The climate crisis: Five parties, no solutions

(rabble.ca news) - Despite much sound and fury, none of the major political parties is proposing effective measures for dealing with the climate change crisis. The differences between them amount to ?Don’t do anything? versus ?Don’t do much.?

READ MORE HERE [ Source: rabble.ca news, Ian Angus, Sep. 23, 2008 ]

Climate change policy vague: Dunn

(The Edmonton Journal) - EDMONTON - Alberta’s $4-billion climate change policy is too vague and lacks an effective plan for reaching its targets, the province’s auditor general said Thursday in his annual report.

The result is that the province has no way of measuring if it’s on track to meet its goals of reducing emissions intensity by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2010 and 50 per cent by 2020, Fred Dunn said.

“Alberta could spend substantial resources and not achieve emission targets. Or Alberta could achieve its targets, but not cost-effectively,” Dunn wrote.

READ MORE HERE

There Is More to Green Than Global Warming

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - We are facing crises of freshwater, food, deforestation, and ocean health. We need leadership in the protection of all our natural resources.

There is more to being green than the fight to stop global warming. All of our natural resources are in peril because of what we do and what that does to our planet. Yet, to hear the battle cry of environmentalists these days you’d think there’s only one war to be fought — over our energy supply and its consequences.

We are facing a fresh water crisis. We are facing a food crisis. We are facing a crisis over deforestation. And we are facing crises in our oceans. While carbon emissions from fossil fuels pollute the air, so does a lot of other stuff.

Now is the time to press for leadership in the protection of all our natural resources. We’ll have let an opportunity for a better planet — in this election of “change” — to pass us by if we just focus on the cause celebre that global warming is today.

We must increase our freshwater supply by about 20 percent by the year 2025 to meet world demand, and 90 cities still dump sewage into the Great Lakes, which supply water to 10 percent of the US population. The Lakes’ resource is so great, we are going to great lengths to protect it: Congress last week passed a law formally banning the export of water from the Great Lakes beyond its basin. The price of most food has doubled over the past year, forcing millions deeper into poverty and malnourishment. There is now six times as much plastic as zooplankton in parts of the Pacific Ocean, and 90 percent of the big fish on Earth have disappeared.

Meanwhile, we have an ever-increasing waste and electronic-waste burden on our hands. We each create twice as much trash per day as we did 40 years ago. The average size of our landfills has multiplied 25 times in that period as well. And our e-waste burden is so bad that we ship 80 percent of it overseas to countries with weak environmental standards. These countries in turn make products from our discards and ship them right back to us. (And we wonder how lead paint gets in toys.)

As well, up to 40 percent of global wood production is from illegal timber operations. Deforestation not only displaces people and endangers species, it is the second biggest cause of climate change. (It isn’t only fossil fuels that cause global warming.)

To be sure, an alternative energy supply is needed and important. But let’s not forget the importance of other environmental factors crucial to our health and well-being, not to mention the planet’s.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: AlterNet.org: Environment, Thomas Kostigen, Huffington Post, Oct. 3, 2008 ]

We Can’t Afford McCain and Palin’s Anti-Science Beliefs

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - Their combined anti-science positions may be devastating for the economy, the environment and our health.

One of the peculiar oversights of the Sarah Palin media blitz is her strong anti-science views. In keeping with her Pentecostal faith and alignment with the far right of the Republican Party, Palin is opposed to stem cell research, declaims evolution, and believes global warming to be a hoax. Of her many controversial qualities, this anti-science ideology may be the most troubling — in fact, devastating — for the economy, ecology, and health.

If the McCain-Palin ticket is elected, we would have the prospect of an administration constantly at odds with scientific advance. As vice-president, Palin would not only be the proverbial “heartbeat away” from the presidency, but the leading contender for the top spot eight years hence.

McCain himself shows some worrisome tendencies as well, supporting the teaching of “intelligent design”– the beard for anti-evolution propaganda — in schools, for example. Overall, the prospect of 8-16 years of this kind of bias sends a chill through the science community, even after years of dealing with the Bush anti-science agenda.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent watchdog group, has documented dozens of cases where the U.S. government has interfered with, undermined, or falsified science in public policy over the last seven years. It is a shocking record, revolving mainly around environmental issues but ranging from abstinence-only AIDS prevention (shown repeatedly to be ineffective) to phony information about breast cancer. Bush cut funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Center for Disease Control, among other science agencies, in his final budget. Overall, he has starved non-defense R&D at a time when China, the EU and other rivals are investing vigorously.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: AlterNet.org: Environment, John Tirman, Sep. 23, 2008 ]

Sarah Palin’s Creationism Will Rape the Environment

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - The Bush admin has been a nightmare for the environment — and the nomination of Palin is an insurance policy taken out on its continuation.

