From cult status to closure fears — what happened to The Body Shop?

It’s a store you know by scent. For decades, the sometimes-overwhelming aroma of The Body Shop’s satsuma soaps and coconut body butters have wafted through mall concourses, as much a staple to the culture as the food court. The U.K.-based beauty and cosmetics shop has more than 3,000 retail locations in 70 countries, including 110 standalone … Read more

Report raises questions around growing mining exploration in northern B.C.

A new report by the U.S. branch of the non-profit Environmental Investigation Agency says that investment interest and government tax incentives are fuelling intense mining exploration in remote northern B.C. — raising concerns about the environmental impacts of the work and its financial implications. The report focuses on the transboundary region, which falls along the border between … Read more

How green are those Stanley tumblers that everyone wants thanks to TikTok?

A gigantic tumbler that purportedly keeps drinks cold even if it’s left in your burning car is the stainless steel status symbol of the moment.  The 40 oz. Stanley Quencher H2.0 Flowstate tumbler (that’s 1.18 litres for us metric system folks) has become so popular that people are willing to wait outside Target stores overnight … Read more

New sugar refinery to be built in Hamilton will be Canada’s largest, says company

A new sugar refinery set to open in Hamilton’s port lands in 2025 promises to be Canada’s largest, with capacity to produce 4,000 tonnes of refined sugar per day, or one million per year.  The Sucro Can Sourcing facility, at the foot of Hamilton’s Sherman Street North, will use Randle Reef as an active part of its … Read more

Big Canadian banks may be making misleading claims on sustainability, says securities complaint

Canada’s big five banks are potentially misleading investors with their use of terms like sustainable finance, according to a complaint to securities regulators by a climate advocacy group. Banks are using the term “sustainable finance” too broadly and not backing up the claims with data, Investors for Paris Compliance said in its submission Tuesday to … Read more

Who benefits most from Canada’s ambitious EV targets? Maybe China

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, believes the recent electric vehicle targets set out by Canada’s environment minister also carried this pointed message to Canada’s domestic auto industry: “Let them eat cake.” Volpe says he has come to this conclusion because he believes those goals, which include a national target of 100 per cent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, cannot be … Read more

Suncor share price jumps after posting 2nd-highest quarter for oil output

Suncor Energy Inc.’s share price jumped Wednesday as the company reported its fourth quarter oil output was its second-highest quarter ever. The Calgary-based company announced upstream production in the fourth quarter of 2023 of 808,000 barrels per day. With the strong fourth-quarter output, Suncor said it has met its corporate forecast provided in November 2022 … Read more

How artificial intelligence can help beavers fight floods, droughts and wildfires

A few years ago, a couple of Google employees reached out to a Minnesota scientist with an unusual proposal: What if they could teach computers to spot beaver habitats from space?  “They wanted to know if I thought it was possible to find beaver wetlands from aerial imagery myself, and then if that could be … Read more

For 100 years, this Mickey Mouse operation has thrived. Is Disney now losing its magic?

The Sunday Magazine22:54For 100 years, this Mickey Mouse operation has thrived. Is Disney now losing its magic? You might describe Marlene Morris as a Disney lifer. As a child, she grew up watching Disney movies on weekends and listening to her father read Disney’s Bedtime storybooks at night. She first visited Disney World in Orlando, Fla., … Read more

Ukraine digs in as the West stumbles to keep up with Russian war production

“War,” said British philosopher, mathematician and pacifist Bertrand Russell, “does not determine who is right — only who is left.” Those words might be the perfect lens through which to view what probably lies ahead for Ukraine in the coming year as its troops dig in — and dig deep — along a front roughly 960 kilometres wide. … Read more