30 April 2007
how green is green?
Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn. The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.
Highlights of the Conservative government's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air
pollutants are discussed by video feed here: and summed up by Globe and Mail cf. source below(1)
"The Conservative government has signalled that it won't let its climate change plan derail aggressive oil sands expansion, exempting new projects from greenhouse gas emission targets until three years after they are up and running.*** Under regulations announced yesterday by Environment Minister John Baird, large industrial emitters will have to reduce their emissions per unit of production at existing facilities by 18 per cent in the first three years, and then a further 2 per cent a year...The Pembina Institute has forecast that the expansion of the oil sands - where production is expected to triple in the next 10 years - could increase emissions by as much as 142 megatonnes by 2020.(2)
Where is the boy that looks after the sheep? "He's under the haycock, fast asleep."
Not green enough? cf. "I'm afraid that the entire [industrial emitters] program is a sequence of loopholes," said Julia Langer, director of the World Wildlife Fund's global threats program. She said the initial exemptions for new plants and the $15-a-tonne maximum payment into the technology fund seriously undermine the plan. "This is a regulatory plan that is geared to business as usual for the tar sands sector," Ms. Langer said.(2) and also, [former U S Vice-president Al Gore] blasted the Harper government's latest green plan, unveiled last week, for focusing on "intensity of reduction*" in emissions (a Houston-developed, industry-friendly test favoured by the petroleum sector**) instead of on tough, overall reductions in levels of pollution, as called for in the Kyoto Accord. "In my opinion, it (Conservative plan) is a complete and total fraud. It is designed to mislead the Canadian people," Gore said, adding, "(Harper) is under a lot of pressure and he has chosen the easy wrong over the hard right." (3)
There's something wrong here when companies such as EXxon-Mobil which grossed the highest profits of any global corporation last year are not asked to assume a fair share of the costs to meet internationally-agreed upon Kyoto targets. As this Canadian non-renewable resource is exhausted with horrendous costs to our environment, the profits gained thereby vanish into foreign investors' pockets. Yes, we look to Alberta for work now but how long until that resource is exhausted and the greedy global capital has moved elsewhere?
"The rest of the world looks to Canada for moral leadership." --Al Gore, former US vice-president and author of documentary An Inconvenient Truth (5)
Will you wake him? "No, not I; For if I do, he'll be sure to cry."–Mother Goose
*"the concept of "intensity reduction,'' ...[Gore] said is a poll-tested phrase developed in Houston by the so-called think tanks financed by Exxon Mobil and some other large polluters. (5)
** Noted in report about global climate-warming meeting taking place this week: "Some of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters and top oil exporters will try to water down language in a draft report that suggests reducing emissions can be done with minimal cost to the global economy, environmental activists said." (4)
***"In March 2005 Petro-Canada added the Fort Hills mining project to our impressive list of oil sands assets.
Through a joint venture agreement, we’ll operate and lead development of Fort Hills with a 55% interest.
Partners UTS Energy Corporation (UTS) and Teck Cominco hold 30% and 15% interests respectively. Fort Hills is one of the largest remaining undeveloped oil sands leases in the Athabasca region north of Fort McMurray, Alta., Canada. It represents the next leg of oil sands growth at Petro-Canada. Current plans call for up to 170,000 barrels per day of production in 2011, with an upgrader to follow within a year or two. We’re evaluating the possibility of doubling that initial development to equivalent sized upgrading the same year." However, "Sierra Legal Defence Fund will appear before the Federal Court of Appeal in Edmonton tomorrow to challenge a Federal Court decision allowing a Northern Alberta tar sands project to go ahead without an adequate environmental assessment. Sierra Legal will argue the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act requires the entire proposed Petro-Canada Tar Sands Project, north of Fort McMurray, to undergo a federal environmental assessment." (6)
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Sources: (1)"Green plan highlights," Canadian Press Globe and Mail 26 Apr 07; (2)SHAWN MCCARTHY AND DAVID EBNER, "Ottawa signals emissions break for oil sands," Globe and Mail 27 Apr 07; (3)GEOFFREY STEVENS, "Canadians open to Gore's frank words," The Record 30 Apr 07; (4)Costs top climate talks agenda The Record 30 Apr 07; (5)An inconvenient critic The Record 30 Apr 07: (6) websites:
Labels: climate change, oil and gas, politics
18 April 2007
clearly Canadian
North American Future 2025 Project*** in Calgary 27 April will focus on Canada's fresh water supplies. Background information as follows:
- closed-door trilateral talks between politicians, businessmen and academics******from Canada, the United States and Mexico to discuss, among other things, large-scale water transfers to combat future shortages in the United States and Mexico despite Canada's standing objection to such a plan; climate change is expected to greatly exacerbate water shortages in the United States* and Mexico while Canada, which has the world's largest supply of fresh water in the Great Lakes and elsewhere, is not expected to suffer to the same extent. Federal Environment Minister John Baird... said Canada strictly prohibits transfers of water and that policy isn't going to change: 'Canada is committed to protecting water in its natural state and to preserving the integrity of ecosystems, and will continue to do so." A spokesman for Baird said he had no plans to attend the meeting. (1) **
- Great Lakes and other boundary waters - which straddle Canada and the United States - are protected by legislation****, water from other lakes and rivers are only regulated by a voluntary, good-faith agreement between the provinces and federal government.. Barlow [ an environmental activist] warned that the conditions of the North American Free Trade Agreement could force Canada into wholesale exports of its water if just one precedent-setting deal is struck. Previous discussions about selling water in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador mean that danger is very real and terrifying, she added."The world is getting set now to move water around the way oil and gas are being moved," Barlow said. (1)
- However, the current legislation is being amended. Cf. Safeguarding and Sustaining Ontario's Water Act, 2007 (Bill 198 which was introduced in the Legislature on April 3, 2007).
- Public comment by 3 May 07 here:
http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTAwMTYz&statusId=MTQ5N
Tg0 - The risk to all of us? for starters, the following environmental information from Government of Manitoba website: Consequences of the transfer of biota between basins cannot be accurately predicted with the present level of our understanding. But there are many precedents world over that argue against indiscriminate introductions of species into new areas. Among the harmful effect of introductions are competition of the invaders with native species and introduction of new parasites, new diseases or new, more efficient predators. Economic losses can be staggering. A 1999 U.S. study estimates damages and losses caused by invading foreign species***** adding up to more than $138 billion per year. Zebra mussels cause damage in the U.S. that is estimated at $3 billion annually. The mussels have not yet invaded the Hudson Bay drainage area, but an impact of similar magnitude can be expected should zebra mussels make their way into the Hudson Bay basin. Degradation of water quality is also a possible effect of interbasin water transfers. Among the possible concerns are increases in dissolved salts, suspended sediments, nutrients, trace elements and pesticides. (2)
Notes: *U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says there are 36 states that are...[experiencing] water stress; note also that NAFTA does not protect Canadian water supplies; ** per usual the local rag shortened the original CP report and eliminated telling details i.e. Baird plans to skip this crucial meeting; ***a trilateral effort to draft a "blueprint" on economic integration for the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. The project was launched by the three governments in March 2006 to help guide the ongoing Security and Prosperity Partnership, a wide-ranging effort to further integrate the countries' practices on everything from environmental rules to security protocols and border controls.****Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River Basin Sustainable Water Resources Agreement; ***** RR has forgotten name of insect brought into Canada from China by means of wooden packaging that is now destroying Ontario forests; ****** Pembina Institute will be attending; this think-tank does excellent work and will likely have background report available at its website www.pembina.org
Sources: (1)Kelly Patterson, , "Debate heating up over water transfers
'Blueprint' for North America sought at talks,"CanWest News Service, 13 Apr 07: (2)http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/water_info/transboundary/manitoba.html
(3) full water story at this link: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2007/04/17/4046058-cp.html;
14 April 2007
when will it ever end?
more coal tar seepage? Yes, per staff report to Kitchener Council: "The additional estimated 2,300 tonnes of non-hazardous coal tar contaminated material will increase the tendered amount by approximately $120,000.00 (net of GST). As well, it is anticipated that there could be upwards of 1,500 additional tonnes of salt contaminated material would increase the tendered amount by approximately $75,000.00 (net of GST). Therefore the upper limit of the total estimated increased cost to the tender would be $195,000.00."
cf report here:
cf report here:
Labels: brownfields, coal tar
whither spring?
