El Nino weakening doesn't mean cooler temperatures this summer, forecasters say
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A B.C. archeologist says garbology, otherwise known as the study of trash, can offer unique insights into how we live, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“(Our trash) tells us that we're very wasteful. Often, we don't pay enough attention to what we really consume and throw away,” Bob Muckle, an archeologist and instructor of anthropology at Capilano University in B.C., told CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday.
Muckle and his colleagues have been studying COVID-19-related waste in the Vancouver area. Through their Twitter account @Covidarchaeology, they’ve been documenting everything from discarded masks to pandemic-inspired art in the city.
Muckle has also been involved in conducting annual waste audits at Capilano University, looking into the kind of trash that people throw away on campus, as well as the placement and signage regarding garbage receptacles.
“We look at a number of different things, but the most interesting to me is just what it tells us about human behaviour,” Muckle said.
When COVID-19 first hit, Muckle says it led to a surge in people ordering food for takeout and delivery, which in turn resulted in more plastic waste.
“We've certainly seen that in residential trash, especially as a lot of recycling programs stopped,” he said. “We're seeing a significant increase in packaging for food and all the deliveries we get from Amazon and others. An enormous amount of packaging is now entering the archeological record of 2022.”
Pandemic-induced panic buying at the grocery store also resulted in more households hoarding food, leading to more food waste, Muckle says.
“When there’s any kind of threat on food security… people will just go to Costco or wherever and overbuy and then three or four months down the road, they're going to toss all that stuff out,” he explained.
“We're very wasteful as a species, especially in North America, and it's only going to get worse.”
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
A 15-year old boy who was critically injured after a stabbing in Nepean on Thursday has died of his injuries, Ottawa's English public school board said Sunday.
Police say it’s fortunate no one was injured or killed in a collision at North Vancouver’s Park and Tilford shopping centre Saturday evening that sent one vehicle careening into a flower shop and another into a set of concrete barriers outside a Winners store.
The Maple Leafs battled back from a 3-1 series deficit against the Boston Bruins with consecutive 2-1 victories - including one that required extra time - in their first-round playoff series to push the club's Original Six rival to the limit before suffering a devastating Game 7 overtime loss.
Amid scientists' warnings that nations need to transition away from fossil fuels to limit climate change, Canadians are still lukewarm on electric vehicles, according to a study conducted by Nanos Research for CTV News.
Three people have died and two have been hospitalized after a speeding car struck a tree and landed on another vehicle in Fredericton Sunday morning.
A Montreal man is warning Tesla drivers about using the Smart Summon feature after his vehicle hit another in a parking lot.
Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro's vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.
Thieves killed two Australians and an American on a surfing trip to Mexico in order to steal their truck, particularly because they wanted the tires, authorities said Sunday.
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 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.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.