Environment

A group of Canada geese stand on railway tracks as a plant operates in the background at Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Ont. Tuesday December 10, 2002. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer

Biggest emitters paying smallest price on pollution, critics say

Big companies with higher emissions pay the carbon price only on what they emit above a set limit

A group of Canada geese stand on railway tracks as a plant operates in the background at Hamilton Harbour in Hamilton, Ont. Tuesday December 10, 2002. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer
The Yukon provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. Yukon’s snow survey shows record high snowpacks in many of the basins the territory monitors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Yukon’s record snowpack adds potential for flooding during ice breakup

April survey usually represents the peak snow levels in most of the territory

The Yukon provincial flag flies on a flag pole in Ottawa, Monday July 6, 2020. Yukon’s snow survey shows record high snowpacks in many of the basins the territory monitors. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
B.C. announced a new Mass Timber Action Plan April 7, with an initial invesment of $1.2 million into four structures. (Black Press Media file photo)

B.C. investing in future of mass timber with 4 new structures, long-term action plan

Province looks to be leading producer in carbon-capturing material

B.C. announced a new Mass Timber Action Plan April 7, with an initial invesment of $1.2 million into four structures. (Black Press Media file photo)
T63 Chainsaw was one of the Bigg’s killer whales spotted in large clusters Thursday. Chainsaw is known for its jagged dorsal fin. (Photo courtesy Valerie Messier/Pacific Whale Watch Association; video courtesy of Maxx Kinert)

VIDEO: Vancouver Island expert says 72 whales spotted the most in one day

Clusters seen between Hood Canal in Puget Sound, Campbell River on Vancouver Island

T63 Chainsaw was one of the Bigg’s killer whales spotted in large clusters Thursday. Chainsaw is known for its jagged dorsal fin. (Photo courtesy Valerie Messier/Pacific Whale Watch Association; video courtesy of Maxx Kinert)
A couple are dwarfed by old growth tress as they walk in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, B.C.,Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. An environmental organization is offering cautious support for an announcement that the largest private landowner in British Columbia will defer 400 square kilometres of old-growth stands from logging for the next 25 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Environmental group gives guarded support for company’s old-growth forest plan

Mosaic, B.C.’s largest private landowner, will defer logging in 400 square kilometres of old-growth

A couple are dwarfed by old growth tress as they walk in Avatar Grove near Port Renfrew, B.C.,Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. An environmental organization is offering cautious support for an announcement that the largest private landowner in British Columbia will defer 400 square kilometres of old-growth stands from logging for the next 25 years. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
A pumpjack works at a well head on an oil and gas installation near Cremona, Alta., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Mike Yip photo SNACK TIME: Marine wildlife of all kinds enjoyed a smorgasbord as the herring run arrives off Parksville’s shore last weekend. Here, photographer Mike Yip captures a sea lion getting in on the buffet.

Pacific herring spawn spectacle surfaces along West Coast

Seabirds and sea lions cry and bark while feasting on abundant herring return

Mike Yip photo SNACK TIME: Marine wildlife of all kinds enjoyed a smorgasbord as the herring run arrives off Parksville’s shore last weekend. Here, photographer Mike Yip captures a sea lion getting in on the buffet.
Coho salmon swim at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Capilano River Hatchery, in North Vancouver, on Friday, July 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Tire residue chemical in rain runoff kills fish in urban streams, research finds

Fish appear to gasp, swim erratically and in circles, then die

Coho salmon swim at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada Capilano River Hatchery, in North Vancouver, on Friday, July 5, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney gives a COVID-19 update in Edmonton, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The premier has filed his defence in a defamation lawsuit brought against him over his remarks on the release of an Inquiry into supposed misinformation about the province’s energy industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

No victims, no foul: Alberta premier files defence in defamation suit

Statement of defence says groups that brought the lawsuit cannot be identified from his remarks

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney gives a COVID-19 update in Edmonton, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. The premier has filed his defence in a defamation lawsuit brought against him over his remarks on the release of an Inquiry into supposed misinformation about the province’s energy industry. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
According to FishSounds.net, fish enjoy lively conversations over the coral reefs. (Photo by Kieran Cox)

University of Victoria researcher helps build global inventory of fish grunts, squeals