Despite the media feeding frenzy, we still may be asking ourselves, “Just who exactly is Sarah Palin?” Mixed in with the Davy-Crockett-meets-SuperMom vignettes — all those moose hunting, ice fishing, snowmobiling, baby-juggling, and hockey-momming moments — we’ve also learned that she doesn’t care much for her former brother-in-law and wasn’t afraid to use her office to go after his job as a state trooper; that she was for the “bridge to nowhere” before she was against it; that she’s against earmarks unless they benefit her constituents; that she can deliver a snappy wisecracking speech, thinks banning books in libraries is okay, considers herself a pit bull with lipstick, and above all else, wants to drill the ever-lovin’ daylights out of every corner of her home state (which John McCain’s handlers have somehow translated into being against Big Oil, since she insisted on a marginally bigger cut of the profits for Alaskans).

 

Oh, and — not that this is very important to Americans or the planet — she now thinks that global warming might possibly be human-made sorta though she didn’t before, despite the fact that the state she governs is on the frontline of climate change. And, of course, she’s a classic right-wing, fundamentalist Christian: against abortion — check; against same-sex marriage — check; against stem-cell research — check; favors teaching Creationism in public schools — check.

 

It’s that last item, her willingness to put Creationism up against the teaching of evolutionary science in the classroom on a he-says-she-says basis, that’s far more revealing of just who our new Republican vice presidential candidate is than we generally assume. It deserves the long, hard look that it hasn’t yet gotten. Most Democrats and progressives tend to think of the teaching of Creationism as a mere sidebar item on their agenda of political don’t-likes, but it’s not. Sarah Palin’s bias towards Creationism is a window into her political soul and a measure of John McCain’s hypocrisy.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: AlterNet.org: Environment, Chip Ward, Tomdispatch.com, Sep. 22, 2008 ]

What the Chemical Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know about Everyday Products

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - The chemical industry has spent years trying to suppress information about a certain chemical. Will Congress help the public know the true dangers?

It takes a lot of nerve to go up against the $3 trillion-a-year global chemical industry.

Ask University of Missouri-Columbia scientists Frederick Vom Saal and Wade Welshons. They’ve been in the industry’s crosshairs for more than a decade, since their experiments turned up the first hard evidence that miniscule amounts of bisphenol A (BPA), an artificial sex hormone and integral component of a vast array of plastic products, caused irreversible changes in the prostates of fetal mice.  

Their findings touched off a steady drumbeat that has led to a ban on BPA-laden baby bottles in Canada, mounting support for a similar ban in the U.S., major retailers pulling plastic products off their shelves, a consumer run on glass baby bottles and a blizzard of scientific reports raising increasingly disturbing questions about the chemical’s dangers at the trace levels to which people are routinely exposed.  

But back in early 1997, when the Missouri team produced its pioneering research on low-dose BPA, challenging the chemical-industrial complex seemed quixotic, even risky. Soon after the report appeared, a scientist from Dow Chemical Company, a major BPA manufacturer, showed up at the Missouri lab, disputed the data and declared, as Vom Saal recalls, “We want you to know how distressed we are by your research.”  

“It was not a subtle threat,” Vom Saal says. “It was really, really clear, and we ended up saying, threatening us is really not a good idea.”  

The Missouri scientists redoubled their investigations of BPA and churned out more evidence of low-dose BPA toxicity to the reproductive systems of test animals. Industry officials and scientist allies fired back, sometimes in nose-to-nose debates at scientific gatherings, sometimes more insidiously.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: AlterNet.org: Environment, Elaine Shann, Sep. 15, 2008 ]

A Telling Palin Scandal: Her Environmental Record

(AlterNet.org: Environment) - Sarah Palin has an environmental policy so toxic it would make George W. Bush blush.

Seen from the air, Sarah Palin’s state is an environmental wonderland. From Anchorage to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, there is a vast landscape of snow-capped peaks, fjords, crystal glaciers, coastal lagoons, wide river deltas and tundra.

The guardian of this wilderness — and Governor of Alaska — has, this week, become one of the most recognisable faces in the world. But behind her beaming smile and wholesome family values is a woman aligned with the big oil and coal firms that are racing to exploit Alaska’s vast energy reserves. In the short term, that has bought her popularity at home.

“I love the woman,” the pilot on our flight shouts over the noise of the engine, “especially what she wants to do with oil, we just have to drill more, there is no alternative. What’s the point of leaving it all in the ground?”

It is a stance that guaranteed John McCain’s new running mate a rapturous reception at the Republican convention this week where the response to the coming energy crisis was a chant of “drill, baby, drill.”

