An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
From Oct. 31 to Nov. 12, thousands of people will attend the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Here’s a primer on some of the terms and topics that will come up during the UN climate talks:
COP26: COP26 stands for Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Climate Change. This is a long name for what is basically the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference. The meeting will bring together world leaders, scientists, NGOs and activists to push towards meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement. The conference was initially supposed to take place in November 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Paris Agreement: The 2015 Paris Agreement is an international treaty that committed 195 signing nations to meeting climate targets. The agreement’s long-term goal is to keep the rise in global temperature to below 2 C above pre-industrial levels (period before the industrial revolution), but preferably to limit the increase to 1.5 C. The agreement also wants signing nations to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Canada is a signatory to the Paris Agreement.
1.5 C: The preferred goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels. Maintaining a 1.5 C increase or less means a milder impact on ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as fewer extreme weather events. However, a recent report by the UN climate body found that the world has already warmed by 1.1 C and is quickly approaching the 1.5 C benchmark.
Greenhouse gas emissions: Greenhouse gas emissions are gases that trap heat in Earth’s atmosphere. They are a main driver of climate change. The most common greenhouse gas emission is carbon dioxide, which is primarily emitted via human activity.
Net-zero emissions: Achieving net-zero emissions is when all the greenhouse gas emissions that are produced are offset by the emissions that are removed from the atmosphere. For countries, getting to net zero means either emitting no greenhouse gas emissions or offsetting emissions already in the atmosphere. Some examples of offsetting include planting new trees and adopting carbon-capture technology.
Carbon capture: Carbon capture describes any processes used to capture carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere. This includes the capturing process, as well as the transportation and storing processes. When carbon dioxide is captured, it is then compressed and permanently stored underground.
Carbon sinks: Carbon sinks are anything that absorbs carbon compounds from the atmosphere. The two most common carbon sinks are vegetation and the oceans. Carbon sinks are one way countries can offset their carbon emissions.
Clean energy: Clean energy is energy that comes from natural sources or from processes that are continuously replenished. Wind and solar power are examples of clean or renewable energy.
Sea level rise: Sea level rise is the measurement of how much global sea levels are rising as a result of climate change. According to NASA, sea level rise is primarily caused by two factors related to climate change: melting ice sheets and glaciers, and the expansion of seawater as it warms.
Oilsands: The oilsands in Alberta are a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, minerals and bitumen. The bitumen can be extracted and refined into consumer oil products, such as gasoline and diesel. The Alberta oilsands are the third largest oil reserve on Earth. According to the Carnegie Oil Climate Index, oilsands crude is associated with 31 per cent more emissions than the average North American crude.
Adaptation: Adaptation is the process of learning to live with an environment altered by climate change. This means taking measures to protect communities and ecosystems from climate change, as well as building to accommodate evolving environmental conditions. Adaptation can range in how much it disrupts our daily lives. Some examples of adaptation include: relocating entire communities, adopting new farming technology and building new structures to better withstand extreme weather events.
-With files from NASA, Global Citizen, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Natural Resources Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Canada Post is increasing stamp prices for the third time since 2019, a move the Crown corporation says is a "reality" of its sales-based revenue structure.
The federal New Democrats are calling out Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and his party for trying to block the bill that could pave the way for millions of Canadians to access birth control and diabetes coverage.
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An Ontario MPP was asked again to leave the Ontario legislature on Monday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment that was banned by the Speaker last month due to its political symbolism.
H5N1 or avian flu is decimating wildlife around the world and is now spreading among cattle in the United States, sparking concerns about 'pandemic potential' for humans. Now a health expert is urging Canada to scale up surveillance north of the border.
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be tabling legislation on Monday aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada. Federal officials have scheduled a technical briefing on the incoming bill for Monday afternoon.
Polish prosecutors have discontinued an investigation into human skeletons found at a site where German dictator Adolf Hitler and other Nazi leaders spent time during the Second World War because the advanced state of decay made it impossible to determine the cause of death, a spokesman said Monday.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.