Top Canadian Blogs and News Sites
0
comments
The Stars of ‘Sex Education’ Learned a Lot from Acting Like Mating Slugs
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
Asa Butterfield and Ncuti Gatwa of Netflix’s hit British teen series spoke to VICE about thot pics and the importance of sex positivity.
comments
Think Bernie Is ‘Radical?’ He Respectfully Disagrees.
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
“Guaranteeing healthcare to all people through a Medicare for All program, is that radical?” Sanders asked the crowd at the 2020 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum.
comments
Warren Says Troops Are Coming Home and Black Colleges Are Getting Funded. Period.
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
The Massachusetts senator said she’d pull combat troops out in her first term.
comments
‘Walking Sharks’ Are the Newest Branch of the Shark Family Tree
Posted January 20, 2020 by Becky Ferreira
“They’re incredibly cute little animals and are really more like a gecko walking around than a shark.”
comments
Pete Buttigieg Admits His City Struggled to Retain Black Police Officers On His Watch
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
“This is an area where I’ve admitted we’re not where we want to be,” Buttigieg said at the 2020 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum in Des Moines.
comments
Andrew Yang Says Joking About Asians Being Good at Math Is Not a ‘Bad Thing’
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
“Making light of these stereotypes and dragging them into the light is not a bad thing,” Yang said.
comments
The Homeless Moms Who Were Evicted from a Vacant Oakland House Might Get the Chance to Buy It
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
The mothers had been demanding for weeks that the real estate company that owns the home consider selling the property to them at a fair price.
comments
How Rose McGowan’s Machine Gun Leg Inspired a Cyborg Cosplay Career
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
Born with a limb difference, Angel Giuffria’s bionic arm is now key to many of her costumes.
comments
True Stories of the Ingenious Ways People Outsmarted Their Landlords
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
From hiding a cat in the cupboard to haggling down the rent, there’s more than one way to make a house a home.
comments
A Man Says He Tried To Kill a Baby and Her Mom Because He’s an ‘Incel’
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
Alexander Stavropoulos said he wanted to “murder a little white girl” because he couldn’t get laid, but experts say he may be using the incel label for notoriety.
comments
Canada’s 90 Greatest Explorers: Vital insights
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
Roberta Bondar inspired a new generation of explorers, who are able to communicate about our natural world through science and fine arts. (Photo: Roberta Bondar)
Roberta Bondar* (FRCGS)
1945- | Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
By Jill Heinerth
RCGS Explorer-in-Residence
comments
Canada’s 90 Greatest Explorers
Posted January 20, 2020 by Anonymous
Photo: Baffin Paddle & Climb 2019
For the 90th anniversary of Canadian Geographic, we asked a panel of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Explorers-in-Residence and Honorary Vice-Presidents to give us Canada’s greatest explorers, dead or alive, mariner, mountain climber, polar trekker, anthropologist or astronaut. The only condition? Their picks must have been born in Canada or lived here long enough to qualify for citizenship by today’s standards.
comments
On The Existence of Street Pianos In Toronto Community Centers
Posted January 18, 2020 by bigcitylib
I used to be totally against them. It was always some no-talent eight year old plinking out a ghastly version of Chopsticks and you can’t tell them they suck or STFU! because their parents will get upset and report you to the facility staff becau…
comments
Activists Find Evidence of Formosa Plant in Texas Still Releasing Plastic Pollution Despite $50 Million Settlement
Posted January 18, 2020 by Julie Dermansky
Read time: 8 mins
On the afternoon of January 15, activist Diane Wilson kicked off a San Antonio Estuary Waterkeeper meeting on the side of the road across from a Formosa plastics manufacturing plant in Point Comfort, Texas. After Wilson and the waterkeeper successfully sued Formosa, the company agreed to no longer release even one of the tiny plastic pellets known as nurdles into the region’s waterways. The group of volunteers had assembled that day to check whether the plant was still discharging these raw materials of plastics manufacturing.
comments
Saturday Stories: Black Medical Academics, Brittany Ran A Marathon, And Body Positivity
Posted January 18, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Ughé Blackstock, in STAT, on why black academic physicians like her are leaving their positions.
