Kutay Kutlu

PhD Candidate in Socio-Legal Studies @YorkUFGS, PhD in PSIR @marmarasiyasal
Researching green grabbing, land dispossession & environmental justice in Turkey

[The Serfs (youtube.com/theserftimes) @theserfstv]

This week the prime minister of Canada made:

17 posts promoting the military industrial complex
6 posts promoting oil and gas interests
1 post talking about the wildfires

[Rev. Benjamin Cremer @Brcremer]

The road to climate disaster is lined with billionaires and politicians telling you to calm down as they profit from pollution and pillaging the Earth.

[Zeke Hausfather @hausfath]

Over at the Climate Brink I take a deep dive into climate and wildfires in Canada, and why complaints about Canadian forest management largely miss the mark as conditions rapidly have become more favorable for megafires: https://t.co/3ZqPn1GQpq

[Alessia Passafiume @alespassafiume]

A small First Nations community in Ontario that was burned to the ground by a raging wildfire on Monday is being deprived of the help it needs because the federal government doesn't recognize it as a First Nation, the community's lawyer said.

#cdnpoli
https://t.co/eyF2ufuDOL

[Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) @adamscochran]

Climate change.

Canada’s boreal forest is far north.

Most parts of it only reach 64F (18C) averages in the heat of the summer.

Its density and climate also means it gets very little evaporation compared to its rainfall, and is subject to frost 9 months of the year, and heavy fog the rest of the time.

This kept this biome very humid, kept soil damp, and left most of the low level foliage coated in dew all day long.

Some parts of the forest even had thick levels of permafrost beneath the topsoil that on rare hot days would seep water back into the ecosystem.

Just as many wildfires started by lightning strike in previous decades as now.

The difference is they struggled to catch and spread in this damp environment.

Now extreme dry weather, record breaking heat, northern thaw, erode that protective moisture barrier, leaving the boreal forest vulnerable especially in the more southern parts.

Boreal forests previously went through this process naturally when an over density caused a drier environment you’d get high-intensity crown fires that were cyclical. Every 50-200 years depending on region.

Now we get them annually.

Boreal forest fires are much more severe than others too. The long history of cyclical burns means the soil contains charcoal, the thick multi-layer foliage adds fodder and causes the fire to spread quickly, and pine, spruce, and aspens are all some of the trees with both the most density and the best for wood burning.

It results in towering forest fires of immense heat and rapid spread.

These forests are denser than anything else in North America or Europe, and the current fire in Ontario alone, is the same square mileage as the entire state of Delaware.

From the time it ignited, to covering that size, took less than 20 hours.

While some in the US still think climate change is a hoax, we are all going to deal with the consequences of it, as we’ve turned the largest forest in the world into a tinder box, and fires in less than 0.01% of it drowns the entire continent in smoke.

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

Incredibly brazen for the Prime Minister to boast about the “lasting benefits” of expanding fossil fuel production on a day like today.

Record-breaking heatwaves. Toxic smoke engulfing cities and towns. Out of control wildfires forcing entire communities to evacuate.

This government is spending billions of dollars in public money to expand the very industry that’s causing climate breakdown — at a moment when renewables are cheaper and more available than ever before.

No more climate-wrecking corporate welfare. We need a government that protects the people and places we love.

[Brandi Morin @Songstress28]

Collins First Nation is gone. Northern Ontario is choking on smoke from 128 wildfires. And in the same two weeks, Canada approved three new pipelines. Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet — and still building for more of it. New piece is up:

https://t.co/FTcTvySSCU

[Prof. Ryan Katz-Rosene @ryankatzrosene]

Here’s a deep dive into the links between wildfires and climate change in North America. Spoke with several leading experts in this area in researching this piece: https://t.co/4R917INLPq

[Jamie Henn @jamieclimate]

Never forget that as early as the 1950s the oil industry knew this was *exactly* the crisis their pollution would create, but instead of warning the public, they funded massive, ongoing disinformation campaigns and lobbied against clean energy.

Climate change isn’t a tragedy, it’s a crime.

[Nic 🇨🇦 @genXcdn1]

More than 1/4 of the world’s boreal forest is in Canada. Around 1.2B acres.

Excess heat & lack of rain combined with lightning strikes cause most northern Canadian wildfires. (Not arson.)

The cause is climate change & it’s only getting worse. #Wildfires2026

[Chris Bataille @bataille_chris]

Up until ~10 years ago, most boreal forest lightening strikes and human ignitions fell on damp ground, often damp from recent snow melt. Climate change has transformed this, turning the northern half of North America into a giant tinder box, where even the soil carbon can burn.

