Judge Smith was suitably impressed and “recognized Mrs. Rogerson’s original strain as a new, unique, and distinct breed. He went on to encourage development of the (breed) … and he later developed the first breed standards.”

Mrs. Rogerson’s new breed was the Gloster (for Mrs. Rogerson’s home shire) Fancy Canary, and it came in two versions, the Gloster Corona and the Gloster Consort.

The Gloster Corona (left) and Gloster Consort (right) (images from Animal World)

The Gloster Corona was, as its name suggests, crowned with crested plumage, the first to catch the eyes of canary admirers already drawn to its pleasant singing and good-hearted demeanour. The Gloster Consort was, as its name suggests, a bit less regal-looking and, if it were human, possibly harbouring a grudge for being denied the crown and the attention. But each version was equally important and Mrs. Rogerson’s creation, coming in an age when canaries were admired for their singing – and for their utility to us as harbingers of doom in our coal mines – developed a strong and loyal following, persisting to this day as a leading canary-fanciers favourite.

Four years before the birth of the Gloster Consort, a young man was born on a Greek island who would, as fate would have it, come to learn a thing or two about birds. And, interestingly, nine years after the exhibition, a young man would be born in a town in southwest Ontario who would, as fate would have it, also come to learn a thing or two about birds.

Margaret Atwood and Graeme Gibson (left), Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (right)

***

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born on the Greek island of Corfu, and came to international prominence when his acquaintance with Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain became more than an acquaintance. In 1946, King George VI gave his permission and blessing to the marriage of his daughter, the presumptive heiress to the throne, to this tall, handsome young princeling who’s lineage could be traced back to the German principalities, a lineage shared with his betrothed (and with many of the sovereigns of Europe, in fact).

Prince Phillip was a constant presence in my life. I was born 10 years after Phillip’s Queen ascended to the throne and I have watched from afar as a loyal subject of his (and my) Queen and an admirer of his for the way in which he navigated his life. In many ways, the dynamic that underpinned the relationship between Phillip and Elizabeth was mirrored in my own world as my mother, ‘Queen May’, ruled the realm with the genial assistance of her consort, my father George. My Dad, a former Royal Marine Commando, stayed at home during most of my childhood while my Mom went off to work at the hospital, or the modelling agency, or the nursing home. My Dad did the cooking and cleaning, along with whatever odd job that he’d pick up in his former trade as a carpet-master and flooring specialist. And he did it with a smile on his face that only broadened when he’d meet his grandchildren in his daily parade as the King of Queen Street. A man who could (and probably did; he always hedged when asked specifically) kill somebody with his bare hands, hands that were scarred and calloused from a life’s labour, would stop everything and drop everything to pick up a beaming grandchild and whisk her up into an impromptu dance. And then he’d hurry home to ensure that the supper was on and the place was set for my Mom’s return from work, the happiest part of my Dad’s day.

(George and May McConnachie, circa 1960s)

In most respects, I saw this as completely normal and assumed that every father was so hard yet soft, a sinner yet a saint. Sometimes, though, I’d question how my Dad put aside his masculinity as a member of the supposed superior sex to assume what was a traditional feminine role, the helpmate, in the very patriarchal society of the 1960s and 70s. Did it make him more or less of a man? And what lessons would I draw as I grew into my own manhood?

In these questioning times, and perhaps sensing my unease, my Dad and I would start talking (both of us well-known non-stop talkers) about the military career of Prince Phillip and the important roles that he played for Canada, Scotland and the rest of the British Empire. How he carried himself with great dignity. How he put his family first. How he took the most masculine step possible, to take a step back to allow someone else to shine, and to do so with a sense of duty and responsibility that was absolutely necessary to the role. Being the consort of a Queen was no easy task, but there always seemed to be a smile on Phillip’s face as he beamed at his Queen and she at he. It seemed as real to me as the love that was demonstrated between my parents, and I knew that my mother’s successes in this world were directly related to the scrubbing of the laundry and the seasoning of the stew, and the countless other little duties, that my father fulfilled with a joyfulness in his heart that everyone felt.

Both Prince Phillip and my Dad (and my Mom’s consort), George, were born in the year 1921. They both fought in battles in far off lands and fought battles for their families closer to home. They were faulty human beings – as we all are – but each managed to persevere through their own limitations and life’s challenges to be the strongest supporters and the loudest fan of their respective Queens. It is a lesson that I have taken to heart – and taken home to roost whenever I have been fortunate enough to be joined in my own life’s journey by a Queen.

***

Phillip of Greece and George of Glasgow shared many traits and commonalities. One of the most obvious to me was the love of the outdoors, a respect for nature and an understanding that we human beings are but one small species in a giant ecosystem called life-on-earth. I used to watch the annual BBC specials on the Royal Family, and invariably there’d be a mention of Prince Phillip’s conservation efforts, specifically in the area of birds. My Dad kept his conservation efforts nearer to us, opening the back door in the morning and stepping out to feed his ‘wee beasties’, the squirrels, chipmunks and birds that would soon be eating their own meals from his hands. He’d share wisdom straight from de Saint-Exupéry about the importance of stewardship, not the fleeting kind but the long-tailed kind of stewardship that came with as many tears as triumphs. He’d share tales from his own wartime adventures, the birds that he saw in Egypt or the crows in the bell towers in Italy. He’d sing songs that he’d make up, swearing to me that he was only replicating what he’d been taught by the birds. To this day, I’ll engage in singathons with the jays and others in the trees near me (of which they might not always appreciate), just to recall the feeling of, that moment of, my hero, my father, being in tune with nature. And everything being good in the world

“To this day, I’ll engage in singathons with the jays and others in the trees near me (of which they might not always appreciate), just to recall the feeling of, that moment of, my hero, my father, being in tune with nature. And everything being good in the world.”

My Dad was a near-urban wildlife aficionado, a product of his own upbringing in the tenement blocks of Glasgow. He would sally forth with a backpack on his back as a boy, especially when he was visiting relatives in the relatively bucolic Firth of Forth town called North Queensferry, right across from Mary Queen of Scots’ castle in Edinburgh. And the stories that he’d tell, of going up and down the moors, of splashing through the streams, and of lazing under the bright skies while watching the birds overhead and wondering if these winged creatures were actually God’s cherubim incarnate.

When my Dad talked of nature, he’d do so with a reverence in his voice, of the quiet and the peace. Of the giant trees and glistening lakes. Of the clear skies and clearer water, water that was so cool that you could quench your thirst even on the hottest day. Of the animals, large and small, that made the woods and forests their homes. And of the need to respect nature and all her parts, of which we were just one little aspect.

“You’re one in a million to me, Davey, but to the rest of the planet you’re just one of a million.”

As I got older and started reading history books about my father’s battles, I started to gain a deeper understanding of why my Dad, a man of action, would retreat into nature as a place of both solitude and rebirth. In battle, there is no peace, no quiet. In battle, the trees are torn asunder by artillery shells and the lakes stained red. In battle, there is constant thirst, a thirst for life, that is parched by the heat and the dust and the fear, and cool respites are few and far between. In battle, the woods and the forests become death-traps, for the humans and for every species, eerily devoid of bird calls but overflowing with smoke and fire and flames. And death.

