Wednesday 10 June 2009 Japan sets 'weak' climate target
Japan's prime minister plans to cut greenhouse emissions by 15% by 2020, a target slammed as "appalling" by environmentalists.
Sunday 10 May 2009 REGINA: SK., U.S. STATE PROPOSE GREENHOUSE CO-OPERATION
Saskatchewan and Montana are joining forces on a plan to clean up the air by pumping carbon emissions underground. Premier Brad Wall and Governor Brian Schweitzer have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on a carbon-capture project. The proposed $270-million plan would see carbon dioxide emitted from a coal-fired power plant in southern Saskatchewan piped to Montana, where it would be stored underground. Saskatchewan will put $50 million toward the project and has asked the Canadian government to contribute $100 million. Mr. Schweitzer says he's confident the U.S. government will pitch in $100 million to help. The premier and the governor say their regions rely heavily on coal for power and something needs to be done about the carbon emissions.
Monday 20 April 2009 Key role of forests 'may be lost'
The ability of forests to act as massive carbon sinks is under threat as a result of climate change stress, scientists warn.
Thursday 12 March 2009 The Policy Wiki: A new issue — climate change
We've launched our third issue as part of the Public Policy Wiki — come to the site and let us know what you think Ottawa should do about climate change
Tuesday 10 March 2009 'More bad news' on climate change
A meeting of scientists in the Danish capital Copenhagen is expected to reveal further worrying data on global warming.
Sunday 01 March 2009 Obama’s Backing Raises Hopes for Climate Pact
The perception that the U.S. is now serious about tackling climate change has set off a flurry of diplomacy around the globe.
Friday 27 February 2009 TORONTO: ENVIRONMENTALISTS UNHAPPY WITH ONTARIO PLANS
Environmentalists in the Canadian province of Ontario say that the provincial government's new Green Energy Act relies too much on nuclear power. The government plans to introduce the plan tomorrow. Energy Minister George Smitherman hopes that the plan will make it easier to realize renewable energy projects and to promote conservation. The plan also aims to create 50,000 new jobs. But the environmentalist group, Greenpeace Canada, calls the Green Energy Act a good tool, but says that it won't help the environment because the level of nuclear power will remain the same. Nuclear energy provides half of Ontario's electricity needs. Greenpeace says that Ontario needs to expand its sources of renewable energy and to promote better energy conservation. The government hopes to end all use of coal in the province by 2014.
Monday 23 February 2009 TORONTO: ENVIRONMENTALISTS UNHAPPY WITH ONTARIO PLANS
Environmentalists in the Canadian province of Ontario say that the provincial government's new Green Energy Act relies too much on nuclear power. The government plans to introduce the plan tomorrow. Energy Minister George Smitherman hopes that the plan will make it easier to realize renewable energy projects and to promote conservation. The plan also aims to create 50,000 new jobs. But the environmentalist group, Greenpeace Canada, calls the Green Energy Act a good tool, but says that it won't help the environment because the level of nuclear power will remain the same. Nuclear energy provides half of Ontario's electricity needs. Greenpeace says that Ontario needs to expand its sources of renewable energy and to promote better energy conservation. The government hopes to end all use of coal in the province by 2014.
Saturday 21 February 2009 CALGARY: U.S., CANADA TO ROLL UP SLEEVES FOR CLIMATE
Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the U.S. and Canada will begin work immediately to devise a new clean-energy strategy. The minister was commenting on the announcement on Thursday by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama that they would establish a "dialogue" committing both parties to collaborate to develop science and technologies to reduce greenhouse gases and to combat climate change. Mr. Prentice says 2009 will be a crucial year for international efforts to control climate change, with a culmination at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, aimed at reaching a global agreement on emissions reduction. In remarks in Calgary, AB, he noted that an experiment by the EnCana energy firm in Weyburn in carbon capture shows that successful technology can be devised. Under the procedure of carbon capture and storage, toxic emissions are redirected beneath the earth instead of being released into the atmosphere.
Friday 20 February 2009 OTTAWA: U.S., CANADA LAUNCH CLIMATE PARTNERSHIP
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama agreed to establish a "clean-energy dialogue" during the latter's six-hour visit to the capital on Thursday. Mr. Harper says the "dialogue" commits both parties to collaborate to develop the science and technologies to reduce greenhouse gases and to combat climate change. Mr. Obama has made climate change and clean energy a priority for his new administration, a change from the attitude of his predecessor, former President George W. Bush. The president says the future contacts between cabinet officials and senior officials from both countries is a good start toward tackling climate problems. While there have been calls for a North American "cap-and-trade system" to fight climate change, both agreed that it's too soon for such a step, Mr. Obama explaining: "We have to complete our domestic debate and discussion."
Thursday 29 January 2009
Ocean climate fix remains afloat
Plans to curb climate change by artificially "fertilising" ocean plankton blooms could be boosted by a new study, scientists say.
Friday 23 January 2009 OTTAWA: CLIMATE ACCORD SOUGHT
Canada is hoping to negotiate a North American accord on climate change with the new Obama administration. Environment Minister Jim Prentice says there are a lot of areas where the two countries can work together. For example, they can share a cap-and-trade system, whereby companies in both countries can buy and sell greenhouse gas credits. They can also have the same targets for cutting emissions, for fuel efficiency standards, and for the creation of biofuels and renewable energies. Mr. Prentice says many of the details still have to worked out, but added that there's already a lot of common ground between the two countries.
WESTERN CANADA/US: CLIMATE KILLING TREES
Trees in old-growth forests in Canada and the US are dying at a faster rate than ever, and scientists are pointing a finger at climate change as the culprit. A study, published in the journal Science, suggests that while the temperature rise is slight, it's enough to increase drought stress on trees and double their death rate. The study was based on an examination of 76 different forest plots in the west of Canada and the US. The researchers also say their findings raise questions about the effect of climate change on Canada's boreal, or northern, forest.
2008
Sunday 21 December 2008 Climate experts get key US posts
US President-elect Barack Obama nominates two leading global warming specialists for key science posts in his administration.
Saturday 13 December 2008 POZNAN: CANADA SAID EARNEST ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
The international climate change conference in Poland has concluded with a vow by Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice to make the issue a priority for the federal government. Mr. Prentice says that while economic considerations are important, Canada wants an international protocol to reduce carbon emissions. The conference is one of a series leading up to a meeting in Copenhagen in December where, delegates will negotiate a new climate-change treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, which expires in 2012. Not all the parties at the Poznan conference were enthusiastic about Canada's role there, the Climate Action Network International electing Canada the event's most obstructive participant. The group includes more than 400 non-governmental organizations.
Sunday 07 December 2008 No deal amid EU climate deadlock
Nicolas Sarkozy reports progress with Eastern states over an EU climate change deal, but says no deal has yet been agreed.
Wednesday 03 December 2008 An international conference on climate change continued in Poznan on Tuesday. Some 10,700 delegates will meet until Dec. 12 in an effort to negotiate an international treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The UN is hoping the treaty will have been negotiated by the end of 2009. Representatives of developing countries have told rich nations that they will need billions of dollars of aid to help them react to climate warming and phenomenons caused by like droughts, floods and more powerful cyclones.
Faiths in climate change summit
About 1,000 representatives of the world's leading religions are gathering in Sweden for summit on climate change - said to be the first of its kind. The two-day conference involves Christians, Muslims, Jews, Chinese Daoists and a native American representative, among others.
20 November 2008 OTTAWA: CONSERVATIVES REVERSE FIELD ON ENVIRONMENT
The Conservative government on Wednesday announced it will work to develop a North America-wide cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gases. Until now, the Conservatives, who walked away from the Kyoto emissions reduction targets, have focussed more on cutting the intensity of emissions rather than imposing absolute curbs. Environment Minister Jim Prentice explained that the government's change of tack is due in part to the election of President-elect Barack Obama. The president-elect favours a plan for a 20-per cent cut in the 2007 level of emissions by 2020, a far more ambitious plan that that put forward by the Conservatives. The Green Party has reacted by accusing the government of "...just trying to con the Canadian public into believing that it's going to do something about climate change." Environmental groups say the Canadian government will have to go along with whatever system of emissions reduction that the U.S. adopts because its economy is 10 times the size of Canada's.
Friday 12 December 2008 POZNAN: CANADA SEEKING BALANCE AT ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE
Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice says the Canadian government needs to find a balance between dealing with climate change and coping with the international financial crisis. He offered the opinion from Poznan, Poland, where he's attending the UN Climate Change Conference along with some 145 counterparts. The ministers are working to prepare for a later conference in Denmark in December 2009 where a final accord would be agreed to replace the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, which expires in 2013. Mr. Prentice says it's important to agree on an international protocol that applies to all major emitters of greenhouse gases, including the U.S., China, India and Brazil.
Sunday 09 November 2008 EDMONTON: ALBERTA WANTS INVOLVEMENT IN CLIMATE DEAL
Premier Ed Stelmach says Alberta wants to be directly involved in negotiations with the U.S. on a climate change accord. He was reacting to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's revelation on Wednesday that his government intends to make such an accord a priority, given the impending departure of U.S. President George W. Bush and the also impending arrival of President-elect Barack Obama. Mr. Stelmach says his province must be part of negotiations because of the effect of an accord on major energy projects in Alberta. The premier says he won't accept any agreement that lessens investment in its energy sector or increases the prices of fuel, electricity and home heating. Mr. Stelmach suggests that the president-elect realize that Alberta's oilsands developments provide the U.S. with a reliable source of energy that will be required to build the slumping U.S. economy back up.
Thursday 06 November 2008 OTTAWA: CONTINENTAL CLIMATE ACCORD A POSSIBILITY
Mr. Harper's foreign minister, Lawrence Canonn, says the government hopes to achieve a North American climate-change accord after Mr. Obama assumes office and will make that achievement an immediate priority. Mr. Canonn added that his cabinet colleague Environment Minister Jim Prentice will begin work on the file in coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Canadian Press reports that the government has been waiting for the departure of President George W. Bush to start work on an integrated continental carbon market. The Conservatives promised in their recent election campaign to work with the U.S. and Mexico for a cap-and-trade system to be implemented between 2012 and 2015. Under such a system, absolute ceilings are placed on industrial emissions. Participants that don't meet emissions targets can pay the value of the excess to others who under their ceilings. On another question, Mr. Canonn says Mr. Obama's election won't change Canada's decision to end its mission in Afghanistan in 2011.
