First with a warning, then with a flood

Two weeks ago, when the world’s leading climate scientists announced that we will not avoid catastrophic warming, we barely blinked. A few days later, when a “100-year flood” swept through my workplace for the second time in two years, their words landed underfoot. The new normal was squishing under our feet and seeping into our socks.

On Sept. 2, almost a month’s worth of rain fell in a single day. Like many places in Toronto, Evergreen Brick Works flooded. But this time we were better prepared: the site was evacuated quickly, children’s camp went on a field trip, and the Saturday Farmers Market was graciously relocated to the Distillery District with the help of the city. While we did sustain some damage, and cleanup efforts have been extensive, Evergreen Brick Works mostly performed as designed, receiving water and then moving it out much faster than after the 2024 flood.

This is what true resilience looks like – the kind you can build through green and grey infrastructure, and the kind you build between people. It comes from nature-based solutions, improvements to buildings, better staff protocols and training and deepening relationships across the city and among neighbours.

The timing felt like kismet. That same week, the UN Environment Programme released Limiting Overshoot, confirming the world is expected to exceed 1.5 C of warming in the near term. How far we overshoot, how long it lasts and how quickly we return depends on what we do now.

The next day, Environment and Climate Change Canada quietly released Canada’s Changing Climate Report 2026, sharpening the Canadian reality: Canada has warmed nearly twice as fast as the global average, and the Canadian Arctic about three times as fast. With additional warming, flash floods will become more frequent and severe.

Are we listening yet?

To build Canada strong, we need investments that solve for multiple priorities at once: reducing emissions, creating more sponge landscapes, strengthening our economy and enhancing public life. At Evergreen, we call this multi-solving, and Evergreen Brick Works offers a practical example

Located in Toronto’s Don Valley, the site was designed with flooding in mind. Greenways, bioswales, gardens, raised foundations, and permeable surfaces help water move through the site and back into surrounding waterways. It powered by geothermal and solar energy and its markets support hundreds of local businesses and contributed over $4 million in direct sales last year.

After the July 2024 flood, Evergreen improved drainage and monitoring, enhanced waterproofing, and elevated critical systems, and made improvements to accessibility. Those changes mattered last week. They did not prevent the flood, but they reduced harm and sped up recovery considerably.

Green space can absorb stormwater, cool a street, support biodiversity and create a better place for neighbours to gather and local business to thrive. A restored ravine can store water, connect habitat and give a city room to breathe.

These are not boutique interventions. They are infrastructure imperatives. A “100-year” flood that arrives twice in two years is not a statistical curiosity; it is proof that our definitions of risk, and our approaches to mitigate them, are lagging behind reality.

That is the standard Canada should set: not simply to withstand the next storm, but to build places ready for the century we are in.

The climate crisis requires large, transformational change and small, community-level improvements repeated across the country. We need clean energy, resilient buildings, shaded streets and public spaces that help our communities when flood water, heat waves and wildfires come. Evergreen is helping build those climate-ready spaces across Canada. Will our governments respond to this threat with the urgency it requires or will we merely blink as the new normal rises around our feet?