1 Week, 7 Stories #56
A list of lists for your year-end newsmaker list.
Every edition features 7 stories from the past week. I’ll draw on my background in media, journalism, agriculture, biotech, and renewable energy to come up with an interesting selection and to offer some context.
This edition however is going to be a bit different. It is after all a holiday week and coming up to the end of the year when we are awash in lists of top stories, news, events, and discoveries, so I am offering my list of lists worth adding to your reading list.
We’ll start with news from space courtesy of CTV and Canadian astrophysicist Robert Thacker with a “look up and a look back”. Two stories in particular hit home for the average person – the aurora borealis and the chance to see a total solar eclipse in parts of Canada. Some regions had numerous chances to catch the northerns lights over the year, but in early October the nighttime light show hit a peak thanks to a geomagnetic storm. The solar eclipse was a special treat for people in the Maritimes who won’t get another chance until 2079. It was also a great year for orbital space launches which hit 255 - more than twice the number of launches at the height of the sixties space race. One of those launches was the Boeing Starliner which I have covered a few times in this newsletter. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams made a successful trip to the International Space Station the first week of June but problems with their vehicle meant they could not use it for the return trip. What was supposed to be a one-week trip has been dragging on, and the latest date for their return is now March or April.
Some guests just won’t leave!
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is better known as AAAS, and it has been publishing a science magazine since 1880. The organization struggled to stay viable in its early years, but after merging with Science magazine and getting some help from Alexander Graham Bell it managed to stick and has emerged with some leading peer-reviewed journals including Science Advances, Science Robotics, and Science Translational Medicine.
Last week it posted its “favorite online news stories of 2024”. The list offers some insight into the stories, then sends you off to read the full article. One comes with a warning not to read it before your Christmas dinner, or it may put you off when you see your dog licking its chops in anticipation of a special treat (read it to find out!).
Also on its list are Brazilian sharpnose sharks testing positive for cocaine, cave art from kids, virtual reality for flies, and the Ig Nobel awards, better known as the ‘Iggies’. Nature magazine calls them “the wayward son of the more righteous Nobels, supposed to reward research that makes people laugh, then think. For 2024, the winners included an experiment to put live pigeons inside missiles to guide the flight path, real plants that imitate the shape of nearby artificial plants, and a study which conducted 350,757 tests which concluded that when you flip a coin, it tends to land on the same side as it started.
Science does indeed have a sense of humour.
Another magazine that has a solid history and has (so far) survived the media upheaval is Maclean’s. Originally called The Busy Man’s Magazine in 1905, its owner and publisher John Bayne Maclean renamed it after himself in 1911 and it still turns out some solid journalism.
It has 2 lists worth checking out.
First is the 10 best long reads of 2024.I have not read them all, but one from November does stick out. Schools vs Screens came in at No. 2 and examines the practice of banning smartphones in classroom. The success of the idea seems to depend a lot on which province, which school, and even which teacher is instituting and enforcing the ban. What remains to be studied over the longer terms is whether it makes any difference to academic results. Other stories making the list include the trend to alcohol-free bars and mocktails, the promise and peril of our rising population, and the Jackpot Generation as boomers both pass on, and pass on their wealth, to their millennial kids.
If you don’t want to invest the time for a long read while over-indulging in holiday festivities, the most popular Maclean’s interviews for the year can be consumed with your coffee or eggnog. I’m not a huge fan of the interview/transcript in print, but for many it does work well. Former federal health minister Jane Philpott’s interview is No. 8 and the interview covers a lot of ground from her views on Canadian health care to her time spent working in Niger and Ethiopia (she is a qualified MD). Her book, Health for All, was published earlier this year and rose up on the Canadian bestseller list.
Other interviews include the mayor of Jasper talking about what’s next for the town after the fire caused so much damage, and “The Canadian Doctor Who Helped Invent Ozempic”.
Not to be overlooked in top stories, are people, nature, and the climate and for those stories we’ll turn to the global nonprofit research organization, the World Resources Institute. The WRI was founded in 1982 with funding from the MacArthur Foundation which is a non-profit investment powerhouse in its own right. The WRI has a lofty ambition to improve how we use land, water, energy, food, and finance to “protect and restore nature, and to stabilize the climate”.
It leads into its look back at 2024 by pointing out we are just finishing offer the hottest year on record. Wildfires laid waste to huge areas of South America and Canada, floods swept Brazil and Kenya, and heat waves hit major cities.
Not only does the WRI list examine the challenges, it does offer some hope in work being done to use more sustainable agriculture in the Amazon, the increased use of clean energy, and technology which is bringing electricity to areas in the sub-Sahara.
While the world lost the equivalent of almost 10 football (soccer) fields of tropical forest per minute in 2023, Brazil and Columbia managed to slow forest loss significantly in 2024.
When it comes to climate change the WRI says we are on track to cut emissions 1% by 2030, but the number needs to be 42%. That left me speechless but the organization says it is not impossible to overcomes, even with the election of Donald Trump which is cast as “a blow to U.S climate and environmental action”.
The WRI lists covers a lot of global ground with enough links to keep you busy, informed, and maybe not quite as pessimistic as you might think.
Canadians love to talk about the weather and Environment and Climate Change Canada always keeps us in the know. There was the January deep freeze which brought temperatures down into the -40 C range (the point where -C and -F meet!) in some parts of the Prairies, flooding in southern Ontario, and of course the wildfire which scorched a third of the town of Jasper and more than 32,500 hectares of Jasper National Park.
Environment and Climate Change Canada said we are entering years where weather extremes are the new normal which prompted this response from the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment:
“Looking back on extreme weather events of the past year paints a stark picture of the escalating health crisis caused by climate change. Worsening wildfires, heat waves, floods, and other extreme events threaten the lives of people across Canada.”
One of the biggest cultural and societal changes of 2024 is the one confronting the media. Specifically, journalists and reporters whether they work in print, broadcast, or digital, to stay safe while producing solid, fact-checked stories for their audiences. The last year (and longer) has been a tough one.
Reporters Without Borders says that 2024 was an intense year for journalists, especially in conflicts zones where the number killed has reached a five-year high. Of the 104 killed last year, more than half were Palestinian media professionals. Globally 550 are being held in prisons somewhere, 55 are being held hostage, and 95 are missing. The International Federation of Journalists says the independent press is fragile and that the profession has become risky and dangerous.
“Protecting those who inform us is protecting the truth.”
Thibaut Bruttin, Director General of Reporters Without Borders
You will need to invest about 42 minutes of feet up and listening time to hear the West of Centre podcast to get the most from this final list. It was posted a week before Christmas, and given Canada’s political churn it may have a few out-of-date bits, but it is still worth the effort.
Joining host Kathleen Petty are Zain Velji from Northweather (a marketing and lobbying agency), Alex Boyd from the Toronto Star, and the CBC’s Jason Markusoff.
They cover a lot of ground starting in Alberta where they discuss what the provincial NDP’s new leader is doing and why he is not doing more, the different tactics being taken by Canadian federal and provincial leaders in response to Trump’s tariff musings, and of course they analyze the resignation of Chrystia Freeland and the sinking fortunes of federal liberals.
If you’d prefer a more global take on 2024 news I’d also recommend The Guardian’s year end podcast.
All the best for the New Year ahead and I’ll be back on the news beat in 2025.
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I’m available for contract and freelance work with not-for-profits and charities. With 40 years of experience behind me and lots of time ahead of me, I’m here to help you make a difference in your media relations, public relations, and general communications needs.