Alberta can issue grid alerts when electricity demand threatens to outstrip supply — i.e. there’s risk of a blackout. This can happen for a number of reasons. 

A warming planet, with warmer summer months, can have you reaching for the AC remote. Our phones need charging and fridges need to stay plugged in. Add to the grid the data centres Alberta wants to build so we can ask our AI agent of choice to respond to our emails. The list goes on and on. 

And as much as the province would like to say it’s because of renewable energy projects, the data tells a different story. Prairies reporter Drew Anderson breaks it down in our latest video.

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Climate change is making life more expensive. Droughts and unpredictable temperatures affect farming and food security, while heat waves drive up utility bills and floods cause insurance to spike. Meanwhile, the gap between Canada’s highest- and lowest-income households hit a record high last year — making these costs harder for some to bear than others. 

The oil and gas industry is Canada’s largest emitter of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases that cause global warming and everything that comes with it. Here’s a look at which Canadian workers profit off activities that cause climate change — and who gets paid to cope with it.

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Ontario’s public service employees are back in the office this month, a change from a pandemic-era policy that offered flexible workday structures. That could have big impacts on commuters, especially around Toronto. And where do the Ford government’s highway plans fit in? What about emissions from all these extra cars on the roads? I spoke with The Narwhal’s Ontario reporter Fatima Syed about what it all means for our latest explainer video.

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Let’s face it: there’s been a lot of talk lately about building more pipelines in Canada. So we thought we’d rewind a bit: what’s the state of Canada’s existing pipelines? Why are we in this “build, build, build” moment? And what might more pipes mean for Canada’s pledge of net-zero emissions by 2050? 

I spoke with climate investigations reporter Carl Meyer and Prairies reporter Drew Anderson for this explainer video, and dove into the dizzying data available online to try and make sense of the over 800,000 kilometres of pipes covering the country.

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In May, researchers from the U.K. company Real Ice were wrapping up their second winter of tests near Cambridge Bay, Nvt. Their big idea? To drill holes into the Arctic ice and pump seawater to the surface to make the sea ice thicker and potentially combat the effects of global warming. 

Real Ice says their goal is to ensure that sea ice remains in the Arctic year-round, giving humanity more time to adapt to and mitigate against climate change. And residents in the largely Inuit community say thicker, longer-lasting ice could help preserve their traditions and way of life. 

We sent reporter Chloe Williams and photographer and videographer Gavin John up to Cambridge Bay to learn more, and they came back with some incredible stories and visuals — that’s why we’ve got an extra special longform video to share.

You can also learn more about this fascinating experiment by reading Chloe’s deep dives into Real Ice’s plan — and what it means to the people who depend on the ice.

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In this explainer video Michelle Cyca, senior editor at The Narwhal, dives into Indigenous sovereignty: what it means, and how Indigenous-led conservation can help to protect our ecosystems. 

We’ll start by defining key terms you need to know. Then we’ll get into the nitty gritty — what Indigenous sovereignty really means, how it’s connected to Indigenous-led conservation and why it’s important for Canada’s economic and environmental future.

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The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.

Last summer, southern Ontario was rocked by massive floods that led to more than $1 billion in damages.

It was the type of disaster that unfortunately could become increasingly familiar as the risk of flooding rises with climate change.

But there are solutions at hand. I caught up with Ontario reporter Fatima Syed — who “literally watched water come up through the drain” in the parking lot of her Mississauga residence — to learn about how we can better plan for a world with more severe weather events.

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The carbon tax wasn’t supposed to be this controversial. So why are seemingly all Canadian politicians now disavowing it?

I spoke with climate investigations reporter Carl Meyer about the origin story of the carbon pricing system, its purpose in curbing emissions and the difference between the consumer and industrial price. Then, I caught up with Ontario reporter Fatima Syed to make sense of what our leaders are saying about it right now. 

Oh, and what are the consequences if the price on carbon disappears completely? Watch the video below.

This video is the first of many more to come for our team at The Narwhal. Want to make sure you don’t miss our latest work? Subscribe to our channel on YouTube and follow us on TikTok. 

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.