Condolences, Fort McMurray

How soon is too soon? Then again, maybe the real problem is that it's getting to be too late.

What's happening in For McMurray is a tragedy. It's inspiring to see Alberta working together, spontaneously, to assist, to encourage, and to empathize.

It would be crass to use this moment for any kind of political manoeuvring, or to push any kind of agenda. But at the same time, this suffering is exactly what makes it so important that we talk about why this happened, and how we can prevent it from happening again, even if this topic is unpopular with many Albertans.

There have always been fires, of course, but fire fighters have stated that this one is especially destructive because of soaring temperatures and dry conditions. Increased temperature and reduced moisture are what models of climate change predict for our province. Without climate change, this fire likely would have occurred anyway, but it wouldn't have been able to spread so quickly or inflict so much harm. Climate change doesn't cause fires, but it does increase the chances that they will be bigger and more devastating.

Of course, we've seen economic disaster in the oilsands region this year as well, thanks to plunging oil prices, so many Albertans are afraid that if the world turns away from fossil fuels, we'll lose many livelihoods. But solar panels and wind farms don't install themselves; there will be many jobs implementing these solutions. It's just as possible to create jobs with renewables as it is with fossil fuels. And how useful is it to create jobs with fossil fuels, when those fossil fuels then destroy everything that so many people worked to acquire?

I hope this doesn't come across as opportunistic or partisan. This is just a plea to see this tragedy as something more than a stroke of bad luck: this is our future if we don't do something to change it, and the solutions are not only good for us environmentally, they're good for us economically. We can't turn off the oil and the pipelines tomorrow, but tomorrow we *can* invest in developing more solar, wind, carbon capture, and nuclear solutions that don't destroy the lives we're working so hard to create.