Menu

climate change

Sioux Lookout smoke

Advocates rally for new climate change strategy from Ontario government

,

The provincial government is being pressured to reinstate a climate plan.

Emission targets and reporting requirements were removed in legislation last fall.

A coalition of health professionals, policy experts, Indigenous leaders and others says a science-based, accountable climate plan is needed to protect public health and secure the province’s economic future.

Dr. Mili Roy, with the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign, says the government’s decision threatens the future health and well-being of the province.

She would like the Ontario government to allow for more renewable energy projects to proceed.

“Real solutions such as a large-scale renewable energy transition, including Indigenous-led development, represent a massive opportunity to protect our health, our sovereignty and affordability, to create more jobs, and competitively attract investment,” says Roy.

Bushra Asghar from the group Organizing for a Youth Climate Corps. feels Ontario has taken a step backwards at a time when the province is experiencing the impacts related to climate change.

“It’s costing us in worsening wildfires, smoke-filled summers, extreme heat events, and flooding,” says Asghar.

“It costs us constrained health care systems, damaged infrastructure, uninsurable private property, and rising costs for families.”

Doris Grinspun, Chief Executive Officer of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, says climate change is also putting an added strain on the healthcare sector.

“Nurses see seniors arriving with heat strokes from an overheated apartment, in Indigenous communities displaced by wildfires or flooding, many of whom will work directly on other evidence-based practices, in increasing respiratory and cardiovascular emergency visits, asthma attacks, and other acute symptoms caused by wildfire smoke and elevated fine particulate matter,” Says Grinspun.

Supporters were at Queen’s Park on Wednesday to present the government with a petition for a new climate plan and the expansion of renewable energy projects.

Fourteen new solar projects were announced earlier this month.

The groups say the number of megawatts they will produce is significantly less than what electricity forecasts demand.

forest

Lakehead project studying forest drought earns provincial grant

, ,

A Lakehead University research project studying how climate change-induced drought affects conifer pine trees will receive $60,000 over the next four years from the Ontario government’s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).

The project is headed by Dr. Qing-Lai Dang, a Lakehead Professor in the Faculty of Natural Resources Management.

As climate change makes droughts more frequent and severe, Dang hopes understand the stress mechanisms which cause Ontario’s conifer pines to die.

“What we do not know is how dry is too dry for the trees, and how much the drought actually reduces their growth and productivity,” Dang explains.

The research project will also provide information to the MNR to help the body update its forestry management guidelines, with future-proofed policies that account for climate change.

Through studying how pine trees die from drought, Dang also hopes to make forests more resilient.

In drought, trees tend to die either from “carbon starvation” or “hydraulic failure”.

Dang hopes to determine which tree species are dying from which mechanism.

“That mechanism of identification can be used by tree breeders to breed trees for the future that will be more drought resilient,” he says.

The professor believes his research has environmental and economic implications.

Drought will hurt forestry industries and the communities which rely on them, and diminish the biodiversity of forest ecosystems.

In addition to the provincial grant, the project is also receiving $120,000 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The grant money will help the project pay for graduate and postdoctoral students to assist with research.

Dang says the focus of his research for more than two decades has been to understand how boreal forests will respond to climate change, to see “what kind of forests we will have by the end of the century.”

The thermometer shows a very hot temperature.

2026 set to be another scorcher

,

It’s going to be another hot one this year, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The federal government released its annual global mean temperature forecast, giving Canadians a sense of what they can expect from temperatures around the world this year.

And the expectation is more of the same.

After record-breaking global heat in 2023 and 2024 and a comparably warm 2025, temperatures are expected to remain at historically high levels in 2026.

The forecast said there’s a greater than 99 per cent chance that 2026 will be hotter than every year on record prior to 2023.

The latest forecast shows the global mean temperature in 2026 is predicted to be between 1.35 and 1.53 C above pre-industrial levels. That means global temperatures will remain at least 1 C above pre-industrial levels for the 13th consecutive year.

It also predicted a 12 per cent chance that 2026 will exceed the 1.5 C Paris Agreement threshold. While exceeding that in a single year isn’t a failure to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal, which is defined by long-term average temperature over multiple decades.

