What's slimy, green and flourishing thanks to climate change?
New research published in Communications Earth & Environment suggests algae growth is increasing in Canada's lakes — even remote ones — and climate change is the main culprit.
A team led by researchers at McGill University in Montreal and Université Laval analyzed sediment cores taken from 80 lakes across the country and found that algae has been increasing in the majority of them since the mid-1800s.
For lead author Hamid Ghanbari, the most interesting finding was a spike in the rate of the increase in algal growth: since the 1960s, it increased sevenfold.
"This was something very surprising for us and when we compared our data with other historical records, we found out that rising temperature is a major factor," Ghanbari said.
Aside from climate change, excess nitrogen and phosphorus can also contribute to algal growth when they are carried into waterways through runoff from animal manure and chemical fertilizers, stormwater and wastewater.
Algae, along with bacteria and phytoplankton, are essential for the aquatic food web. But too much algae can be a bad thing.
The recently published peer-reviewed study looked at algal growth overall and didn't analyze for blooms.
While some lakes see some algae as a part of their cycle, Ghanbari said the concern is what will happen if the increase in algae leads to growth outside of what's normal.
"That's where the problem starts," he said. "We don't know at the moment what that threshold is, but we know the increasing chlorophyll or algae levels in the lakes could lead to several problems."
Ghanbari said excess algae growth can harm aquatic life and even human health — reducing water quality, depleting oxygen in the water and creating blooms that can release dangerous toxins, as residents along the shores of Lake Erie know all too well.
Daryl McGoldrick, head of water quality monitoring and surveillance for the Great Lakes for Environment and Climate Change Canada, said while increasing algal growth doesn't necessarily mean more toxic blooms, there is a risk to aquatic life.
"The study is in line with what we see and [what we] suspect are impacts of warming," McGoldrick said.
Global and local action can help
Maëlle Tripon, a project manager with Quebec freshwater advocacy group Fondation Rivières, said her team has noticed first-hand that when it's warmer, they see more algae on lakes.
She said her takeaway from the research is that tackling algal growth cannot solely rely on local action.
"We already knew we need to change locally — like farming practices and also, for example, we need less paved and waterproof surface in the cities," she said.
"But what the study shows is that we also need global policies to alleviate climate change."
Ghanbari agreed, but added that individual choices can still help reduce algal growth.
"Simple acts such as reducing the fertilizers … or properly disposing of household chemicals, these simple acts could really help the lakes," he said.
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CNN
6 minutes ago
- CNN
Former FDA chief challenges agency to bar certain ultraprocessed food ingredients
The former head of the US Food and Drug Administration is testing the Trump administration's commitment to 'Make America Healthy Again' with a challenge to crack down on some of the key ingredients in ultraprocessed foods. In a petition filed Wednesday, the former FDA commissioner, Dr. David Kessler, argued that the agency has the authority to declare that certain sweeteners, refined flours and other additives are not 'generally recognized as safe.' Removing that designation, known as GRAS, would force makers of ultraprocessed foods to remove products from the market and reformulate recipes — or try to prove that those ingredients are not harmful. It would be a sweeping change to the food industry and a significant shift in the Trump administration's MAHA strategy. So far, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has relied on popular food brands to volunteer to remove artificial dyes and other additives from their products. 'Kessler has given the FDA a way to define the vast majority of ultra-processed foods. In doing so, he has handed RFK Jr a huge gift on the path to regulating these products. It's just what MAHA has asked for. I hope they take it seriously,' Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said in an email. Kessler proposed that companies have 12 months to submit a petition to keep those food additives in their products and then go on to prove they are safe. 'It's a very appropriate, worthy step to shift the burden of proof where it belongs and have the industry meet that burden, or stop using the substances.' said Michael Taylor, a former FDA food regulator and current co-chair of the nonprofit STOP Foodborne Illness. 'It's using the GRAS tool to really drive a serious safety conversation.' HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Federal health officials announced last month that they are looking for input on how to define ultraprocessed foods, a first step in eventually setting up new regulations, which could take months to years to establish. Kessler's petition could put pressure on that ultimately lengthy timeline; the agency is required to respond to the request within 180 days. Kessler, a physician who served as FDA commissioner under presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and advised President Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, oversaw the agency when it began requiring nutrition labels on food products. He also spearheaded efforts for FDA to regulate tobacco in the 1990s and sees parallels to that fight. 'What was key in tobacco was finding the regulatory hook,' Kessler told CNN. 'It was about asking the right legal question that would frame the issue.' That has been the tricky part of setting up any regulatory standards for sugary and starchy foods, he said. The term ultra processed foods has resonated with the public, he said, but 'it's going to be hard to define, legally, what's in it.' But there is a pressing need to do that, he argues. The FDA allowed these ingredients under GRAS regulations four decades ago, and rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have climbed in the years since, he wrote in his petition. The argument echoes Kennedy's own case for MAHA reforms to food policy. The petition focuses on refined flours and starches — which the body breaks down into sugars — that are subjected to food extrusion technology, including wheat, corn, tapioca, oat and potato flour. It also references refined sugars, including corn syrup, corn solids, dextrose, xylose, maltose, and high-fructose corn syrups. Finally, the petition targets any manufactured sugars, flours and starches that contain additives commonly used in today's ultraprocessed foods. Tackling the issue of too much sugar is a key to better health, experts CNN spoke with agree, but they say the real genius of Kessler's petition is his focus on additives. 'The food industry uses the emulsifiers, the stabilizers, the gels and the rest to make inexpensive, high volume, industrially processed foods,' said Christopher Gardner, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. 