Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Canada, Nigeria, Japan and Pakistan are among 31 parties to join a global pledge, led by the U.S. and EU, to slash planet-warming methane emissions by 30 per cent by the end of the decade, U.S. climate enjoy John Kerry announced Monday.
Kerry said the agreement, which was announced last month, now included nine of the top 20 emitters.
"And that represents over 60 per cent of the global economy," Kerry said at a virtual press conference with the EU's Frans Timmermans, who also oversees climate issues. "We're all very eager to roll up our sleeves and get to work." We're all very eager to roll up our sleeves and get to work."
Scientists say reducing methane emissions is the quickest way to slow global warming. Methane has a stronger warming effect than carbon dioxide warming effect, though it doesn't stay in the atmosphere as long.
Biden administration officials, including Kerry, have called curbing methane emissions one of the most important short-term strategies to rein in the climate crisis.
Atmospheric methane concentrations have risen rapidly over the past decade, with five-year average growth rates now rivalling those seen in the 1980s. It is responsible for around 30 per cent of the global rise in temperatures to date, the International Energy Agency says.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced the methane agreement with the EU on September 17 in a a virtual, closed-door meeting with other world leaders on climate on the sideline of the UN General Assembly. The U.S. and EU have been campaigning for other countries to join ahead of the pivotal COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, to begin later this month.
Methane is the main component of natural gas used widely for cooking and heating homes, but it can also be produced in nature by belching volcanoes, decomposing plant matter, landfills, livestock and leaks from oil, gas and coal infrastructure.
Natural gas has been hailed as a "bridge fuel" that would transition the U.S. to renewable energy because it is more efficient than coal and emits less carbon dioxide when burned. Importantly for industry, natural gas is in abundant supply around the world and is less costly to extract from the ground.
But proponents for this new "cleaner" gas missed a dangerous threat: that it could leak, unburned, into the atmosphere and cause significant warming.
In a report published lat week that laid out pathways to reducing methane emissions by 75 per cent over this decade, the IEA emphasized the role of reductions in the oil, gas and coal operations, saying they would have immediate impacts.
Fossil fuel operations emitted nearly 120 million metric tons of methane last year, nearly a third of all methane emissions from human activity, the IEA reported.
"Much of these emissions are simply leakage along the production and supply chain that operators fail to capture or avert. There are cost-effective ways to limit these emissions, especially in the oil and gas sector," the IEA said in a statement.
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
King Charles III’s doctors are 'sufficiently pleased' with his cancer treatment and he is expected to return to public-facing duties, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday.
After the Assembly of First Nations' national chief complained to Air Canada about how staffers treated her and her ceremonial headdress on a flight this week, she says the airline responded by offering a 15 per cent discount on her next flight.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
The current overall public health risk posed by the H5N1 bird flu virus is low, the World Health Organization said on Friday, but urged countries to stay alert for cases of animal-to-human transmission.
Philadelphia 76ers All-Star centre Joel Embiid has been diagnosed with Bell’s palsy, a form of facial paralysis he says has affected him since before the play-in tournament.
An idyllic 453-acre private island is up for sale off the west coast of Scotland and it comes with sandy beaches, puffins galore, seven houses, a pub, a helipad and a flock of black-faced sheep.
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.
An investigation is underway after a Regina police officer was accidentally shot by a fellow officer’s gun during the search of a house early Friday morning.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.