Think globally, act locally: as the effects of climate change become more real, that old adage feels truer than ever. Environmental stresses affect us most in the place we call home, whether we’re breathing in exhaust from nearby roads, drinking from threatened waterways or trying to find some shade during more frequent Toronto heat waves. And home is where we start the work to mitigate the crisis, from building sustainable housing to preserving greenspaces to instilling a love of nature in our children.
With summer 2022 underway, The Narwhal’s Ontario bureau joined forces with The Local to look at how climate change is affecting the 6.2 million people that call the Greater Toronto Area home. It’s an ideal collaboration. Like The Narwhal, The Local is a non-profit news organization figuring out how to do in-depth, meaningful journalism as legacy newsrooms and sources of funding shrink. And like us, its staff is small but mighty, winning awards for the type of beautiful, data-driven work that many outlets don’t spend time on anymore.
The Local’s focus is urban health and social issues, while ours is the environment and natural world. So it makes perfect sense for us to team up to talk about the intersection of those issues, in Canada’s most populous region, for a series we’re calling Toronto’s Climate Right Now.
We’re highlighting the inequalities in how pollution and climate change hurt Ontarians as well as the efforts of outdoor educators to make sure all children have access to nature. Check out all the stories below.
21 min. read
