What Can be Done:

Every choice we make has an impact. Climate Change Fact Sheet

Reduce, Rethink, Redesign

Consume and Use Less Everything. Plant Trees. Increasing forest cover
Reduce your energy, plastic, is one of the most effective things we
water, and other resource use. can do to combat climate change.

For Municipalities: Complete a

Drive and Fly Less whenever possible.
Corporate Energy and Greenhouse
Gas Emissions Inventory.

Conserve Home Energy. Adjust your For Municipalities: Complete a Regional

thermostat for less use in every season, Community Energy Plan which includes:
and take advantage of home retrofit a) a greenhouse gas emission inventory Climate Change
programs to improve energy effeciency. b) energy and emission targets, and

Climate
c) an action plan. • 97% of scientists* agree the climate
is changing and we are the cause.

Use and Invest in renewable energy. Learn More Here: More than 82% of Canadians** are

Change
very concerned about the impacts of
Essex Region Conservation Authority a changing climate.
www.essexregionconservation.org • People in Windsor-Essex care about
climate change. The Windsor-Essex
Eat for a Climate-Stable Planet. Eat Windsor Climate Change Adaptation Plan: County Environment Committee
Ontario less meat, eat local, reduce food www.citywindsor.ca/residents/environment/Environ- unanimously approved a Climate In Windsor-Essex
waste, backyard compost. mental-Master-Plan/Documents Emergency Declaration for the
region, recognizing the threat climate “Climate change is here. It affects us now.”
Windsor Community Energy Plan: change poses to everyday life. - Dr. Diane Saxe, Former Env. Commissioner of Ontario
Prepare Your Family and home for a www.citywindsor.ca/residents/environment/cli-
• This is not a problem or situation
changing climate. mate-change-mitigation/community-energy-plan The Windsor Essex Climate Change Collaborative, a partnership
that requires attention for ‘future
generations’. It is happening right between ERCA, municipalities, the County of Essex, the
Climate Atlas of Canada
https://climateatlas.ca/ now and we all have the opportunity Windsor-Essex Health Unit, the University of Windsor, and
and responsibility to take action. others, was established to address regional issues and the
• The climate determines almost multitude of climate change vulnerabilities and risks facing
everything about how we design, different sectors. Additionally, the collaborative is building
build and live in our communities, on work from the City of Windsor to develop a county-wide
Contact Us /EssexRegionConservation and Ontario is warming faster than community energy plan will help advance regional priorities
Windsor-Essex Climate Change Collaborative the global average. Action must around energy conservation to achieve lower emissions.
360 Fairview Avenue West, Suite 311 @EssexRegionConservation be taken now to protect the safety,
prosperity and livability of our region. This fact sheet contains examples of how life has changed in
Essex, Ontario N8M 1Y6
@EssexRegionCA Windsor-Essex and what we can do to combat these effects.
P: 519-776-5209 x388
F: 519-776-8688
/TheEssexRegionCA
E: csanders@erca.org
* (American Association for the Advancement of Science Board Statement of Climate Change, 2014)
** (Abacus Data, 2019)
 Climate Change Realities
We are feeling the effects of climate change, right now.

Warmer Wetter Wilder

Threats to human health and safety. More days over 30 Infrastructure damage. Flooded shoreline homes Unpredictability. More wild, destructive,
degrees put our most vulnerable people (children, and risks to low lying areas. Significant erosion, ‘surprise’ storms and chaotic weather seasons,
seniors and New Canadians) at risk. Mental health road closures, overwhelmed sewer systems. coupled with the inability to predict extremes
impacts. Food-borne illnesses are likely to increase. from one year to the next.

Disrupted farm cycles and ecosystems. Overload. Infrastructure damage and stress
Invasive species and new diseases. Black-legged
Failed crop cycles, more expensive food, on municipal systems, such as breakwall
ticks, lyme disease, mosquito species that can
and threatened agriculture. Harmful algal breaches from surges that overrun
carry Zika; fungal and bacterial explosions.
blooms, toxic waters, and disrupted seasons. engineered limits.

Financial Strain. Local budgets are shifted to

Disappearing ways of life. Disappearance of skating Costs and Insurability. Flood events cost millions cover disaster relief and repair costs, which
ponds and backyard rinks. Kids kept indoors at to clean up each time. Some homes are no pulls money away from other vital needs.
recess. Increased harmful algal blooms impact longer insurable.
swimming and other water-based activities.
“While we might not see more storms, we’re seeing more
intense and unpredictable storms, and extreme weather
is costly. These effects can happen anywhere. Thinking ‘Its

50% 9,000 250 189

Decrease in average ice Reports of flooding Million in insured losses Days of Flood Watch in the never happened here before’ isn’t good enough anymore.”
cover on Lake Erie between in Windsor between from storms between Windsor-Essex region: from
1973 and 2010 - Richard Wyma, General Manager, ERCA
2016 and 2017 2016 and 2017 April 10 to October 15

HOT AND COLD DAYS PER YEAR FLOODING AND HIGH WATER EXTREME WEATHER EVENTS

80 Natural Disasters Per Year

Number of Extremely Cold Days (-15°C / 5°F) Yearly Precipitation: City of Windsor 8 Legend
Region: Ontario
Number of Extremely Hot Days (+32°C / 89.6°F)

Number of Extremely Hot Days (+32°C / 89.6°F)

280mm (11”) Historical Avg
Municipality: Windsor 7
Yearly Count
60
Legend 260mm (10.2”) 6

Number of Disasters
Extremely Cold Days Legend
5
Amount of Rainfall

Extremely Hot Days

Projected Winter
240mm (9.4”) 4
40 Spring
Summer 3
220mm (8.7”)
Fall 2
20
200mm (7.9”) Dashes = projected 1
0
0
180mm (7.1”)
1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 1990 2020 2050 2080
Year Source: Climate Atlas - https://climateatlas.ca/data/city/446/plus32_2030_85/line
Year Source: www.citywindsor.ca/residents/environment/Environmental-Master-Plan/Pages/ Year Source: Canadian Disaster Database, Public Safety Canada - Government of Canada