Globe Climate: Sustainable ideas for your 2024 travel plans

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

One of the things we love to do is break information down and make it easier to understand. Our latest explainer covers everything about carbon fuel charge rebates, which are now available for some Canadians. Do you know how much you could get?

When you’re done counting the money back in your pocket, plenty more helpful articles await. Should you install a heat pump? We’ve outlined the technology, energy efficiency claims and available rebates. Wondering what hydrogen’s role is in the clean-energy puzzle? We have it mapped out. (And while you’re at it, what even is green hydrogen?)

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

Noteworthy reporting this week:

1. Nuclear energy: Ontario is about to decide whether to overhaul Canada’s oldest nuclear power plant. Does it deserve a second life?
2. Research: B.C. scientist pivots from cannabis to kelp as climate change threatens aquatic ecosystems
3. Energy: As cold snap strains Alberta grid, province’s energy debate with Ottawa back in focus
4. Hydroelectricity: Australia’s Fortescue touts hydrogen plans in B.C. despite limited hydroelectricity supply
5. Research: Canadian project wires ocean floor in Antarctica to learn more about global climate
6. Pollution: Alberta’s oil and gas industry spent $1.2-billion on well cleanup in 2022, regulator says
7. Land protection: Massive Manitoba watershed to be designated an Indigenous-protected area in landmark agreement
8. Fungi: The mushroom boom is entering the Canadian drink, beauty and decor market
9. On the ground with The Narwhal: Can fake old-growth trees help this endangered animal?

A deeper dive

Travel, with the environment in mind

Sierra Bein is the author of Globe Climate. For this week’s deeper dive, she pulls together a selection of travel themed stories.

I just got back from vacation. It was nice because it was my first time escaping winter, and I also learned about a new country, culture and environment. But there’s no denying that travel is problematic in more ways than one.

Keep this guide on how to be a responsible tourist handy for planning your 2024 trips. And if you really want to shake things up, we have ideas about how to rethink your bucket list. Here are some of the highlights:

• Avoid overtourism hot spots: Get off the beaten path. Or, if you have your heart set on a popular choice, approach it creatively, even if just by visiting during the off-season.
• Reduce your carbon footprint: Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, so taking public transit and ground options, such as trains and electric cars, when possible is best. If you chose to fly far, try to make it a longer, richer trip to help reduce the number of long-haul flights you take in your lifetime.
• Respect communities: Research local issues so you can avoid contributing to them. Similarly, if you want to support vulnerable communities, respect the ways the region is asking for help. And understand the impact that even small acts – such as veering off marked trails – can have on the local environment.

When it comes to travel, one of the best things you can do is stay close to home. Fortunately, there are some uniquely Canadian experiences that can easily scratch your travel itch. The Indigenous ecotourism industry is growing quickly, with Indigenous-owned experiences on offer from coast to coast.

If you do want to go farther afield, this cruise around southern Greenland inspires awe – and aims for passengers to go home more determined to help save a burning world. Considering somewhere that has recently experienced a natural disaster, such as Hawaii? Take heed of how the hospitality industry is faring and how you can best contribute to recovery efforts.

Here are a few more ideas

• Why now is the time for Indigenous-led winter adventures in the Northwest Territories
• Nature-focused vacations a growing trend that connects travellers to their destination
• Travellers seeking sustainable stays have lots of luxury options to choose from

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What else you missed

• Quebec man pleads guilty to setting 14 forest fires, forcing hundreds from homes
• Climate change envoy John Kerry stepping down, says election outcome won’t disturb clean energy transition
• Eby says planned Prince George, B.C., hydrogen project will cut emissions, boost jobs
• Canadian-built underwater observatory transmitting data from around Antarctica
• EU Council and Parliament agree on 90% CO2 emissions cut by 2040 for trucks
• Largest deep-sea coral reef to date is mapped by scientists off the U.S. Atlantic coast
• Alberta farmers face growing risk of soil erosion events as drought persists
• Long-term Prairie drought raises concerns over groundwater levels

Opinion and analysis

Wayne McCrory: Canada’s last wild horses must be protected

Jorden Dye: Ontario is doing something right when it comes to renewable energy

Rick Christiaanse: Let’s ditch the outdated stereotypes: Alberta isn’t just about oil and gas

Leslie Shiell and Jay Batu: Carbon pricing needs a makeover

Kelly Cryderman: Alberta’s electricity crisis has ramped up already-high tensions with Ottawa on energy

Green Investing

Calgary-based Eavor Technologies rides a wave of investment in geothermal energy

In the rich green forests of Bavaria, Germany, two of Europe’s largest rigs drill side by side at the heart of a project that Canadian company Eavor Technologies Inc. hopes will change the face of the geothermal energy sector. The massive investment in Geretsried, south of Munich, broke ground in 2022. The project aims to generate approximately 64 megawatts of heat and 8.2 megawatts of electrical power by 2027, through a new technology called the Eavor-Loop.

For geothermal to make a real dent in climate goals, it needs to be implemented at a similar scale to the oil and gas industry. Emma Graney has the full story about Eavor’s unique technology.

• ArcTern raises US$335-million from big institutions for third climate-focused fund
• Exxon Mobil files lawsuit against investors’ climate proposal
• After year of record-breaking imports, BC Hydro rolls out new spending plan

Making waves

Each week The Globe will profile a Canadian making a difference. This week we’re highlighting the arctic research work of Dr. Isla Myers-Smith

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I’m Dr. Isla Myers-Smith, a 43-year old scientist who has moved to the University of British Columbia, based in Vancouver. I have received a Canada Excellence Research Chair, and over the next eight years my team will be collaborating with Northern organizations and Indigenous communities to capture the transformation of tundra and boreal forest ecosystems in response to warming temperatures and shifting seasonality.

My Team Shrub research group and I have been studying the Arctic for two decades. In recent years, our research has been affected by heat waves, floods, forest fires and permafrost thaw. To read more about my first-hand experiences this summer, check out this Globe article by Ivan Semeniuk.

We will need new approaches, new technologies and deeper collaborations to address a rapidly changing Arctic. There is also growing recognition that we need to work differently in Northern research, with Indigenous people playing a leading role. Arctic peoples are already building adaptation strategies while maintaining tradition.

For the first time, I am really feeling climate anxiety myself. But there is reason for optimism. When faced with such a massive challenge comes opportunities to do things differently.

- Isla

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, what happened at COP28, 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

• Urban planners avoid blocking the sun, but it’s time cities embrace shade instead
• Reconciliation and critical minerals in the Ring of Fire
• This is what I learned as a youth delegate at COP28
• Natural disasters are making insurance more expensive and limited

We want to hear from you. E-mail us: GlobeClimate@globeandmail.com. Do you know someone who needs this newsletter? Send them to our Newsletters page.