The Big Story

This weekend, we're revisiting an episode from two years ago that we felt framed the discussion around climate change, and human adaptation to it, in a really unique and fascinating way. 

We hope you enjoy! Happy labour day! 

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It's no longer a question of if our comfortable lives will change as the climate does over the next few decades. The questions are how much will they change, and where will they change the least?

People with lots of money are already buying property in places they believe will be safe from disaster. You can Google "Best places to live in climate crisis" and find a lot of listicles. But very few of us have the money to buy everything we'll need, or move across the world. So how can you prepare for whatever comes next in the safest and most sensible way possible?

GUEST: Alex Steffen, climate futurist, author of The Snap Forward

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It depends what your definition of work is... but in announcing a 100% tariff on all electric vehicle's produced in China, Canada is following in America's footsteps. But we're a much smaller economy than the US, which means these tariffs may not have the intended impact.

Of course, the intended impact also varies depending on whom you ask. Is it to score the government a few polling points? To protect Canadian EV production? Take a human rights stand? Get more Canadians into electric vehicles? There's no way even a 100% tariff can accomplish all of that... so what will this policy really do?

GUEST: Moshe Lander, senior lecturer in economics at Concordia University in Montreal

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It's expensive to follow complex disposal protocols for construction waste that can often contain toxins. It's a lot less expensive to find someone willing or desperate enough to simply allow waste to be dumped directly onto their land, with no regard for the health and environmental impacts.

An Indigenous community in Kanasatake has dealt with this problem for years. Until some community members banded together, at personal risk, to get the story out there and force the government to take action. This week, the government finally did.

GUEST: Chris Curtis, investigative journalist, co-founder of The Rover

(NOTE: Nexus, a company named by reporters covering this story, has denied their role in a comment to La Presse: The company says it is only responsible for the soil transportation component and assures that it "has not at any time dumped soil into the Ottawa River." It assures that it "maintains a buffer strip between the natural environments and the deposit site" and reiterates that its "commitment to environmental protection remains unwavering”)

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When public health finally figured out in June what was causing a listeria outbreak that has killed three and sickened more than a dozen others, it did so by finally cracking what every one of those cases had in common, and tracing the infections back to an unlikely source...

GUEST: Hannah Alberga, health reporter, the Canadian Press

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Safe supply programs across the country that aim to provide alternatives to street drugs are under scrutiny right now. But today's story isn't an official safe supply program... it's an activist-led attempt to purchase untainted heroin, cocaine and meth and deliver it straight to users.

The creators of the program argue that it has saved lives. The federal government says that what they've been doing is simply drug trafficking. And it's charged them accordingly. But is it possible both sides are correct? And what does this truly renegade approach to the overdose crisis tell us about the state of Canadian drug policy?

GUEST: Omar Mouallem, filmmaker; contributing editor and reporter at Maclean's

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We've learned an awful lot about Covid-19 since the virus first hit us—but there are some things that we're still trying to solve. One of them, perhaps the most mysterious, is the phenomenon known as 'long covid'. We know much more about it now than we did in 2020, when some of those infected with the virus reported lingering symptoms, often debilitating ones.

But there is still so much to learn—everything from who's most vulnerable to it, how to protect yourself, how to effectively treat it and if we'll ever find a cure. As the pandemic has eased, fewer resources have been allocated to this disease—but there are researchers still trying to crack this case, and we'll talk to one of them.

GUEST: Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis; chief of research and development at the VA St. Louis Health Care System

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Today, we're revisiting a fun one from 2 years ago about one of the most unique ghost towns in North America. 

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Kitsault was a mining town of 1,200 or so people in one of the most remote areas of British Columbia. It opened in 1981. It was empty by 1982. That was its first lifetime.

Since then, however, something has happened to Kitsault. Unlike other abandoned towns, Kitsault has been maintained. First by the mining company, later by a private owner. So today it sits, almost perfectly preserved, ready for a small town's worth of people to show up and move in. Will they?

GUEST: Justin McElroy, CBC reporter, personal Kitsault investigator

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Are you tired? In pain? Gaining weight? Experiencing any unusual symptoms? Welcome to what seems to be this summer's newest TikTok diagnosis from the wellness industry.

On the surface, the trend is a grift. But people really are suffering from these ailments, and are dealing with a health care system that is either unavailable or dismissive towards them.

So, is it just a money grab? Or are there real health concerns at play here?

GUEST: Alex Sujong Laughlin, co-owner of Defector Media, co-creator of the podcast Normal Gossip

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The WHO has declared an outbreak of the virus in Africa a "global health emergency"—but what does that designation actually mean? That doesn't mean we shouldn't take the disease seriously, or prepare vaccinations and public health strategy. But in a world where outbreaks of diseases are continually met with scary headlines, and many people grapple with trauma and anxiety in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, what do we really need to know about the next virus spreading across the world?

So today, the facts: What is mpox? How dangerous is it? How ready are we? And should you be worried about it?

GUEST: Dr. Jason Kindrachuk, associate professor in Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases at the University of Manitoba; Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses

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This week, the biggest names in US Democratic politics are united in Chicago for one purpose: To give Kamala Harris the momentum she needs to defeat Donald Trump. Thus far, her campaign has been a stunning success, but can that really last until November? 

When the good vibes start to fade, what will it take for Harris to keep rolling? How will she define herself—and her opponent—this week? And in the middle of a campaign that pits anger against hope, does anybody wants to talk about actual policy?

GUEST: Jonathan Weisman, political reporter, The New York Times

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