Nature, alive, is full of life. Nature, alive, breathes and breeds new life. Nature, alive, is now a known antidote and remedy for those suffering from mental anguish and illness, a perfect ‘safe space’ to retreat into to undergo nature therapy. Breathing with the trees. Ebbing and flowing with the waters. Waking with the birds and drifting off to sleep to the cicadas. Meditation and introspection, a humbling that comes by appreciating your own inanity in this world full of pomposity and insanity.

Today, when I am perplexed by a problem and need to clear my mind, nothing works better than taking Zoey the dog (half border collie, half husky, all go) for a walk in the nearby nature trail here in Exeter, Ontario. I become mindful of each step we take. I become mindful of the sounds of the forest. I become mindful of the wind chilling my cheek. And, in doing so, my mind gains space from the perplexing problem. In most cases, that space and distance is enough to allow my logical thoughts to win the argument in my head and allow me to take the appropriate step(s). My emotional side has been succoured by nature. Nature becomes my consort, if you will.

***

In addition to the aforementioned Phillip and George, there’s another gentleman who embodies the spirit of being a consort in life and to life. Graeme Gibson of London (Ontario) was born into conditions more akin to George than Phillip. The son of Scottish immigrants, he and his family moved around a fair bit as a lad as they sought opportunities in this new land, but Graeme managed to take the right steps by graduating from the prestigious Upper Canada College and the University of Western Ontario. He was drawn to literature, as an outlet, and to the idea that change must be fostered, as a zeitgeist. His early works, released in the late 1960s and early 1970s, were considered by many in Canada’s literary circles as benchmarks of experiential literature, exploring important themes from perspectives not then shared by many. The works were rich in imagery and challenging in comprehension, requiring a degree of open-mindedness that narrowed mass market appeal. But Graeme understood that the purpose of literature was to serve the need of the story, and the storyteller, and if that meant limiting sales potential then so be it.

Becoming a champion of storytelling and storytellers was one of Graeme’s noble purposes, that driving compulsion to act in a manner that is not self-serving but serves the greater good.

Becoming a champion of storytelling and storytellers was one of Graeme’s noble purposes, that driving compulsion to act in a manner that is not self-serving but serves the greater good Graeme was one of the founders of the Writers’ Union of Canada, helped form the Writer’s Trust of Canada, and was a co-founder and president of PEN Canada. In the world of Canadian literature, the name Graeme Gibson became synonymous with fighting for writers’ right to write, and using their collective voices to affect change. And given that most Canadian writers exist within a very small cage of celebrity – with the resulting financial rewards that come with it – Graeme was really fighting for those who could not, through their small sales footprint (or not-yet-written first novel) earn enough daily bread to feed themselves, let alone the neighbourhood birds.

I was drawn to PEN Canada in the early 1980s as that organization began advocating for causes that resonated with my still-developing soul. PEN Canada’s mission:

PEN Canada celebrates literature, defends freedom of expression and aids writers in peril.

There seemed to be two voices that I heard most frequently from PEN. Graeme Gibson was the fiery organizer and orator. Margaret Atwood was the voice from upon high, a Canadian literary author with truly global impacts, and especially important in the areas of equal rights, civil rights and the right to have our voices heard. I could hear his voice but I saw her eyes, those eyes that seemed capable of reproach as stinging as anything she could have written. “Must be tough to be married to her,” my Dad chuckled as we watched the news, adding “and I should know!”

In my life’s journey, I got a chance to dabble in the world of Canadian literature during my time working as the publishing director of the NHL. One year, we released TOTAL HOCKEY encyclopaedia and HOCKEY FOR DUMMIES, both of which rocketed up the charts of Canadian Non-Fiction Bestsellers. I got invited to a few events, rubbed leather-patched elbows with the literati, and learned, to my delight, that the loud tall organizer was the one married to the Queen of Canadian literature. And then paid a bit more attention whenever either would pop up in the news.

At some point, I began to wonder what it must have been like to be married to Margaret Atwood, Canada’s Nobel-winning writer. Especially given that Graeme was a writer himself. How did he manage to be both a fiery advocate and soulful supporter?

How do you dance through life with your partner without stepping on the toes of her Muses?

How do you dance through life with your partner without stepping on the toes of her Muses? How do you add and not take away from her work, being there in whatever capacity may be required? Do you interrupt to offer tea or just bring it?

This contemplative time was after my Dad had passed and during a momentary crisis in my personal life that saw me need to become a good first officer to my marital captain as she launched and developed a new business. There was a random news item from Buckingham Palace that reminded me of Phillip, and of George. And, in hindsight, it helped me to understand Graeme Gibson a little bit better, and myself in the process, too. Something about a species at risk that the Duke of Edinburgh’s conservation trust had managed to nurse back to health, all in and around the ‘annus horribilis’ suffered by Elizabeth and family.

***

So, how do you act as a consort to your partner?

The verbs in the motto of PEN Canada hold a clue:

CELEBRATE. DEFEND. AID.

In the case of Phillip of Greece, he certainly spent considerable time consoling and counselling his Queen as she underwent her travails. In the case of George of Glasgow, he’d put a pot of soup on and make sure that my Mom’s chair was ready for her return. For Graeme of London, I’m guessing that, during moments of crisis in his family, he would celebrate, defend and aid his Queen to the best of his capacities, and in a manner that given the longevity of their relationship, must have worked. Margaret Atwood didn’t get any less famous for her writing or less prodigious in her output.

Now, interestingly, much like Phillip and George, Graeme also became a conservationist and ecological admirer. In his case, Graeme Gibson was a key driver behind the creation of the Pelee Island Bird Sanctuary in Canada’s southernmost point, a near-urban natural oasis that now teems with avian life, migratory and sedentary. Graeme, like the other gentleman consorts mentioned herein, took to nature as a remedy to the noises and nuisances of city life, and perhaps to step away, if even for just a brief moment, from his duties to his Queen. The smallest bird became the biggest focal point. The nurturing, the tears and the triumphs all part of the process of grounding oneself while giving back.

And therein lies the secret, I believe, to how we humans can stop putting our needs first and become consorts to our Queen, Mother Nature.

***

Mining foreman R. Thornburg shows a small cage with a canary used for testing carbon monoxide gas in 1928. George McCaa, U.S. Bureau of Mines

In 1986, the last canary was released from service to the coal mines. In all likelihood, it was not one of Mrs. Rogerson’s Gloster Canaries, be they Corona or Consort. The Gloster Canary was specially bred for its attractiveness and appeal. The canaries that worked in the coal mines were of less exalted stock, albeit hardier than their swankier cousins.

The practice of using canaries to detect carbon monoxide in mining operations was pioneered in 1911 by Dr. John Haldane, who some describe as the ‘father of oxygen therapy’. There was solid science behind the idea, specifically:

Canaries, like other birds, are good early detectors of carbon monoxide because they’re vulnerable to airborne poisons, Inglis-Arkell writes. Because they need such immense quantities of oxygen to enable them to fly and fly to heights that would make people altitude sick, their anatomy allows them to get a dose of oxygen when they inhale and another when they exhale, by holding air in extra sacs, he writes. Relative to mice or other easily transportable animals that could have been carried in by the miners, they get a double dose of air and any poisons the air might contain, so miners would get an earlier warning.