Sunday 14 September 2008 Cool the overheated rhetoric on climate change
One commonly repeated argument for doing something about climate change sounds compelling, but turns out to be almost fraudulent. It is based on comparing the cost of action with the cost of inaction, and almost every major politician in the world uses it.
Friday 12 September 2008 TORONTO: FORMER PMs TAKE STAND ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Four former Canadian prime ministers have co-signed a petition demanding that the federal government do more to combat global warming. The statement is signed by Paul Martin, Joe Clark, Kim Campbell and John Turner, as well as numerous business, academic and other leaders. Mr. Clark says he's "very concerned" by the government failure to act on the issue and that Canada is falling behind countries that are acting. Miss Campbell noted that there has been a "persistent void at the highest political levels in this country." Two other former prime ministers, Jean Chrétien and Brian Mulroney, didn't sign the statement.
Thursday 04 September 2008 OTTAWA: CLIMATE CHANGE RESHAPES NORTH
Scientists report that two ice shelves have lost massive chunks this month and a third is drifting in the Arctic Ocean. The researchers attribute the developments to climate change. The sources say the entire 50-square-kilometre Markham Ice Shelf is drifting off the coast of Ellesmere Island in the eastern Arctic. Two sections of Serson Ice Shelf have detached themselves, reducing the mass of the shelf by 60 per cent. In July, the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf lost 22 square kilometres, or one-half its bulk. One expert, Derek Mueller of Trent University in Peterborough, ON, said the changes are occurring because the climatic conditions that prevailed for 4,000 years are now altered.
Friday 22 August 2008 World heading towards cooler 2008
Global temperatures recorded so far this year suggest is likely to emerge as the coolest this century, scientists say.
The early part of 2008 saw continued low temperatures in some regions
This year appears set to be the coolest globally this century.
Data from the UK Met Office shows that temperatures in the first half of the year have been more than 0.1 Celsius cooler than any year since 2000.
The principal reason is La Nina, part of the natural cycle that also includes El Nino, which cools the globe.
Even so, 2008 is set to be about the 10th warmest year since 1850, and Met Office scientists say temperatures will rise again as La Nina conditions ease.
Thursday 14 August 2008 OTTAWA: AIR POLLUTION SEEN WORSENING
The Canadian Medical Association predicts that the number of deaths due to air pollution will soar over the next two decades. A study by the doctors' lobby says 21,000 Canadians will die this year from the effects of air pollution and that that number will mushroom to 800,000 by 2031. The study says that most of the deaths will occur among people aged 65 or older because that age category is most vulnerable to heart disease. The document predicts as well that 940,000 people will have to visit an emergency ward in 2031 because of air pollution, one-third more than this year.
Wednesday 09 July 2008 OTTAWA: CANADIANS WANT GOVT. ACTION ON CLIMATE
A public opinion survey indicates that a majority of Canadians want aggressive government action to fight climate change despite increasing fuel costs. The Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll seems to contradict speculation that people don't want governments to drive up their costs any further as they try to cope with soaring gasoline and oil prices. When asked whether they favoured a more cautious approach to environmental issues or stronger action to reduce Canada's dependence on oil, 61 per cent preferred the latter alternative. Only 27 per cent said that government should move more slowly on the environment because of the rising cost of oil and gas.
Monday 07 July 2008 Africa dominates first day of G8 summit
Seven African leaders call for aid to help bolster agricultural production
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Africa dominated the agenda at the annual summit of the Group of Eight Monday, as delegates from the leading industrialized nations discussed a range of issues with their African counterparts, including whether enough aid has been forthcoming to help alleviate poverty.
Saturday Jul 5, 2008 Three parties, three strategies
The passing into law last month of the federal Climate Change Accountability Act has put pressure on...
It’s clear that there’s plenty of hard eco-news to discuss, so it’s disappointing that the Green Shift cease-and-desist will likely get most of the water-cooler talk. A smattering: A new study from the left-leaning Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives confirms that those with higher incomes create bigger environmental footprints, suggesting policies like the Green Shift should be adjusted to tax the wealthy. A poll suggests that, once Canadians are familiar with the idea of a revenue-neutral carbon tax, they tend to support it. Record-setting polar meltdowns have scientists thinking the North Pole may be ice-free this summer for the first time in history. US mayors have adopted a resolution condemning the environmental impact of Alberta’s tarsands. The list of interestingideas and issues goes on. And the Globe’s Margaret Wente criticizes Dion’s green plan as useless in the face of swift global economic growth, concluding that “only massive long-term investments in carbon-neutral technologies will do the trick.” MediaScout doesn’t have a position on the Green Shift (or whatever it’s called once the legal issues surrounding the name are settled), but Wente should know that it includes tax credits to encourage investment in green tech. Still, at least she’s talking about climate change. James Hansen may have little to celebrate, but he shouldn’t be so hard on himself. Global warming is now everywhere in Canada’s papers, and the centrepiece of a mainstream political party’s platform - results twenty years in the making.
Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 Baird should applaud Quebec and Ontario
Just what is federal Environment Minister John Baird grumbling about? He should be praising Quebec and Ontario for trying to do something about what has emerged as the most important environmental issue of the age. But instead, he seems intent on burying Premiers Jean Charest and Dalton McGuinty, along with their agreement on climate change, under a mound of verbiage about the provinces' being all talk and no action on the issue. Premiers thumb noses at Ottawa
Thursday 01 May 2008 Next decade 'may see no warming'
Global temperatures may not rise for 10 years as natural cooling masks greenhouse warming, research suggests.
Environment correspondent, BBC News website
La Nina conditions have brought unseasonably cold weather to Europe
The Earth's temperature may stay roughly the same for a decade, as natural climate cycles enter a cooling phase, scientists have predicted.
A new computer model developed by German researchers, reported in the journal Nature, suggests the cooling will counter greenhouse warming.
However, temperatures will again be rising quickly by about 2020, they say.
Sunday 27 April 2008 OTTAWA: GOVERNMENT TAKES ENVIRONMENT STEP
Canada's Conservative Party government announced a new environment initiative on Saturday to reduce some sources of smog. Under the plan, limits would also be put on volatile organic compounds that are found in many household items such as house paint, nail polish and vehicle coatings. The compounds cause the strong smell in a newly opened can of paint. Environment Minister John Baird says that such compounds are the second-largest contributor to smog in Canada. Vehicle emissions are first. The government proposes to limit the concentration of the compounds in personal care products, paints and coatings and vehicle refinishing products. But implementing the change by 2010 could cost the industry CDN$323 million according to one industry analyst.
Thursday 03 April 2008 'No Sun link' to climate change
The idea that the Earth's climate is determined by cosmic rays and the Sun's activity is discredited by UK scientists.
Some glaciers in Europe have suffered significant losses
The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown.
Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006.
Some of the biggest losses have occurred in the Alps and Pyrenees mountain ranges in Europe.
Wednesday 12 March 2008 UNDATED: CLIMATE CHANGE COULD DEVASTATE EASTERN CANADA
A scientific study sponsored by the Canadian government says climate changes risk having a devastating effect on the four Atlantic provinces. The report predicts more violent storms and floods that will particularly affect residents living near sea coasts. The researchers recommend better irrigation systems to reduce the damage and the establishment of buffer zones between the sea and infrastructure such as highways and homes. The heightening of the sea levels and erosion will also have negative effect on supplies of drinking water. The reduction of sources of drinking water and dry summers will cause problems for farmers, municipal water services and fishermen.
Saturday 02 February 2008 Bush's climate talks 'engaging'
The latest US-led climate talks have been described as the most engaging climate negotiations so far. ...One EU delegate said: "I came expecting nothing and was very pleasantly surprised. Normally, we get sterile pre-prepared statements of policy, but this time there was a very frank discussion exploring the very difficult and different conditions facing each of the countries. It was very constructive.
Wednesday 30 January 2008 VANCOUVER: PREMIERS SEARCH FOR CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS
Climate change was again on the agenda as Canada's ten premiers met for the second day on Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia. Before the meeting of the Council of the Federation began, Newfoundland's premier, Danny Williams, admitted that finding common ground in the fight against greenhouse gasses was difficult. But reports indicated that British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were negotiating limits on industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Alberta's premier, Ed Stelmach, did not attend the second day of meetings. His government was criticized for introducing a plan recently to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 14 per cent of 2005 levels by 2050, a period deemed too distant in the future. British Columbia's premier, Gordon Campbell, also said that he expected agreements to be reached on managing water supplies and on preserving forests. British Columbia is leading the move toward establishing limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The province has introduced legislation to cut emissions by 33 per cent by 2020. The ten provinces and three territories formed the Council of the Federation in 2003 to discuss national issues.
Tuesday Jan 29, 2008 Alberta's climate plan tops debate
Canadian premiers offered cautious defence of Alberta's approach to climate change yesterday as they...
Boreal forest the next battle
Canada's forest is emerging as an immense - truly immense - national and international player. Canada's forest is emerging as an immense - truly immense - national and international player.
The broad swath of often-scruffy timberland stretching from Yukon to Labrador is one of the largest stores of carbon on Earth, making it key to fighting global warming and climate change.
It holds an estimated 186 billion tonnes of carbon - about 27 times as much as is released globally by the burning of fossil fuels each year.
Sunday Jan 6, 2008 In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm You’re in for very bad weather. In 2008, your television will bring you image after frightening image of natural havoc linked to global warming. You will be told that such bizarre weather must be a sign of dangerous climate change — and that these images are a mere preview of what’s in store unless we act quickly to cool the planet.
Saturday 05 January 2008 Study says North Atlantic waters may be warming naturally ...Researchers from North Carolina's Duke University say an analysis of available records shows an uneven warming of the North Atlantic Ocean's surface waters in a 50-year period between 1950 and 2000.
