Dear Editor,
We are back from a month-long road trip to the west coast. This was our sixth road trip to the west coast. For those elected officials and the general public who are still in various stages of denial - climate change is real and is continuing to happen.
We travelled on less-travelled roads in BC’s southern interior and saw what had happened to the land due to wildfires and floods. You only have to drive through the Okanagan area to see hundreds of hectares of black trees. The town of Lytton was literally demolished by fire three years ago and any person or business there is living/operating in mobile structures. The core of the town is bare and lifeless... nothingness.
The road from Spences Bridge to Merritt had to be completely rebuilt because the Nicola River changed its course due to the atmospheric rain event and washed out the original road. The potential for mudslides and rockslides is ever-present in the area of Lillooet and south of Kelowna.
The scenery remains spectacular in many areas, but there are other areas that are very unstable and unpredictable.
Climate change has also affected the vineyards in the Okanagan. Many vines were destroyed in January of this year due to an unprecedented cold snap of minus 20 degrees Celsius that lasted for days, forcing farmers to remove hundreds of vines that were reduced to black stubs in the ground. Wildfires have also affected the grape harvest in some areas, causing wines to be tainted with smoke. We were told that many wineries are up for sale.
Somehow the message has to hit the broader segment of the population that climate change is REAL.
Mary Shier
Limehouse