The use of canaries as ‘early warning systems’ took root in British mining companies, and soon jumped the pond to influence North American coal miners. The canaries were not only prized by the miners for their life-saving abilities but were also welcomed for their songs. “They are so ingrained in the culture, miners report whistling to the birds and coaxing them as they worked, treating them as pets.”

The phrase ‘a canary in a coal mine’ came into popular use not long after the birds went to work. In the broadest sense, it means that something is an early warning sign of danger ahead. Al Gore applied the analogy to the concept of the extinction of species and the skyrocketing GhGs are canaries in a coal mine of an ecosystem in crisis, in this case the ecosystem that sustains human life. That ‘inconvenient truth’ that Gore was sharing helped to ignite a heightened degree of awareness of environmentalism within everyday society, and became some of the foundational learning of today’s young environmental leaders. The ones leading the research, organizing a blockade to protect the old growth forests, or running for office to affect positive legislative change.

They make these sacrifices for a greater good, beyond simply the preservation of a butterfly or bumble bee. They are sacrificing for the butterfly and the bumble bee, yes, but they do so in service to humanity, keeping a watchful eye on the hands on the Extinction Clock, readying to raise the alarm or scramble to save another last-of. Because, fundamentally, these scientists, researchers, academics and activists understand and appreciate a simple truth: humans are but one species among billions on this planet, equally (if not more) vulnerable to the changes wrought by anthropogenic climate change. Fires, floods and famines, oh my! And if it isn’t good for the canary, it can’t be good for us.

***

We humans, large in numbers but small in planetary significance, have played an outsized role in the destruction and degradation of the natural environment. And while we’ve always been a messy species, we’ve really taken it up a notch since the Industrial Revolution.

You can blame our fossil-fuel-burning machinery poisoning the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses, which contributed to raising the global temperature which eventually begat the mass extinction events that we’re now watching unspool in front of our eyes like a slow-motion train wreck. And given that we’re the most golden of the Goldilocks species, the most vulnerable to extremes and to change in a time of extreme change, we should probably be paying more attention and taking more actions.

Credit: Ed Himelblau, The New Yorker

Start by birdwatching. We are far too zoomed in on our own daily minutiae to appreciate the larger world around us, and the changes that threaten our very existence.

We need to turn the binoculars around and stop demanding that EVERYONE LOOK AT US! We need to become passionate observers of the planet’s beautifully complicated ecosystems, large and small, near and far. 

We need to turn the binoculars around and stop demanding that EVERYONE LOOK AT US! We need to become passionate observers of the planet’s beautifully complicated ecosystems, large and small, near and far. We need to watch the birds as they go about their daily lives. We need to listen to the birds as they call to each other, this song a love poem, this song an elegy. We need to learn about the birds, and from the birds, where they live and why. We need to go to where the birds are and to build welcoming spaces for the birds where we are. There is so much we need to know and an incredible urgency to do so.

We, as humans, need to understand and appreciate the fact that ‘we’re all in this together’ is more than a motto to survive the pandemic. It’s a reminder that we are in a codependent relationship with the natural world – and we humans are more dependent upon the planet than the planet is on humans. We will need all the birds and all the bees that we can to be our allies in our survival. It’s a reminder that we humans are now the canaries and we seem hellbent as a species toward our own self-destruction, going out of our way to poison our cages, our foodstocks and our futures. We must start our efforts by changing the climate of misanthropy; after all, a self-loathing human is a dangerous beast and threatens to take a lot of other species down with it.

Once we’ve come to terms with our horrible-for-nature impacts, once we’ve accepted our responsibilities for past sins of commission and omission, and once we’ve realized that this planet is not all about us, we can begin to take tentative first steps to repairing our relationship with nature. And, yes, we are in a committed relationship with nature but, contrary to our human beliefs, we are most definitely not the most important partner in that relationship. Hell, our partner did pretty well before meeting us and will most certainly do just fine once we’ve departed. And we will depart sooner rather than later on our current trajectory, or more correctly we will be thrown out by an exasperated partner tired of waiting for us to change our ways and be a significantly more loving and more respectful significant other.

We have prioritized us and only us, at the expense of all others. We have blashemphed our inheritance and sullied our home. We have put our needs first, especially recently as the science became clearer while hurdles were thrown in the path of progress-seekers. Rather than acting in a manner that CELEBRATED, DEFENDED and AIDED our Queen in our role as consorts to nature, too many of us have DEGRADED, DESTROYED and EXPLOITED nature for our own benefit or for the benefit of societies that prioritize profits over people. The canaries have already given their lives for us and yet, still, we remain obtuse to the creeping gasses ready to suffocate our lives.

But as in all relationships, there is a chance to change our ways, although we might be on chance Nth by now. Our partner is very forgiving.

For far too long, humanity has demanded a subservience from nature. Some of our holiest books sanction our desecration in the name of the divine (and to the benefit of the few and the detriment of the most). We are the Lords, we are told, and we can bend Nature to meet our needs. But we are not Lords. We are simply a subspecies of simians that somehow managed to find a niche in time to proclaim our preeminence. We build edifices to and from our egos to ourselves and our perceived greatness. We’ll chop down giant, majestic trees to make the paper to make our words immortal, or until the next fire comes along. We use, we exploit, we degrade and we disrespect. Not all of us, and certainly not among the youngest of us, who seem to comprehend the severity of the bill of consequences that they’ll be paying for their ancestor’s transgressions against the environment. And I guess this message is specifically geared towards them.

It will not be easy to navigate your way forward in this new age of Mother Nature pushing back and standing up for herself. The ripples caused by the rising GhGs are well nigh ashore in our present world, manifesting as extreme everything. And these ripples will likely become tsunamis before the worst has passed.

What can we do? many may be asking. May I suggest an edit to How can we help? How can we become a consort to nature, a helpmate in the day to day and a warrior when called upon to fight on our partner’s behalf? We could do worse than look to the examples set by Phillip of Greece, George of Glasgow and Graeme of London.

In the introduction to his seminal book, The Bedside Book of Birds – An Avian Miscellany, Graeme Gibson wrote:

“With the zeal of a convert and the instigated imagination of an ex-novelist, I started taking note of, then collecting, and finally obsessively searching out texts that illustrated something — almost anything — about our human response to birds. This book is the result. It isn’t so much about birds themselves as it is about the richly varied relationships we have established with them during the hundreds of thousands of years that we and they have shared life on earth.”

How will we become the types of humans who deserve to share in a future with such a luminary partner? May I suggest a nature consort’s vow:

CELEBRATE NATURE. DEFEND NATURE. AID NATURE.

Until death do us part.

LEARN MORE AND DO MORE

How do we become better partners and better consorts for nature? Well, there are many steps that you can take and many great organizations doing work in your backyard that can help you gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for the role of nature in your life. Nature Canada, for example, works to help Canadians understand how to be better consorts to nature:

We believe that when the heart is engaged, the mind and body will follow. That is why, since our founding in 1939, Nature Canada has been connecting Canadians to nature, trying to instill in them a nature ethic – a respect for nature, an appreciation for its wonders, and the will to act in nature’s defense.

