Canola sector tops environment lobbying in March with Net-Zero concerns
Canada’s canola industry took the lead in environmental advocacy in March, partly to address how that sector will fit into Ottawa’s target of reducing nitrogen emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade. “There’s an emission target put out there, and so growers would be concerned, naturally. They need to be able […]
Boreal Wildlands project a model for combatting biodiversity loss and climate change
The Nature Conservancy of Canada has just announced plans for the largest private land conservation project in Canada’s history. When complete, Boreal Wildlands will protect 1,450 square kilometres of boreal forest near Hearst in northern Ontario. The project will encompass an area twice the size of the city of Toronto. As we celebrate Earth Day […]
This Earth Day, it’s time to construct climate action
Today is Earth Day. Unfortunately, in recent years, it passes with little notice or fanfare. And that’s too bad because all of us have some serious thinking to do about preserving our plant. Earth Day was started in 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson to mark the birth of the environmental movement and to get […]
Federal budget a failure when it comes to addressing the water crisis
The climate crisis is a water crisis—affecting everything from prosperity and public health to food availability, energy, security, salmon, fisheries, and ecosystems. The recent flooding, drought, and fires show all Canadians the reality of a very chaotic future where these kinds of events will not only be more common, but also increasingly severe, impacting community […]
Why the world needs less oil and gas, and what Canada can do to keep 1.5°C alive
“Human induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots—fossil fuels and our dependence on them,” Ukrainian delegate Svitlana Krakovska said in a passionate speech before the launch of a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Her statement reflects a tragic truth about fossil fuels called “a dead […]
We’re in ‘an existential battle for the survival of civilization on this planet and our governments continue to play small-beer politics’: McElroy
Re: “Unexciting federal budget a flimsy smokescreen for climate capitulation,” (The Hill Times, Susan Riley, April 11). Here we are in an existential battle for the survival of civilization on this planet and our governments continue to play small-beer politics. The provinces are supporting their local cash cows while ignoring climate change. The federal government […]
Conservatives don’t have to take a back seat on our environmental accomplishments
After 45 years in the field of environmental conservation and resource management, it is clear to me that most public debates on environmental policy in Canada are mostly specious, useless, and border on the ridiculous. I am a biologist by training and was a member of the Canadian delegation to the 1992 Earth Summit in […]
In a world of intersecting crises, reduce emissions for climate—and stability
VANCOUVER—Last month, speaking about the urgency of climate action, UN Secretary General António Guterres referred to “a cauldron of challenges.” It is a poisonous brew: climate and biodiversity crises that threaten planetary life-support systems, a global pandemic, record inflation and, over the past six weeks, a brutal invasion with implications for most nations. Other long-standing […]
Making climate change an issue of self-interest
Unless countries approach solutions to climate change as a game of appealing to individual self-interest, real change may come too late. Climate change is one of the most important topics being discussed in the national and international spheres. It’s a common argument to say that it is in the national self-interest of countries to lower […]
Bay du Nord project puts Canada on path to stay a global ‘outlier’ in climate change fight, warn critics
Environmentalists say Ottawa’s approval of the Bay du Nord offshore oil project—a week after the release of the federal government’s emissions reduction plan and two days after the International Panel on Climate Change’s latest report—marks Canada as an “outlier” on the world stage. But they say Canadians don’t see themselves that way. The Bay du […]
