Wildfires Reveal the Risks of a Net Zero Electricity Grid as Climate Activists and Politicians Exploit Wildfire Tragedies says Friends of Science Society

CALGARY, AB, Aug. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Canada plans to spend $1 trillion on building out an east-west 'clean energy' power grid as part of its net zero climate plan, but Friends of Science Society says, while additional power generation is needed, net zero should not be the rationale, in this new video "Change Climate Change: Stop Net Zero Nonsense." 

Canadian physicist, William van Wijngaarden, in a presentation for the International Climate Science Coalition shows there is no human-made climate crisis, thus no need for net zero targets. Wijngaarden says net zero goals will cause serious damage to society.

Part of that damage is the convoluted effort to "electrify everything" using so-called "clean energy."

Footage of evacuees trying to navigate downed power lines in British Columbia show why "electrify now" and "electrify everything" to reach Net Zero climate targets is a bad idea, says Friends of Science Society. As reported by CBC on July 30, 2026, dozens of power poles, transmission lines, lines and transformers are down; large sections of British Columbia lost electrical power, as is happening in other wildfire locations. Without conventional ICE vehicles, people in a net zero EV world would be stranded.

As tragic wildfires rip through British Columbia, Ontario, Spokane, Oregon, and Europe, climate activist journos like some at Associated Press and Grist, and politicians like former Washington governor, Jay Inslee, wrongly exploit these tragedies, by conflating wildfire and human-caused climate change, says Friends of Science Society. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as explained in plain language by Roger Pielke, Jr., "The IPCC has not detected or attributed fire occurrence or area burned to human-caused climate change."

Meteorologist Chris Martz harshly criticized the AP report on a World Weather Attribution (WWA) study which claimed that "Human-caused climate change doubled the likelihood of the tinderbox weather conditions that sparked Canada's massive summer wildfires and in turn angered U.S. President Donald Trump, …"

Martz highlighted AP's comment that "The study, which was done so quickly it has not been peer reviewed yet…" and the fact that attribution reporting was not established for scientific reasons, but for the purpose of litigation against corporations and industries, especially fossil fuels, disfavored by activists, per this April 16, 2021, report in E&E.

Far from climate change, the Hot Shot Wake Up Substack, dedicated to wildfire coverage, is reporting that an arrested arson suspect in the Spokane wildfires has admitted to setting 25 fires. On July 14, 2026, The Independent reported that dozens of suspected arsonists had been arrested in France. Roger Pielke, Jr.'s evidence-based analysis of the wildfires in France, shows that despite what climate activists say about fossil fuel phase-out, emissions reduction is not a control knob to stop wildfires.

British Columbia has seen devastating wildfires, fanned by high winds, rip through lakeside communities; 85 of these fires are said to have been started by lightning according to this Aug. 05, 2026, CBC report.

In a series of three short YouTube videos, [#1, #2, #3] Friends of Science Society discusses the federal government's "Powering Canada Strong" report with retired professional engineer, Randy Stubbings, who has 45 years experience on the Alberta power grid.

The Canadian Climate Institute, a largely government funded pro-clean energy 'charity' pitches a combination of wind, solar and batteries in their report "Power Play." Friends of Science Society has several reports explaining why these combinations alone cannot fulfill society's need for affordable and reliable power, such as Stubbings' Oct. 2024, presentation "Net Zero and the Future Power Grid." 

The American Enterprise Institute has posted the impossible scale of the net zero/decarbonization challenge, now available on a country-by-country dashboard.

The New York Energy Alliance reported that the new Champlain Hudson Power Express (CHPE) line from Quebec to New York was down again. This new transmission line was part of the Hudson Valley climate plan. A similar issue occurred with the New England Clean Energy Connect hydro line from Quebec this past winter. Domestic demand spiked during a severe storm; Quebec has gone to electricity for home heating. This highlights the blackout risks of relying on imported power for peak demand, says Friends of Science Society, an inherent problem in Canada's east-west power grid concept.

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