Photo of crocuses early Apr 07 copyright Sandamara Images with this historical footnote:
"The summer of 1816 was what is called the "Cold Summer." There was frost every month and in June and July there were seven heavy frosts. On the morning of the 1st of June it was frozen so hard that men and wagons could cross the mud-puddles on the newly formed ice without breaking through. On the 21st of June quite a lot of snow fell. All kinds of provisions were exceedingly scarce. Wheat was from two to three dollars per bushel. The only hay that the farmers could secure was made from the wild coarse grass which they cut on the banks of the river, in marshes or beaver meadows. Food for both man and beast was at starvation prices. The hardships these early settlers had to endure during this cold and inclement year, are almost indescribable."
Source:
Labels: Berlin/Kitchener history
11 April 2007
more hot air?
Gentle reader, the art of reading an old-fashioned print copy of a newspaper requires an awareness of reading not just the text but also the size and positioning of text and articles on the printed page. Today's rag page A6 (also available as pdf file online) serves as a useful starting point. This page devoted to the latest UN climate report has three components: 1) a photo of a dry [water]reservoir bed in Spain; 2) the featured news in larger font, "Climate report: Countries face floods, famine; 3) the local context to a global issue, "Agency funding Canadian climate research runs dry ."
Relevant points as follows:
1. "What's clear is places suffering from drought are going to become drier, and places with a large amount of precipitation are going to see an increase in precipitation,'' (1)
2. "Even as a UN report calls for better research on adaptation to climate change, Canada's most important funding agency for climate research says it has run out of money.Gordon McBean, chair of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, says he can't even arrange a meeting with Environment Minister John Baird to discuss the situation...The UN study...says countries must focus not only on curbing greenhouse emissions, but also on preparing for impacts that cannot be avoided..North America's aging infrastructure and aging population will compound the effects of global warming. "Without increased investments in countermeasures, hot temperature and extreme weather are likely to cause increased adverse health impacts from heat-related mortality, pollution, storm-related fatalities and injuries and infectious diseases.'' (2)
3. "Canada's new government is serious about tackling climate change and protecting the air we breathe for Canadians today and for the future,'' [John Baird, federal Environment Minister]. (2) ===>Really? how serious is serious? if there is no budget to address the issue? just more hot air per the old saw " b***s*** baffles brains" ?
Sources: (1) Climate report: Countries face floods, famine, The Record 11 Apr 07; (2)Agency funding Canadian climate research runs dry, The Record 11 Apr 07.
Relevant points as follows:
1. "What's clear is places suffering from drought are going to become drier, and places with a large amount of precipitation are going to see an increase in precipitation,'' (1)
2. "Even as a UN report calls for better research on adaptation to climate change, Canada's most important funding agency for climate research says it has run out of money.Gordon McBean, chair of the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, says he can't even arrange a meeting with Environment Minister John Baird to discuss the situation...The UN study...says countries must focus not only on curbing greenhouse emissions, but also on preparing for impacts that cannot be avoided..North America's aging infrastructure and aging population will compound the effects of global warming. "Without increased investments in countermeasures, hot temperature and extreme weather are likely to cause increased adverse health impacts from heat-related mortality, pollution, storm-related fatalities and injuries and infectious diseases.'' (2)
3. "Canada's new government is serious about tackling climate change and protecting the air we breathe for Canadians today and for the future,'' [John Baird, federal Environment Minister]. (2) ===>Really? how serious is serious? if there is no budget to address the issue? just more hot air per the old saw " b***s*** baffles brains" ?
Sources: (1) Climate report: Countries face floods, famine, The Record 11 Apr 07; (2)Agency funding Canadian climate research runs dry, The Record 11 Apr 07.
