Environment – Winnipeg Free Press

Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz shakes hands with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Edmonton, Monday, Oct. 24, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz quits cabinet, to leave soon as MLA

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA - Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is quitting cabinet and says she will also soon be leaving the legislature altogether.

Schulz made the announcement on social media Wednesday.

She says she has offered her resignation from cabinet effective Friday and will step down as the United Conservative legislature member for Calgary-Shaw by May.

“Timing is everything in life and in politics,” Schulz said in her statement.

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New 2026 laws are among the first of their kind to tackle climate change, drunken driving

David A. Lieb, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

New 2026 laws are among the first of their kind to tackle climate change, drunken driving

David A. Lieb, The Associated Press 5 minute read Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

Tourists celebrating the new year in Hawaii could become the first to be taxed to address the consequences of climate change.

In Utah, people who party too heartily — and get caught driving drunk — could be among the first to have their driver's licenses striped red with the label: “No Alcohol Sale.”

And motorists in Georgia could become the first to display their patriotism via the stylings of President Donald Trump with a special “America First” vehicle license plate.

The first of the year brings with it a variety of new state laws, including some that appear to contain first-of-their-kind policies, programs or procedures.

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Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

FILE - People are seen on the beach and in the water in front of the Kahala Hotel & Resort in Honolulu, Nov. 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, File)

2025 was one of three hottest years on record, scientists say

Alexa St. John, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

2025 was one of three hottest years on record, scientists say

Alexa St. John, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

Climate change worsened by human behavior made 2025 one of the three hottest years on record, scientists said.

It was also the first time that the three-year temperature average broke through the threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement of limiting warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times. Experts say that keeping the Earth below that limit could save lives and prevent catastrophic environmental destruction around the globe.

The analysis from World Weather Attribution researchers, released Tuesday in Europe, came after a year when people around the world were slammed by the dangerous extremes brought on by a warming planet.

Temperatures remained high despite the presence of a La Nina, the occasional natural cooling of Pacific Ocean waters that influences weather worldwide. Researchers cited the continued burning of fossil fuels — oil, gas and coal — that send planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

FILE - Grace Chyuwei pours water on Joe Chyuwei to help with the heat Aug. 3, 2025, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Virginia offshore wind developer sues over Trump administration order halting projects

The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Virginia offshore wind developer sues over Trump administration order halting projects

The Associated Press 3 minute read Friday, Dec. 26, 2025

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The developers of a Virginia offshore wind project are asking a federal judge to block a Trump administration order that halted construction of their project, along with four others, over national security concerns.

Dominion Energy Virginia said in its lawsuit filed late Tuesday that the government's order is “arbitrary and capricious” and unconstitutional. The Richmond-based company is developing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind, a project it says is essential to meet dramatically growing energy needs driven by dozens of new data centers.

The Interior Department did not detail the security concerns in blocking the five projects on Monday. In a letter to project developers, Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management set a 90-day period — and possibly longer — “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated.”

The other projects are the Vineyard Wind project under construction in Massachusetts, Revolution Wind in Rhode Island and Connecticut and two projects in New York: Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind. Democratic governors in those states have vowed to fight the order, the latest action by the Trump administration to hobble offshore wind in its push against renewable energy sources.

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Friday, Dec. 26, 2025

Wind turbine bases, generators and blades are positioned along with support ships at The Portsmouth Marine terminal at the staging area for Dominion Energy's wind turbine project Monday Dec. 22, 2025, in Portsmouth, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Rain soaks Rose Parade in California and snow squalls hit Midwest and Northeast on first day of 2026

The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

Rain soaks Rose Parade in California and snow squalls hit Midwest and Northeast on first day of 2026

The Associated Press 2 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:14 PM CST

Rain poured down on the iconic Rose Parade on Thursday for the first time in 20 years, as flood warnings and evacuation orders in Southern California joined snow squalls and frigid temperatures in the country's midsection to mark the first day of 2026.