Sam Brennan, in Fit Is a Feminist Issue, on how she watched Brittany Runs a Marathon so you don’t have to.
Virginia Sole-Smith, in Elemental, asks whether the fitness industry and body positivity can co-exist?
comments
How One Utah Community Fought the Fracking Industry — and Won
Posted January 17, 2020 by guest
Read time: 14 mins
By Tara Lohan, The Revelator. Originally posted on The Revalator.
Kanab, a small Utah town that’s home to the famous Best Friends Animal Society, took an unconventional path to face down a frac sand mine that threatened the region’s aquifer.
comments
Help us choose the March/April 2020 Canadian Geographic cover!
Posted January 17, 2020 by Anonymous
Help us choose the cover of our upcoming issue of Canadian Geographic. Vote Now!
And don’t forget to sign up to always be notified by email when covers are being voted on!
comments
YouTube Still Monetizing, Promoting Climate Science Denial, Report Finds
Posted January 16, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 8 mins
You don’t have to look far to find misinformation about climate science continuing to spread online through prominent social media channels like YouTube. That’s despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that humans are driving the climate crisis.
A new report by the global activist NGO Avaaz reveals that, despite YouTube’s pledge to combat misinformation, the popular video site owned by Google has failed to crack down on this problem when it comes to climate change. Videos containing false or misleading information on climate change continue to reach millions of users through YouTube’s recommendation algorithm. Furthermore, ads — including those from major brands and environmental groups — displayed on these videos provide a monetary incentive, not only to YouTube, but to the videos’ creators to keep promoting fringe theories contrary to scientific reality.
comments
Product Reformulation Means Sugar Taxes Work Even If People Don’t Buy Less As A Consequence
Posted January 15, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Taxes work to decrease purchasing, and the higher the tax, the greater their impact. Period.
Which is why it’s always struck me as odd when people question whether or not sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) taxes would affect SSB purchases (and consequently consumption).
But let’s leave that odd debate aside for a moment. If the goal of SSB taxes is to decrease added sugar consumption (which it explicitly is, while it is explicitly not about weight loss as societal obesity is not singularly caused by SSB consumption, and decreasing SSB consumption is healthy at every weight), it would appear that SSB taxes will decrease sugar consumption even if they don’t decreasing purchasing.
How?
Because when SSB taxes are enacted, the beverage industry reformulates its products.
And at least according to this bulletin from the World Health Organization, they do so not insignificantly!
Of the 83 products they surveyed in both 2014 (before the SSB tax) and in 2018 (after the SSB tax), the mean sugar content decreased by 42% (from 9.1 g/100mL to 5.3 g/100m) while the mean energy content decreased by 40% (from 38 kcal/100mL to 23 kcal/100mL). Putting this into the context of a standard 355ml can – that would represent 2.45 fewer teaspoons of sugar and 53 fewer calories per can.
And this was in response to a fairly nominal tax. Presumably larger taxes would drive larger (or more expansive) reformulations which of course would also be coupled with decreased purchasing.
All this to say, this is yet another reason why if you’re living somewhere without an SSB tax, my bet is that it’s a matter of when, not if, you will be.
Related Stories
- Canadian Donut Chain Launches Donut Flavoured Cereal And People Are Angry. Why I Think There Are Better Things (And Worse Cereals) To Be Angry About.
- How Much Do You Like Your Diet? Given Adherence Likely Dependent On Enjoyment, Our Recent Paper Set Out To Quantify That
- Why You Should Probably Just Ignore All Breakfast Studies
comments
Replacing Coal with Renewables Could Save Energy Customers $8 Billion a Year, Financial Analysts Find
Posted January 14, 2020 by guest
Read time: 6 mins
By Joe Smyth, Energy and Policy Institute. This was originally posted on the Energy and Policy Institute.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley and Moody’s Investors Service expect that more electric utilities will accelerate their transition away from coal, with major financial benefits for both ratepayers and shareholders.
