Global polls typically show that people in industrialized countries where incomes are relatively high report greater levels of satisfaction with life than those in low-income countries.
But now the first large-scale survey to look at happiness in small, non-industrialized communities living close to nature paints quite a different picture.
Looking at happiness in non-industrialized settings
December 2, 2023 | Kim Brunhuber speaks with MPP alumni Henna Hundal, a delegate to the U.N. Climate Change Conference, about what to expect from U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the COP28 climate conference.
She also talks about COP28 being the first climate conference to have a dedicated day for health effects of climate change.
The customary reds, oranges and yellows of the trees, marking the arrival of fall, may have appeared early this year, or not at all. The dramatic summer weather that brought wildfires in some parts of the country and heavy rain in others is being reflected in fall colours across Canada, researchers say.
NSERC Alliance Grant supports McGill-led Canadian team, new global climate center on AI for biodiversity change
Wildfires have burned through more than one million hectares in Alberta this spring and have forced thousands from their homes. Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories are also battling active fires (Globe and Mail).
Here are some experts from McGill University who can provide comment on this issue:
March 27, 2023| MPP Alumni and delegate to the UN Climate Change Conference Henna Hundal, joined CNN to discuss climate change updates, as per the IPCC's Synthesis Report. She also mentioned how the new Economic Report of the President is a hopeful sign of the U.S government investing more in climate-resilient infrastructure.
Headlines about severe climate events can make the future seem bleak.
About 250 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction killed over 80 per cent of the planet's species. In the aftermath, scientists believe that life on earth was dominated by simple species for up to 10 million years before more complex ecosystems could evolve. Now this longstanding theory is being challenged by a team of international researchers – including scientists from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal.
What drives crocodile evolution? Is climate a major factor or changes in sea levels? Determined to find answers to these questions, researchers from McGill University discovered that while changing temperatures and rainfall had little impact on the crocodiles’ gene flow over the past three million years, changes to sea levels during the Ice Age had a different effect.
The Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), is investing more than $4 million in three McGill-led projects through the Climate Awareness and Action Fund (CAAF).The projects will fill knowledge gaps about the environmental and economic impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen Canada's capacity to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Does evolution follow certain rules? Can these rules be predicted? Southeast Asia’s tree shrews break multiple rules when it comes to body size variation – with an unexpected twist – according to researchers from McGill University, University of Cambridge, and Yale University. The findings shed new light on the effects of climate change on the evolution of body size in animals.
Image Caption: The Mackenzie River Delta on the Beaufort Sea, a low-lying region in the Canadian Arctic that is vulnerable to rising seas in a warming climate. CREDIT: Nadia and Harold Gomez
August 4, 2022 | In an ongoing conversation about the role of energy transition in addressing climate change since the end of Kevin Page's Complexity Seminar, MPP alumnus Umer Farooq wrote this op-ed in collaboration with Page. Umer is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. He has a Doctorate in Engineering.
A national survey of close to 1000 adults in Greenland (where approximately 90% of the population is Indigenous) conducted by a McGill University-led research team has found that a surprisingly large majority – 3 out of 4 Greenlanders – support extracting and exporting sand left by the melting ice sheet. A significant proportion want Greenland’s leadership to assess the impact of sand extraction and exports on both the environment and economy. Furthermore, when it comes to who mines the sand, the majority prefer local involvement to foreign collaboration.
