On 17 February, The Globe and Mail released their investigation of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) documents which revealed China’s strategy to influence the 2021 election. Since assuming office in 2012, President Xi Jinping has taken a more aggressive foreign policy approach, yet the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) still claims it adheres to the international custom of non...
Premiers and territorial leaders across Canada may be able to finally take a collective sigh of relief as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tables a funding offer to help Canada’s struggling health care system. The provinces are already scheduled to get a 9.5-per-cent increase in healthcare transfers this year, amounting to $49.4 billion from the $45.2-billion in projected payments in the 2022-23...
Irreversible environmental harm, nonsensical urban planning and accusations of corruption After a mere thirty-day public consultation period, the Ontario government has officially decided to go ahead with its plan to remove 7,400 acres from the protected Greenbelt. This announcement came just last month, ten days after the public consultations on the initial proposal had closed. The government...
Over 50,000 people marched in London, England to campaign for climate change ahead of COP21 in Paris, France (Photograph: Matthew Kirby) Loss and damage breakthrough at COP27 As the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) comes to a close, the same question is again at the forefront of climate talks, but the answer may be different: Who will pay for the impacts of climate change? Well...
Scientists discover genetic variation that offers largest evolutionary advantage found in humans A study published in Nature two weeks ago identified a genetic variation that gave certain people a 40% chance of surviving the Black Death—the largest evolutionary advantage found in humans. The Black Death, a plague that spread throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa ravaged the...
The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) has been making headlines this week following the announcement from French President Emmanuel Macron that his country would withdraw from the investment treaty because it did not align with the Paris Agreement. This follows announcements from Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands that they were pulling out of the agreement as well. The ECT is a multilateral investment...
Can Europeans stay warm this winter without Nord Stream 1? Over the past few weeks, the staggering rate of inflation (which has been exacerbated by the energy crisis in Europe) has fuelled social unrest that has led to protests across the continent. Citizens are coming out in droves to protest the cost of living and to hopefully prompt their governments to act to ameliorate the situation before...
Something appears to be in the rarified air that billionaires breathe. Last week, it was announced that Patagonia’s founder and former owner, Yvon Chouninard, and his family are giving away ownership of the outdoor apparel company, to donate any profit not reinvested in the business to fight climate change. This week, at an event held in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, we have our very own Canadian...
There are a lot of things about the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics which are quite unique. The strict quarantine regime, the cozying up of Putin and Xi, the absence of foreign diplomats, and oh, the fact that none of the snow on the hills fell from the sky. All the snow that covers the ski and snowboarding venues at the Winter Olympics was made from water from reservoirs that supply about 400...
On January 18, the oil giant Exxon released their net zero strategy that boasts impressive and highly ambitious commitments to reach a net zero carbon emissions target by 2050. The strategy identifies 150 modifications of its exploration and production practices to help the company reach its goal including electrification of operations with energy from renewable sources. Essentially, Exxon...
For Christmas Eve dinner in my household, by some minor miracle, I managed to hoodwink my family into letting me cook. I say hoodwink because my intentions behind the act were not necessarily pure. I do find cooking for my loved ones to be a way to show my affection and care for them when words fail me. However, the reason I did so was to make an all plant-based (smeared labneh on some sprouts to...
There has been intense scrutiny of fossil fuel corporations due to their emissions intensive activities, but I propose stepping back and widening the sphere of responsibility to get to the root of the problem and turn our attention to who is enabling these practices. Financial markets play a central role in the climate crisis, and they should not be absolved of liability because they are indirect...
In the late hours of Friday night (12 November 2021), the COP26 negotiations ended and the Glasgow Climate Pact was born, arriving one day late and three draft proposals, many frustrated delegates, and many disappointed climate activists later. It is easy to look at the past two weeks of COP26, with the news cycle largely focusing on either protests or ambitious commitments announcements, to find...
The most important climate convention in recent memory is right on the horizon On October 31, Justin Trudeau will join other world leaders from nearly 200 countries at the United Nations Conference of Parties (COP26) to set new emissions reduction targets and tackle climate change on the world stage. COP26 will be taking place in Glasgow, Scotland and it is expected that over 20,000 activists...
The McMichael Art gallery hosts a women-centred exhibition This weekend I took a field trip to the McMichael Art Gallery to see the Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment exhibition. The exhibit is a collection of work from Canadian women who coincided with the Group of Seven and, to a certain extent, offers commentary on the widely celebrated work of the Group of Seven and the...
Ontario’s boreal forest north of Lake Superior is one of the largest intact forests left in the world. The same cannot be said for the southern part of the province which, once covered with forests, has now been cut down to make way for development and agriculture. Though there are many issues inherent to forest management, and the forestry industry in the north, urban forestry is often left out...
Attribution science can help fill the evidentiary gap in climate suits The branch of climate science known as attribution science has improved considerably in the last 15 years. In the past, the degree of certainty as to whether increasing greenhouse gas emissions led to an increase in extreme weather around the world has been a bit fuzzy. Today, scientists can say with great accuracy that...
While parties have made strides in acknowledging the ongoing climate crisis, more work is needed As Canadians head to the polls in the coming days, the climate issue is dominating the election. This is unsurprising, as the country witnessed the climate crisis hit home this summer: from the heat dome that scorched British Columbia and contributed to more than five hundred deaths, the forest fires...
As a result of climate change, extreme weather events and natural disasters will worsen which can add to the threats that force people to flee across international borders. Furthermore, desertification, drought, land degradation and erratic rainfall will increase as temperatures rise and put pressure on people’s livelihoods leading to forced migration. In 2018, there were 28 million...
will the Roaring 20’s lead to a burning of the next decades to come? According to Wall Street, Washington, and Ottawa economists, many consumers are sitting on piles of pandemic savings that is prompting the possible prospect of a post-covid boom. Even in the last few weeks, vaccine distribution has increased and retail sales have jumped. This is said to be a result of months of lockdown induced...
If countries can’t work together to decarbonize the economy and fight climate change, it is unlikely that the states will meet global pledges to emissions reductions in the Paris Agreement. This is nowhere more evident and worrisome than in US-China relations. Global warming is in large part a US-China problem; the two countries combined account for 43% of worldwide carbon emissions. Relations...
The results of the People’s Climate Vote, a survey conducted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), covered over 50 countries and polled over 1.2 million people to assess public opinion on climate change. UNDP said that the poll was the world’s biggest survey ever of public opinion on climate change. It asked respondents if climate change was a global emergency and if so whether they supported...
The agriculture sector is one of the main three sources of greenhouse gas emissions, where cattle, sheep and goat production currently produces approximately half of that amount. Specifically in Canada, 10 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions are from crop and livestock production. Despite this large share of our country’s emissions coming from this source, there has been relatively no...
2020 is the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst virus in modern history that pushed society, economies and communities to their breaking point. However, it must not be forgotten that while the pandemic was raging, so was the climate emergency. 2020 marked record-breaking wildfires from Australia to the west coast of the United States, the highest number of powerful Atlantic storms...
A Federal Court judge ruled last Tuesday that the Canadian government will not be forced to go to trial for its contributions to climate change. In doing so, Justice Michael Manson dismissed a lawsuit brought by 15 young Canadians, aged 10 to 19 years old. These young Canadians had argued that the Canadian government was violating their Charter rights by not taking effective action on climate...