In a research report last month titled “The Second Wave of Clean Energy,” analysts at Morgan Stanley explained how “the surprisingly low cost of renewables” will drive utilities to close most of the remaining U.S. coal plants over the next decade. Replacing coal with cheaper renewable energy could save electricity customers as much as $8 billion each year, according to Morgan Stanley:
comments
Watch: The Canadian island named after a satellite
Posted January 14, 2020 by Anonymous
Tiny Landsat Island off the coast of Labrador is only half the size of a football field, but it has a fascinating history. (Photo: NASA)
About 20 kilometres off the coast of Labrador lies a tiny island called Landsat Island. It’s only about half the size of a football field and visited mainly by polar bears, but its discovery and naming secured a place in history for a relatively unknown Canadian scientist named Betty Fleming.
comments
I for one welcome our new Sussex Royal overlords
Posted January 14, 2020 by Anonymous
Many Canadians are giddy at the prospect that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle could be moving to Canada, injecting some razzle dazzle to the sprawling, bone-chillingly cold country. https://t.co/3HH575a6EK— New York Times World (@nytimesworld) January 11, 2020
Well, I’m not exactly giddy, but I am excited. I think it will be great if Harry and Meghan and little Archie moved to Canada.
Their webpage is beautiful, very well done, and explains their overall intentions.
Full Disclosure: I did meet the Queen once, when I was a reporter at a Victoria newspaper and I got to cover a Royal Visit there. And I attended a press reception on the Royal Yacht Britannia – which sort of dates me, doesn’t it, since the yacht has been decommissioned for 20 years.
Anyway, getting back to today’s news, I notice Canadian twitter is combining some pro-monarchy enthusiasm with some bitching about how expensive it would be for Canada to pay for RCMP protection.
For decades, if not a century+, Canada has provided protection for eminent persons visiting Canada. Ex-US Presidents, European royalty, etc. The political right either has amnesia or thinks Harry and Meghan are a great distraction from their boring leadership contest. #cdnpoli— Diane Marie (@DianeMariePosts) January 13, 2020
Though actually, I think most of the “Canada is furious!” coverage is coming from the same British tabs that drove the Sussex Royals out in the first place, so they don’t have any credibility when they write about how angry we supposedly are.
My feeling is, we already pay for RCMP protection for a lot of other ceremonial positions — the Governor General and all the Lieutenant-Governors, not to mention the Canadian Senate – so what’s another Royal Highness or two between friends. I expect the Canadian government will work out a deal with the Brits sooner rather than later on this. Isn’t Mark Carney still running the Bank of England? Maybe he can cut us a cheque.
The thing that is really making me laugh is how angry the racist British tabloids are now about losing Megan as their target of bile — they’re already ramping up the criticism of William and Kate, but their hearts aren’t really in it. They really loved bashing every single thing that Meghan did or didn’t do. and they were salivating to start in on Archie as soon as they could start comparing him to angelic George and winsome Charlotte and adorable Louis.
Seeing how bad their Meghan-as-Monster coverage was, its no wonder Harry was furious – and the rest of the family should have spoken up in Meghan’s defense much louder and more vigorously – I suspect they other royals thought mere dignity would eventually deflect them (a mistake Trump opponents make all the time, too) or they were secretly relieved that she was the target rather than them. They could have demanded changes to that Royal Rota system years ago.
Now, the next time the Raptors are in the NBA finals, I suspect Harry will be joining Obama at the arena. Won’t that be fun?
But leave it to The Beaverton to have the last word:
Unskilled foreigners seek move to Canada #Megxit #meghanharry https://t.co/R9SK6OIrO2 pic.twitter.com/Uz5iCJ1a1x— The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) January 13, 2020
comments
New Research Points to Effective Ways to Talk to Skeptical Conservatives about Climate Change
Posted January 13, 2020 by guest
Read time: 4 mins
This is a guest post by ClimateDenierRoundup.