They’ve got many great programs, and one that would have definitely interested my Dad (and was a topic near to the hearts of Prince Phillip and Graeme Gibson) is birds in urban environments, the dangers that our cities present to our avian friends, and the steps being taken (or should be taken) to minimize the human impact on birds, and nature in general. Nature Canada’s Bird Friendly Cities program seeks to address the devastating impacts of our built structures on the avian ecosystem, and was launched because in “the last 50 years, North American bird populations have dropped by more than 25%.”

Thank you for reading our FOR THE LOVE OF NATURE series, be sure to check out the other articles as well!

And don’t forget to register for Nature Canada’s Pimlott Award Celebration happening this Wednesday on March 2, 2022, where Margaret Atwood and the late Graeme Gibson will be honoured and recognized as champions for birds and nature. Check it out here!

The post Consorting with Nature appeared first on A\J.

Source: The Guardian

Stumbled upon an interesting and somewhat amusing story of an Italian team that has been, since 2008, covering a glacier in northern Italy, the Presena glacier, with huge reflective tarps during summer months to minimize the ice loss due to rising heat. The glacier has already lost one-third of its volume since 1993, and the project has managed to grow from covering an area of around 30,000 square metres in 2008 to more than 100,000 square metres today.

The work is carried out by a private firm under contract to the government, and one of the project’s key goals is to protect a glacier that supports a wintertime ski economy. The article continues:

Once in place, the sheets, which measure 70m by 5m, are hardly distinguishable from the packed white snow beneath. The Austrian-made tarps cost up to €400 ($450) each and it takes the team six weeks to install them – and another six weeks to remove them before winter sets in again.

Which got me thinking about the other vital glaciers and mountainous ice caps like those that lie atop the Himalayas. And some glaciers and their kin closer to home here in Canada. As we ponder the best ways to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate emergency that are already present in our lives – with an eye towards minimizing the duration and degree of devastation that we’ll need to endure before the worst is over – we’ll need to start getting more creative in taking small but meaningful steps to protect species at risks, including glaciers.

And given the recent headline in the Washington Post…

Earth is now losing 1.2 trillion tons of ice each year. And it’s going to get worse.

…we’re probably going to need a lot more blankets!

Quebec Chooses Environment Over 14 Billion Dollar Gas Project 

Source: Montreal CTV News

Quebec has rejected 14 billion dollars from a natural gas project in Saguenay, as it works to reduce the province’s overall environmental impact. The proposed development had to do with the creation of a power and processing plant in Port Saguenay, Quebec—the plant would primarily function in liquifying natural gas transported from Western Canada. Additionally, the project would also fund the development of a 780-kilometre pipeline connecting to other natural gas lines in Ontario.

Premier François Legault had been in favour of this project In the beginning as it would diversify their economy, which had been largely dependent on metal and forestry industries. Although, this soon changed as the company in charge of the project had failed to pass three main criteria (provided by the provincial government) pertaining to its environmental impacts. This included: (1) aiding the province in the transition towards green energy; (2) lower the province’s greenhouse gas emissions; (3) garner public support for the project.

The company behind the proposal, known as GNL Quebec, had initial plans to make the plant carbon neutral in an effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the processing centre. However, the Quebec environmental review board estimated that these “reductions” would not likely occur. The project was then rejected by the province in lieu of consultation from the aforementioned review board and due to protests from many environmental groups; including most prominently the David Suzuki Foundation and Greenpeace. It is also important to note that many indigenous communities within the province had also opposed the project, likely further fueling the government’s decision to halt it.

Join Ontario’s Youth Environment Council!

Source: Ontario.ca

The Ontario provincial government is creating a new Youth Environment Council to allow young environmental activists to help solve climate change and other environmental issues in their area! The group would be a collection of passionate nine to 12 year-olds who would apply to have a position in the council through a volunteer-based system. The applications would be due on August 4^th, 2021 and the program would begin in the fall of 2021 (at the beginning of the school year)—the final members will be announced this summer.

The list of topics that the government would like the youth group to work on would be as follows:

• How can the government strengthen its understanding of youth climate issues regionally?
• How can the government ensure that youth voices are fully inclusive in creating environmental solutions?
• What connections/relationships can be created between policy-makers and young environmental activists?

This program would also provide learning opportunities to its council, such that they might have a future career in environmental assessment or law-making. The group is expected to meet monthly (from September 2021 – April 2022) and will be sourced from all regions of Ontario, including from Indigenous communities.

If you or your child is interested and has a passion for the environment, then this opportunity might be your gateway into changing the world for the better!

Ancient Threats Uncovered in Melting Glaciers

Source: BBC

This week, a team of scientists and researchers released a study detailing that they’ve recently uncovered 33 species of viruses found frozen in two glaciers in the Himalayas, 28 of which have never been detected before.

From the news report:

Researchers from Ohio State University report that the glacial ice containing the viruses dates as far back as 14,500 years. It was found more than 6,700 metres above sea level, at the Guliya ice cap in western China, and removed for analysis in 2015.

As you can see, we’re literally just scratching the surface of our knowledge of the natural world, while we wrestle with our own worst efforts to destroy much of nature. And all the while wrestling with the impacts of one virus – the coronavirus – on the human population across the planet. So should we be worried about the viruses ‘re-animating and inflicting some prehistoric pox upon the people?

Again, from the report:

The remaining viruses had previously been cataloged, and – perhaps adding another bit of relief to this discovery – tend to infect bacteria, not humans or animals. Additionally, the researchers say, environmental clues suggest that the newly discovered viruses didn’t attack humans either. More likely, they thrived in plants and soil.

So, in this case, we’re pretty sure that nothing untoward will happen. But with the number of potential viruses buried in permafrost and glaciers starts melting measured in the millions (if not billions), we humans have another good reason to be more careful as we engage with an awakening natural world less than enamored with our collective behavior

The post The WTF: The Week This Friday Vol. 58 appeared first on A\J.

As Alternatives Journal approaches its 50^th anniversary, we would love to hear feedback from you on our company and its work thus far! We are looking for young passionate writers who are interested in a future in journalism to give their take on A/J.

How do you think we are doing? How can we improve? What should we do to create the best environment for up-and-coming writers such as yourself? Most importantly, what do you think are the core beliefs and aspirations of our organization?

If you are interested, please send us an email with a sample of your work to this address: ishani.dasgupta@alternativesjournal.ca

We look forward to hearing from you and seeing your work! You can change the world, and we would love to help you with it.

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By the time I started working in publishing as an adult, the industry was at an inflection point; in both the technology that drove the work and the relative importance of the medium in comparison with the burgeoning television industry. What once required a room full of typesetters, layout artists, and hand-cut editing – along with full-size negatives that would be ‘dropped in at the last moment – had been replaced by a desktop computer. Granted they ran $5000 each back in the day while possessing the computing capacity of today’s average smartphone. The on-site photoshoots had been replaced by the first iteration of digitized imagery, and anything that wasn’t tangible could soon be replicated digitally with the release of Photoshop 1.0. The back-end of the publishing process – the printing – was also adapting at this time, reducing the costs and speeding the process.

