Lifelong Learning – We Can’t Afford To Wait: Why Canmore’s Climate Emergency Declaration Matters

We Can’t Afford To Wait:  Why Canmore’s Climate Emergency Declaration Matters

Presented by Robert Sandford

Date: Monday, March 9

Location: Creekside Hall, Canmore Srs. Centre

Time: 2:00 pm

This presentation, offered by one of the country’s most respected experts on the link between water and climate, will be completely different from the one offered at St. Michael’s on January 4th.

In this address Bob Sandford, Global Water Futures Chair in Water & Climate Security at the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment & Health, will explain in simple, understandable but urgent terms how changes in the composition of our Earth has led to accelerating warming of the global climate and what that means.  He will then explain how failure to address rapid warming at its early stages led the UN to declare a planetary emergency.  The address will then focus on the effects we are already witnessing in the Bow Valley with respect to changes in the extent of snow pack and snow cover; the loss of glacial ice; increasing storm intensity; greater potential for flooding; and a higher wildfire risk associated not just with warming but with unwise forest management practices over the past 150 years.

The presentation will conclude with recommendations for what residents of Canmore can do to protect themselves and their property in the face of a changing climate and what we can all do to help the rest of the world through a just transition to a more secure, peaceful and sustainable future.

Coffee is available and discussion encouraged.  Donations are welcomed.