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Federal
Tories gut environmental assessments with sneaky changes: critics
March 31, 2010
The Canadian Press
Environmental
groups and opposition politicians say the federal Conservatives are
trying to gut environmental assessment laws by sneaking in new rules in
budget legislation.
"This is a big step backward about 20 years,"
John Bennett of the Sierra Club said Wednesday. more
Hillary
Clinton criticises Canada over Arctic talks
March 30, 2010
BBC
The US secretary of state said everybody
affected by the changes brought about by climate change in the Arctic
should have been included. more
"Below"
2C opens new rift in U.N. climate battle
March 30, 2010
Reuters
A goal to limit global warming to "below" 2
degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) is opening a new rift for 2010 talks
on a U.N. climate treaty as developing nations say it means the rich
must deepen cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. more
Alberta
claims victory in EU's 'backing off' from oilsands rules
March 25, 2010
Jason Fekete And Lisa
Schmidt, Calgary Herald
The provincial government is chalking up a
victory in its oilsands campaign as the European Union looks at
weakening proposed environmental standards for the fuel.
Alberta
Energy Minister Ron Liepert said Wednesday the EU appears to be "backing
off " on tougher rules for oilsands-derived crude in response to a
lobbying effort to protect the oilsands by Canadian governments. more
Green
market squandered by Canada: study
March 25, 2010
CBC
Canadian business is failing to take
advantage of the exploding global market for green technology, according
to a study by the Conference Board of Canada.
The report —
Global Climate-Friendly Trade: Canada's Chance to Clean Up — said world
trade in climate-friendly technologies grew by an average of 10 per cent
annually from 2002 to 2008. But it said Canada's exports in that area
didn't grow at all during that period. more
EU
considers easing environmental standards for fuel
March 24, 2010
Mike De Souza, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
The European
Union is considering a weakening of its proposed environmental standards
for fuel in response to a lobbying effort to protect the oilsands by
the Harper government, newly released documents have revealed.
A
new discussion paper to be debated by a panel this week suggests that
European officials will remove restrictions on fuel from the oilsands in
its draft legislation, pending "further review." more
Climate
Action Network Canada Statement
March 24, 2010
In response to an article from Reuters this
afternoon that clearly shows the Canadian Government lobbying to weaken
European climate change policy to protect the tar sands, Graham Saul,
Executive Director of the Climate Action Network Canada has said the
following:
“It is bad enough that the federal government is
doing nothing of consequence to fight global warming here in Canada, now
they are going to other countries and actively lobbying to weaken
perfectly good climate change policy in order to protect the interests
of the tar sands. more
Read
the letter
from Canadian, American and European organizations to the European
Commission
Read
the letter
from Ambassador Hornby to the European Commission
Read
the letter
from Natural Resources Canada to the European Commission
EU
yields to Canada over oil trade "barriers": sources
March 24, 2010
Pete Harrison, Reuters
The European
Union has yielded to Canadian demands it remove possible trade barriers
to polluting oil sands to avoid further damage to ties, according to
sources and leaked documents.
Canada warns that draft EU
standards to promote greener fuels are too unwieldy and will harm the
market for its oil sands -- tar-like oil that is trapped in sediment and
forms the world's second-largest proven crude reserves after Saudi
Arabia. more
Activists
launch anti oil-sands online game
March 22, 2010
Reuters
Activists launched an online video game on
Monday to attack leading politicians' support for development of
Canada's oil sands, which greens portray as a crime against nature.
Tar
Nation, which is set on the grounds of a dirty refinery, allows players
to spray oil at Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and opposition
leader Michael Ignatieff "to get them out of the tar sands".
Once
the two men have been blasted with enough oil, the game ends and up pops
an pre-written protest email addressed to the two leaders. more
Canada’s
First Tar Sands Video Game Released
March 22, 2010
The Polaris Institute
Today the Polaris Institute and
Insidious Design are launching Canada’s first tar sands video game - Tar
Nation – to highlight Canadian politicians’ support for the destructive
tar sands. The flash driven game is visually set in a tar sands
refinery and allows players to spray oil at Stephen Harper and Michael
Ignatieff to get them out of the tar sands. more
Play the game: Tell
Stephen TARper and Michael "Oil" RIGnatief to get out of the tar sands!
