Kingston has been experiencing warmer winter weather this season when compared to historical averages. These sunny days are credited to a combination of climate change and naturally occurring weather trends.
Rising temperatures and variable weather are becoming increasingly common due to global warming.
The addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is credited with increasing global temperatures which affect the overall climate. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide absorbs and traps the heat rising from the earth’s surface, reflecting it back down in all directions and increasing temperatures.
Current global levels of carbon dioxide are 420ppm. A new assessment revealed the last time CO2 was this high was 16 million years ago, when levels reached 480ppm. During this period, humans hadn’t yet evolved, and the living primates included apes larger than those currently in existence.
“It’s a two-step process. The carbon in the atmosphere creates global warming and global warming creates climate change,” said Steven Moore, a Queen’s commerce professor specializing in sustainability and environmental policy, in an interview with The Journal.
It’s important to note climate change describes drastic weather not only characterized by increased heat but also extreme cold.
“They’re things that occur naturally, but are amplified by the carbon in the atmosphere,” Moore said.
The current high temperatures we’re experiencing are due to a combination of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and the naturally occurring phenomenon termed El Niño.
El Niño is a warming of the eastern regions of the Pacific oceans, which raises sea temperatures and changes global weather patterns. La Niña, a similar weather phenomenon, causes colder temperatures due to a push of warm water towards Asia. These events oscillate between each other every two to seven years and they vary in duration from several months to several years.
Across the globe, climate change will result in extremely variable weather. For Kingston, that might include stronger winds than usual and possible ice storms. These can result in power outages due to the pressure on the power grid to generate electricity used to fuel heating and air conditioning systems.
In of reversing climate change, Moore says that even if emissions were to drop to zero tomorrow, our climate would continue to warm for at least a century.
Queen’s continues to fossil fuel investments which contribute to the growing carbon footprint. Student group Queen’s Backing Action on the Climate Crisis (QBACC) estimates Queen’s has approximately $32 million directly invested in fossil fuels through the University’s pooled endowment fund.
“Queen’s charges you a fortune for a piece of paper that’s supposed to guarantee you a positive future, and at the same time they are betting against your future,” Moore said.
In their 2023 Responsible Investing Annual Report, the University aims to reduce the carbon footprint of their investments by 25 per cent below the global market index by 2030.
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