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Picture a gym filled with people moving in all different ways: treadmills, stationary bikes, rowing ergs, strength machines, and maybe an aerobics class. Now imagine that all of that movement was helping to power the building. I have seen very small-scale applications. At one point, a job I used to work had a bike that … Continue reading
Wildfires are growing in size and intensity with climate change. Clearly the smoke from these fires has direct health consequences; however, some recent research shows that the concern goes beyond the smoke itself. Kelesidis and colleagues (2025) studied the impact of the 2023 Canadian wildfires on New York. They found that there were the expected … Continue reading
The world is warming through climate change but 2023 was warmer than predicted. This led to questions of why and Quaglia and Visioni (2024) think they have part of the answer. International shipping regulations came in in January 2020 that significantly reduced sulfate emissions. This is important because sulfate causes both risks for human health … Continue reading
My city has an amazing river valley. It offers many recreation trails, treed areas, and open spaces. Even outside of the river valley, many neighbourhoods have access to smaller green spaces. Green space is not evenly distributed with lower socioeconomic status communities often having less access than higher ones, known as the luxury effect. Sadly, … Continue reading
Walking through an underground parkade, you can feel the heat from all the cars, so perhaps it isn’t surprising that some asked what could be the effects of that heat. Noethen and colleagues (2023) looked at how the underground parking impacted nearby groundwater. The short answer is, underground parkades increase the temperature of groundwater, especially … Continue reading
We are in an unprecedented fire season in 2023. Warming temperatures and drier conditions caused by climate change are a major reason. But wildfires themselves also contribute to climate change creating a reinforcing feedback loop. And, new research indicates that this might be worse than previously thought. It has been well established that black carbon … Continue reading
It’s hot but I want to be outside, so I head to my shady, tree-covered yard or over to a greenspace with lots of grass and plants. As I walk there, I’m sheltered from the glaring sun by the trees that line the street. Depending on which way I go, I may even be able … Continue reading
Okay, I get that a lot of people have a yuck factor for bacteria but we already rely on all sorts of bacteria living inside of us and used in food, yoghurt anyone? So the yuck factor is really based more in how we’re socialized to accept certain things and not others and we can … Continue reading
We know climate change leads to more floods and droughts. We also know that humans can change the flow of streams and rivers. But what happens when we put these two things together? Singh and Basu (2022) investigated seasonal flow in natural and managed watersheds in the US and Canada. A watershed is an area … Continue reading
We are having some extreme cold temperatures this week, with wind chills consistently sitting between -30 and -40°C. This is warmer than it is in the surrounding rural areas thanks to the urban heat island effect (UHI). UHI is typically discussed when we think of warm temperatures. Basically, the impact of heat leaking from buildings … Continue reading
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