This is our wake-up call, climate change is now in our backyard, but we continue to fiddle while Rome burns, Wayne Poole writes.

This article was written by Wayne Poole and was published in the Hamilton Spectator on June 21, 2023.

Most countries, regardless of their political ideologies, have market economies, built on continuous growth and increasing consumption. We’re doing all of these things with the Earth’s resources, resources that we rely on to provide the necessities of life. Our landfills, trash incinerators and plastic clogged waterways are a testament to our wastefulness. As we consume we drive up greenhouse gas levels which trap more heat and raise the Earth’s temperature, disrupting weather systems and creating weather extremes resulting in destructive floods, droughts and deadly wildfires that are becoming more widespread, intense and persistent.

Wildfires rage across the country, winds carrying the hazardous smoke thousands of kilometres, a reminder of our vulnerability. We can see, smell, almost taste it. This is our wake-up call, climate change is now in our backyard, but we continue to fiddle while Rome burns.