"Elbows Up for Climate" Activists Exploit Wildfires and Floods to Prop Up Collapsing Narrative says Friends of Science Society

CALGARY, AB, July 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As reported by BBC on July 16, 2026, over 800 wildfires are burning across northwestern Ontario, with the smoke pall setting poor air quality records across the northeastern USA; meanwhile, Friends of Science Society denounces the "Elbows Up for Climate" activists who exploit these tragic events to push a collapsing climate crisis narrative.

A recent "Elbows Up…" climate demand petition signed by big city mayors and councillors, claiming to represent half the population of Canada, called for "nation building, not nation burning" projects, promoting a wind and solar power grid, EVs and national high-speed rail, not new oil and gas pipelines. Friends of Science Society wrote a report analyzing their "climate madness manifesto" as wildly impractical and detached from the evidence.

Friends of Science Society says the world is facing an unprecedented global supply disruption of oil and natural gas, as outlined on the IEA Energy Crisis Policy Response Tracker. Though climate activists promote the energy transition, in fact, the Statistical Review of World Energy 2026 shows that oil, gas and coal provide 86% of the world's primary energy supply.

As Bjorn Lomborg has pointed out, "Even after the world has spent $14 trillion on climate policy, more than four-fifths of global energy is still supplied by fossil fuels…." Global fossil fuel use increased by over 2.5% from 2023 to 2025.

In a Friends of Science analysis report, which shows accurate trends for wildfires, they express concern about the misallocation of public funds needed for infrastructure, diverted to green crony climate projects. The "Elbows Up…" climate finance solution is a windfall tax on oil and gas. Canada and Alberta have recently agreed to develop a new pipeline, but at burdensome $20 to $30 billion in 'decarbonization' costs for the Pathways/Oil Sands Alliance carbon capture and storage (CCS) pipeline, largely funded by investment tax credits and subsidies.

"Decarbonization" is a shell game for no climate benefit, says Friends of Science in this video.

In a CBC interview, John Vaillant, author of "Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast", presents his thesis that the use of oil and gas drives wildfires. Vaillant presented similar arguments at the "Elbows Up for Climate" mayors' conference in Edmonton on June 4^th, 2026, as reported by the National Observer. In fact, author Cordy Tymstra's book, "The Chinchaga Firestorm: When the Moon and Sun Turned Blue", details the 1950 Chinchaga wildfire, which sent a blue smoke pall around the world. Chinchaga remains the largest recorded wildfire in North American history. This was long before significant human influence on climate.

As Friends of Science Society points out in "Elbows Up Mayors – Never Consulted You", it is impossible to fight wildfires without diesel and jet fuel. They ask why mayors are advocating for exotic, uncosted climate action when millions of Canadians are at the food bank.

Friends of Science Society has produced several long-form videos analyzing major wildfire events in Canada, including Kelowna, Yellowknife, Jasper, and the exploitation of the Jasper wildfire by climate activists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group I report (Physical Sciences) does not ascribe wildfires to human-industrial emissions of carbon dioxide or the use of fossil fuels. 

Recently, Edmonton, Alberta has been hit with violent, torrential downpours, with widespread flooding. Mayor Andrew Knack of Edmonton, who signed the "Elbows Up…" petition, misled the public in an interview on CTV. He claimed that 1-in-100-year flooding is happening more often. According to the US Geological Survey, 1-in-100-year floods can happen back-to-back, because the term refers to "a flood of that magnitude has a 1 percent chance of happening in any year," not the interval of time between floods.

Friends of Science Society's video explainer on Toronto flooding (2024), "Toronto Flooding - Climate Change or Infrastructure Deficit?", with insights from Robert Muir, P. Eng., shows that climate change is not to blame for urban flooding.

Friends of Science Society sent an open letter to the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) outlining that recent material changes in climate science and economic pillars means "No Scientific or Economic Rationale Remains for Net Zero and Carbon Markets". The climate catastrophe scenario known as RCP 8.5/SSP5-85 has been deemed implausible. The climate emergency is over.

About
Friends of Science Society is an independent group of earth, atmospheric and solar scientists, engineers, and citizens that is celebrating its 24th year of offering climate science insights. After a thorough review of a broad spectrum of literature on climate change, Friends of Science Society has concluded that the sun is the main driver of climate change, not carbon dioxide (CO2).

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SOURCE Friends of Science Society