How to protect wildland firefighters from cancer risk

From the Best of What On Earth – Electric vehicles need lithium for their batteries. But Indigenous communities in Northern Argentina say extracting this critical mineral is harming their water supply. We head down to South America’s 'lithium triangle’ to find out how mining for this important EV component could be doing more harm than good. 

Jesse Winter became a photojournalist so he could be out covering stories. He got more than he bargained for, including documenting the aftermath of a young firefighter’s death. His new book, Wildfire: Dispatches from a Country Ablaze details how climate change, along with decades of poor forest practices, has set the table for devastating fires. We hear about the challenges for Canada’s wildland firefighters, and how communities can learn to adapt to this new reality. CORRECTION (July 13, 2026): This text has been updated to correct Winter's biography.

From the Best of What On Earth – If you're a frequent flier, you may have noticed flights have been getting rockier lately. The potential culprit? Climate change. CBC producer Julia Pagel finds out how warming temperatures are making air turbulence worse, and what can be done about it. But first, she takes us back to 2019, when dozens of passengers were injured after an Air Canada flight bound for Australia hit severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing. 

As Europe tallies thousands of deaths, there are calls for way more AC. In North America, where a heat dome is disrupting holidays, air conditioning is common — but it can also contribute to inequity and emissions. As a Chief Heat Ambassador, Jane Gilbert is grappling with this paradox. She shares ways to protect lives as climate change heats our world.

What On Earth will continue, but host Laura Lynch is moving on. For the last six years, Laura has brought you climate solutions stories, and before that she covered world events for decades, including the 9/11 attacks and the Arab Spring. Now, Laura is retiring (although she prefers to say heading off to new adventures). Today we celebrate her career through the stories she’s covered and the people from all walks of life she’s interviewed. 

Laura heads out on a boat, searching for grey whales. Plot twist: they find her. We hear why scientists are sounding the alarm about the fate of these massive mammals, and why they think climate change is part of the problem. But researchers and communities on Canada’s west coast have solutions to protect the populations that remain.

Cindy MacDougall calls herself a climate change casualty. If it wasn’t for her husband’s quick action during the 2021 Western Canada heat dome, she might not have survived the disaster. Still, her heart is permanently damaged. We hear what happened, and how she’s working to share the stories of others who suffered. Then, we hear about the progress in British Columbia on the “right to cool” for those most at risk – and about an ambitious plan to make buildings across Canada safer in extreme heat. 

Years after working in smoky, sooty conditions controlling fires, workers can experience the adverse health effects of the job. Proving the link can be difficult. But now in British Columbia, wildland firefighters are getting early cancer screening and expanded workers compensation coverage for cancer. With climate change contributing to the hot, dry conditions that lead to longer, more intense fire seasons, we explore what else can be done to reduce the exposure to carcinogens these front-line workers face. 

Our youth climate action columnist Aishwarya Puttur says yes it can. She’s seen young people in the entertainment industry taking up the climate cause lately – from local film festivals to the United Nations – and shares stories about how she’s seen this type of storytelling make a difference.

As Vancouverites see people watering their lawns during a drought, it’s a question they’re asking themselves. While cities in British Columbia take drastic measures to limit water use, Laura heads to the watershed to learn how conservation can help keep the taps on. But it’s not the only approach that Canadians are using to tackle water shortages. In south central Manitoba, a modified wetland is forcing people to work with nature instead of against it.