Working group struck to review Red Chamber’s opaque environmental policy
A new group of four Senators will be working this summer to review and make recommendations to update the Red Chamber’s almost 30-year-old environmental policy, an internal document first adopted in 1993 about which little is apparently publicly known. “There is a need for every organization to show commitment to and leadership on sustainability, and […]
A successful low-carbon energy transition starts in cities and grows from there
Climate change is not a distant threat but rather a current reality. Without an immediate and accelerating transformation of our fossil fuel-based energy system, global average temperatures will rise more than 1.5-degree Celsius as soon as 2030. We know that this level of warming will lead to heightened risks for humanity, pushing us into an […]
The health costs of climate change
Climate change isn’t just an environmental threat, it’s an emerging public health threat. And over the coming decades, it risks cutting short the lives of far too many Canadians while costing the healthcare system billions of dollars and the economy tens of billions in lost wages and productivity. That’s the bad news emerging from the […]
Temperature rising on Wilkinson to get Canada back on track on climate file
While the sweeping effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have dominated Canadians’ attention over the past year, another looming crisis—climate change—has slipped below the national radar. But the clock is ticking for federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson (North Vancouver, B.C.) to reverse Canada’s current place as a climate-action laggard to the leadership position […]
Canadian cities need to align climate change and urban forestry policies
VANCOUVER—Canada is warming at a rate twice faster than the global average. In 2019, more than 400 Canadian cities declared a climate emergency, aiming to develop effective plans to address climate change issues. Cities are in a unique position. Not only are they vulnerable to the effects of climate change due to the high concentration […]
We are changing the world to fight COVID-19: can we do the same for climate change?
GUELPH, ONT.—I lead a lab that has been conducting research on the impacts of climate change on ecosystems in Canada and worldwide for decades. While knowing the details of these impacts is important, knowledge must be followed by action. Realizing this, we have also studied how human behaviour and social dynamics can determine the success […]
Grey-green infrastructure as an explicit strategy for climate risk mitigation
The negative impacts of our actions on the natural environment through resource extraction (oil, gas, mining) or massive infrastructure projects (dams, pipelines, transmission corridors, highways, and urban developments) are well recognized. However, the natural environment is both resilient and has enormous intrinsic economic value. Its capacity to sustain, nurture, and enhance resilience of the built […]
We can save species from extinction
For many of us, wildlife is the symbol of nature conservation. This isn’t surprising; humans have lived closely with other living things for most of our history. We knew the names and habits of animals, and we held knowledge of the plants that would heal or harm. Despite our ancient connection to wildlife, we have […]
Half measures won’t get us off the starting line in global race to net zero
It seems like it is now every day that we get international signals that climate action is happening much quicker than expected. The last month saw Shell being forced by a Dutch court to cut carbon emissions by 2030, Germany forced by a court to adopt more ambitious climate measures to protect future generations, climate […]
Renewable fuels key to achieve net zero, but Canada requires supply chain investments
The federal government’s recent move to keep pace with the Biden administration and increase Canada’s emission reduction goals to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 is a clear and singularly focused indicator: in the famous words of Bob Dylan, “the times they are a-changin’” and industry must keep pace or be […]
