Alexandra Pope

Editor-in-Chief at Canadian Geographic

Editor-in-Chief, @CanGeo + @CanGeo_Travel. Mama. Watcher of clouds. Pitches/ideas: [email protected]

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Articles

Baja beyond Cabo: Loreto, Mexico is the Gulf of California’s best-kept secret

2 weeks ago | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

I can still hear the barking with my ears underwater. It’s April, and the waters of the Gulf of California are cold and turbid, churned by the seasonal windstorms that rake this narrow inlet of the Pacific Ocean between mainland Mexico and the Baja California peninsula. I’m too late to witness the region’s most iconic winter visitors: blue whales, the largest animals on Earth, which migrate to these highly productive waters each year to calve and feed.
Planting trees will save us, and other climate myths

1 month ago | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

Planting trees alone won’t stop global warming, and nature-based climate solutions are not a licence to keep emitting. That’s the underlying message of a paper published last fall in Nature by a multinational group of climate scientists, including Andrew Weaver, a professor in the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria and former leader of the B.C. Green Party.
You went where? A family staycation in Sudbury, Ontario

2 months ago | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

I reached a parenting milestone this winter: my son’s first March Break since starting kindergarten this past fall. Huddled on our couch at home in Ottawa in the middle of snowbound and frigid January, my husband Jason and I researched sun destinations for a much-needed family getaway. Punta Cana emerged as a frontrunner. Visions of ocean waves, bottomless margaritas and on-resort babysitting danced in our heads.
Flags, annexation fears take centre stage at RCGS event with former Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Feb 11, 2025 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

On the same day that Stephen Harper joined four other living former Prime Ministers in urging Canadians to rally around our national flag in the face of threats and insults from U.S. President Donald Trump, he also took to the stage at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to launch his new book, Flags of Canada.
Announcing the winners of the 2024 Canadian Wildlife Photography of the Year competition

Aug 26, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope |Thomas Lundy

A snowshoe hare kicks up fresh snow as it races across the forest floor. A jumping spider perches nervously among the moss spores that blanket a piece of driftwood. A Pacific sea nettle drifts eerily in the dark turquoise waters of God’s Pocket Marine Provincial Park in B.C., its tentacles trailing.
WATCH: Inside the search for Quest, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s last ship

Jun 15, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

ExplorationRoyal Canadian Geographical Society Explorer-in-Residence Jill Heinerth documented all the tension and elation of an expedition to find the wreck of Quest in the Labrador SeaJun 15, 2024277 words2 minutes Four days into a Royal Canadian Geographical Society-led expedition to find the wreck of Quest, the last ship of iconic Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, there was a moment when it seemed she wouldn’t be found.
Wreck of Quest, famed Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s last ship, found in Labrador Sea

Jun 12, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

A Royal Canadian Geographical Society-led expedition has discovered the wreck of the famed exploration vessel Quest in the Labrador Sea. Celebrated polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton died aboard Quest in 1922 while en route to Antarctica, marking the end of what some historians call the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration. The wreck lies upright and intact on the seabed in 390 metres of water northwest of St. John’s and east of Battle Harbour, Labrador.
Five ways to fall in love with winter in Quebec’s Charlevoix region

Mar 21, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

In the middle of a half-hearted and historically warm El Niño winter, I took my family to Quebec’s Charlevoix region and found the wonderland we’d been missing — well, that one of us had, anyway. I grew up skating and skiing and have always had a deep affinity for snow and cold; my husband Jason is more of the “sit in the lodge with a book and a hot toddy” type. Our son, Marcus, is only three, but I’m doing my best to turn him into an all-weather kid.
“Do it like your granny did it:” Candice Batista on what it really means to live sustainably

Feb 13, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

EnvironmentThe environmental journalist and television personality dives into the complexities of sustainable living in a new bookFeb 13, 2024779 words4 minutes Candice Batista wants to change the way we shop. The way we clean. The way we decorate, cook, garden, recycle — basically, everything.
Chasing auroras in Yellowknife

Feb 1, 2024 | canadiangeographic.ca | Alexandra Pope

TravelWith solar activity expected to peak in 2024, there’s never been a better time to see the northern lights. Here’s how to do it in the “aurora capital of North America.”Feb 01, 20241,711 words7 minutes “She’s here.”I’ve just shrugged off my heavy parka inside a rustic cabin on the outskirts of Yellowknife when Tracy Therrien bursts through the door to announce the arrival of a highly-anticipated guest: the aurora borealis.