Moira Donovan
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Radio + print journalist focusing on the environment. Docs for @Atlanticvoice @CBCQuirks, @cbcideas, words in @thewalrus, @hakaimagazine, @csmonitor. She/her
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Articles by Moira Donovan
Four decades of community investing across Canada
In the 1980s, Canada was in the grips of a severe recession. In Saskatchewan, where the agricultural sector was struggling with low commodity prices, high interest rates and years of drought, the province devised a new tool to fuel investment in rural enterprises: community bonds.
'Real reconciliation': Medicine trail partners Mi’kmaw communities, N.S. landowners
Nova Scotia·New Trail is working with nine landowners to secure sites to harvest medicinal plants Trail is working with 9 landowners to secure sites to harvest medicinal plants Moira Donovan · CBC News · Posted: Sep 30, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 28 minutes ago Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
Protecting Kluskap’s Cave , one of the most sacred places in Mi’kma’ki
On the wild and rocky shoreline at the northern end of Unama’ki, also known as Cape Breton Island, sits the centre of the universe. At the edge of a stony beach, a cave opens onto the water, its mouth flooding with the rushing surf at high tide. This oceanside cave, known to some Mi’kmaq as the centre of the universe, is tied to the story of Kluskap, who in Mi’kmaq oral tradition created the landscape and taught the Mi’kmaq how to live in harmony with nature.
As climate heats up, a Nova Scotia startup is harnessing the ocean as a climate solution
Nova Scotia·New A Nova Scotia startup is seeking a way to store more carbon in the ocean, using a new pilot facility to test the method. Testing its approach in St. Andrews, N.B., pHathom aims to harness the ocean for carbon removal Moira Donovan · CBC News · Posted: Sep 15, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 24 minutes ago Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur.
‘It's kind of cosy’: Meet the Nova Scotian weaving together a more sustainable burial
Nova Scotia·New Out of her studio on Nova Scotia's South Shore, Lesley Armstrong is producing burial shrouds meant to minimize the environmental impact of burial. Burial shrouds part of growing options for natural burial Moira Donovan · CBC News · Posted: Sep 07, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 9 minutes ago Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur.
Unlocking a 400-year-old mystery in a Nova Scotia marsh
Nova Scotia·New On a river in southwest Nova Scotia, an investigation by a historical sleuth is uncovering long-lost traces of North America’s past. Poutrincourt gristmill believed to be oldest mill in North America Moira Donovan · CBC News · Posted: Aug 28, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 33 minutes ago Listen to this article Estimated 6 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur.
Unlocking a 400-year-old mystery in a Nova Scotia marsh
The Brain 1 hour ago The 3-Step Hand Test A Neurologist Says Could Help Spot Dementia HuffPost UK - Amy Glover • 1h The screening tool looks at “motor function, executive function, and sequencing”. As yet, there’s no single test that can diagnose dementia outright. … U. of Michigan 2 hours ago Line 5’s future is still uncertain.
‘A transformative force in the legal profession’
barbara findlay remembered as a pioneering advocate for the rights of queer and trans people in Canada Log in to listen to this article As the legal community mourns the passing of barbara findlay, KC, she’s being remembered for the indelible mark she left on the profession and the fight for queer and trans rights in Canada.
Falling through the bars
People experiencing mental illness and challenges are overrepresented in Canada’s criminal justice system, which can lead to harmful and fatal consequences. A new action plan aims to change that. iStock/okanmetin Log in to listen to this article Legal experts say a new action plan for criminal justice and mental health by the Mental Health Commission of Canada highlights important cracks in the justice system. However, some say it may not go far enough to fix what’s broken.
On Big Tancook Island, researchers are starting to fill in the gaps on white sharks
Nova Scotia·New At a new field station on an island off Nova Scotia’s South Shore, researchers are using an array of tracking technologies to monitor white shark movement and learn more about them. The Tancook Islands Marine Field Station started tagging sharks in 2025 Moira Donovan · CBC News · Posted: Jul 16, 2026 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.
There’s a new apex predator in Atlantic Canada
The day, at the end of August, was perfect for diving: warm and calm, with a light breeze and a faint tang of wildfire smoke in the air. At a beach near Halifax, Nova Scotia, instructor Eric Peterson was guiding a novice diver around a site popular with the local diving community – a sheltered, sandy-bottomed cove 40 minutes outside of the city, where dive shops often take beginners for their first forays under the water.
As Canada eyes Arctic road expansion, Indigenous guardians race to understand caribou
Indigenous guardians in the Northwest Territories, Canada, are going out into the field to monitor how roads affect Arctic caribou, which undertake the longest terrestrial migration on the planet, through events on the Tibbitt to Contwoyto winter road. In the last six years, they have documented a pattern of how caribou avoid roads that bisect the land: When they will avoid crossing, only walk parallel, get trapped on the other side and wait 24 hours of zero disturbance to cross.