[Instant Weather Ontario ⚡️ @IWeatherON]

Not only is Ontario suffocating under wildfire smoke today…

Take a look at the sheer extent of the hazardous air quality. Smoke is stretching more than 2,000 kilometres, from Winnipeg across the Great Lakes and into the northeastern United States.

Millions of people are being affected, including those in major cities like Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Philadelphia and New York City.

In addition to much of Ontario, the smoke has now spread into Manitoba as well, leading to deteriorating air quality around the Winnipeg area.

It’s also important to keep things in perspective. While millions of people are dealing with unhealthy air quality, it pales in comparison to the tragedy unfolding across Northwestern Ontario.

At least one community, Namaygoosisagagun (Collins) First Nation near Armstrong, has effectively been destroyed after residents were forced to flee the fast-moving wildfire by boat. Thankfully, everyone has been accounted for and is receiving shelter and support. But many families no longer have homes to return to.

Several other communities are also under evacuation orders or on evacuation standby as wildfires continue to threaten homes and critical infrastructure across the region.

For most of us, the smoke is a temporary inconvenience. The air will eventually clear, and we still have homes where we can seek shelter from it.

Many of those displaced by these fires don’t have that certainty.

Our thoughts are with everyone affected by these devastating wildfires, and we’re incredibly grateful to the firefighters, emergency crews and volunteers working tirelessly to protect communities under extremely difficult conditions. ❤️

- Brennen

#ONStorm #ONwx

[David Moscrop @David_Moscrop]

Oh hey look, it's consequences!

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

This footage is insane, but what might be even more insane: the guys inside this train survived. The community outside didn't.

This is northwestern Ontario, where 128 wildfires are burning tonight and 53 are out of control. Down the same rail line, a First Nation of about 40 people burned Monday night. Residents fled by boat. The local MPP says the entire community has been erased.

The fire that did it has been burning since May 31. Six weeks. Then 40 C heat and high winds turned it into a 14,000-hectare monster in a matter of days.

The detail that should worry you more than the video: three trains loaded with combustible and flammable materials are stopped and staged on this same line because the fire cut them off. Parked fuel cargo, inside an active fire zone.

The crew in this footage had detached their locomotive to rescue a track foreman. That's why they were in the fire's path when it closed around them. One of them can be heard saying "this could potentially overtake us."

The only highway into the area is closed. When the road closes and the rail line burns, a boat becomes the evacuation plan.

[Mehmet Emin Kurnaz @m_emin_kurnaz]

Komedyen Deniz Göktaş, bugün itibarıyla 12 gündür tutuklu. Alışmayalım, Deniz'i unutturmayalım...

#DenizGöktaşSerbestBırakılsın

[Kansu Yıldırım @KansuYildirim]

Dekarbonizasyon guruları insanlara "şunu kullanmayın", "bunu almayın" derlerken, OXFAM'ın 23 milyarderin süper yatlarını inceleyen araştırmasına göre, tek bir milyarderin süper yatı yılda ortalama 5.672 ton CO₂ salıyor. Bu, dünyadaki ortalama bir insanın 860 yılda üreteceği emisyona eşit. Ultra zenginler süper yatlarda keyif sürsün, sıradan vatandaş duşu kısa tutsun, dünya daha iyi bir yer olsun(!)

https://t.co/5bs8Rcokmd

[Heinrich Böll Stiftung İstanbul @HeinrichBoellTR]

Türkiye, bu yıl COP31'e ev sahipliği yapacak. COP31 yaklaşırken sorulacak pek çok soru, konuşulacak pek çok mesele var. Tüm bunları birlikte ele almak için "Antalya Yolunda" webinar serisinde bir araya geliyoruz.

[European Democrats @democrats_eu]

“The people understood me. And I got into trouble.”
Turkish comedian @idgoktas wrote this from prison after being arrested over his stand-up show. Erdoğan’s regime is so afraid of dissent that even a joke can become a crime. But satire exists precisely to challenge power, expose fear and defend freedom.
Freedom for Deniz Göktaş.
Freedom of expression is not a crime.

[Emma Sinclair-Webb @esinclairwebb]

The court’s decision to curb İmamoğlu's right to present his defense in the main case against him is a profound violation of fair trial rights. The court said it considered he had exercised his right to remain silent, but it was the court that silenced him & closed the hearing.

[Bülent ŞIK @bulentilgaz]

8 yıldır süren hukuk mücadelesi nihayet bitti. Tüm itirazlar reddedildi. Yargıtay'ın verdiği beraat kararım kesinleşti. Toplum ve çevre sağlığı ile ilgili bilimsel çalışmaların devlet sırrı olarak nitelenemeyeceği ve açıklanmasının bir suç oluşturmayacağı da hükme bağlandı.