Climate change

Many cities across B.C. recorded the hottest days of their histories during the ‘heat dome’ heatwave that blanketed much of the Pacific Northwest at the end June, 2021. (File photo)

Study finds B.C. heat dome caused an uptick in climate anxiety

Over half of respondents said they were more worried about climate change after the heat dome

 

FILE – This 2020 photo provided by the British Antarctic Survey shows the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica. Starting Thursday, Jan. 6, 2021, a team of scientists are sailing to the massive but melting Thwaites glacier, the place in the world that’s the hardest to get to, so they can better figure out how much and how fast seas will rise because of global warming eating away at Antarctica’s ice. (David Vaughan/British Antarctic Survey via AP)

Canadian scientist examines melting Antarctic glacier, potential sea level rise

Team will measure temperatures, salinity and turbulence of waters that have crept underneath the glacier

 

Photo courtesy of J Summers.

B.C. disasters, extreme weather underscore need for climate-resilient agriculture

“We should be building the infrastructure for the next 30 years, starting yesterday.”

 

Solar panels can be seen on the school grounds on Lasqueti Island, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

$134 million in new funding announced for B.C. clean energy projects

The funding is available through the CleanBC Communities Fund starting Jan. 26

Solar panels can be seen on the school grounds on Lasqueti Island, B.C. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
The Bank of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. A new report from the Bank of Canada on climate transition risks show Canada’s financial institutions are potentially exposed to significant economic shocks from high-emitting sectors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

BoC scenarios show financial sector exposed to potential climate transition shocks

The pilot study isn’t meant as a forecast but considers several climate policy scenarios

The Bank of Canada in Ottawa on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. A new report from the Bank of Canada on climate transition risks show Canada’s financial institutions are potentially exposed to significant economic shocks from high-emitting sectors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The remains of a cut block is seen in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Activists pledge to block Trans Canada Highway off-ramps to protest old-growth logging

Extinction Rebellion is among groups organizing campaign

The remains of a cut block is seen in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Summer arrived in Maple Ridge with a heat wave, and many heading to the spray parks to cool down. (The News files)

Extreme weather proves destructive

Climate change is upon us, say environmentalists pointing to deadly heat wave, floods, and freezing

Summer arrived in Maple Ridge with a heat wave, and many heading to the spray parks to cool down. (The News files)
The remains of the Element by Westin hotel is seen, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 in Superior, Colo. Hundreds of homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in wildfires outside Denver. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)

Climate change, new construction mean more ruinous fires

Tens of thousands of people were told to flee Colorado grassfires

The remains of the Element by Westin hotel is seen, Friday, Dec. 31, 2021 in Superior, Colo. Hundreds of homes, a hotel and a shopping center have burned and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated in wildfires outside Denver. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia)
Greenpeace activists stage a demonstration outside a bank in Toronto, as they protest major Canadian bank’s investment in fossil fuels, on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Banks offer big climate commitments in 2021, but key details are yet to come

Pressure is mounting as Canadians live through the very real effects of climate change

Greenpeace activists stage a demonstration outside a bank in Toronto, as they protest major Canadian bank’s investment in fossil fuels, on Tuesday, December 7, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
Much of B.C.’s tree planting program so far has been replacing harvested trees, which minimizes the albedo effect. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. expected to dodge emerging climate change problem tied to tree planting

Trees combat climate change, but can also lead to the warming albedo effect

Much of B.C.’s tree planting program so far has been replacing harvested trees, which minimizes the albedo effect. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A fire truck leads a bus down Main Street past damaged structures during a media tour in Lytton, B.C., on Friday, July 9, 2021, after a wildfire destroyed most of the village on June 30. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck A fire truck leads a bus down Main Street past damaged structures during a media tour in Lytton, B.C., on Friday, July 9, 2021, after a wildfire destroyed most of the village on June 30. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

‘Trying to tell us something’: Climatologist says 2021 a weather year like no other

About 1,000 new daily temperature marks were set between June 24 to July 4

A fire truck leads a bus down Main Street past damaged structures during a media tour in Lytton, B.C., on Friday, July 9, 2021, after a wildfire destroyed most of the village on June 30. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck A fire truck leads a bus down Main Street past damaged structures during a media tour in Lytton, B.C., on Friday, July 9, 2021, after a wildfire destroyed most of the village on June 30. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
A Victoria house is disassembled by Unbuilders Deconstructors, with doors, windows and old-growth lumber recovered for remanufacturing and sale. Unbuilders received a $500,000 grant from B.C.’s building innovation fund last year. (Unbuilders photo via Facebook)

