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Official: Canada climate change laws years away
CBC BC
11/17/2009
The federal environment minister says it may be a few years before Canada tables regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Jim Prentice said the world has to first negotiate a new climate change treaty and Canada and the United States must finish their continental agreement on the same issue.
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Views: We need another carbon tariff
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/18/2009
A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt. A carbon tariff is an indispensable component of any economically viable carbon policy that Western economies must ultimately adopt.
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First Nation sues government over 1851 promise
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
An allegedly broken promise from 160 years ago will be tested by a lawsuit filed against the federal and provincial governments.
The Songhees First Nation is claiming a large swath of land that takes in part of the Uplands, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Cadboro Bay village, Gyro Park and a ribbon stretching across to Telegraph Cove.
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Views: Simon Frasier professors slam Campbell's energy plan
The Tyee
11/17/2009
Hobbling BC Hydro so private firms can profit big is bad public policy.
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Students studying polar bears get climate lessons
Oregonian
11/12/2009
High school junior Patricia Billette wants to take what she recently learned studying polar bears in Canada and teach people in Oregon how they can make small changes to combat global warming.
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Canada's boreal forest top-rated carbon warehouse
Vancouver Sun
11/12/2009
The boreal forest stores more carbon than any land-based ecosystem on the planet, according to a new report that says the Amazon is no match for Canada's boggy bush.
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Report: Ignoring climate change will be costly
Los Angeles Times
11/11/2009
Governments must act now to ward off catastrophic climate change or face additional costs of $500 billion per year of delay, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.
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Canadians worried about 'livability' of cities
Vancouver Sun
11/10/2009
A large number of people living in Canada's biggest cities are anxious about the future "livability" of urban spaces and are stressed about traffic and public transit, according to a new poll. Nearly 1/3 of urbanites disagreed with the statement: "My city is currently on a path of livability."
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Views: Inaction on climate change comes at a price
BC Local News
11/10/2009
Canada's gross domestic product would continue to grow even if we adopted the stronger measures that environmental organizations are calling for rather than the weak measures the federal government has proposed. Still, many people aren't willing to make tough decisions for the sake of our collective future.
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Canada commits to wilderness deal
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/09/2009
The federal government has agreed to what's being billed as an unprecedented commitment to wilderness conservation in North America.
Environment Minister Jim Prentice today announced he's signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States and Mexico that binds the three countries together in defending uninhabited spaces.
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Canadian inquiry into Salmon crash
BC Local News
11/10/2009
The collapse of this year’s Fraser River sockeye salmon run will be the focus of a judicial inquiry ordered by the Canadian government. More than nine million salmon expected to head up the Fraser River this summer failed to arrive. Just 1.37 million sockeye did return--the worst on record.
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Report: Toxic trinkets put kids at risk
CBC BC
11/03/2009
Tests are turning up dangerous levels of lead in children's jewelry and Canada's federal government can't compel companies to recall the toxic trinkets, an auditor's report reveals.
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Species' extinction threat grows
BBC News
11/02/2009
Out of the 47,677 species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, 17,291 were deemed to be at serious risk. These included 21 percent of mammals, 30 percent of amphibians, 70 percent of plants and 35 percent of invertebrates. The big offender: habitat loss.
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How H1N1 could sideswipe Canada's economy
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/02/2009
Flu season is becoming the latest headwind for the Canadian economy, which has already been hit by a strong dollar and tepid demand.
The H1N1 flu means up to 8 million more Canadians could fall ill, the Winnipeg-based International Centre for Infectious Disease estimates, with absenteeism posing a threat to productivity just as the economy is struggling out of recession.
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Canada ready to decide on climate action
Toronto Globe and Mail
10/29/2009
Canada can still meet a 2020 target to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions below 1990 levels while preserving some economic growth through the next decade. But to meet that target, the federal government must act immediately.
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Urban sprawl no fun for Canada's kids
Vancouver Sun
10/27/2009
Kids these days: they rarely walk anywhere in Canada. They don't ride bikes, they don't play outside - not like they used to, anyway. But can we blame them?
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Views: Maternity leave for the self-employed
The Tyee
10/28/2009
Without it, there's no level breeding field.
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BC's wilderness: where the wild things aren't
Toronto Globe and Mail
10/27/2009
Retracing the path of a bear named Eva, photographer finds grim evidence of widespread 'control kills' of animals.
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Adopt green tech by 2014 to avert climate calamity
New Scientist
10/22/2009
Green technologies can prevent catastrophic climate change, but only if we commit to them by 2014. Miss the deadline and we risk runaway global warming and economic meltdown, according to a new study.
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Warming continues to affect far north
Seattle Times
10/22/2009
Warming temperatures continue in the polar north, changing wind patterns, melting sea ice and glaciers, and affecting ocean and land life, according to a new report from NOAA.
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Seafood guide combines human and ocean health
Seattle Times
10/21/2009
A campaign to persuade consumers, chefs, and food distributors to choose seafood that is healthy for people and beleagured ocean fish stocks was launched Tuesday by the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
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Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
Christian Science Monitor
10/21/2009
Here on the endlessly rolling and tussocky terrain of northwest Canada, where man has hunted caribou since the Stone Age, the vast antlered herds are fast growing thin.
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A BC middle school bike-powers its computer lab
Vancouver Sun
10/20/2009
Abbotsford middle school has become the first school in Canada to power a computer lab with three sources of renewable power.
A wind turbine, solar panels, and a bicycle-powered generator combine to charge a photovoltaic cell and provide carbon-neutral energy for the innovative computer lab.
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Views: Carbon-capture projects are costly
Toronto Globe and Mail
10/20/2009
On a cost-benefit basis, these carbon-capture and storage projects are madness, leaving aside the fact that taxpayers are picking up the bill. They are wildly expensive for the small amount of carbon they will (might?) prevent from entering the atmosphere. They are most definitely not a substitute for a serious climate-change policy that, however structured, must put a price on carbon emissions by those who produce them – either upstream emitters such as industrial concerns and/or downstream consumers.
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Study: Touch of green trumps the blues
Vancouver Sun
10/15/2009
City dwellers residing near parks and greenery enjoy better health and fewer bouts of depression than those living in enclaves of concrete and asphalt, according to a study released on Thursday.
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