Hello, people! This is our weekly newsletter on all things environmental, where we highlight trends and solutions that are moving us to a more sustainable world. (Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Thursday.) This week: Energy efficiency: Canada’s ‘unsung hero’ of climate action Who produces the most lithium? Thrift-store shoppers save money and the planet…

A City of Vancouver staff report outlining a recommended plastic straw and shopping bag ban has been made public. In the report, city staff recommend banning plastic and compostable plastic straws by April 2020. There’s a recommendation of a one-year exemption for straws served with bubble tea to allow businesses time to find alternatives. The report also recommends…

It’s no secret that we’re spending more time in front of screens than ever before. Canadians say they spend almost 11 hours a day in front of them — at their desks, on their laptops and especially on their smartphones. But after a long day at work, our eyes often start to feel dry, tired and…

This story is part of Exposing Hate, an ongoing series examining the nature of hate in Canada: how it manifests, spreads and thrives and how Canadian institutions, law enforcement and individuals are dealing with it.  To curb hate speech — and ultimately, the violence it can spur — Timothy Quinn and his team have spent…

Quebecers will occupy some of the most prominent positions in the new Liberal cabinet, including foreign affairs and justice — but environmentalists in the province say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau caved to pressure from Western Canada by giving a minor post to one of their key allies. Environmental activist Steven Guilbeault, who won a downtown Montreal riding last month, was given the…

There’s a chance a rare meteor “storm” will occur Thursday night, and eastern Canada might be able to catch it.  Meteor storms can be defined as a substantially higher-than-normal outbursts of meteors entering our atmosphere, and occur when Earth sweeps through a dense cloud of leftover cometary debris. These events can produce several hundred meteors…