Like many Londoners yesterday, I watched with increasing concern as a wall of smoke from northern Ontario wildfires descended on our city. As a result, many outdoor events and activities scheduled for today (and into Friday) have been, or will be canceled. Environment Canada has issued an Orange Alert for air quality, which strongly recommends that everyone remain indoors, especially those who are at additional risk of poor air quality (children, seniors, people with existing health conditions).
We have seen this before (we had a similar occurrence in the summer of 2023) but what is exacerbating the situation this time is the extreme heat dome that was already posing risks to health and well-being.
People are worried and they are looking to their elected officials to do something. I, for one, am not willing to accept this as the “new normal.” The cost of extreme weather, poor air quality, and stifling heat waves (not to mention flooding), is already too high: increased emergency and doctor room visits, children sitting in front of screens instead of outside playing sports and enjoying the summer, loss of business revenue across multiple sectors, losses in agricultural production, slow downs across construction, industrial production – the list goes on. We also know that vulnerable populations, especially the unhoused, are disproportionately impacted by this new reality.
So what do we do about it? Well, we already have a plan. It is called the City of London’s Climate Emergency Action Plan and it is filled with recommendations (over 200 actions) to both address the causes of the problem, and better prepare for and meet the challenges that are (literally) at our door.
What I like about this plan is that it ranges from big to small, from individual actions to larger policy changes, from planting a tree in your yard, to city-wide emissions targets and public transportation goals. A recent internal audit of the plan, however, found that while the plan had achievable goals and had made some progress, it has been underfunded and underprioritized. Simply put, the plan has been sitting on a shelf. It needs champions on council to bring it off the page and put it into action.
The next council will also have an opportunity to support climate emergency preparedness. I intend to make sure that it is both robust and pragmatic. We need better plans in place to respond to rising temperatures and emergency situations. One important job of the government is to protect people and families, to protect food production, to protect air and water quality, to protect ecosystems and investments. This will be a priority for me.
Listen, I share your worry. It is hard not to think about what these days portend for our children, for our grandchildren, for the health of our forest city. But doom is paralysis, hope is action. We have the tools in front of us to meet the challenges of climate instability while building a more liveable, prosperous, and dynamic city. That’s what I’ll be fighting for.