A highway loops around a tailings pond at the Syncrude facility in Fort McMurray, Alta. The proximity of such toxic wastewater ponds to nature threatens its biodiversity.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
As toxic water continues to spill from tailings ponds across mining developments, decades of scientific research provides evidence of how wildlife will be affected.
An earthquake-triggered tsunami sweeps shores along Iwanuma, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan, March 11, 2011.
(Kyodo News via AP, File)
Images of the 2011 tsunami did not look as I had expected, and pointed to the sublime, when experience exceeds our frameworks of understanding. My exhibit ‘Salients’ treats this theme.
Pumpjacks draw oil in a canola field near Olds, Alta.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Proposals for new oil and gas pipelines can generate intense debate today, but during World War II the US built an oil pipeline more than 1,300 miles long in less than a year.
The unique properties of clays make them suitable for a wide variety of applications.
(Shutterstock)
Jason Ng, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Andrea Sedgwick, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology
Throughout human history, clay has played a role in many different industries. Its unique properties make it suited for a wide applications in widely ranging industries.
The direct confrontational tactics adopted by environmental activists over the past decade have transformed the global climate movement.
(Shutterstock)
A web of local environmental action campaigns launched against oilsands pipelines a decade ago helped bring an end to Keystone XL.
Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg greets Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the G7 leaders summit in La Malbaie, Que., in June 2018.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Canada and Norway face epic challenges in weaning themselves from petroleum dependence.
Pumpjacks pump crude oil near Halkirk, Alta., more than a decade ago. Oil prices have plunged into negative territory due to the glut created by the COVID-19 global economic shutdown.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougall
Alberta oil is the collateral damage of the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, with COVID-19 launching an additional attack. The province’s oil industry will struggle to recover.
Record-shattering heatwaves and exceptional wildfires have occurred throughout the northern hemisphere this summer.
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The Earth is on the edge of being pushed over a planetary threshold that could lead to a “Hothouse Earth.” But if we take the risks seriously there is room for a more benign future.
A aerial view of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain marine terminal, in Burnaby, B.C., is shown on Tues., May 29, 2018.
(Jonathan Hayward/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Canada wants to move towards a green economy and meet its Paris Agreement targets, but it has also just taken ownership of a pipeline. How can the federal government deal with this paradox?
A aerial view of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain tank farm is pictured in Burnaby, B.C. The federal government is buying Trans Mountain and all of Kinder Morgan Canada’s core assets. Opposition to pipeline construction in Canada has transformed over the decades, shifting from being a local issue to one of global concerns.
THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward
Canada has a long history of building energy pipelines against a backdrop of environmental uncertainty. Decades ago, the opposition came from local groups. Now it’s a global issue.
David Suzuki is an environmental activist, broadcaster and globally recognized geneticist.
David Suzuki Foundation
David Suzuki may be best known as an environmental activist and the face of CBC’s ‘The Nature of Things,’ but he’s also a globally recognized scientist.
Mona Nemer was named as Canada’s new Chief Science Advisor on Sept. 26, 2017.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Science advisers can make important contributions to environmental policy and decision making by government. But we should expect even more.
Jim Carr, Canada’s minister of Natural Resources, delivers a statement on TransCanada’s decision to cancel the Energy East Pipeline project on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2017.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick)
The Trump administration may reverse a recent push to require oil companies to disclose more information about climate change risks to investors. Is that a good thing?
Efforts to combat climate change are making extracting oil from areas like Canada’s tar sands fields more expensive.
Emily Beament/PA Wire via AP
The SEC and others are pressing Exxon to disclose more climate change risks to investors. But new research suggests shareholders are already pricing in those costs on their own.
Increasing emissions from Canada’s oil and gas sector will make Canada’s post-2020 pledge very difficult to achieve.
kris krüg/Flickr
Christian Holz, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
This month Canada revealed its post-2020 climate target as 30% below 2005 levels by 2030. But current policies make it unlikely Canada will achieve the target within the country.
The people are angry, but the politicians aren’t worried.
Dave Weaver/Reuters
In Nebraska, the intensity of the Keystone XL debate is second only to that over the chance that the Nebraska Cornhuskers will win the Big Ten football championship. Raging for several years now, controversy…