Article by James Wilt, first published in DeSmog Canada. The summer of 2017 was an extraordinarily deadly one for North Atlantic right whales, a species already hovering on the brink of extinction. Investigations are ongoing into the cause of death of 15 right whales off the Atlantic Coast of Canada and the U.S., although...

When the Aztecs founded Tenochtitlán in 1325, they built it on a large island on Lake Texcoco. Its eventual 200,000-plus inhabitants relied on canals, levees, dikes, floating gardens, aqueducts and bridges for defence, transportation, flood control, drinking water and food. After the Spaniards conquered the city in 1521, they...

For a larger version of the picture shown above, go to: https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/20170830-washington_0.jpg  This shows quite graphically why our sun and moon have been so orange these days, and why the smell of smoke has been so strong despite the lack of large fies nearby.  The large...

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams.  This article was originally published in Common Dreams. As Hurricane Harvey continues to batter Texas—and as the death toll from monsoon flooding in India, Nepal, and Bangladesh surpasses 1,200—experts are putting a spotlight on how climate change is linked to the "unprecedented"...

By James Wilt.  This article originally appeared on Desmog Canada. For years environmental organizations have called on the federal government to do something about the leakage of  billions of litres of toxic chemicals from Alberta’s oilsands tailings ponds into the Athabasca River every year. And for years they’ve been ignored...

The opioid crisis is deeply troubling, for many reasons.  One reason is the tragic deaths of so many, so unnecessarily; another reason is the likelihood that those deaths were precipitated by pain, either physical or psychological, that caused a search for relief in the illicit drugs that were fatally used. Another reason is...

Are we entering a new Dark Age? Lately it seems so. News reports are enough to make anyone want to crawl into bed and hide under the covers. But it’s time to rise and shine. To resolve the crises humanity faces, good people must come together. It’s one lesson from Charlottesville, Virginia. It would be easy to dismiss the...

It's the prettiest crosswalk in town.  The lovely set of rainbow colours across Washington Street, by the Rossland Summit School, invites admiration.  And its message is admirable too:  it invites us to accept others without prejudice or intolerance ― without rejecting them on the basis of their appearance,  their religion,...

Wildfires are sweeping B.C. Close to 900 have burned through 600,000 hectares so far this year, blanketing western North America with smoke. Fighting them has cost more than $230 million — and the season is far from over. It’s not just B.C. Thousands of people from B.C. to California have fled homes as fires rage. Greenland...

How much alcohol should a person be allowed to have in her bloodstream while being in control of a  motor vehicle?  Is there a "safe" limit below which someone is not really impaired, or  not too impaired? Canada's Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, is considering lowering  the blood-alcohol content limit that constitutes...