Canadian federal climate policies and investments look increasingly fragile. Could ‘carbon contracts for difference’ help ensure the survival of long-term climate action in Canada? (Shutterstock) With the end of the supply-and-confidence agreement and plummeting support for the Liberals, Canada’s climate policy mix is becoming increasingly unstable with the future of everything from investment tax credits…
The Mara-Serengeti ecosystem, which includes Kenya’s Maasai Mara and Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park, is one of the most famous and wildlife-rich areas in Africa. Every year, millions of animals move across the land in search of fresh grass and water, creating an incredible spectacle known as the Great Migration. This migration sustains hundreds of predators…
Getty Images “The climate crisis is a health crisis.” So says World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus. The World Economic Forum agrees. Its report this year highlighted how climate change is taking a toll on global health due to increasingly frequent extreme weather events. These issues are on the official agenda here too, especially since…
Lake Superior is known for its pristine waters, but a combination of nutrient additions from increasing human activity (including farming and development), warming temperatures and stormy conditions have resulted in more frequent blooms of potentially harmful algae. Cyanobacteria thrive in freshwater systems with warmer water temperatures and elevated nutrient inputs, typical of highly urbanized and…
Artificial intelligence (AI) is curating your social media feed and giving you directions to the train station. It’s also throwing the fossil fuel industry a lifeline. Three of the biggest tech companies, Microsoft, Google and Meta, have reported ballooning greenhouse gas emissions since 2020. Data centres packed with servers running AI programs day and night…
A flooded Christmas tree farm in Boone, N.C., on Sept. 27, 2024. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images Hurricane Helene caused deadly and destructive flooding when it swept through the Southeast on Sept. 26-29, 2024. Across a broad swath of western North Carolina, where the worst flooding occurred, the amount of rainfall exceeded levels that would be…
Sci-fi movies can help escape reality to better understand it. Coneyl Jay/The Image Bank via Getty Images Uncommon Courses is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching. Title of course: Sociology, Science Fiction Film, and Artificial Intelligence What prompted the idea for the course? A colleague in the sociology department…
Driven by extreme heat and drought, some of the worst wildfires in living memory raged across Mexico and Central America through April and May 2024. News agencies reported howler monkeys dropping dead from trees, and parrots and other birds falling from the skies. In Belize, a state of emergency was declared as wildfires burned tens…
Netrun78/Shutterstock Generation Z has been called “the sustainability generation”. Born between 1997 and 2013, 58% of this consumer cohort seek to buy products that are sourced sustainably. Australian Gen Zs say they are willing to pay more for brands that have a positive impact on society. Yet, at the same time, we have witnessed the…
An overturned industrial storage tank in Asheville, N.C., shows the power of fast-moving flood water. Sean Rayford/Getty Images Hundreds of industrial facilities with toxic pollutants were in Hurricane Helene’s path as the powerful storm flooded communities across the Southeast in late September 2024. Near the coast and into Georgia, Helene swept over paper mills, fertilizer…