2007
Thursday 20 December 2007 How not to regulate climate change
The glacial pace of global negotiations on climate change argues in favour of local, sectoral regulations ... more
18th-century climate change
Molten iron raining down like cowpats; ice floes at New Orleans. The weather of 1783 was an extraordinary case of sudden climate change driven by atmospheric gases ... more
Sunday 09 December 2007 Climate Conflicts It took years for a consensus on the existence and causes of climate change to emerge. But it took no time at all, it seems, for leaders around the world to latch onto the notion that global warming will bring war. In the spring, a report by retired U.S. generals and admirals called on Washington to incorporate climate change, especially its destabilizing effect on weak states, into the United States’ national defense strategy. Soon after, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon wrote in The Washington Post that the origin of the brutal fighting between herders and farmers in Darfur was an extended drought that was tied to the warming of the Indian Ocean — itself the product of new weather patterns driven by human activity. And then Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize in part for his climate-change documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” What does global warming have to do with peace? In the view of the Nobel panel, it “may induce large scale migration and lead to greater competition for the Earth’s resources ... [and] increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states.”
Friday 30 November 2007 OTTAWA: GOVT. LAYS OUT STRATEGY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONFERENCE
Environment Minister John Baird says Canada will insist that an international treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change after it expires in 2012 will have to include both developed countries like Canada and the U.S. but developing nations like China and India as well. Mr. Baird told the House of Commons environment committee that it's wrong to assume that developed nations alone can assume all the burden of reducing greenhouse emissions. The minister says that will be Canada's position at the international environment conference in Bali, Indonesia, Dec. 3-14. Developing nations ratified Kyoto but weren't obliged to meet emissions reduction targets. NDP, Liberal and Bloc Québécois MPs on the committee suggested Mr. Baird has little credibility to negotiate in Bali because of the government's ineffective domestic environmental plan
Former Quebec premier Pierre Marc Johnson played a key role in bringing this conference to Montreal in his role as a board member of the Veolia Environment Institute.
The Paris-based think tank was created in 2001. Its mission is to promote environmental research in universities and hold a series of international conferences.
In an interview with The Gazette yesterday, Johnson stressed the conference will not be about rehashing political conflicts over the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
"This is not about Kyoto or no Kyoto. We are talking about major changes in terms of emissions rates over the long term," he said
Wednesday 31 October 2007 Assess climate risk, firms urged Corporate executives and directors face a growing threat of investor lawsuits if they fail to assess and mitigate the risk their companies face from climate change, accounting experts warned yesterday.
Thursday Oct 25, 2007 a class="t2" href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=e96fa6c1-1e8c-4563-aafa-edd4da6b6653 onmouseover="return overlib('click to bbc ', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_" > PIERRE MARC JOHNSON, Business community is pushing for action on climate change
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and to the International Panel on Climate Change is a powerful signal that the issue of climate change has reached a "political tipping point," climbing to the top of the agenda of the international community in the fields of politics, business and academia.
Thursday 27 September 2007 Canada appeasing U.S. on global warming treaty, critics say
OTTAWA - The Harper government heads into a major climate change summit in Washington today, promoting a contentious plan that could allow countries such as the United States and China to increase their greenhouse gas pollution under the next international treaty on global warming, a senior aide to Environment Minister John Baird indicated Wednesday.
Tuesday 14 August 2007 MONCTON: PREMIERS cannot AGREE ON MAJOR GREENHOUSE INITIATIVES
Canada's 13 provincial and territorial premiers have concluded their annual three-day conference without agreement on major initiatives to check the industrial toxic emissions that cause global warming. They disagreed on the advisability of "cap-and-trade," by which hard ceilings would be imposed on emissions and companies could trade credits for industries under the pollution limits. Provinces including Nova Scotia and British Columbia favour the idea, while Alberta, the chief energy-producing province reiterated its opposition. Twelve of the 13 provinces and territories favoured a proposal for California-style emission standards for vehicles, but Ontario's Dalton McGuinty was opposed. Ontario is the centre of Canada's automobile industry. The premier says a cap-and-trade system would reduce greenhouse gas from industry by 90 megatonnes a year, while a California tailpipe standard would cause a reduction of only eight megatonnes. The premiers did agree in areas such as biofuels and a climate registry reliably to measure emissions.
Monday 30 July 2007 India talks about tackling climate change PERHAPS it was the prospect of monsoon flooding of the kind that has left 800 dead on the Indian subcontinent this month. Or maybe the push came from another of the recent dire predictions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—for example, that the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Indus could become seasonal rivers by 2035. Whatever the reason, India has decided to formulate a policy on climate change.
Sunday 29 July 2007ME fires up carbon futures launch
With Chicago climate exchange
Demand growing for green derivatives The Montreal Exchange yesterday gave the long-awaited green light to the launch of a carbon futures contract in partnership with the Chicago Climate Exchange, confident it can lock on to growing demand for environmental derivative products. "The new publicly traded product will be the first of its kind in Canada and will be a very useful vehicle to help large emitters to comply with new CO2 emission rules," ME CEO Luc Bertrand said. Trading should start by yearend.
Tuesday 17 July 2007 Video: Glaciers in Retreat As global warming raises temperatures, glaciers in the Himalayas are melting and South Asia's water supply is at risk. Related Article
Tuesday 26 June 2007 TORONTO: GOVT. REFUSES TO DEVISE NEW CLIMATE PLAN
Canadian Environment Minister John Baird says the federal government won't dismiss out of hand a law approved last week by Parliament which obliges it to respect Canada's emissions reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, but also says it won't draw up a new environment plan different from the existing one. Mr. Baird says the time for inventing climate plans is over and that the government will move to implement what has already been planned. The private Liberal Party member's bill forces the government to explain within two months how it will reduce emissions to six per cent below 1990 levels. The government has already said such a goal is impossible of achievement. The government's own plan aims at cutting greenhouse gases by 20 per cent by 2020.
Mon 25/06/2007 My [Cleo Paskal] Chatham House Briefing Paper has just been released. Thought you might find it interesting. The url is: climatecp.pdf
Saturday 09 June 2007 HEILIGENDAMM: PM SAYS CANADA NEEDS U.S. IN CLIMATE ACCORD
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says it would be difficult for Canada to meet its obligations in a new global climate change treaty unless the U.S. and ultimately Mexico were party to it. Mr. Harper told the closing news conference of the G8 summit that unless the Americans are onside, the attempt to meet emissions targets would penalize the Canadian economy, which is why it's so important to persuade the Americans and other major polluters to join the process. Mr. Harper repeated his comparison first made on Thursday that a global accord on greenhouse gases should operate the way the EU approaches the problem, that is that there's an overall target but each member state is fixed its own targets according to its circumstances. The leaders' declaration on the matter on Thursday said that all members should "seriously consider" following the goal fixed by Canada, Japan and the EU of reducing emissions by half by 2050. The prime minister also says he had a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, who also attended the summit. Mr. Harper says he raised a range of issues, including climate change, the social responsibilities of business and human rights, including the case of Huseyin Celil, a Canadian jailed in China as a supposed terrorist.
rci HEILIGENDAMM: PM SEES FIRST STEP ON CLIMATE AT G8
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has saluted the agreement on climate change among the eight leaders at the G8 summit in Germany as a welcome first step, adding that although they failed to agree on fixed emissions targets, the fact that they all agreed for the first time that action is required is itself a victory. The language of their declaration on global warming said all members should "seriously consider" following the goal fixed by Canada, Japan and the EU of reducing emissions by half by 2050. Mr. Harper says that world leaders must now set world standards that take account of each nation's own targets. He cited as an example the EU, which has varying targets for its members but which add up to the EU's overall goal of reducing emissions by 20 per cent by 2020. The prime minister says it's normal for developed nations to take on a major share of the burden, but that in the end an accord will have to include everyone to be effective, a process that could take months or years. Earlier, Mr. Harper had a 40-minute meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at which the prime minister raised the human rights issue. Mr. Harper says he suggested that G8 leaders have a democratic duty to allow protests and to tolerate dissent. The prime minister said afterwards that Canada is concerned about "back-sliding" reflected in recent events in Russia. The prime minister said Mr. Putin replied that Canada too has been criticized for human rights failures. The prime minister says he responded he didn't mind the criticism, but that it's important for national leaders to accept and to tolerate the existence of criticism.
Fri 01/06/2007 rci
OTTAWA: CANADA WORKING TO BRING U.S. ONSIDE ON CLIMATE CHANGE
The Canadian Press news agency reports that Canada is working closely with European states to coax the U.S. into signing onto a new global climate treaty after the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change ends in 2012. CP cites an unnamed European source as explaining the strategy toward the Americans is to find a way to make the process of negotiating less cumbersome. The Kyoto process has so far been conducted by the UN, and a UN conference in Indonesia in December is supposed to set the negotiations into motion. The issue will arise next week at the G8 summit in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel is pushing for a final communiqué that will set global targets for greenhouse gas reduction and reaffirm the primacy of the talks in Bali. The U.S. dislikes that approach, objecting in particular to the goal of a target of 50 per cent reductions of emissions by 2050. According to CP's source, Canada and Japan are intent upon somehow bringing the American into the process, which would be an inducement to India and China as well. Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons on Tuesday that his government wants an "effective international protocol that includes all nations, with real targets past 2012."
OTTAWA: ENVIRONMENTALISTS SUE GOVT. OVER CLIMATE CHANGE
The Friends of the Earth environmental group has started a lawsuit against the Canadian government for not having respected its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The suit filed at Federal Court of Canada accuses the government of having failed to cut toxic industrial emissions to six per cent under 1990 levels. In 2004, the emissions were in fact 27 per cent higher than in 1990. Friends of the Earth explains that it had no choice but to launch a legal challenge because global warming is the "most urgent crisis ever facing the planet..." The present Conservative Party government of Mr. Harper says the Kyoto emissions reduction targets are impossible to meet and has proposed an alternative plan.