But the woman who could soon be a 72-year-old’s heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so toxic it would make the incumbent, George Bush, blush.

Mr McCain has stressed he is concerned about global warming and has come out against drilling in the Arctic reserve. But, in recent weeks, he has wobbled on the issue. And environmentalists are describing Mrs Palin, who denies climate change is man-made, as “either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading.”

READ MORE HERE [ Source:  AlterNet.org: Environment,  Leonard Doyle, Independent UK, Sep. 10, 2008 ]

We’ve Got One Week Left to Stop One of Bush’s Worst Environmental Attacks

(Alternet.org) - The Endangered Species Act is our primary legal tool for environmental protection.

We have until September 15-about a week-to save the Endangered Species Act.

Not just some species, but the Act itself! Bush administration officials are proposing redefinitions of terms that would allow conservative appointees in federal agencies to virtually the destroy the Act.

Their goal is to allow proposed projects to proceed even if such projects would kill off endangered species or place them or their habitats in jeopardy.

If the changes are not effectively challenged by September 15, they will go into effect, and, Goodbye Species!

Act now: Go to the end of this article for instructions. We need the public to flood the agencies involved with comments opposing the redefinitions and rule changes.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org, George Lakoff and Chris Shutes, September 8, 2008 ]

Pollution Can Make You Fat

(Alternet.org) - Pollution can make children fat, startling new research shows. A groundbreaking Spanish study indicates that exposure to a range of common chemicals before birth sets up a baby to grow up stout, thus helping to drive the worldwide obesity epidemic.

The results of the study, just published -- the first to link chemical contamination in the womb with one of the developing world's greatest and fastest-growing health crises -- carry huge potential implications for public policy around the globe. They undermine recent strictures from the Conservative leader, David Cameron, that blame solely the obese for their own condition.

A quarter of all British adults and a fifth of children are obese -- four times as many as 30 years ago. And so are at least 300 million people worldwide. The main explanation is that they are consuming more calories than they burn. But there is growing evidence that diet and lack of exercise, though critical, cannot alone explain the rapid growth of the epidemic.

It has long been known that genetics give people different metabolisms, making some gain weight more easily than others. But the new study by scientists at Barcelona's Municipal Institute of Medical Research suggests that pollution may similarly predispose people to get fat.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org, Geoffrey Lean, The Independent UK, September 8, 2008 ]

Sarah Palin’s Big, Sleazy Safari

(Alternet.org) - Most people had never heard of Sarah Palin when she was named the Republican VP nominee. But I'd been hearing her name all too often, because I belong to a group called Defenders of Wildlife -- and in her time as governor of Alaska, Palin has used her position as governor of Alaska to ruin the Alaskan wilderness in every way she could.

Her most recent "victory" came on Aug. 26, when Alaska's voters defeated Measure 2, an initiative that would have banned hunting wolves from airplanes for sport.

Palin organized a campaign against Measure 2 and funded it with $400,000 of state money. For most of us, the idea of zooming around in a private airplane over snowbound wilderness just for the chance to spot a terrified wild dog and blow it apart with a high-powered rifle is insane. But there's a whole culture out there in love with the idea. Palin did her part by playing the tired old Alaskan pioneer card, saying that lower-48 naysayers who dared to object to the idea of dive-bombing wildlife didn't "understand rural Alaska."

Alaska isn't really very hard to understand. It consists of a minority that loves the wilderness and an overwhelmingly Republican majority that wants to squeeze all the cash it can get out of the state before the oil dries up, the fish die out and the wildlife disappears. Nowhere else does the Republican formula of manipulating the suckers by playing on their silly hatreds and even sillier vanities play out more clearly than in Alaska.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org, John Dolan, September 2, 2008 ]

What is the Carbon Footprint of McCain’s Countless Homes?

(Alternet.org) - If McCain can't even keep count of the number of homes he has, you can bet he has no idea on their environmental impact.

I'd estimate it's about 150 tons of carbon dioxide, some 10 times that of the average American. But someone should ask Senator McCain. After all, he says he wants to require all Americans to cut greenhouse gas emissions 60 percent to 70 percent by 2050.

As probably the whole country knows by now, John McCain does not know how many homes he owns. But the number seems to be between seven and 12, depending on whether you count his Sedona ranch as one house or six.

Given how conservatives beat up Vice President Gore for the supposed energy excesses of his one Nashville home, I can't wait until they start running TV ads attacking McCain's climate hypocrisy. [Note to self: Don't hold your breath.] After all, McCain fashions himself as a leader on global warming, just like Gore, but his combined homes have a considerably larger square footage than Gore's -- and thus presumably a much larger energy use. That said, the energy use of McCain's homes is infinitely less relevant than their greenhouse gas emissions (see "GOP Attack on Gore Makes No Sense At All").

