Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / What the Wildfire Smoke in Your Sky Has to Do With the Ocean
Transcript
- 0:02I know this episode is not directly
- 0:04related to the ocean,
- 0:05although there is a connection to the
- 0:06ocean, which I'm going to talk about.
- 0:08Today we're going to be talking about the
- 0:09wildfires that are happening not only in
- 0:11Northwestern Ontario and Canada,
- 0:13where I live and how I was affected last
- 0:15week, but also fires across North America
- 0:19because there were plenty.
- 0:22And there's some blame that was going
- 0:23around for the Canadian fires, but there
- 0:26was also American fires.
- 0:27We're going to talk all about that. What
- 0:29the cause was, how do we do? How do we go
- 0:31about protecting them?
- 0:33How to like what the policy needs to be,
- 0:36budgets need to be, how countries can
- 0:38work together and what we can do in the
- 0:40future and how this is going to affect
- 0:42climate change in the future.
- 0:43We're going to talk all about that on
- 0:44today's episode of the How
- 0:45to Protect the Ocean podcast.
- 0:47This is where you get your ocean news
- 0:48every weekday, Monday to Friday.
- 0:51If you are interested in learning more
- 0:53about the ocean and more about what's
- 0:55happening to help cause the ocean to
- 0:57either help protect it or help make it
- 0:59worse, this is the podcast for you.
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- 1:43decisions around the ocean.
- 1:45Today we're going to be talking about
- 1:46something that is what feels like largely
- 1:48out of control for us.
- 1:51You know, we don't really have a huge
- 1:53direct cause, but we are affected by it,
- 1:56whether it's directly or indirectly.
- 1:58Last week, as I got back from my trip
- 2:00from Costa Rica, which was a lot of fun
- 2:02with my family, got to meet, got to see
- 2:04my daughter, not meet my daughter, got to
- 2:05see my daughter who's doing a great 12
- 2:07English class down there and experiential
- 2:09learning, which is very,
- 2:10very privileged to do so.
- 2:12And she's loving it. She comes back next
- 2:13week, but she doesn't want to come back.
- 2:15But regardless, she's going to be coming
- 2:17back and I can't wait to see her.
- 2:18But, you know, we, we came back and we
- 2:21had some great weather, you know, got out
- 2:22of the humidity of Costa Rica, came back
- 2:24to Toronto, Burlington, where I live.
- 2:27And we had some great weather. It wasn't
- 2:29humid. It was like a nice little breeze
- 2:32come through about 25
- 2:33degrees Celsius was quite nice.
- 2:35A little bit of humane, but not much. And
- 2:36then a couple of days later, we got the
- 2:38humidity, got hit dead
- 2:39smack with the humidity.
- 2:40And I remember at 830 in the morning, I
- 2:43came in from walking my dogs and I was
- 2:45like, Hey, you know, it's,
- 2:46it's, it's beautiful outside.
- 2:48I was even telling my mom was on the
- 2:49phone with me in the morning and I'm
- 2:50like, Hey, this is wonderful.
- 2:51Like, this is actually quite nice to be
- 2:52able to enjoy this type of weather. And
- 2:55then I come out, I let the dogs out like
- 2:58maybe a half hour
- 2:58later and I look around.
- 3:00I'm like, looks and smells and tastes a
- 3:02little smoky outside like a campfire. I'm like, that's interesting.
- 3:05So I let the dogs come back in. I go out
- 3:08the front, I take a picture and I'm like,
- 3:10huh, it's kind of
- 3:11grayish, a little hazy outside.
- 3:14And then four hours later, you know, we
- 3:16realize that I was probably a little bit
- 3:18of wildfires are coming down.
- 3:19We get them every once in a while, once
- 3:20the wind shifts. And then four hours
- 3:22later, just I live west of Toronto.
- 3:25All of a sudden, the sky was orange. It
- 3:28felt like like apocalyptic. You know, I
- 3:31in my office where I sit, I have a
- 3:33skylight and I look up at the skylight.
- 3:35And I said, Holy cow. Like it is orange.
- 3:37I can see the sun. Everything else is
- 3:39orange. It's cloudy. It's hazy. Wow.