National - ‘Gigantic, gaping holes’
Experts say the Carney government is pushing an unprecedented rollback of Canada’s environmental laws and protections iStock/Dave Hutchison Photography Log in to listen to this article Environmental organizations and legal experts say recent changes in federal policy are undoing years of climate progress — and that Prime Minister Mark Carney is leading the country through a potentially unprecedented dismantling of environmental protections.
In New Brunswick, residents battle the government over a planned AI data centre
Cities 2 days ago Saint John swears in council of mostly new faces CBC News - Nipun Tiwari • 2d Saint John's new council was officially sworn in Monday night as the next chapter in the city’s local government began.
In New Brunswick, residents battle the government over a planned AI data centre
An AI computing company is proposing to fill in a wetland to build a massive data centre near the neighbourhood of Lorneville in Saint John, N.B. Once operating, the data centre will be one of New Brunswick’s largest carbon emitters and devour about 390 megawatts of electricity — more than 10 per cent of the province’s total energy demand.
National - Go for launch
Law In-depth While new launch legislation could support a robust space industry in Canada, experts say it’s a missed opportunity to regulate the sector comprehensively iStock Despite being a leader in space exploration, Canada has been a laggard in space regulation. But as the federal government takes steps to change that with the recent tabling of the Canadian Space Launch Act, legal experts say the legislation could support a robust space industry in Canada.
Avec seulement 21 hectares , l’île Country de la Nouvelle-Écosse joue un rôle important dans la conservation des oiseaux
À première vue, l’île Country, une petite île rocheuse parsemée de bosquets et d’arbustes, bordée de plages de galets, est un endroit on ne peut plus banal. Pourtant, sous un regard plus attentif, cette île située au large de la côte est de la Nouvelle-Écosse se révèle être un véritable havre de paix pour les oiseaux.
At just 21 hectares , Nova Scotia’s Country Island plays an outsized role in bird conservation
At first glance, Country Island, a small, rocky island dotted with patches of forest and shrubs, ringed with cobble beaches, is as nondescript a place as they come. Yet when you take a closer look, this small island off Nova Scotia’s eastern shore is revealed to be a truly marvellous avian safe haven.
Autrefois centre de l’industrie lourde , le lac Big Glace Bay, en Nouvelle-Écosse, est aujourd’hui un refuge florissant pour la faune sauvage
Depuis la plage de la réserve nationale de faune du Lac-Big Glace Bay, il est difficile de ne pas s’émerveiller devant ce qu’est devenue cette région. La plage, une longue langue de sable et de galets, s’avance sur un kilomètre et demi depuis le rivage, laissant une étroite ouverture par laquelle la mer pénètre.
It used to host heavy industry . Now, Big Glace Bay Lake, N.S. is flourishing as a home for wildlife
From the beach at the Big Glace Bay Lake National Wildlife Area, it’s hard not to wonder at what the area has become. The beach, a long finger of sand and cobble, juts a kilometre and a half out from the shore, leaving a narrow opening where the sea passes through; on one side of the finger is the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other, a stretch of salt marsh, mudflats and an estuary — the “lake” — where salt and fresh water mix, pulsing with the rhythm of the tides.
Social media’s standard of care
Law Hot topics Recent lawsuits in the U.S. have held powerful tech companies accountable for harm. Observers say it’s a harbinger of where things could go here iStock/Miljan Živković In the wake of two landmark decisions on social media negligence in the United States, Canadian legal experts say a tide may be turning toward holding some of the world’s most powerful companies accountable for harm—with implications for legal action in this country.
Saving The Life We Cannot See | NOEMA
Credits Moira Donovan is a freelance journalist reporting on the environment and climate change, with a particular focus on the ocean. Her stories on subjects such as fisheries management, ocean pollution and carbon dioxide removal have appeared in Hakai Magazine, the Guardian and the Economist, and on CBC Radio, and have won awards from the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
National - Reversing course on reconciliation?
Law Hot topics Critics say B.C.’s plan to amend the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act will weaken trust between First Nations and the government, and public confidence in courts The Knowledge Totem Pole on the lawn of the B.C. Legislature iStock/ferrantraite As British Columbia’s pushback on the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act intensifies, legal experts say the response is a shocking reversal on reconciliation amid growing resistance...
National - CBA National - Canadian Legal Affairs
Law In-depth Two very different decisions on Aboriginal title and private property rights expose a gap in Supreme Court doctrine The Wolastoqey Nation in New Brunswick has asserted title to their traditional lands along the Saint John River, known to them as the Wolastoq. They say they never ceded title to land in the river watershed when they signed the Peace and Friendship Treaties with the British Crown in the 18th century.
oceans | The Walrus
New technology might help us combat the climate crisis. But is it safe to tinker with the seas?
