National

FORGET ANY spin. In the end, the recent UN gathering on climate change in Cancún repeated Copenhagen’s failure in 2009. Again, the world’s industrial economies refused to set new binding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, despite dire warnings by scientists. Instead, delegates again vaguely promised money for climate adaptation and mitigation: this time $30 billion to the developing world by 2012, and $100 billion more by 2020.

Once more, the industrialized countries appear to have pledged much of this money in a salvage measure dubbed “REDD’’ — Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries.... Read more »

OTTAWA — A majority of Canadians believe the energy sector is one of the most important parts of Canada's economy, and the federal government should lead the way in "cleaning" it up by finding alternatives to oil, says a newly released internal report.

The study, produced for Natural Resources Canada by Decima Research, found that 88 per cent of Canadians were either "very concerned" (47 per cent) or somewhat concerned (41 per cent) about the environmental impact of energy use and that 87 per cent were "very concerned" (46 per cent) or "somewhat concerned" (41 per cent) about the impact of energy production.... Read more »

Former environment minister Jim Prentice told U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson that he was prepared to step in and impose tougher regulations on the oilsands if the industry damaged Canada's green reputation, according to a cable released by WikiLeaks.

"[Prentice] noted that if industry did not take voluntary measures and if the provincial government did not set more stringent regulations, he would step in and press federal environmental legislation," according to the cable, apparently written by Jacobson.

The cable indicates that Prentice felt the federal government was "too slow" to react to the dirty oil label and "and failed to grasp the magnitude of the situation."

Read the entire article at the link below.

NEW YORK, Dec. 21, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Exposure to fluoride may lower children's intelligence says a study pre-published in Environmental Health Perspectives, a publication of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (online December 17, 2010). 

Fluoride is added to 70% of U.S. public drinking water supplies.

According to Paul Connett, Ph.D., director of the Fluoride Action Network, "This is the 24th study that has found this association, but this study is stronger than the rest because the authors have controlled for key confounding variables and in addition to correlating lowered IQ with levels of fluoride in the water, the authors found a correlation between lowered IQ and fluoride levels in children's blood. This brings us closer to a cause and effect relationship between fluoride exposure and brain damage in children."... Read more »