UPDATE: Regina 350 no longer exists, I no longer have any affilliation with 350. The same work continues in association with Mike Roselle's organization Climate Ground Zero. 

Regina 350 is the new Regina chapter of 350.org, an international NGO whose central purpose is to spread awareness of climate change, it’s causes, it’s effect and things that can be done to stop it.

Our first public event will be at the Saskatchewan Legislature starting at noon on September 21, as part of the People’s Climate March centered on the United Nations Climate Summit in New York.

Prior to that we will have an information table in the Ridell Center at the University Of Regina from 9-5 on September 9, 10 and 11.

The evidence on climate change strongly suggests that the increasing release of of greehouse gases, like carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere is increasing global temperatures, changing weather cycles by altering atmospheric and ocean circulation patterns, and these changes have led to drier conditions in much of Canada’s boreal forest, which is leading to a slow growth in the average number of forest fires, particularily in British Columbia but also here in Saskatchewan.

The effects include an increase in flooding in some regions and drought and drier, hotter weather in others, also lower temperatures but with shorter winters overall.

In Saskatchewan, with it’s climatic diversity, is experiencing these things different ways in different parts of the province.

While we’ve observed winters becoming shorter here, they are also getting colder. Temperatures reached record lows in 2014, Regina reaching -52 at one point.

In the southern parts of Canada we have wetter weather, but in the north it is becoming drier, leading to more forest fires and even tundra fires, which were unheard of only decades ago.

Saskatchewan has had 385 fires so far in 2014, with 34 currently active as of August 27, according to the Saskatchewan Ministry Of Environment’s Daily Wildfire Situation Map, which can be found here:

http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/firefiles/firestodate.pdf

It should be pointed out that this is within average, and lower than last year’s total. However, it has also been shown that the average has been steadily growing, particularily in the far north of the province.

The Saskatchewan Environment And Resource Management’s Historical maps show a gradual but continuous increase in forest fires in Saskatchewan, decade by decade since 1945. The map can be found on

http://gisweb1.serm.gov.sk.ca/publicweb/Map_Gallery/Fire/pdf/Historical_1945_2006.pdf

With some ‘slow’ years in between, exceptions like 2012 where there were fewer fires because of the wetter weather, and a few spikes like 1998 when there were over a thousand forest fires burning, the overall average has grown steadily, 2011 had 302 fires and 2013 had 412 fires.
(Contact info removed)