You might be allergic to the modern world
Allergy rates are on the rise. Blame climate change and people’s urbanized lifestyles.
News
Published by Observer Media Group
Bloc hammers Liberals on climate change as wildfires rage
The Bloc Québécois used its last opposition day to hammer the Liberals on climate change as forest fires rage across the country, forcing people from their homes and darkening the skies with smoke.
David Johnston packs it in as special rapporteur on foreign interference
The former governor general said in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday that his objective in leading the government's probe into alleged meddling by China was to help build trust in democratic institutions, but his "leadership has had the opposite effect."
What you need to make sense of Environment Canada's Air Quality Health Index ratings
Environment Canada's air quality index is at https://weather.gc.ca/airquality/pages/index_e.html You can take a look at the ratings in communities across your province or territory.
Canadian tourism suffering because of wildfires, smoke
Raging wildfires and smoky skies across much of Canada have put a damper on travel this summer, resulting in cancelled plans and closed businesses.
Poor air quality expected to continue for at least a couple days
Smoke and flames continue to engulf much of Canada, with Alberta imposing new evacuation orders, Manitoba bracing for heavy, lightning-generating thunderstorms and high wildfire risks and poor air quality from coast to coast.
Ottawa girl about to become the youngest university graduate in Canadian history
Anthaea-Grace Patricia Dennis is not your typical 12-year-old.
Hoses, shovel, water bombers: how wildfires are being fought across Canada
The techniques used to put out the wildfires that are burning across Canada vary somewhat depending on geography, but ultimately they depend on people on the ground with hoses and shovels digging out hot spots one by one, experts say.
‘This is how we live now’
“This is at least the third year where I've had to wear a respirator,” says Sayward, B.C., resident Shannon Briggs, whose children are growing up in the age of apocalyptic wildfires.
Global heating will push billions outside the livable zone
Scientists warn the world is on track for 2.7 C of heating with current action plans and this would mean two billion people experiencing average annual temperatures above 29 C by 2030, a level at which very few communities have lived in the past.
Ron Quintal fought Fort McMurray’s megafire ‘The Beast’. Now he’s back in smoke
Ever since fighting “The Beast” — a massive system of wildfires that devastated Fort McMurray and swept through northern Alberta in 2016 — Ron Quintal says his “anxiety level goes from zero to 100 in a matter of minutes” at that telltale sign of smoke.
‘We had smoke and fire very close’
Fire has driven Marvin Herman’s family from their home in northwestern Saskatchewan twice in the last month.
‘I'll never forget that low, sad feeling’
As wildfire approached a neighbouring community, April Glaicar grabbed her camera. What she witnessed was “alarming.”
‘It started very small. When we arrived, there were two or three tall pine trees that had lit up. And then, very quickly, it moved.’
During his 18 years living on the north shore of Centennial Lake, Mike Coates said he had never even heard of a forest fire nearby. Until Sunday.
In northern Quebec, people pray for ‘heavy, heavy rain’
Over the past few days, apocalyptic skies have darkened Tony Wawatie's traditional territory around Barriere Lake. Hundreds of wildfires are scorching Quebec's Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, forcing most of the First Nation's roughly 800 members to evacuate.