Marching bands, floats and throngs of spectators were soaked by one to two inches (2.5 to 5 centimeters) of New Year’s Day rain at the 137th Rose Parade in Pasadena. The mercury stood at a chilly 58 degrees Fahrenheit (14.4 degrees Celsius) at the 8 a.m. start of the parade.

Across the country, in New York City, hats and gloves were as necessary as noisemakers at the city's New Year's Eve ball drop, where temperatures near freezing appeared to be the coldest in 10 years.

Hundreds of thousands of people gather along the nearly six-mile (10-kilometer) route in Pasadena, where the two-hour parade kicked off. Millions more watch on national television. Organizers at the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the group that organizes the parade ahead of the Rose Bowl college football game, said they made only small changes to accommodate the weather, such as the tops being up on convertibles carrying grand marshal Earvin “Magic” Johnson and other VIPs.

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:14 PM CST

Rain comes down on a float at the 137th Rose Parade Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman)

N.S. premier ran on taxes and health care, but pivoted in 2025 to focus on energy

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

N.S. premier ran on taxes and health care, but pivoted in 2025 to focus on energy

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

HALIFAX - In the year since the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservatives under Premier Tim Houston won a resounding second mandate, the government's focus has largely been on a topic that didn't get much attention during the 2024 election campaign.

Houston's Tories have lifted a moratorium on fracking and a ban on uranium mining, and opened calls for offshore oil and gas exploration bids. They've introduced measures to streamline both the environmental assessments for energy projects and the permitting processes for mining. And the premier laid out plans for a massive offshore wind energy development.

To top it off, in October, Houston named himself energy minister.

Political science experts say that had Houston given voters details about his energy ideas, the November election campaign — after which the Progressive Conservatives won 43 out of 55 seats — may have looked different.

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Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston speaks to reporters after the provincial budget was tabled at the Nova Scotia legislature in Halifax, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

French actor Brigitte Bardot remembered in Canada for fighting seal hunt

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

French actor Brigitte Bardot remembered in Canada for fighting seal hunt

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

Brigitte Bardot, a French actor and animal rights activist who died Sunday at the age of 91, is being remembered in Canada as a vocal opponent of the country's seal hunt.

Bardot, known as one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century, was the first high-profile celebrity to speak out against Canada's seal hunt in 1976.

The following year, she travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador to witness it herself. Asked by reporters what her plans were for the trip, Bardot replied, "To save baby seals, that's all."

During that trip, she was photographed holding a baby harp seal, known as a whitecoat. The CBC reported her protest caused a major reduction in the price of seal pelts, affecting the livelihoods of people in fishing communities in Atlantic Canada and in the Arctic.

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Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025

French actor Brigitte Bardot and head of the

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Government suspending ban on single-use plastic exports

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Government suspending ban on single-use plastic exports

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

OTTAWA - The federal government is suspending the planned export ban on single-use plastics due to tariffs and supply chain issues "creating significant pressure on the domestic economy."

The government launched a 70-day consultation about not moving forward with the single-use plastic export ban on Saturday through the Canada Gazette.

The government says the progress on environmental benefit expected with the export ban is not proportional to the economic impact.

The plastic sector generated $35 billion in revenue shipping single use plastics in 2023, according to the notice in the Gazette.

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Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

Plastic straws are pictured in North Vancouver, B.C. on Monday, June 4, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

No faith in fossil fuels? Why some religious leaders are speaking out on climate change

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press 11 minute read Preview

No faith in fossil fuels? Why some religious leaders are speaking out on climate change

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press 11 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

TORONTO - Anglican Deacon Michael Van Dusen typically has plans for the Christmas season that do not involve a Toronto courthouse.

Perhaps he would be preparing his Christmas Day sermon or visiting with family. But on Tuesday, he stood beside a painted banner that read "no faith in fossil fuels" and spoke to a small crowd, including some of his parishioners, about what had brought him before a judge — and not of the divine variety.