FOR YOUR SERIOUS CONSIDERATION The
National, CTV
News, The
Star, the
Globe, the
Post, La Presse (not available online) front while the
Citizen goes inside with the agreement culminating from climate-change
talks at the G8 conference in Heiligendamm, Germany. Due to ambiguous
wording, the much anticipated climate-change deal, according to most of
the Big Seven, boils down to an agreement whose success hangs in the
diligence of the individual’s commitment. The technical phrasing,
called “a last minute compromise” by the Globe, states that
all members have vowed to “seriously consider” the goal of
halving emissions by 2050. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper calls the agreement “an important first step,”
British PM Tony Blair hails it as “a major, major step
forward” and German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that it is "very
great progress and an excellent result." French President Nicolas Sarkozy
is less optimistic, however, and is quoted in the Citizen as saying
“If you want me to say that we could have done better then, yes. I
want to speak frankly.” Similarly, the opposition in Ottawa are
calling it a “watered-down deal”, accusing Harper of failing
to broker a deal between the aggressive measures called upon by European
countries and the Bush administration’s delaying tactics.
The Globe explains that the agreement commits nations, including major
emitters from outside the G8 (such as China), to work toward an agreement
together. They will begin this task at a meeting of environment ministers
in Indonesia later this year. Harper was committed to the talks he and
Merkel had earlier this week and had Canada cited for special mention in
the G8 text. It read that nations agreed to look hard at an idea pursued
by the European Union, and backed by Canada and Japan, that would include
cutting emissions by half by 2050. Today, the final day of the summit,
kicked off with a promising and certainly more decisive plan: the members
of the G8 have pledged to give $60 billion to fight the spread of disease
and poverty in Africa.
Wednesday Jun 6, 2007 Climate change takes world stage
G8 Summit. Harper raises eyebrows by asserting Canada's green plan is tougher than Europe's. Dirty air, heat kill 939 here each year
Prime Minister Stephen Harper held up his government's climate-change plan as a model for the world yesterday, but it was not enough to close the gap between the Canadian and European positions heading into this week's summit of the Group of Eight industrialized countries. ...Harper earned a rebuke from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for abandoning Canada's commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. to German business leaders, the prime minister called climate change "perhaps the biggest threat to confront the future of humanity today," and admitted it is now impossible for Canada to meet its Kyoto commitment "without crippling the economy." ...Under the Harper government's plan, made public this spring, Canada has committed to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2050, using a base year of 2006. But a joint summit statement said the EU "has concluded" that developed countries should reduce their emissions by 60 to 80 per cent compared with 1990 - a much steeper cut than that proposed by the Harper plan.
What is the $cost if a country fails Kyoto?
Tuesday Jun 5, 2007 Harper flies to Paris for his first face-to-face meeting with newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has proposed slapping an import tax on countries that do not honour the Kyoto Protocol.
How business is starting to tackle climate change, and how governments need to help THE current row over climate change sounds all too familiar. Germany, host of this year's G8 summit, is trying to get the world to agree on what to do when the Kyoto protocol on curbing greenhouse gases runs out in 2012. America, which dislikes the tough targets that the Europeans want the world to sign up to, is proposing separate negotiations between the world's big emitters. Environmentalists accuse it of trying to sidetrack the issue. The line-up is much like the one that led to America's withdrawal from the Kyoto agreement in 2001.
May 23, 2007 Environmentalists doubt UN's billion-tree scheme will ease warming UNITED NATIONS - An ambitious United Nations plan to oversee the planting of one billion trees worldwide - including 50 million in Canada - moved ahead Tuesday despite mounting criticism from arguably unexpected quarters.
Officials at the Nairobi headquarters of the UN's environment wing declared that groups and governments around the world have pledged to exceed the goal - and said the initiative will help fight climate change and poverty.
Canadians not prepared for financial sacrifices to tackle environment, survey says OTTAWA - Canadians have no doubts about the existence of global warming, but they are still reluctant to make financial sacrifices or alter certain lifestyle habits to save the environment, a Finance Department report warned just prior to the 2007 federal budget release.
Tory green plan favours oilpatch, critics charge The Conservative government fended off opposition accusations Tuesday of favouritism for the Alberta oilpatch as various industry groups started raising questions about new federal environmental regulations that make the oilsands the only Canadian sector allowed to increase pollution linked to smog over the next decade.
And what about Canada's flap over the ecofraud? We loved the confrontation between David Suzuki and John Baird; for once Dr. Suzuki struck the perfect tone of disappointed mentor confronting his student's total failure to understand the subject. Climate change will again be on the menu, given the report from the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research that Arctic ice is melting much faster than previously predicted see Arctic Ice Melting Faster Than Forecast
Tuesday 01 May 2007
Harper defends green plan Prime Minister Stephen Harper jumped to the defence of his embattled environment minister Monday to respond to an escalating storm of criticism at home and abroad over his government’s new plan to tackle
climate change and air pollution.
Monday 30 April 2007
Baird lashes back at Gore's attack Environment Minister John Baird says the negative reviews of his government's new green plan by high-profile celebrities are a "knee-jerk" reaction from people who haven't looked at the policies objectively.
Friday 27 April 2007
Households, economy, targeted in greenhouse plan New industrial facilities and automobile manufacturers in Canada are getting a free ride over the next three years under new federal environmental regulations unveiled Thursday.
Saturday, April 21, 2007 UN experts reject Ottawa's climate-change vision
COST OF EMISSIONS CHEAPER THAN GOVT. SAYS: UN
A UN draft report claims it's possible to reduce global greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 by imposing a carbon tax of between $20 and $50 a per tonne of gas. A carbon tax is an excise tax on the producers of raw
fossil fuels based on their relative carbon content. The report written by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the cost would be lower if the timeframe for achieving the target is lengthened. It won't be officially released until next month but the Canadian Press has obtained a copy. The document suggests regulations and taxes to promote efficiency.
The report predicts that the private sector will refuse to invest in efficiency unless there are incentives such as the carbon tax that are clearer, more predictable, longer-term and more "robust" than current government measures. On Thursday, the Canadian government released a document written by Environment Canada that claims a $195-a-tonne carbon would have to be imposed for Canada to meet its targets under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change and this would cause dire economic chaos. One of the authors of the UN report is University of Ottawa professor emeritus Philippe Crabbe, who responds that the government's document describes what would happen only if the targets had to be met by next year. Prof. Crabbe says since successive Canadian government have delayed action to cut emissions the Kyoto targets may be indeed out of reach, but that this is no reason to continue not to act.
Have just sent the following (electronic!) letter to the editor of the Gazette:
Dear Sir,
The" words matter" promotion may be your advertising agency's dream scheme, but to those of us who care about the depletion of our forests, it is offensive to see one blank page with some three or four words, and doubly offensive in an issue devoted to "How Green are We?". Shame on you!
Diana & David Nicholson
Feds clueless on global warming: experts The federal government is neglecting the scientific evidence and research on the impact of global warming, a panel of senior Canadian climate experts said on Tuesday.
Baird promises tougher climate plan The Conservative government before the end of this month will roll out one of the world's toughest regimes to battle global climate change, Environment Minister John Baird promised Saturday.
Friday 16 March 2007
B.C.'s premier, Schwarzenegger discuss climate change It's a political plot nobody saw coming: the West Coast's inveterate policy wonk Gordon Campbell and Hollywood's Terminator-turned-"governator" Arnold Schwarzenegger teaming up as the West Coast's climate-action heroes.
Wed1306 Sunday Mar 11, 2007 Climate Change is rarely off the Wednesday Night menu these days and lo! the media, with the Gazette in the lead, are gasping (in shock and awe) "Expect water shortage in 20 years" http://tinyurl.com/3d7ws5
In fairness, this fourth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (or IPCC to the groupies) contains far starker warnings than the previous assessments. At least Europe is paying serious attention with signature of an agreement on plans to reduce Member states' ecological footprints. economist.com
On a related topic, and one which is frequently discussed on Wednesday Night (i.e. Wed1299page2.asp), last week Global TV broadcast an extensive report, "Promise Land", on the oil boom in Alberta including consideration of the geopolitical and environmental issues of development of the tar sands, and the impact on greenhouse gas emissions (Click on Monday's Report on: Promise Land)
Sunday 04 March 2007
Suzuki says Canadians willing to pay to fight climate change After meeting with tens of thousands of Canadians on a cross-country tour, environmentalist David Suzuki says he's convinced that most are willing to pay more out of their own pockets to fight climate change, provided that big industries are forced to do the same.
Saturday 03 March 2007 a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/science/03climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin" onmouseover="return overlib('click to media via nyt', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_">U.S. Predicting Steady Increase for Emissions
The Bush administration estimates that emissions by the United States of gases that contribute to global warming will grow nearly as fast through the next decade as they did the previous decade, according to a long-delayed report being completed for the United Nations.
Friday 23 February 2007 ts Climate change draws crowd
It was standing room only at an Economic Club luncheon yesterday at the Hilton Hotel, where Bay St. types eagerly awaited their guest speaker.
Thursday 22 February 2007
GORE COOL AS PLANET WARMS
The National (not available online), CTV
News and the
Star front, while the
Citizen (subscribers only), the
Post (subscribers only) and La
Presse go inside with the Canadian leg of Al Gore’s
climate-change slide-show tour. Tickets to the former US
vice-president’s Toronto appearance reached astronomical prices
yesterday (scalpers were charging a minimum of $125 per ticket, CTV News
reported). This for a slide-show, of all things, presented by a man who
not so long ago was roundly ridiculed for his stiff countenance and dull
speeches, the National reports. Based on his Oscar-nominated documentary,
An Inconvenient Truth, Gore’s presentation, which addresses
our deteriorating climate with a series of bleak prognostications and
urgent prescriptions, has turned him into an environmental superstar.
Though most Big Seven coverage centres around Gore’s presentations
in Toronto and Montreal this week, the Citizen reports that Gore also
delivered a talk to Canadian business leaders about green investment
strategies, and, according to the Post, has found time to criticize both
the Harper government and the George W. Bush administration for what he
sees as their continued shortcomings on environmental policy. The Star
points out that besides his Oscar nomination, Gore has also been nominated
for a Nobel Peace Prize and may yet seek another nomination: the Democratic
one for president of the United States. Though Gore denies any intention of
re-entering the political arena, the Big Seven don’t buy it: the
National, CTV News and the Star all suggest that what once might have been
may actually come to be, should he stand for president again.
