"In the first week of Cop30, I spoke with Konrad Beston, a stormwater supervisor in south-western Canada, who is attending the talks for the first time. His field is being reshaped by global warming. My job involves replacing infrastructure that is undersized and cannot handle the current conditions of climate change, he told me. And it involves protecting the wildlife affected by the changes, protecting the salmon which is something that's so important to me."
"Heavy rainstorms are becoming more severe and frequent in south-western Canada, he said. Then there are atmospheric river events, or long, narrow bands of vapour that pick up water from the ocean and dump it as rain. It's pretty much a river falling from the sky, said Beston, who is a member of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and works in British Columbia. All that rain has destroyed infrastructure while increasing runoff, threatening people and nature."
Global warming is increasing heavy rainstorms and atmospheric river events in south‑western Canada, causing undersized infrastructure to fail, higher runoff, and threats to people and wildlife, including salmon. Stormwater departments face severe understaffing and overwhelm, creating urgent need for more workers, training, and worker input into infrastructure decisions. The green transition is simultaneously creating millions of new jobs across energy, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and transport while disrupting roles in polluting industries. Labour and climate justice advocates at Cop30 demand worker participation, staffing, protections, retraining, and just transition policies to safeguard communities, livelihoods and ecosystems during these transformations.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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