Currently in Toronto — February 28th, 2023
The weather, currently.
There are numerous weather alerts in place across southern Ontario as this storm system slowly drags across the lower great lakes. There are freezing rain warnings for portions of SW Ontario, snowfall warnings for eastern Ontario and weather advisories for much of the GTA. There will be heavy bands of snow this evening for the city, but it will mix with rain and possibly a brief period of freezing rain early tomorrow morning. The wake-up temperature is 3°C, feeling like 0°C. It will be drier by the time the kids start up their morning recess, (around 10am) with in fact a gradual clearing beginning for the afternoon. The temperature should remain steady at 3°C with a chance of climbing to 4°C pending how much sunshine develops. The wind will be gusty at times, more so in the morning, then 20-30km/h from the NW in the afternoon.
Tuesday night: variable skies with increasing clouds by dawn the low -3°C, feeling like -6°C with the windchill.
What you need to know, currently.
The climate emergency is fueling a rise in human-wildlife conflicts, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change.
The paper looked at 49 cases of human-wildlife conflict on every continent except Antarctica and in all five oceans. It revealed that from mosquitos to humans to elephants, conflicts affected all major wildlife groups.
As climate change looms over us — food, water, and safe shelters are fewer and farther between, forcing animals and humans alike to move to new places, including previously uninhabited ones.Changes in the climate result in loss of livelihoods and jobs, as well as damage to property, which in turn, affects our behaviors as people.
In more than 80 percent of case studies, changes in temperature and rainfall were the most common causes of conflict, while the most common outcome was injury or mortality to people (43 percent of studies) and wildlife (45 percent of studies).
In Sumatra, forest fires following an El Niño-induced drought drove tigers and elephants to new ranges, causing at least one human death. Animals might also be becoming more nocturnal to avoid deadly hot temperatures during the day, resulting in more attacks on livestock at night, when people are asleep. This can lead to retaliatory killings.
Blue whales are changing their migration timings as marine heatwaves grow in frequency and intensity, increasing collisions with ships. In the melting Arctic, polar bears are forced to hunt for food on land, leading to more human-polar bear interactions in certain places, like the Canadian town of Churchill, Manitoba, known as the “polar bear capital of the world.”
“Recognising the connection between climate change and human-wildlife conflict is essential for anticipating, and ultimately addressing, new and intensified human-wildlife interactions in the 21st century and beyond,” the researchers concluded.
—Aarohi Sheth
What you can do, currently.
Be part of the solution, join Wren with over 10K+ members that have raised over $4.5M+ for projects that support carbon removal, climate policy, and conservation. New users get 20 native trees planted for free on us, using our personal referral link here.
