The Canadian government’s recent defence policy update, Our North: Strong and Free, was recently released with considerable fanfare. Promised for a year, the delay seemed to indicate the Liberal government’s budgetary pressures given the ballooning deficit. In the end, it was more heat than light and was less of an update to address a worsening international security environment than a simple restatement of traditional approaches to Canada’s defence. Announced by a joint team of the prime minister, deputy prime minister and both the defence and veterans affairs ministers — with a backdrop fram ..read more

Water from the Mackenzie River, seen from a satellite, carries silt and nutrients from land to the Arctic Ocean. Jesse Allen/NASA Earth Observatory As the Arctic warms, its mighty rivers are changing in ways that could have vast consequences – not only for the Arctic region but for the world. Rivers represent the land branch of the earth’s hydrological cycle. As rain and snow fall, rivers transport freshwater runoff along with dissolved organic and particulate materials, including carbon, to coastal areas. With the Arctic now warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the world, the reg ..read more

bennphoto / Shutterstock Global warming caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases is already affecting our lives. Scorching summers, more intense heatwaves, longer drought periods, more extended floods, and wilder wildfires are consequences linked to this warming. One less obvious consequence of global warming is also getting growing attention from scientists: a potential increase in the intensity and frequency of winter cold snaps in the northern hemisphere. Weather phenomena like the Beast from the East in winter 2018, the cold spell of Arctic air that reached as far South as Te ..read more

A satellite image of a phytoplankton bloom off the coast of St. John's, N.L. (NASA, MODIS Rapid Response) Every year in the mid-latitudes of the planet, a peculiar phenomenon known as the phytoplankton spring bloom occurs. Visible from space, spectacular large and ephemeral filament-like shades of green and blue are shaped by the ocean currents. The phytoplankton blooms are comprised of a myriad of microscopic algae cells growing and accumulating at the ocean’s surface as a result of the onset of longer days and fewer storms — often associated with the move into spring. Read more: How climate ..read more

NATO's Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE) is set to open this year in Montréal. (Shutterstock) This year Montréal is set to become the home for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s new Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE). The CCASCOE, as the name would suggest, is set to provide specific expertise on the environment and the impacts of climate change for NATO security. When announcing the new centre, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared it will “enable Canada, NATO allies, and other global partners to understand and address the serious securi ..read more

Jean Landry/sHUTTERSTOCK Attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels on merchant ships in the Red Sea have hit world trade. Between November and December 2023, the number of containers travelling through the Red Sea each day fell by 60% as ships moving goods between Asia and Europe diverted their routes around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa. This route results in at least ten days more sailing time, so has caused freight prices to surge and has triggered costly delays to production. The region has become a bottleneck for the global economy before. The Suez canal, a waterway that conne ..read more

Climate change is a threat to polar bear’s survival. Now they have a new deadly challenge facing them: bird flu. It was recently confirmed that a polar bear from northern Alaska has died from the disease. The current strain of H5N1 influenza has affected a far wider range of species than any previously recorded strain. This has included several mammal species, such as foxes, otters, mink, sea lions and seals (including, for the first time, seals in Antarctica). Cases have been detected in humans, too. However, while some cases in mammals have been associated with large numbers of animal deaths ..read more

In 2015, most countries, including Canada, signed on to the Paris Climate Agreement which set the objective of “holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing the limit of 1.5 C to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.” Read more: Temperature records shattered across the world as tourists flock to experience the heat On Jan. 9, 2024, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (CCCS) announced that their analysis confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year on record since 1850, when humans began burn ..read more

The adaptations that polar bears will have to make to meet the challenges brought about by climate change are numerous and unpredictable. (Shutterstock) Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) take advantage of the winter to build up their fat reserves. Intensive hunting of seals, a resource rich in fat, allows bears to store up enough energy to get through the summer. As the climate warms, hunting opportunities on the ice pack are diminishing. Experts believe that as a result, there is not sufficient food resources on the land to allow bears to build up the energy reserves they require. Faced with thes ..read more

Giovanna Stevens grew up harvesting salmon at her family’s fish camp on Alaska's Yukon River. Climate change is interrupting hunting and fishing traditions in many areas. AP Photo/Nathan Howard The year 2023 shattered the record for the warmest summer in the Arctic, and people and ecosystems across the region felt the impact. Wildfires forced evacuations across Canada. Greenland was so warm that a research station at the ice sheet summit recorded melting in late June, only its fifth melting event on record. Sea surface temperatures in the Barents, Kara, Laptev and Beaufort seas were 9 to 12 de ..read more