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org, Joseph Romm, August 22, 2008 ]

NOAA: Sunspot is Harbinger of New Solar Cycle, Increasing Risk for Electrical Systems

(NOAA) - A new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity, bringing with it increased risks for power grids, critical military, civilian and airline communications, GPS signals and even cell phones and ATM transactions, showed signs it was on its way late yesterday when the cycle’s first sunspot appeared in the sun’s Northern Hemisphere, NOAA scientists said.

“This sunspot is like the first robin of spring,” said solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “In this case, it’s an early omen of solar storms that will gradually increase over the next few years.”

A sunspot is an area of highly organized magnetic activity on the surface of the sun. The new 11-year cycle, called Solar Cycle 24, is expected to build gradually, with the number of sunspots and solar storms reaching a maximum by 2011 or 2012, though devastating storms can occur at any time.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: NOAA, January 4, 2008 ]

Sun approaches Solar Cycle 24, could wreak havoc

(Open Press Wire) - It’s official the NOAA, or more specifically the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rings in a new 11-year cycle of heightened solar activity. The new solar cycle is dubbed as Solar Cycle 24. The major climax of this new cycle is predicted to be in 2011 or 2012. Once the solar cycle reaches it’s maximum level you can expect it to bring greater risk of havoc on things like GPS signals, power grids, cell phones, civilian and airline communications, military communications and a whole lot more.

As stated from solar physicist Douglas Biesecker of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, “This sunspot is like the first robin of spring.” This robin has started to hatch early since a major group of solar experts predicted the cycle would most likely begin in March of 2008. The catch to the prediction was that it could occur 6 months before or after the March of 2008 date.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Open Press Wire, January 6, 2008 ]

Solar Cycle 24 has officially started

(What’s Up With That) - What a day! First a major storm whacks the west coast, now we have the official start of solar cycle 24.

Solar physicists have been waiting for the appearance of a reversed-polarity sunspot to signal the start of the next solar cycle. The signal for the start of a new cycle is sighting a particular kind of sunspot. That wait is over.

A magnetically reversed, high-latitude sunspot, dubbed as number 981, emerged on the surface of the sun today. Just a few months ago, an “All Quiet Alert” had been issued for the sun. This reversed polarity sunspot today marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 24 and the sun’s return back to Solar Maximum.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: What's Up With That, Anthony Watts ]

Solar Cycle 24 Begins

(NASA) - Hang on to your cell phone, a new solar cycle has just begun.

“On January 4, 2008, a reversed-polarity sunspot appeared—and this signals the start of Solar Cycle 24,” says David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

Solar activity waxes and wanes in 11-year cycles. Lately, we’ve been experiencing the low ebb, “very few flares, sunspots, or activity of any kind,” says Hathaway. “Solar minimum is upon us.”

The previous solar cycle, Solar Cycle 23, peaked in 2000-2002 with many furious solar storms. That cycle decayed as usual to the present quiet leaving solar physicists little to do other than wonder, when would the next cycle begin?

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Nasa, January 10, 2008 ]

Scientists Predict Big Solar Cycle

(Science@Nasa) - Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one.

Solar cycle 24, due to peak in 2010 or 2011 “looks like its going to be one of the most intense cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago,” says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He and colleague Robert Wilson presented this conclusion last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Science@Nasa, December 21, 2006 ]

‘Land that never melts’ is melting: Erosion probed in Nunavut park

(CBC.ca) - Experts working with Parks Canada say flooding and erosion at Nunavut’s Auyuittuq National Park are related to a flood that hit the nearby hamlet of Pangnirtung in June.

The south end of the Baffin Island park has been closed to visitors since July 28, as a severely eroded moraine at Crater Lake has raised the risk of flash flooding into the Akshayuk Pass.

The partial closure means visitors cannot enter the park from Pangnirtung in the south. Park officials say they will decide in the next couple of days whether to reopen the south end.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca, August 6, 2008 ]

2012: NASA sees start of “new solar cycle”

(StopThePropaganda.ca) - Here is a MUST READ about Solar Cycle 24 starting in 2012 - from Mark Baard’s ParallelNormal.com. Read some of the interesting comments made on this post. Something to think about. 

Please post any comments about 2012 or links to any 2012 research you have found below.

(ParallelNormal.com) - A bumpy ride ahead for sats and power grids. NASA today published a forecast for a “big and intense” new solar cycle in 2011 or 2012, which its suggests will wreak havoc on satellite GPS and telecommunications, power grids and air traffic. NASA says the next solar cycle, Solar Cycle 24, “could make itself felt as never before.”

