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—The Canadian Press
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Amendment to Peru law raises fears of Amazon rainforest destruction
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A recent amendment to Peru’s Forestry and Wildlife Law is drawing fierce backlash from environmental and Indigenous groups that warn it could accelerate deforestation in the Amazon rainforest under the guise of economic development.
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The amendment eliminates the requirement that landowners or companies get state authorization before converting forested land to other uses. Critics say the change could legitimize years of illegal deforestation.
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“To us, this is gravely concerning,” said Alvaro Masquez Salvador, a lawyer with the Indigenous Peoples program at Peru’s Legal Defense Institute.
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Masquez added that the reform sets a troubling precedent by “effectively privatizing” land that Peru’s constitution defines as national patrimony. “Forests are not private property — they belong to the nation,” he said.
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Supporters of the amendment, enacted in March, say it will stabilize Peru’s agricultural sector and provide farmers with greater legal certainty.
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Read the full story here.
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—The Associated Press
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Earth Day is April 21. Photo credit E. Minter jpg
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Trump officials weigh Earth Day move against green groups
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White House officials are preparing executive orders that would strip some environmental non-profits of their tax-exempt status, setting up a possible Earth Day strike against organizations seen as standing in the way of President Donald Trump’s push for more domestic oil, gas and coal production.
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The effort, described by people familiar with the matter, comes alongside other administration moves to use the U.S. tax code or government funding to single out groups that oppose the president’s agenda. It also follows years of scrutiny by congressional Republicans who have accused prominent green groups and other advocacy organizations of having ties to foreign governments and drawing funding from China.




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Even broader steps have been contemplated, including possible investigations of environmental non-profits’ activities and changes that could stifle funding for non-U.S. organizations treated as charities, said the people, who asked not to be named because deliberations are private. The efforts could also have wider reach, extending beyond environmental groups to non-profits that work on other issues as well as philanthropic organizations and foundations.
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Trump has already called for Harvard University to lose its exempt status and suggested the Internal Revenue Service should tax it as a “political entity” after the school rejected the administration’s demand for changes.
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Read the full story here.
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—Bloomberg
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Left to right: Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet. Photo by Postmedia
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Mark Carney takes shots from left, right and Bloc during English debate
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Liberal Leader Mark Carney took shots from the left, right and the Bloc Québécois during an often heated, sometimes droll English-language debate Thursday.
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The two-hour event in Montreal was a much more spirited affair between Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh than the previous evening’s French-language debate.
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As the current leader in the polls with just over a week from voting day, Carney was unsurprisingly the main target of the debate that covered the topics of affordability and the cost of living, energy and climate, leading in a crisis, public safety and security as well as tariffs and threats to Canada.
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Pipelines and energy development were a key question of the debate, similar to the French one.
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Poilievre accused the Liberal government of putting up innumerable regulatory roadblocks that prevented pipelines from being built. Then, Singh blamed the Liberals for building the Trans Mountain pipeline and undermining their own green policies.
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Read the full story here.
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— Christopher Nardi
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Proposed rule change on endangered species triggers alarm for environmentalists
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The Trump administration plans to eliminate habitat protections for endangered and threatened species in a move environmentalists say would lead to the extinction of critically endangered species because of logging, mining and development.
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At issue is a long-standing definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act, which has included altering or destroying the places those species live. Habitat destruction is the biggest cause of extinction, said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service said in a proposed rule issued Wednesday that habitat modification should not be considered harm because it is not the same as intentionally targeting a species, called “take.” Environmentalists argue that the definition of “take,” though, has always included actions that harm species, and the definition of “harm” has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.



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The proposed rule “cuts the heart out of the Endangered Species Act,” Greenwald said.
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Read the full story here.
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—The Associated Press
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China dominates solar. Trump tariffs target China. For U.S. solar industry, that means higher costs
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Mike Summers was eager to install solar at his home in Ohio for years. After he finally replaced his aging roof this year, his solar contractor swung into action. His system — including 19 panels and a battery backup — went up this week, and Summers considers himself lucky.
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“I’m glad to have done it when I did,” said Summers, a former mayor in his city of Lakewood just west of Cleveland. He’ll get about US$10,000 in tax credits on his $39,000 investment, but nearly as important is that all the equipment was readily available.
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Other hopeful solar buyers may have a much harder time in coming months. Trump’s escalating trade war with China threatens to crimp a massive source of solar panels and parts, with experts saying the cost of projects will certainly rise as China retaliates.