One day you’re out walking or biking with short sleeves in early November, and a couple of days later, you’re digging out from a snowstorm. That is weather.

The difference between climate and weather

A warm fall is weather; decades of warmer autumns are climate

When media talk about climate change, a lot of confusion can arise, and that can negatively impact what needs to be done about climate warming. When I write and talk about this topic, I call it climate warming, not climate change. The term “global warming” is fine, but I feel it has been so overused […] Read more

Patrick Gilbert, Loblaws vendor development, right, cuts open a potato variety at the Elora Research Station to check the flesh while a colleague records first impressions during the annual Potato Research Day.

Climate change and early dying dominate potato research

Retailers attend open house to inform future purchases

Climate change resiliency and early potato dying studies were highlights of the Aug. 23 Elora Potato Research Open House. Vanessa Currie, University of Guelph potato breeding technician, said the five-year research study on which varieties hold up best under increasing climate pressures was launched this year. Why it matters: The annual potato research open house […] Read more

A climate change activist plays a violin in New York City’s Times Square as Manhattan is shrouded in haze and smoke which drifted south from wildfires in Canada, on June 7, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Maye-E Wong)

Climate change made Quebec wildfires twice as likely, scientists say

Early snow disappearance led to earlier fires

London | Reuters — The fires that tore through the province of Quebec between May and July were made at least twice as likely by climate change, scientists said on Tuesday. Climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, also made the fires as much as 50 per cent more intense, according to the […] Read more


Ontario On-Farm Climate Action Fund supports projects on over 130,000 acres of farmland

Ontario On-Farm Climate Action Fund supports projects on over 130,000 acres of farmland

The Ontario On-Farm Climate Action Fund (OFCAF) allocated over $22 million in cost-share funding to successful applications during the 2022 and 2023 intake periods.    The OFCAF provides cost-share funding to farmers to support the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) that tackle climate change through reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and supporting increased carbon […] Read more


File photo of a storm cloud from the southwestern end of Lake Winnipeg at Matlock, Man. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

More than half of world’s large lakes drying up, study finds

Gains in Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg come from runoff, rainfall

London | Reuters — More than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, chiefly because of climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study published on Thursday found. A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater […] Read more

Republicans are seeking to cut funding from the Inflation Reduction Act for climate-smart farming in negotiations for the next farm bill.

Fight to keep climate-friendly farming funds

Biden administration will have to defend funds in Farm Bill discussions

Reuters – The Biden administration will defend funding for climate-smart farming in the $430 billion U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) if Republican lawmakers seek to cut it during negotiations for the next farm bill, an official said May 1. The IRA, which aims to cut emissions across the U.S. economy, includes $20 billion to support farmers […] Read more

Editorial: A big carrot in one hand, nothing in the other

It’s rarely a great idea to compare yourself to someone else. You can end up dissatisfied with something about yourself or about what they have and you don’t. Psychologists have a name for this behavior. It’s called social comparison. The theory suggests that people value their own personal and social worth by assessing how they […] Read more


Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in degrees Celsius over the tropical Pacific Ocean for the week centred on April 12, 2023. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

World could face record temperatures in 2023 as El Nino returns

New record highs 'more likely than not'

Brussels | Reuters — The world could breach a new average temperature record in 2023 or 2024, fuelled by climate change and the anticipated return of the El Nino weather phenomenon, climate scientists say. Climate models suggest that after three years of the La Nina weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which generally lowers global […] Read more