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Parallelnormal.com, Mark Baard, December 17, 2007 ]

12 Tips for the sustainability shift

(The Huffington Post) - These days, most people sense that our world is off balance and that we are sliding steadily towards some dark abyss. It can be hard to keep a cheerful positive outlook when you consider just these three signs of trouble:

1. Recent record high oil prices may be just the beginning of never-ending price escalations as increasing demand for oil (China and India are growing at about 10% per year) collides with global oil production that has been pretty much flat for the past three years, and shows all the warning signs of impending decline (Peak Oil).

2. Even the best-case projections from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) indicate that escalating natural disasters exacerbated by global climate changes may be enough to bankrupt many nations over the course of the next few decades.

3. Roughly 90 percent of the large commercial fish (swordfish, marlin, tuna, shark, etc.) have disappeared from the oceans over the last fifty years and it is projected that current trends will result in the collapse of all commercial seafood species in the oceans by the year 2048.

I hate to break it to you, but simple steps, like changing your light bulbs and driving a hybrid car, though they are good steps in the right direction, will not be enough to save our world from collapse. If we consider “Plan A” to be business as usual, which is currently consuming, depleting, and poisoning the natural systems that maintain life on Earth, then we might call a sustainable alternative “Plan B”. It has been estimated that a viable Plan B could be implemented by diverting just 1/6th of the world’s current military expenditures to supporting and implementing the sweeping changes needed to shift our world’s course from collapse to sustainability. Are we that stupid, short sighted, or selfish that we can’t devote this much to saving our planet?

There is no single “right way” to implement Plan B, but the following list (an excerpt from Edition II of When Technology Fails) would go a long way towards insuring that we and our children will have a world worth living in:

1. Change the tax structure. Plan B will only succeed if we shift the tax structure to provide significant support for those materials, processes, industries and investments that contribute towards building a sustainable economy, while penalizing those industries and structures that stick to the “old way” of doing things, continuing to consume our dwindling resources and ecosystems in non-sustainable ways. Funds gained from fees and penalties can be used to pay for rebates and tax incentives that promote the rapid industrial retooling and changeover to energy and resource conserving processes, machines, automobiles, and so on. During World War II, in a matter of just 6 months, the entire US production of consumer automobiles was shut down and converted to production in support of the war effort. If we could do that, We Can Do This!

2. Rebuild our cities. Over one half the human population now lives in cities, and they consume more than one half of our energy and materials. By restructuring our cities for mass transportation, moving away from their current focus centered on the individual automobile, and retrofitting our buildings for energy efficiency and integrated distributed renewable energy power generation (our buildings could generate most or all the power they need using current technologies), we could reduce our cities’ fossil fuel consumption by a factor of 10:1 within the next decade or two.

3. Rebuild our railways, waterways, and mass transit systems: A world running short on oil must focus on efficiency rather than simple convenience. If we don’t act now, while our economy is still working reasonably well, how will most of us get around, or ship our goods, if gas goes to $10 or $20 dollars a gallon and we have not developed better alternatives to diesel trucks for long distance hauling and private gasoline powered automobiles for local transportation?

4. Rebuild our homes, office buildings and factories. Today’s showpiece energy efficient buildings often consume one-tenth the energy of the average building, and some buildings are net energy producers that actually generate more power than they consume. The current crash in the building market could be turned around with zero-interest loans and tax incentives to retrofit buildings for energy efficiency, providing badly needed jobs while cutting green house gas emissions and reducing oil imports and trade deficits. From a resource, energy, and materials point of view, it is far “greener” to retrofit existing buildings than to tear them down and start over.

5. Rebuild our industries. There must be domestic and international financial incentives to revitalize economies while saving energy and materials through junking old inefficient processes and machines and replacing them with state-of-the-art technologies. The Western world has benefited greatly from the use of natural resources gleaned from underdeveloped countries. It is time we repay this debt by sharing renewable and sustainable technologies with the developing world, doing our part to ensure that we leave behind a world that can feed and sustain our children. All of our efforts will be to no avail, if we take care of our own country while doing little to help replace the inefficient processes and industries of rapidly industrializing giants like India and China.

6. Fund and support renewable energy development. Focus on the rapid development of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biofuels. Particular emphasis on wind power, which is already cost competitive with coal. When you level the playing field by eliminating subsidies, wind energy is already more cost effective than coal, nuclear, or oil for the generation of electricity. Develop biofuels from multiple sources (preferably other than corn, which produces just a little more energy than it takes to grow and process), including cellulosics and algae, to provide oil alternatives both in the transportation industries and as material feedstocks for industrial processes such as plastics.