- 3:41This is really interesting to see and
- 3:43obviously not really good. I look at the
- 3:46air quality index, the
- 3:47AQI, and we are at Toronto.
- 3:49It has the worst AQI in the world at that
- 3:53moment. That's disgusting. I've never
- 3:55seen that before. I'm sure it's happened
- 3:56before, but I've never seen that before.
- 3:58And so we were told to stay indoors. If
- 4:00you go outdoors, if you need to go
- 4:02outdoors, sunglasses, mask, you know,
- 4:04like all that kind of stuff, particles in
- 4:06the air, all that kind of stuff.
- 4:08And it happened for a couple of days.
- 4:09Didn't stay orange all that time, but it
- 4:11would go up and down and the air quality
- 4:13index would go up and down.
- 4:15Luckily today, it's Sunday. It is as I'm
- 4:18recording this for tomorrow's episode,
- 4:20Monday, if you're listening to this on
- 4:21Monday, all of a sudden, I'm like, wow,
- 4:23this is interesting to see.
- 4:24There is, uh, it's beautiful outside. The
- 4:28humidity is gone. You can see everything
- 4:30blue skies, no orange tinge, no campfire
- 4:34smell, no campfire taste.
- 4:35And I'm like, wow, this is kind of great.
- 4:36We got some rain the day before all the
- 4:39smoke is gone. However, when I go look at
- 4:42our wildfire map in Canada, I look over
- 4:45and there are actively about 900 forest
- 4:49fires, wildfires in Canada.
- 4:51And if you look at the map, uh, which I
- 4:54can't show on the audio podcast,
- 4:55obviously, but if you look at the map,
- 4:57you can see that, you know, it's
- 5:00basically follows the boreal forest. The
- 5:02boreal forest goes across Canada from the
- 5:04east all the way to the northwest.
- 5:05And you can see that these wildfires
- 5:07follow that. And of course, just
- 5:09depending on the shift of the winds of
- 5:10whether we get the smoke or not, the
- 5:12smoke went from all the way from northern
- 5:15northwest Ontario for us. And it went all
- 5:17the way down into the US like past
- 5:20Toronto into the US into like the eastern seaboard.
- 5:22Um, people obviously weren't happy.
- 5:25People in Toronto weren't happy. Uh,
- 5:27people down in the States weren't happy.
- 5:29There were a few senators who said that
- 5:32there should be sanctions against Toronto
- 5:34or against Canada for not handling their
- 5:37wildfires very well, which we'll talk
- 5:39about both of those things in a bit about
- 5:41how Ontario manages their wildfires as
- 5:44well as how, um, you know, the US or one
- 5:47of the put sanction on us.
- 5:48The US President Donald Trump said that
- 5:51he wants to put tariffs on Canada or he
- 5:53will be putting tariffs on Canada because
- 5:55of these forest fires, whether any of
- 5:57that's going to come to fruition. I don't
- 5:59know. Um, but you know, regardless, it
- 6:03just left a bad taste in our mouth. No
- 6:06pun intended here in Canada.
- 6:08Uh, but we're going to be talking about a
- 6:10bunch of these things, but this is what
- 6:11happened over the last week, you know,
- 6:13and it not when it goes away, a lot of
- 6:15the people around here, like around
- 6:17Toronto and I'm sure south of the border
- 6:18are like, oh, thank God, it went away.
- 6:20Like we're out of it now. It's kind of,
- 6:22it's kind of good. Unfortunately, with
- 6:23all these, uh, with
- 6:25all these fires burning.
- 6:28This, this is all affecting the people
- 6:30where people live, you know, Northwest
- 6:32and Ontario is a populated area, not
- 6:33highly populated, like Southern Ontario,
- 6:36where you have millions and millions and
- 6:37millions of people, but there are people
- 6:39out there. Unfortunately, our most
- 6:40vulnerable first nations and small towns
- 6:42that are in there had to be evacuated.
- 6:45They had to be moved.
