Why is climate change important?

Climate change is the gradual increase in global temperature due to human activities, particularly advancements and technology, like the industrial revolution and the lifestyle of those living in first-world countries. We are currently at around a 1.5°C increase above pre-industrial times, and likely far past the goals people had set up to prevent essentially destroying the Earth. We have to take immediate action to even have an attempt at survival as a species, but those steps are pretty much insignificant as an individual. The big industries have the biggest responsibility, not only because they contribute the most, but also because they've benefit the most from causing the issue for the past hundreds of years. That doesn't mean that individual change isn't important though, as if enough people make positive changes for the betterment of the future, it could still make a large dent in the issue at hand.

How could climate change impact plantlife & wildlife in British Columbia?

Climate change can cause a massive loss of both plantlife & wildlife, whether through the climate changing, or through the ways we worsen climate change. The climate changing is currently having a massive impact on animals in the arctic, as their habitat is melting away from them. It's having an impact here, in Canada, as we see species die out because they can no longer survive. We are also destroying habitats willingly through deforestation and urbanization. In Ontario, there was a species of flower called blue-eyed mary, but it can no longer be found there as we deforested the only forests it was capable of living in. There are plenty of ways we are slowly ruining the Earth, and many of them are mostly irreversable. If we continue down this path, there's a good chance we'll pass the point of no return, and the Earth will have to remove us itself. However, as mentioned earlier, every individual's effort to reduce climate change can make a difference. While trying to save the earth, why not make your backyard or garden look nicer? Trying to protect our species doesn't have to only be making your quality of life worse, it can also be through improving your living conditions.

Why are plants important?

Plants act as a carbon sink which allows us to have more time to find solutions to climate change. They absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere, while the very things that absorb the CO2 also provide shelter for animals. Not only that, but a lot of plants, specifically flowers, produce both nectar & pollen, which pollinators like bees rely on. Bees are highly important for agriculture, as they pollinate a large amount of the crops that we eat in our day-to-day lives, and some of the crops we feed to our livestock. In the UK, it would cost farmers roughly £1.8 billion pounds, or $3.3 billion CAD, to manually pollinate their crops each year. Considering how the total profit gained from farming in the UK in 2024 was £5.3 billion pounds, or $9.9 billion CAD, it's safe to say that bees play a huge role in making agriculture possible and affordable.

Why did I pick this project?

I picked this project because I wanted to make the garden in my backyard look a little nicer, as it could use more variety in what plants we have. Also, there is a lot of wildlife that comes through, like bunnies, birds, raccoons, etc, so I wanted to find out if there were ways to help them while making the backyard just look nicer. Lastly, I needed some way to incorporate my interests into the project, and it's rather difficult to do both computer science/web development and climate change in tandem without having a degree and a lifetime of work on something advanced, like GIS. So, I figured that I would find plants that would be beneficial to plant in my backyard, then create a website detailing my findings. Out of the plants I found online, I decided I wanted to get yarrow, nodding onion, salmonberry, tall oregon grape, and ocean spray. (I decided against getting devil's club for reasons stated later in the website, and I couldn't find fireweed, so I'll have to keep looking.)