Island Insider

Canada's National Observer is a proud participant of the Local Journalism Initiative, which supports the creation of original civic journalism that covers the diverse needs of underserved communities across Canada.

Rochelle Baker will be covering Quadra and Cortes Islands in British Columbia.

556 Articles

Oceans are Canada’s first line of defence against climate change

Despite the ocean's impressive role in mitigating global warming, ocean-based solutions are largely ignored as a potential game-changer when it comes to formulating Canada’s climate plans.

Rochelle Baker

December 2nd 2021

Environmental groups question fresh flood of fish farm applications

Open-net salmon farm opponents want the new federal fisheries minister to new deny any aquaculture applications to expand production in B.C. waters

Rochelle Baker

December 1st 2021

Remote coastal nation ‘setting the table’ for climate action

The Haíɫzaqv Nation on B.C.'s isolated central coast is shaping a climate plan that tackles emissions and better reflects the community's values and sacred interdependence with nature in their territory.

Rochelle Baker

November 29th 2021

Vancouver Island braces for another surge of storms

B.C. is battening down the hatches as a wave of heavy winds and rain is predicted right behind a recent storm that washed out communities, critical roadways and triggered fatal mudslides.

Rochelle Baker

November 24th 2021

Buying a future for coastal carnivores

A conservation effort is trying to put trophy hunting in B.C.'s famed Great Bear Rainforest in the crosshairs by purchasing the vast commercial hunting tenures held by guide outfitters in the wilderness area.

Rochelle Baker

November 24th 2021

Biological ‘treasure troves’ need mapping in marine protection plan

A number of sites of exceptional biodiversity — well-known to the region's First Nations but previously undocumented by science — have been identified along B.C.'s central coast and should be protected, a joint study suggests.

Rochelle Baker

November 23rd 2021

Inuit to have a say on shipping frenzy in Arctic

As Arctic ice melts and shipping surges, it’s vital Inuit are involved in the high-level decisions to protect the marine environment along with the ocean and sea ice, which are central to their survival, says the Inuit Circumpolar Council.

Rochelle Baker

November 17th 2021

Fossil fuels: "This elephant has not even been in the room"

Global activists are calling out world leaders Friday for deferring to the fossil fuel industry and courting catastrophe on the last day of COP26, the UN climate summit in Glasgow.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 12th 2021

Indigenous groups suspicious of ‘natural solutions’ proposed at UN climate conference

Indigenous leaders say nature-based solutions to climate change must include them and not make healthy forests and oceans into another commodity that can be bought and sold.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 9th 2021

Oceans will determine if we sink or swim when it comes to achieving our climate goals

Our oceans are the unsung heroes of climate sequestration and must be factored into international global warming strategies and targets at COP26 or the globe is sunk, says a Canadian scientist.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 8th 2021

The silent strength of Indigenous renewable energy micro-grids

The village of Old Crow, 120 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, was quiet for the first time in decades, as the nation brought its solar energy micro-grid online, said Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm at an official COP26 side event Thursday.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 7th 2021

Indigenous-led clean energy projects can fuel reconciliation

There is a strong alignment between clean energy project development and the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), said Eryn Stewart, the managing director of the non-profit Indigenous Clean Energy (ICE).

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 4th 2021

Children dangle from bridge to remind COP26 leaders youth’s future is on the line

Two children, aged 10 and 12, suspended themselves from a bridge high above the Clyde River near the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Monday afternoon to protest global leaders lack of action on the climate crisis.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

November 2nd 2021

A ‘sleeping giant’ awakens for COP26

The climate movement is shaking off the shackles of the pandemic, readying for disruption, and rallying to hold world leaders to account at the COP26 conference in Glasgow.

COP26: Uniting the World to Tackle Climate Change

Rochelle Baker

October 30th 2021

Canada’s marine protected areas aren’t as safe as you think

Many of Canada's marine protected areas are weakly protected and vulnerable to threats from extraction industries, trawling, or dumping despite Canada's ambitious conservation goals as it heads to COP26.

Rochelle Baker

October 28th 2021