- 6:47Um, they lost their homes. They lost
- 6:48everything. Memories, all that kind of
- 6:50stuff. Like just culture because they, we
- 6:52don't know when they're going to be able
- 6:53to go back and unfortunately this is
- 6:55happening more often than not.
- 6:57We use this. This is a three years and
- 6:59this is a second year as has happened and
- 7:02it's just devastating and unfortunately,
- 7:04uh, this isn't going to go away. You
- 7:07know, we don't know when these are going
- 7:08to hit. We don't know how intense they're
- 7:10going to hit, but it's, it's, it's here.
- 7:13The thing is, is like when we look at how
- 7:15our boreal forest, like our boreal forest
- 7:17across Canada is like, it's one of the
- 7:19planet's biggest carbon sinks, right? So
- 7:21when it burns, uh, the, that stored
- 7:23carbon gas or goes into the stored carbon
- 7:26goes into the atmosphere and roughly a
- 7:28quarter of all human caused CO2 emissions
- 7:31gets absorbed by the ocean.
- 7:34Right? So, so there's a connection to the
- 7:35ocean here. And so more of that
- 7:37atmosphere carbon eventually means more
- 7:40ocean acidification. And of course that,
- 7:42that, that period was just taken up too
- 7:44much. They can't absorb anymore is coming
- 7:46even closer and closer.
- 7:48Now fire retardant and ash will run off
- 7:50into drain and drain into watersheds in
- 7:53Northwest Ontario waterways feed into the
- 7:56Great Lakes, which eventually connect to
- 7:57the Atlantic via the Gulf of St.
- 7:59Lawrence. So we eventually get into the
- 8:01ocean. And of course it can go into the
- 8:03Hudson's Bay. It can go into the Arctic.
- 8:06It can go into the West Coast when you
- 8:07have fires out the West.
- 8:08So it goes into the Pacific. So it goes
- 8:10into all of the oceans eventually, uh,
- 8:13you know, that, that surround Canada as
- 8:15well as the US and other places that are
- 8:17experiencing wildfires. Um, and then of
- 8:20course the smoke and heat domes are a
- 8:22land ocean atmosphere system story,
- 8:24right? That's what really, we're coming
- 8:25up with the same heat that, that of dome
- 8:28that's pushing smoke into the US is part
- 8:30of a broader ocean
- 8:31driven climate pattern.
- 8:32And, and the thing is too, is like,
- 8:34what's interesting is that there's an El
- 8:36Nino around, right? Scientists have
- 8:38reported El Nino, which makes things
- 8:40drier. So the cause of this is, is like,
- 8:42look, it's, it's not as humid, which it
- 8:45normally is humid. So you get more water
- 8:46in the air, which makes it a little bit
- 8:49harder to have fires. Uh, and then of
- 8:52course it has, you know, it has, so with
- 8:55less moisture, moisture makes it drier.
- 8:57So fire is easy to spread. There might be
- 8:59increased winds, which is
- 9:00easy to spread with the wildfire.
- 9:01Now, most of, of the, um, of the fires
- 9:06were caused by lightning, right? And so,
- 9:09um, you know, as these, as lightning
- 9:11strikes and then you get drier
- 9:13conditions, you get fires, the wind blows
- 9:15and you get, you know,
- 9:17these, these massive wildfires.
- 9:18When I look at the map, there are a lot
- 9:21of wildfires that are out of control.
- 9:23Some are being monitored, some aren't
- 9:24being monitored, but the most of the map
- 9:27is, is peppered with wildfires that are
- 9:29out of control in Canada. Right? That's
- 9:32not good. There are some in the States as
- 9:34well. There are some in Colorado, there's
- 9:36some out west. Um, and the ones in
- 9:38Colorado, the, actually the, the, the,
- 9:40the smoke from the one in Colorado, the
- 9:42ones in Colorado are actually coming up
- 9:43into Canada, into southern Manitoba and southern Saskatchewan province.
- 9:46In Canada and affecting in Canada. So
- 9:50here's, here's the thing about this whole
- 9:53wildfire and smoke going across borders.