And that’s the point to keep in mind: the process was being streamlined because the earlier generation of profits-for-all had become curtailed as revenues shifted from print to visual (television). The philosophy of ‘’do more with less” was the mandate from the magazine’s financial officer and, if that advice wasn’t heeded, ‘efficiencies’ could be found, starting with your job! Like many great industry-based technological great leaps, the changes in the publishing industry, many of which are still present as challenges today, were conceived initially in times of plenty – then put on the shelf until the times of ‘less’ came upon us. And those “times of less” started to bite into the profitability of every publishing entity and especially for magazine publications like A\J that were (and still are) non-traditional, niche content serving a small but committed audience both of readers and a less defined audience of potential advertisers.

Don’t get me wrong: the revolution that is digital publishing truly opened the door for knowledge mobilization on a grand scale. 

And well before the internet created the conditions of ‘information for all, small, niche publishers in the 1990s began addressing topics and subjects that held appeal to them but might not have caught the attention of any of the existing (and conservative) publishers. Think ADBUSTERS – and the zeitgeist that underpinned its creation (capitalistic cannibalism is bad for us!) – with its pages packed with satire and parody ads of the largest corporate culprits. Which provided the home for the like-minded that helped to inspire the original ‘OCCUPY WALL STREET’ movement.

At A\J, we got with the program…eventually. We started including color, images, and more expansive illustrations in the magazine in the 1990s and really started to kick it up as we rolled into the aughts. Oh sure, we might have looked a bit different as we redesigned the magazine’s visual face (primarily cover) from time to time as the 1990s rolled forward, but the core work that we delivered – demystifying the academically dense study area of environmental science – continued unabated.

As we come into the 2010s, many things in our world and how we do our work changed….again. The explosion of digital media – online news sites and social media feeds – challenged us to our very core, and in many ways the HOW forced us to look at the WHY. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

We, the organization, had been ensconced in academia since our founding in 1971. We were very good at speaking to those ‘inside the deep green tent’, the people with the same training as our editors and writers (professors and grad students). And while that was still important, it was less critical than helping to mobilize that knowledge to build allies with those who might be of a lighter-green persuasion. We needed to understand how to support the corporate community as they dipped their toes in the sustainability waters. We needed to know how to continue to share stories from the environmental community and the academic community, but to reach more and more eyeballs, and especially those younger readers frustrated with the slow pace of vitally-needed change.

A quarterly or bi-monthly publication works at its own pace, has its own culture, and tells stories in its own way. And yet, there was this huge need to serve content on a more frequent basis, to share lighter-green stories that could resonate with the average reader – and maybe even inspire them to take their first eco-steps. But what is a website? Is it the past content? The future? How does it get supported? And how do you promote it?

These were all vital questions and team A\J has spent many of the intervening years reflecting, reshaping, and, hopefully, improving our holistic abilities to publish environmental media stories in the manner (and via the medium) most appropriate for achieving the outcome. 

That is moving the needle of public environmental literacy. 

All the while trying to understand how to sustain a print magazine in a time when the ‘print is dead’ echoes continue to wash over our industry. The IN MEMORIAM (PUBLICATIONS) segment of our industry’s OSCARS keeps expanding.

And yet, despite all this change, the core reason why we do our work remains the same:

1. To support environmental education, in all its flowerings;
2. To support environmental journalism and to help provide a training ground for the next generation of environmental journalists;
3. And, in doing so, to provide the critically-needed media/communications canvas for the Canadian environmental community to share stories that capture attention, create interest, motivate desire and spark action.

That’s never changed. When Bob Paehlke stayed up late nights in the 1970s, these were the guiding missions that helped him to sustain his work. And they keep me up at night too. 

We’re 50 years old this year and theoretically, we should be readying for our happy retirement, knowing that our work is done and there’s no more left to be written. But that isn’t the case. We have all the science, data, and existing solutions (upon which improved versions will emanate) that we need to make the quick and relatively painless leap to a zero-carbon world. But between the distractions of living (which isn’t getting easier for many), the distractions that are foisted upon us to keep us from living, and the vested interests holding us back, the FACTS don’t seem to be followed by urgent and meaningful ACTION.

So we persevere. And we strive to stay true to our founding missions, even though every other aspect of our work has changed since 1971, some for the worst but mostly for the better. After all, it may have taken us 50 years to make the case for environmentalism to the taste of public appetite and industry interest suggests that the vaunted ‘big, green tipping point’ is just around the corner, probably prodded along (with a taser) by the worsening impacts of the climate crisis (before we get on the right side of it). In many ways, you could say that “we’re an overnight success….50 years in the making!”

So read on… and shine on you crazy diamonds!

The post How We Work Has Changed. Why Work Has Not: A/J Pilot Issue Revisited appeared first on A\J.

I considered the shift that environmental legislation had taken in the last fifty years and how much of that was due to the events in the 1970s. I wondered about the time period the article was based on and more specifically what it was fighting for. I thought I would conduct some research and reflect on the change that has happened pertaining to governance and the environment.

The second-wave of the environmental movement was in full force during the 1970s. It was different than the first initial movement in Canada, which was lead in part by early conservationists (naturalist groups) and indigenous groups when there was no clear policy in protecting forests, lakes, and wildlife—this lead to the development of national parks, including providing protected status to a monumental and significant feature known as Yellowstone National Park in Banff in 1872. However, the second-wave saw the introduction of the term “environmentalism”.

During this period ranging from the 1960s to the1970s, many Canadian residents began to worry about the effects of human development on nature. It was during this period of time protests, calls to action, and reporting on environmental issues became the main feature of society. This period of time saw the rise of many significant victories for the recognition of the biosphere, such as the creation of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Much of the environmentalism was driven from the past years drenched in warfare and its effect on the environment; Americans and Canadians alike became aware of the effect of nuclear machinery that had cast its toxic shadow on natural spaces. The anti-war movement had also included the environmental movement in this case, as both considered peace and reflection as an alternative to war and progress.

In Canada, energy projects were scrutinized for the first time on their effect on ecological and cultural systems (including both its environmental impact and its impact on indigenous groups). A big project that was canceled due to the environmental movement in this time was known as the James Bay Project. This first phase of the project was based on the development of a pipeline in the coast of James Bay in Quebec, which had flooded natural land that was used by Inuit communities, caused contamination of fish populations in nearby reservoirs, killed over 10 000 caribou, and caused numerous other environmental catastrophes in local natural spaces. This lead to mass amounts of protest and legal battles to stop the second project (during the 1970s-1980s), in which the roots of environmental assessment were built (still used for reference in present assessments).

Additionally, environmentalism in the 1970s led to the establishment of the Canadian Wildlife Federation and the World Wildlife Fund Canada. It also allowed for new federal and provincial environmental legislation to be introduced and later passed into governance; the Environmental Impact Assessment was introduced in 1973 and formally passed into legislation in 1995. There were many other regulations that came into force due to the second-wave environmental movement, including The Department of Environmental Act (1971), Canada Water Act (1970), and many more.

