Background Articles

Extreme smoke seems to be a new feature of summers in British Columbia with back-to-back years of heavy wildfires in the province and, for some, the overcast skies are taking a toll on mental health.

The B.C. Centre for Disease Control recommends children and elderly stay indoors during lingering smoke from forest fires.

The smoke has pushed pollution in Calgary and other cities to dangerous levels, and cast an unsettling, spooky haze over almost every part of B.C.

Thirty-five people drowned in Sweden this July, compared to 12 people who lost their lives to drowning last July.

Vibriosis cases are on the rise, and scientists think the trend is likely to continue as climate change results in rising temperatures and rising sea level.

Many places across Southern California saw one of the warmest Julys ever recorded in 2018, including downtown Los Angeles and Death Valley

The "business-as-usual warming of the planet" could make areas too warm for human habitation if heat trends continue, climate researchers say.

Harmful algae blooms are something Montana has to worry about every summer, and now there have been a couple places in central and western Montana confirmed to have the harmful blue green algae. T...

Scientists aren't sure what is causing this whirlpool of algae but believe it's likely to cause a marine dead zone.

Blue-green algae has bloomed again in Lake Okeechobee, filling waterways with putrid sludge that can contaminate local water and marine animals.

Culturally vital, ecologically unique, and economically valuable, the yellow cedar’s fate is closely tied to snow

Water quality in Anchorage's lakes is generally good, but swimmer's itch is a risk.

The initial results represent 330 participants from six communities. Around 98 per cent of participants had mercury levels below the health guidance value - a baseline to assess health risks.

This is not the first time the village of Chefornak has faced the threat of erosion and flooding, but relocating won’t be as easy as it was last time.

Recent decline of sea ice habitat has coincided with increased use of land by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the southern Beaufort Sea (SB), which may alter the risks of exposure to pathogens and contaminants. We assayed blood samples from SB polar bears to assess prior exposure to the pathogens Brucella spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Coxiella burnetii, Francisella tularensis, and Neospora caninum, estimate concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and evaluate risk factors associated with exposure to pathogens and POPs. We found that seroprevalence of Brucella spp. and T. gondii antibodies likely increased through time, and provide the first evidence of exposure of polar bears to C. burnetii, N. caninum, and F. tularensis. Additionally, the odds of exposure to T. gondii were greater for bears that used land than for bears that remained on the sea ice during summer and fall, while mean concentrations of the POP chlordane (ΣCHL) were lower for land-based bears. Changes in polar bear behavior brought about by climate-induced modifications to the Arctic marine ecosystem may increase exposure risk to certain pathogens and alter contaminant exposure pathways.

Alberta consistently sees an average of 1400 wildfires each year however, the increased economic costs due to firefighting, equipment, damaged properties, evacuations, insurance, remote housing and food can be a challenge.

Jim Wilder, the polar bear project leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, recently published a paper on how climate change is impacting polar bear behavior. The study is the first of its kind, combining research from the United States, Norway, Canada, Greenland and Russia to look at what motivates polar bears to attack humans.

Serious and unusual outbreaks of illness from eating raw or undercooked walrus to call attention to the risks.

Greenlanders struggle to get their lives back together and rebuild the small communities hit by the tsunami earlier this month.

huge tsunami occurred in the Karrat Fjord on the west coast of Greenland, resulting in severe property damage and casualties in the tiny fishing village of Nuugaatsiaq. The seismic energy detected prior to the tsunami was so large it was first thought to have been the result of a magnitude 4.1 earthquake. However, the cause was a massive landslide on a steep slope of the fjord where millions of cubic meters of rock plunged into the water below, 32 kilometers northeast of the village. Forty-five structures, including eleven houses, were washed away or destroyed, and four people were killed.