National - The consequences of Canada’s climate backslide
Law Hot topics ‘The government seems to be taking out a mortgage on future generations to pay for the crisis today’ iStock/dan_prat With Canada in the throes of an about-face on climate policies, advocates say the shift could jeopardize the viability of Canada’s climate agenda. The federal government’s recent memorandum of understanding with Alberta included a deal to build a new crude oil pipeline, suspend clean electricity regulations in the province, and scrap the cap on oil and gas emissions.
Illegal American eel fishing is big business in Canada. Ottawa just voted against protections
After a secret ballot, global trade restrictions will not be placed on the species at the heart of Canada’s most lucrative fishery. But trade of American eels is also driving a massive, illegal economy — and advocates say the vote represents a failure to address this serious threat. On Nov. 27, countries voted against listing the American eel and other eel species at the 20th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, in Uzbekistan.
Illegal American eel fishing is big business in Canada. Ottawa just voted against protections
P.E.I. is one of the few provinces in the country that does not produce what is typically called a "Sunshine List." Read More
Brownfields could offer a solution for solar projects in need of land
For decades, an 11-acre parcel of land outside Antigonish, Nova Scotia, served as the collection point for municipal garbage. After it shuttered in the 1970s, the plot, located on a quiet, wooded road near the town, languished. Then, an unexpected opportunity to reclaim the land presented itself. In 2020, the municipally owned company that runs Antigonish’s utility and those of two other Nova Scotia towns set out to develop three community solar projects for each of the three towns it manages.
The risk and promise of offshore wind energy in Nova Scotia
Just outside the town of Port Hawkesbury, N.S., the shoreline of the Strait of Canso is dotted with industry. “For Nova Scotia, this is one of the last outposts of industrial activity,” Amanda Mombourquette says, steering her SUV. Out one window, towering mounds of coal are piled outside the Point Tupper Generating Station, while tanks and pipelines from a former oil refinery carve up the slope. A short distance down the road, Nova Scotia’s last papermill standing stretches across the hill.
National - Young claimants take CPP to court over climate risks
Law Hot topics Case marks the first time a Canadian investor has been sued for underestimating and failing to disclose dangerous climate impacts A first-of-its-kind lawsuit targeting Canada’s largest pension fund manager could help set a precedent for how investment funds handle climate change, legal experts say.
‘It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet’: striped bass in a Canadian river are gobbling up all the salmon. Is a mass cull the answer?
Doctor’s Island in the Miramichi River in New Brunswick, where steep falls in salmon have been blamed on predatory striped bass Photograph: Brittany Crossman/The Guardian Since the 19th century, Atlantic salmon in the Miramichi have lured politicians, celebrities and wealthy anglers from across North America and Europe to fishing camps along the river’s banks, its undammed branches once producing more of the fish than almost any other river on the continent.
Our Objects as Artifacts
Throughout my ten months of living in New Delhi, I was never truly in want. When the temperatures plunged during the winter, ordering a room heater immediately stopped my shivering. When the water ran out in my apartment one day, my friend welcomed me to her place to use her washing machine and dry my clothes on her balcony. When I acquired my second stomach infection in two months, my new roommate made khichdi for me, soothing my pain before we had even had a full conversation.
Tiny Backpack Trackers on Petite Fish
For biologists around the world, the invention of small, portable acoustic, radio, and satellite tracking tags has revolutionized their understanding of where animals go and how they live. But limitations in the technology mean they’ve only studied a fraction of underwater life, says Robert Lennox, a biologist at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia. Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. Log in or Join now . Consider, for instance, the delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus).
A New Generation of Tiny Tracking Tags Offers a Fresh Look at the Lives of Little Fish
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a tag the size of a grain of rice that can also work underwater For biologists around the world, the invention of small, portable acoustic, radio and satellite tracking tags has revolutionized their understanding of where animals go and how they live.
Can Toxic Mining Waste Help Remove CO2 from the Atmosphere?
On the coast of Newfoundland, waste from a shuttered asbestos mine has been a troubling source of contamination for decades. Now, a company plans to process the waste to draw CO2 from the air — one of several projects worldwide that aim to turn this liability into an asset. Just outside Baie Verte, a tiny town on Newfoundland’s rocky north coast, a 50-ton toxic liability lingers like a bad dream. In the mid-20th century, a local prospector discovered asbestos in the hills above the bay.
Can toxic mining waste help remove CO2 from the atmosphere?
This process, commonly referred to as "carbon mineralization," occurs in nature, but it happens over a much longer time scale - hundreds or thousands of years.
Can Toxic Mining Waste Help Remove CO2 from the Atmosphere?
On the coast of Newfoundland, waste from a shuttered asbestos mine has been a troubling source of contamination for decades. Now, a company plans to process the waste to draw CO2 from the air — one of several projects worldwide that aim to turn this liability into an asset. Just outside Baie Verte, a tiny town on Newfoundland’s rocky north coast, a 50-ton toxic liability lingers like a bad dream. In the mid-20th century, a local prospector discovered asbestos in the hills above the bay.
Author - Moira Donovan - Yale E360
Moira Donovan is a science journalist based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her work has appeared in Hakai Magazine, The Economist, and The Atlantic, and has aired on CBC Radio.
The American lobster’s baby bust
This story was originally published by bioGraphic and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration The Gulf of Maine is home to one of the most valuable fisheries in the United States. Every year, American lobsters (Homarus americanus) from the gulf fuel a multibillion-dollar industry, buoying fishing communities across New England and across the border into Atlantic Canada. The Gulf of Maine is also heating up faster than almost any other marine environment on Earth.
As biodiversity declines, researchers race to name millions of species unknown to science
Ideas53:59Naming Life: The Race to Classify Millions of Unidentified Species In a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss — what's in a name? In 2023 scientists announced a startling discovery in the Pacific Ocean — in a site proposed for deepsea mining, the seafloor was not a barren wasteland, but a rich underwater garden, bustling with life.
National - Protecting trans rights in Canada
Law Hot topics Lawyers Against Transphobia is gearing up for a fight As the Trump administration unveils a raft of policies and executive orders targeting queer and trans rights, Canadian lawyers and law firms are preparing to safeguard 2SLGBTQ+ rights against escalating attacks in this country.
National - The ‘slippery slope’ of sharing personal data
Law Hot topics New agreement allowing U.S. border officials access to Canadian permanent residents’ information made without external consultations, critics say With President Donald Trump back in office, legal experts say a new agreement that allows permanent residents’ personal data to be shared at the Canada-U.S. border raises serious questions.
National - Playing catch-up on copyright
Law Hot topics Generative AI technology has raced ahead of the law. In response, news outlets have filed a lawsuit to protect the content they produce, shedding light on a legislative grey area in the process In a case that could help the legal system catch up with a technology racing ahead of the law, six Canadian media companies have filed a joint lawsuit against OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, for copyright infringement.
For an Ecosystem in Crisis, Recovery Can Take Ages | Hakai Magazine
In the late Miocene epoch, roughly 5.9 million years ago, calamity befell the Mediterranean Sea. In a period of roughly 600,000 years, tectonic uplift sealed the gateway between Europe and North Africa, cutting the basin off from the Atlantic Ocean. Suddenly—geologically speaking—the Mediterranean was an inland sea. Before that, “you can imagine a nice tropical place with tropical reefs everywhere,” says Konstantina Agiadi, a geoscientist and paleontologist at the University of Vienna in Austria.
National - Report calls on NS Barrister’s Society to tackle racism and systemic discrimination in legal profession
Law Hot topics Author observed an “unbelievable sense of fear” among racialized lawyers speaking out about their experiences A long-awaited report on systemic racism in Nova Scotia’s legal profession has documented widespread discrimination and an “unbelievable sense of fear” among racialized lawyers. Regaining Trust was released at a council meeting of the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society on Tuesday.
Canada's global nature pledges stumped by politicking at home: Guilbeault
Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter. Political differences — between federal parties as well as different levels of government — are a key hurdle blocking Canada’s pledges to conserve nature, federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault told The Narwhal as COP16, the United Nation’s biennial biodiversity conference, got underway in Colombia.
Listening In on the Mysterious Marbled Murrelet | Hakai Magazine
The marbled murrelet is an elusive creature. At sea, the stubby seabird dives at the first sign of predators. On land, it lays its eggs high in the mossy branches of the Pacific Northwest’s old-growth forests—a fact only serendipitously discovered by a utility-company employee climbing trees in the 1970s. The murrelet is so mysterious that scientists call it the enigma of the Pacific.
Can we use the sea to soak up our excess carbon dioxide?
Quirks and Quarks20:09Using the sea to soak up our excess carbon dioxide Beneath the smokestacks of the power plant that tower over Halifax harbour, Will Burt, chief ocean scientist at Planetary Technologies, leads a tour around Planetary's site. The site — which consists of a shipping container housing an array of sensors, a mixing tank, and dozens of metres of tubes snaking in and out of the harbour — is where the company hopes it will begin to change the trajectory of climate change.
The artificial lake tearing apart a Nova Scotia community
Get the inside scoop on The Narwhal’s environment and climate reporting by signing up for our free newsletter. On a cloudy evening in early September, fisherman Darren Porter pulls an aluminum boat up to shore on Lake Pisiquid, a small body of water bordering the Nova Scotia community of Windsor. Two fish scientists aboard his boat hop out and begin dragging a seine net through the long grass poking out of the shallows, looking for juvenile fish.
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