Thursday 15 February 2007 STRAIGHT GOODS:
Auditor-General Sheila Fraser’s latest report gives a failing grade
to the Coast Guard for mismanaging resources, and addresses security
concerns about passports and social insurance numbers. British Columbia
Premier Gordon Campbell sets North America’s toughest greenhouse gas
emissions standards. Canadians are working more hours and spending less
time with family than they did a generation ago, says Statistics
Canada.
TOUGHER THAN SCHWARZENEGGER The
Post leads, CTV
News, the
Globe and the
Star go inside, while the
Citizen briefs with British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell’s
surprisingly aggressive plan to reduce the province’s greenhouse
gases by thirty-three percent between now and 2020. In yesterday’s
Throne Speech in Victoria, Campbell promised a “net zero”
emissions policy for electricity generation, and also decreed that, as of
now, all vehicles purchased by the province will be gas-electric hybrids.
The numbers suggest that the BC Liberals’ plan may be the toughest
in all of North America, going even further than the tough emissions
standards California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced last year.
According to several news sources, Campbell plans to meet with
Schwarzenegger, as well as with the governors of other west coast states,
to form a common front among the Pacific states and provinces in fighting
global warming. The Post juxtaposes its coverage of BC’s new green
plan with a strikingly different attitude emanating from the
province’s next-door neighbour. The paper reports
that Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is prepared to do battle with Ottawa
against any environmental initiatives that threaten the province’s
natural resources-based economy. The Post quotes Stelmach as describing
the recent national infatuation with environmental concerns as a
“runaway train” that could end up ruining Alberta’s
economy, and, consequently, Canada’s economy, which has been riding
high on Alberta’s oil boom.
Gore accuses Conservatives of warping his comments
Tuesday Feb 13, 2007
Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore is taking the Conservative
government to task for suggesting he endorsed its performance on
climate change.
The environmentalist and onetime presidential
candidate issued a statement from his Tennessee office yesterday to
distance himself from the Tory claim.
"I understand that last week Canada's minister of the environment, John Baird, mischaracterized comments I made
last summer as praise for the Harper government's actions on global warming," Gore wrote.
"The
comments I made were designed to encourage the Harper government not to
abandon Canada's tradition of fighting above its weight class on the
world stage as part of the Kyoto process.
"It is my experience
that other nations do look to Canada for moral leadership. Nothing less
than the future habitability of the planet is at stake. I urge the
Harper government to do the right thing."
Despite Gore's urging,
the Conservative government has abandoned Canada's greenhouse gas
reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol.
Last week, Baird read out a purported endorsement from Gore.
"Canada
(is) once again providing leadership in the world, fighting above its
weight class and showing moral authority to the rest of the world.
That's what Canada's known for," Baird read. "Do we know who said that
yesterday? Al Gore."
But Gore said his statement was taken out of context, adding it was made last summer, not last week.
It's
not the first time the Conservative government has been accused of
misrepresenting remarks about their position on the environment.
Daphne
Wysham, an academic at the Institute for Policy Studies, said she was
"horrified" last fall when former environment minister Rona Ambrose
appeared to suggest she supported Tory concerns about the Kyoto accord.
The Liberals said there's still something the Tories can do if they want Gore's support.
"Since
it is no longer possible for this minister to mischaracterize Mr.
Gore's position," said Liberal MP Karen Redman, "will he now take the
former vice-president's advice and embrace the fight for Kyoto on the
world stage?"
Environment minister battles MP over carbon tax Environment Minister John Baird rejected a carbon tax on large industrial polluters to fight climate change on
Thursday as he testified at a special Commons committee studying the minority Conservative government’s clean air legislation.
Like those who harangued Baird for his inability to provide the Commons
with straight answers, the Big Seven are hesitant to applaud the man in
the hot seat. maisonneuve.org', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_">The
National’s chief political correspondent, Keith Boag, explains
that if the committee “rewriting the government’s climate
change policy were a hockey team, you wouldn’t want to bet on them
making the playoffs.” Boag springs from his own metaphor into a
condemnation of Baird, who “has a metaphor for almost
everything.” maisonneuve.org', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_">The
Citizen focuses on the “testy exchange between the minister and
Liberal environment critic David McGuinty,” who accused the
Conservatives of cutting $5.6 billion in climate change spending, without
any tangible plans to reallocate the money. maisonneuve.org', LEFT);" onmouseout="return nd();" target="_">The
Post, however, hones in on what this all means for Harper, whose
minority government is facing a private members’ bill that would
force it to implement the Kyoto accord. According to the Post, Harper will
either have to implement the protocol he deemed “unrealistic”
or call a genuine election. MediaScout hopes that, either way, the Big
Seven will ease up on their heavy-handed propensity towards green-related
metaphors.
Speaking of reversing themselves, isn't it fun to watch the (New) Harper Government turning every shade of green in the wake of the IPCC Report. Our favorite convert is the newly-minted (would that be mint green?) Environment Minister, who, in an interview with RCI, said he did not expect the report's conclusion that human activity is the cause of climate change.' That's a surprise for me,' he told Radio-Canada. [We are NOT making this up.] He must have been expecting the report of the scientists the American Enterprise Institute tried to recruit for $10K each
Friday 02 February 2007 Global warming likely caused by humans
Climate-change report released in Paris
By Mike De Souza, CanWest News Service
Friday, February 02, 2007
OTTAWA - The world's top climate scientists say that global warming
can not likely be stopped for decades and perhaps even centuries to
come.
Hundreds of climate scientists, gathered in Paris to review the work
of more than 2,000 researchers - including skeptics, have predicted
that global temperatures will rise faster in the 21st century than in
the previous 100 years, with stronger increases for countries in
northern regions such as Canada.
"Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident
from observations of increases in global average air and ocean
temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising mean sea
level," reads a summary report released on Friday by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a peer-review panel
representing scientists from nations around the world.
Friday 02 February 2007
Global warming likely caused by humans The world's top climate scientists say that global warming can not
likely be stopped for decades and perhaps even centuries to come.
Tuesday 30 January 2007 nyt World Scientists Near Consensus on Warming PARIS, Jan. 29 — Scientists from across the world gathered Monday to hammer out the final details of an authoritative report on climate change that is expected to project centuries of rising temperatures and sea levels unless there are curbs in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.
Scientists involved in writing or reviewing the report say it is nearly certain to conclude that there is at least a 90 percent chance that human-caused emissions are the main factor in warming since 1950. The report is the fourth since 1990 from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is overseen by the United Nations.
Tuesday 30 January 2007
UN report confirms climate change The United Nations' scientific brain trust is poised to say that climate change, once a theoretical future scare story, is real, urgent and warming our air and water right now.
Parliament resumes with heated
debate Parliament resumed Monday with a clear indication that federal polticians have been reading the polls showing Canadians are concerned about climate change.
WHAT'S HOT, GREEN AND SLIMY? by Simon Tudiver January 30, 2007
It’s the issue that seems destined to define all aspects of life
from this generation forward. The environment—that snappy catchphrase for
an interconnected web of problems and processes—is at the forefront of
Canadian public consciousness. And for good reason. The UN’s
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is set to release a new report
detailing the current state of the scientific crisis, from rising global
temperatures and water levels to more intensely swirling weather patterns.
CTV News brazenly asserts that experts are “agreeing as never before” that
human-caused atmospheric changes really are behind this thing we call
climate change. (It’s worth noting, as British writer George
Monbiot does, that the experts have actually been in agreement for
quite some time, and much of the supposed debate was actually instigated
by media-savvy fringe skeptics funded by the fossil fuel industry.) But as
global science rallies around the fiery issue, a stray heat wave seems to
have struck our very own House of Commons.
Returning from an
extended winter holiday, MPs arrived on Parliament Hill yesterday to a
protestor in a polar bear suit sunbathing in front of the Peace Tower. It
was a fitting prologue to the show that followed: aggressive rhetoric
hurled across the floor as the Conservatives chided Liberal leader
Stéphane Dion for inaction during his time as environment minister. The
Liberals, for their part, scorned the Tories for their reluctance to
accept the facts of global warming. But unlike the hot air in the
atmosphere, the variety being puffed around the lower chamber is unlikely
to have any effect on everyday life. The real movement will happen behind
the scenes, in a special parliamentary committee working to rewrite the
toothless Clean Air Act introduced in October. The theatrics in the House
are much more about perceptions and electioneering. The Canadian Press’s
Rob Russo, speaking on The National’s At Issue panel last night, argued
the Tories want to deal with the environment issue now in order to pack it
up before the election. But fellow panellist and Toronto Star columnist
Chantal Hébert countered that the issue is only harmful to the Tories if
there is a significant gap between their policies and those of the
Liberals. The Conservative have been working hard to “neutralize” the
issue by greening themselves to the point that the Canadian political
spectrum may just be varying shades of the colour. But Canadians are
advised to remember that this is a political strategy rather than a public
policy position. The backroom debates aimed at cleaning the Clean Air Act
offer voters a better clue about the substantive positions of the parties.
MediaScout hopes the Big Seven will remember this and expose partisan
environmental politics for what they are: an attempt to co-opt a serious
issue for electoral gain. Canadians are worried, and are looking for
options. It will be up to the Big Seven to guide that search, and to drag
the country’s huffing and puffing politicians
along.
PM pledges $1.5B for green energy The Conservative government will spend $1.5 billion over 10 years to boost Canada's supplies of wind, tidal and other green energy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Friday.
Thursday 18 January 2007 OTTAWA: MONEY ANNOUNCED FOR CLEAN ENERGY TECHNIQUES
The Canadian government has made the first of a series of environment-related announcements. Environment minister John Baird and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn jointly announced Wednesday $230 million in new funding to develop clean energy techniques. It is the first of three environmental policy announcements that will be made this week, including incentives to make houses more energy-efficient. The governing Conservative Party government has recently upgraded its emphasis on environmental issues in recent weeks. Prime minister Stephen Harper recently named Mr. Baird the new environmental minister, replacing Rona Ambrose, who had drawn sharp criticism from the opposition and the public for her policies. Mr. Baird has been consulting interest groups as he charts a new course for the government's environmental strategy. The Official Opposition Liberal Party is also focusing its energies on the environment. Most opinion surveys show the environment to be the top concern of Canadians.
