Writing students mark fatal heat dome anniversary
To mark the fifth anniversary of BC’s fatal heat dome in 2021, a group of UVic Writing students trained to take climate-survivor testimonials are now seeing their work run in the online news outlet The Tyee in a new five-part series with created in partnership with the Climate Disaster Project.
“Some of what they share can be difficult to read. But the survivors want you to know what happened to them for a reason,” says CDP founder and Writing professor Sean Holman. “So we can be closer together. So we can feel less alone. So you know what to do when one of the worst days of your life happens, without warning.”
The human cost of BC’s heat dome was catastrophic: over 600 people died between June 25 and July 1 2021, making it the deadliest weather disaster in Canadian history. Over 100 all-time heat records were shattered as temperatures across the province soared 20° above typical summertime averages in a brutal reminder of how warm our world is becoming.
The Tyee series offers the stories of five heat-dome survivors, as told in their own words:
- a Surrey mother whose newborn was struggling, and so was her ailing cat
- a Vancouver homeowner who had to find a new home when her condo turned into a greenhouse
- a Lower Mainland firefighter who answered emergency calls as extreme heat buckled the province’s health-care system
- a retired school principal who was forced to evacuate when that heat turned to flame in Lytton
- and a Kamloops councillor who could do little but watch as fire scorched one of the city’s outer neighbourhoods.
“These stories aren’t just an account of the harm caused by an environment we have harmed and are still harming,” says Holman, explaining how the CDP’s climate-survivor testimonies differ from traditional news stories. “They are early warning systems and emergency preparedness plans. Because the survivors of past climate disasters carry with them knowledge and wisdom needed to help us confront the extreme events that have now become seasonal. Reading their testimonies now isn’t just about memorialization. It’s about preparation. An opportunity to change what will happen today and tomorrow.”
The Climate Disaster Project was established in 2022 by Sean Holman — UVic’s donor-funded Wayne Crookes Professor of Environmental & Climate Journalism — and has since grown into an award-winning international teaching newsroom with partners in multiple countries around the world, tackling projects ranging from journalism and documentaries to a theatrical play, museum exhibit and a pending literary anthology. It also gives our students the chance to see their work appear in professional media like The Guardian UK & The Tyee, among many others.
