how much energy do we really need — and what happens when the forest burns?
Yesterday Donald Trump announced what he described as a $54-billion South Korean investment in the proposed Alaska LNG project, part of a much larger package of planned South Korean investments in the United States.
The Alaska project is enormous: natural gas from Alaska's North Slope would travel through a proposed pipeline more than 800 miles to the southern coast, where it could be turned into LNG and exported to Asian markets.
But there is an important detail getting lost in the headlines.
South Korean officials have said the Alaska investment is not yet a final commitment. They still have to determine whether the project is commercially viable and meets their legal requirements.
Still, the announcement comes at an interesting — and uncomfortable — moment.
Because here in British Columbia, we're having our own very large LNG announcements.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was in Vancouver this week celebrating LNG Canada Phase 2, a proposed $33-billion expansion in Kitimat. B.C. Premier David Eby and the federal government have also been working together to accelerate major energy projects, including LNG Canada Phase 2, Ksi Lisims LNG, Cedar LNG and Woodfibre LNG.
And just last week, B.C. issued an environmental assessment certificate for the proposed Tilbury LNG Phase 2 expansion in Delta.
So here we are.
Alaska is talking LNG.
Washington is talking LNG.
Ottawa is talking LNG.
B.C. is talking LNG.
And meanwhile, we're living through wildfire seasons, drought, floods, extreme heat and smoke.
B.C. Wildfire Service says the summer of 2026 brought underlying drought and warm, dry conditions across much of the province. June through August were unusually dry, and very dry fuels contributed to difficult-to-control fires. The province is also warning that drought remains a concern going into 2027.
and then there is Trans Mountain
I think about the forests I have watched change.
The Trans Mountain Expansion Project involved approximately 980 kilometres of new pipeline, with most of the route following existing rights-of-way or other linear infrastructure — but not all of it. Trans Mountain acknowledges that forested areas had to be cleared for construction, including areas along the pipeline right-of-way and temporary construction workspace.
That doesn't mean we can point to a particular fire and honestly say, “the pipeline caused this fire.”
That's not how wildfire science works.
But it does mean we should be asking bigger questions.
What happens when we repeatedly disturb forests?
What happens when we fragment habitat?
What happens when drought dries those forests?
What happens when extreme heat makes fires harder to control?
What happens to wildlife?
What happens to the people whose homes are in the path?
And what happens when we keep building infrastructure designed to operate for decades while the climate around it is changing?
Those are not unreasonable questions.
I understand why we need gas
This is where my own experience in Mexico complicates the argument.
I cook with gas when I'm in Mexico.
In many places, LPG is simply part of everyday life. And traditionally, many families cooked with wood. Some still do, including women who cook beans and other foods over an open fire.
The last time I was there, I ran out of gas.
And I discovered very quickly how dependent I was on that little tank.
It was difficult to get another one. The landlord was already having trouble getting gas. When the truck finally came, I told the man what we needed.
He said no.
I thought, Maybe my Spanish is wrong.
But no.
He explained that he only had the big tanks.
I was so disappointed.
Then somehow they found a medium one for me.
The man called me “butterfly.” 🦋
Later they switched it for a smaller tank without even telling my landlord. My landlord asked what happened, and I had to say yes — they had come and switched it.
I was SO HAPPY.
I think I had gone about a week without gas.
And I realized how difficult it is to eat properly when you can't cook.
Coffee isn't enough.
That little tank of gas wasn't an abstract fossil-fuel statistic.
It was food.
It was the ability to make beans.
It was being able to cook.
It was part of everyday life.
so what are we actually talking about?
We're dependent.
That's the uncomfortable truth.
People need energy to cook.
People need energy to heat homes.
People need electricity.
Hospitals need energy.
Water systems need energy.
Food production needs energy.
Transportation needs energy.
And here in Canada, our dependence can be even greater because winter is not optional.
Someone living in a warm part of Mexico who uses a propane tank primarily for cooking has a very different energy reality from someone in northern Canada who depends on energy to keep their home warm through freezing temperatures.
So I don't think the answer is simply:
“Stop using gas.”
Stop using it how?
Replace it with what?
Who can afford the replacement?
What happens to people who can't?
but there is another question
If we know we need energy, do we have to keep building the same kind of energy system forever?
Can we change?
Can we use less?
Can we make homes more efficient?
Can we build communities that need less energy?
Can we move toward electricity generated without continually adding carbon to the atmosphere?
Can we protect forests instead of treating them as obstacles to infrastructure?
Can we design transportation and cities differently?
Can we make the transition affordable for people who don't have thousands of dollars sitting around to replace everything they own?
And perhaps most importantly:
Can we change voluntarily, before fire, flood, heat and drought force the changes upon us?
Because that is what worries me.
Climate change isn't necessarily going to arrive at our door and politely ask whether we're ready.
It can arrive as smoke.
Or an evacuation order.
Or a flooded road.
Or a home that becomes impossible to insure.
Or a community that has to move.
Or a forest that doesn't look the same anymore.
Or wildlife losing habitat and food.
Or a person sitting in Mexico with an empty gas tank wondering how they're going to make dinner.
what happens if the fires keep coming?
We talk about economic growth.
We talk about jobs.
We talk about becoming an energy superpower.
We talk about exports.
Those things matter.
But I keep wondering whether we talk enough about the other side of the ledger.
What does it cost when a forest burns?
What does it cost when thousands of animals lose habitat?
What does it cost when a community evacuates?
What does it cost when homes are destroyed?
What does it cost when people breathe wildfire smoke for weeks?
What does it cost when flooding follows fire because the landscape can no longer absorb water in the same way?
What does it cost when people can no longer afford insurance?
What does it cost when someone has to leave the place they called home?
And who pays?
we don't get to separate everything
We can talk about one LNG project.
One pipeline.
One forest clearing.
One wildfire.
One flood.
One heat wave.
One evacuation.
But the climate doesn't experience our projects as separate spreadsheets.
Neither does the forest.
Neither does the bear.
Neither does the salmon.
Neither does the person whose house burns.
I don't know exactly what the energy system of the future should look like.
I don't think anyone does.
But I do know that building more and more infrastructure based on the assumption that the future will look like the past is a dangerous assumption.
Maybe we need gas.
Maybe we will need it for a long time.
Maybe LNG will provide economic benefits and energy security.
Those arguments deserve to be heard.
But so do the questions about emissions, forests, Indigenous rights, wildlife, water, fire, flooding and the communities that live along these corridors.
And maybe the biggest question is this:
How much can we change our lifestyle by choice — before circumstances change it for us?
Because I don't want to discover the answer when the forest is burning.
I don't want to discover it when the water is rising.
And I don't want the next generation asking why we knew what was happening and simply kept building as though nothing had changed.
I want us to be able to say:
We knew.
We asked questions.
We changed where we could.
And we tried to leave something alive behind us.
🌲🐻🦋🌎
#climatechange #LNG #Alaska #BritishColumbia #TransMountain #wildfires #forests #wildlife #energy #Mexico #adaptation #climateaction #environment #IndigenousRights #future #Canada
