Related Posts

  • Big-name celebs irk Ottawa in Keystone XL pipeline debate

    REUTERS - Canada's energy minister shot back on Friday at Hollywood celebrities protesting a plan to build a $7 billion oil pipeline to Texas from Alberta in the first public indication that the protests are getting under Ottawa's skin.

    Joe Oliver, the minister in charge of energy, said increasingly vocal critics opposing the project on environmental grounds may become a threat to his government's plans to cement Canada as the dominant North American energy supplier.

  • Harper and the Big Oil Party of Canada

    Where will you be and what will you be doing when the first giant oil tanker (there will be two every three days), carrying over 200,000 gallons of tar sands goop diluted with solvent, spills its load into the pristine waters of the northern B.C. coast?

    We often remember catastrophic events by recalling exactly what we were doing and where we were when we first heard the news, I guess because they were so unthinkable they brought us to a halt, emotionally and psychologically— time stopped. I was driving down a street in Waterloo, Ont., when I heard the news of the Montreal Massacre, and I can still vividly recall my stomach turning as disbelief turned to revulsion. I will never forget that moment. And you will never forget the oil spill moment, if we let it happen.

  • Thoughts on the 700 jobs cut at Environment Canada

    Don't be fooled - this is NOT about the deficit. This is about a blatant disregard for the environment and the health and safety of Canadians.

    We should NOT be surprised Environment Canada is the first department to face the axe. We have all seen the vindictiveness of the Harper government and no department has presented more of problem, nor stripped away more of the contrived moderate veneer of Stephen Harper’s government, than Environment Canada. So no one should be surprised he would gut it at the first opportunity.

    An eleven percent cut to one of the smallest federal departments will NOT rid us of the deficit.
     
    “What it will do is give polluters exactly what they want - a toothless, understaffed Environment Canada with weakened scientific capacity and no enforcement capability,” said Sierra Club Canada’s Executive Director John Bennett.

  • University Funds used in PR war, files show

    A pair of "research" accounts at the University of Calgary, funded mainly by the oil and gas industry, were used for a sophisticated international political campaign that involved high-priced consultants, lobbying, wining, dining, and travel with the goal of casting doubt on climate change science, newly-released records have revealed.

    The records showed that the strategy was crafted by professional firms, in collaboration with well-known climate change skeptics in Canada and abroad, allowing donors to earn tax receipts by channelling their money through the university.

    All of the activities and $507,975 in spending were organized by the Friends of Science, an anti-Kyoto Protocol group founded by retired oil industry workers and academics who are skeptical about peer-reviewed research linking human activity to global warming observed in recent decades.

  • Canada’s Resources Minister calls enviros ‘radical groups’
    Ottawa - Joe Oliver, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, has called opponents of the country’s energy markets “radical groups” who threaten its energy market with their “radical ideological agenda.”   In an open letter on Monday, Oliver started a firestorm when he said Canada must diversify its energy markets away from U.S.
  • World Streets - Guadalajara: Sustainable transport, Sustainable cities 2011

     

    World Streets

    What happened in Guadalajara on the topic of sustainable transport, sustainable cities from 3 to 10 September 2011?

    Draft in haste:

  • Sierra Club's Safe Sushi smartphone app

    Beyond Coal campaign cool new tool

    Love sushi? Make sure you choose safe fish. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin and can damage your brain and nervous system. Next time you order, choose fish that is low in mercury.

    Download the app to make smart choices on the go, and find out more at sierraclub.org/mercury.

  • Auditor-General fires parting shots on climate change

    Sheila Fraser is nipping at the heels of the federal government to the very end, saying her successor must carefully protect the independence of the Office of the Auditor-General and its ability to criticize any misuse of public funds in Ottawa.

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper is waiting until the fall to appoint the next Auditor-General, but he will face political pressure to choose a watchdog who will match Ms. Fraser’s ability to hammer home critical findings that force the government into action.

    During a speech and a news conference that marked her last public appearances before her retirement on Monday, Ms. Fraser said the next Auditor-General will need to ensure the government responds quickly to calls for documents and financial data. She said she forced the government to change its rules and become more transparent in 2010, and that any setback would be unacceptable.

  • Canada to pull out of Kyoto protocol

    OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada will pull out of the Kyoto protocol on climate change, Environment Minister Peter Kent said on Monday, dealing a symbolic blow to the troubled global treaty.

    Canada will become the first country to formally withdraw from Kyoto, which it says is badly flawed because it does not cover all major emitters of greenhouse gasses, notably the United States and China.

    The news came as little surprise, especially since Kent said last month that "Kyoto is the past." The right-of-center Conservatives took power in 2006 and made it clear they would not stick to Canada's Kyoto commitments.

    "As we've said, Kyoto for Canada is in the past ... We are invoking our legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto," Kent told reporters after returning from talks in Durban, South Africa, on extending the protocol.

  • Fight to continue on EU oilsands rule, say government, environmentalists

    The fight over a proposed European Union rule that would penalize fuel derived from Alberta's oilsands was dumped in the laps of European politicians Thursday after a technical committee failed to reach a conclusive stance.

    Environmentalists said that improves the plan's chances of making it into law, while Canadian government and industry officials said the vote results tell them which politicians they need to convince to finally defeat it.

    "It's a somewhat different fight, but our fundamental argument is the same," said federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver.

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