On August 20, 2009, 2 tornadoes ripped through 2 communities in the Greater Toronto area.  Is this the result of climate change? With our increasing dependency on fossil fuels, it’s certainly feasible.

I’ve lived in Toronto for over 3 decades and ‘tornado watch’ is not in our vernacular.  However, on August 20, 2009, I was driving in the worst rainstorm I’d ever been in, heading to a family dinner.  After I arrived (drenched), I noticed that the restaurant kept losing power and then I heard from the waiter that there was threat of a tornado in the area I was in.  Truthfully, I didn’t think it was going to happen because I’d never been in the vicinity of one before and I thought Toronto was an unlikely destination.  But I looked outside and mother nature’s clouds looked ominous.

The rain continued on and off while we finished dinner.  It wasn’t until we turned on the radio on the way back home that we learned that 2 communities (Vaughan and Durham) in Greater Toronto were hit by a tornado.  We were less than 10 miles away dining while the twister touched down.  There was one tragic fatality plus millions and millions of dollars in damages from the wreckage.  At one point, the Twister was less than a half mile away from our Planet Forward offices and warehouse, thankfully, it missed us.

I found out the next day that a friend of the family who works in the area and was at work where the tornado struck.  She was fine inside her office, but her car was literally lifted off the ground and thrown across the parking lot.  The car was totaled by the tornado.  Imagine making that insurance claim.

Glaciers continue to melt in the Artic region at an alarming rate and are contributing to global rises in sea levels. Because of our addiction to fossil fuels, the earth’s temperature is rising and the climate is becoming more unstable.  We need to deploy renewable energy sources and sustainable solutions to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and help combat climate change and global warming.  Otherwise, Twisters in Toronto or anywhere else, could become commonplace.

Check out this video of the Tornado hitting the Greater Toronto Area at a local restaurant I’ve frequented close to Planet Forward headquarters:

Tags: climate, Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming, Greater Toronto, GTA, planet forward, renewable energy, Renewable Energy Resources, Sustainable Solution, sustainable solutions, Toronto