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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Construction and climate change are coaxing rats into the streets on Toronto, said Toronto Councillor Alejandra Bravo and Deputy Mayor Amber Morley. Residents are increasingly seeing these rodents in homes, businesses and work places. Ms. Bravo went so far as to call it a “perfect rat storm.”
Transit projects and housing development has disrupted underground rat habitats, driving them onto the streets, said Bravo. Warm winters - due to climate change - have also extended mating periods. Apparently, rats can now breed every two months. The city is calling staff to craft an “action plan.”
Ottawa, which has also seen a rat outbreak, is considering a not-yet-legal form of rat birth control. ContraPest induces early menopause in female rats while reducing sperm production in males.
However, a multipronged rat attack is the best strategy, according to reporting done by the Canadian Press. This means public vigilance, rat-proofing structures, locking down food sources alongside eliminating infestations. A combination of these factors worked in Alberta where, according to Canadian Press sources, residents are so unfamiliar with the rodents that 50 per cent of “rat sightings” reported are, in fact, muskrats.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Flash Floods: Flash flooding in Nova Scotia leaves teen dead, roads submerged
- Greenwashing: Alberta seeks to blunt impact of federal greenwashing rules
- Art & Culture: Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Nordic exhibition on climate change has Group of Seven link
- Pipeline: Nebraska pipeline company wins over ‘Keystone Killer’ with landowner and community benefits plan
- Wildlife: Eastern wolf upgraded to threatened species by federal environment minister
- The Narwhal: On a tar roof with a blowtorch in an Ottawa heat wave
A deeper dive
Ice is clogging the Northwest Passage, thwarting hopes for improved shipping as Arctic warms
Ivan Semeniuk is The Globe and Mail’s science reporter, a beat that ranges from the furthest reaches of the cosmos to the most pressing issues and discoveries related to the environment, technology and human health. For this week’s deeper dive, Ivan talks about ice in the Northwest Passage.
As a rule, the story of climate change is full of unintended consequences and complicated feedback loops. This truism was on my mind when looking at a recent study that takes stock of how climate change is already affecting shipping through Canada’s Northwest Passage.
It’s been generally expected that shipping will increase in summer months as sea ice is reduced because of a warming Arctic climate. This is true in terms of the number of ships now seeking to make the trip across the top of North America. But, surprisingly, the window of time in which such a journey is possible every year is not increasing as expected.
The reason has to do with what kind of ice is disappearing. When sea ice recedes in the Arctic, it is the thinnest ice that melts away first. This gives thicker ice the freedom to drift south and clog up shipping routes.
The new study, which is based on remote sensing data from the Canadian Ice Service, shows a trend toward a more hazardous Northwest Passage in certain areas that act as “choke points” for shipping due to ice jams.
As Jackie Dawson, one of the study’s authors, told the Globe and Mail last week, the results are not likely to surprise commercial shippers with a lot of experience in the region:
“What is more concerning is the new entrants (captains who have never been in the Northwest Passage before) and the tourism operators – especially private yachts who have less experience in the region.”
As Dawson notes, in the long run we are heading for an Arctic with a lot less sea ice in the decades ahead. But that change does not translate into “smooth sailing” for all ships seeking to make use of the Northwest Passage.
What else you missed
- Climate advocacy group calls out Canada’s property insurers for fossil fuel support
- Tourists still flock to Death Valley amid searing U.S. heat wave blamed for several deaths
- B.C., Alberta request more wildfire fighters as heatwave persists
- Buffalo AKG Art Museum’s Nordic exhibition on climate change has Group of Seven link
- B.C. marine strategy calls for new rules on who gets fishing quotas
Opinion and analysis
Trina Moyles: Staffed lookout towers aren’t relics from the past – they’re key to fighting today’s wildfires
Ian Brown: Hot summer nights used to be romantic – now they’re dangerous
Green Investing
A rising demand for water is leading to increasing opportunities to invest in what is often called “blue gold” - water scarcity.
According to Globe Investor, competition for water grows more intense due to population growth, industrialization, or demand for water in manufacturing, for example the demand required to cool artificial intelligence data centres.
There are few pure plays within water-related securities, however, investors can get access to this commodity via stocks in various sectors, exchange-trades funds and bonds.
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 jogger rums in front of an installation of street artist James Colomina selling bottled water from the Seine River ironically described as "finely polluted" in Paris, on July 10, 2024. James Colomina's installation is to draw attention on the investment by Paris City Council to clean up the Seine for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The aim of this symbolic action is to denounce the exorbitant expenditure and to question the sustainability of this initiative.OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/Getty Images
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.