What on Earth?

“Build baby build!” Post-election, the word ‘pipeline’ is popping up again. Mark Carney says he’ll speed up energy project approvals, honour the duty to consult with First Nations and also hit Canada’s climate goals. Eriel Deranger of Indigenous Climate Action worries these promises amount to “doublespeak.” She warns any plans to fast-track projects that impact Indigenous communities could face protest and legal pushback. Keith Brooks of Environmental Defence says the emissions cap and phasing out fossil fuel projects are the path forward.

Canada’s first local state of emergency due to drought was declared on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia in 2022. The shortage was so bad, officials feared the region would run out of water for hospitals and fire departments. And the Coast has been under severe water restrictions for five of the last eight summers, a situation experts warn could become the norm. In her documentary, “Drought in the rainforest,” Liz Hoath with CBC’s audio doc unit tells the story of a community hit hard by rising temperatures and the local government's failure to plan for climate change.

Pope Francis established himself as a leading voice on climate action, but it’s not yet clear how that legacy will be preserved once a new pope is in place. Katharine Hayhoe, Global Chief Scientist of Nature United and Distinguished Professor at Texas Tech, weighs in on Pope Francis’s legacy. Then, we talk to Molly Burhans, cartographer and founder of GoodLands, who is mapping the vast swathes of Catholic Church-owned land around the world to help protect the climate. 

In remote northern communities, diesel is king. But breakthrough solar energy projects are underway that could begin to reduce fossil fuel reliance. This year, the theme of Earth Day is renewable energy, so we’re taking you to Nunavut where people are adding solar panels to small off-grid cabins and others are working on community-scale solar projects — so the diesel generators can finally be turned off and communities can hear silence once again, like their ancestors did.

Climate hasn’t been a hot topic on the campaign trail, but did it come up in the debates? We hear about that from CBC’s Aaron Wherry. Then, we talk climate policy with NDP candidate Samantha Green. And, we hear what the Conservatives have been saying about climate and energy in this election.

The Green Party aims to be the environmental conscience of parliament. But its popularity has waned as people consider strategic voting in the face of other concerns – and as climate change slips as a priority for voters. We speak to Green Party advisor Daniel Green about how the party is balancing its climate policy with other issues in this election and whether co-leaders Jonathan Pedneault and Elizabeth May can overcome their low poll numbers. We also hear from voters on whether climate is a ballot box priority.

The parties aren’t talking climate much on the campaign trail. But we are - we’ve got tough questions for all of them. First up, Jonathan Wilkinson of the Liberal party. We also talk to voters about why the warming planet isn’t a top priority for them this time.

Japan’s burgeoning wind energy sector is turning to robots to keep the industry moving. They can do work that is trickier and riskier for their human counterparts. CBC’s Cathy Senay takes us on a journey across Japan to find out how.

Students at some of Canada’s top universities are demanding banks stop funding fossil fuel projects and are calling on their schools to cut ties with major financial institutions. What On Earth’s youth climate action columnist Aishwarya Puttur explains the lengths that students are going to – from confronting bank executives to picking up protest signs – to support the cause, racking up some wins in their campaign along the way.

Climate-friendly menstrual products come with a lot of complex considerations, like personal preferences, stigma and cost. We visit a start-up in Nova Scotia that’s making compostable pads. Then – we hear about the policy and social changes that could help make sustainable options more accessible.