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A polar bear statue is pictured during a blizzard in Churchill, Manitoba.
Hard Numbers: Bear of a joke, BC’s snowpack slacks, US more corrupt than ever, US buyers wary of Canadian M&A, Americans ❤️Valentine’s Day
28: Average snowpack in British Columbia is currently 28% below normal levels for this time of year. Since the snow ultimately melts in spring and summer, the low levels now raise the risk of drought later this year.
65: The United States got its lowest score ever on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions index, dropping four points to 65 out of 100 on the annual measure of public sector corruption and graft. The index, which has run since 2012, went public earlier this week. Among all countries in the world, the US now ranks 28th. Denmark yet again took the top spot. The score reflects views through the end of 2024 and does not include perceptions of the US since then.
22: Merger and acquisition activity involving US buyers in Canada hit a 22-year low in January as President Donald Trump’s tariff threats left prospective buyers worried about their bottom lines. While US buyer acquisitions in Canada had grown 72.4% over the past five years, with 50 such deals in January 2024, this January saw only 19 deals.
27.5 billion: Americans are feeling the love: They plan to spend a record-breaking amount this year on Valentine’s Day gifts, including flowers, candy, and fancy nights out. According to the National Retail Federation, the nationwide total spend could hit a whopping $27.5 billion. In Canada, meanwhile, Cupid has shot slightly fewer people this year than in recent years. While more than a third of Canadian shoppers will make Valentine’s related purchases this year — at 37% — that is down 2 percentage points from last year and a heartbreaking 11 points from 2023.The Graphic Truth: The politics of polar bears
There’s a new “cold” war playing out through inaction on climate change, and it’s melting ice in the Arctic. The casualties? Polar bears. Nanuit – as they’re called in Inuktitut (the language of the Inuit) – roam across the Arctic, and can be found in the US, Canada, Russia, Greenland, and Norway. They rely on sea ice to hunt, mate, and raise their young, making them particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The Arctic is warming two times faster than the rest of the world because of climate change. A new UN report says the world is likely to breach the 1.5-degree Celsius climate threshold by 2027 due to El Niño and human-caused climate change. While the initial breach would only be temporary, scientists are 98% certain we will permanently breach it within a decade unless industrialized nations join together to slash greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.
Two-thirds of the world’s polar bears could be gone by 2050 if the Arctic keeps warming at its current speed. As of 2023, there are an estimated 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears left in the world. Long-term figures on polar bear populations in the northernmost regions are lacking, but data shows an undeniable downward decline over just the past decade. We look at how polar bear populations have changed across the five countries they call home (with the caveat that polar bears don’t respect borders).