Ontario Nature Blog

If it wasn’t farmed or harvested, every piece of material that people interact with daily was mined or quarried. As the global community pivots from fossil fuels to mitigate climate change, renewable energies such as solar, wind, and electric vehicles have become crucial. These technologies depend on critical minerals like lithium, a precious metal whose ...

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Nature-based solutions to address the climate crisis are important and gaining popularity but they alone cannot address it effectively while the burning of fossil fuels – the primary driver of global heating and pollution – continues unchecked. The connection between the burning of fossil fuels and worsening ecological and human health impacts is stark. And ...

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Nature advocates have come a long way since the days of “fortress conservation” when nature was thought to be a place where humans aren’t. We now understand that humans have always been a part of nature, and conservation doesn’t work if it comes at the cost of Indigenous rights or local livelihoods. But it seems ...

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In a province already experiencing extensive wetland loss, one would think all efforts would be made to protect those that remain. However, from March 2023 to March 2024, 156 hectares of wetlands across 17 municipalities lost their Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW) designation and the strong provincial protection that designation imparts.* The highest proportion of these ...

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Yet again, the people of Ontario are witnessing an attempt by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) to weaken protections for the province’s species at risk. If approved, proposed changes to “streamline” several regulations under the Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA) will create new loopholes to harm species at risk and their habitats, ...

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