Urgent changes at an unprecedented level never before seen in human history are needed to save the planet from environmental collapse. Nova Scotia has responded to this clarion call from the world’s leading scientists by paying a company to burn old tires. The Department of Environment announced today it’s awarded industrial approval for Lafarge Canada […]
Climate change
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Protecting the complex web of life should be the priority
News that Environment and Climate Change Canada is considering “priority threat management” to assess endangered species is troubling. The method is often used to inform a “triage” approach in which some species are abandoned to focus resources on others ranked higher priority. The federal government is legally required to oversee recovery of all species at […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Science Matters: Get outside and save the world
Renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson says to protect nature, people must regain their innate love for it. That means spending time in nature. While the concepts in Wilson’s book Biophilia have gained widespread acceptance since its publication more than 30 years ago, we’re still facing serious problems based on a lack of understanding of and […]
Posted inFood + Drink
Weathering the storm: How the changing climate affects our vineyards
This year’s record-breaking warm, dry summer gave grape-growers and winemakers a sweet taste of what climate change has in store for Nova Scotia. That heat came just after a freeze in early June—late in the season for a frost so severe—offered another, bitter, glimpse at what climate change will look like in our vineyards. “There […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: We must heed storm warnings to build a brighter future
In 2012, North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission warned that sea levels there could rise by a metre over the next century. The warning was based in part on U.S. Geological Survey findings that “sea level rise along the portion of the East Coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts is accelerating at three to four times […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Algae a blooming problem in Nova Scotia lakes
The headlines are frequent and ominous. A quick Google search summons warning after warning: satellite images of green spiralling across Lake Erie; health warnings plastered along rivers in Alberta; three dogs in New Brunswick, dead. Halifax is not immune. In August, the municipality issued a blue-green algae warning for two Dartmouth lakes, Banook and Mi’kmaq. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Trans Mountain decision is good, but we still have far to go
Saved by the whales! The federal Appeal Court decision on August 30 to quash the government’s approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project was largely based on the National Energy Board’s failure to consider the environmental impacts of a sevenfold tanker traffic increase off the B.C. coast, including how it would affect endangered southern […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Climate change combines with other factors to fuel wildfires
Scientists, journalists, environmentalists and others who draw the connection between increasing wildfires and global warming often face a backlash. It’s not climate change; it’s lightning, careless smokers or campers, poor forestry management, industrial activity or sparks from vehicles, bad government… One doesn’t negate the other. Wildfires have many causes, and more than one factor is […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Hot enough for you?
If you follow climate news (and you should), you’ve likely heard of the global warming “hiatus.” In attempts to keep the world hooked on diminishing reserves of polluting fossil fuels, climate science deniers seized on that phenomenon to claim the warming they once argued didn’t exist stopped. Others took up the false claim out of […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Cool solutions mean a hothouse planet isn’t inevitable
In the midst of worldwide record heat, devastating wildfires, droughts, refugee crises, and torrential rains and flooding, some particular disturbing headlines have hit the news. “Planet at risk of heading towards irreversible ‘hothouse’ conditions” the CBC announced. Similar headlines appeared in other media outlets. As CBC explained, “Scientists from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, the University […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Will energy efficiency stall climate disruption?
In the race against the increasingly widespread and devastating consequences of climate change, solutions tend to focus on products and technologies. Renewable energy, electric vehicles, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and geoengineering get much of the attention, in part because they lead us to believe we can continue acting as usual. Those technologies must be […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: We can’t hide from global warming’s consequences
Over the past few months, heat records have broken worldwide. In early July, the temperature in Ouargla, Algeria, reached 51.3 C, the highest ever recorded in Africa! Temperatures in the eastern and southwestern United States and southeastern Canada have also hit record highs. In Montreal, people sweltered under temperatures of 36.6 C, the highest ever […]
