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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 16 August 2018 10:04 |
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GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC RISKS AND THE SCIENCE COUNCIL OF CANADA: THE CASE OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Rod Dobell and Joan Russow University of Victoria
March, 1993
Annex to Contribution Number D.1, Version 2 Submission to Social Learning project at the Kennedy Centre, Harvard University
for the project on Social Learning in the Management of Global Environmental Risks.
Please send comments to R. Dobell and J. Russow, Department of Public Administration, University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada. Fax-604-721-8849
This work was partially supported by the John D and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Atmospheric Environment Service of the Government of Canada
This Annex examines the treatment of climate change in publications of the Science Council of Canada, identifying for expository purposes five phases:
Phase 1. (1968-1976). In this phase the Council moved from the early formulation in 1968 of goals and policies related to the environment , and early exploration of scientific data related to the global warming issue in 1972, to a Conference sponsored by the Council in 1975 on "Living with Climatic Change" and the publication of the proceedings from this conference in 1976.
Phase 2. (1977) The Science Council published its significant document, Conserver Society: Resource Uncertainties and the Need for New Technologies. In the same year, the Council also published documents related to environmental and health regulations, and the Government of Canada passed legislation requiring environmental regulations to be subjected to Socio-Economic Impact Analysis (SEIA).
Phase 3. (1978-1983) In this third phase, Council documents are more strongly oriented toward economic issues, coupled with a few significant publications on regulation of activities affecting the environment.
Phase 4. (1984-87) Pre-Brundtland: During this period of Brundtland Commission hearings , there was in Council policy documents a continued emphasis on the economy; if there was concern for sustainability it was primarily for economic sustainability.
Phase 5. (1988-1992) Post-Brundtland: In this phase the Council embraced the expansive interpretation which the National Task Force on the Environment and the Economy gave to the concept of "sustainable development".
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Last Updated on Thursday, 16 August 2018 10:22 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 26 July 2018 12:05 |
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By BOB WEBERThe Canadian Press
Wed., July 25, 2018
The largest and most precise study yet done on acid emissions from Alberta’s oilsands suggests they could eventually damage an area almost the size of Germany.
The study finds that in 2013 more than 330,000 square kilometres in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan absorbed acid deposits high enough to eventually damage life in rivers and lakes.
A tailings pond reflects the Syncrude oilsands mine facility near Fort McMurray, Alta. A new study finds that in 2013, more than 330,000 square kilometres received acid deposits high enough to eventually damage life in rivers and lakes.
lakes. (JEFF MCINTOSH / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO)
“This work is a warning,” said Paul Makar, an Environment Canada scientist and lead author on the paper published in the Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
“If emissions continue at 2013 levels, there will be ecosystem damage over a very large area.”
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 19 July 2018 06:33 |
Hundreds of children, many from rural schools in the Coquimbo region, have visited the fog catchers in Cerro Grande as part of an educational programme to raise awareness among future generations about the importance of rational use of water in Chile. Credit: Foundation un Alto en el Desierto
OVALLE, Chile, Jul 17 2018 (IPS) - The retention of rainwater which otherwise is lost at sea could be an excellent medicine against the advance of the desert from northern to central Chile, but there is no political will to take the necessary actions, according to experts and representatives of affected communities.
“One of the priority actions, especially in the Coquimbo region, is the retention of rainwater. That is key because since we have eroded and degraded soil and we have occasional rains in winter, the soil is not able to retain more than 10 percent of the water that falls,” Daniel Rojas, the head of the Peña Blanca farmers’ association, told IPS.
“The rest ends up in the sea,” added Rojas, the head of the association of 85 small-scale farmers, located 385 km north of Santiago, which has 6,587 hectares, 98 percent of them rainfed, irrigated exclusively by rainfall.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 21 June 2018 08:40 |
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By Emilio Godoy - Reprint
Photomontage by the organisation Isla Urbana, a pioneer in the promotion of rainwater harvesting as part of a new model in the management of water supply and consumption in Mexico, where the benefits of the system to get access to water are recreated in informal settlements in the west of the capital. Credit: Isla Urbana
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Last Updated on Thursday, 21 June 2018 23:40 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Monday, 18 June 2018 16:46 |
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Justice News
Posted by Joan Russow
Monday, 18 June 2018 07:21
[From Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, Stockholm, June 1972.]
Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment
The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, having met at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972, having considered the need for a common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide the peoples of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment,
Proclaims that:
1. Man is both creature and moulder of his environment, which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when, through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented scale. Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights the right to life itself.
