Good morning, and welcome to the weekend.
Grab your cup of coffee or tea, and sit down with a selection of this week’s great reads from The Globe and Mail.
In this issue, Justine Hunter reports on more than 1,000 species in Canada at risk of extinction and what’s being done to protect them. Hunter has written a fair bit about biodiversity and individual animals on the brink of disappearing forever, but she always struggled to come up with a short explanation about why that matters. That changed once she saw the list of species on the edge of extinction in Canada, and knew she had to think bigger.
“I noticed that I had written about quite a few of them – the Quatsino Cave amphipod, Audouin’s Night-stalking Tiger Beetle, the Morrison Creek lamprey – without really appreciating how these obscure little creatures fit into the overall picture of what the loss of biodiversity means,” Hunter said. “I wanted to try to pull that together.”
Vanmala Subramaniam writes about how the app-based platforms’ use of algorithms to determine pay makes it impossible for gig workers to predict their wages.
Zosia Bielski reports on a generation of women pushing back against dismissiveness toward their sexual health and what doctors are doing to support patients better.
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Disappearing on our watch, and in our reach
A molting elephant seal rests on the beach at Wittys Lagoon regional park in Metchosin, B.C., on May 24, 2023.CHAD HIPOLITO/The Globe and Mail
The region of southern Vancouver Island, where Justine Hunter lives, supports more biological diversity than anywhere else in British Columbia – but it also has the greatest number of species that could disappear forever. Widespread conservation efforts have been successful in bringing several species back from the brink of extinction, but in Canada today there are at least other 113 species that could disappear in a heartbeat. Hunter reports on Canada’s efforts (or lack thereof) to protect its biodiversity.
Gig worker, Jude O, delivers an order using DoorDash during his afternoon shift in midtown Toronto, on July 5, 2023.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Algorithms are widely used by app-based rideshare and food-delivery companies such as Uber, Lyft and DoorDash to boost efficiency for customers and increase revenue. But algorithms are also used to determine the wages of gig workers, resulting in different payments for the same work conducted at the same time, with the same skills. Vanmala Subramaniam takes a closer look at what has become widely known as “algorithmic wage discrimination.”
U.S. tribal nations deal with a legacy of poor drinking water
Citizens of Warm Springs and local Fly Fishing Guide, Alysia Aguilar gathers clean drinking water from one of the 219 fresh water springs on the reservation on June 27, 2023.Kari Rowe/The Globe and Mail
For the residents of Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon, drinking clean water often means having to drive 25 kilometres north to fill their bottles at a spot where natural spring water spills out through a roadside pipe. Authorities in the tribal community say the water is safe, but residents say it smells like algae, and at times it has the odour of rotten eggs. Nathan VanderKlippe writes about the water situation in the community, which is a problem familiar to Canadians – 26 communities across the country still have boil-water advisories in effect.
Gen X is over having their menopause and sex concerns brushed aside
Dr. Jen Gunter is photographed in Toronto on June 5, 2019.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
For decades, many family doctors disregarded women’s complaints about hot flashes, night sweats, brain fog and other perimenopause symptoms. There can be even less support when women bring up sexual symptoms – pain during sex, vaginal dryness, a lack of desire. With Gen X now moving through menopause, more women are pushing back against this type of dismissiveness toward their sexual health. Having come of age during feminism’s third wave, they’re more outspoken about their sex lives. Zosia Bielski reports on what doctors are doing about it.
Inuit archive finally digitized thanks to giant turntable
'Untitled' print by Kingmeata Etidlooie at the McMichael Gallery, June 26, 2023.Alyson Hardwick/The Globe and Mail
Many new ideas emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, it underlined the importance of digitizing collections as shuttered museums could only reach visitors virtually and the federal government stepped into the breach. In 2021, the McMichael was one of the first applicants of government funding from the museums-assistance program, receiving a $430,970 grant to photograph the Dorset archive and expand the website that will house it. Kate Taylor reports on the ARKIV360 machine, which has since March been digitizing the Cape Dorset archive at the rate of 800 to 1,000 pieces a day and should finish next week.
The key to fighting ticks? Getting to know them better
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a black-legged tick, which is also known as a deer tick.James Gathany/The Associated Press
It’s easy to understand why ticks, a growing, disease-carrying menace, are met with horror and revulsion. But, as scientists say, ticks are also captivating and little-understood creatures. And getting to know them better – by understanding their physiology, behaviour and where and how they’re spreading – is the key to protecting ourselves and our pets against them and the various pathogens they carry.
In praise of ambivalence – a worthy and purposeful habit of mind
Illustration by Ming Wong/The Globe and Mail. Source: Getty Images
Decisiveness is totally overrated. Ambivalence gets a bad rap, but Suzannah Showler thinks we need to reconsider its value. She proposes that we reappraise ambivalence as an engaged, imaginative capacity to live with varying – and contradictory – visions, ideas and possibilities. Maybe responding to experiences with indeterminate or conflicted feelings and ideas is not only reasonable, but fruitful and creative. According to Showler, ambivalence may be a worthy and purposeful habit of mind – one that helps a person learn to share space with the unknown.
Summer McIntosh has looked up to Michael Phelps all her life
Summer McIntosh, a 17-year-old swimming pro, will represent Canada at the 2024 Paris Olympics.Photo Illustration: The Globe and Mail. Source photo: Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
All eyes will be on Canada’s teen swimming sensation Summer McIntosh when the world aquatics championships gets under way July 14 in Fukuoka, Japan. And as a 17-year-old at the 2024 Paris Olympics, she could be the story of Canada’s Games. McIntosh recently spoke with The Globe’s Rachel Brady by phone from Florida, where she trains with the Sarasota Sharks. You can read the interview here.
Drawn from the headlines
Self-driving cars are here and they’re watching you. The Guardian, July 4, 2023, as drawn by Derek Evernden for The Globe and Mail.
Illustration by Derek Evernden for The Globe and Mail