Main
Climate Change Has Arrived
Through erratic weather patterns, forest fires and glacier melt we are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Worse, the process of climate change, based on the levels of greenhouse gases we have already put in the atmosphere, is likely to increase the severity and frequency of severe weather events. If we allow levels of greenhouse gases to continue to rise, the disasters of today will be dwarfed by future catastrophic impacts.
Clearly, one of humanity’s principal challenges in this century will be to stop climate change. To do this, we must drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) – gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that trap heat in the atmosphere, raising global temperature and thereby spurring climate change.
Latest Posts
Canada unveils heavy-vehicle emissions rules
The greenhouse-gas emissions rules - designed to fit with measures already set in the United States - will come into effect starting with the 2014 model year. They will apply to full-size pickups, heavy trucks and buses as well as to cement, garbage and dump trucks.
"The new standards are expected to reduce emissions from 2018 heavy duty vehicles by up to 23 percent from those sold in 2010," Environment Minister Peter Kent said in a speech announcing the rules.
"We expect this to translate into total greenhouse gas emissions reductions of about three megatons annually in 2020 - equivalent to removing about 650,000 personal vehicles from the road," he said.
The right-of-center Conservative government said in May 2010 it would produce new emissions standards for heavy duty vehicles within months but failed to do so.
Last August the Obama administration in the United States unveiled its own similar measures.... Read more »
- Login to post comments
Bike Rage
Submitted by John Bennett on Fri, 2012-04-13 15:02
This blog was going to be about “bike rage”. I witnessed an incident yesterday walking to work. I heard an angry yell and an expletive from a woman on bike enraged with the rider in front of her who was dawdling along in the bike lane chatting on his cell phone. The yell was so powerful and heartfelt you could feel the rage across the street. Yet, the dawdler didn’t seem to notice.
Before I could start typing however, I participated in a news conference on Parliament Hill. Yes, if I wear a tie and jacket they still let in the building (for how long?).... Read more »
- John Bennett's blog
- Login to post comments
Regulating trucks is not enough!
OTTAWA — The federal government has confirmed Canada will follow the Obama administration's efforts to reduce pollution from the trucking industry through new proposed regulations introduced Friday.
The Canadian plan to introduce regulations to cap emissions from new heavy trucks comes nearly eight months after the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the United States finalized their own standards.
... Read more »
- Login to post comments
Canada Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data Suggests Country Might Miss Goal
OTTAWA, April 11 (Reuters) - Although Canada's output of greenhouse gases was almost unchanged in 2010 from 2009, the major oil producer will find it tough to meet its 2020 emissions-cut target, government figures signaled on Wednesday.
Conservative government officials hailed the data, which showed emissions in Canada rose by just 0.25 percent in 2010 from the year before, hitting 692 megatons. The economy grew by 3.2 percent in the same period.
Canada has committed to cutting emissions to 607 megatons by 2020, a goal that critics say will be very hard to meet due to big increases in production in the oil-rich tar sands of northern Alberta. Tar sands output generates more greenhouse gases than conventional oil production.
... Read more »
- Login to post comments
What about the trailers? And why is Ontario footing the climate change bill?
Media Release (April 13, 2012)
Sierra Club Canada welcomes long-overdue regulation of heavy trucks but another piecemeal move does not make up for the lack of a national climate plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To address the climate crisis the federal government must cap all industrial emissions and put policies and programs in place to help Canadian families and businesses reduce emissions.
“Emissions will continue to rise until Canada has a national plan. In the meantime piecemeal measures like the truck regulations will be rendered meaningless in the fight against climate change,” said John Bennett, Executive Director.... Read more »
- Login to post comments
Support Sierra Club Canada Foundation
and Receive a Charitable Tax Receipt!
