Globe Climate: How to fix instead of waste

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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

Welcome to the summer of tariffs. Just in time for golf and fishing seasons, the Canada-U.S. trade war is set to increase costs for pretty much all outdoor gear.

Catch up on our recent story about how the latest developments will hit your camping trips and barbecues.

Now, let’s catch you up on other news.

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Noteworthy reporting this week:

1. Fish: Fraser River to see record-breaking run of pink salmon
2. Banks: Competition Bureau should weigh RBC’s withdrawal of sustainable finance targets in probe, claimants say
3. ESG: Canada Pension Plan abandons net-zero target
4. Oil and gas: Pipeline co-owners seek Indigenous equity partners as B.C. set to rule on project’s fate
5. Auto: How this Canadian start-up is removing the need for rare earths in EV motors
6. Listen to The Decibel: How Labrador Inuit are adapting to a warming world
7. In-depth with The Narwhal: Billions of litres of sewage in the rivers — can it be fixed?

A deeper dive

From shirts to shoes, here’s how to fix what’s broken

For this week’s deeper dive, in the middle of prom season, we talk about reducing fashion waste and fixing things up around your home.

The climate crisis demands that we adjust buying habits, but already many people are trying to limit purchases. The need to shop less has become even more pressing given the trade war and the recent volatility of the stock market. Canadians are strapped for cash and avoiding American goods at the same time.

So why not repair or upcycle what you already own?

The Globe and Mail spoke with Canadians about how they honed their skills in mending and DIY, and their tips for holding on to belongings just a little bit longer.

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Mend items by hand

Arounna Khounnoraj is a multidisciplinary artist, author and co-owner of Bookhou, multidisciplinary studio.

She believes a growing awareness of the harms of fast fashion have triggered a rising interest in clothing repairs. “When people actually mend their knits, they start to connect with that item because they spent all this time fixing it, and then they have a whole different view of it,” she said.

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Maintain your footwear

Lorena Agolli is the owner of Sole Survivor and a cobbler with Cirque du Soleil.

As the years have gone by, she has learned what materials make a good shoe and relayed that knowledge to her customers, encouraging them to buy quality items that will last and can more easily be repaired. She also regularly shares tips and tricks with her more than 10,000 Instagram followers.

“The longer I’ve been in the business, the more it’s really sat with me that we are doing important work here without even realizing how important it is,” she said.

Make your clothes last longer

Anna-Marie Janzen is a seamstress and owner of Reclaim Mending. For her, fixing up clothing was a normal part of taking care of her cloths growing up.

In high school, Janzen learned how the garment industry was contributing to climate change – an understanding that only deepened her passion for mending clothing. The biggest issue is overproduction, Janzen says, and the belief that we need a new outfit for every occasion is part of what’s driving it.

“You go back even just one generation and people would have their Sunday best and then maybe two regular outfits. We have this idea that we need a lot more than we really do.”

Also read:

• Five style tips to reduce waste and save money this prom season
• Prom style guide: Whether buying new or vintage, here’s what teens want to wear

What else you missed

• Alberta, Ottawa spending $7-million to fund six new urban wildfire teams
• Picking buffaloberries and electric fences: How wildlife is being managed ahead of G7
• Major landslide sweeps away home and road northeast of Montreal
• Renowned mountain guide puts clients on Everest summit less than a week after they left London
• Toronto Zoo warns of extinctions if Ontario mining bill becomes law

Opinion and analysis

Eric Reguly: Trump’s lunge for critical metals could come at a huge environmental cost by churning up the seabed

Jennifer A. Quaid and Julien O. Beaulieu: Ottawa’s anti-greenwashing rules aren’t radical. Companies are just overreacting

Green Investing

Seafood magnate John Risley leads venture to build infrastructure in Canada’s Arctic

Nova Scotia billionaire John Risley says Canada has neglected the Arctic for far too long, which has undermined the country’s economic prospects and put its sovereignty at risk. He’s betting he can light a fire for change.

“We haven’t really stepped up as a country,” Risley said. Public underinvestment in the Coast Guard has left Northern waters exposed while corporate Canada “hasn’t woken up to the opportunity.”

• Solar stocks plummet after Trump’s tax bill advances in U.S House

The Climate Exchange

We’ve launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.

Photo of the week

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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 COP29 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.

Catch up on Globe Climate

• Drill, baby, drill ... that ice
• Canadian company net-zero rankings
• Shipping is a dirty business
• Climate on the ballot

We want to hear from you. Email us: GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.