B.C. government looks to assist more low-carbon building solutions

$5M CleanBC building innovation fund opens for applications

A Victoria house is disassembled by Unbuilders Deconstructors, with doors, windows and old-growth lumber recovered for remanufacturing and sale. Unbuilders received a $500,000 grant from B.C.’s building innovation fund last year. (Unbuilders photo via Facebook)
The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. The government, which pledged in 2019 to plant 2 billion trees by 2030, has only planted 8.5 million trees so far, an access to information request by the Canadian Press shows. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Only 8.5 million of the two billion trees promised by PM have been planted so far

Despite the sluggish start, the Ministry of Natural Resources said the program isn’t falling behind

The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. The government, which pledged in 2019 to plant 2 billion trees by 2030, has only planted 8.5 million trees so far, an access to information request by the Canadian Press shows. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A program in Victoria’s Camosun College is giving automotive technicians the skills the need to work on electric vehicles. (Photo courtesy of Camosun College)

Mandate to enforce EV sales quotas needed by end of next year: Guilbeault

Road transportation accounts for one-fifth of Canada’s total greenhouse-gas emissions

A program in Victoria’s Camosun College is giving automotive technicians the skills the need to work on electric vehicles. (Photo courtesy of Camosun College)
Canadian meteorologist Jesse Mason poses for photos, in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Jesse Mason grew up in Vancouver, passionate about the outdoors. He channeled that into a university degree in atmospheric science that eventually landed him a job as a television weather forecaster. That seemingly unlikely path led him to his current job, one with life-and-death implications for millions of people around the world. At the UN World Food Program, he’s charged with trying to get ahead of bad weather and climate catastrophes so the UN can prevent people from starving. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Andrew Medichini

Former B.C. weather forecaster models climate catastrophe for UN to prevent hunger

‘It’s becoming harder and harder to find: what is normal?’

Canadian meteorologist Jesse Mason poses for photos, in Rome, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021. Jesse Mason grew up in Vancouver, passionate about the outdoors. He channeled that into a university degree in atmospheric science that eventually landed him a job as a television weather forecaster. That seemingly unlikely path led him to his current job, one with life-and-death implications for millions of people around the world. At the UN World Food Program, he’s charged with trying to get ahead of bad weather and climate catastrophes so the UN can prevent people from starving. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Andrew Medichini
In Stonefly Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska, glacier retreat in the late 1970s revealed salmon spawning habitat in the new stream that was colonized within 10 years by pink salmon that grew rapidly to more than 5,000 spawners. (Jonathan Moore)

Melting glaciers could create 1,000s of kms of salmon habitat around B.C., Alaska by 2100

Climate change is rapidly changing environments for animals and researchers are urging protection

In Stonefly Creek in Glacier Bay, Alaska, glacier retreat in the late 1970s revealed salmon spawning habitat in the new stream that was colonized within 10 years by pink salmon that grew rapidly to more than 5,000 spawners. (Jonathan Moore)
Flood waters surround a farm in Abbotsford, B.C., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C.’s year of extreme weather ‘consistent’ with climate change, meteorologist says

Each storm may not be as bad but the overall trends will be towards more extreme weather

Flood waters surround a farm in Abbotsford, B.C., Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A droplet of water falls from an iceberg delivered by members of Arctic Basecamp is placed on show near the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. The four ton block of ice, originally part of a larger glacier, was brought from Greenland to Glasgow by climate scientists from Arctic Basecamp as a statement to world leaders of the scale of the climate crisis and a visible reminder of what Arctic warming means for the planet. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Study suggests Arctic to see more rain than snow earlier than expected

Researchers say a rainy North would also have devastating consequences for people and wildlife

A droplet of water falls from an iceberg delivered by members of Arctic Basecamp is placed on show near the COP26 U.N. Climate Summit in Glasgow, Scotland, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. The four ton block of ice, originally part of a larger glacier, was brought from Greenland to Glasgow by climate scientists from Arctic Basecamp as a statement to world leaders of the scale of the climate crisis and a visible reminder of what Arctic warming means for the planet. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Environmental activist David Suzuki speaks during a rally in Vancouver on October 19, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

David Suzuki apologizes for remark on pipelines being “blown up” over climate change

Environmentalist says Victoria remarks a result of frustration at government inaction

Environmental activist David Suzuki speaks during a rally in Vancouver on October 19, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Thick smoke fills the air and nearly blocks out the sun as a property destroyed by the White Rock Lake wildfire is seen in Monte Lake, east of Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. New research suggests the risk of extreme wildfire events is increasing across the globe, with some of the largest increases in Western Canada.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Extreme wildfire weather increasing around the globe, research says

Some of the largest increases in a world-wide trend are happening in Western Canada

Thick smoke fills the air and nearly blocks out the sun as a property destroyed by the White Rock Lake wildfire is seen in Monte Lake, east of Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. New research suggests the risk of extreme wildfire events is increasing across the globe, with some of the largest increases in Western Canada.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck