Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:03sent a buzz around the world. It was a surprise because it
00:00:06was the only country in the world that was mosquito free.
00:00:10But the story isn't really about Iceland,
00:00:12it's about what it means for Canada. Canadian scientists are
00:00:15already modeling what our mosquito future might look like
00:00:19as the climate warms. There are roughly 80 different mosquito
00:00:22species in Canada. Some have been here for centuries and
00:00:25others are newcomers chasing the heat.
00:00:27But Canada's north is warming four times faster than the rest
00:00:31of the world, meaning some parts of the
00:00:34country are entering into the perfect breeding temperature
00:00:38range for mosquitoes. And many of the newcomers carry disease.
00:00:42It is Kulick PNS, which is the vector for West
00:00:45Nile virus, so it has spread geographically
00:00:47from the east of Canada all the way out to the West,
00:00:51most recently seeing it in Edmonton and in Calgary in 2022.
00:00:54These are, this is a species of mosquito
00:00:57that we have never seen previously
00:00:59in these parts of Canada. A species once limited by cold is
00:01:03now surviving coast to coast to coast. So you probably are
00:01:07aware that this is a mosquito that transmit diseases such as
00:01:11dengue, chikungunya virus and Zika
00:01:14virus. We've not only detected these mosquitoes in adult
00:01:18stages, but we've also detected them as
00:01:20larvae and its eggs. So knowing that they now have their full
00:01:25life cycles in Canada is, I guess some evidence that
00:01:28these mosquito populations
00:01:30have established. And so yes, the risk for increased mosquito
00:01:33borne disease is real, which means keeping track of
00:01:36these little suckers makes sense. But Canada doesn't have
00:01:40a national mosquito surveillance program. Each
00:01:42province runs its own, leaving gaps in the regions
00:01:45changing the fastest. But it's not all bad news. Citizens
00:01:48Science may be one of our best tools to track and make plans
00:01:52for this future. In fact, the first citizen science
00:01:55mosquito project led by the University of Windsor just
00:01:58wrapped up its inaugural season. The more we tracked them,
00:02:01the better chance we have to stay one step ahead.
00:06:27So what changes can we make, and what changes will we be
00:06:29forced to make as we adapt? Shifting our diets could be key.
00:06:33What we eat and what we grow will change as we face warmer
00:06:37temperatures, attempt to feed more people and
00:06:39try to cut down on emissions.
00:06:44In a screenhouse at the Kentfield Research and
00:06:48Development Centre, Beatrice Amiot is surrounded by
00:06:51strawberry plants. To most people,
00:06:54they probably look similar, but a closer look shows there's
00:06:58lots of variety, 160 varieties to be exact.
00:07:01There are tall and short plants, large and small leaves and
00:07:06different hues of green. Amiot is part of a team across Canada
00:07:10searching for varieties that can cope with our changing
00:07:14climate. Something that can withstand A drier year of colder year,
00:07:18a wetter year, and still have good
00:07:20productivity under all those conditions is more likely to be
00:07:24resilient to climate change.
00:07:25Amyot and researchers in other parts of Canada will plant some
00:07:30of these strawberries, raspberries and blueberries and
00:07:34then share data on how they fare. Growing conditions will
00:07:38be a key part of that data. How well they thrive in drought,
00:07:42heat, excessive rain, or whatever else nature throws
00:07:45their way. So, for example, drought is what we've
00:07:49encountered here of Nova Scotia. Other parts of Canada have
00:07:52experienced heat Dome conditions and winter freeze
00:07:55snaps that have been really detrimental to Berry crops. So
00:07:58those extreme conditions are something that some species and
00:08:02some varieties within species are more tolerant to than
00:08:05others.
00:08:07Phillip Caddy knows that unpredictability all too well.
00:08:10At his farm in Lakeville, he produces strawberry plants
00:08:14to sell to growers in the US and Canada.
00:08:17We've been for the last 10 years starting to see the
00:08:21effects of climate change. We've had some of the wettest
00:08:24years, some of the driest years, colder temperatures in the
00:08:28winter, just drastic fluctuation in
00:08:31temperatures and and moisture. Caddy works with the Kentfield
00:08:34Research Centre to field test their varieties. It's up to him
00:08:38to find the right ones to send to his customers. And what
00:08:42works for one customer in Florida may not work for
00:08:46another in Saskatchewan with its harsh winters.
00:08:49Back at the research station, the final product, the berries,
00:08:53are also put under a microscope to evaluate properties like
00:08:58colour, gloss and firmness. But the
00:09:01process of developing the perfect varieties and the
00:09:04perfect berries isn't fast. Amyot says it can take 10 to 15
00:09:09years to bring a new strawberry variety to the commercial
00:09:13market, and even more for other berries.
00:09:16Frances Willick, CBC News, Kentville.
00:17:40How possible is it to cut down our CO2 emissions and what are
00:17:43the alternatives? Let's take a look at the
00:17:45problem and some potential solutions.