- 9:56Smoke doesn't see borders. Wildfires
- 9:58don't see borders. They see heat. They
- 10:00see dryness. And when you get a lightning
- 10:03strike, you get this massive expansion of
- 10:07fires. You get the fire started and then
- 10:09you get wind and you get this, these dry conditions.
- 10:10Just allow these wildfires to spread.
- 10:15Right? And, and to cause the damage that
- 10:17we're causing right now. Being in an El
- 10:20Nino year, it makes it worse. Being in a
- 10:22super El Nino, uh, you know, sort of
- 10:25time. It is makes it even, even worse.
- 10:28And that is something that, um, is not a
- 10:32good formula for what we're doing here.
- 10:35You know, for what we're trying to live
- 10:37in and live across. So I think that's, uh, a good way to do it.
- 10:39I think that's unfortunate. And I think
- 10:41that's, that's really, it's, it's really
- 10:43hard. There were over 900 forest fires,
- 10:47wildfires in Canada as
- 10:49of Friday, July 16th.
- 10:52That's devastating. That's, that's sorry.
- 10:5716th. That's really devastating. That is
- 10:59something, you know, nobody wants to see.
- 11:01Uh, and, and it's going to get worse.
- 11:03We're going to see, we're going to see
- 11:04more of these, these wildfires climate
- 11:06change, increased weather, like increased
- 11:09intensity of weather systems changing in,
- 11:13in weather patterns and climate patterns.
- 11:15We're going to see all this with climate
- 11:17change. It just exacerbates everything
- 11:19that we are looking at. And
- 11:21unfortunately, there are many families
- 11:23that have been affected by these
- 11:26wildfires up north as well as down south
- 11:28where these, where these winds are blown.
- 11:30And, but when the wind stopped blowing in
- 11:32the, in the direction where people are
- 11:33starting to notice, especially over like,
- 11:36uh, Queen's park, which is true. The
- 11:38capital, like in Toronto is the capital
- 11:40of Ontario where decisions are made
- 11:42policy decisions are made.
- 11:44You know, if those are gone, they're out
- 11:46of sight, out of mind. So people stop
- 11:48worrying. They're just happy that they
- 11:49can actually do some, some work. Um, so I
- 11:52think that's, that's
- 11:53a big, a big problem.
- 11:57Now there are some conspiracies that
- 11:58arson starts a lot of this. And I wanted,
- 12:01I want to just kind of tell people that a
- 12:03quarter or less than a quarter. So a 4%
- 12:06of cases in wildfires are arson related,
- 12:11meaning that they're done on purpose.
- 12:13There are some that are started because
- 12:14people are maybe some careless or
- 12:16careless or they start a fire when they
- 12:18shouldn't be starting a fire. And then
- 12:19the fire continues. Most of the fires, a
- 12:22majority of the fires are started by
- 12:24lightning strikes in Ontario.
- 12:27And so, you know, I think that's, that's
- 12:29a really big problem. In the bigger
- 12:31picture, when we look at it, scientists
- 12:32are attributing the underlying dry, hot
- 12:36conditions fueling these fires to human
- 12:39caused climate change. Right. So that's
- 12:41what we're looking at.
- 12:42Now the, when we're looking at the
- 12:45consequences of this, the consequences
- 12:48are really a lot of the
- 12:50times we're looking at.
- 13:03And so the consequences of this is that more than 1600 first nation residents
- 13:04have already been displaced by wildfires
- 13:06this season and the season is far from
- 13:09over. And so it's unfortunately, these
- 13:11are the places that are most vulnerable
- 13:12in 2025 alone 44,000 over 44,000 people
- 13:17from 61 on reserve first nations were
- 13:20displaced by wildfire giving useful year
- 13:24over year context. Right.
- 13:32And so if you think about what you keep
- 13:33in your home, let's, let's bring it down
- 13:35to a personal level. Like if my home ever
- 13:37got burnt down, knock on what I hope that
- 13:39never, never happens.
- 13:41Pictures, memories, keepsakes that we
- 13:44have in our homes are gone, you know, and
- 13:47of course the home's gone. Right. And if
- 13:49it takes out an entire neighborhood,
- 13:51takes out an entire area town, entire
- 13:53town, that's devastating to the town.
