The effects of climate change—which not long ago was looked upon as little more than an abstract concept lingering in the distant future—are now an inescapable reality. The future is here, and Canada, because of its northerly geographic location, is expected to experience more than its share of the fallout from increased warming.
Environmental science has shown that as atmospheres are warming, polar and mountain ice is melting, deserts are expanding, and seas are warming are rising. Many species of plant and animal have become endangered, while others are expanding their habitat northward into areas previously foreign to their existence.
Canada can expect climate change to bring about an unprecedented warming of 0.2 degrees Celsius per decade, according to some scientists. Although this may not seem like much to worry about, some experts believe that very profound changes will result from this steady rise in temperature.
But armadillos in British Columbia? Dengue fever in Ontario? Grizzly and Polar bears rubbing noses in the Northwest Territories? With climate change it all seems possible, as species struggle to survive and adapt, and warmer temperatures enable tropical diseases, animals and insects to migrate.
Proof that grizzly bears have been moving north from their traditional habitat became evident this spring when a bear shot by a hunter was found to be a cross between a grizzly and a polar bear. Dubbed a 'pizzly' by some, the bear was white but had some of the same markings as a grizzly bear. This is the first evidence of a grizzly and a polar bear having mated in the wild.
Jacinthe Lacroix, Science Advisor for Climate Change with Environment Canada, says the ticks that carry Lyme disease have recently been able to establish a population large enough to reproduce themselves in Longpoint, Ontario. In the past, they disappeared each winter and returned again in the summer. Now it appears they're here to stay.
Lacroix says the red fox is moving north and pushing the arctic fox out of its habitat, and while salmon are down by 50 percent in B.C.'s Fraser River, they've recently been seen for the first time in the Mackenzie River in NWT.
Another clear sign of global warming in Canada has been the devastating spread of the mountain pine beetle, which so far has affected a massive 8.7 million hectares and is threatening the livelihood of 30 communities in British Columbia's interior. The cold snap that would have killed off the beetle larvae didn't materialize. Instead, Canada experienced 12 consecutive warmest winters on record.
It is expected that the voracious beetle will now begin to move across the Rockies into the vast Northern Boreal Forest, an area 12 times the size of California, which, along with the Amazon and the Russian taiga, is one of only three intact forest landscapes left in the world. In all, Canada's forests make up 10 percent of the world's forest cover.
Allan Carroll, Research Scientist with the Pacific Forestry Centre says the mountain pine beetle isn't the only concern, as the warming trend has enabled the spruce beetle, a close cousin of the pine beetle, to spread throughout forests in Northern B.C., the Yukon and Alaska. He estimates that 80 percent of the mature pine in B.C. will be lost in the next 10 years.
"The impact of a changing climate has manifested in that it actually causes them [the spruce beetle] to breed quicker, reproduce faster, and thereby has much more propensity for an outbreak and for damage in the forest," says Carroll.
West Nile virus, which spread from the Equator and never existed in North America until seven years ago, has killed more than 800 people in Canada and the U.S. and infected about 21,000. A polar bear at the Toronto Zoo, which was put down in September after being bitten by a mosquito carrying the disease, is the most recent victim of the virus in Canada.
The Canadian government attributes the spread of West Nile virus to climate change, and warned last year that malaria, dengue fever and yellow fever may appear in Canada.
In the U.S., armadillos have been moving west and northward from southern Texas since the turn of the century, in part because of an increase in farmlands and backyards which provide ideal foraging conditions for the mammals. Some have been spotted as far north as Nebraska. It is thought that global warming will enable armadillos, also known as Texas speed lumps, to expand their range into B.C.
The checkerspot butterfly is disappearing from the southern U.S. and making it's home on Canada's west coast, beavers have been seen as far north as Labrador and Nunavut, and the Virginia opossum has shown up in Georgian Bay in Ontario. Last year for the first time, some hummingbirds remained in Victoria for the winter rather than fly south as they usually do.
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