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.
This year’s World Press jury for North and Central America included Amber Bracken, a Globe and Mail contributor and two-time winner in the contest. Offering an insider’s take on what made the top entries so compelling, Bracken explores the winning qualities of some of 2022′s finest photojournalism.
One winner that stood out as an environmental piece is by Cristopher Rogel Blanquet called Beautiful Poison. It’s a look at the agrichemicals in the flower industry in Mexico, and the responsibilities of governments and individual shoppers to push for more ethical farming practices. Here’s one striking image from the many incredible pieces of work.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
A man sells flowers from his car at the Villa Guerrero flower market, Mexico, on 16 May 2021. Most flowers sold at the market are shipped around the country or exported. BEAUTIFUL POISON is a long-term photography project documenting the public health problem associated to the unrestricted use of agrochemicals by the flower industry in the region of Villa Guerrero, Mexico.Cristopher Rogel Blanquet/Supplied
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Transportation: These are Canada’s electric vehicle hot spots
- Protest: Two First Nation leaders escorted out of legislature after protesting Ontario’s accelerated mining development plans
- Pollution: After the Imperial Oil leak, Ottawa is taking a closer looking at the Alberta Energy Regulator communication agreement. Also, the energy regulator defends finding that Alberta’s largest earthquake was caused by oil patch activity.
- Listen to The Decibel: The little-known document reshaping climate finance in Canada
- Waste management: Moltex vows to help Canada recycle its nuclear waste. Critics say the byproducts would be even worse
- Oil and gas: Ksi Lisims LNG set to undergo B.C.-led environmental review
- News from The Narwhal: Rare inland rainforest in B.C. declared Indigenous protected area — a move that could put an end to logging plans
A deeper dive
Atlantic mackerel need saving, but there are no easy answers
Mackerel are torpedo-shaped fish with black racing stripes and turquoise-silver bodies that glint in the sunlight.
The fish supports Atlantic Canada’s top recreational fisheries, and one of its oldest commercial fisheries. It’s used for bait, but it also has an important place in Indigenous cultures.
Today, Canada’s Atlantic mackerel population is a shadow of what it once was, and its decline threatens the well-being of the people who depend on it. Last year, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans closed Canada’s commercial and bait mackerel fisheries and placed daily personal limits on the recreational fishery, to give the population time to rebound.
All told, 24 per cent of Canada’s forage fish stocks are in the critical zone, while a scant 6 per cent are healthy. Federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray will soon decide whether to reopen the fisheries. The DFO’s latest studies have found no sign of recovery in the mackerel stock.
Oddly, that’s not what fishermen say they are seeing out on the water. They are sharing photos and videos online that seem to show abundant Atlantic mackerel populations.
Scientists have found that this “abundance” is misleading. When populations of schooling fish such as mackerel dwindle, the remaining fish cluster in increasingly tight, dense schools. This behavioural response can create an appearance of plenty. And it can precede a sudden population collapse.
And climate change adds to the uncertainty of a mackerel recovery.
The DFO has said that changing water temperatures affect where mackerel are found and how many are caught. But climate conditions are not considered in quota decisions, or in the mackerel rebuilding plan.
And Canadian closures may leave more fish in the water for American fishers. To further complicate matters, there are reports of Canadian lobster fishermen importing mackerel bait from the U.S. fishery.
Could a moratorium be the answer?
Standing on his wharf, with his hands on his lobster traps, fish harvester Patrick Payne, says there's a lot on the line with changes to the lucrative mackerel fishery. The boats, and the harbour in the background makeup an ecosystem, all impacted by what he can and cannot fish. Port Saunders, Newfoundland.Leila Beaudoin, Freelance/The Globe and Mail
What climate news you missed after the budget
Last week, we prepped you for the federal budget and about what to expect on the climate beat.
This week, catch up on everything that went down in the document, but particularly around climate initiatives. The big story, as expected, is that Ottawa made its bet in tax credits to stay competitive with the U.S. on clean economy spending. But experts argue the nearly $21-billion will not be enough to spur major carbon capture investments.
