Marking the Blue Hour

World gets glimpse of its climate future

Midway through 2026, two major climate dynamics are emerging in parallel. One is a mass rollout of renewable energy. The other is an ominous El Niño brewing, likely to soon trigger fierce weather extremes.

How nations embrace the former and cope with the latter may offer clues to humanity’s fate in the coming decades as climate change intensifies.

The war in Iran has spurred a new rush away from fossil fuels. A common refrain in the capitals of energy importers has been that the wind and sun don’t need to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

Even the fragile truce between the U.S. and Iran changes little — the war’s underlying issues remain unresolved. Plus, Tehran has learned it now has major leverage. Iran can extract concessions from its adversaries by shutting down the vital waterway. It’s a card the Islamic regime will surely reach for again.

New plaza graced by art with heart

Tears fill the eyes of an Ojibwa sculptor from Peguis First Nation as he talks about the spiritual journey and deep friendships that came out of creating his first public art piece.

Maamaawi Naanaagadawendamowin, which means Gather Your Heart, was created for the new Kevin Walters Plaza that opened June 26 outside the Burton Cummings Theatre. The piece was commissoned by the Winnipeg Arts Council for the City of Winnipeg Public Art Collection.

Artist Fredrick Spence, along with partners Darren Sakwi and Rob Peristy, who fabricated the metal sculpture, were celebrated for their work Tuesday at the plaza.

“Me, Rob and Darren, we cried together many times during the process of making this. It really took the time, it took all our hearts,” Spence says.

Capturing a moment in Indigenous elders’ lives

Gerald Kuehl has been creating beautiful pencil portraits of Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers from all over Manitoba and the Northwest Territories for 25 years.

The drawings are meticulous and detail every wrinkle, spot and hair, and the exact texture of that person in the exact moment. They are nothing short of mesmerizing.

Kuehl, a self-taught artist and photographer, invited me to his home to see a glimpse of the world of portraits he’s created. We’ve been friends on Facebook for a while. I’m not sure exactly how long, but he shows up on my feed, and I show up on his. When he posts pictures of his work online, I fall over myself to hit the “like” button as fast as I can, because they are stunning.

Kuehl’s portraits, beautifully framed and matted, are hung on walls throughout the home. They are a powerful and exquisite monument to the people he’s met and the stories he’s heard. Most of them hang there only temporarily, until Kuehl can meet with the person he’s drawn to present the gift to them. Each work takes hundreds of hours because of the painstaking attention to detail. In all, he’s drawn about 290 portraits.

Winnipeg-raised filmmaker battled naysayers, negativity to create female-focused sci-fi

The film Level 16 is a grim dystopian tale in which girls spend their lives in a barren facility being indoctrinated with lies, until they learn the horrible truth of their existence upon turning 16.

The film, opening Thursday at Cinematheque, has been a critical sensation in some of the genre festivals it’s played, including Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

But for Winnipeggers, it may be notable that Level 16 was at least partially inspired by writer-director Danishka Esterhazy’s experience going to Nelson McIntyre Collegiate.

U.S. tariffs push Ottawa to invest more in Canadian steel, aluminum projects

OTTAWA - Industry Minister Francois Philippe Champagne says he's telling his department to prioritize investments in projects that primarily use Canadian steel and aluminum — part of Ottawa's reply to the Trump administration's trade war.

Champagne says the move is in response to the "unfair and unjustified" 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum levied by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

Canada responded to Trump's steel and aluminum levies with 25 per cent tariffs on $29.8 billion worth of American goods, which took effect just after midnight Thursday.

Champagne says Canadian steel and aluminum support vital U.S. industries, including defence and automotive manufacturing.

Summer school students, staff play pandemic guinea pigs for safe return-to-school strategy

Summer students and staff are proving to be the pandemic guinea pigs for a safe return to schools in Manitoba, as they roam hallways equipped with newly installed arrow stickers, taped off water fountains and hand-sanitizer stations this month.

The nearly 100 high school students enrolled in the Winnipeg School Division’s summer sessions between Andrew Mynarski V.C. School and Grant Park High School are learning that physical distancing is now just as much a part of the school day as reading, writing and arithmetic.

Summer principal Pat Burgess said the novel coronavirus pandemic has turned education “upside down” — considering long-standing lessons about sharing and collaboration are at odds with public health protocols. But despite the pivot required, she said students have adapted with ease.

“The students are very receptive of the social distancing; most of them, I would say 99.9 per cent of them, are respecting those limits and they’re following our recommendations and our encouragement,” said vice-principal Shaun Bright, echoing his colleague’s comments.