If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this e-mail newsletter to you, you can sign up for Globe Climate and all Globe newsletters here.
Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Happy Earth Day!
Want to get more involved in making a difference? Whether you have a little or a lot of time, you can take participate in citizen science projects. It can be as easy as sharing your nature observations through an app if you see an invasive species while out for a walk. Or perhaps you want to contribute a bird sighting. If you’re up for take a more hands-on approach, collect some trash in your neighbourhood.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
People join a public cleanup operation on Earth Day at Muizenberg Beach in Cape Town, South Africa, on April 22, 2024.Nardus Engelbrecht/The Associated Press
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Plastics: What’s at stake as UN plastics treaty talks set to begin in Canada
- Trapped baby whale: Baby orca, trapped where its ‘Big Mama’ died, brings together B.C. researchers and locals in efforts to reunite it with family
- Research: Scientists discover a bee’s surprising superpower after a science experiment gone awry
- Opinion: Reckless use of social media threatens wild species and landscapes
- Urbanization: Ontario reaches deal with Ottawa on Highway 413, clearing way for controversial project to proceed
- Health and fitness: Climate change is a growing threat to our love of sports. But can we adapt?
- Opinion from The Narwhal: Earth Day first aimed to save species. To do that, we need to think about more than one
- Visual arts: With a giant sculpture made of single-use plastic, artist Benjamin Von Wong wants to send a hopeful message
Benjamin Von Wong fixes his installation on the Highline in Manhattan, on April 5, 2024.Jeenah Moon/The Globe and Mail
A deeper dive
Canada’s bird watchers have a front-row seat to climate change
The Canada jay, also known by the Cree name wîskicahk and previously called the gray jay, earned its place as the country’s unofficial national bird through both its ubiquity and its pluck. Milder winters, however, mean that its unique survival system no longer works as well as it once did.
The Canada jay, however, is far from the only bird affected by climate change. From familiar backyard visitors such as the American robin and blue jay to iconic species such as the snowy owl and common loon, the changing climate is affecting the migration habits and breeding areas of birds in myriad ways.
A rose-breasted grosbeak: The bird is having difficulty adapting to climate change.Yousif Attia/Supplied
Warming winters have allowed some species such as the turkey vulture, northern mockingbird and red-bellied woodpecker to return to Canada earlier each year and expand into new territories.
While shorter-distance migrants may be adapting relatively well, it’s a different story for those travelling farther from Central and South America, who rely on a precisely timed arrival to take advantage of insect hatches and flower blooms, explains Jody Allair, the director of community engagement for Birds Canada. “The long-distance migrants that all the birders get excited about in spring, like Canada warblers, Baltimore orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks, do not know that there has been an early spring, and they do not appear to be adapting very well to climate change,” he says.
“We’re seeing declines in species, both in terms of birds that breed here in Canada and migrants passing through,” says Yousif Attia, a birding guide with B.C.-based Eagle Eye Tours. Changing weather patterns, he explains, make it harder to predict which species will be passing through a given area at a given time – a challenge for birders and birding guides alike.
“We time our trips to maximize bird diversity and abundance, so the second week of May used to be the traditional window that you would capture the warbler migration in Southwestern Ontario, for example,” he says. “That has now changed to the first week of May or even the last week of April.”
For every disheartening statistic about the decline of bird populations, however, there are actions birders and non-birders alike can take to mitigate the effects of climate change and benefit Canadian biodiversity in all its forms. Birds Canada provides resources for how to plant and maintain a bird-friendly habitat in your backyard and put up window treatments to prevent bird strikes at home.
Jody Allair, director of community engagement for Birds Canada, records some birdsong.Birds Canada/Supplied
What else you missed
- Indigenous communities are leading Canada’s clean energy transition
- World leaders call on nations to swiftly ratify UN ocean treaty
- Coral reefs suffer fourth global bleaching event, U.S. agency says
- B.C. celebrates 10 billion seedlings planted since 1930
- Major water users in southern Alberta agree to curb consumption in face of drought
- Europe is the fastest-warming continent, at nearly twice the average global rate, report says
- Report suggests little progress in first year of Alberta’s emissions reduction plan
- N.B. environment minister resigns, citing political differences with Higgs’s Tories
- UN labour agency report warns of rising threat of excess heat, climate change on world’s workers
- Climate change damage could cost US$38-trillion per year by 2050, study finds
- Deadly heat in West Africa warns of climate change-driven scorchers to come, report says
- Nearly half of China’s major cities are sinking, researchers say
Opinion and analysis
William Shatner: The world can change course before we arrive at Planet Plastic
Kelly Cryderman: To build a new resource project, Indigenous participation is now essential
Clayton Page Aldern: Climate change won’t just make the world a hotter place – it will make it a more violent one, too
Ronald Buliung: Climate change is disabling. Its solutions shouldn’t be
Kent Elson: Why is Ontario taking from homeowners to subsidize gas companies?
Taras Grescoe: Ending agriculture isn’t the climate-crisis solution some think it is
Editorial board: Wab Kinew looks beyond the carbon tax
Green Investing
The coffee business can be a nasty one. For Adam Pesce, the only solution is sustainability
Adam Pesce is president at Reunion Coffee Roasters and a board member at the Coffee Association of Canada. His dad, Peter, is one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in this country. For Report on Business Magazine, he writes about the problems and solutions to making coffee more sustainable.
“I say this half-jokingly, but I want there to be an industry in 20 or 30 years for my daughter to be the third generation of. And I’m sorry, but lab-created coffee beverages are not the solution. I’m not ready to give up on fixing the problem. Instinct tells me it’s time to roll my sleeves up further. And at this point, my sleeves are almost off – I’m basically wearing a tank top.”
- Investors push Equinor to align strategy with global climate goal
- Shell urges investors to reject shareholder group’s climate demands
- Group of TotalEnergies investors calls for split of CEO and chair roles
Making waves
Do you know an engaged individual? Someone who represents the real engines pursuing change in the country? Email us at GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com to tell us about them.
Photo of the week
People take part in a rally against plastics on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on April 21, 2024. The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee is set to take place in the country's capital. Delegates from 176 countries will work to negotiate a treaty to eliminate plastic waste in less than 20 years.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP28 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills - Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- Why Norway is feeding Arctic foxes dog food
- We are all part of the eclipse cosmic community
- What do we lose when we lose winter?
- How to get ready for the total solar eclipse on April 8
We want to hear from you. Email us: GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.