Canada will finally be reversing its controversial status on asbestos, thanks in part to the PQ’s new anti-asbestos policy. What this means in terms of […]
Category: Green Bean Tuesdays
Canadian media’s environment ennui shapes national discourse
There were three environment stories in the media today that, though seemingly unrelated, are pretty typical of Canada’s environment news, at least under the Harper regime.
How $7 million in SPVM overtime could have bought a greener Montreal
With university back in session, the cops are back on the beat, arresting protesters and racking up overtime. Radio Canada found the SPVM logged $5.6 million in overtime from February 1 to June 27, y’know, keeping track of protesters. As of July 13, it had reached $7.3 million.
Montreal biosphere at risk, condos everywhere, and other news
There have been a lot of stories lately about climate change and other dire warnings of a global nature, so this week I thought I’d […]
Canada in 2100: a milder Montreal, a dryer Vancouver, and a prairie-free Alberta
Though temperature changes of a few degrees of the earth’s surface might not sound like a lot, it will have a drastic impact on Canada’s geography. It is predicted that global climate change will result in almost 40 per cent of land-based ecosystems making changes from one ecological community type – such as forest, grasslands or tundra – toward another.
Anatomy of a drought
There are already grumblings in the international media of what this could mean politically. The Arab Spring was tied to high food prices, and it’s possible there could be a second wave of global protests
Charest green lights logging of Algonquin land
The Charest government has granted a Montreal-based forestry company permission to log on Algonquin land in Northern Quebec. The Algonquin community at Barriere Lake, however, say that they were not consulted and that the new clear-cutting logging project at Poignan Bay violates a trilateral agreement on resource co-management they signed with the province in 1991
How to discuss climate change with your conservative relatives
Understanding the arguments behind climate change is important because there’s lots of misinformation out there, thanks to some very powerful interest groups. It’s also handy to have the facts down should you find yourself at a family reunion with politically divergent relatives, or if you’re trying to get someone to leave you alone at a bar…
Water water everywhere
Maybe the state of water in Canada is better than a decade ago, but the folks at the Sustainable Water Management Division – now semi-defunct – say Canada needs a water charter, possibly because safe water could be considered a human right
Environmental racism in Ontario
Five years ago, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation on the St. Clair River near Sarnia, Ontario made national headlines for their birth rates: between 1999 and 2003, only one third of babies born in the community were male. From 1995-2003, the male birth rate was still only 41% according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives. The reason? Aamjiwnaang reserve is situated next to one of the most polluted areas in Canada…