How
the Conservatives dodged the climate bullet
March 19, 2010
Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail
During his
high-profile appearance on YouTube this week, Prime Minister Stephen
Harper was asked if his government is willing to take strong action to
combat global warming.
In response, he reminded his Internet
audience that Canada is an emerging energy superpower, “but we want to
make sure that we are a clean energy superpower. more
Canada
risks missing out on the new green economy
March 19, 2010
Janet Bagnall, The Gazette
Around the
world, spending on green energy is picking up briskly - despite the
failure to reach an agreement on greenhouse gas reductions at Copenhagen
and the siren calls to inaction by climate-change deniers.
Last year, the
IEA was asked by the G8 countries to draw up a priority list of R&D
investments. Among the 10 categories of low-carbon energy technologies
the IEA examined was carbon capture and storage, a measure in which
Canada claims to be investing heavily. But compared to carbon capture
and storage investments by the U.S. and Australia, neither country
considered among the world's most robust climate change battlers, Canada
is still lagging, quite badly. The United States spent $594 million in
2009; Australia, $123.5 million; and we spent $19 million. more
First ever report
card on deep oilsands reveals significant room for improvement
March 17, 2010
The Pembina Institute
Today, the
Pembina Institute released Drilling Deeper: The In Situ Oil Sands Report
Card. It is the first comparative environmental assessment of in-situ
oilsands projects.
“Our analysis shows that in-situ oilsands
development is actually more intensive on a per barrel basis in some
environmental impact categories than oilsands mining,” says Marc Huot,
Technical Analyst with the Pembina Institute. “This finding dispels the
myth presented by some in industry and government that in-situ oilsands
development is ‘low impact.’ Instead, it highlights the need for serious
improvements.” more
Read the report: Drilling Deeper: The In Situ
Oil Sands Report Card
In Canada, No
News is Bad News
March 16, 2010
Stephen
Leahy, IPS
Canada's climate researchers are being muzzled, their funding
slashed, research stations closed, findings ignored and advice on the
critical issue of the century unsought by Prime Minister Stephen
Harper's government, according to a 40-page report by a coalition of 60
non-governmental organisations.
"This government says they take
climate change seriously but they do nothing and try to hide the truth
about climate change," said Graham Saul, representing Climate Action
Network Canada (CAN), which produced the report "Troubling Evidence". more
Tar
sands billions could be better spent
March 15, 2010
WWF
WWF-UK and The Co-operative have launched a
report showing how the massive resources being poured into
environmentally damaging tar sands could instead be used to create green
energy or to help meet global development goals.
The
thought-provoking new WWF/Co-op report, Opportunity Cost of the Tar
Sands, puts into perspective the estimated £254 billion ($379 billion)
that the big oil companies are planning to invest in tar sands between
now and 2025. more
Read the report: Opportunity
Cost of the Tar Sands
Money
spent on tar sands projects could decarbonise western economies
March 15, 2010
Terry Macalister, The
Guardian
The
£250bn cost of developing Canada's controversial tar sands between now
and 2025 could be used to decarbonise the western economy by funding
ambitious solar power schemes in the Sahara or a European wide shift to
electric vehicles, according to a new report released today.
The
same amount of investment would also help the world to hit half of the
Millenium Development Goals in the 50 least-developed countries, says
the research from The Co-operative and conservation group, WWF, which is
released to coincide with a new film, Dirty Oil, being premiered in 25
cinemas around the UK today. It is a hard-hitting documentary narrated
by Canadian actor, Neve Campbell. more
Jim
Prentice reaches out amid climate backlash
March 15, 2010
Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail
Environment
Minister Jim Prentice wants to know what Canadians think about a
proposed new strategy to ensure the environment is taken into
consideration when the federal government develops policies and
programs.
