Rail decision could give bargaining companies advantage in other industries, union leader says

Rail decision could give bargaining companies advantage in other industries, union leader says

A decision obliging more than 9,000 Canadian rail workers to stay on the job is a win for the railways and could impact bargaining in other federally regulated sectors like aviation, the head of a Canadian rail workers’ union told Reuters. Paul Boucher, president of the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, also said the union would … Read more

Can a diet that’s good for the planet reduce your risk of dying from disease?

Can a diet that’s good for the planet reduce your risk of dying from disease?

A diet promoting plant-based protein to help the environment now has a more human argument: It may lower your risk of dying from several major diseases.  “It wasn’t just one cause of death. It was right across the board,” said Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public … Read more

How mapping tree genomes can help plant forests resilient to climate change

How mapping tree genomes can help plant forests resilient to climate change

A research team at the University of Alberta is looking into why some trees in Alberta are more resilient when faced with drought, disease and the risk of wildfires by sequencing tree genomes.  A genome is the genetic makeup of an organism, and the thought behind sequencing tree genomes is that it’ll help inform what trees have … Read more

Deep in the Amazon, researchers have uncovered a complex of ancient cities — using laser technology

Deep in the Amazon, researchers have uncovered a complex of ancient cities — using laser technology

The Current16:20Huge ancient city discovered in Amazon “Wow” was all archaeologist Stéphen Rostain could say when LiDAR (light detection and ranging) laser technology revealed several ancient cities hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest. “It’s a gift for an archaeologist,” he told The Current‘s Matt Galloway.  Using the laser-scanning technology, researchers have uncovered a complex network of … Read more

Why scientists say Canada’s logging industry produces far more emissions than tallied

Why scientists say Canada’s logging industry produces far more emissions than tallied

Canada’s forestry sector is responsible for far more greenhouse gas emissions than show up in official tallies, potentially leading to policies that aren’t in line with the country’s climate goals, a new study suggests. The peer-reviewed study, published in the academic journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, found that annual greenhouse gas emissions attributable … Read more

2023 was the hottest year on record — by a long shot

2023 was the hottest year on record — by a long shot

After a year of record-breaking wildfires across Canada and the hottest temperature ever recorded on Earth, it likely comes as no surprise that 2023 was the hottest year on record. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), 2023 was 1.48 C warmer than the pre-industrial average from 1850–1900, beating out 2016’s record … Read more

Loss of cooking skills has hurt our ability to adapt to rising food prices, experts say

Loss of cooking skills has hurt our ability to adapt to rising food prices, experts say

Cost of Living1:56Mike von Massow Skyrocketing prices have taken a big bite out of what Canadians are able to serve up for dinner but food economists say our ability to cope has been worsened by our collective decline in cooking skills. “We are less able to cook than we were 30 or 40 years ago, … Read more