Research helps better understand how noise impacts marine life

According to FishSounds.net, fish enjoy lively conversations over the coral reefs. (Photo by Kieran Cox)
FILE - In this May 30, 2018, file photo, is the Grand Princess cruise ship in Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska. About two-thirds of the scrubber wastewater that enters Canadian waters comes from cruise ships, a World Wildlife Fund says. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Study blames federal delays for continued marine waste dumping

World Wildlife Fund says billions of litres of wastewater being dumped in Canadian waters

FILE - In this May 30, 2018, file photo, is the Grand Princess cruise ship in Gastineau Channel in Juneau, Alaska. About two-thirds of the scrubber wastewater that enters Canadian waters comes from cruise ships, a World Wildlife Fund says. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
People who have declared themselves “Land Defenders” sing a song as they guard an area of a logging cut block called “Heli Camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Second judge to consider stay application of old-growth logging protesters in B.C.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested since Fairy Creek watershed blockade injunction

People who have declared themselves “Land Defenders” sing a song as they guard an area of a logging cut block called “Heli Camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Container ship MV Kingston was escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo following the loss of several containers and an on-board fire last fall. (Photo: Transport Canada)

MV Zim Kingston’s lost cargo containers still a deep concern for B.C. coast

Coast Guard says it is working with ship owner to investigate and respond to reports of debris

Container ship MV Kingston was escorted from its anchorage off Victoria to Duke Point in Nanaimo following the loss of several containers and an on-board fire last fall. (Photo: Transport Canada)
Anyone who finds a European green crab like this one on Vancouver Island shorelines should report the invasive species to DFO, with photos and the exact location. (Courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Extreme weather could help invasive green crab crawl along B.C. coast

European green crab is identifiable by five spines on the side of each eye

Anyone who finds a European green crab like this one on Vancouver Island shorelines should report the invasive species to DFO, with photos and the exact location. (Courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Researchers aboard the vessel Noctiluca monitor southern resident killer whale behavior. (Photo courtesy of Northwest Fisheries Science Center/North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries)

US review emphasizes uncertain future for B.C.’s southern resident killer whales

Boats, food decline, pollution threats as researchers recommend continued endangered status

Researchers aboard the vessel Noctiluca monitor southern resident killer whale behavior. (Photo courtesy of Northwest Fisheries Science Center/North Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries)
FILE - Matt Lisignoli walks through an irrigation canal that ran dry in early August after the North Unit Irrigation District exhausted its allocated water on Sept. 1, 2021, near Madras, Ore. The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest it has been in at least 1200 years and a worst-case scenario playing out live, a new study finds. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)

Western American megadrought worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years

Study calculated that 42% of this megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change

FILE - Matt Lisignoli walks through an irrigation canal that ran dry in early August after the North Unit Irrigation District exhausted its allocated water on Sept. 1, 2021, near Madras, Ore. The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest it has been in at least 1200 years and a worst-case scenario playing out live, a new study finds. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard, File)
Fresh cut sawdust is seen from a tree cut near the “heli camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C., Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Crown calls application to stay charges in B.C. old-growth logging case flawed

Lawyer: Fairy Creek protest group’s petition lacks ‘factual foundation,’ not the way justice is done

Fresh cut sawdust is seen from a tree cut near the “heli camp” in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C., Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

B.C. forest protest accused ask court to stay charges due to ’ systemic police misconduct’

RCMP have made close to 1,200 arrests enforcing Fairy Creek injunction

The clouds move among the old growth forest in the Fairy Creek logging area near Port Renfrew, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Volunteers made a “Plastic Goddess” from some of the debris collected in a 2019 beach clean-up of Baynes Sound and Denman Island. File photo by Gerry Ambury

Coastal communities ‘fed up’ with B.C. shellfish sector’s plastics problem

Feds committed $8 million to ghost gear recovery, B.C. dedicated $18 million to shoreline cleanups

Volunteers made a “Plastic Goddess” from some of the debris collected in a 2019 beach clean-up of Baynes Sound and Denman Island. File photo by Gerry Ambury
Karen Scheffers. (Submitted photo)

B.C. woman making cloth bags out of used t-shirts to reduce reliance on plastic

Karen Scheffers hopes people will think about the impact single-use plastic has on the environment

Karen Scheffers. (Submitted photo)
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