Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Thunder Bay·Audio Series

This Makes It Personal: How climate change is affecting life in northwestern Ontario

This spring, the CBC's Amy Hadley set out to explore climate change's effect on northwestern Ontario: From how a remote First Nation is adapting to changing water and patterns, to wolverines and their changing habitats, and a support group helping people through climate anxiety. Check out the entire audio series here.

CBC series shows profound effect climate change is having on wildlife, people and landscape

Amy Hadley · CBC News ·
Wendy O'Connor, left, Philip (Benny) Solomon, centre, and Malinali Castañeda-Romero, right, are just three of the people in northwestern Ontario who shared their climate change stories in This Makes It Personal. (Amy Hadley/CBC)

Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled "Our Changing Planet" to show and explain the effects of climate change. Keep up with the latest news on our Climate and Environment page.

This spring, the CBC's Amy Hadley set out to explore climate change's effect on northwestern Ontario for the radio series This Makes It Personal.

The series introduces audiences to people who are facing down the impacts of climate change in their daily lives and what they're doing about it: From how a remote First Nation is adapting to changing water and patterns, to wolverines and their changing habitats, and a support group helping people through climate anxiety. 

Scroll through to listen to the entire series below:

A tale of 2 lakes and 2 anglers

Solomon shows off his catch to his grandchildren on Lake Superior. Solomon is a Anishinaabe angler from Fort William First Nation and has been seeing the changes that have made Lake Superior unpredictable. (Amy Hadley/CBC)

The series begins in early April, at Fort William First Nation, on a frozen Lake Superior, where Philip Solomon explained how climate change is making fishing unpredictable for Indigenous anglers like himself across northwestern Ontario. 

How climate change is shrinking an iconic northern animal's home

A wolverine walks in the snow.
Climate change, deforestation and a shifting gene pool all mean the wolverine is facing challenges. But the animal is resilient. (Steve Kroschel/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Reuters)

It's been made clear throughout years of reporting that climate change is affecting animals like polar bears and caribou, but it's also making life more challenging for other northern creatures. In this next segment, we head into the woods to see things through the eyes of the wolverine. 

 

How 1 small act can lead to big results 

O'Connor dries seeds at her home in Thunder Bay. She's part of a growing movement of people saving their seeds from the fall harvest to reuse in the spring. (Amy Hadley/CBC)

Talking about climate change often focuses on the big picture, but as this next segment shows, people in Thunder Bay are finding something as simple as saving their seeds can be an act of adaptation and resilience in the face of uncertainty.

 

Coping with climate anxiety 

Malinali Castaneda-Romero is from Mexico and lives in Thunder Bay, Ont., she's shown at a recent climate rally. Her shirt reads 'defenders of the Earth' in English and Spanish.
Castañeda-Romero is from Mexico and lives in Thunder Bay. She's part of a network of people in the northwestern Ontario city who get together to discuss their feelings about climate change and how they can make positive change. (Amy Hadley/CBC)

Climate change can be overwhelming, but a group of people is working to manage that and bring forward positive change. Here's a look at how talking things through, and making their voices heard, is making a difference.  

 

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|

Related Stories