Learning the Signals/Change is Coming considers strategies for anticipating the weather. Part of the larger series FORECAST, which considers the entanglement between environmental, social, political, and economic challenges facing the current moment, this participatory work looks more directly to the weather itself as a tool to help sense and predict the trajectory we are heading toward.
As part of DesignTO, participants are invited to share their readings of the weather via an online survey until February 4, 2023. With the collective goal of trying to gain a better sense of place, together we will consider how the region smells, tastes, and generally seems this winter in an attempt to speculate about what to expect across future seasons. From these shared observations, along with research into known strategies for anticipating shifts in the weather, a sort of (human) algorithm will be developed in an attempt to forecast future weather.
Get comfy, the survey will take about 20 minutes to complete. To participate, please read through the considerations below (step one), then click ‘participate’ to take part in the survey (step two – near the bottom of the page).
Step one (considerations):
“Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, a landmark government report has found, warning that drastic action is the only way to avoid catastrophic outcomes.”
“Out of 85 major cities around the world, Toronto is projected to experience the fourth largest climate shift by 2050 if nothing is done to curb global carbon emissions.”
Toronto’s average temperature is expected to rise 3C from the baseline temperature between 1970 to 2000.
Toronto’s weather is expected to get hotter, wetter and wilder as climate risks are increasing.
“We’ve been seeing in the last few summers, a lot of really, really heavy downpours that cause flooding, […] That’s consistent with what we expect to see with a warming because as the atmosphere warms up, it can hold more water vapour.”
Toronto is designed for a climate that doesn’t exist anymore, experts say, and they warn the city has to come up with a better plan to cope with the smoggier, hotter, soggier and stormier weather that’s plaguing it right now.
Toronto’s climate in 2080 is projected to be akin to the climate of present-day Secaucus, New Jersey, which has summers that are on average 2.9 degrees Celsius warmer and 35.1 per cent wetter than Toronto’s.
High humidity precedes a storm.
According to a report by the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, the costs of weather-related disasters, such as floods, storms, and wildfires, have risen in Canada from an average of $8.3 million per event in the 1970s to $112 million per event from 2010 to 2019 – an increase of 1,250%.
Prediction for the coming summer:
hotter and wetter weather,
with more frequent storms.
Climate change is not equally distributed. A report from the Government of Canada notes that Indigenous communities, people with pre-existing health conditions, the elderly, children, and the poor will be impacted negatively from the health effects related to climate change when compared to others.
Step two (observations):
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thanks for your interest!
the survey is no longer taking responses.
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NOTES:
Canada warming at twice the global rate, climate report finds – The Guardian
Toronto Among World’s Top Cities To Feel Climate Change The Hardest – Huff Post
Basement Apartments May Become ‘Less Livable’ In The 6ix Due To Climate Change, Expert Says – Narcity
By 2080, the climate in these Canadian cities will look nothing like it does today – CBC News
City Council declares climate emergency and commits to accelerating action to address climate change – Toronto Star
About the Climate Crisis – City of Toronto
Overview of Climate Change in Canada (2015) – Government of Canada