After last summer, how come politicians are not talking about the climate and water crisis?
We just had a brutal wakeup call from Mother Nature. This summer we had exceptional and unprecedented heat and drought that were made far worse by climate change. The most widespread drought ever recorded has dried up soils, pastures, crops, lakes, and streams. Tinderbox dry conditions caused extensive wildfires, evacuations of thousands of people and […]
Time for Liberals, Tories to adopt serious climate change plans
You’ve read the respective climate platforms, but have you had a hard time figuring out what might be effective climate mitigation policies, and what is election style bulltweety? In my long-time climate activist’s educated opinion—and I have written for many years about both effective climate mitigation and the much more common pretend climate mitigation—none of […]
What is the Liberal record on climate change? Environmentalists weigh in
Environmental organizations are skeptical about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau’s election 2021 commitments to tackle climate change, arguing they’ve seen unfulfilled promises on that file from previous elections, including a proposed phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies. When it comes to the Liberals following through on climate action promises, it’s a “mixed story,” said Alex Speers-Roesch, […]
Preserve green infrastructure so it can preserve us
This summer’s heat dome made international news, showing the world what a couple weeks of extreme high temperatures can do to communities and more than a billion seashore animals. During that same week, Toronto and Calgary experienced severe thunderstorms and hail, leading to significant flood damage. We’ve seen unprecedented flooding around the world and hundreds […]
Climate change and the new space race
LONDON, U.K.—If you’re worried about your “carbon footprint” – a concept foisted on the world in 2004 by British Petroleum to persuade people that their own behaviour, and not giant oil companies like BP, is causing the climate problem—then you definitely should not sign up for a sub-orbital space flight.Besides, you probably can’t afford it, […]
Building sustainable infrastructure for next-generation cities
COVID-19 has abruptly changed the professional urban lifestyle in cities with daily commutes and national and international business travel moving towards days of virtual meetings and walks within the neighbourhood. And the work efficiency has often benefitted from these gains in time otherwise spent in private cars or airports. Having hardly mastered the COVID crisis, […]
For the Canada we want, we need to build better
The yellow-brick road to recovery post-economic downturn is often paved in shovel-ready infrastructure projects. The result of short-sighted investment planning, these projects all too often are merely a drop in the proverbial bucket of infrastructure needs. The growing national infrastructure deficit is estimated at upwards of $150-billion, with at least $30-billion in Indigenous communities alone. […]
Infrastructure projects should look past COVID-19 to include climate focus, says McKenna
Climate change is the lens through which Canada must evaluate the infrastructure projects that will drive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, according to outgoing Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna. “Every dollar we invest has to drive us to a cleaner future and tackle climate change,” said Ms. McKenna (Ottawa Centre, Ont.). “Every time there’s […]
Call a debate on climate change
HALIFAX—Last week, journalism Professor Sean Holman of Mount Royal University in Calgary published a lengthy piece in The Tyee about the poor coverage afforded to the most important story in the world: planet-threatening global warming that is rapid, widespread, and intensifying. Holman compared how the 10 biggest U.S. newspapers, as determined by the Alliance for […]
Ottawa must accelerate climate action after ‘dire’ IPCC report, say Senate Environment Committee members
After the release of the “dire” UN climate panel report, three Senators are imploring the government to take “urgent action,” warning its slow response to climate change will only lead to increased health and safety concerns in Canada. “The situation is dire, and the situation is terrifying. It is very difficult for me to accept […]