Environmentalists point out that new fiscal plan offers
no new money to the decade-old Canadian Foundation for Climate and
Atmospheric Sciences, the country's main fund for scientists studying
everything from global climate models, to the melting of polar ice and
frequency of Arctic storms, to prairie droughts and shrinking Rocky
Mountain glaciers. They say it offers no money to create new jobs in
green energy sectors such as solar and wind power. more
New report details government actions that undermine research into the science of climate change
March 15, 2010
Climate Action Network Canada
A
new report from the Climate Action Network Canada- Réseau action climat
Canada details a “troubling catalogue of actions” by the federal
government to muzzle its own climate scientists and weaken the research
capacity of Canada’s climate science community.
“While the
government’s inaction on climate change is well-known, this report
uncovers new evidence of Environment Canada’s successful efforts to
restrict media access to its own scientists, effectively burying the
truth,” says Graham Saul, Executive Director of Climate Action Network
Canada. “It has become virtually impossible to believe this government
when they claim to support the science of climate change, because
they’re behaving more like a group of climate skeptics that is simply
looking for excuses not to act.” more
Climate-change scientists feel 'muzzled' by Ottawa: Documents
March 15, 2010
Mike De Souza, Canwest News Service
A
dramatic reduction in Canadian media coverage of climate change science
issues is the result of the Harper government introducing new rules in
2007 to control interviews by Environment Canada scientists with
journalists, says a newly released federal document.
The
document suggests the new communications policy has practically
eliminated senior federal scientists from media coverage of
climate-change science issues, leaving them frustrated that the
government was trying to "muzzle" them. more
Colère à Environnement Canada
le 15 mars 2010
François Cardinal, La Presse
Dans
une analyse confidentielle de neuf pages que La Presse a obtenue,
Environnement Canada précise que cette politique a pratiquement réduit
à néant les demandes des principaux médias, tout en créant un grand
sentiment de frustration chez les chercheurs: non seulement ils se
sentent muselés, mais ils estiment que cela remet en question leur
professionnalisme et leur expertise. more
Scientists warn of demise of Canadian climate research
March 14, 2010
The Canadian Press
When government funding for a foundation dedicated to climate research dries up at the end of the year, scientists say the aftershocks of its departure will be felt not only in Canada but by researchers around the globe.
The 2010 federal budget, unveiled this month, offered no new cash to the decade-old Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, a group that has been financing research on everything from melting glaciers to drought on the Prairies to the thawing permafrost.
more
Tory budget ‘walks away' from renewable energy, environmentalist says
March 11, 2010
Gloria Galloway, The Globe and Mail
The
new federal budget is titled “Leading the Way on Jobs and Growth,” but
environmentalists say it fails badly when it comes to creating new
employment in fields that deliver energy from renewable sources like
sun, wind and water.
Even before the new fiscal plan was
released last week, the U.S. federal government was outspending Ottawa
by a per-capita ratio of 14 to 1 on the technologies that many believe
will be the energy sources of future generations.
In Canada, a
four-year, $1.43-billion ecoEnergy program, introduced in 2007,
provided money to companies for the development of new clean-energy
sources. But that expires in 2011 and the new budget offered nothing to
replace it.
As a result, said Tim Weis, the director of
renewable energy and efficiency at the Pembina Institute, the budget
has widened the gap between what is spent federally in the United
States and Canada to 17.8 to 1 – again on a per capita basis. more
Wacky winter a signal of years to come: Climatologist
March 10, 2010
Margaret Munro, Canwest News Service
It's
beyond shocking," David Phillips, a senior climatologist with
Environment Canada, told Canwest News Tuesday. Records have been
shattered from "coast to coast to coast."
