Canada's Environmental Voice
On Sunday, I flew back to Kitchener, Ontario, after spending a little more than a week in Calgary. I’m not yet sure of the words I want to use to describe the Great Flood of 2013. I wish I could have stayed longer to assemble a bigger pile, to gather […]
You may have thought that the reason Canada has such a poor track record on climate change is due to lobbying pressure by the oil and gas industry or lack of public support. Those are contributing factors, but the real problem is this:
For the first time in three million years our planet has approached 400 parts per million(ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. CO2, as many people know, is the most important greenhouse gas (GHG) emission particle contributing to the dangerous environmental crisis we know as climate change. For reference, […]
Ontarians may have no idea of the volume of nuclear-related facilities in the Great Lakes basin, but a new map offers a clear picture. The Great Lakes Nuclear Hot Spots Map recently created by Great Lakes United and the International Institute of Concern for Public Health is a comprehensive depiction […]
When the Liberal leadership race drew to a close, few people were surprised when Justin Trudeau emerged with over 80% of the votes. His popularity with Canadians is reminiscent of Barack Obama’s successful ascension to the US Presidency in 2008. One issue that Obama and Trudeau have in common is […]
This month’s Greenbelts issue was still hot off the press when A\J was once again reminded of the need to actively protect our green spaces. While we were assembling the issue in late January, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), the provincial adjudicative tribunal for municipal and planning issues, ruled in favour […]
Muskrat Falls is getting a hydroelectric project. Against the objections of local environmental and Inuit-Metis groups, the Federal Court has given the southern Labrador project a green light. There’s some cognitive dissonance involved in watching environmental allies struggling against a form of renewable energy, but hydropower seems to occupy something […]
It’s a new beginning for Ontario’s 1.8 million acre Greenbelt. On January 10, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was in Newmarket to announce a significant new designation to Greenbelt legislation, which will make it easier for municipalities to add public land to what is already the largest greenbelt in the world. […]
The Commission on Conservation, a Canadian government agency, was established in 1909. It was perhaps the earliest forum for business-conservation cooperation. It was a prescient and often thoughtful organization, producing hundreds of reports. Its objectives were mild-mannered enough, fitting for an era when polite society was inclined to civility and […]
The UNFCCC COP18 climate change conference has been hailed, by some, as a success. The ‘Doha Gateway’ was celebrated in particular for its success at ensuring a second term of the Kyoto Protocol. After the negotiations went more than twenty-four hours overtime, the president of the conference quickly gaveled through […]