Believe it or not, Alternatives Journal also began its work in the second-wave environmental movement. We were a part of it and so was the pilot issue. It is incredible to think that our publication started in a period of protest, change, and hope. However, that has always been the premise of A/J.

To allow for environmental activists to use their voice and create change. To actively hope for a better future. That is our philosophy from our first issue in 1971 and still goes strong in every issue we made since then.

The post The Importance of the Second-Wave Environmental Movement: A/J Pilot Issue Revisited appeared first on A\J.

Source: CTV News

In the species conservation community, the ‘bad news’ tends to outweigh the ‘good news, and seemingly by a large margin. But, as team A\J works on an issue dedicated to exploring the work of species conservation, we keep bumping into ‘good news stories. Stories that engender hope that perhaps we’re not too late and our right-now efforts (let alone our historic efforts) have not been in vain. 

So you can imagine our delight in reading a recent news report about the ‘humpback comeback’ to the BC waters that researchers have recently discovered. Researchers from the Pacific Whale Watch Association explain that the number of humpback whales in the Salish Sea has “increased exponentially since a single whale was spotted in the region over 20 years ago.” In a statement released Tuesday of this week, the Association noted that the number of humpback whales migrating each summer to feed in the nutrient-rich Salish Sea now number in the hundreds.

While no conclusions were drawn as to the cause of the humpback whales’ resurgence in these particular waters, the researchers will now continue to be able to conduct studies that will continue to inform the broader community’s work in facilitating better management solutions for preserving at-risk aquatic populations.

Cambodia Charges Environmental Activists for Recording Pollution

Source: Mother Nature Cambodia

A court in Cambodia is charging three environmental activists for treason and insulting the king after they reported on a waste run-off system that was polluting a local river. It is important to note that the documentation of this pollution was not explicitly placing blame on the Cambodian monarchy, but rather disparaging the country’s management of its natural systems.

The three that have been charged are from an environmental activist group known as Mother Nature Cambodia. This group has decided to report on all environmental issues in the country, even though many activist reporters are often silenced by the government for doing so. They hope that garnering attention to these issues causes an action to be taken to protect the Cambodian environment. It seems that this group is used to such backlash from their government, as they have stated,

“Our brave campaign activist reporters refuse to be silenced. They have endured harassment, oppression, and even imprisonment.”

The activists that have been charged for this event are facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, however, the court has not justified the arrest other than stating that “evidence” points to their reporting being an “insult to the king”. This action by law is unethical, as it limits freedom of speech and criminalizes those fighting (peacefully) for nature.

Embassies in Cambodia, such as the United States and Sweden, have been critical of these charges and have condemned such actions. It now lies with the defendants seeking proper counsel and hopefully changes within the Cambodian legal system to release the unguilty defenders. 

Examining the Ecological Consequences of Sunscreens

Source: Vancouver is Awesome

A recent CBC News article highlights the work being done to better understand the true impacts of the chemicals in our sunscreen products on the aquatic ecosystem. While it is generally understood by most of us that the chemicals on our bodies that get exposed to our lakes, rivers, and oceans do ‘wash off’, there’s been a lack of in-depth research that aims to quantify the danger.

“The sunscreens that you put on, the pharmaceuticals that you take, you know a portion of these are getting back into the environment,” said Brett Sallach, an assistant professor in environmental chemistry at the University of York in the U.K, one of the participating academic institutions involved in the study. “And that’s really where our research focuses to try to understand how much is being released and then what effects that might have.”

For sunscreen products, the main concern relates to two UV-filtering chemicals, oxybenzone, and octinoxate. Both of these chemicals have been identified as possibly causing harm to both coral reefs and freshwater fish. And while researchers would obviously like to eliminate any possibility of harm to the broader aquatic ecosystem, they are also fully aware that these chemicals also currently play a vital role in human health protection vis-a-vis the harmful effects of UVA and UVB rays. 

“This isn’t a vanity issue. These are compounds that are really important for human health protection. So we want to make sure we have a really good environmental risk assessment before we make draconian changes to the products that are available,” said Sallach.

Much of the freshwater fish research is being conducted by environmental toxicology professor Kyungho Choi at Seoul National University in South Korea. After eight years of study, Dr. Choi advises that “(w)e have found that these compounds damage reproduction in fish and also hormonal balances,” he said. “In addition, we found these compounds could damage kidney function and neurological behavioral function.”

Dr. Choi reminds us that the more we know – and the sooner – the better we will be able to make the appropriate decisions. “(W)e cannot simply ignore the possibility of ecological consequences based on this experimental data,” said Choi.

Helium Balloons Killing the Great Lakes Ecosystem

Source: The Weather Network

A recent news article suggests that a few hundred thousand helium balloons are washing up on the shores of Great Lakes all across Canada. In one beach near Lake Eerie alone, which spanned only 7km in length, 380 helium balloons were found. This number is likely incredibly higher in other shorelines with larger lengths.

The sheer amount of these balloons ending up in our lakes likely has to do with the release of these items in events or holidays in Canada. This accumulation is to do with current celebrations and has been a gradual debris increase throughout decades of traditional North American events.

The environmental problem lies in the life-cycle of these balloons. Even if a balloon were to degrade over time, it leaves behind small plastic litter that is spread over multiple natural ecosystems. Animals that ingest these particles can die from having them block their intestinal tracks or even starve to death, as it provides no nutritional value but can mimic a full stomach. Moreover, animals can die from being strangled by the strings of the balloons or can drown from the weight of the item pulling them down into the water.

An alternative to celebratory balloons is having events with recyclable scrap confetti, planting a tree for someone, or simply having a balloon-less party. After all, one less balloon means one better lake and many saved animals. 

Ancient Soils are The Saving Grace in Conservation Work

Source: MBS International

The world’s richest ecosystem is currently located in the ancient soils across the world. This was discovered by researchers at the University of Western Australia, who have concluded that the most diverse ecosystems grow in ancient infertile soils.

They conducted their study in over 100 international sites, such as Australia, Brazil, California, and many more. In doing so, they concluded that soils across the globe had a pattern in being rich and ecologically important, based on their maturity. For example, on the southern coast of Western Australia, the landscape contains many rare and endangered fauna and flora due to its soil composition.

These “hotspots” in biodiversity have many characteristics in common. The soil contents of these areas are old, have little to no disturbance, have very low fertility, and therefore only usable by certain flora. However, not much is known about the evolution of these landscapes and how this similar property could be replicated in other conservation work.

It is surely important that the soil is undisturbed and, even if it has low fertility, its lack of alternation by human development has likely contributed to its overall biological and ecological success. Moreover, this will shift the focus of soil research to upland places (such as outcrops or plains) rather than wetlands or coastal communities, in the hope to conserve biodiversity. 

The post The WTF: The Week This Friday Vol. 54 appeared first on A\J.

What is the main reason for this decline and rapid movement towards the extinction of the Right Whale? The answer is simple, fishing lines. However, a solution is not as straightforward, as it is shrouded in the interests of many different people who must collectively determine the fate of these animals–whether it be extinction or restoration. 

This is explored in the new documentary Entangled directed by David Abel, a reporter at the Boston Globe and a previous Pulitzer-prize winner. The movie will “dive deep” into the history and current status of the North Atlantic right whale, a species on the brink of extinction. It will also explore the collision between fisheries (particularly the North American lobster industry), environmental activists, and American and Canadian governmental institutions in the save the whales movement. 

