We use this editor’s blog to explain our journalism and what’s happening at CBC News. You can find more blogs here.
It’s been just under three years since we committed to making climate change a significant focus of our journalism and a priority area of coverage across our newsrooms, programs and digital platforms.
At the time, I wrote that “the impact of climate on our changing planet may be the most pressing story of our time,” affecting all aspects of our lives, from health and the economy to the energy and insurance sectors, food, water, national security and so much more.
Today, there is no less urgency for the need to cover the story of climate and our changing planet. We seem to reel from one climate-related crisis to another. This year already, we’ve seen wildfires destroy parts of Jasper and threaten communities across Canada; significant rainfall events and flooding in Quebec and Ontario; tick-spread illnesses surge across the country; the hottest day ever recorded; new evidence the oceans are warmer than they’ve been in hundreds of years; and sea levels rising at alarming rates.�
At the same time, CBC News has worked hard to showcase stories of resilience, adaptation and innovation, the big and small efforts to tackle what at times feels like an overwhelming challenge, and successes that might give the world hope there is a path forward.
Of course, we do not take a stance on which policies should be encouraged or set aside to tackle climate change, but we’re committed to giving you the tools and knowledge to make informed decisions on your own.
This weekend, we launch a special project called “Overheated” involving a collaboration between our radio programs Quirks and Quarks, What on Earth and White Coat, Black Art. We will visit Whitehorse to learn more about the devastating impacts of heat on the Chinook salmon population, cycle through the streets of Montreal to show how a city’s design can uniquely change the way we experience and cope with heat, and travel to St. Catharines, Ont., to learn more about the impact of heat on human health.
I hope you’ll tune in on CBC Radio, the CBC News app and the CBC Listen app. You’ll find companion stories on CBCNews.ca.
Here’s an update on the rest of our efforts to cover the story of climate change, its causes and global efforts to mitigate its impact:
-
We created a dedicated space on our website and News app to find all of our best climate journalism. Visit www.cbc.ca/news/climate.
-
We created a national climate content unit that is doing original reporting and providing context for breaking news. It’s also a resource for CBC reporting teams all across the country.
-
We launched the CBC News Climate Dashboard (cbc.ca/climate) to track weather forecasts across Canada and compare them to historical trends. The dashboard flags which weather records are being broken across the country, forest fires, the extent of smoke and air quality across all provinces and territories. Recent updates include provincial breakdowns of the total area burnt by wildfires, an easier way to set your location and a chart that monitors global CO2 levels.
-
We launched a new, full-day “climate reporting essentials” course for our journalists who don’t cover the beat daily. We created a Climate Glossary for the course and made it public for all to use as a resource.
-
Susan Ormiston, our dedicated international climate correspondent, and her producer, Jill English, have produced dozens of stories from around the world, including recent pieces on the risk of extreme heat on athletes, how the Netherlands generates far more solar power than Canada, historic flooding in Brazil and Afghanistan and how the politics of climate plays out in the U.S. presidential election.
-
We regularly bundle our latest video stories on climate change for viewing as special themed packages on the CBC News, Toronto and B.C. streaming channels.
-
And this fall marks the sixth anniversary of our award-winning climate newsletter, What on Earth? (Subscribe here.)
Since committing to making the coverage climate a top priority in late 2021, CBC News journalists have won or been finalists for more than 15 climate-related journalism awards. Top honours have been given to features, interactives, photos and documentaries, including:
We aim to make CBC News one of your go-to sources for world-class climate journalism. If you have questions about climate change or angles you think we need to explore, email us directly at Ask@CBC.ca and we’ll provide answers in our programs and online.