2. The protection and improvement of the human environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world; it is the urgent desire of the peoples of the whole world and the duty of all Governments.
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 June 2018 16:49 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Friday, 15 June 2018 10:13 |
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bY Yuka Obayashi, Rod Nickel
https://ca.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idCAKBN1JB100-OCADN
TOKYO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Japan’s farm ministry said on Friday it has suspended its tender and sale of wheat from Canada after grain containing a genetically modified trait was discovered last summer in Canada’s Alberta province.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on Thursday the wheat containing a genetically modified trait, developed by Monsanto Co (BAYGn.DE) to tolerate the Roundup weed-killer, was discovered in Alberta.
“We are suspending the tender and sale of Canadian wheat until we confirm that the Canadian wheat that Japan buys contains no GMO,” an official at the Japanese farm ministry said.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Thursday, 14 June 2018 08:38 |
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All 28 EU member states must approve the agreement for it to take full effect
Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jun 14, 2018 9:13 AM ET | Last Updated: an hour ago
Quality control employee Fabrizio Giberti inspects a Parmigiano Reggiano Parmesan cheese wheel amongst those stacked in the Credito Emiliano bank temperature-controlled vault, in Montecavolo, near Reggio Emilia, Italy, Thursday Aug. 20, 2009. In the 28-member European Union, Italy has the most food products with PDO and PGI labels, including Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma ham. (The Associated Press)
739 comments
Italy will not ratify the European Union's free trade agreement with Canada, its new agriculture minister said on Thursday, ratcheting up an international trade spat and potentially scuppering the EU's biggest accord in years.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is the first major trade deal the European Union has signed since it began implementing its South Korea agreement in 2011.
All 28 EU member states must approve the agreement for it to take full effect.
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Last Updated on Friday, 15 June 2018 10:12 |
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Saturday, 09 June 2018 08:39 |
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BY AVERY ANAPOL - 06/09/18 07:21 AM EDT 1,549
2,069
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/391470-pope-warns-oil-executives-climate-change-may-destroy-civilization
Pope warns oil executives: Climate change may ‘destroy civilization’
© Getty Images
Pope Francis on Saturday issued a dire warning to top oil executives, saying that climate change could “destroy civilization.”
At a two-day conference at the Vatican, the pope called climate change a challenge of “epochal proportions,” according to Reuters.
He also said that the world must move toward using clean energy and a reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
“Civilization requires energy but energy use must not destroy civilization,” Francis said.
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Friday, 08 June 2018 18:28 |
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The coming marine shipping rules could double or even triple the discount on heavy oil, pushing it much wider than the US$30 a barrel discount from earlier this year
Raw oilsands. Tighter pollution rules by the International Maritime Organization is expected to wallop prices for heavy oil containing high levels of sulphur.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press
Dan Healing
http://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/new-marine-fuel-standards-expected-to-hit-prices-for-oilsands-crude-in-2020June 7, 2018
1:43 PM EDT
 Raw oilsands. Tighter pollution rules by the International Maritime Organization is expected to wallop prices for heavy oil containing high levels of sulphur.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
CALGARY — Canada’s oilsands industry, hard hit by a price storm this year, could be sailing straight into a pricing typhoon stirred up by new fuel standards for the international shipping industry.
The tighter pollution rules by the International Maritime Organization, dubbed IMO 2020, are set to take effect Jan. 1, 2020, resulting in the sulphur content limit of “bunker” fuel on ships dropping from 3.5 per cent to just 0.5 per cent.
The switch is expected to wallop prices for heavy oil containing high levels of sulphur — exactly the kind of the raw bitumen that makes up about half of Canada’s 4.4 million barrels per day of crude oil production.
“It’s bad news for any producers of heavy, sour crude oil,” said Martin Tallett, president of Massachusetts-based oil market research firm EnSys Energy.
“The shock is going to go through the system and affect all products, all regions.”
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Posted by Joan Russow
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Tuesday, 05 June 2018 07:40 |
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IUCN Director General’s statement for World Environment Day and World Oceans Day 2018
Tue, 05 Jun 2018
We have all seen the images of plastic polluting beaches and entangling marine animals from the tropics to the Arctic. Plastic pollution has become a truly global environmental problem, just as plastic itself is an all-pervasive part of our lives. On this World Environment Day, we are reminded that this challenge has no easy solutions. As such, we must accept that looking for a silver bullet will create the illusion of progress while the real problem only gets worse.
Marine life faces growing threats from plastic entering the world's oceans.
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/https://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2018/07/25/oilsands-could-eventually-acidify-an-area-the-size-of-germany-study-says/oilsands.jpg)