We were able to speak with David Abel about the upcoming film and its purpose.

“I think the film has already raised awareness about the threat to North Atlantic Right Whales and the impact we, as human beings are having on them. Particularly, the threat of entanglements.” He stated. 

Abel added that this film is already the motivating factor for many conservation efforts, such as the release of a biological opinion on the status of right whales by the U.S. federal government. Additionally, Abel thought it important that this film, in pressing for the protection of this whale species, also gave everyone (regardless of their position in the save the whales movement) a chance to speak on the issue.

“My goal was to present, in as much nuance as possible, the different points of view on each side of the debate. There are just so many different perspectives.”

This debate, Abel added was complex as it divided the central groups amongst themselves; there are pro-whale and anti-whale fishers, conservations who want to ban all fishing lines and those who believe that some should remain for the fishing industry, and politicians who land on either side of the movement to save the right whales. 

“My hope is by portraying the conflicts in as human terms as possible, with as many facts as possible, with empathy for all the different sides, that there will be a recognition that we need to balance these important interests to reach an actual resolution on saving the whales,” Abel stated.

Abel explained that the North Atlantic right whale has seen its population collapse by over 25% in a decade, because of human activity, and something must be done to stop this. He wanted the film to allow everyone (including the industry) to understand that this is not a “fictitious threat”. However, Abel also wanted to detail how important the lobster fishery business was to many people and to the economy. And how this was being impacted by climate change, such that fishing was chasing lobsters deeper into cooler parts of the ocean and colliding with the whale populations. 

Of course, the film’s focus was also to showcase the brutality of the right whale’s extinction and, as Abel stated, “did not sanitize” the vicious way in which these animals died. Tied up in fishing lines that cut deep, drowning from them, and finally washed up on the shore. There was no way to ignore the fact that these deaths were happening and the documentary wanted audiences to be incumbent of that information. And hopefully, these audiences might take the emotions felt by watching these mortalities to act in saving these magnificent animals. Abel added,

“The UN actually estimated that by the end of this century, we are likely to lose as many as a million species. I was blown away by that statistic…how do you even begin to convey something like that? I thought if you could tell the story of one species in this large that people could empathize with, that would be the story of the right whale.” 

Abel concluded the conversation with one of his favorite lines from the documentary,

“If you can’t save a great whale from extinction, what can you save?” 

———-

The film Entangled will be released in select Canadian markets on June 18, 2021, and will expand nationally on July 2, 2021, in collaboration with the Sherry Media Group. This film will be launched as the premiere of the second season in the IMPACT SERIES–an original film and speaker series focused on educating and connecting consumers to take action in solving social and environmental issues.

Keep a lookout on the below social media platforms so that you can be the first to watch Entangled and the other incredible films in the Impact series! 

Connect to The Impact Series:

Facebook: The Impact Series 

Twitter: @iACTseries 

Instagram: @TheImpactSeries

The post The Battle for Right Whales – Watch Entangled in Season 2 of The Impact Series appeared first on A\J.

Source: Gulf Island Driftwood

The group heading the logging in this forest, B.C. Timber Sales (BCTS), has not met the standards/regulations of environmental laws protecting these highly biodiverse areas—their logging operations would severely affect watersheds and special ecosystems in B.C. Moreover, some of the logging areas would include traditional territories owned by Indigenous groups.  Although, the consequences of logging (environmental and cultural loss) and warnings from several authorities, including those from Forest Practices Board and Pacheedaht First Nation community in the province, have not stopped the provincial government from issuing approval for logging in Fairy Creek.

So the war bells were sounded and the community reacted, in all accounts peacefully. A group of conservationists, activists (youth groups especially), Indigenous groups, neighborhood residents, and interested people alike have surrounded Fairy Creek to defend the forest. The protests include a blockade, picket signs, and chants (all non-violent). In response, to this peaceful display and act of resistance, the government has sent the police.

The RCMP has now banned the blockades of logging activities on Vancouver Island. In doing so, the police have also restricted access to the forest service road, where many protests were being held, and stated that the only conversation they will have with protesters now is on

“their decision… to be arrested or not”. A threat of incarceration has not deterred activists from their battle for justice and instead lead to their unlawful incarceration. In the last week alone, over 50 people were arrested at the camps set up to protect Fairy Creek.

Among those arrested, including senior citizens, youth activists, indigenous people (the rightful owners of that land), and previous A/J writers. As a community of environmental writers and Canadian citizens, we stand in solidarity with this movement to protect our forests and our people. It is easy in this time to feel helpless and enraged by these events of injustice—both against the environment and our fellow environmental defenders.

However, I urge you instead to fuel this emotion towards action, even if you cannot stand with our soldiers in the frontline. Keep yourself updated on the situation by following the Fairy Creek Blockade. You can also take action by visiting the sites or aiding in online campaigns mandated by the Rainforest Flying Squad. Most importantly, repost, share, and make a ruckus on all of your social media platforms about the Fairy Creek situation! If the government does not listen to our cries in person, they will have to face the collective power of an internet mob of accountability.

A war has been brewing in the rainforests of British Columbia, a fight to defend the little nature we have left and the important cultures associated with it. Do not let our soldiers fight this battle alone.

The post Help Our Soldiers at Fairy Creek Protect the Rainforest! appeared first on A\J.

Source: Science News 

The United Nations Environment Programme released a report this week titled 2021 Food Waste Index Report that revealed a shocking statistic. Globally around 931 million tons of food was wasted in 2019. To put that into perspective, the amount of food wasted in 2019 was about 17 percent of all food that was available to consumers. The size of the food waste is startling considering that 690 million people are impacted by hunger each year and over 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Along with the number of people affected by food waste, there is a high economic cost to household food waste in North America. Food waste costs U.S families around $1500 each year. 

The data collected from the report was from 54 countries. In the report, 61 percent of all food waste came from homes, 26 percent was from restaurants and 13 percent was from supermarkets. The researchers in the study found that food waste was not just a problem in wealthier countries but it was a problem in every country. 

The study to date is the most comprehensive global food waste study but does have some shortcomings. The 54 countries included only account for 75 percent of the world population. 23 countries also could only provide food waste estimates for retail food services because of the missing data. Lastly, the report does not distinguish on items such as edible food waste vs inedible waste (bones and eggshells). 

Food waste has high environmental costs associated with high social impacts. Often, food waste is an overlooked portion in countries’ climate strategies according to UN Officials. Lost and wasted food accounts for 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year. The emissions that go into food production also produce food that is wasted. This means valuable energy, land, and water is being used on crops and food which is not even confused by humans. 

Some solutions to food waste lie in better food labeling at grocery stores. In wealthier countries like Canada in the U.S, confusing food labeling contributes to increased food waste. Labels like Sell By, Best By and Enjoy By may cause people to throw out food that is safe to eat. In poorer countries, refrigeration is a major contributor to food waste. Improving their economy and giving households access to appliances would greatly aid in fighting food waste.

Is Using Social Media Bad for the Environment?