For the first time in his life, the 80-year-old was arrested and charged with trespassing last year during a sit-in at a Royal Bank of Canada branch in protest of the bank's fossil-fuel financing.

Canadian banks, he said, were choosing to ignore climate science to profit from the destruction of the planet, and he felt a moral obligation, affirmed by his baptismal covenant, to take a stand.

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Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

Rev. Canon Michael Van Dusen poses for a photograph at his Anglican Church in Toronto, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

For B.C. whale coroner, a gruesome duty to ‘revered’ animals approached with humility

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press 8 minute read Preview

For B.C. whale coroner, a gruesome duty to ‘revered’ animals approached with humility

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press 8 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

VICTORIA - When veterinary pathologist Stephen Raverty is chest deep in work, the term takes on a gruesome meaning.

Picture Raverty deep in the innards of a humpback whale, trying to retain his balance as he wades through a quagmire of intestines, blubber and blood.

A photograph that is unsuitable for breakfast-table viewing captures a moment in 2011 as Raverty, drenched from the shoulders down in purple muck, works on a humpback whale that washed up dead on San Juan Island in U.S. waters, just off Vancouver Island.

It's one of about 2,500 necropsies on whales and other large marine mammals performed over the past 25 years by Raverty, who works for B.C.'s Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

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Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

Veterinary pathologist Stephen Raverty, left, and Brendan Cottrell, regional stranding coordinator for the Fisheries Department Canada, pose in this handout photo as they set up for the post-mortem examination of a grey whale in early October 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — DFO (Mandatory Credit)

Federal judge upholds Hawaii’s new climate change tax on cruise passengers

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Federal judge upholds Hawaii’s new climate change tax on cruise passengers

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

HONOLULU (AP) — A federal judge’s ruling has cleared the way for Hawaii to include cruise ship passengers in a new tourist tax to help cope with climate change, a levy set to go into effect at the start of 2026.

U.S. District Judge Jill A. Otake denied a request Tuesday that sought to stop officials from enforcing the new law on cruises.

In the nation’s first such levy to help cope with a warming planet, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed legislation in May that raises tax revenue to deal with eroding shorelines, wildfires and other climate problems. Officials estimate the tax will generate nearly $100 million annually.

The levy increases rates on hotel room and vacation rental stays but also imposes a new 11% tax on the gross fares paid by a cruise ship’s passengers, starting next year, prorated for the number of days the vessels are in Hawaii ports.

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Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

FILE - A cruise ship, background, is docked in Honolulu, March 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones, File)

Hawaii’s Big Island bans feeding feral cats in an effort to help endangered native species

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Mengshin Lin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Hawaii’s Big Island bans feeding feral cats in an effort to help endangered native species

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher And Mengshin Lin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025

KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii (AP) — Throngs of feral cats emerge from the shade of parked trucks and bushes as soon as the familiar Subaru Forester pulls into a dump on Hawaii's Big Island. They run after the vehicle to a certain meal — a gravy train that might not be around much longer.

A Hawaii County law set to take effect at the start of the new year bans feeding feral animals on county property. It's an effort to protect native species, such as an endangered goose called the nene, from a super predator introduced to the islands by Europeans in the 18th century.

But the measure doesn't sit well with many cat lovers, including the driver of the Subaru, Liz Swan, who has been feeding feral felines on the Big Island for 33 years.

“I don’t believe the cats should be exterminated at the expense of the nene,” Swan said. “They’re both living creatures.”

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Thursday, Dec. 25, 2025

A colony of stray cats gather to eat near the Kealakehe Transfer Station and Recycling Center, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Mengshin Lin)

Freezing rain on the way for Maritimes as Newfoundland and Labrador digs out

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Freezing rain on the way for Maritimes as Newfoundland and Labrador digs out

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

HALIFAX - Freezing rain warnings were piling up throughout the Maritimes and parts of Newfoundland and Labrador on Monday, but meteorologists say climbing temperatures likely mean a big dose of rain is on tap for the region.