Monday 15 January 2007 TORONTO: POLL SHOWS CANADIANS FAVOUR ENVIRONMENT ACTION
A new opinion poll suggests that Canadians are ready to do more to have a better environment. The poll by Decima Research asked whether respondents would prefer a one-thousand-dollar tax cut for everyone or a similar tax cut just for households that take action to promote a cleaner environment. The poll found that 51 per cent favoured the cleaner environment option. Only 28 per cent preferred an unqualified tax cut.
Saturday 13 January 2007 VANCOUVER: TRADITIONAL ALLIES CLASH OVER EMISSIONS STANDARDS
The leader of Canada's left-of-centre opposition party is being criticized by the leader of the auto industry's principal union over his call for stricter emissions standards. New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton wants the Conservative government to speed up the pace toward tighter standards. But his position has angered the president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Buzz Hargrove. He says Mr. Layton's demands would lead to massive layoffs in the auto industry. In addition, Mr. Hargrove says there is currently not a big market in Canada for low-emission vehicles. But Mr. Layton dismisses the concerns saying government incentives would help to change the minds of Canadians and steer them toward more environmentally-friendly automobiles.
January 29, 2006 nyt Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
OTTAWA: PM CONFIDENT OF RESULTS ON ENVIRONMENT
Canada's prime minister, Stephen Harper, admits it will take more than political salesmanship to persuade Canadians his government is serious about environmental issues. His comments follow a cabinet shuffle last week in which John Baird replaced Rona Ambrose as the Conservative environment minister. Mr. Harper says he's confident Mr Baird, the former treasury board minister, can handle the complex file and produce policy results. But Mr. Harper also warned that the problems of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions cannot be solved immediately.
Friday 05 January 2007
New minister looks to make impact Canada’s latest environmental steward is a man with a reputation that is equal parts aggressive policy maker and partisan brawler.
maisonneuve.orgTHE GREENING OF STEPHEN HARPER by Daniel Tencer January 5, 2007
It was seven degrees above zero, and nary a snowflake could be
found in Ottawa yesterday, as Stephen Harper stood outside 24 Sussex Drive
to announce his long-expected cabinet shuffle. The freakishly warm weather
only accentuated what the prime minister has come to realize in the past
month: global warming is a pressing issue on which Canadians want to see
action. (That message was quantified this morning with the release of poll
results showing that Canadians consider the environment the top public
issue, with 74 percent saying the Conservatives have done a “bad
job” on climate change.) To that end, Harper replaced the
much-maligned Rona Ambrose as environment minister, bringing Ottawa-area
MP John Baird to the portfolio.
Most of the Big Seven acknowledged Baird’s crucial role in passing
last year’s Accountability Act, but many Ontarians will remember him
as the provincial cabinet minister who worked tirelessly to reduce
Ontario’s welfare roll through workfare programs and the
drug-testing of welfare recipients (either a solid attempt at curbing the
cycle of welfare dependency or a blatant attack on society's poorest
people, depending on who you ask). Commentators also highlight
Baird’s reputation as a “political pit bull,” known for
his rhetorical attacks against the Liberals. That seems to have prompted a
number of journalists to suggest that Harper’s strategy may not be
geared to fixing the environment so much as to eliminating it as a
wedge issue that could bring the Liberals back to power. “The point
of Mr. Baird’s installation is to ensure it does not become an
issue,” Andrew Coyne writes in the Post.
“All that is required to satisfy these voters [concerned about
climate change] is to put on a reasonably convincing show of action, to
flatter their consciences without disturbing their pocketbooks.” In
its editorial, the Star
urges Harper to do more than that. “Harper must first scrap his
proposed Clean Air Act, which is a strategy of delay, not action,”
the paper writes. “What’s needed are clear, short-term targets
to cut smog and greenhouse emissions, with more ambitious targets to
follow.” No word yet on whether Harper plans to pursue such a
policy, but given the rise in popularity of the Green Party, the success
of Liberal leader Stéphane Dion’s environmental platform in landing
him the top Liberal job, and the blooming of flowers in Toronto this
January, we can now safely expect Canada’s political arena to be
dominated by environmental issues in a way it has never been before.
By Bertrand Revenaz | January 12, 2007 Climate Risk Managing the Risks and Opportunities of Climate Change Analysis of Exxon-Mobil’s Climate Change “Reversal”
2006
Al Gore's documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, wins special award
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Al Gore documentary An Inconvenient Truth will receive a rare recognition from the Humanitas Prize, which honours screenwriting that helps "liberate, enrich and unify society."
An Inconvenient Truth, which chronicles Gore's quest to draw attention to global warming, will receive the organization's first Special Award in over 10 years, president Frank Desiderio announced Wednesday.
"It's a very important film," he said in a statement.
"We want to shine a light on it."
The documentary's director, Davis Guggenheim, said he was "thrilled" with the recognition, adding Humanitas "supports the achievements and sacrifices of filmmakers trying to change the world."
Since 1974, the Humanitas Prize has presented awards and grants to TV and film writers whose fictional work reflects "the positive values of life." Documentaries are occasionally recognized with Special Awards. The last such honours went to Bill Moyers and Judith Davidson Moyers in 1995 for their documentary What Can We Do About Violence.
Many experts on the Arctic say that global warming is causing the ice to melt and that the warming is at least partly the result of the atmospheric buildup of heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks. The plight of the polar bear has been held up by environmentalists as a symbol of global warming caused by humans.
But in a conference call with reporters, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said that although his decision to seek protection for polar bears acknowledged the melting of the Arctic ice, his department was not taking a position on why the ice was melting or what to do about it.
NYT on climate change and the various policy and technology choices involved, have you seen the following NYT collection of stories...?You reference everything so well, I'm sure you must have pointed us here at one time. Anyway, in case not: The Energy Challenge Guy & Yvette Stanley
Thursday 21 December 2006 OTTAWA: NEW FEDERAL FUEL STRATEGY ANNOUNCED
The Canadian government has announced new initiatives to promote biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. Mrs. Ambrose unveiled the plan on Wednesday in western Canada. The $345-million plan is part of the Conservative government's clean air strategy. The initiative is aimed at persuading farmers across Canada to become involved in growing the crops needed for the manufacture of ethanol.
independent.co.uk/environment/
Climate Change vs Mother Nature: Scientists reveal that bears have stopped hibernating Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.
Monday 18 December 2006 ec (Kampala) Uganda: It is High Time We Took Climate Change Seriously HERE'S the plan. Everybody in the country will get the same allowance for how much carbon dioxide they can emit each year. And every time they buy a product that involves carbon dioxide emissions - filling their car, paying utility bills, buying an airline ticket, carbon points are deducted from their credit or debit cards. Like Air Miles, only in reverse.
Friday 15 December 2006 nyt China’s climate choices China’s economic growth is unstoppable and with it comes an ever-expanding carbon footprint. The worst possible response from Europe to China’s bulging contribution to climate change would be fearful paralysis, argue Nick Mabey and Diana Parusheva of E3G in this article published in ENDS Climate Review. A pdf version of the article for download.
maisonneuve.WHO SAID SAVING THE PLANET COULDN'T BE EASY? The
Globe go inside with an Associated Press article on some of the
more radical—and perhaps desperate—solutions to global warming
being bandied about the UN’s climate change conference in Nairobi.
Chief among these is a proposal from a group of environmental scientists
who say that throwing more pollution into the atmosphere could actually
reduce warming, provided it’s the right kind of pollution. Unlike
heat-trapping carbon dioxide, certain sulfides act as reflectors of the
sun’s heat, effectively reducing surface temperatures on earth. But
before the world embarks on a project to wrap itself in a sulfuric
envelope, it’s worthwhile to note that the Nobel laureate who
thought it up doesn’t actually want to see it happen. “It was
meant to startle the policy makers,” Paul Crutzen of Germany's Max
Planck Institute told AP. “If they don't take action much more
strongly than they have in the past, then in the end we have to do
experiments like this.”
Saturday 18 November 2006 NAIROBI: CANADA PLEASED WITH CLIMATE CONFERENCE OUTCOME
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says she's content with the results of the now concluded UN conference in Kenya on climate change. She says she's pleased in particular with the decision by representatives of 160 nations to set a date for the review process of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, which Mrs. Ambrose says is important for her country's efforts to integrate Canada's domestic efforts with what's happening internationally. The participants agreed to review the Kyoto process in 2008, prior to the expiration of the treaty in 2012. Signatory nations also agreed for the first time that carbon dioxide emissions have to be cut by 50 per cent to avoid dangerous climate change. Mrs. Ambrose said in a speech that the Canadian government considers its Kyoto targets for industrial emissions reductions impossible to meet, a position that did not excite any official comment. Industrialized nations expressed the hope that developing ones, particularly China and India, will commit themselves to emissions reductions. The final communiqué says only that countries will take "appropriate action" after the review in 2008. Greenpeace Canada says the proceedings in Nairobi allow the Kyoto process to move forward, while regretting that no deadlines have been set for putting in place Kyoto II.
GREEN STAINS ON AMBROSE’S DIRTY LAUNDRY
by Simon Tudiver November 16, 2006
What a difference a year makes. Last December, as the 2005 edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference drew to a close in Montreal, delegates and news reports alike were abuzz with praise for Canada and its role in brokering talks at the international meeting. Fast forward to Nairobi 2006, and note how the buzz has changed to the shrill screech that seems to follow Environment Minister Rona Ambrose as she attempts to deflect criticism and displace blame. Today’s installment of Canada on the World Stage features some “airing of… dirty laundry,” as CTV’s Murray Oliver dubs it. To the consternation of many of her critics, Ambrose stood up in front of the world’s environmental heavyweights and blamed the Liberals for leaving behind “an unacceptable situation” when forced from office earlier this year. But the bulk of her speech was devoted to claiming the Conservatives are “strongly committed” to the Kyoto Protocol, despite announcing at past meetings that Canada will be unable to meet its commitments.