Canada’s long-term forecasts show the period from 2026 to 2030 are likely to be the hottest five-year period on record.

The federal government is taking steps to address the rise in carbon emissions, including measures introduced in last year’s budget and the Climate Competitiveness Strategy.

“Canadians are already experiencing the impacts of a changing climate, from extreme heat to increased risks to communities and infrastructure,” said Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin. “This latest global temperature forecast provides important, science-based information to help governments, decision-makers, and communities better understand what lies ahead and plan accordingly.”

NOICE announcement

FedNor announces new clean energy program for Indigenous communities

,

The Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor) is delivering a new green initiative to northern Ontario’s Indigenous communities.

Funded by the Strategic Partnerships Initiative, the Northern Ontario Indigenous Clean Energy Initiative (NOICE) will help Indigenous-led clean energy developments come to fruition.

The program will assist communities with planning, skill development, and assistance in securing investments for green energy projects.

NOICE is framed as a reconciliation effort that will help Indigenous communities in the north determine their own pathways towards greater economic resilience and self-sufficiency.

The new program was announced by Minister for FedNor Patty Hajdu, who described its purpose as a way to “empower increased capacity for Indigenous communities to pursue economic and business opportunities in clean energy development.”

The minister says clean energy is one of Canada’s strongest selling points in international markets.

First Nations and Metis communities, Indigenous-owned businesses and organizations can apply to the program.

The clean energy announcement comes two weeks after the former Environment and Climate Change minister Steven Guilbeault resigned from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet in response to the federal government’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement with the province of Alberta, which opens up the possibility of a new pipeline.

In an interview last week, Guilbeault expressed skepticism that Canada could still reach its 2030 emissions targets.

When asked about former minister Guilbeault’s resignation, Minister Hajdu argued that Canada needed to be pragmatic in its approach to climate change.

“It’s important to have targets that we can reach, rather than targets where we have provinces, in some cases, not agreeing at all to do that work,” she said.

Hajdu pointed out that the MOU includes commitments from Alberta to reduce emissions and comply with a higher industrial carbon tax.

“Although I appreciate that there may not be unanimity of opinion in this space, I do feel that it is important to work in the art of the possible,” she continued.

new-project-5

Climate change key takeaway from federal leaders’ debate

, , , , , , , , , , ,

The stakes were high as the five major party leaders fought to earn your vote.

Climate change, reconciliation, and Afghanistan were key themes during Thursday night’s leaders debate.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole slammed Justin Trudeau for calling an election as the deadline to withdraw troops loomed.

Meantime, Trudeau took a shot at the Conservatives over their position on climate change.

“You can’t have a strong economy unless you tackle climate change,” Trudeau said. “Mr. O’Toole can’t even convince his party that climate change is real because they voted against that.”

Trudeau was pointing to the Conservative party’s convention earlier this year when members voted down inserting wording in their policies that climate change is real.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole admitted his party came up short on its climate plan heading into the last election.

“We put our plan out in April because we had to restore some trust on this issue to make sure we can show Canadians we can get emissions down and get the economy working again,” said O’Toole. “That is key.”

Meantime, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Indigenous people have been let down too often.

“How do you restore trust in a country as wealthy as ours that still does not provide clean drinking water to every single Indigenous nation?,” Singh asked. “It starts by actually walking the path of reconciliation. Not with empty words, but real action.”

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul says she wants Indigenous people to be able to make decisions for themselves.

Election Day is September 20.

trudeau

Trudeau Vows Canada Will Be Better Prepared Next Fire Season

, , , , , , ,

Climate change and forest fires the focus as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau campaigns in Vancouver.

As of Wednesday, there were 5,673 forest fires recorded across Canada this year, compared to the 10 year average of 4,506.

Trudeau promised if re-elected, the country would be better prepared for next year’s fire season.

“A re-elected Liberal government will invest $500-million ahead of the next fire season for the firefighters and equipment that provinces need,” says Trudeau, “To begin with, we’ll train at least 1,000 more firefighters in communities across the country that can mobilize right away when a major burn starts. We know communities could have used more hands this year, so when next year comes around, this training means teams will be ready and complete.”

