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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.
Starting off with something light: A Canadian-made digital universe is hoping to inspire kids to get outside and involved in sustainable actions.
Future Chicken features engaging videos, a TV series and games designed to spark curiosity, similar to Sesame Street. With ecoanxiety on the rise, the creators hope they are providing the tools kids need to take action.
Now, let’s catch you up on other news.
Digital universe Future ChickenSupplied
Noteworthy reporting this week:
- Carbon tax: As federal carbon tax ends, B.C. scraps its levy on pollution
- Mining: First Quantum backs off Panama arbitration claims, opening door to reopening copper mine
- Research: Uncertainty looms over research conference as U.S. science cuts and tariff tensions mount
- Oil and gas: First Nation files lawsuit accusing Alberta of ignoring concerns over oil sands reclamation plans
- Fungi: Are functional mushrooms a secret weapon for well-being?
- From The Narwhal: Indigenous-led conservation plans in Manitoba have sparked a backlash. There’s also a path forward
A deeper dive
Gardening, old school
Today’s deep dive is a closer look at the beginning of our garden series. From dahlias to peonies, old-fashioned garden flowers are back in style.
Nova Scotia gardener Niki Jabbour says she finds the nostalgic garden to be the most personal and intimate because it is inspired by our own life experiences. Hers, for instance is packed with plants that filled her with wonder as a child.
zinnias in Niki Jabbours garden.Niki Jabbour/Supplied
Nostalgia gardening places an emphasis on layered blooms, relaxed pairings and a lived-in, cottage-garden feel.
“It wasn’t some prim and proper little thing,” writes Gayle MacDonald about her grandmother’s garden in her weekend long-read. “Instead, it was a bright, bold, exuberant display of colour, shapes and scents.”
Master gardener Sean James says nostalgia gardening is trending and getting stronger every year. The plant that pulls on his heartstrings most is the sweet-smelling lilac. “When I catch a whiff, it’s like time-travelling back to my childhood,” he says.
nostalgic gardenJustin Lambert/Getty Images/Getty Images
Buck Buchwald, site supervisor of VanDusen Botanical Garden in Vancouver says the diversity and breadth of these blooms has never been more extensive. And that breeders have been able to make many of the Old World plants that were susceptible to diseases more resilient (such as roses, phlox and snapdragons which are prone to powdery mildew).
One of Buchwald’s favourites is the poppy, which can handle a wide range of environments and soil types, making them a good choice for beginner gardeners. He has a soft spot for them because his dad “always grew poppies in our backyard in Alberta.”
- Also read: Five stylish buys for your spring garden that are all made in Canada
Looking for inspiration with your backyard or outdoor space? To help plant some seeds, The Globe is digging into a garden trend with professionals each week in April. Next week’s theme: The Joyful Garden.
nostalgic-gardeningVIKTORIIA IHNATOVETS/GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK; SVETLANA KHARKOVA/GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK/Getty Images
What else you missed
- Quebec becomes last province with a price on carbon, but how long will it last?
- In tree rings, Concordia researchers examine Quebec’s 19th-century climate
- Ontario power outages could last well into next week, officials say after pair of storms
- With 8.7 million birds dead, B.C. farmers assess avian flu toll and worry about the future
Opinion and analysis
Julie Anne Pattee: Will The White Lotus turn Thailand into a paradise lost?
The Climate Exchange
We’ve launched the next chapter of The Climate Exchange, an interactive, digital hub where The Globe answers your most pressing questions about climate change. More than 300 questions were submitted as of September. The first batch of answers tackles 30 of them. They can be found with the help of a search tool developed by The Globe that makes use of artificial intelligence to match readers’ questions with the closest answer drafted. We plan to answer a total of 75 questions.
Photo of the week
Stefania Palacio sings riding on a garbage collection truck during the city hall's awareness campaign to create consciousness on waste disposal in Medellín, Colombia, on April 4, 2025.JAIME SALDARRIAGA/AFP/Getty Images
Guides and Explainers
- Want to learn to invest sustainably? We have a class for that: Green Investing 101 newsletter course for the climate-conscious investor. Not sure you need help? Take our quiz to challenge your knowledge.
- We’ve rounded up our reporters’ content to help you learn about what a carbon tax is, what happened at COP29 and just generally how Canada will change because of climate change.
- We have suggestions to make your travelling more sustainable. Also, if you like to read, here are books to help the environmentalist in you grow, as well as a downloadable e-book of Micro Skills - Little Steps to Big Change.
Catch up on Globe Climate
- Great Lakes caught up in trade war
- Cleanup bill for oil and gas wells
- Your Canadian travel guide
- Chasing glaciers
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