Impacts of Climate Change Felt Throughout the Country

(Ottawa) Canadians are speaking out about climate change and how it is impacting on their lives. Today?s Climate Action Tour stop in Waterloo Ontario marks the beginning of the second half of the cross Canada tour.
?We have been overwhelmed with the response from people coming out to the events and posting on our online forum,? said John Bennett, Executive Director, Climate Action Network/R?seau Action Climat Canada (CAN-RAC). ?Shorter winters, longer summers in Yellowknife, Pests are more abundant and bigger in Edmonton, over the last 20-30 years winters have less snow on Salt Spring Island, Lake Winnipeg – the water is warmer than before with changing water levels and more algae, 350% more precipitation in Kejimikujik Park, Nova Scotia than in regular years, fish have moved off shore due to temperature changes in Nova Scotia. These are only a few of the examples of what people are witnessing.?

This is the beginning of the second leg of the tour where we are finding what Canadians want in a Kyoto plan to address the climate crisis. ?Climate Action Tour 2006?, www.climatetour.ca, has presented a series of workshops across Canada from Halifax to Victoria for Canadians of all regions to design a climate action plan. The tour is part of the network?s plan to get Canada back on the Kyoto track and re-emerge as the global good guy Canadians expect it to be.
The tour will begin again in Waterloo Ontario today; and continues east with stops in St. John?s on October 17th and in Fredericton on October 18th.
?All across the country canadians are experiencing climate change and are calling on Stephen Harper not to cut and run from our international obligations under the Kyoto protocol. Canadians are prepared to do whatever it takes to avoid a climate catastrophe,? said John Bennett.
Each workshop included background information about climate change, Canada?s greenhouse gas emissions and existing climate change programs. Most of the time, however, was spent devoted to gathering input from individual Canadians. A summary of recommendations from the sessions will be presented to the Prime Minister later this month.
Some early impressions of what people are saying can be found on the tour website at: www.climatetour.ca. Each stop has posted notes from the workshop along with photos, video and audio of the event.
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For more information:
info@climateactionnetwork.ca