Archive for 2008 February

A new U.N. report predicts the imminent collapse of the world’s fishing stocks due to climate change, according to this Associated Press report.

PARIS (AP) — Major world commercial fish stocks could collapse within decades as global warming compounds damage from pollution and overfishing, U.N. officials said Friday.

A U.N. Environment Program report details new research on how rising ocean surface temperature and other climate changes are affecting the fishing industry. It says that more than 2.6 billion people get most of their protein from fish.

“You overlay all of this and you are potentially putting a death nail in the coffin of the world fisheries,” Achim Steiner, head of the program, said in a telephone news conference from Monaco.

Come to this non-partisan talk I’ve organized:

Tuesday, 2008 March 4, 7 pm
OISE room 5250
252 Bloor Street  West

The world we’re moving into will be radically different from the one  we move in today. So different that it’s hard to imagine. It’s even harder to  imagine the transition.

Global warming demands that we stop using oil.  The age of cheap plentiful oil is ending anyway. We’ve built up a society where  we drive everywhere, and most of what we buy, including almost all of our food,  is now brought from long distances. Hybrid cars and other incremental efficiency  measures have their place, but are not nearly enough to get us where we need to  go.

What will future transport look like and how can we make the  transition with the least disruption?

Anthony Perl and Richard  Gilbert have worked through the details of a carbon-free future for  transportation, including such innovations as wind-assisted shipping and  personal rapid transit. They’ve done the math to show that their vision is  workable, and they’ve plotted out a practical step-by-step process to get our  society to where it needs to be.

Based on their book Transport  Revolutions, Anthony will present where we are now, the challenges we face,  and what potential exists for the future. Richard will then lead a discussion of  the issues.

Dr. Anthony Perl is the Director of the Urban Studies  Program at Simon Fraser University. His work has focused on public policy,  transportation and the environment. Transport Revolutions is his fourth  book.

Dr. Richard Gilbert is an independent consultant, popular  and academic author, and teacher at various universities. He  served as a Toronto City Councillor for 15 years.

Sponsored by Post Carbon Toronto and the Coalition for a Green Economy

The youth wing of Chris Tindal‘s by-election campaign is organizing a series of reading week volunteer events. It is a series, because university and college campuses across Ontario have their breaks scheduled on different dates, but the idea is the same throughout: canvass, and have fun.     Read more »

During the last federal election, Jane Creba from this riding was gunned down in Dundas Square on Boxing Day.  Our local candidate Al Hart, a criminal lawyer and former prosecutor spoke eloquently about the judicial, legislative and community needs that would help prevent such tragic crimes.

A couple of weeks ago, an innocent bystander was shot dead in East Chinatown, the second innocent shot in a single week.     Read more »