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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate.
Let us introduce ourselves. We are Pippa Norman and Kate Helmore – your substitute newsletter curators. Sierra Bein, the steady captain of this ship, has vanished into the wilderness. We do not know where, why or how she will return. We only wish her well, and that in her stead we will be able to satiate your appetite for all things climate change, environment and resources.
Speaking of which, Environment and Climate Change Canada has become one of the first government offices in the world to launch its own attribution tool for extreme weather events. Within a matter of days, Canadians will now be able to tell whether, or by how much, human-caused climate change made extreme weather more likely or intense.
Replacing studies that would have historically taken months, rapid attribution tools are being used globally to hold big oil and gas companies to account, bolster calls to action and ensure climate science has answers to peoples’ questions about the weather affecting their communities.
Canada’s pilot program will start with heat waves but eventually expand to include other extreme weather events, such as precipitation, cold temperatures and wildfires.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Fisheries: Ottawa ends decades-long ban on Newfoundland’s Northern cod fishing
- Energy: Unable to effectively operate its lone existing nuclear reactor, New Brunswick is betting on advanced options
- Mining: First Nation concerned Victoria Gold, Yukon government playing down impact of Eagle mine rockslide
- Fungi: Inside a New Brunswick mine, a beaver’s cadaver sprouts new life
- Sunsets: Photojournalists and The Globe’s science reporter share scenes that celebrate Canada’s beauty
- From The Narwhal: Grants support Manitoba transition from fossil fuels
Young boys play football on a warm September evening at Deerboine Hutterite Colony in southwestern Manitoba in 2021.Tim Smith/The Globe and Mail
A deeper dive
Impacts of a toxic landslide in Canada’s north still unknown
Ryan MacDonald is The Globe’s senior editor, climate, environment and energy. For this week’s deeper dive, Ryan talks about a mining operation gone wrong in Northern Canada.
Gold mining is a dirty, dangerous business.
Last week, the size and scale of how the gold mining business works was revealed when giant piles of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed an outdoors heap leach gold processing facility at the Eagle gold mine in central Yukon, triggering a landslide that likely released the toxic chemical into the environment.
Heap leaching involves stacking mined ore into giant piles and then sprinkling it with hundreds of litres of water laced with cyanide. Assisted by gravity, the toxic solution causes gold to leach from the ore. The resulting “pregnant” solution then drips into a lined outdoor pond. The solution is finally pumped to an enclosed facility where the gold is collected.
Niall McGee, The Globe’s mining reporter, was the first to reveal that the rockslide had occurred at the mine and that it was not an external, naturally occurring event -- but one that started when the stacked rocks collapsed.
This story is important for a few reasons.
Exactly what happened at the Eagle gold mine is important because Whitehorse-based Victoria Gold has so far put out only one statement on the accident. The Globe has tried multiple times to reach the company’s chief executive officer John McConnell for comment.
It’s also important because what happens downstream from the mine affects not just the environment, but the people who depend on it.
The First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun is concerned the spill has contaminated drinking water, the land, animals and fish and is now in the process of hiring independent advisers to access the situation.
Finally, this story is important because the true cost of cleaning up mining pollution is growing in places like British Columbia – and if disaster strikes, taxpayers are often stuck with the bill.
What else you missed
- Underwater gardeners work to restore B.C.’s majestic kelp forests
- Canada failing to protect human rights activists from mining companies operating overseas: UN watchdog
- Denmark to tax farmers for greenhouse gases emitted by their livestock beginning in 2030
- How to buy sun-protective clothing
- Russia declares state of emergency in two regions due to forest fires
- Oil rises to two-month high on summer demand outlook, supply fears
- Shifting to a vegetarian diet? Here are some tips
- U.S. judge blocks Biden administration’s pause on LNG permits
Opinion and analysis
David Huebert: Are apocalyptic images of wildfires making us numb?
Editorial board: Building a postcarbon future
Daniel O’Brien and Ryan Riordan: Why nature matters to Canada’s GDP
Claire Cameron: Found phrases paint a portrait of wildfires
Bill Lomax: How urban reserves boost Indigenous economic empowerment
Green Investing
How asset managers are assessing physical risks amid extreme weather
Eastern Canada and much of the U.S. recently experienced what weather experts refer to as a “heat dome,” with temperatures feeling hotter than 40 degrees with the humidex. While weather events such as these can cause physical discomfort for many, they can also affect the economy, investments and how risk is assessed in portfolios.
Known as physical risks, these more frequent and severe weather events around the globe are affecting physical assets and investments, with a cascading effect on some less obvious sectors.
Many fund managers have been considering environmental impacts on their investments for years. But the increased frequency of extreme weather events has pushed some to step up their risk assessments.
- More finance, policy ambition demanded at London climate week
- OPEC oil output rises for second straight month in June, survey finds
- Four EV myths that just won’t die
The Climate Exchange
Check out our new digital hub where you can ask your most pressing questions about climate change. It’s a place where we hope to help by answering your questions, big and small, about the continuing changes and challenges around climate change. Along the way, we’ll aim to highlight the people, communities and companies who are working toward climate solutions and innovations. For the record: while RBC supports the initiative financially, the company has no say in what questions get asked or how The Globe answers them.
Photo of the week
A municipal worker shows owlets rescued from a fallen tree after a powerful storm in Montenegro's capital Podgorica, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. A powerful storm has swept through countries in the western Balkans after several days of sizzling temperatures, killing two people and damaging houses, pulling out trees and flooding streets, officials said on Tuesday.Risto Bozovic/The Associated 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.
Pippa Norman