Read Adam Radwanski’s analysis: Budget 2023 makes a good, if risky, bet on letting the market drive climate investments
- Merran Smith and Trevor Melanson: Most oil jobs will vanish by 2050 – that’s why the federal budget’s clean-energy stimulus is vital
- Andrew Coyne: If the government wanted to strangle economic growth, this is the budget it would produce
What else you missed
- Fight against toxic mining runoff from Canada persists, say U.S. Indigenous leaders
- Climate scientists push back on Newfoundland and Labrador’s ‘low-carbon oil’ claim
- House passes bill creating carve-outs for farmers in Canada’s carbon pricing scheme
- EU countries approve landmark law to end sales of new CO2-emitting cars by 2035
- Nuclear dispute hangs over EU renewable energy talks
- Rapidly melting Antarctic ice is dramatically slowing global ocean flows, study finds
- UN votes to ask International Court of Justice to rule on national climate obligations
- Intriguing moon water source found in glass beads from impacts
- Evacuations end after fiery Minnesota ethanol derailment
- White House touts Amazon’s electric delivery vehicles, Google’s EV tax credit tool
Opinion and analysis
Alex Bozikovic: Will Toronto’s next mayor defend Ontario Place?
Tony Keller: Risky business: Ottawa has been drawn into the industrial-subsidy arms race
Green Investing
RBC launches climate research institute to develop net-zero emission strategies
RBC said today that its Climate Action Institute will deploy the bank’s research capabilities and invite government officials, business leaders and others to share information on developing net-zero emission strategies. The initiative stems from the bank’s forecasting that the Canadian economy is likely to require $2-trillion in public and private spending to meet the country’s climate goals. The strategy involves developing and scaling up emission-reduction demonstration projects in key industries.
Meanwhile, Protesters across Canada demonstrate against RBC’s fossil-fuel funding
- U.S. Republicans widen challenge to fund managers on ESG
- Opinion: Sustainable investors don’t need ‘green bleaching’
Making waves
Each week The Globe will profile a Canadian making a difference. This week we’re highlighting the work of Alexandra Thomas uplifting Indigenous knowledge.
Alexandra ThomasSupplied
My name is Alexandra Thomas. My matrilineal ancestry is Tlowitsis First Nation (Kwakwaka’wakw) and Sishalh (Sechelt) First Nation (Coast Salish) on my patrilineal side. I am an undergraduate student in the forestry resources management program in the Faculty of Forestry at the UBC Vancouver campus.
Currently, I am working as the project lead for the Homegrown Climate Justice project. Working with the UBC Climate Emergency team we have secured funding through the Indigenous Strategic Initiative fund to create community green spaces in the Downtown Eastside while combining Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) with contemporary practices.
I have also worked for the Nanwakolas Council Society on Cultural Awareness training and workshops for people in the natural resource industry based out of Northern Vancouver Island. While working with Nanwakolas I have worked with forestry companies on the engagement and preservation of Large Cultural Cedar in Kwakwaka’wakw territory.
My aim is to build climate resiliency in our communities, build meaningful relationships, as well as uplift Indigenous knowledge in mainstream spaces. First Nations have been here for millennia, during that time they were the stewards who managed and cared for this landscape. My goal is to use TEK and explore how it can address many of our current-day challenges, and revitalize our cultural practices. My biggest goal is to encourage other Indigenous youth to seize this time and the opportunities it presents us to change things for the better.
To learn about the project, please email: climate.emergencyy@ubc.ca
- Alex
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
As the Washington Monument and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial are seen in the background, the cherry tree nicknamed “Stumpy” stands in high tide water amid cherry blossoms in peak bloom on March 25, 2023 in Washington, DC. According to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, climate change and rising sea levels are expected to threaten the root systems of cherry trees near the Tidal Basin.Alex Wong/Getty Images
Catch up on Globe Climate
- This is the most consequential budget for climate in years. Here’s what to watch
- The final IPCC report looks dire, but there are bright spots
- What is the UN ‘High Seas Treaty’ really about?
- Indigenous community says they were kept in the dark about industrial leak
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.