Two new studies on denial came out last week. While they’re not exactly breaking new ground, confirmation is always nice.
The first is a literature review led by Stanford’s Gabrielle Wong-Parodi that examines psychological studies on climate denial in the U.S. and found four big lessons for appealing to conservatives. Although the press release is promisingly headlined as “pathways to changing the minds of climate deniers,” we remain skeptical that there’s any real way to change a denier’s mind. After all, if they were open to change, they wouldn’t be deniers!
comments
Saturday Stories: Larry David, Elizabeth Wurtzel, And The Ebola Vaccine
Posted January 11, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
Brett Martin, in GQ, profiles the inimitable Larry David
Elizabeth Wurtzel, in Medium, discussing her life’s final year
Helen Branswell, in STAT, with the story of how scientists on 3 continents together produced an Ebola vaccine
Photo of Elizabeth Wurtzel by Blonde1967; this photo was taken with an iPhone SE by my mother, Lynne Winters – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
comments
Fossil Fuel Interests Applaud Trump Admin’s Weakening of Major Environmental Law
Posted January 10, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 7 mins
Industry groups including oil and gas trade associations were quick to pile on the praise following President Trump’s announcement Thursday, January 9 of major overhauls to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The 50-year-old bedrock environmental statute requires federal agencies to review the environmental impacts of major actions or projects, and has been a key tool for advocacy groups to challenge harmful infrastructure, from fossil fuel pipelines to chemical plants.
And in the Trump administration’s hasty efforts to assert “energy dominance,” judges have halted fossil fuel projects on grounds that the government did not adequately consider how those projects contribute to climate change.
comments
Joaquin Phoenix, Martin Sheen Arrested at Jane Fonda’s Final Weekly Climate Protest in DC
Posted January 10, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 3 mins
Every Friday for the last seven weeks, actress and activist Jane Fonda has held a rally and act of civil disobedience in front of the U.S. Capitol, calling for action on climate change. Each week she’s been joined by different celebrities, journalists, and activists. Previous weeks have seen actors such as Law & Order‘s Sam Waterston, Fonda’s co-star in Grace and Frankie, Lily Tomin, and Lincoln’s Sally Field, to name a few.
This final week in Washington, D.C. did not see Fonda get arrested like five of the previous weeks. In her stead, West Wing‘s Martin Sheen and Joker‘s Joaquin Phoenix were arrested and ticketed in an act of civil disobedience alongside hundreds of other activists.
comments
Hearts in the Ice: Drone technology
Posted January 10, 2020 by Anonymous
Eric Saczuk shows the drone that Sunniva Sorby and Hilde Fålun Strøm will be using to record data about surface air temperatures as part of the Hearts in the Ice project in Svalbard. (Photo: Tanya Kirnishni/Canadian Geographic)
In the Hornsund fiord, at the base of a glacier streaked with blue veins of compressed ice, Eric Saczuk waited patiently for the winds to die down. He had flown thousands of kilometres to the remote Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, and travelled hundreds more by ship, to test out his drone equipment as part of an international citizen science project.
comments
Geography teacher of the month: Isabella MacQuarrie
Posted January 9, 2020 by Anonymous
Isabella MacQuarrie, pictured here with her horse Jewel in 100 Mile House, B.C., lives and works in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region of central British Columbia. (Photo: Isabella MacQuarrie)
With experience in teaching everything from English to physical education for a variety of grade levels, Isabella MacQuarrie has a well-rounded background that lends itself well to the kind of work she has been doing for the past several years in remote and rural schools, mainly in First Nations communities, in the Cariboo-Chilcotin school district of British Columbia. MacQuarrie provides learning support, building individualized education programs and coming up with resources for students with special needs.
comments
Wear your love of exploration with new RCGS-branded clothing
Posted January 9, 2020 by Anonymous
For years, people have been asking us to create clothing branded with the name and Compass Rose logo of The Royal Canadian Geographical Society. We listened, and are thrilled to announce that our online Society Shop is now live with a number of your m…
comments
Canadian Donut Chain Launches Donut Flavoured Cereal And People Are Angry. Why I Think There Are Better Things (And Worse Cereals) To Be Angry About.
