Good morning,
We can’t all duck and hide in the midnight world of the ocean’s vast midwaters. That, according to the New York Times, is the home of the newly discovered family of sea slugs putatively known as the Bathydeviidae: the midnight world of the ocean’s vast midwaters. I’m no realtor, but I know a great location when I see it.
This past week has been a hard one for many of us cursed to live above sea level. It’s not just that a president has been elected, again, on a slate of promises guaranteed to raise that sea level, but that it’s easy to see how other political leaders are going to use the opportunity to throw out unpopular, expensive or difficult measures intended to fight the climate crisis. Canada is already exporting enough carbon emissions to other countries to drown out any progress we’re making at home.
Though drifting alone through the midnight world of the ocean’s vast midwaters sounds tempting — no political turmoil, less climate change — we have to push down the temptation to bow out of the fight when things get scary. And like the Bathydeviidae, we must design unique ways to make the environment we find ourselves in work for us. In their case, that’s a hood that collects shrimp. In our case, to adapt to our rapidly changing environment, we need coordinated action. That coordination is being taken up by a small group of Canadians with foresight who are stepping in where our leadership has failed.
We have good news on that front: a group of philanthropists has just committed a record $405 million to the cause of fighting climate change. Money alone isn’t enough to fix this thing but it sure does help; you might call it the shrimp of the land. It will fuel the innovation and adaptation so desperately needed right now, helping businesses and communities get their plans off the ground, much like the Bathydeviidae, which are neutrally buoyant so they can swim instead of crawling on the ocean floor.
Are you sick of reading about sea slugs yet? If so, please read on — there’s lots more happening at National Observer this week, none of which takes place in the midnight world of the ocean’s vast midwaters.
—Jimmy Thomson, managing editor
PS: The Bathydeviidae aren’t the only newly discovered family. In a way, we’re all discovering family right now. Ok that one doesn’t work — but, if you want to join our online community, we’ve relocated our social media presence from the platform formerly known as Twitter to the newly reinvigorated Bluesky. You can find us and our reporters, editors and contributors at nationalobserver.bsky.social.
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Huge applause to the nine families and foundations who pledged $405 million for climate solutions over the next decade. It’s the largest philanthropic contribution ever made to fight climate change in Canadian history and will give a boost to innovative projects that drive climate action and the country’s transition to a low-carbon economy. The announcement was timed to coincide with the UN climate talks going on right now in Azerbaijan and should help Canada meet climate goals that have so far been elusive.
Darius Snieckus reports
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💐A huge congratulations to Vancouver’s own Tzeporah Berman, a climate activist recognized this week by TIME as one of the 100 foremost climate leaders of the year. Berman cut her teeth protesting the logging of old growth trees on Clayoquot Sound. But most recently she has thrown her energy behind the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that aims to check the expansion and end fossil fuels’ use and transition equitably away from coal, oil and gas in favour of clean energy. Berman is the treaty’s chair and international program director at Stand.Earth.
Said Berman upon receiving the award, “I think in 30 years [of advocacy], I’ve never done work that feels this meaningful and exciting.”
Rochelle Baker reports
🐒A group of 80 scientists is calling on the federal government to stop the importation of endangered macaque monkeys for biomedical experimentation. The Cambodian monkeys are being shipped to Canada via a U.S. laboratory in increasing numbers. The United States effectively stopped accepting macaques from Cambodia after U.S. Fish and Wildlife authorities found the lab could not verify the animals were bred in captivity. Since then the lab has been shipping Cambodian macaques to Canada. The Canadian academics are worried about animal welfare and warn that if the monkeys were captured in the wild, they could become spreaders of pandemic-causing disease — similar to how COVID-19 may have jumped to humans. The warning comes as a child in B.C. has been hospitalized in critical condition with a case of avian flu, also spread by wild animals.
Abdul Matin Sarfraz reports
🚍Ontario Premier Doug Ford mused this week about throwing one of Canada’s premiere trading partners, Mexico, under the bus by punting it from the joint trade agreement with the United States. He accused Mexico of acting as a “backdoor” for cheap, state-subsidized Chinese vehicles, thereby undermining Canada’s efforts to build a thriving electric vehicle market. While his comments may be grounded in truth and driven by the desire to protect Canadian jobs, they were delivered with the “tact of a wrecking ball,” writes David Moscrop. International trade is a complex world that requires a deft touch, which led this writer to urge Ford to stay in his lane.
Read David Moscrop’s column here
👎🏾Alberta recently celebrated the end of coal-fired power plants, a fabulous milestone on the decarbonization path. But before we break out the champagne, it’s important to look at what else is going on in the province’s coal industry. Alberta is currently reviewing the expansion of the Vista thermal coal mine. Thermal coal is the variety burned for electricity in power plants, one of the worst contributors to global heating. They also release tiny airborne particles that cause respiratory and cardiovascular disease and death. So when you look at the big picture it’s clear: while Alberta is cleaning up pollution at home it is simultaneously readying itself to foist polluted air on others.
Julia Sawatzky, Philip Barber and Claire E.H. Barber write