00:17:49The end of fossil fuels in the near future? Well,
00:17:51that's either wildly optimistic or completely unrealistic,
00:17:55depending on who you ask. But climate science has a very
00:17:58specific answer to this question. Not what we hope for
00:18:01or what governments promise, but what the physics actually
00:18:05allows. Let's get into it. OK, reality check. First of all,
00:18:08when climate scientists talk about the near future,
00:18:12they're almost never talking about 0 fossil fuels. They're
00:18:15talking about net zero, a world where the carbon we
00:18:18emit is balanced by the carbon we remove. More on that in a
00:18:22moment. What the IPCC models look at. That's the latest
00:18:25agreed upon research from climate scientists around the
00:18:28world. Is net 0 emissions a reality where the world
00:18:31theoretically has time to adapt? So why are we trying to stop
00:18:34the burning of fossil fuels anyway? Or remember,
00:18:37fossil fuels are the main driving force behind rising
00:18:40temperatures that threaten to push ecosystems past a point of
00:18:44no return, irreversible damage. Climate
00:18:46science has found that range to be between 1.5 and two degrees
00:18:50of warming. To me,
00:18:52what I find most, you know, most important
00:18:56is to understand just how much every fraction of a degree
00:19:00matters. So how completely do we need to move away from
00:19:03fossil fuels? The good news is that in every
00:19:06IPCC scenario that limits warming to that tolerable level,
00:19:09fossil fuels don't vanish completely. But fossil fuel use
00:19:13should be peaking now or have already peaked. That's right.
00:19:16We can't burn anymore than we're burning right now. We're
00:19:20at the Max. We already have more coal,
00:19:22oil and gas projects than we can afford to burn. Remember,
00:19:25this is from the perspective
00:19:27of climate science. There are other strongly held views
00:19:31rooted in economics and industry that have reasons to
00:19:34continue to extract fossil fuels. But according to the
00:19:37climate science, by mid century, only 24 years from now,
00:19:41global carbon dioxide emissions need to hit net zero. What
00:19:44we're talking about is reaching a balance where we're putting
00:19:48into, where what we're putting into
00:19:50the atmosphere equals what we're taking out. That's what
00:19:54will allow temperatures to stabilize,
00:19:56and carbon capture technology
00:19:58can pull carbon out of the air or bury it underground,
00:20:01technology that may also help us pull our temps back if we do
00:20:05overshoot our limits. Carbon capture probably warrants its
00:20:09own explainer video, so stay tuned. But the answer
00:20:12to the question will we ever be off fossil fuels is probably
00:20:16not entirely anytime soon. So how do we get to a
00:20:19scientifically acceptable level of fossil fuel use?
00:20:22The IPCC runs hundreds of computer model futures,
00:20:25testing different ways the world could cut emissions,
00:20:28measuring how the climate responds. And in everyone where
00:20:32we hit our mark, it's not because of a single
00:20:34breakthrough technology, but because of scale. We're
00:20:37talking more wind, more solar, more electrification,
00:20:40and much less burning. Let's get specific about that last
00:20:43point. To stay below that critical threshold of warming,
00:20:47the science shows that roughly 80% of known coal reserves,
00:20:50about half of gas, and about 1/3 of oil must
00:20:53remain unburned. And there's a problem with that. When
00:20:56scientists compare existing fossil fuel infrastructure to
00:20:59the remaining carbon budget, well, the math doesn't math. The
00:21:02existing infrastructure indicates far more fossil fuel
00:21:05burning ahead. Add to that the fact that energy demand just
00:21:09keeps growing. I mean, none of this is easy. It means
00:21:12rebuilding energy systems faster than at any point in
00:21:15history. And yes, it likely means carbon capture
00:21:17technology will be needed. And despite the fact that the world
00:21:21has already invested some $2 trillion in renewable energy,
00:21:24there will be political and economic ramifications of
00:21:27suggesting we leave $6 trillion worth of business in the ground.
00:21:31Climate change has a direct cost on our economies,
00:21:35so it's not the difference between taking action and not
00:21:39taking action. It is actually also the difference between the
00:21:44damages that climate change will cause.
00:21:48So here's the uncomfortable conclusion. The science says a
00:21:52net zero future soon is not only necessary,
00:21:54but doable. What it doesn't say is whether we as humans take
00:21:58that path or not.
00:30:14Thanks for joining us. You can find more news on
00:30:16climatechangeandthelateststorie smakingheadlines@cbcnews.ca.
00:30:29You're watching CBC News. I'm Steven Dsouza,
00:30:31Co host of The 5th Estate. Here's what's making news right
00:30:35now.
00:30:37CBC NEWSROOM. I'M DEANA SUMANAC-JOHNSON.
00:30:39I'M DEANA SUMANAC-JOHNSON. PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY'S IN
00:30:41PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY'S IN OTTAWA WHERE THE FINAL LIBERAL
00:30:44OTTAWA WHERE THE FINAL LIBERAL CAUCUS MEETINGS IS IN THE BOOKS CAUCUS MEETINGS IS IN THE BOOKS AHEAD OF M.P.s RETURNING TO
00:30:47AHEAD OF M.P.s RETURNING TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON MONDAY THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON MONDAY FOR THE FALL SITTING.
00:30:50FOR THE FALL SITTING. MARK CARNEY DIDN'T TAKE QUESTION MARK CARNEY DIDN'T TAKE QUESTION FROM REPORTERS AS HE ARRIVED
00:30:53FROM REPORTERS AS HE ARRIVED THIS MORNING. THIS MORNING. HE'S BACK FROM A BUSY WEEK THAT
00:30:56HE'S BACK FROM A BUSY WEEK THAT INCLUDED AN INVESTMENT SUMMIT IN INCLUDED AN INVESTMENT SUMMIT IN TORONTO, AND A SPEECH TO THE
00:31:00TORONTO, AND A SPEECH TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN FRANCE.