The news from Japan keeps getting worse. Now it is reported that not only did the reactor core melt down, not only did it breach the pressure vessel, but it now appears that the material has penetrated the reactor building itself and seeped into the ground. That is close to the worst case scenario. Clean-up costs are now estimated at $250 billion, and that will not bring things back to normal. It will still mean living with elevated cancer rates, particularly in Japan, but spreading all over the world. And Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has asked to close Hamaoka, another nuclear power plant that has been deemed not to be earthquake safe.
All of the costs for this disaster are being borne by the public. The Japanese government will absorb all the costs of clean-up, relocation and health impacts. Governments throughout the world will also be paying for the elevated health care costs arising from the increased rates of cancer in their countries. These will continue for many decades. Every other form of power generation is self-insuring. The nuclear industry clearly does not deserve this free ticket as nuclear power is inherently dangerous.
Even Canada’s traditional allies like Australia tore into our report to the UN, pointing out that our reporting, our goals and the measures taken to attain these goals were all hopelessly inadequate. They also charged that Canada is ignoring the elephant in the room, the tar sands, which are a large and growing proportion of our emissions.
About a week after the election, I wrote what I worried might be too strident a post and finally published it now. Someone has to hold the NDP accountable. Their climate policy is possibly the worst of all parties, as they continually find creative new ways to subsidize fossil fuels. Read more »
Not Far From The Tree is a non-profit organization that connects people with fruit trees and local agencies. A team of trained volunteers pick the tree and the fruit is divided three ways, between the tree owner, the volunteer pickers, and a local community agency such as a food bank or shelter.
Tree owners get a substantial amount of fruit without the work or mess, and good food gets put to good use instead of rotting on the ground. This year the organization has established a new “hub” in the Riverdale area.
If you have a tree you would like picked (this year or next), are interested in being a volunteer picker, or would like more information, visit www.notfarfromthetree.org or contact Riverdale hub coordinator, Chris Sharp, at chris@notfarfromthetree.org.
The NDP have now grown up into a mainstream, increasingly centrist party nickel-and-diming the poor for their vote and misleading on the environment. I’m deeply disturbed by their success in Toronto-Danforth.
Over a week has passed since the night while I watched in horror as the Harper government got its majority coupled with the relatively minor shock of seeing the Green vote collapse in Toronto-Danforth despite the widely acknowledged strongest campaign we have ever had.
Nationally I am most concerned about a majority government which clearly caters to oil industry priorities. In Toronto-Danforth specifically, I’m concerned about the success the NDP has had with convincing voters with timid and contradictory policies that will do little for climate change and will hurt the constituents the party has professed to care about in the past. I ran a campaign promoting the positive aspects of the Green plan without challenging the obvious defects of NDP policies. But it’s clear to me now that these need to be made explicit.
I had never expected to win in the NDP leader’s riding this time around, but I did hope for a strong Green vote to pressure Jack Layton and the NDP to improve their climate change policies and address some of the priorities of Green voters. That didn’t happen, so I need people who care about the Green Party, the thousands who told me that they were considering voting Green, to help put the pressure on the NDP to get it right.
It’s time to stop mincing words. The stakes are simply far too high. Read more »
Further to a discussion with someone who was convinced that hydraulic fracturing for shale gas was perfectly safe (see comments here), there is now a peer-reviewed study linking the practice with methane in the drinking water supply nearby.
Wednesday, 2011 June 15, 7:00pm to 9:00pm Ryerson International Living Learning Centre 240 Jarvis St (north of Dundas)
Adriana will be speaking at this town hall meeting, along with Hon Glen R. Murray, MPP (Toronto Centre), Minister of Research and Innovation. The discussion, which will focus on opportunities in building the clean energy economy, will be moderated by David MacDonald, United Church of Canada Minister, former MP (Rosedale) and former chair of the standing committee on the environment.
Thursday, 2011 May 19, 7:00pm to 8:30pm
Evergreen Brickworks, 550 Bayview Ave
How can cities tackle the energy challenges of the 21st century?
Powering The Future, a lively panel discussion featuring some of Canada’s leading energy experts, will explore these energy concerns, with a special focus on how we can all best respond in our own communities and backyards.
Join moderator and award-winning CBC host Bob McDonald, TREC and Evergreen, as we kick off the Kids’ World of Energy Festival, and be a part of the conversation. Panelists include Tom Rand, Judith Lipp, Mary Pickering, and Elizabeth McDonald.
International Energy Agency Chief Fatih Birol has stated that the IEA now believes that global crude oil production peaked in 2006. It’s all downhill from now. We can expect the kinds of supply discontinuities and price rises that led up to the 2008 economic downturn with regularity from now on.
So what is the US response? Shoot the messenger. They have cut funding to their own national energy agency and specifically ordered that agency not to prepare data on oil and gas reserves. Keep us in the dark, that’s the ticket. I expect the Harper government to follow suit shortly. Read more »
Because I think the biggest threat to our survival comes from climate change, I would reluctantly embrace nuclear power if I thought it could help. But it’s clear that building more nuclear capacity would be a dangerous diversion of time and money from far more effective approaches. This is my talk at Climate Change Conference 2010, making that point:
This documentary was filmed in Bangladesh, Belgium, Chad, China, Denmark, Fiji, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Kenya, the Maldives, Poland, Switzerland,Tuvalu, UK and the US. It examines the creation – and migration – of hundreds of millions of climate refugees that will be displaced as a result of climate change.
Just had a Portuguese language interview with Sandro Miranda of PanTV. He pointed me to a Brazilian campaign to reduce water use. I have been impressed with the creativity of public campaigns in Brazil on AIDS, abuse of women, nutrition among the poor and other areas. Brazil routinely achieves tremendous progress on the cheap. Here’s how they are reducing water use:
Have you every wondered why the air quality in Leslieville, Riverdale, East York and the rest of the East End of Toronto is worse than in other parts of the city?
In this short video Adriana talks about why we suffer from more pollution and worsening air quality than others… and what the Green Party plans to do about it.
Help us spread the word about the air in our community. Please tweet this, share it on Facebook and let others know about this important issue.
Transition Toronto presents a workshop on Financial Literacy with Adam Fair, Managing Coordinator of the Canadian Centre for Financial Literacy. Cost is $5 or pay what you can.
Thursday, 2011 April 28, 7 pm to 9 pm
University of Toronto, Galbraith Building
35 St. George St., Room GB117
From the announcement:
Financial Literacy is a valuable life skill—especially in difficult economic times. Read more »
Andrew Jackson, the chief economist of the Canadian Labour Congress, a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and lifelong NDP member, has declared that he may have to do a rethink. As we have been saying, the Green Party platform is both bolder and more fair on the one hand, and more economical and efficient on the other.
Richard Muller has led a team of statisticians and physicists to review temperature data, hoping to debunk climate science. The project was funded by oil billionaire Koch brothers. But as careful scientists, Muller’s team have instead been forced to admit at a Congressional panel that the data seem to indicate the opposite — climate change is real and the work of climate scientists has been accurate.
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