7. Eliminate population growth. Reduce global population growth to the point where the population of our planet levels off, followed by a decline in world population. On a planet where the estimated long-term carrying capacity is on the order of 1 to 2 billion people, if we can’t control our own population growth, nature will do it for us. Most people would agree that it is much more humane to provide family planning education and birth control materials for all people on Earth than for the population to find its natural level through starvation, plagues, and wars.

8. Share the wealth. Develop binding multinational regulations and governing bodies to ensure that the world’s oceans and forests are harvested sustainably. Develop some form of resource equity-sharing program to reward third-world countries for conserving their resources, such as rainforests, topsoil, and sensitive ecosystems. We must revamp our economic systems which currently reward businesses that are causing great ecological harm, by allowing them to reap higher profits due to the fact that they are not charged for the harmful resource depletion and environmental degradation resulting from their business practices. Simply exporting our polluting heavy industries to the third world, where they are not as well controlled or monitored as in the west, makes the global sustainability problem even worse.

9. Reach out to developing countries. The developing countries of the world all want what the Western countries already have. They must not be left out of the equation. We have the potential to rapidly develop and deploy technologies to shift our economy from a carbon-intensive energy base to one based on renewables. By sharing this technology with the developing world, we can help to significantly improve their average standard of living while at the same time allowing them to leapfrog older coal and oil-based technologies, much as how the cell phone created the opportunity for most of the developing world to bypass line-based phone systems. If we miss this opportunity, our chances of avoiding catastrophic global climate changes, or economic and ecological collapse, are practically zero.

10. Replace coal-burning power plants. If we are to stand a chance for capping greenhouse gas emissions, current coal-burning power plant technology must be replaced. If a successful carbon dioxide sequestering technology proves feasible, we could continue to burn coal, but only when the new technology is in place.

11. Global relocalization: buy local. Economies are bound to relocalize as energy and transportation costs rise, making it once again both environmentally and economically beneficial to live, work, produce, grow, and buy locally. Buying local helps keep our dollars circulating locally in what is known as the “local multiplier effect.” When we buy foreign oil, produce, or material goods, these dollars often leave our country for good.

12. Make all decisions based on sustainability. All business decisions should be made while giving serious consideration as to whether that particular decision contributes toward sustainability or takes us farther from the goal of creating a sustainable world.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: The Huffington Post, Matthew Stein, July 30, 2008 ]

Diseases, heat-related deaths likely to spike from climate change: report

(CBC.ca) - A new Health Canada report warns Canadians of the potential health risks of climate change, including spikes in heat-related deaths, an increase in respiratory and cardiovascular problems, and the spread and emergence of diseases.

“The findings of this assessment suggest the need for immediate action to buttress efforts to protect health from current climate hazards,” says the 500-page report, entitled Human Health in a Changing Climate: A Canadian Assessment of Vulnerabilities and Adaptive Capacity.

It examines the effects under three categories: extreme weather events and natural hazards, air quality and heat, and diseases transmitted by water, food, insects, ticks and rodents.

The projected increase of floods in some areas and drought and forest fires in others are some of the natural disasters caused by climate change that will cause health-related problems, the report says.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca ]

AL GORE: Green Energy by 2018 (7/17 Speech)

Conservationists blame ‘global Mafia’ for decline in Bengal tigers

A dramatic decline in the population of Bengal tigers in a Nepalese wildlife reserve has the World Wildlife Fund blaming the “powerful global Mafia that controls illegal wildlife trade.”

The Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal once boasted among the highest densities of the endangered species in the Eastern Himalayas.

But a camera trap study, conducted in large part by WWF, shows a population of between six and 14 tigers as of April, down from 20 to 50 tigers in 2005. The cameras are attached to infrared sensors and take a picture when they detect movement.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca ]

B.C. carbon tax kicks in on Canada Day

British Columbians will pay more at the gas pump as the provincial government’s carbon tax on all fossil fuels takes effect Tuesday.

The carbon tax, introduced in the Feb. 19 budget, taxes carbon-based fuels — including gasoline, diesel, natural gas and home heating fuel — at a rate of $10 per tonne of greenhouse gases generated. The carbon tax will rise $5 a tonne for the next four years until it hits $30 per tonne in 2012.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: CBC.ca ]

Foundation praises B.C. global warming plan

(David Suzuki Foundation) - VANCOUVER – The B.C. government’s plan to address global warming, released June 26, demonstrates continued leadership on this crucial issue, according to the David Suzuki Foundation.

“This is one of the most comprehensive climate action plans in Canada,” said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation. “It shows a strong commitment to reduce global warming and provides a model for the federal government and other provinces to follow.”

The plan uses economic modelling to gauge the potential of the measures to reduce harmful emissions but acknowledges that more action is required to meet B.C.’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a third by 2020.