'If you take those tools away from industry it's not that foods will taste bad and icky,' Gardner said. 'They won't be as addictive, as flavorful, as tasty — and industry has made these foods as manipulatively flavorful and manipulatively tasty. That's the problem.' Several food and nutrition experts heralded Kessler's petition as a bold move that would, if enacted by FDA, reshape the food industry. 'This is an important proposal that is based on the true meaning of GRAS, which would exclude the majority of foods on our grocery shelves,' said leading nutrition researcher Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The GRAS standard, created in 1958, was originally intended to narrowly apply to commonly used ingredients in the nation's food supply, such as oil, vinegar and baking soda. Manufacturers that used those products could rely on existing research to show their safety but are supposed to file GRAS petitions for newer ingredients like refined sugars. FDA updated its system in the late 1990s — amid a backlog of petitions for new additives — allowing companies to voluntarily notify the agency that they had determined their ingredients were generally safe. A 2022 analysis conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that nearly 99% of new chemicals used in food or food packaging since 2000 were green-lit for use not by the FDA but by the food and chemical industry. During that period, food manufacturers asked the FDA's permission to introduce a new substance only 10 times, according to the analysis. Barry Popkin, the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, called Kessler's petition 'a brilliant move.' 'Knowing the FDA like he does - he's put industry in a real bind,' Popkin said. 'They have to show that without a reasonable doubt that carbohydrates, along with additives, are healthy, and do not hurt health. And that's next to impossible. 'It's the strongest play a citizen can do to affect our food supply that I've ever seen.' But Kessler's proposed changes are likely to meet significant pushback from major food brands. Michael Taylor was FDA's deputy commissioner for foods in 2015 when the agency revoked the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, citing extensive research about their links to risks of heart disease and stroke. The agency gave companies three years to comply and remove those oils from their products. But at that time, 'the handwriting was on the wall' for industry and many companies had already stopped using those trans fats, Taylor said. 'Obviously the substances that [Kessler] is describing, it's a lot of … highly processed, fine carbohydrates, and a lot of products.' The petition lands as Trump administration officials, led by Kennedy, prepare to release their second MAHA report. While the MAHA Commission's first dispatch in June singled out potential drivers of chronic illnesses in children — including ingredients in ultraprocessed foods — its second installment is expected to lay out proposed policy changes. The report is due by Tuesday.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Miss Universe Canada contestant Sara Levitt hopes to be the first winner with Crohn's disease: 'A difference can be a superpower'
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She was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at the age of three, and by the time she turned 11, her condition had progressed to Crohn's Disease. The next two years were some of the 'most intense and challenging' of her life, filled with severe chronic pain and countless hospital stays. Advertisement 'I was fighting for my life,' she said. 'It was a really dark time and I felt completely alone and ashamed.' In 2008, at the age of 13, Levitt underwent an emergency surgery to have part of her bowel removed. She was left with a permanent ostomy bag, a device she wears on the outside of her body that collects her stool. Levitt was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and Crohn's Disease as a child. (Image courtesy of Sara Levitt) Going into the surgery, Levitt wondered how she would adapt to living with an ostomy. She dreaded what it would be like to have to carry physical evidence of her illness on her body each day. 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After years of suffering in silence, Levitt decided she'd had enough; she knew she deserved to live her life to the fullest just as much as anyone else. 'It got to the point where I was just so physically and mentally drained,' she said. 'In summer 2023, I had a bit of an epiphany and I was like, 'I feel really confident in who I am and I've been through a lot and I'm ready to just be me.'' At the time, her Instagram was a personal account for friends, family and acquaintances. But after posting the photos, comments and messages began to pour in from other people with chronic illnesses who wanted to express gratitude for what she had done. Advertisement The response showed Levitt how great the need was for advocacy and representation from ostomates, so she kept posting. Her community grew, and today she has 35,000 followers on Instagram, where she calls herself 'The Bag Bish.' Levitt has named her ostomy bag "Liv" which means "life" in Swedish. 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'That alone is fuel to my motivation and every single thing that I do.' It's in the bag In May, Levitt announced she was participating in the Miss Universe Canada pageant this August. She'll be the first ostomate, and first woman with any visible difference to compete. In a post to Instagram, Levitt said her hope was to help show "other woman our challenges do not define us, but merely give us an additional source of strength, and that there is space for us all." Sara Levitt is the first woman with a visible difference and ostomy bag to compete in the Miss Universe Canada pageant. (Image courtesy of Sara Levitt) For her humanitarian project for the pageant, she's raising awareness and funds for the Canadian Mental Health Association, a cause she described as deeply personal to her journey. Her health issues s took a serious toll on Levitt's own mental health for many years, and she hopes to shine a light on how chronic illnesses impact every aspect of a person's life — including their mental health. Advertisement Research shows that psychiatric disorders are 1.5 to 2 times more prevalent in those with IBD than in the general population, and rates are even higher when considering standalone mental health symptoms, as nearly one-third of individuals with IBD experience elevated anxiety symptoms and one-quarter experience depression symptoms. 'Hopefully I'm able to inspire and touch someone through sharing my story,' she said. 'Just being on that stage and being able to show my community, 'Look where we can go, look what we can do,' it's like we've already got the crown.' Let us know what you think by commenting below and tweeting @YahooStyleCA! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Fast Company
Profits over people and microplastics in every meal?
