Climate change sends the opossum into the Great White North. 

Are you looking for a fright this Halloween? Look no further than endangered species in Canada. The stats are scary! Did you know that over the past 500 years approximately 30 wildlife species have become extinct in Canada? Or that there are over 500 species considered to be at risk? Talk about scary!

Mountain pine beetle infestation is killing trees at an alarming rate in Western Canada. Once helpful to Canada’s forests, the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae, has become a hindrance due to Canada’s changing climate. The mountain pine beetle formerly aided new forest growth by getting rid of older, weaker trees and making way for new ones. In previous winters, cold temperatures kept the mountain pine beetles’ population in check, while every spring the smaller surviving population would aid our forests.  As the climate is warming on a global scale, the winters that once controlled this population are less harsh allowing the spring population of pine beetle to grow.  

Even though it’s still making headlines, it shouldn’t be news to anyone — kids today are spending too much time inside and not enough time in nature. A recent U.K. study conducted by the National Trust showed that of the 1,651 children surveyed, only half could tell the difference between a bee and a wasp but 90 per cent could identify Yoda. This study focused on U.K. children, but would Canadian kids fare any better? If we can be compared to our neighbours to the south — who have studied this growing disconnect in detail — the answer is no.  

This month’s Take Five takes a closer look at five renewable energy sources - what they are and how they are being used.