Posted January 9, 2020 by Yoni Freedhoff
So last week saw the Canadian launch of timbits cereal and as evidenced by the number of people have sent press releases about it to me, not everyone is pleased.
Timbits, for readers who don’t know, are donut holes from Canadian donut chain giant Tim Hortons.
People are upset because apparently this sugary cereal is over the top and somehow extra wrong or extra awful.
But why?
Tim Horton’s certainly isn’t in the business of protecting or promoting public health. Nor is Post Foods. Nor should anyone expect either to be.
Presumably the sugar is a concern for people, and at 17g per cup (4.25 teaspoons), it’s definitely not an insignificant amount, but it’s not more than many other sugary cereals, and is in fact less than Post Raisin Bran which packs 24% more sugar at 21g (5.25 teaspoons) per cup.
All this to say, it’s difficult to get angry with Tim Horton’s or Post Foods for trying to sell food as selling food is literally their only job, and frankly this food isn’t any worse than comparable foods they’re already selling.
So what should the cereal aisle make people angry about?
How about laxity in advertising laws that allows for cartoon characters to be festooned on boxes of sugary cereals and prey on children? Or laxity in front-of-packaging laws that allow Froot Loops boxes to brag about their whole grain or vitamin D content? Or the failure of our government to create a front-of-package warning system like the one that was enacted in Chile.
What would life in Canadian cereal aisles look like if we followed Chile’s lead?
Here’s Frosted Flakes before and after Chile’s laws came into effect
Sure looks great to me.
(And for the grammar police, ‘donut’ is how Tim Horton’s spells doughnut)
comments
These Climate Science Deniers are Spreading Misinformation about the Australian Bushfires
Posted January 9, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 7 mins
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has doubled down on his refusal to strengthen his administration’s approach to climate policy as his country burns. While Morrison acknowledges that climate change is one factor driving the fires, he is unwilling to consider reversing his government’s poor record on climate action to help prevent similar disasters happening again.
In recent days, Morrison’s position has been bolstered by a group of fringe climate science deniers pushing conspiracy theories and misinformation about the relationship between the fires and climate change.
comments
Louisiana Landowners Appeal Bayou Bridge Pipeline’s Right to Seize Their Land After Trespassing
Posted January 9, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 3 mins
A Louisiana appeals court heard oral arguments Wednesday, January 8 in a case brought by Louisiana landowners against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline Company that illegally trespassed and began pipeline construction without landowners’ consent.
Attorneys for the landowners are asking the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court decision granting the pipeline company’s eminent domain right to seize the land. That granting of expropriation was made despite a finding that the company had unlawfully entered and damaged the land.
comments
Debunked Australian Bushfire Conspiracy Theories Were Pushed by Alex Jones, Murdoch Media
Posted January 8, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 3 mins
As unusually intense and widespread bushfires have ravaged a drought-ridden Australia, bots and trolls have begun pushing climate science denial across the internet in the form of conspiracy theories about the fires. Thanks to climate change, exceptionally hot, dry drought conditions have worsened and lengthened Australia’s typical fire season.
comments
LNG, Plastics and Other Gas Industry Plans Would Add Climate Pollution Equal to 50 New Coal Plants
Posted January 8, 2020 by Sharon Kelly
Read time: 9 mins
This week, plans to build one of the world’s largest plastics and petrochemical plants in St. James Parish, Lousiana — the heart of the state’s notorious Cancer Alley — inched forward as Lousiana approved air quality permits that could allow the plant to release 13.6 million tons per year of greenhouse gases — equal to three coal-fired power plants — and a host of other pollutants.