Source: Paragraphs

Our social devices have a further impact than we think.

When I first think of social media, I only think of the way I need to charge my devices. This will include my phone, my computer, my laptop, my apple watch, my Nintendo switch, my television, my gaming controllers, and my microphone. Even thinking about it, it seems like so much to me. I am not even sure how to keep up with it all.  Even when I think of upgrading, they take my phone for a rebate, but I don’t exactly know what happens to it after.

“When it comes to understanding the direct environmental impact of social media, you really need to look separately at the two different sides of the coin,” explains Andie Stephens, associate director of corporate carbon measuring agency, The Carbon Trust. “First, there is the manufacturing, use, and disposal of the devices that you access social media platforms on, such as smartphones, laptops, and desktops. Then there is the background infrastructure required to provide access to those platforms, which includes things like data centres, internet routers and the base stations that make mobile internet accessible.”

Stephens continues: “The biggest part is the energy needed to power devices and data centres. With data centres – which can get very hot from all the equipment consuming a lot of electricity – a significant part of the total energy use comes from the need to provide large amounts of cooling to keep things operating smoothly. Then you must consider the manufacturing, which often requires the mining of metals and use of hazardous chemicals.” 1.7 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases are produced from the internet alone.  Even using technology in COVID, has reduced 7% of greenhouse gas emissions.

While spam emails can have quite a small carbon footprint, sending images or large attachments can have a much bigger impact (Credit: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld)

So, in summary, the more you want to do with the electronic device, the more of an environmental impact it will have. There are ways to reduce your carbon footprint in what websites you choose to support and use. The Green Web Foundation is a resource that can identify whether the server uses 100% renewable energy. Also, to put it into perspective, the Website Carbon tool can show you how much carbon emissions the user uses from the website.

So does your boss really need a “thank you” message from doing an assignment? Or do you want to save the world today?

Here are some simple opportunities to reduce your own footprint:

1.       Delete emails that you won’t need again, to prevent them from being stored unnecessarily
2.       Unsubscribe from email newsletters and mailing lists that you never read
3.       Delete apps on your phone that you don’t use
4.       Delete redundant screenshots and photos from iCloud or other cloud drives
5.       Use your phone for quick Google searches instead of a laptop — it uses less energy
6.       Tell the companies in an email or feedback server that you want the website to choose greener!

Gen Z and Millennials Are More Involved in Climate Change Movements

Source: The Conversation

A recent survey published by the Pew Research Centre, has shown that Gen Z and Millennials contribute the most in climate change activism (both in-person and online), than any other age bracket in the U.S. The research group suggested that “meaningful generational differences” are the leading reason why these groups choose to speak out against climate change.

Younger activists, such as Greta Thunberg, the leader of the global Friday’s for Future Movement, are often at the forefront of climate activism. This could in turn encourage those within the younger age bracket to act against environmental degradation and climate change. Additionally, the exposure to the internet and media have also exposed younger adults to discussions about climate movements and allowed more action to be taken in other forms— by doing so online!

The group also suggested that anxiety might be a leading cause of why the younger generations care about climate change. The younger generations, much like others before them, hope for an ideal future where the planet is not under pressure from external outputs (global warming, climate disasters, water shortages, etc.). However, due to the current progress in society being environmentally ignorant, this future appears less and less likely to actually occur. This has caused a large emotional reaction (anxiety, outrage, etc.) and engagement to climate change content, specifically individuals who are Gen Z or Millennials as it is their future that has been affected.

 Some other interesting statistics of the survey are:

• Large portions of individuals in Black (68%) and Hispanic (55%) communities wish to have climate change policies that also aid low-income areas.
• 50% of those who took the survey said that they experienced extreme weather in the last year.
• Over 50% of individuals say that climate scientists do not have enough influence in climate policy debates or policy changes in relation to climate change.

Climate Change and Your Health 

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

America, along with 193 other countries, is a signatory to the Paris Agreement that provides a global response to the threat of climate change. This requires all participating countries to establish carbon reduction goals and implement measures to keep global temperature rise this century to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Regardless of the efforts these countries are currently implementing and executing, the effects of climate change are being felt today; not just on the physical environment but there is also growing evidence that climate change poses significant risks to human health. 

A new report has estimated that the minimum health costs of climate change is  $820 billion per year in the United States alone. There is a wide variety of medical issues because of climate change that are already having a financial impact on taxpayers. With an increase in climate change, we will see a disruption in air and water quality, water and food supply, changes in weather, extreme heat, increasing allergens, environmental degradation, and changes in vector ecology. The health threats associated with these disruptions will intensify and new threats may emerge.  Researchers have estimated that the costs to take care of the impacts will continue to rise as climate change accelerates.  According to Renee Salas, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, “receiving care for climate-sensitive diseases can quickly add up”. 

For example, Salas had to treat a middle-aged man 30 times, in the space of one year, for Lyme disease – a tick-borne illness that has been able to extend into other seasons. This is due to the fact that climate change has accelerated and prolonged ticks’ developmental cycle, enabling an increase in their egg production, and has allowed for this disease to have a broader range of risk areas. Likewise, Salas also had to treat a young girl for several asthma attacks intensified by climate-driven pollen seasons and air pollution. 

According to the report, climate change will have the most effect on the health of the more vulnerable populations such as low-income, communities of color, children and pregnant women, seniors, and Indigenous groups. 

It is important to note that calculating the exact amount price for climate-driven healthcare is tricky and based on the lack of data on this issue. Based on this, the report estimates that $820 billion is the minimum per year. 

We are not doomed yet, this estimate gives policymakers, health officials, and the public the opportunity and the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by advocating for climate policy or simply utilizing public transportation or any other small steps that will aid in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. 

“In the end, action on climate change is a prescription for improved health and equity.”

– Renee Salas, a physician at Massachusetts General Hospital

BREAKING NEWS: This is The 50th WTF!

It started – as a lot of things that got started during the first Covid summer in 2020 – as a scramble for solutions. A team from Western University’s Centre for Environment and Sustainability were finishing up their MES degrees with a final co-op placement. They were tasked with leading a print magazine issue AND finding a way to raise their ideas and their voices on a weekly basis. 

The solution that they generated – and that has been perpetuated by their peers for the last year and a bit – is THE WEEK THIS FRIDAY, a tool for bright green minds to have snippets of usable and shareable information to ‘own the conversation this weekend. We wanted to provide those social butterflies (socially-distancing, of course) to continue to sprinkle ideas and inspiration into their dinner-table and coffee-table conversations. Little DYKs and FYIs. With a lot of science and a touch of cheeky humour.

In the intervening year, the team, which has continued to evolve and change, has embraced the responsibility that comes with weekly, must-do publishing. They seek to expand their knowledge and share their learnings. And as an organization that was founded in 1971 – meaning we’re celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary this week –  as a ‘literary lab’ to explore the new area of study called ‘environmental science’, the lions and legends who’ve written for A\J in the past are smiling with pride as they see the newest generation of idea-filled and inspiration-sharing environmental communicators.

So here’s to 50 volumes of WTFs in A\J’s 50th anniversary year – and here’s to many, many more to come!

Sincerely and truly, 

A/J Team

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