Globe Climate: Is Canada’s waste management system trash?

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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

El Niño, often known as the climate wild card, is back. This recurring climate phenomenon is known to increase severe weather around the world, playing havoc with ocean and atmospheric conditions around the Pacific and beyond. Scientists are racing to predict El Niño’s impact on Canada and what it might do to an ever-warming planet.

• Listen to The Decibel: Why El Niño is a climate wild card

Now, let’s catch you up on other news.

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Noteworthy reporting this week:

1. Environment: Record-breaking wildfires to continue to burn, and they pose a danger for rest of summer, government warns. Wildfire activity exacerbated, vulnerable people at risk as temperatures soar
2. Oil and gas: Indigenous leaders strive for economic growth as they tout B.C. LNG
3. Species: Endangered species are disappearing on our watch, and saving them is within our reach
4. Deep-sea mining: As the world gathers to discuss the perils of deep-sea mining, a Vancouver-based company is forging ahead
5. Resources: U.S. tribal nations deal with a legacy of poor drinking water
6. Animals: Canada’s most endangered mammal, the Vancouver Island marmot, is staging a comeback
7. Disaster: Alberta tornado among the most powerful in Canadian history
8. Energy: Ontario looks to go ahead with three more small modular nuclear reactors
9. The Narwhal investigates: Oil sands giants pushed feds to delay and weaken emissions cap rules

A deeper dive

Is Canada’s waste program trash?

Negin Nia is a podcast producer for The Decibel. For this week’s deeper dive, Negin talks about a recent episode she produced on Canada’s broken waste management system and what needs to change.

I moved from Vancouver to Toronto this summer and I was surprised to learn that my building did not offer waste sorting options other than landfill. I strived to continue with my regular routine of sorting waste in a new city by walking around with my compost bag trying to find a place for it.

I found a building near mine with a compost bin outside. Doable option – but definitely not as convenient as having one in your own building. Not to mention that walking around with your smelly bag of organics is not enjoyable in the slightest.

I was curious though about the lack of options and I found that many Canadian municipalities are choosing profit over the environment when it comes to waste management. In Ontario, municipalities give buildings the option of choosing a municipal waste collection system or a private company that may be cheaper because of fewer options. There is also no system consistency across provinces or even buildings in the same province.

“Even if you do have the option to sort your waste, you don’t know if it is going to the right place,” Dr. Cassandra Kuyvenhoven told me. She has a PhD in Environmental Studies with expertise in waste management, and joined us for The Decibel’s waste management episode. She mentioned how contamination is even more common than we think, and even if we do our part, our waste may just end up going to landfill anyway.

This makes me question – is Canada’s current waste system, trash? It is not working the way we want it to or need it to meet our climate goals. Individuals are stepping up in new ways but governments and policy-makers need to address bigger systemic issues within the waste system before it’s too late.

– Negin

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What else you may have missed

• LNG Canada CEO bullish on expansion of export terminal
• Dutch fertilizer company OCI bets big on climate-friendly ammonia
• As Quebec gets wetter because of climate change, risks of landslides increase
• Earth hit an unofficial record high temperature last week – and stayed there
• ‘Missed opportunity’ for Canada at summit on climate reform, activist group says
• As extreme heat gets worse, expert calls for access to cooling as a human right
• Countries agree to slash shipping emissions but not enough to stay within warming limits
• Toronto’s Pearson airport to host Ontario’s first public hydrogen refuelling station
• Greta Thunberg reportedly charged with disobeying police order at climate protest in Sweden

Opinion and analysis

Amy Rosen: A food expert’s dilemma: Should I ditch my gas stove?

Greg Ebel: When allies seek Canada’s natural gas, we say ‘sorry’ – that has global consequences

The Editorial Board: Ottawa is still playing favourites with the carbon tax

Kelly Cryderman: Trudeau, Smith meet with working group under pressure to sort out energy issues

Cathal Kelly: Sports won’t fundamentally change to combat climate change, instead we have a grand circular back rub

Green Investing

World’s largest steelmaker invests in Canadian cleantech startup CHAR Technologies

CHAR Technologies Ltd. has become the first Canadian company to receive funding from the ArcelorMittal Ltd. XCarb Innovation Fund for its efforts to replace coal in steelmaking.

While the amount itself is small relative to ArcelorMittal’s roughly $30-billion market value, CHAR chief executive Andrew White said the investment itself represents a major vote of confidence in the young company. ArcelorMittal will also be entitled to appoint one director to the Canadian company’s board and will have the option to purchase an additional 2.75 million of its shares for 70 cents each over the next 24 months as part of the deal.

• Number cruncher: Six forestry stocks benefiting from climate change mitigation
• UN trade body calls for more investment in renewable energy for developing states
• Oil bosses urge governments to tackle demand, not supply, in bid to cut emissions

Making waves

Each week The Globe will profile a Canadian making a difference. This week we’re highlighting the work of Waba Moko Ikwe doing moose management research.

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Kwe, My Anishinabe name given by pipe is Waba Moko Ikwe and I am Wolf Clan from the Anishnabe-Algonquin Nation. I am now 46. My English name is Shannon Chief from the community of Rapid Lake in the La Verendrye Park of Quebec. I was raised to speak our first language, to be a carrier of culture and ceremonies.

I am the co-ordinator for the Anishinabe Moose Studies. After our people successfully fought for a two-year moratorium on sport hunting of moose on our territories, I took the initiative to get a committee in order to produce a report based on community-led research involving members from our Nation. After years of colonialism, it was compelling to see how much ecological knowledge our people still have. All this powerful knowledge is shared in our Report that you can read here. I also teach a graduate course on Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Assessment.

Before reservations, our people migrated throughout the territory based on seasonal hunt and harvest time. Today with the moose decline, it is important to put our minds together as a Nation to find solutions on how to protect them. We had days of discussions, recommendations and grounding ourselves in ceremony. My love for the land motivates me when it comes to finding solutions for climate change in our Nation.

– Waba Moko Ikwe

Do you know an engaged individual? Someone who represents the real engines pursuing change in the country? Email us at GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com to tell us about them.

Photo of the week

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Guides and Explainers

• Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
• We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
• We have ways to make your travelling more sustainable and if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills – Little Steps to Big Change.

Catch up on Globe Climate

• Drone shows are the new fireworks
• Canada’s music industry is changing its tune
• Meet the Coast Salish woman protecting the North Pacific’s orca whales
• The dangers of breathing wildfire smoke

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