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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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Say goodbye to the Arctic ice cap
The Christian Science Monitor
10/15/2009
After reviewing data from a recently ended Arctic expedition, scientists concluded that the ice cap is on track to vanish during Arctic summers sometime within a generation.
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Climate scientists suggest revisiting the 1987 Montreal Protocol
Vancouver Sun
10/14/2009
International climate scientists have a new idea to shorten the agonizingly slow business of hammering out climate change laws: rewrite a hugely successful treaty written in Canada.
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Ignatieff touts clean energy platform in BC
Vancouver Sun
10/13/2009
In Vancouver on Tuesday, Canada's Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff pledged to put an unprecedented level of job-creating, clean-energy investments at the heart of his party's next campaign platform.
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It's not the fridge's fault
Toronto Globe and Mail
10/13/2009
If you want to know your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, you're better off walking through your neighbourhood than looking inside your fridge. A study has found that people who live in neighbourhoods that support physical activity and healthy diets were 38 per cent less likely to get the disease than their counterparts who reside in unsupportive environments.
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Views: Canada absent on climate change front
BC Local News
10/07/2009
During a week when the world leaders met at the United Nations to discuss the importance of taking action on climate change, Prime Minister Stephen Harper once again walked away from the table.
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Canadian study scrutinizes carbon capture
The New York Times
10/07/2009
In the face of mounting support for clean coal and the billions being invested in carbon capture and storage, a new assessment has a stern warning for policy-makers: there could be dramatic unintended environmental consequences to sequestering huge amounts of carbon dioxide in the earth’s mantle.
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Mighty caribou herds dwindle, warming blamed
Seattle Times
10/04/2009
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. And it's not just here.
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Decline in big predators damages ecosystems
Oregonian
10/01/2009
The decline of top predators such as North American wolves and African lions is driving increases in smaller predators such as coyotes and baboons, disrupting ecosystems and economies worldwide, Oregon State University researchers say.
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Food giants hop 'buy local' bandwagon
Toronto Globe and Mail
09/30/2009
The companies that dominate the food industry, from potato-chip makers to national supermarket chains, are trying to tap into the "buy local" zeitgeist. Some foodies call it greenwashing, while others are asking what role these companies can have in a local food system.
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Healthcare report card: Canada, B; US, D
CBC BC
09/28/2009
Canada earned a B grade on health-care outcomes compared with a D for the US, but trailed several other countries, according to a report card released Monday by the Conference Board of Canada.
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Like dinosaurs, the modern shopping mall was doomed
BC Local News
09/28/2009
Over 400 of the 2,000 largest U.S. malls have closed in the past two years. The plight of U.S. malls has become so grim it has inspired a website. Deadmalls.com was created by a couple of guys who decided it was archeologically important to document the abandoned malls for future students of American civilization.
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