Labels: climate change, politics
04 April 2007
tidewater
The river is glassy in its stillness under the full moon suspended over the Lowlands. This stillness signals that 45-minute interval in between the Arctic tide's movement into the river and back out again. There is a mathematical precision to the movement of the tide: exactly 12 hours in, 12 hours out, and a 45 minute rest period between.Already this river moves into memory to take its place with all the other rivers that have marked my places of sojourn-- the mighty Fraser churning into the Pacific, the rushing Chinchaga marking the exact mid-point of the journey to High Level, the meandering Grand River lazily wending its way to Lake Erie, the placid Rhine bejewelled with castles, and the fabled Danube defining Belgrade with its red rooftops. --But, I have forgotten the mighty St. Lawrence, half river and half ocean, emptying the Great Lakes into the endlessness of the sea --touching even the tiny Iles de la Madeleine as its waters reach to embrace the new found land, the Rock that anchors many to home and kindred.
Up here it is believed that the river is a spiritual presence. I did not know that when I first arrived here and asked it if it would be my strength and my shelter in this wilderness. Religiously, daily, I approach it and it has never yet failed me.
This river's daily rhythm--in, out, rest...in, out, rest... beats out a different sense of time that I call Indian time. Indian time teaches that delayed time can be creative, Indian time creates control over the unacceptable intrusions into the Great Muskeg. Indian time is as forgiving as that giant sponge which takes in the Earth s violations and renders all sweet and clean again. Indian time is endless in its stillness and in its waiting and is interrrupted only by the sound of rippling laughter welling up against neverending despair and darkness.
I pause often beside the marker detailing Henry Hudson's tragic foray deep into this continent. Here--so the marker tells me--he and his son were cast adrift as his crew, overcome by hunger, mutinied and left them in a tiny boat to be sucked back into James Bay by the tide. I add to this explorer s story the details of another story: seven children lost their lives last September as two boats were overcome by strong winds and the sudden swelling of Arctic tidewater. This was supposedly a tragic accident of wilderness survival proportions. Ah no! the parents were engaged in a drug run up the coast and used their children and the goose hunt as a cover to escape police detection ...and unbelievable! no one wore life jackets! Life, it appears, comes very cheap here as children become sacrificial offerings to desperation and greed.
The Moose River itself is brown and shallowand has created many an island in its estuary over time. The first factory established by the Company of Adventurers into Hudson's Bay is on the island in the middle of the river; it is the second oldest place in Canada where the Europeans overwintered in the New World. The year here is measured by the time of freezeup and breakup. Each transitional period has its different sounds. During freezeup, as the tide pulls sheets of river ice one on top of the other, one can hear sounds like a succession of rifle shots in the distance. During breakup, huge chunks of ice grind each other and scour the riverbanks clean as gradually they float out to sea.
In gardening, there is a certain wisdom that teaches one needs to discover the genius loci of a particular place before attempting to till the soil. There are tales told here of European gardeners who dreamed dreams that were at best fool's gold. The market garden on Moose Factory Island has long since beenabandoned. Set aside now are the dreams of coal to fire up steam engines which evaporated as the lignite contained too much wter. The sawmills to cut timber have long since disappeared; there is no further need as it will take the Muskeg 100 years to regrow what the first settlers plundered from the land. No one has yet tried to harvest the peat. Up near Attawapiskat, work is progressing towards extracting industrial diamonds. The one trace of industry is the power generating station at Coral Rapids on the Abitibi, the great river of the fur trade. At best, this river carries the freighter canoes to transport tourists, hunters, and patients over to the hospital. It was built originally to care for tuberculosis patients from the two bays--Hudson and James--courtesy of European contact.
And through it all, every twenty-four hours the river's outpouring
against the tide's inflowing
stops the restless exchange.
And all is placid and still.
And perhaps then in this stillness,
Kairos enters Chronos
to locate the still cente in the spinning wheel of time.
and once more Grace prevails in the wilderness.
Labels: James Bay Lowlands
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