For decades, the plastic crisis has always felt far away, whether through time or across distance. But unfortunately, we're no longer talking about environmental pollution 'out there' in the ocean. Microplastics, tiny fragments that come from the breakdown of everyday plastic items, are now inside all of us, turning this from a theoretical risk into a shocking—and deeply personal (physically) —reality. Despite this fact, most Americans remain unaware of just how prevalent microplastics are in our lives. New national research that we conducted with our partners at The 5 Gyres Institute paints a troubling picture: while 77% of Americans say they've heard the term 'microplastics,' only 49% actually understand what it means. Even about half of people—51%—know it's often a result of larger plastic breaking down. The knowledge gap That knowledge gap is more than an academic concern. It's a public health crisis, especially when you consider that, after the term is defined for survey respondents, 90% of Americans state that they're worried about microplastics in the human body—and they're right to be. Science confirms that these particles have been found in breast milk, placental tissue, lungs, brains, blood, and more. And studies are increasingly linking microplastics to serious health impacts, including cancer, heart disease, hormone disruption, and infertility. But even when you close that knowledge gap, people who care often feel stuck. Our research shows that 70% of Americans don't know how to reduce their exposure to microplastics and 67% can't name a single company actively working on the problem (we're hoping to change that!). That sense of powerlessness is as dangerous as the plastic itself, because people want better. They just don't know where to turn. At Grove, we've seen firsthand that Americans are searching for answers and they're looking to us: to companies, brands, and private-sector leaders. They want healthier homes, safer products, and more sustainable choices. They want corporations to lead—not with vague promises, but with bold, measurable action. This is our collective moment. A solution Consumers didn't create the plastic crisis. We, the private sector, did. For decades, our industries have driven plastic adoption in product design, packaging, and sourcing. And we were lied to and manipulated by the petrochemical and plastics industry that shaped this system. Now, we, the private sector in 2025, must dismantle it. That means going beyond plastic. It means rejecting outdated systems that rely on single-use packaging, microbeads, and petrochemical-based materials. It means investing in compostable and refillable formats, shifting supply chains, being transparent about ingredients and sourcing, and leaning into the circular economy. It means learning and being aware of the impact plastics are having in our bodies and environments. It means supporting legislation, like the newly introduced bipartisan Microplastics Safety Act, which calls on the FDA and HHS to investigate and report on the health impacts of microplastics. Most importantly, it means refusing to offload responsibility onto consumers and admitting that recycling, long touted as a solution, simply isn't enough. Only 5% of plastic is recycled and the rest ends up in landfills, incinerators, or breaks down into microplastic particles that pollute our air, food, water, and (if not abundantly clear by now) our bodies. At Grove, we remain unwavering in our commitment to eliminate plastic from the products we make and sell—and to empower others to do the same. But we can't do it alone. The cost of inaction Consumers are demanding accountability. Our research shows that 79% of Americans believe microplastics represent a human and environmental emergency; 82% believe companies should be doing more. But only half (54%) believe that businesses are actually stepping up. That gap is where trust and long-term relevance will be won or lost. The cost of inaction is rising. Not just in terms of public health, but in trust, consumer confidence, and regulatory risk. There will come a time soon when inaction on microplastics will be seen for what it is: negligent at best, and reckless at worst. Companies that continue to delay action on plastic pollution aren't just making a business decision. They're making a decision that directly impacts human health. Brands that cling to plastic-heavy models are effectively choosing profits over people, and they'll have to live with the consequences. But brands that choose to lead? They'll be rewarded with consumer loyalty, resilience, and relevance in a world that's rapidly waking up to this crisis. The science is clear. The public is paying attention. The future will not be plastic. And the time for action is now.
