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Good afternoon, and welcome to Globe Climate, a newsletter about climate change, environment and resources in Canada.

The groundhogs have spoken. Neither Wiarton Willie or Fred la Marmotte saw their shadows, which is good news for people tired of wintry weather. Tradition says it is a sign of an early spring.

Now, let’s catch you up on other news.

1. Plastic: Federal Court of Appeal rules in favour of Ottawa keeping ban on single-use plastics
2. Art: Nature meets culture in Sylvia Safdie’s art of soil collections, titled Assemblages
3. Space: To probe the cosmos, hundreds of radio dishes take root in B.C.’s Okanagan Valley
4. Land: Who owns Greenland? All of us, and none of us, Inuit say
5. Oil and gas: India wants to import more Canadian oil, LNG to fuel its growing economy, minister says

For this week’s deeper dive, a closer look at mining in Zambia, and the impact on the country’s people and land.

Toxic pollution is just one price that Zambia pays for its heavy reliance on mining, writes Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York. As spills spoil crops and development forces people to move, Canadian- and Chinese-owned mines are leaving challenges for the future.

Copper generates more than 70 per cent of Zambia’s export revenue, making it one of the world’s most mining-dependent countries. And as copper prices soar, the world is fighting for access. Canadian companies such as First Quantum Minerals and Barrick Mining are among the biggest producers, with Chinese, Middle Eastern and American miners flocking to the country.

But the copper profits come at a cost: Thousands of people have been forcibly displaced. Farms and livelihoods are jeopardized. Chemicals have leaked into the water, soil and air. And there are legacy issues, too: waste dumps from decades-old lead and zinc operations that continue to cause illness today.

A toxic spill on Feb. 18, 2025, by a Chinese-owned company, is a recent high-profile example.

The company said the spill released 50,000 tonnes of acidic waste into waterways that connect to a major source of drinking water. But soon there was evidence that the spill was much worse than that. Drizit Zambia, an environmental management company, conducted a two-month investigation and concluded that more than 1.5 million tonnes of waste material had spilled.

Western governments are still cautioning travellers about the spill’s impact today. The Canadian government warns of “high levels of pollutants, including chemicals and heavy metals” that have caused “severe environmental damage and poses serious risks to public health.”

Much further to the north, thousands of Zambians who live near a Canadian-owned copper mine have a different issue: the loss of their land and the burden of relocation as mine expands.

Malizoze Painet lived for 30 years on a farm outside the town of Solwezi. She and her family grew vegetables, mangos, bananas and avocados, and they gathered mushrooms and wild figs from nearby fields. Then, in 2024, she was ordered to make room for an expansion of the Kansanshi mine, owned by Toronto-based First Quantum Minerals.

“I didn’t have any option,” she says.

She says the company gave her about $1,000 in compensation and bought her a house in the town. But her new home is on a rutted road and almost impassable for cars, and she has to buy her vegetables from a store now.

As many as 3,800 farmers could be forced to leave their homes.

While Zambian conservationist Dorian Tilbury recognizes that First Quantum Minerals has made some positive impact from its financial support for a conservation project, he still worries about the broader impact of mining.

“There’s huge pressure on this ecosystem. And in this country, mining trumps everything.”