What is behind Ambrose’s apparent doublespeak? Is she trying to hide the Conservative plan behind meaningless platitudes, or is she actually shifting her position in response to criticism and public opinion? ... be a bit of both, noting that any Conservative announcement about the environment is “likely to be merely ammunition for an election campaign that’s sure to arrive before any of the legislation could come into effect.” A somewhat different perspective, implying that the only way to really achieve concrete results is for opposition parties to completely rewrite the Clean Air Act into a tough piece of climate-change legislation. The Conservative reluctance to make any substantial short-term commitments about cutting greenhouse gases should force the opposition to “tackle the hard issues, such as possibly imposing hefty increases in gasoline taxes to fund climate control projects and force motorists to conserve.” This may be the most pragmatic way of implementing meaningful legislation. And what does it matter if it smacks of underhanded tactics? Our dirty laundry is already flying in the wind for everyone to see.
Tuesday Nov 14, 2006 Ambrose under fire even before reaching environment talks in Kenya
Thursday 16 November 2006 Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose has told delegates from 180 nations represented at the UN climate conference that a previous Canadian government is responsible for her country's difficulties in reducing industrial emissions. She says that when the governing Conservative Party assumed power in January, it found that measures to cut pollution by the outgoing Liberal Party government were "insufficient and unaccountable." Mrs. Ambrose added that years after signing the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, the Liberals failed to implement a domestic plan to implement it, suggesting as well that the three main opposition parties are trying to use the greenhouse gas issue to stir up dissension. Mrs. Ambrose affirms as well that the Conservatives have taken a step forward with the presentation in the House of Commons of the Clean Air Act. She didn't mention that the government has written off the emissions targets to which Canada is committed under Kyoto as impossible to meet.
Mrs. Ambrose's remarks have infuriated Members of Parliament from the Liberal and New Democratic parties and the Bloc Québécois who are also taking part in the UN conference. Liberal environment critic John Godfrey says his party had put an implementation plan into effect at the time of its electoral defeat last January, adding that several of its effective programs have been cancelled by the Conservatives. His NDP counterpart Nathan Cullen said he had seen the text of Mrs. Ambrose's speech before she read it and insisted that a reference to his party be deleted. The minister had intended to mention the NDP's support for the Clean Air Act, which allowed the bill to go to a committee for revision instead of being defeated by the three opposition parties. Mr. Cullen says the NDP considers the bill fundamentally flawed. Bernard Bigras of the Bloc Québécois says the opposition parties won't pass the legislation unless it contains clear commitments to the Kyoto targets.
Monday Nov 13, 2006
Speaking of meetings filled with drama and deal-making, the Climate Change Conference of the Parties is on in Nairobi. With input like the Stern Review on the economics of climate change, there is bound to be (dare we say) heated discussion. Meantime, at a local (Canadian) level, there is the drama of a Minister of Environment who has excluded practically everyone from the official delegation, while the excluded ones, including Quebec's minister of sustainable development have simply gone (to) it alone
Among other Canadian issues, the report released at the Conference that voracious water consumption by Alberta's oilsands threatens the quality and quantity of water available to Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories through the Mackenzie River system Oil and Water don't mix in a warming world
maisonneuve.org/AN ENVIRONMENTAL EGG ON CANADA'S FACE CTV
News leads and the National (not available online), the
Globe, the
Citizen, and La
Presse all go inside with the public-relations black eye Canada has
suffered at the UN Climate Change Conference in Nairobi. Canada ranked
fifty-first in a survey of fifty-six countries’ performances in
combating climate change. Only Kazakhstan, the US, China, Malaysia and
Saudi Arabia got worse marks than we did in the survey, which was put out
by Germanwatch, an NGO that works with developing countries. (The
highest-ranking countries were Sweden, Britain and Denmark.) And Canada
shared a prize with Australia for “fossil of the day,” an
“award” given by the worldwide Climate Action Network to the
countries with the worst environmental records. All of this prompted
deputy leader of the Green Party David Chernushenko, to refer to Canada,
Australia and the US as the “axis of environmental evil.”
But perhaps the most remarkable thing about the conference is that most of
the criticism of Canada—and specifically of the Tory government and
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose—has come from Canadians
themselves, prompting some pundits to comment on the unprecedented amount
of criticism the government is facing in front of worldwide cameras. Even
before Ambrose arrived yesterday, according to the Globe, Liberal MP John
Godfrey and Bloc Québécois MP Bernard Bigras “openly mocked the
minister,” laughing at Ambrose’s baffling statement: “We
are on track to meeting all of our obligations under the Kyoto Protocol,
but not the targets.” Meanwhile, an article in La Presse alleges
that Ambrose made a secret deal with Quebec’s Liberal Environment
Minister, Claude Béchard, guaranteeing Quebec a measure of visibility at
the conference in exchange for Béchard’s withholding of criticism of
the Conservative government’s environmental policies.
NAIROBI: OILSANDS THIRST CALLED DESTRUCTIVE AT UN CONFERENCE
A scientific study by two environmental lobbies says that Alberta's oilsands developments are having a disastrous effect on water use both in Alberta and neighbouring Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories. The study by the Sage Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund was made public at the international conference on global warming underway in Nairobi, Kenya. Oilsands companies use water to blast upwards the bitumen from which synthetic oil is made by using jets of water. Most of the water is drawn from the Athabasca River, a tributary of the NWT's MacKenzie River. The study says that the Athabasca was already losing volume because of global warming and that the current and increasing use of the water for oilsands development is unsustainable. The researchers say that the water thus used becomes heavily polluted and must be stored in enormous underground ponds. The two lobbies recommend the provinces and territory involved negotiate an accord on water-sharing and that further oilsands projects be suspended until then.
The Earth's warming temperatures are on track to melt the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets sooner than previously thought and ultimately lead to a global sea level rise of at least 20 feet, according to new research.
If the current warming trends continue, by 2100 the Earth will likely be at least 4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than present, with the Arctic at least as warm as it was nearly 130,000 years ago. At that time, significant portions of the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets melted, resulting in a sea level about 20 feet (six meters) higher than present day.
And in Wednesday Night's usual timely fashion, we are delighted to welcome back our friend, former colleague and resident Drylands expert, Juliane Zeidler from Namibia who we hope will have much to say about Climate Change and Africa.
This is not only important, but will answer many of our questions. There are both long and short Executive Summaries linked from the page below.
Sunday 12 November 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Publication of the Stern Review's final report
Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economics Service and Adviser to the Government on the economics of climate change and development, is delighted to present his report to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the Economics of Climate Change:
Climate change may lower the water level in some of Canada's rivers and lakes, with serious economic consequences. The government tries to protect public transit and oil rigs from terrorist attacks. Federal money to finance entrepreneurs in developing countries gets lots of coverage, but may be paltrier than advertised.
Friday 10 November 2006 rci OTTAWA: MINISTER HINTS OPENING ON CLIMATE CHANGE
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says she's open to some demands by the opposition concerning the Conservative Party government's position on global warming. But Mrs. Ambrose says she doesn't want to say which of the demands she thinks could be accommodated before taking part in the international conference on the subject in Nairobi, Kenya. The minister says she has studied the four proposals put forward by the Bloc Québécois and the Liberal Party, supported by the New Democratic Party, and that some are acceptable. One is that the government respect Canada's commitment to emissions reductions under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change, a commitment which the government has said is impossible. The second is the restoration of $1.5 million of funding for an international carbon-emission trading program. The opposition also wants the government to promote the idea of a one-year period for the negotiation of a new international environmental treaty after Kyoto expires in 2012 and the acceptance of even stricter emissions limitations. The government's Clean Air Act is meant to replace Kyoto. The proposed legislation wouldn't make greenhouse gas reductions mandatory until 2050.
Wednesday 08 November 2006 As Climate Changes, Can We?
By Kofi Annan: If there were any remaining doubt about the urgent need to combat climate change, two reports issued last week should make the world sit up and take notice.
More:More:
For the environmentalists among us, it's all about Climate Change, poverty and the meeting in Nairobi of the Parties to the Convention
Monday 06 November 2006 OTTAWA: DEMONSTRATORS GATHER TO PRESSURE TORIES
Hundreds of protesters rallied in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montreal on Saturday to press the Harper government to honour the Kyoto Protocol. They say the Tory government's Clean Air Act suggests to the world that Canada has given up on global warming. In London Saturday, an estimated 20,000 protesters turned out to call on the British government to push for a global treaty to deal with global warming. They also said developing nations must be given the means to adapt to climate change.
Canada will host the 20th anniversary meeting of the Parties of the Montreal Protocol next year. The Montreal Protocol is widely recognized as the most successful international environmental agreement to date. It focuses on protecting the ozone layer. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose said Sunday Ottawa is committing about $18 million over three years to assist developing countries in complying with the Montreal Protocol. Next year's meeting will be held in Montreal.
CLIMATE CHANGE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE the
Citizen and La
Presse go inside with the opening of the UN’s conference on
climate change today in Nairobi, Kenya. La Presse reports that the
conference will be rife with debate, especially surrounding article 9 of
the Kyoto protocol, which calls for a review of the latest scientific data
on climate change in order to establish future targets for emissions
reductions. According to La Presse, Canada plans to ask for a complete
review of the targets, whereas European leaders want to move ahead with
aggressive targets. La Presse suggests that last week’s report by UK
economist Sir Nicholas Stern would add considerable economic fuel to the
diplomatic fire. The Star quotes Canadian Environment Minister Rona
Ambrose who is nonetheless confident that leaders at the conference
“will be very impressed to see that [Canada is] moving
ahead.”
Meanwhile, the
Globe and the
Post go inside with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision not
to attend a summit with European Union leaders in Finland later this month.