- 13:56And so it loses the culture, loses the
- 13:57ability to rebuild in those areas, right?
- 14:00There's a lot of, you know, once you lose
- 14:02your homes, there's a lot of cleanup,
- 14:03there's long displacement timelines. The
- 14:05rebuild costs are expensive.
- 14:08Ensure having to deal with insurance and
- 14:09things like that. It's really bad. And of
- 14:11course, when you have wildfires, you have
- 14:12forest loss, you have reduced carbon sink
- 14:14capacity because we lost those forests.
- 14:17And then of course, it also meaning less
- 14:18CO2 absorption. And when forests burn,
- 14:21they put it, they give methane back into
- 14:23the atmosphere, which is even worse to
- 14:25the greenhouse gas effect.
- 14:27So that's always bad. And of course, the
- 14:28El Nino intensity through fall and winter
- 14:30raises the odds of continued heat and
- 14:33dryness, feeding future fire risk and a
- 14:36feedback loop worth naming explicitly.
- 14:39And a fear we're going to take that out
- 14:40and a feedback loop that is really not a
- 14:43good thing that happens.
- 14:45Now let's talk about the politics. Let's
- 14:47talk initially about the international
- 14:49politics because that's making big news
- 14:51right now. We had Donald, President
- 14:53Donald Trump and a couple of senators
- 14:54saying that Donald Trump said we're going
- 14:56to put, he's going to put tariffs,
- 14:58increased tariffs on Canada for not
- 15:00handling their wildfire, I guess,
- 15:03readiness and preparedness or ability to
- 15:05control those wildfires.
- 15:06So he's going to put tariffs on them
- 15:07because they're affecting the US air
- 15:09quality. And then there are some senators
- 15:11in the US that's federal senators in the
- 15:13US that said, hey, let's put sanctions on
- 15:15Canada for not being able to
- 15:16control their forest fires.
- 15:18Of course, it's a ridiculous statement,
- 15:21in my opinion, even from a scientific
- 15:23opinion, it doesn't make sense. On the
- 15:26one hand, climate change is real. I know
- 15:29a lot of people in the US don't think
- 15:30about it in the government,
- 15:31but climate change is real.
- 15:33We're seeing these these cases where
- 15:35these wildfires are popping up left,
- 15:37right and center from lightning strikes
- 15:39from whatever the cause and they're
- 15:41getting out of hand and they're really
- 15:43difficult to control.
- 15:45So it's not as if they're not trying to
- 15:47put together stuff. We have lots of
- 15:49equipment. We have a lot of equipment
- 15:51that we lend the US when they need help,
- 15:54which leads me to my second point.
- 15:57Canada and US are allies. I know a lot of
- 15:59times in the news and some politicians
- 16:01are making it look like we are not
- 16:02allies. We are allies. And when the US
- 16:05has problems with wildfires or any kind
- 16:09of problems, we send our best equipment
- 16:11and our best people over there.
- 16:13In fact, unfortunately in Colorado, there
- 16:16was a Canadian firefighter who passed
- 16:18away trying to fight the fires in
- 16:20Colorado because Canada sent them there
- 16:22to help them out, right to help the US
- 16:25out. So the fact that and of course, I've
- 16:27mentioned earlier that the fires in
- 16:29Colorado, the smoke actually goes up to
- 16:31Canada because of the wind.
- 16:32And so we're all feeling the effects
- 16:34here. The big thing is is like when when
- 16:37these disasters come across, the big
- 16:40thing that we need to do is really stick
- 16:42together and help each other out. It's
- 16:44not a matter of who's to blame and what
- 16:46we need to do. We need
- 16:48to help each other out.
- 16:49You know, lend equipment, lend people and
- 16:52resources if we can, and then not vice
- 16:55versa. We help each other out because
- 16:56it's to be honest, we all benefit from
- 16:58helping each other out. Plus, it's a good
- 17:00thing to do with our allies and our
- 17:01neighbors. And that's what we
- 17:02that's what we do as Canadians.
