Regardless of all other factors, higher global temperatures alone will cause an increase in the price of food in the range of 0.9% to 3.2% per year, a price that will add between 0.3% and 1.2% per annum to inflation, according to a study by Maximilian Kotz from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, done in collaboration with the European Central Bank (“Food Is Costing More Due to Climate Change—Prices Will Keep Rising”, New Scientist, March 30, 2024).
Continue reading The Quadra Project: Hot Food PricesTag Archives: Atmospheric River
Sunshine Coast Weathers Atmospheric Rivers
Editor’s note: Cortes Island tends to be a bit drier than the Sunshine Coast. Data from the Cortes Island School weather station shows that 62.4 mm fell between January 26 and February 1. That is 8.5 mm less than what the following article states fell in Sechelt.
According to the Snow Conditions Commentary, on the BC Government website, “Beginning on January 26th, a series of storms impacted the province, primarily impacting Vancouver Island and the South Coast. Many of the storms were classified as atmospheric rivers sourced from tropical regions. The result was very heavy rainfall through much of the coast with temperatures at or near record high temperatures during the period of January 26 to February 1st.”
The closure of Dakota Ridge, due to a unseasonably low snowpack, is troubling. This is not an isolated incident and may lead to low streamflow during the summer. Mount Cain is closed until further notice. A post on their website states, ‘We do not have enough snow to safely operate. We need a big dump to get back up and running, like 50cm at least.” The slopes at Mount Washington have been closed ‘for the last couple of days’ but are scheduled to reopen today.
By Jordan Copp, Coast Reporter, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A series of atmospheric rivers had heavy rain and wind battering B.C.’s South Coast region this week.
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The Quadra Project: The War Years
The 20th century did not begin well. After the warm-ups of the Crimean and Boer Wars, Europe stumbled into World War I in 1914, a fatal combination of hubris and stupidity that killed about 17 million people. The trauma inspired an unflinching examination of the dark recesses of the human psyche in an effort to understand what happened. Dada, the mindless artistic expression of absurdity, was not a satisfactory answer. The philosophical loneliness of existentialism was arguably a nihilistic consequence of the monumental blunder of the First World War—a loss of any remnant of idealism and collective human wisdom.
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Quadra Project: Critique of Mosaic’s 2022 Forest Stewardship Plan (P 1)
Originally published on the Discovery Islander
Mosaic’s 2022 Forest Stewardship Plan (FSP) for TimberWest is a legal document describing in general terms how the forests of Tree Farm Licence 47 on Quadra Island will be treated during the next five years. Except for changed dates and a few bureaucratic adjustments, it is ostensibly identical to its 2017 predecessor, an indication that Mosaic’s management objectives have been unaltered by the climate crisis that is now occupying the attention of every thoughtful and informed human being on our planet. Their corporate activity is unchanged, as if they were somehow exempt from any responsibility for “heat domes”, “atmospheric rivers” and the other extraordinary weather anomalies that have and will continue to plague us.
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Quadra Project: Sierra Quadra’s open letter to Mosaic Forest Management Corporation
Originally published on the Discovery Islander
Mosaic Forest Management Corporation is responsible for forestry operations on TimberWest’s Tree Farm Licence 47 on Quadra Island. The letter below was written by Sierra Quadra to Mosaic on October 14, 2021, after the extraordinary “heat dome” of June-July, but before the unusually cold weather of December, and before the “atmospheric rivers” that deluged southwestern BC with record rainfalls, flooding the Fraser Valley and washing out Greater Vancouver’s crucial road and rail links.
Continue reading Quadra Project: Sierra Quadra’s open letter to Mosaic Forest Management Corporation