The Post reports that Harper cancelled the meeting last week “amid
suggestions that his EU counterparts would chastise Canada for abandoning
its Kyoto Protocol targets.” According to the Globe, NDP leader Jack
Layton offered to keep one of his members from voting in the House after
Harper suggested he was skipping the meeting in order to attend
Parliamentary sessions in Ottawa, but the Tories declined the deal. The
Citizen reports on a new poll that reveals the environment has
Saturday 04 November 2006 OTTAWA: CANADA ABSENT FROM GREENHOUSE BARTER
Several Canadian business executives have deplored Canada's absence from the first industrial emissions bartering session underway in Beijing, calling it a missed opportunity. The Canadian government also is absent. Billions of dollars of contracts and reductions of developed countries' emissions targets under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change are at stake. Foreign firms in attendance are proposing environmental technologies to representatives of developing nations. Under the terms of the accord, developed countries like Canada must lower the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by industry by 2012. But such countries can receive target reductions if they persuade developing states to use their technology to lower their own emissions. Some Canadian businesses have found it pointless to attend the Beijing event because the government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn't intend to respect the Kyoto agreement.
maisonneuve.org/ FISHING FOR BROKE by Simon Tudiver November 3, 2006
Call it the blue fin blues. Earth’s oceans, once replete
with spectacular displays of underwater evolution, are now emptying of
inhabitants. Perhaps it was their tastiness to the human palate that did
them in, or maybe just the unlucky coincidence of sharing a planet with a
species that has a knack for ravaging all it touches. Splashed across the
front pages this morning is the disturbing, although not entirely
surprising, news that global fish stocks are on track for total
destruction within about fifty years. Researchers in Halifax compiled all
the data on fishing they could get their hands on, some of it dating back
to Roman times, the
Globe reports. They concluded that of the fish species currently
caught for consumption, 29 percent of them have shrunk to less than one
tenth of their original size. And the culprits seem to be human fishing
strategies, which both use advanced technologies to fish more efficiently,
and trawl the depths of the oceans for once-safe havens, destroying fragile
ecosystems in their wake.
Tuesday 31 October 2006 OTTAWA: PM WOULD MEET WITH NDP LEADER ON CLIMATE
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he's willing to meet with the leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party, Jack Layton, to discuss ways to pass legislation on climate change. The three opposition parties in the House of Commons have joined to pass private members bills on the environment, while insisting that the Conservative Party government work to respect Canada emissions reduction goals under the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. Mr. Harper has said the targets are impossible and that his government is putting together a "made in Canada" green plan. In the House on Monday, Mr. Layton challenged the prime minister to meet him to see if they can devise a workable plan to cope with climate change. Mr. Harper took him up on the challenge, saying he's interested in the NDP leader's ideas for a long-term plan.
Unchecked global warming will devastate the world economy on the scale of the world wars and the Great Depression, a British government report said Monday, as the country launched a bid to convince doubters that environmentalism and economic growth can coincide.
From Great Britain comes news of the findings of a government-commissioned report by economist Sir Nicholas Stern on Climate Change The Stern Review warns unless the world moves to cut green house gases it is heading for a "catastrophic climate change" which would create the worst global recession ever seen and
forecasts that 1% of global gross domestic product (GDP) must be spent on tackling climate change immediately.
It warns that if no action is taken:
Floods from rising sea levels could displace up to 100 million people
Melting glaciers could cause water shortages for 1 in 6 of the world's population
Wildlife will be harmed; at worst up to 40% of species could become extinct
Flood and droughts may create tens or even hundreds of millions of 'climate refugees'
Now that is truly scary. But the UK Government has already signed up Al Gore to advise on the environment - we'll leave it up to you whether you think that is scary.
Sunday 15 October 2006
Please note that with all this news to consider, we have not touched on several major events in Canada, including the continuing fallout from Michael Ignatieff's clarifications of what he has and has not said/meant on the topic of the Israeli-Lebanon war, all of which was heatedly debated on Sunday; the invasion of our lakes including Brome and Massawippi by blue-green algae , the leaked Clean Air Act
...Sounds familiar ...
Climate change is expensive. Does that help?
An influential report out this month concludes that it will be cheaper to act on global warming now than to wait, but campaigners doubt whether the government will respond
Thursday 12 October 2006 World Bank: Renewable energy key to future
Promotion of renewable energy sources has been recognized as vital to reversing climate change trends, says the World Bank, following a recent meeting of officials from the world's 20 worst-polluting countries. Generating energy from solar, wind and geothermal sources is on the rise -- now supplying about 4% of the world's energy needs. But worries linger over increasing overall energy demand, especially from developing countries, and projections that traditional energy sources likely will supply as much as 83% of energy in 2030.
Climate change and what to do about it continues to be the subject of debate. While CNN worries about the receding snows of Kilimanjaro the Guardian huffs "Climate change is expensive. Does that help?", worrying that despite the conclusions of an influential report that it will be cheaper to act on global warming now than to wait, it is doubtful that public policy will address the issue in time to be effective guardian.co.uk/Meanwhile, a new study conducted by Climate experts and biologists in the Netherlands, introduces the Earth's "wobble" as the cause for species extinction abc.net.au/science/
Friday 06 October 2006
OTTAWA: GOVT. SHORT ON DETAILS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PLANS
Canadian Environment Minister Rona Ambrose says the government is determined to reduce the industrial emissions that cause global warming but provided no details about how that goal will be reached. She repeated before the House of Commons environment committee the government's intention to introduce a Clean Air Act but didn't reveal what it will contain. Mrs. Ambrose did say that the government won't lay out arbitrary targets without consulting with industry and the provinces. The minister was before the committee to comment on last week's report by Environment Commissioner Johanne Gélinas which demanded more efforts to combat climate change, a goal which Mrs. Ambrose says she shares. Former Liberal Party Environment Minister Stéphane Dion reacted by noting that the government already has the power to regulate air emissions through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. And the leader of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, complained that the minister had not offered a single bit of information about its intentions.
maisonneuve.orgTHE STRAIGHT GOODS:
Canada's environment commissioner criticizes the current and
previous governments for inaction on climate change. The Liberal Party
elects delegates this weekend for its leadership convention in December. A
report from Congress says the US will defend its interests in the Arctic by
deploying two armed icebreakers to northern waters.
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KEEPING THE CLIMATE POLITICAL The
National, CTV
News, La
Presse, the
Post, the
Citizen, the
Globe and all go inside with stories on a report by Canada’s
Environment Commissioner on the country’s pitiable progress in
dealing with climate change. The report lambastes the previous Liberal
government’s poorly planned and ineffective scheme for addressing
the problem; the Post explains that the Liberals signed and touted the
Kyoto protocol without investigating whether Canada would be able to meet
its commitments or studying how much it would cost. Environment
Commissioner Johanne Gélinas confirmed the widely-held view that Canada
will not meet the target of a 6 percent reduction in CO2 emissions
compared with 1990 levels by 2012.
Gélinas’ critique doesn’t end with the Liberals; she goes on
to call for serious climate change action from the current Conservative
government, the Citizen reports. The Tories should, she says, regulate the
oil and gas industry as well as develop a comprehensive plan for adapting
to the effects of climate change. While the report clearly has words of
scolding and warning for Liberals and Conservatives alike, only La Presse
presents both governments as equally to blame for the current mess. The
Post and the Citizen both run headlines emphasizing the Liberal failure,
while the Globe focuses on the lack of a Conservative response to
Gélinas’ critiques. Environment Minister Rona Ambrose and Natural
Resources Minister Gary Lunn were both out of town for the release of the
report. The Citizen’s Susan
Riley argues that both the Liberals and Conservatives are mired in
internal confusions and disagreements when it comes to regulating a
response to climate change. She suggests looking to “new political
voices proposing measures that might work,” hinting at a vigourous
new Green Party for those Canadians in search of an alternative to what
seems to be an ineffectual status quo.
Sunday 10 September 2006 Climate change demands immediate action
Perhaps no issue will challenge the world more over the next decade than how to deal with climate change. The science is real, the threat is significant; solutions require dramatic change and time is running out.
Monday 28 August 2006 ARK Biofuel Rush Risks Gasoline Hike, Forest Damage
LONDON - Biofuels can both bring down high pump prices and help halt climate change, their supporters hope.
But the result of the global boom in the green fuel additive may just have precisely the opposite effects in the near-term, according to both oil company executives and green campaigners.
The higher cost of the new fuel will end up being passed down to drivers by the oil industry, and the rush to plant more biofuel crops could result in burning swathes of virgin forest cleared for cultivation, speeding up global warming.
Tuesday Jun 27, 2006
Tories ignored advice on environment: documents The Conservative government scrapped two popular climate change programs, including the One-Tonne Challenge, despite advice from the Environment Department that they were ''engaging citizens'' and as ''fundamental'' to addressing climate change as measures taken against large industrial polluters, newly released documents reveal.
Wednesday Jun 15, 2006
Gore preaches green gospel to Canadians and Diana
Liberals tell former U.S. vice-president that they're upset by Harper's stand on climate change MONT-TREMBLANT, QUE Mr. Gore has become a highly sought-after speaker on issues of climate change and a greener world after releasing a movie on the subject, An Inconvenient Truth. | apple.com/trailers | youtube | youtube 2
Tories get failing grade from Sierra Club The Conservative government has flunked several categories, including climate change, in the latest annual Sierra Club of Canada report card on environmental initiatives.
May 11, 2006 nyt Global warming debate Science reporter Andrew C. Revkin discusses the recent media attention given to climate change. (Producer: Kassie Bracken)
November 10, 2001 Negotiators reach deal on climate-change treaty at Morocco conferenceThe agreement, accepted in a closed-door meeting of chief delegates, still needed approval by the full plenary of the climate conference and was expected as a matter of course. Cabinet ministers emerged smiling from a conference room after nearly 19 hours of negotiation over complex legal text.
"I'm tired, but it was worth it," said Canadian Environment Minister David Anderson.
On the last day of the two-week conference, negotiators had been stuck on five points related to measures countries might use to ease the task of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that are blamed for the gradual warming of the Earth.
Andy Nulman 
The environment
Cleaning up
Video (Runs 4:07) 
Agency Proposes to List Polar Bears as Threatened
(Xinhua) www.chinaview.cn 
Gore preaches green gospel to Canadians
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