"It is truly a
remarkable situation," says Phillips, noting that he's seen nothing
like it in his 40 years of weather watching. He also warns that "the
winter than wasn't" may have set the stage for potentially "horrific"
water shortages, insect infestations and wildfires this summer. more
Budget deep freeze will lead to end of climate research lab
March 10, 2010
Shawn McCarthy, The Globe and Mail
Scientists
who study climate change from a remote post on Ellesmere Island are
planning to shut down their cash-strapped project after the federal
government refused to refinance a key climate-change research
foundation.
“It's quite clear we have a government that says
they believe this is an issue but really don't care about it,” said
Andrew Weaver, a world-renowned climatologist from the University of
Victoria. more
B.C. fuels fight with Ontario over bioenergy
March 10, 2010
Justine Hunter, The Globe and Mail
British
Columbia's quest to replace Ontario as the top destination for
clean-energy investment dollars will now be headed up directly by
Premier Gordon Campbell.
The B.C. Premier plans to introduce a
new Clean Energy Act this spring to exploit his province's
beetle-killed forests as a bioenergy alternative, and to open up new
energy trading opportunities across Western Canada and into the U.S. more
Budget fails to protect environment, groups say
March 5, 2010
CBC
Environmentalists
say Thursday's federal budget missed an opportunity to create green
jobs and took a step backward in protecting the environment.
Tim
Weis, director of renewable energy policy for the Pembina Institute,
said based on their respective budgets for 2010-11, the U.S. will
outspend Canada 14 to 1 per capita on renewable energy and 2 to 1 on
energy efficiency. more
Budget puts climate action on ice
March 5, 2010
Shawn McCarthy, The Globe and Mail
The Harper government has taken a pause in financing federal action on climate change.
In
his budget speech Thursday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was literally
silent on the issue – climate change was not mentioned, though the
government has in the past described it as one of the major challenges
of the age. more
Climate Action Network Canada Response to Budget 2010
March 4, 2010
Climate Action Network Canada
Just
when we thought that it couldn’t get any worse, today’s budget is a
monumental failure of this government to do what it takes to address
climate change in a meaningful way. more
Pembina Reacts to 2010 Federal Budget: Canada hits rock bottom on investments in environment
For release March 4, 2010
The Pembina Institute
“This
deeply disappointing budget offers virtually nothing to create clean
energy jobs or live up to our climate change commitments.
Today’s
budget invests 14 times less, per capita, in renewable energy than
President Obama’s proposal — making no improvement on last year’s
ratio. As governments worldwide are making major investments in clean
energy, Canada continues to fall even further behind. more
Harper Budget Ignores Green Solution to Climate Change
March 4, 2010
Greenpeace Canada
The Harper government is not being accurate in its new budget when it
claims that that renewable energy is helping Canada to meet its
“ambitious climate change objectives”. The budget failed to make any
meaningful investment in renewable energy, and the government’s climate
change target is far from ambitious. more
Environmentalists back Avatar for Oscar
March 4, 2010
Martin Mittelstaedt, The Globe and Mail
With
the Oscars looming, environmentalists are appealing directly to
Hollywood to select Avatar as the year’s best feature film, linking the
blockbuster movie’s storyline of ravaging a planet to obtain a rare and
costly mineral to Canada’s mining of the oil sands. more
Harper Government Misses Boat on Green Energy
March 3, 2010
Greenpeace Canada
The Harper government claims “Canada must keep step as the world races
forward” but the world is leaving Canada behind in the race to
establish a green energy economy. more
Pembina Reacts: Speech from the Throne
March 3, 2010
The Pembina Institute
Unfortunately, today’s speech fails to
clearly signal an improvement in the government’s poor track record on
climate change and investment in the clean energy economy. more
Ontario Campuses Participate in International Teach-in for Climate Justice
March 1, 2010
Sierra Youth Coalition
Today,
hundreds of students at campuses across Ontario, with the support of
the Sierra Youth Coalition will launch a Teach-in For Climate Justice.
Using an alternative style of educational forum faculty at
participating campuses will dedicate a portion of their classes to
engage in a discussion around climate change and climate justice in a
momentous event engaging thousands of students over the next two weeks.
more
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