Environment Canada meteorologist Ian Hubbard says Atlantic Canada is in the path of the same system that brought freezing rain to the Great Lakes region and parts of Quebec, but the impacts won’t be as severe.

“We're kind of on the far-eastern side of this,” Hubbard said in an interview Monday.

“It's going to allow us to get into some of that warmer air so the freezing rain will change to rain. And we're actually going to see some mild temperatures during the overnight period with this before it pushes through.”

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

Residents of St. John's, N.L., are shown digging out from under about 40 centimetres of snow on Monday Feb. 10, 2025, after an intense winter storm swept across the eastern part of Newfoundland. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

Calgary man charged after ‘multiple’ alleged animal abuse incidents this past year

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

Calgary man charged after ‘multiple’ alleged animal abuse incidents this past year

The Canadian Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

CALGARY - Police in Calgary say a 41-year-old man has been charged with animal abuse for allegedly kicking and striking his dog, and later breaking a court order to take the animal back from the Calgary Humane Society.

Police say transit officers saw a man "striking and kicking his dog" on video surveillance at a CTrain station back in July, but the man was not found or identified at the time.

The Calgary Police Service says the same man was allegedly seen on train station surveillance cameras abusing his dog on Dec. 9, and transit officers detained him, seized the animal, and it was given over to the Calgary Humane Society.

The service says in a statement that the dog was forfeited after the man failed to meet the conditions for its return, and a week later, he allegedly attended the Calgary Humane Society and "stole the dog" from a volunteer dog walker.

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Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025

The Calgary Humane Society and the Calgary Police Service jointly investigated multiple alleged incidents of animal abuse involving a dog owner, leading to charges against a 41-year-old man due in court in January. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

How bomb cyclones form and create dangerous conditions

Isabella O'malley, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

How bomb cyclones form and create dangerous conditions

Isabella O'malley, The Associated Press 2 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

When turbulent weather with whipping winds and heavy snow is in the forecast, meteorologists sometimes warn that a storm could “bomb out” or become a bomb cyclone. But what exactly does this mean?

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, certain storms undergo bombogenesis, which happens when a storm’s central pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. These storms are sometimes called bomb cyclones. Storm intensity is measured by central pressure, so the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

Such rapidly strengthening storms are capable of producing heavy rain, blizzard conditions and intense winds that can create dangerous conditions such as downed trees and power outages.

“If you’re watching TV at night and the weather report comes on and you’re hearing ‘bomb cyclone’ being used, that usually means there’s quite a bit of active weather going on,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

A man crosses 7th street in the heavy snow Sunday Dec. 28, 2025 in downtown Minneapolis. (Jerry Holt /Star Tribune via AP)

A bomb cyclone brings blizzards to the Midwest before turning east

Leah Willingham And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

A bomb cyclone brings blizzards to the Midwest before turning east

Leah Willingham And Jeff Martin, The Associated Press 5 minute read Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

A strengthening bomb cyclone barreled across the northern U.S. on Monday, unleashing severe winter weather in the Midwest as it took aim at the East Coast.

The storm brought blizzard conditions, treacherous travel and power outages to parts of the Plains and Great Lakes on Monday as sharply colder air, strong winds and a mix of snow, ice and rain swept through.

Forecasters said the storm intensified quickly enough to meet the criteria of a bomb cyclone, a system that strengthens rapidly as pressure drops. The sharp cold front left parts of the central U.S. waking up Monday to temperatures as much as 50 degrees Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) colder than the day before.

All that wind and snow created “a pretty significant system for even this part of the country,” said Cody Snell, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. Dangerous wind chills plunged as low as minus 30 F (minus 34 C) across parts of North Dakota and Minnesota.

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Monday, Dec. 29, 2025

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