Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Young urban shepherd Lukas Janssens guides his flock among the graves in Schoonselhof, one of Belgium's iconic cemeteries, knowing sheep are kinder to nature than lawnmowers.
Limiting emissions of carbon dioxide, a key contributor to climate change, and promoting biodiversity are two key goals of De Antwerpse Stadsherder -- The Antwerp City Shepherd, Janssens' company of one human and 270 sheep.
"We won't stave it off with a flock of sheep," Janssens said of global warming. "But it is another step to build an more ecological society."
Only days after the alarming UN report on climate change, the message of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was still stuck in his head -- "code red for humanity," with global warming threatening to choke the planet.
Even if Guterres's words were aimed primarily at governments, investment managers and asset owners, some citizens have known this day would come for decades.
Janssens is one of many who have taken on a very personal commitment to do something, along with those who refuse to fly, adapt their personal diet or stay off school to protest on Fridays.
"I started as a shepherd because, together with the small sheep, I wanted to commit myself to society, to have a social goal beyond the production of meat, milk or wool. I want them to be useful," he said of his flock as they grazed the steep banks of a ditch running through the massive cemetery.
None of this might matter unless nations show similar commitment when they meet in Glasgow, Scotland, in November for the COP26 UN meeting on climate change.
Participants will seek to agree to measures to try to limit warming to 1.5 Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above levels in the late 19th century. The figure has already reached 1.1 C(2 degrees Fahrenheit).
Which begs the question: Are Janssens and his ilk 21st century Don Quixotes or the vanguard of a global Green revolution, that might help keep the planet from overheating?
At 24, Janssens has already seen his 3-year-old business expand rapidly as his venture has proved ripe for the climate conscious times. "It cannot get bigger any faster than this," he said. "It is more than a full-time profession."
His choice of action might not be the one taken by all, but activists say as long as people do something, they can make a difference.
"Not everyone is going to become a shepherd of course. But it is great that there is such a variety of initiatives," said bio-engineer Benjamin Clarysse of BBL, a confederation of environmental groups in northern Belgium.
And all together, he insisted, individuals might amount to more than the sum of their parts.
The challenges raised in the UN report are huge. It gives a guarantee that warming will get worse and insists it is "an established fact" that climate change clearly was human-caused. If that were not enough, a summer of exceptional floods, heatwaves and wildfires from the U.S. west over much of Europe and north Africa to Siberia has added to that sinking feeling. Some of the flooding came as close as 35 miles (60 kilometres) to Janssens' city pastures.
"I can imagine there was a sense of hopelessness among people," said Pim Nusselder of the Dutch Milieu Centraal, a group promoting sustainable choices on anything from energy to waste and shopping. "Yet the longer we wait, the bigger and more expensive the challenge will become."
He insisted small actions, if taken by enough people, could grow well beyond expectations, taking the population of the Netherlands as a cue. "I often get the question: What I do, is that not a tiny drop on a boiling plate? Well we have 17 million drops and if each does 10 sustainable things, you have 170 million drops on a hot plate. That is how you extinguish wildfires."
Underscoring his view, a report this year by the EU's statistical agency showed that people taking some personal action to combat climate change, whether on food or transport, has reached its highest level since 2011.
Greta Thunberg at first was a lonely teenager with her solo protests outside Sweden's parliament in Stockholm. Now, she addresses political and business leaders at UN conferences and is feted by world leaders like European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen -- even if they stop well short of following much of her advice.
Activists warn, though, that politicians should not shrug off responsibility on the individual. "They cannot just say that everyone should just do a little bit of the work. Depending on just the good will of people won't get you there," said bio-engineer Clarysse.
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Virginia Mayo in Hoboken and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
The final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off Saturday in the Swedish city of Malmo after days of protests and offstage drama that have tipped the feelgood musical celebration into a chaotic pressure cooker overshadowed by the war in Gaza.
From London, to Grand Bend, Collingwood and Guelph, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
The rolling hills leading to the hamlet of Rosebud are dotted with sprawling farms and cattle pastures -- and a sign sporting a simple message: No Race Track.
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.