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B.C. Faces Climate Crisis: Wildfires Intensify, Sea Stars Die Off

Climate and Weather

Business Honor - B.C. Climate Crisis: Wildfires, Sea Star Loss

Business Honor
12 August, 2025

Smoke spreads health risks; scientists link sea star deaths to marine cholera-like bacteria.

British Columbia is confronting growing severe climate issues, ranging from worsening wildfires to mysterious marine die-offs. Recent studies indicate that smoke from wildfires is impacting health across North America, while researchers identified the source of a deadly illness claiming billions of sea stars.

On Vancouver Island, residents such as artist Ina-Griet Raatz-von Hirschhausen are still on edge after evacuating from the vicinity of Cameron Lake because of the Wesley Ridge wildfire. Though back home now, she is postponing bringing back her paintings. The fire, while less frantic these days, will intensify as temperatures soar this weekend, B.C. Wildfire Service predicts.

From North America to the world, Canadian wildfire smoke is inducing respiratory issues and other medical problems. Specialists caution these wildfires are intensifying and happening more often because of climate change, spurred by human factors such as burning fossil fuels and industrial agriculture. NASA reports carbon dioxide levels at record levels with CO2 concentrations at over 430 ppm in June 2025, compared to below 320 ppm in 1960.

In the meantime, B.C. scientists cracked a sea mystery. Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Hakai Institute determined that sea star wasting disease, which has killed more than six billion sunflower stars, is caused by the Vibrio pectenicida bacterium, which is similar to cholera. The disease infects 26 species of sea stars and does damage to the marine ecosystem by enabling sea urchin populations to explode and devastate kelp forests, critical carbon sinks. With 2024 recorded as the hottest year ever, researchers caution that world is not going to meet the Paris Agreement climate goals. The world must act fast in cutting emissions and capping warming in order to prevent exacerbating wildfires, sea-level rise, and biodiversity decline.