- 17:03And I hope the US I know the US has done
- 17:05in the past. I hope they continue to do
- 17:07that in the future because we need to
- 17:08help each other out. It's just in Mexico
- 17:10as well in the Caribbean. We need to help
- 17:12each other out. We need to lend each
- 17:14other our resources and our people.
- 17:16That's what we do. We've always done that
- 17:18and we'll always continue to do that.
- 17:19Now, what's interesting from an Ontario
- 17:22perspective from what I've looked into is
- 17:25that the Ontario government spent 271
- 17:27million on emergency firefighting in 2025
- 17:30and 2026. But the budget but only
- 17:34budgeted 150 million for 2026 and 2027.
- 17:38So they actually reduced the baseline
- 17:40budget by quite a bit.
- 17:43And in 2024, Ontario budget 135 million
- 17:45but spent 171 million and 2025 the budget
- 17:49stayed the same while actually spending
- 17:51271 million. So there's obviously they're
- 17:54always going to spend more and the base
- 17:56budget is there to make sure that the
- 18:00people who are fighting fires and the
- 18:02firefighters as well as the forest
- 18:04managers have the means to prepare
- 18:07proactively prepare to
- 18:09manage these forest fires.
- 18:12So if they're not if they're just not
- 18:13there, they can't get specific equipment.
- 18:15They can't get specific resources. So
- 18:16when wildfires do come up, that money has
- 18:19to be given extra money has to be given
- 18:22lickily spit because the people aren't
- 18:24prepared. The divisions that need to go
- 18:26out and fight these fires and control
- 18:27these fires and help with the managing of
- 18:30the forest at that time in a reactionary
- 18:33mode, then there's increase in budget.
- 18:36And Doug Ford, who's the premier of
- 18:38Ontario for those in the US, it's like
- 18:40our governor for Ontario. They, you know,
- 18:43he said, he said, look, he's like, we
- 18:45always he goes, I always support our
- 18:47firefighters. He kind
- 18:48of took insult to it.
- 18:49And he said, look, the base budget was
- 18:51this, but we spent 271 million in 2025
- 18:53and 2026 to fight these fires. But again,
- 18:57it's version, it's reactionary versus
- 18:59proactiveness, right? It's better to be
- 19:01proactive and prepare for the worst
- 19:03because we're seeing
- 19:04the worst than it is.
- 19:05To just give money. Obviously, you're
- 19:08going to give emergency funding when it
- 19:09needed, but to make sure that these the
- 19:12people that need to fight these fires and
- 19:13can help control these fires have the
- 19:15equipment and the people and whatever
- 19:17else they need to help get out there as
- 19:19quickly as possible and even prevent like
- 19:21manage these a lot better. So yes, from
- 19:25the US saying we need to enter.
- 19:26And we have to make sure that we don't
- 19:37have to spend too much money on this all
- 19:39every year because we may not need it
- 19:41every year, but I'd rather be prepared
- 19:43and spent overspend
- 19:44than not prepared at all.
- 19:47So yes, I think it's a weird situation to
- 19:49be in, especially when you have neighbors
- 19:50who are trying to put sanctions and or
- 19:53tariffs on it. Now, will those go
- 19:54through? Probably not. I feel like it's
- 19:57just the US trying to help protect the US
- 20:01citizens. But
- 20:02unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
- 20:05I'd love for us to control these fires
- 20:07better, but with climate change, low
- 20:09budgeting for preparedness, it doesn't
- 20:11really make sense in a lot of ways. And I
- 20:13have a feeling that the US is in the very
- 20:16similar situation. So that's a really
- 20:19difficult thing to do.
- 20:20Now, I don't want to just kind of come
- 20:22here and be like, hey, you know what,
- 20:23like we need this is it. There's nothing
- 20:25you can really do. There is some stuff
- 20:27that you can do. So I want to talk a
- 20:31little bit about that. Right.
- 20:33So the first thing is, is your personal
- 20:34safety. Look and check your air quality.
- 20:38Right. So Environment Canada or air now,
- 20:41if you are spending extended time
- 20:42outdoors, especially with kids or older
- 20:44adults or with pets, things like that, or
- 20:47anyone with asthma or heart conditions,
- 20:48make sure you check the air quality, make
- 20:50sure it's safe for people to go out.