The strengths of the plan include: It is the first significant carbon tax in North America to put a price on carbon emissions and increase the price over time; it follows California’s fuel-efficiency standards for vehicles; and it includes a commitment to cap and reduce industrial greenhouse gas emissions within the Western Climate Initiative, a regional effort with several provinces and U.S. states.

“B.C.’s climate action plan is good, but it still contains inconsistencies that must be addressed,” said Mr. Bruce. Because some of the measures to reduce emissions are based on government commitments yet to be implemented, the David Suzuki Foundation recommends the following:

• Move forward with regulations to cap and reduce industrial greenhouse gas emission by early 2009 in accordance with the B.C. target of at least a 33 percent reduction below 2007 levels by 2020.

• Increase investment in public transit with more predictable and stable funding. This can be achieved by redirecting provincial spending from general-purpose highway lanes to vital transit infrastructure. Government studies show that B.C.’s Gateway plan will increase emissions, not reduce them.

• Phase out subsidies to the oil and gas industry. These subsidies reduce the incentive for this sector to reduce the environmental costs of polluting activities.

• Strengthen the B.C. energy-efficiency code for residential buildings to require EnerGuide 80 performance for new construction and renovations.

• Protect B.C.’s natural carbon storehouses, such as old-growth forests, peatlands, grasslands, and wetlands, which absorb and store billions of tonnes of carbon. Protecting B.C.’s natural areas would also increase ecological resiliency and opportunities for wildlife and ecosystems to adapt to global warming.

• Develop and implement other measures required to achieve or surpass B.C.’s emissions reduction goals.

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For more information, contact:

Ian Bruce, Climate Change Specialist, (604) 306-5095

Path to Freedom - Living a simple, yet sustainable life

With headlines about rising food costs, soaring gas prices, and skyrocketing foreclosure rates that reach directly into everyone’s wallets, as well as sobering reports about the state of the earth’s environment, there is mounting pressure for some relief. The question arises: How can an individual or one family cope in such trying times?

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Energy Bulletin ]

Book review: “Crash Course: Preparing for Peak Oil”

We need to be prepared for the worst when it comes to peak oil, insists Zachary Nowak.

Just as homeowners pay hefty insurance premiums in exchange for a promise of help in the unlikely event of a fire, so, too, should peak oil believers be developing their own sort of insurance policy against the worst imaginable consequences of peak oil.

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Energy Bulletin ]

Bottled Water Losing Steam: Council of Canadians commends London and Kitchener City Councils for banning the bottle

The Council of Canadians is congratulating the Ontario cities of London and Kitchener for approving plans this week to ban the sale of bottled water on city property. The Council of Canadians welcomes these local victories as important steps toward a national water policy that would improve the public system and ensure clean drinking water standards for all communities across the country.

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The real green shift

The most obvious problem with the Green Shift proposed by Stéphane Dion is that the Liberal party plan will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, if at all. The hidden assumption is that if the new carbon tax works, it will reduce the revenues available to the federal government.

READ MORE HERE

The Carbon Tax: A Day Late and a Dollar Short

The price of oil is going up, up, up, and while there is much speculation about the cause(s), it is wishful thinking to believe that most of the cause is speculation - or that prices will "return to normal." What does this mean for carbon taxes and for our plan of action?

READ MORE HERE

SHOCK CLAIM: NO ICE AT NORTH POLE THIS SUMMER !!!

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

READ MORE HERE

Environmental ‘reality check’ aims to clear the air on B.C. carbon tax

VANCOUVER – B.C.’s carbon tax, which takes effect July 1, has many British Columbians talking, but the debate has also stirred up a lot of confusion. To help clear the air, a coalition of environmental groups today released a “Reality Check” fact sheet on the top five misconceptions about the tax.

“We want all British Columbians to work together to solve the problem of global warming, and we believe a carbon tax can provide the signal for all of us to shift to cleaner energy and greener practices,” said Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation.

“It’s great that there’s so much debate about the carbon tax and its role in reducing global warming, but we want to make sure the debate is based on fact and not misinformation,” said Andrea Reimer, executive director of the Wilderness Committee.

“Reality Check” addresses the top five misconceptions about the B.C. carbon tax, including:

Myth 1 - The B.C. carbon tax won’t reduce emissions. Myth 2 - Big industry is left off the hook. Myth 3 - B.C.’s carbon tax is a “tax grab” or additional tax. Myth 4 - B.C.’s carbon tax will hit consumers who are already reeling from high international oil prices. Myth 5 - B.C. has introduced a “gas tax”.

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The Real Story Behind the Midwest Floods? Climate Change

Scientists acknowledge an uncomfortable fact long ignored by the media: global warming is the real cause of extreme weather like the Midwest floods.

