Since Ottawa has paused the carbon tax for heating oil, a compelling case can be made for examining the impact on our entire food supply.

Opinion: Carbon tax makes Canadian food production less competitive

Recent claims that the carbon tax has little effect are poorly thought out

The federal government has put a hold on the carbon tax applied to heating oil for the next three years and announced a doubling of the rural supplement in the carbon tax rebate program. In mere minutes, Ottawa transformed the carbon tax into a negotiable political lightning rod and lent credence to carbon tax critics.

Two farmers talking in a field.

Comment: Farmers the victims of food company decarbonization

Farmers are bearing the brunt of big food companies’ decarbonization efforts. Here’s why

More than a third of the global greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity can be attributed to how we produce, process and package food, so it comes as no surprise that many large food-producing and retailing companies are under pressure from investors, politicians and environmental groups to clean up their operations. Several leading fast-food


The planet continues to get hotter

Global air and ocean temperatures are at record levels

Let’s talk about record-breaking temperatures. Not daily records, not records for a city or country, but global temperature records. You may have seen an article or two about how September shattered the record for warmest month, after the warmest August on record. It looks like 2023 will be the hottest year on record for the planet. Let’s dig a

Wrecked structures float in the water in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona at Rose Blanche, N.L., about 45 km east of Port aux Basques, on Sept. 25, 2022. (Photo: Reuters/John Morris)

Cropping with wonky weather

It’s time to start farming in a way that can absorb weather curve balls

A farmer friend challenged me about what he considered alarming statements related to climate change. He sighed and said “a temperature bump of 1.5 C probably won’t bother me.” There is a difference between climate and weather. For example, the climate in July 2023 was 1.5 C higher on average than pre-industrial (before 1850) average


Extreme rainfall and a warming planet

Meteorology 101: A warming world may spur development of more blocking patterns

So far, none of my discussions about severe weather have manifested in an big outbreak of severe weather, so for those who are superstitious, we can put that to rest. In the last issue we discussed several factors that can result in extreme rainfall events. These ranged from simply having lots of atmospheric moisture to



A recent report argues that nature’s
water management tools can be
used to support their usually much
more expensive brick and mortar
counterparts.

Nature-based solutions can shore up crumbling water infrastructure: IISD

‘Natural infrastructure’ is cheaper and comes with many additional benefits, a new report says

Natural infrastructure can help bridge an ever-growing investment deficit in crumbling water infrastructure, according to a new report from the International Institute for Sustainable Development. “It’s less expensive, easier to maintain and comes with many other benefits to communities,” said Dimple Roy, director of water management, in a May 10 news release. WHY IT MATTERS:

File photo of a storm cloud from the southwestern end of Lake Winnipeg at Matlock, Man. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

More than half of world’s large lakes drying up, study finds

Gains in Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg come from runoff, rainfall

London | Reuters — More than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, chiefly because of climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study published on Thursday found. A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater


There’s nothing neutral about carbon neutrality and wishful thinking won’t make it so.

Comment: The short, unhappy history of carbon sequestration

The carbon credit market is far from the golden solution often portrayed

Facts are a key element of informed decision making, and not just any facts; the best, most tied-to-reality facts are needed to make the best decision. “Alternative” facts, meanwhile, only exist in alternative universes, and people use them at their own intergalactic peril. But that is what Verra, “the world’s leading carbon standard for the

Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in degrees Celsius over the tropical Pacific Ocean for the week centred on April 12, 2023. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

World could face record temperatures in 2023 as El Nino returns

New record highs 'more likely than not'

Brussels | Reuters — The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say. Climate models suggest that after three years of the La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which generally lowers global