envionrlment disasters

Global warming will wreak havoc on Canadas infrastructure unless governments and individuals start adapting now. 60 per cent of our infrastructure is more than 40 years old. It wasn’t built for today’s weather or for tomorrow’s weather. Climate change is adding to the challenge. Canada is facing a $400-billion deficit in infrastructure – its physical foundation of public buildings, roads, bridges, sewers, electricity grids, water purification plants and other critical installations. Canadian cities are increasingly vulnerable to a wide range of climate disasters. High-rise buildings are particularly at risk, since winds are stronger at higher elevations and heat more intense. By some calculations, a wind increase of just 25 per cent causes a 600-per-cent increase in the cost of damage. The University of Western Ontario, for example, recently decided to move the projected site of a new school of business administration; although the site is not currently on a flood plain, planners say it will fall to within the expanded flood plain footprint during the next 40 years, because of global warming. Something needs to be done in preparation for global warming extremes.