Of all extreme weather events in Canada, flooding is currently the costliest, causing millions of dollars in property damage. Nonetheless, the impact of basement flooding on the mental health and lost time from work of impacted homeowners has been only superficially explored, until now.
Studies led by the University of Waterloo, with a group of multinational researchers, have identified that climate change is threatening the future of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Temperatures are rising with the increase of global green house gas emissions, affecting the ability to reliably host the winter games across the globe. The average February daytime temperature of the Olympic Winter Games locations is steadily increasing - from 0.48C in the 1920–1950s, to 3.18C in the 1960–1990s, to 7.88C in games held in the twenty-first century - intensifying the need for weather risk management strategies.
Last fall, the global media spotlight was on the United Nations climate change summit (a.k.a. “COP21”) when 195 countries came to an agreement to act on climate change.
Are you curious about what this might mean for our community, our country and the world?
One million migrants arrived in Europe in 2015 seeking asylum from war and conflict. Yet many researchers warn these numbers are small compared with the number of people who will be displaced global in coming decades because of climate change. Will the next great waves of international migration have environmental causes? What are the potential implications for North America? What can we do now to prepare for future climate migration? Join Canadian and American experts in an open discussion of what we know about global environmental migration, and what research has yet to tell us.
This week, political leaders from all over the world, including new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will arrive in Paris to negotiate a plan to fight global climate change. The University of Waterloo is sending a handful of students to be on the ground in the French capital as the historic agreement unfolds around them.
The Faculty of Environment and IC3 would like to welcome Shawna Peddle as the new Director of Partners for Action (P4A).
The Co-operators and Farm Mutual Reinsurance Plan today announced the creation of the Partners for Action (P4A) Network at the University of Waterloo's Faculty of Environment. The two founding partners have committed $1.1 million to the new applied research network, which will work to advance flood resiliency in Canada in the face of a changing climate.
Blair Feltmate, IC3 member and Intact Chair, Climate Adaptation, University of Waterloo has been featured extensively in the media on the topic of responding to extreme weather in Canada and implementing climate adaptation strategies.
His latest opinion piece appeared in the Globe & Mail Strategies for Sustainability section today.
World Wide Views on Climate and Energy is a global citizen consultation that will be held on June 6th, 2015. One of the Canadian chapters of this worldwide event will be held in Waterloo, ON.
On June 6, beginning at dawn in the Pacific Islands and ending at dusk in the West Coast of the United States, citizens around the world will take part in the largest ever public consultation on climate change and energy. Citizens will be asked an identical set of questions on climate change and energy policy, targets, and measures.
Why are the upcoming UN Climate Negotiations important?
The twenty-first session of the conference of the parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change will be held in Paris in December 2015. COP21 is considered to be a pivotal moment in international climate negotiations, with the objective to achieve, for the first time in over 20 years, a binding and universal agreement on climate, from all the nations of the world.