The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-sponsored body that periodically releases a synthesis of current climate science, doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know or experience. The Earth is hotter than it's ever been. Sea levels are rising and causing more extreme weather events. The report is a big deal for making the one conclusion no one can ever question again: climate change is human-caused and is having a tremendous impact. That impact isn't just on our planet but on us humans: our health, safety and well-being are at stake. The report tells us what actions we can take to protect ourselves. So what do governments, industries and individual citizens need to do?

How the IPCC report is about more than just climate change

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Most of us had a virtual health care appointment sometime during the pandemic. Those of us that didn't have almost certainly encountered virtual care of some form or another—whether that's a follow-up phone call from your doctor, or post-surgery instructions emailed to you.

As we enter the post-pandemic era, there is a push in some quarters for more virtual care—it can improve access, speed things up and give people more control over their own care and medical records. But will it also simply create more visits, encourage unnecessary appointments and further burden an overtaxed system? There's a line we need to walk here—can we do it?

GUEST: Dr. Tara Kiran, Fidani Chair in Improvement and Innovation at the University of Toronto; family doctor and scientist at St. Michael's Hospital, Unity Health Toronto

Can virtual health care save a collapsing system?

Today, evacuation alerts for several communities in BC and Alberta are in effect. You may not have noticed, because there are always evacuation alerts in effect now, and there are always fires burning, some of them out of control. When the whole country takes notice is when the skies over entire provinces go dark, the air turns bad or a blaze like the Fort McMurray fire in 2016 blitzes through a city.

All of that will probably happen this year. The conditions are ripe for it, and there's not much we can do to prevent a devastating fire when it comes. But we can evolve our strategies as the fires get bigger. We can adapt. But...will we?

GUEST: John Vaillant, author, Fire Weather: The making of a beast

These days, something's always burning: A fire season preview

In 2022, the Doug Ford government opened parts of Ontario’s protected Greenbelt for housing development, touching off a massive political scandal. But long before that, tensions over the green space outside of Toronto had been quietly simmering for nearly two decades. 

What is the Greenbelt? How did it end up becoming such a flashpoint for fights over the housing crisis and the climate crisis? And who stood to benefit when the Ford government tore it up after 20 years?

Paydirt E1: It's not easy being green

On Saturday's we normally drop the newest episode of In this Economy?! in the feed, but this week we wanted to spotlight another Frequency Podcast Network production that we thought you'd enjoy. Here's the first episode of the sixth season of Laura Palmer's acclaimed show, Island Crime, and we think it might be best one yet. 

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES

For three decades, Rhonda has wondered why someone killed her high school friend Kimberly Gallup. Kimberly was a girl who loved the Kansas City Chiefs and Bon Jovi. Her death has a lasting impact on all who knew her.

Island Crime S6 E1: Soft

This is one that even the police say will be a Netflix miniseries someday. On April 17, 2023, more than $20 million in gold was stolen from Pearson airport in Toronto. Nobody was hurt, and the crooks got away. It was one of those kinds of thefts. You can picture the scene in your head.

Exactly one year later though, police announced arrests, including those of two Air Canada employees, making clear they believe it was at least partly an inside job. How did the crooks pull off the initial caper? How did the cops catch them? What happened to the gold, and who will play whom in the  adaptation?

GUEST: Andy Takagi, reporter, The Toronto Star

How the IPCC report is about more than just climate change

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