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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Hope you all had a good long weekend! We are sending this Tuesday edition to take a closer look at Vancouver Island, where First Nations guardians steward a changing landscape under threat.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Northwest Territories wildfires: Two communities under evacuation order as wildfires burn nearby
- Nova Scotia wildfire: The largest provincial wildfire destroyed 20 homes in the Annapolis Valley over the weekend
- Smoke safety: How to protect your pets from wildfire smoke, according to experts
- Disaster planning: Provinces are making amateur radio operators an official part of extreme-weather planning
- Infrastructure: Carney appoints former Trans Mountain head to lead major projects office
- Oceans: A severe marine heat wave nicknamed ‘the Blob’ has finally been explained
- Technology: Southwestern Ontarians leery as province proposes legislation to allow underground carbon storage
- Energy: Alberta energy watchdog CEO cancels coal hearing in unprecedented move
A deeper dive
Ryan Teremy, the Ahousaht Guardian Program Director, stands on the top of Lone Cone, on Mears Island.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Meet the guardians
For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at the First Nations guardians on Vancouver Island who are stewarding a changing landscape under threat. Photography and story by James Macdonald as part of the Underexposed series, a year-long photojournalism project dedicated to shedding light on the unseen lives of Canadians in every province and territory.
Tofino, a district on Vancouver Island, draws visitors by the tens of thousands each year, creating a complex and ever-changing challenge for locals, including those who have stewarded the land since time immemorial, the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Across the waves, and rich in resources, Meares Island caught the interest of logging companies as far back as the early 1900s. In 1984, under threat from logging giant MacMillan Bloedel Ltd., the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations, accompanied by many non-Indigenous supporters, participated in a major blockade.
Johnny “Pompom” John, a Contract Ahousaht Guardian, gestures towards to the top of a large old growth tree.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Gemma MacFarlane, the Ahousaht Guardian's Lead Biologist, looks over oceanographic data of a fjord in Ahousaht territory near Tofino.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Eventually, with the case before the courts, the Tla-o-qui-aht declared a “Tribal Park” in an effort to protect the land. It was a success. Since then, the Tla-o-qui-aht have established three additional tribal parks, comprising all their traditional territory.
Caretaking the tribal parks and acting as the eyes and ears of the Tla-o-qui-aht Nation are the Tribal Park Guardians.
Established in 2008 and governed by a 500-year stewardship plan, guardians are involved in vital projects across the tribal parks. They are doing environmental monitoring, river restoration, salmon habitat revitalization, habitat remediation and visitor education.
For example, as the climate changes, fire season has crept ever closer to the coast, into a region that traditionally saw very little fire activity.
Ed Coon (with hose), Nathaniel Currie, and Tattuuskulth “Tatt” Charlie (in truck), all Tla-o-qui-aht Guardians, test wildfire fighting gear as the territory moves into fire season.James MacDonald/The Globe and Mail
Saya Masso is a natural resources manager and a member of the Tla-o-qui-aht, one of 15 Nuu-chah-nulth (formerly Nootka) nations. He explains that the guardians were integral in extinguishing a remote backcountry fire on Kennedy Lake from the previous season. “There was no ministry [of forests] there. It was just guardians. We bought a Honda pump and generator and ran out with the skiff.”
In preparation for future incidents, the Tla-o-qui-aht Guardians have expanded their wildfire-fighting resources.
While present-day challenges can be daunting, progress toward conservation, old-growth ecosystem protection and climate resilience offers hope.
What else you missed
- Climate activist Greta Thunberg on board new Gaza aid flotilla, departs Barcelona after stormy weather delay
- Lawsuit challenges Hawaii’s tourist tax on cruise industry aimed at climate change consequences
- Asteroid spacedust offers glimpse into celestial history as Canada readies to receive sample for research
- International aid cuts obstruct Afghanistan’s earthquake response
- Pakistan province faces historic flood affecting 2 million people
- Chinese mining company accused of covering up severity of toxic spill in Zambia
- Japan uses AI-generated videos of a Mount Fuji eruption to help Tokyo brace for the worst
- DNA sequencing of ancient remains in Colombia reveals unknown human lineage
Opinion and analysis
André Picard: How do we provide cool relief in a world that’s heating up?
John Smol, Sapna Sharma and Steven Cooke: Let’s both celebrate – and worry about – our Great Lakes on World Lake Day
Brahma Chellaney: China’s Himalayan megadam poses a global threat. Where is the world’s outrage?
Andrew Willis: Alberta’s Premier needs to keep backing carbon capture as nation-building project
Green Investing
UN experts allege health damage from Dundee Precious Metals smelter in Namibia
United Nations experts have asked a Toronto-based mining company to respond to allegations that it damaged the health of workers and community members during its 14 years of ownership of a copper smelter in Namibia.
The human rights experts, in a newly disclosed letter to Dundee Precious Metals Inc., say they found evidence that arsenic from the smelter has polluted the soil, water and air in the town of Tsumeb, causing high rates of illnesses among smelter workers and town residents. The Globe’s Africa correspondent, Geoffrey York has more on the story.
- MEG Energy bidding war sets the stage for oil patch takeovers
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
A shepherd watches livestock near Khi Solar One, a solar thermal plant that converts the sun's light energy into electricity, outside Upington, South Africa, in the Northern Cape province, Aug. 29.Themba Hadebe/The Associated Press
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
- Reporting from turtle rehab
- The rise of weather content on social media
- Grief, loss and uncertainty this wildfire season
- The North Atlantic right whale’s collision course
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