Related Posts

  • Critics distressed over Tories' plans to change environmental review process

    Amidst rising concerns around climate change and the controversial review of the Northern Gateway pipeline, the government’s proposed changes to Environmental Assessment legislation have many critics up in arms.

    The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) is just one of several pieces of legislation up for review this year, along with proposed changes to the Criminal Code, immigration laws and the Copyright Act. So far, the suggested changes to Environmental Assessment legislation have been slammed by the Opposition, who say Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are “gutting” the system with detrimental budget cuts and time limitations on reviews.

  • Save the Greater sage-grouse from extinction

    We’re asking Canadians to help save the sage-grouse from extinction, too. Please take two minutes today to send a letter to the Minister, calling on him to stand up for the species he’s legally bound to protect.

    Still unclear on exactly what makes the sage-grouse special? Check out our video, and then send a letter!

  • Food security advocates join Melancthon quarry fight

    Opposition to the proposed 2,316-acre quarry in Melancthon has spilled outside of  Dufferin County, as three organizations voice their concern for the pit's possible punch to food sustainability.

    Sustain Ontario - the Alliance for Healthy Food and Farming, Food Secure Canada and the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) issued a joint news release supporting efforts to stop The Highland Company's plan to transform farmland into an aggregate mine.

    "Clearly this is an issue city people need to care about," Lauren Baker, co-ordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council, said.

    Read the whole story here.

  • Greening Canada’s game: Manitoba looks at recycling shower water for ice rinks

    Manitoba hockey players, figure skaters and curlers could soon be among the first in Canada to play on ice made from recycled shower water.

    The province is looking at a pilot project that would see the Winnipeg arena where Stanley Cup champion Jonathan Toews played hockey as a child convert its shampoo and sweat-laced waste water into ice for five of its skating rinks.

    If the project is successful, the province would like to expand the concept to include all Manitoba ice skating — and even curling — rinks. Water Stewardship Minister Christine Melnick said Manitoba is the first province to look at recycling so-called grey water this way.

  • Ottawa to slash environment review role

    The federal government is reducing the number of departments and agencies that can do environmental reviews from 40 to just three to speed up approvals for projects that will bolster Canada's economy, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said today.

    Expanding on plans announced in the March 29 budget, Oliver on Tuesday laid out the specifics of the Conservative government's major overhaul of environmental assessments, aimed at speeding up what the minister labelled a "duplicative, cumbersome and uncertain" process.

    The moves are sure to please companies that have long complained of a lengthy, costly review process, citing previous major projects that have taken almost a decade to gain approval.

    But the measures were immediately condemned by opposition MPs and environmental groups, which said the Harper government's push for "streamlining" was merely code for gutting Canada's environmental assessment process.

  • 1,500 At Fredericton, NB Anti-Fracking Rally

     

    Over 1,500 people from across New Brunswick and beyond marched through Fredericton yesterday to demand an end to hydraulic fracking and shale gas exploration in the province. Concern over the effects that hydraulic fracking may have on the province's water, for this generation and for those to come, brought out strong representation from the province's English, French, and First Nations communities.

    The march wound its way through town, finishing at the Legislative Assembly, where a range of speakers addressed the peaceful, but incensed, crowd.

  • Budget: Canadians have no say in environmental laws

    OTTAWA- Canadians are less able to protect our water, air and land because of changes to environmental law outlined in today’s federal budget.

    The key change, essentially speeding up environmental reviews of mega-projects, will greatly hurt the public's ability to participate in future processes.

    “Environmental assessments need to be thorough, consultative and science-based.” said John Bennett, Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada. “Creating hard-time limits and rushing the process compromises all these things.”

    The changes will result in weaker environmental assessments and projects being approved without a full understanding of the social, economic and environmental impacts they will have.

  • Job cuts could mean weather woes: critics

    Hundreds of job cuts for federal meteorologists and scientists have some forecasting a gloomier future for Canada’s ability to predict major weather events.

    Approximately 300 jobs are on the chopping block at Environment Canada including scientists, biologists, chemists, computer scientists and engineers.

    The federal government has warned 700 people that they could be among the 300 expected to lose their jobs, according to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

    Until then, it is hard to predict exactly who will be cut and where, but many are bracing for a storm.

    “The science at Environment Canada is our way of looking into the future and understanding what is coming and what needs to be done to prepare,” said John Bennett, executive director at the Sierra Club of Canada. “Without those eyes and ears into the future this down the road is going to be a very expensive cut.”

  • Riding Off The Grid

     

    By Jeff Alan

    Maybe you've wondered how much energy your tech equipment uses. I did, so I did some Kill-A-Watt readings of a few computers I have access to:

    -        A Core 2 E6300 desktop with a low-end video card and a couple hard drives idling at ~105W

    -        A laptop with an i3 2310m processor charging using ~64W

    -        An 8-core AMD 8120 idling at ~70W... that jumps to 180+ at full tilt

  • Fracking: Let's heed these protesters' concerns

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