Teen Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg poses as she visits the Athabasca Glacier at the 
Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park.

Climate anxiety support groups spawned

Many say climate uncertainty is beginning to harm their mental health

Reuters – On a rainy night in the basement lounge of a church, five people sat in a circle and nibbled on snacks as they talked about their personal struggles. They had not come to discuss alcoholism, drug addiction or gambling. This was the first meeting of a 10-week peer support program designed to help

Corn grows on a farm

Canadian farmers have made significant emissions reductions

But their contributions are little understood or recognized, a new report says

Canadian farmers receive too little credit for their progress in curbing carbon emissions that cause climate change, according to a new study. The Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute (CAPI) recently released the report, which took full aim at another recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. CAPI says it fails to mention “the Canadian


For the record, July was a hot month once again

For the record, July was a hot month once again

What are we likely to experience, a warm or cool long-range forecast?

I guess I’ll begin with an apology for not being able to provide a new article for last week’s issue of the Co-operator. I was off exploring the wilds of Vancouver Island after competing in the Whistler half Ironman. I knew cellphone and data coverage was going to be tough on the Island, especially when

People climb a dike formed by wind soil erosion during a field tour at the Global Forum on Soil Stewardship.

Soil degradation a costly global issue

About a third of the world’s soil is degraded, which has economic and food security implications

When Prairie-dwellers think of soil erosion, they may think of iconic photos from the Dirty ’30s: towering clouds of black soil blowing across desolate land, teacups turned upside down against drifting grit. But as Francis Zvomuya told the classroom of farmers and agronomists at the Global Forum on Soil Stewardship, soil degradation is far from


Farmers, agronomists, and people with an interest in global soil health met in Carman July 25 and 26 to discuss the challenges of protecting soil.

Carman event serves up common ground on soil health practices

Canadian and African agronomists shared perspectives on conservation agriculture at a recent Canadian Foodgrains Bank forum

Jocelyn Velestuk stood in front of the research station classroom filled with people and confessed to an addiction of sorts. “I am obsessed with soil,” the Saskatchewan farmer and agronomist told her audience. “I even had a mud-themed birthday party when I was young,” she said in a later interview. “The first soil science class

Clayton Robins is among the few farmers happy about the state of his pastures and hay crops, something he partly credits to his pasture management and integration of alternative grazing on annuals. His take on cover crops has earned him a place in the CFGA’s national carbon sequestration project.

Manitoba forage growers tapped for carbon project

The national project is the next step toward the CFGA’s goal of having farmers paid for storing carbon

Five Manitoba farmers are helping the Canadian Forage and Grassland Association (CFGA) put a value on carbon storage. Ryan Canart of Miniota, Allan Preston of Hamiota, Matt Van Steelandt of Melita, Jonathan Bouw of Anola and Clayton Robins of Rivers are all recognizable names on the grazing, soil health or regenerative agriculture field tour circuits


Farm abandonment, like these remnants of a Soviet-era collective farm seen here in the Kursk region of Russia, led to greenhouse gas emissions reductions.

Communist collapse had green lining

Post-Soviet food system changes led to greenhouse gas reductions


Changes in agriculture, trade, food production and consumption after the collapse of the Soviet Union led to a large reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a new study has found. From 1991 to 2011, there was a net emissions reduction of 7.61 gigatons (Gt) of carbon dioxide equivalents — the same as one-quarter of the CO2

Grocery shopping list till roll printout on a wooden table

Comment: Getting to the real cost of cheap groceries

How much the new carbon tax will affect food prices in Canada is still a guessing game

The carbon tax is now a reality for all Canadians. The federal carbon pricing scheme began in Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba on the April 1 deadline, given that these provinces were not in compliance with the new federal law. For Nunavut and Yukon, it will begin on July 1. Everyone else already has


Slices of thick cut steaks

Comment: How much water is needed to produce a pound of beef?

And just as importantly, what kind of water are we talking about?

An excerpt from a Beef Cattle Research Council blog post on the environmental impact of beef production. For the full text, visit beefresearch.ca. Yes, it takes water to produce beef, but in the 2.5 million years since our ancestors started eating meat, we haven’t lost a drop yet. Based on the most recent science and

Wood frog embryos can suffer from exposure to cold, changing the biological nature of these amphibians for better or worse.

Colder cold snaps under climate change?

The downside of climate change could have a 
bigger-than-expected effect on nature

When it comes to global warming, it would appear the effect of cold temperature variability is being severely underestimated. A team of researchers from Binghamton University, State University of New York, say public attention often focuses on the effect of rising average temperatures. The researchers discovered that cold temperatures make amphibians more susceptible to road