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July 17th marks the Climate Change Impacts Day for both Taiwan and Ukraine.
It takes only 198 days for the average Canadian to produce as much greenhouse gases as the average Taiwanese and Ukrainian will produce over the course of the entire year.
Canada's Climate Change Calendar marks when during 2010 the average Canadian citizen will have produced as much greenhouse gases as a citizen from another country will produce during the whole year. The website describes the impacts of climate change on more than 170 countries found on the Calendar.
Taiwan
According to the MacArthur Center for Security Studies, “The primary drivers of climate security risks in Taiwan are changes in mean temperature and precipitation, increasing climate variability, and sea-level rise and coastal change.” The Typhoon, Morakot, provided an example of what can be expected as rising temperatures “exacerbate the severity and number of extreme weather events.”
Ukraine
Ukrainians, particularly in rural communities, are being directly affected by climate change impacts. These impacts include warmer temperatures, storms, floods, droughts, heat waves, windstorms and forest fires. These extremes have a direct negative impact on local, especially rural population and their farming livelihoods.
Climate change impacts such as sea level rise have begun in Ukraine along the Black and Azov Seas. Observations indicate that the Black Sea has been rising since 1923, and that sea level rise will likely increase the probability of catastrophic floods on some rivers; salinization and bogging of pastures and washing out of beaches; and damage to infrastructure.
Read the Report: Canada’s Climate Change Calendar: Canada's contribution to climate change in global perspective'
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE