Heart your green cart
An axe. A wig. A bone. These are the three things people searched for most frequently on the City of Whitehorse’s What Goes Where waste app.
climate change
Read the land
As long as I remember, I’ve travelled throughout the Mackenzie Delta and Beaufort Coast with my dad. We travelled all over during different seasons hunting or trapping different animals.
Turning seventy
I turned 70 this year. I’m pondering what this means. At 55 and 60, various senior discounts kicked in and it seemed kind of fun. At 65, there is no doubt that one officially becomes a senior with Old Age Security, Pharmacare, Homeowners and Pioneer Utility grants. But what about 70? A compulsory Driver’s Medical? …
Much ado about nothing
Zero may be nothing in the world of math, but in weather the significance of this integer is amazing. October is a good time to start talking about zero, as we recently saw the results of a few days of below freezing weather in Whitehorse and the southern Yukon. I will be making much ado …
A perfect storm
We can’t ignore the human factors that lead to extreme weather events I attended David Phillips’ (Senior Climatologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada) March lecture on weather and climate change. This inspired me to write a series of articles with the goal of elaborating on many points that he made in his ‘factoid’-filled presentation. …
Kiss your ash goodbye
Yukon Innovation Prize finalist Michael Gerasimoff wants to help transition heating in the Yukon from fossil fuels to biomass (wood) while maintaining the excellent air quality that is a cherished aspect of living in the North. Gerasimoff has a background working in climate change and engineering fields and is a registered professional engineer in geology. …
Venting for need, intelligent indeed
Like another project, Yukon Innovation Prize finalists Cody Reaume and Thomas Jacquin are focused on improving the energy efficiency of Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs.) The units have become a mandatory part of northern construction because, as buildings become more insulated and efficient, the amount of fresh air capable of circulating into the structure is reduced. …
Food security in the North
Local food production and sourcing has become an important component of our food supply, like the potatoes harvested here at the Yukon Grain Farm in 2017 What was the last conversation you had with your best friend? If there is one topic that people like to talk about it, it is food. We talk about …
What is the jet stream?
I attended David Phillip’s lecture on weather and climate change in early March and was inspired to write a series of articles with the goal of elaborating on many points that he made in his ‘factoid’ filled presentation. First up is the jet stream. The illustration above is taken from the US National Weather Service. …
Not like the dinosaurs
Each year, Earth Day focuses on a specific theme to raise awareness of a particular environmental issue we are currently facing. (Last year’s theme encouraged people to make positive changes in their lifestyles by reducing their plastic consumption.) This year, Earth Day aims to draw attention to threatened and endangered species across the planet. Here, …
Earth Day reflections
The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970 as a series of peaceful demonstrations against growing air and water pollution. Almost 50 years on, it has grown into a global event. According to the Earth Day Network, “more than 1 billion people in 192 countries now take part in the largest civic-focused day …
Are you prepared for a forest fire?
First and foremost … I have the greatest respect for all firefighters when they fight a fire—be it a house fire or a forest fire. As a conservation officer in Ontario, we were trained in fighting forest fires. It is one of the most-dangerous jobs you could possibly have, as any minute the fire could …
Evoking kintsugi
Whitehorse artist Leslie Leong applied for a residency at the Ted Harrison Artists Retreat to work towards a large show at the Yukon Arts Centre Gallery in the fall of 2019. But she had lots of other ideas to work through first, both larger and smaller. At the artists’ retreat, on Crag Lake, she was …
It’s ‘snowing’ at Sima!
Every October, Mount Sima starts snow production and welcomes hundreds of athletes from all over Canada for pre-season training in November. Whitehorse, Yukon, is the perfect location and climate to have early snow production to build the national-level freestyle park terrain and have runs open for athletes to practice ahead of the winter competition season. …
Knowing our strengths and weaknesses helps weather climate change
An expert panel on how Canadians cope with the day-to-day realities of climate change was released last week, and the Yukon has a place at the table.
Let’s end plastic pollution
To end plastic pollution, we need to shift our attitudes and behaviours. Plastic pollution affects our health and the health of the animals and plants we share our planet with.
The Streetlight Blues
“I used to stand at my son’s bedroom window, when he was two or three, and look northward to see stars,” says Forest Pearson, a resident of downtown Whitehorse. Pearson’s team gathered up the latest research and prepared a white paper to be presented to the City of Whitehorse, ATCO Electric Yukon, Yukon Energy Corporation …
A Change in the Climate
Yukon College is expanding their offerings in one the hottest (pardon the pun) arenas today: climate change. Often described as one of the greatest challenges of our time, human-induced climate change is already having major impacts on northern communities and ecosystems. Many factors will determine how the trends we are witnessing now will play out …
Slip-Sliding Away
Benkert is quick to underline this aspect of the project. “The Yukon Geological Survey has been really critical (to the project) all the way through,” she says, and goes on to cite the important roles played by the Universities of Ottawa and Montreal as well as each of the seven communities that participated in the …
The Lure of the Aurora Borealis
Tourists visit the Yukon to see the aurora; it’s the heart of the winter tourism industry. Visitors who have done their research will also have other activities in mind. People arrive from around the world – including Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Korea, and of course the United States and other parts of …
Haiti after Hurricane Matthew
The eye of Hurricane Matthew hit the Tiburon Peninsula, the southwest tip of Haiti, on October 4th. With winds that blew 230 kilometres an hour and up to 500 millimetres of rain in two days, it was the strongest storm to hit the country in 50 years, according to the NASA website. The storm stripped …
On a Wing and a Prayer
Monarch butterflies may appear fragile, but as a whole the species is extraordinarily hardy. Every year, the Eastern North American monarch butterfly population migrates thousands of miles from southern Ontario to overwinter in Mexico. This impressive migration is multi-generational. After wintering in massive butterfly bunches, the monarchs wake and journey to areas in Texas and …
Winter: A Season for Change
“The more things change the more they stay the same” and “The only constant in life is change” are both very cliche and very true. In some sense farming and gardening means things are staying the same. We usually use the same plot of land and plant the same kinds of vegetables. We also raise …
Showing Torontonians What’s Happening in Old Crow
photos from Old Crow, Yukon Territory, and Inuvik, Northwest Territories from youth workshops held by BYTE
Musings on Ice: A Changing Yukon Winter Story
Ice is important. It allows people and wildlife to use or cross lakes, ponds and rivers. Ice also provides access to what’s below: fish, muskrats and water, for example. Unfortunately, the mild fall temperatures in many parts of Yukon have again delayed ice formation. This isn’t new. Recorded observations of Yukon River freeze-up in Whitehorse …
West Dawson Time
I’m not sure where the second week of freeze up has gone. After the protracted nature of my preparations, the flurry of activity upon arrival, and the pleasantly systematic organization of the cabin once here, time itself has taken on a different feel. Maybe it was the sudden transition from fall to winter that came …
A natural way to look good (and feel good)
Standing in the hallway of the Horwood’s Mall, looking into Climate Clothing, you don’t immediately see the First Nation influence in the neat rows of clothing. You see earth tones, trending toward the dark due to the season, and little surprises here and there in a comfortable store. But First Nation teachings lives in the …
Global response to climate change
The systems of the Earth are inextricably interwoven – be they environmental, social, or economic. Naomi Klein, bestselling author of This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, and No Logo, believes that the capitalist model of economics is at odds with the healthy functioning of all other systems on Earth. Klein says that capitalism is a …
Harvesting Porcupine Caribou Near Old Crow
In the past two years the herd of Porcupine Caribou in Old Crow herd has gradually changed its natural migration route.
Bound for Warsaw: Yukoner Scott Bradley serves as youth ambassador at United Nations Climate Summit
Dawson City resident Scott Bradley will be hooking up with 15,000 delegates from around the world next week to discuss climate change. Bradley has been invited to participate in the 19th annual Conference of Parties (COP19) in Warsaw, Poland from Nov. 11 to 22. It’s a conference hosted by the United Nations Framework Convention on …
Global Warming Affects Beer Production … OK, Now It’s Serious
Just the other day while I watching the store here at the Yukon Brewing Company, I had a customer look outside our windows while I was filling his growler and remark that maybe we have global warming wrong. I finished filling his jug and turned around to see a mid-April blizzard swirling around our parking …
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A Vision Ignited by Love for the Yukon
Bob Van Dijken is a man of deep convictions and strong opinions, but what’s odd is the way he expresses them. Amid the barrage of aggressive sound bites and amped-up election campaigns that we usually suffer through, Van Dijken’s thoughtfully expressed sentiments are an anomaly – but a refreshing anomaly. Van Dijken came to the …
Witnessing Arctic Change
On my second day on board ship we saw a cow and calf blue whale,” says Emerald Kains. “The opportunity to share a moment with the largest animals on the planet was so surreal and moving.” Kains, a recent graduate of Vanier Secondary School, was part of the Students on Ice Arctic Youth Expedition that …
Documenting Polar Change
Ark Terry sees himself almost as an interpreter. As a filmmaker who has documented rapid changes in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, his goal is to make complex scientific information about global warming and climate change understandable, especially to policy-makers. “We’ve got to remember that policy-makers are just politicians, which means they’re kind of …