- 20:52There's always indexes, whether it's on a
- 20:53phone app or whether it's on the AQI
- 20:55website, you can go in and you can check
- 20:58that out and look at that.
- 21:00And if you're in or near a fire zone, you
- 21:02know, I want you to, I want you to look
- 21:04and make sure you understand and follow
- 21:06the evacuation orders immediately rather
- 21:09than waiting. Like several evacuees this
- 21:11season had to self evacuate because of
- 21:13this last minute. Some of these evacuees
- 21:16had to be airlifted out. Some went by
- 21:18boat, depending on where they live. So
- 21:20these, these fires, they travel quickly.
- 21:23So making sure that you have a 72 hour go
- 21:26bag ready when they
- 21:27tell you to have it ready.
- 21:54That's always a good precaution. And then
- 21:56when they tell you to get out, you get
- 21:58out as soon as possible.
- 21:59And then of course, like when it comes to
- 22:05government, you want to push for real
- 22:06accountability on wildlife budgets or
- 22:09wildfire budget. Sorry. Contact your
- 22:11provincial MPP if you're in Canada or
- 22:13your government representative, if you're
- 22:15somewhere else, if
- 22:16underfunding frustrates you.
- 22:18And this is a policy choice, of course,
- 22:19it's not just like an act of nature
- 22:20alone. So this is something that, you
- 22:22know, we can have policymakers step up to
- 22:25do. And I think that's really good.
- 22:26And of course, you know, looking at
- 22:28climate change in general, reducing your
- 22:29own carbon footprint is still one of the
- 22:31few levers individuals have like the
- 22:33control of on the underlying warming
- 22:37trends of driving both worse, like it
- 22:39drives both worse fire
- 22:40seasons and ocean acidification.
- 22:41So if you're looking to protect the
- 22:43ocean, you're also looking to protect
- 22:45people, reducing your footprint for
- 22:47climate change and making sure that you
- 22:50are pushing your elective members of
- 22:53government to do the same thing. I think
- 22:55that's, that's really important.
- 22:57But that's it for today's episode. I want
- 22:59to go over that. I know it's not directly
- 23:01related to the wildfire or to the ocean,
- 23:04but it is affecting oceans at some point
- 23:07in time. So I felt like it was important.
- 23:09It was in the news. It was big news. And I think that's important.
- 23:10It was big news. And I feel like it needs
- 23:12to be addressed. Look, the big message is
- 23:14we are all in this together to fight each
- 23:17other on who gets sanctioned or who needs
- 23:19terrorists because
- 23:20they can't manage things.
- 23:21We should be working together and finding
- 23:23out how to better manage our force.
- 23:24There's no doubt about that. But on both
- 23:26sides of the border, any side of the
- 23:28border, it's something that we're going
- 23:29to have to do. It's something that is
- 23:31changing all the time, especially when
- 23:33we're in El Nino situations
- 23:35or we're in climate change.
- 23:37And obviously we're in both. So that's
- 23:39something that's in this apparently it's
- 23:41could be like a super El Nino and some of
- 23:43the worst ever. So it's going to happen
- 23:45again next year. If we continue with
- 23:46these dry conditions and we're going to
- 23:48need to be prepared, better prepared this
- 23:50year than we were or next year than we
- 23:52were last year. And of course the year
- 23:54before. So that's what I have to say. I
- 23:57would love to hear if you have any
- 23:58questions or comments. Let me
- 24:00know in the in the show notes.
- 24:04Let me know if you want to get a hold of
- 24:06me. You can DM me on Instagram or on
- 24:08talk. And of course, if you want to learn
- 24:10more about the ocean, you go to speak up
- 24:12for blue dot com and and if you want to
- 24:15support me and go to speak up for blue
- 24:17dot com forward slash patreon. I want to
- 24:19thank you so much for joining me on
- 24:21today's episode of the how to protect the
- 24:23ocean podcast. I'm your host, Andrew
- 24:24Lewin. Have a great day. We'll talk to
- 24:26you next time and happy conservation.