The St. James plant would be the single most polluting facility of 157 planned new or expanding refineries, liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, and petrochemical plants that have sought or obtained air pollution permits in the U.S., according to a report published today by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP).
comments
10 Canadian photographers whose work we’re loving right now
Posted January 8, 2020 by Anonymous
Grizzly triplets follow their mother as she hunts for salmon on the Chilko River in B.C. (Photo: Jenny Stevens/Can Geo Photo Club)
The Canadian Geographic Photo Club launched in 2008 as a way to encourage photographers to share their unique corner of Canada with other Canadians. Since then, the Club has grown to include more than 11,000 active members, some of whom log on daily to share what they’ve discovered on a recent hike, a trip to a province or territory they’ve never visited before, or even just in their own backyard.
comments
The Plastics Giant and the Making of an Environmental Justice Warrior
Posted January 7, 2020 by Julie Dermansky
Read time: 23 mins
This report was produced as part of ivoh’s Restorative Narrative Fellowship.
On the evening of January 6, Louisiana state regulators issued 15 key permits to the Taiwanese petrochemical corporation Formosa for its $9.4 billion plastics manufacturing complex proposed for the historically black area of St. James Parish. Word spread today about the approvals, which pave the way for the project’s construction, opposed by local and national environmental advocates.
Sharon Lavigne, a demure, 67-year-old recently retired special-ed teacher born and raised in St. James Parish, cried when she heard the news. Her community along the Mississippi River is already saddled with petrochemical plants and oil storage tanks, which release known carcinogens into the air that she fears are making her and her family sick.
I spoke to Lavigne, who has tirelessly fought the project since the fall of 2018, just after news broke of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality’s (LDEQ) decisions for Formosa.
comments
Michael Mann: Australia, Your Country Is Burning – Dangerous Climate Change Is Here With You Now
Posted January 7, 2020 by guest
Read time: 4 mins
This article originally appeared in The Guardian and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalistic collaboration to strengthen coverage of the climate story.
By Michael Mann
After years studying the climate, my work has brought me to Sydney where I’m studying the linkages between climate change and extreme weather events.
Prior to beginning my sabbatical stay in Sydney, I took the opportunity this holiday season to vacation in Australia with my family. We went to see the Great Barrier Reef — one of the great wonders of this planet — while we still can. Subject to the twin assaults of warming-caused bleaching and ocean acidification, it will be gone in a matter of decades in the absence of a dramatic reduction in global carbon emissions.
We also travelled to the Blue Mountains, another of Australia’s natural wonders, known for its lush temperate rainforests, majestic cliffs and rock formations and panoramic vistas that challenge any the world has to offer. It too is now threatened by climate change.
I witnessed this firsthand.
comments
Forecast for 2020: More Oil Trains, Fires, Spills, and the Rise of LNG by Rail
Posted January 7, 2020 by Anonymous
Read time: 10 mins
As 2019 drew to a close and the new year ramps up, a number of signs point to the growing risks of transporting oil and gas by rail, with little government oversight to speak of: from increasing oil train traffic into the U.S. to fiery oil train derailments and new approvals for moving liquefied natural gas (LNG) by rail.
comments
Q&A: Attawapiskat, Ont. musician Adrian Sutherland on the story behind his First Nations rights protest song
Posted January 7, 2020 by Anonymous
The music video for Adrian Sutherland’s debut single “Politician Man” features images of a map from the Canadian Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. (Photo: David McDonald)
Adrian Sutherland is from the isolated Cree community of Attawapiskat, located on James Bay in remote northern Ontario. He’s a singer, songwriter, musician and frontman for Midnight Shine, a roots-rock band that has released three albums together since 2011.
comments
What would war with Iran be like?
Posted January 6, 2020 by Anonymous
We were talking yesterday about the possibility of a US-Iran war and how we are experiencing misty, water-coloured memories of the awful build-up to the invasion of Iraq way back in 2003, when related scare-mongering about Iran was also going on.One of…
