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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Oops! Sorry that you got last week’s newsletter before this. Let’s start fresh.
We’ve got a guest writer today – Jenn Thornhill Verma is our whale expert of sorts, and she shares some good news in our deep dive section.
PS: You may notice things are looking a little different in here. I’ll be experimenting with some new formats in the newsletter over the next few weeks. Please send your thoughts if you have any!
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Essay: How a failed voyage through the Northwest Passage aboard a century-old tall ship serves as a reminder that there is still much to learn from the Arctic and its Indigenous Peoples
- Artificial intelligence: B.C. proposes industrial electricity rules putting resource development before AI, data centres
- Wildfires: Jasper wildfire became uncontainable minutes after it started, federal report says
- Land: Observers anticipate lengthy legal process after B.C. Aboriginal land title decision
- Animals: Ontario urges Ottawa to revisit decision blocking Marineland’s export of beluga whales to China
- Energy: Coal company to receive $95-million in settlement with Alberta over policy flip-flop
A deeper dive
In September, The Globe shared footage of the Campobello Whale Rescue Team freeing Athena from an entanglement in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.Center for Coastal Studies Right Whale Ecology Program/Supplied
North Atlantic right whales get names – and a reason for hope
Jenn Thornhill Verma is a Pulitzer Ocean Reporting Network fellow for The Globe. For this week’s deeper dive, she talks about Entangled, The Globe’s series looking at Canada-U.S. measures to protect North Atlantic right whales.
At just two years old, the female North Atlantic right whale known as Athena (#5312) already carries scars from being entangled in fishing gear – visual reminders of the threats this species faces because it shares waterways with humans.
Athena is one of 18 right whales whose new names are being released today by the New England Aquarium and Whale and Dolphin Conservation. She is named for the Greek goddess of war. Her mother (#1812) is aptly named War.
The annual naming practice offers a rare opportunity to celebrate good news for a species that too often makes headlines for tragic reasons, such as the latest entanglement or vessel strike (the main causes of right whale death).
This year, it builds on a positive update released last week: The critically endangered population reached 384 animals in 2024, marking the fourth consecutive year of growth.
Each newly named whale tells a story of resilience. Among them is the approximately 51-year-old Hedgehog (#1307), who has one of the longest sighting histories of any living right whale. His 38-year-old daughter Pencil (#1706) was also named this year.
There’s also Camel (#2520), who is roughly 31 years old and named for her spine deformity (which hasn’t stopped her from giving birth to five calves). And 16-year-olds Taffy (#3903) and Spectre (#3915), young females who could soon join the reproductive ranks – critical for a species whose future rests on 72 breeding females.
All identified right whales receive a catalogue number, but researchers name only living ones, to help with field identification. Of the 833 right whales ever cataloged, about 50 per cent have names. Among the current population of 384, roughly 60 per cent are named.
For Amy Warren, who co-ordinates the naming effort at the New England Aquarium, the custom is an opportunity to think about the more positive news concerning the whales and ocean research.
“We don’t get many chances to keep stories really fun and lighthearted,” she said.
If you’d like to learn more about right whales and the problems they face, The Globe’s Entangled series highlights solutions, such as removing entangling fishing lines, rerouting or slowing down vessels and protecting the whales where they are as climate change alters their food supply.
— Jenn
What else you missed
- Amateur PEI fossil hunter finds 290-million-year-old animal footprint
- Cowichan Tribes lawyer says a treaty with B.C. could recognize Aboriginal and private land titles
Opinion and analysis
Manitoba’s wildfire response exposes gaps for non-status and off-reserve Indigenous peoples
Climate disasters do not discriminate. Emergency responses shouldn’t either.
— Brendan Moore is the national chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
Clearing the air on the threat from wildfires
Assuming that a declining overall number of fires means there is no crisis is to miss the forest for the trees.
— The Editorial Board
Green Investing
Ottawa, Ontario pledge combined $3-billion for new nuclear reactors
The federal government will provide an additional $2-billion toward construction of the first new nuclear reactor in Canada in more than three decades, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced.
The Canada Growth Fund, a $15-billion federal investment fund, will buy an equity stake in the project. The Ontario government contributed another $1-billion through its Building Ontario Fund. It’s the first time Ontario Power Generation has invited investors to take equity stakes in one of its nuclear projects.
- Inuit business leaders head new defence firm to integrate tech with northern projects
- How Beyond Meat went from a Wall Street darling to a meme stock struggling for survival
The Climate Exchange
We’ve launched the The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. We have been collecting hundreds of questions and posing them to experts. The answers 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. You can ask a question using this form.
Photo of the week
The sun rises over dragon blood trees in Yemen’s Firmihin Forest on Socotra. The island is home the largest concentration of the trees – along with 824 other plant species, more than a third of which grow nowhere else. Among them are 11 species of frankincense, four of which were classified as critically endangered in March. Unfortunately, intensifying tropical cyclones fuelled by climate change have put the Indian Ocean island's unique ecosystem at risk. Meanwhile, Yemen's civil war has complicated conservation efforts.Carl Court/Getty Images
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at 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
- A showcase of wildlife images
- Carney’s climate vision
- Lessons from wildfire survivors
- How one activist found compassion in jail
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