Liberal Leader Trudeau went on to acknowledge the severity of climate change, and the detrimental effects it has had on Canadians.

“When the interior of BC is burning up, when families are losing their homes to floods, farmers are losing their crops to droughts, we know we are facing a climate crisis and we have to take even more action.”

Climate change is a focal point of this election, many saying it will play a significant role in who is elected on Sept. 20.

All four major parties have released plans to tackle the climate crisis, including each one supporting carbon pricing in some capacity.

TknRspuNTJs-scaled-1

Insurance Bureau Underlines Climate Change Report

, , , , , ,

A new UN report on climate change is calling it a code red for humanity.

The four-thousand page report says the world temperature will go up by 1.5 degrees by 2040.

Craig Stewart from the Insurance Bureau of Canada says they have been sending a similar message to the federal government for years.

“What that means is that the whole world’s going to see an increase in severe weather, extreme severe weather. But we’re going to feel the brunt of it even more here in Canada,” he explains, adding Canada is warming at twice the rate of most of the rest of the world.

Stewart says in terms of insurance, people are already seeing their premiums go up because of the extreme weather, and some companies have pulled out of Canada altogether because of the increasing cost of pay-outs.

He says the report shows just how far-reaching global warming is.

nwmo

Ignace Repository Climate Study Findings

, ,

Climate change will affect plans for an underground nuclear repository in the Ignace area.

That’s according to a new study conducted by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and Golder Associates Ltd.

Kelly Liberda is a Senior Engineer with the NWMO and says “It’s likely that there will be increased precipitation in the future. Increased precipitation can lead to flooding or other extreme climate events. So it’s really important that we consider these factors when we are designing our facility.”

Liberda says their mission is to incorporate new knowledge and adapt plans in response to changing conditions.

“One of the ways that we will incorporate this information into our design is when we are designing our storm water management system. We’ll want to make sure that we have enough capacity so it can handle an increased precipitation level that may occur in the future.”

Liberda says the study information will be passed along to their engineering group and be used in future designs.

She stresses their priority is mitigating and minimizing any risks posed by environmental factors such as climate change.

Liberda notes similar research is underway at the second proposed site, South Bruce, Ontario.

To hear more from Kelly Liberda, visit the Audio link below.

sobeys-1-1

Most Sobeys Stores Ban Plastic Bags

, , ,

Safeway in Dryden is not impacted at this time by a plastic grocery bag ban issued by Sobeys.

Most stores in Canada are no longer offering the bags starting today. (Friday)

Company spokesperson Violet MacLeod says the decision was driven by customers, who wanted more sustainable shopping options,

MacLeod says “that change is going to take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation annually and that’s actually enough to wrap around earth two times.”

Impacted stores will now sell paper bags for 10 cents each and reusable bags will also be available for purchase.

MacLeod says a portion of the proceeds from all sales will go towards the planting of trees across Canada.

She believes the ban is an innovative way to help people recycle responsibly.

The move is being supported by the Retail Council of Canada.

Jim Cormier says customers should be patient as the adjustments will take time, noting this is now the direction of several retailers.

 

 

Earthcare-climate-deputation-800x450-2

Thunder Bay Declares Climate Change Emergency

, ,

The City of Thunder Bay is taking the lead in northwestern Ontario to declare a climate emergency.

A resolution received unanimous support at Monday night’s Council meeting.

Members voted to deepen their “commitment to protecting our economy, our ecosystems, and our community from climate change.”

Although the move by is mostly symbolic, Councillor Andrew Foulds says the resolution means they will continue to make decision with climate change in mind.

“I’m not happy that my young children, potentially, will be growing up in a world that’s going to have some major climate challenges that will impact the economy, that will impact them socially.

Foulds adds “We will continue to make good decisions using that climate change [and] climate adaptation lens, and we continue to build and grow an economy that’s environmentally sensitive.”

Foulds, who is also the chair of the local Earthcare Advisory Committee, says it’s important to send a message that climate change “warrants serious, urgent attention and action.”

 

Load More