Complaining About the Weather and Climate Change

Please don’t take Mother Nature for granted

For those of you thinking of moving to Canada, there is one thing that I should warn you about. But, of course, this is what every newcomer also notices, and I do too.

What is that, you might ask? Canadians who are born, raised, or have lived here for some time do complain about the weather a lot.

Winter

For those of you in warmer climates, it does get icy cold here in Canada. When it snows, you have to put on a parka, winter boots, a toque or a hood, and a scarf that will cover your mouth. Winter is not what you see in Bollywood movies; it is bone freezing cold.

Anyway, yes, we Canadians will be complaining about how cold it is outside when winter comes. No matter if it is minus 20 degrees Celsius (Minus four degrees in Fahrenheit) or minus 10 (14 degrees Fahrenheit). The funny thing about Canadians complaining about the weather is that they do this every year.

My mother, who is Hungarian, does complain about the weather a lot. We just got snow right now, and she is already talking about how cold it is.

To me, this is funny because we Canadians should get used to this every year. We live in a climate that has all four seasons. So why complain about how cold it is outside when you already know that winter is always cold?

I know the reason why we Canadians complain about winter is that we don’t want our cars to get stuck in knee-deep snow, the traffic, the constant shivering, always having to shovel snow from your driveway, and just being out in the cold.

Summer

Yep, we Canadians also complain about how hot it is outside in the summer, too. And too hot in Canada means anything above 20 degrees Celsius (above 68 degrees Fahrenheit). The hottest summer we had was a few months ago where some places had close to 30 degrees Celsius. I know that one town in British Columbia was 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit).

The funny thing about this is that we don’t like it when we are sweating, and getting a sunburn quickly (I know that heatstroke is a serious thing) is something Canadians hate too.

So, yes, it is funny that I live in a country where people love to complain about the weather. For winter complainers, I ask this: why don’t you go down to the lower half of the U.S. if you don’t like the snow? Some Canadians, who we call snowbirds, have done that until everything shut down last year due to the pandemic.

This reminds me of a Facebook Meme that I read when it gets too hot; I see the one with a car stuck in the snow warning us that at least it’s not winter. And in the winter, I have seen an FB meme with a mosquito on it saying, “Well, at least we haven’t seen a mosquito in months.”

Taking the Weather and Climate Change for Granted.

I think that we as Canadians should stop complaining about the weather and stop taking it for granted. We live in a world where the temperatures go from one extreme to another. And in the form of climate change.

I live in an area of Canada called Alberta, where oil is king. Yes, I have heard that Alberta is the Texas of the North. I do agree with whoever wrote that. There are people here who work for the oil industry. The last thing I heard from someone whose business deals with big oil is slowly becoming environmentally friendly. But I think that this change is extremely slow. As of now, the tar sands are still money makers up in Northern Alberta.

Most of the high school graduates in Alberta have been moving out of the province to go to university. That is because they know that the oil industry is not sustainable. It’s not just because of the environment, but it also has its boom and bust years. Lately, here in Alberta, many people are looking for work because, in the bust years, the oil industry has laid off many people.

I agree with the new mayor in Calgary that we need to find an industry other than oil to sustain us. The industry could be in tech or the green sector. But having only one industry that has the boom and the bust years isn’t that sustainable. There should be more than one industry in every city. If one sector has massive layoffs, then others might take in those looking for work.

But all in all, all this complaining that we Canadians do right now means that we are selfishly avoiding the main issue. Yes, climate change is real. But don’t take Mother Nature for granted. Appreciate how unpredictable she gets.