The floodwaters are rising, swamping cities, breaching levees. Tens of thousands are displaced. Many are dead. No, I am not talking about Hurricane Katrina, but about the Midwest United States. As the floodwaters head south along the Mississippi, devastating communities one after another, the media are overflowing with televised images of the destruction.

While the TV meteorologists document “extreme weather” with their increasingly sophisticated toolbox, from Doppler radar to 3-D animated maps, the two words rarely uttered are its cause: global warming. I asked former Energy Department official Joseph Romm, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, about the disconnect:

READ MORE HERE [ Source: Alternet.org ]

Ontario adopts law to ban sale of lawn and garden pesticides

(David Suzuki Foundation) - OTTAWA – Today’s passage of a law banning lawn and garden pesticide sales throughout Ontario puts the province on the path to better health and a cleaner environment.

“We are delighted that the sale of these toxic chemicals will be illegal in Ontario, once this new law takes effect next spring,” says Lisa Gue, environmental health policy analyst with the David Suzuki Foundation.  “We all know that pulling these products from store shelves is the best way to ensure that they won’t be used.”

The Cosmetic Pesticide Ban Act prohibits the sale and use of pesticides on lawns and gardens throughout the province. The ‘cosmetic' use of pesticides to improve the appearance of lawns and gardens presents health and environmental risks. 

Important details of Ontario’s new ban will be finalized in the coming months as the government develops regulations. The regulations will specify, for example, which pesticides will be prohibited and any exemptions to the ban. The David Suzuki Foundation calls on the province to match or exceed the protections offered by the strongest pesticide bylaws already in place in cities such as Toronto and Peterborough.  

Unfortunately, because the government rejected some key amendments to the Cosmetic Pesticide Act, the legislation prevents cities and towns from enforcing restrictions on pesticide use that extend beyond the scope of the provincial ban. 

“The strength of a province-wide ban largely rests on whether the government guards against potential loopholes and prohibits as many harmful pesticides as the province’s leading cities,” says Ms. Gue. “The Ontario government has the opportunity to set a new national standard for protecting the environment and human health against the toxic effects of unnecessary pesticides.”

Ontario becomes the second province to restrict the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides.  Quebec banned many lawn pesticides in 2003. 

For more information contact: Lisa Gue Environmental Health Policy Analyst David Suzuki Foundation Office: (613) 594-5428 Cell: (613) 796-7699

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/latestnews/dsfnews06180801.asp

Will There Be an Obama/Gore Ticket?

With Gore's hearty endorsement of Obama last night the speculation has begun.

"Take it from me: Elections matter!" Al Gore shouted to the knowing cheers of the crowd that had gathered to hear the former Vice President endorse Barack Obama. "Elections matter!"

Painting the November presidential contest between Republican John McCain and Democrat Obama as one offering a stark choice between continuation of the failed policies of the past eight years and the renewal of the promise denied when the Supreme Court intervened to make George Bush President, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee detailed the differences that divide this year's candidates on issues of war and peace, economic justice, civil liberties and even food safety.

Recalling the tainted pet foods that entered the US because of unwise trade policies, stymied regulations and lax inspections during the Bush years, the former Vice President joked, "Even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter."

This Land Is Their Land: How the Rich Confiscate Natural Beauty from the Public

In the era of the superrich, if a place is truly beautiful, ordinary people can't afford to be there.

I took a little vacation recently -- nine hours in Sun Valley, Idaho, before an evening speaking engagement. The sky was deep blue, the air crystalline, the hills green and not yet on fire. Strolling out of the Sun Valley Lodge, I found a tiny tourist village, complete with Swiss-style bakery, multistar restaurant and "opera house." What luck -- the boutiques were displaying outdoor racks of summer clothing on sale! Nature and commerce were conspiring to make this the perfect micro-vacation.

But as I approached the stores things started to get a little sinister -- maybe I had wandered into a movie set or Paris Hilton's closet? -- because even at a 60 percent discount, I couldn't find a sleeveless cotton shirt for less than $100. These items shouldn't have been outdoors; they should have been in locked glass cases.

 

Then I remembered the general rule, which has been in effect since sometime in the 1990s: if a place is truly beautiful, you can't afford to be there. All right, I'm sure there are still exceptions -- a few scenic spots not yet eaten up by mansions. But they're going fast.

READ MORE HERE

China Could Rebuild Earthquake-Damaged Wenchuan as a Model 21st Century Eco-City

It would be the diametric opposite of 'disaster capitalism.'

A devastating earthquake leveled the Chinese town of Wenchuan, leaving in its wake over 60,000 dead and five million homeless throughout Sichuan Province. It will take years to heal the damage of this tragedy. Nevertheless, even as aid organizations and local government scramble to erect temporary housing and supply dr