Archive for Ecology & sustainability

The Toronto-based group For Our Grandchildren has produced this wonderful video:

For Our Grandchildren – Something Must Be Done from Stephen Best on Vimeo.

If the video stutters, click on the HD in the lower-right-hand corner.  Even in “low-def”, it’s quite high-definition.

Saturday, 2011 September 24, noon-6pm
Queen’s Park, Toronto

Part of 350.org’s global day of action, Toronto hosts this event to celebrate the progress that Ontario has made on clean energy and to urge the government to go even further. The event will feature engaging speakers, including Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu at 3pm.

There will also be solar-powered live music, information booths and a Kid’s Zone with lots of fun activities. For more information visit the Moving Planet: Green Energy Field Day web site.

Update: Pictures and video from the event:

Adriana and Tim Whalley…

Also Penelope for Ontario, former Mayor David Miller, Sean-Patrick Stensil, Jose Etcheverry…      Read more »

I previously wrote about Patricia Warwick, one of the “Fabulous 45″ – so named because although they came to Washington expecting to face a $100 “post and forfeit” for defying the rules of the park in front of the White House, they discovered that those arrested the previous day were to be held for 3 days.  The 45 risked arrest anyway.

The actions against the Keystone XL pipeline (which would enable a vast expansion in the capacity for oil production from the tar sands) at the White House continued for another 12 days after Patricia’s arrest, with over 1200 arrests in total, including east Toronto residents Sharon Howarth, the Green Party of Canada candidate in Toronto-Danforth in the 2008 federal election and David Wilson, an oil industry retiree.  Tar Sands Action, which organized this demonstration, vows to continue working to oppose the pipeline

The action against the Keystone XL Pipeline is now moving to Canada, where activists are planning a sit-in on September 26. You can find out more and join here.

Update: Read Patricia’s first-hand report.

Toronto-Danforth resident and climate activist Patricia Warwick was just arrested in Washington D.C. while opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, which is to allow for the expansion of tar sands operations in Canada.  President Obama is to reject or approve the plan later this year.

The “mug shot” photo was taken by the group Tar Sands Action.  And here she is at the protest, in the red behind the sign, in a big sun hat:

Patricia’s arrest was covered in the Globe and Mail and Ottawa Citizen, where she was quoted as saying,     Read more »

Saturday, 2011 August 13
2:00 to 5:00 pm
Eastminster United Church, 310 Danforth Ave., Lower Level

From the announcement:

This is an eco fair on everything related to growing food in small, difficult, vertical, or rooftop spaces.

• Displays & info on growing foods in containers, raised beds, and on rooftops
• Vendor tables with supplies & resources for containers and food growing advice
• Guided tours of the new Carrot Green Roof garden at 3pm and 4pm

FREE admission. Light refreshments, live music, and raffle prizes. Give-aways while supplies last!

Organised by: Community Animators – South (contact: martina@ecospark.ca or 647-208-1810)

In Partnership with: Carrot Green Roof

Glen Murray, Minister of Research and Innovation for Toronto Centre was on the panel with Adriana at the recent townhall.

Adriana was a panelist at a recent townhall hosted by JustEarth.

Elizabeth May confronts the government on its twisting of reality in her first press conference as an MP, pointing out that the world demands a continuation of Kyoto.

Today, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller slammed the Liberals for cutting hydro bills by ten percent, identifying the measure as a perverse subsidy.  He stated:

The problem with the 10 per cent (cut) is it means the people who use the most energy get the most money back and that is a disincentive, a perverse incentive.  It rewards and encourages increased consumption.

He then went on to criticize both the NDP and Conservatives for pledging to remove the HST from hydro bills.     Read more »

If you watch through to the end of this short video, it covers why I entered politics.  What is now at stake is food security, water security, and the ability to deliver the fundamentals of decent civil society.  All of these are already stressed and becoming more so.  Concerns about things like gas prices, while important in our current state of addiction, nonetheless need to be contextualized in a world of threats that are far, far greater.

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 has established a new hub in Riverdale.

From the announcement:

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.

For more information or to buy tickets, visit Powering The Future.

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 »

Adriana talks about the importance of water, the environment and strong leadership on these issues.

Adriana talks about the importance of local, organic and sustainable food.

Nuclear is such a slow and costly climate solution, it actually reduces and retards climate protection.
Amory Lovins

Hear or read the interview with Amory Lovins.

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:

Fri, 2011 April 29, 6:30-9:30pm
JJR Macleod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building
1 King’s College Circle, University of Toronto

You can view a trailer for the film here.

Or find out more at www.climaterefugees.com.

From the organizers:

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.

    Read more »