Greenspiration News: coal, nukes, tarsands, food, recycling, pharma
Angela Bischoff
greenspi at web.ca
Sat Feb 14 18:57:17 EST 2009
Greenspiration News
“People today think that vehicles are the most advanced, but in the city
it’s the opposite. A vehicle is the most primitive thing and the
bicycle is
the most advanced.”
- Rafael Aharoni, a Tel Aviv cafe owner
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Canadians and Americans Say, Put the Environment and People First
Binational poll shows strong opposition to use of NAFTA’s Chapter 11
OTTAWA / February 9, 2009 - U.S. President Barack Obama should press
ahead with plans to renegotiate NAFTA when he meets with Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper later this month to discuss binational
energy and environmental policies, concludes the Council of
Canadians, which has commissioned a new binational poll of Canadians
and Americans on NAFTA and Canada-U.S. energy policy.
The poll, conducted by Environics, found that over 70 per cent of
Americans and Canadians believe energy corporations should not be
allowed to sue governments (which current, controversial provisions
of Chapter 11 of NAFTA allow) for changes in government policy that
protect the environment or otherwise promote the public interest.
The poll also found that an overwhelming 9 out of 10 Canadians
believe the Harper government should pursue a comprehensive strategy
to create more green jobs in renewable energy and improved energy
efficiency. This means Obama is more in tune with Canadians’ green
priorities than Harper. Obama has shown strong support for renewable
energy, a strategy sorely lacking from the recent Canadian federal
budget. <snip>
http://www.canadians.org/media/energy/2009/09-Feb-09.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Why Global Warming May Be Fueling Australia's Fires
Time Magazine: "Although the wildfires caught so many victims by
surprise last weekend, there has been no shortage of distant early-
warning signs. The 11th chapter of the second working group of the
2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for example, warned
that fires in Australia were "virtually certain to increase in
intensity and frequency" because of steadily warming temperatures
over the next several decades. Research published in 2007 by the
Australian government's own Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial
Research Organization reported that by 2020, there could be up to 65%
more "extreme" fire-danger days compared with 1990, and that by 2050,
under the most severe warming scenarios, there could be a 300%
increase in such days. "[The fires] are a sobering reminder of the
need for this nation and the whole world to act and put at a priority
the need to tackle climate change," Australian Green Party leader Bob
Brown told the Sky News."
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1878220,00.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Blue-box leftovers go to China and back
Recycling efforts create 'contentious' carbon footprint
Toronto Star, Feb. 9
Ontario's recycling scraps – dirty peanut butter jars, plastic toys,
and unsorted paper – are being shipped to Asia at a rate of thousands
of tonnes a month.
The blue-box castoffs are sorted by low-paid workers in huge
factories, and recycled into inexpensive toys, shoes and colourful
cardboard packages, before being sold back to Ontarians, where they
fill the blue boxes once again.
Garbage experts say this revolving door is a necessary evil that will
continue until the province has better recycling facilities so cities
can process their own garbage. <snip>
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/article/584523
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
W-FIVE - Fuelling Fears
Alberta Gas: Battle over wells wages in pristine valley
If you talk to Albertans, most will tell you about how important the
petroleum industry is to their province. But the harmonious
relationship between people and industry is starting to wear thin;
perhaps because of the huge number of oil and gas wells being drilled
in the province.
In the past five years alone, 90,000 new wells were approved and many
in Alberta think that industry is starting to encroach on the lives
of its citizenry. They worry about the environmental cost and the
health consequences of living so close to oil and gas wells. <snip>
Read the transcript or watch the documentary here:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090206/
wfive_gas_090207/20090207?hub=WFive
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Big Pharma Gone Wild
03 February 2009, AlterNet
How Risperdal, a drug meant for treating rare psychiatric disorders,
became the seventh best-selling medicine in the world.
http://www.truthout.org/021009HA
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Elevated cancer rate found near tarsands, but no explanation forthcoming
Feb. 10, 2009, Canadian Medicine Blogspott
The number of cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, is unusually
high, found a government-commissioned study carried out by
researchers from the Alberta Cancer Board released this month.
http://canadianmedicine.blogspot.com/2009/02/elevated-cancer-rate-
found-near.html#c
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Tarsands don't fit into the new energy economy
President Obama will travel to Canada next week on his first
presidential visit abroad where he faces pressure to support Canadian
production of tar sands oil, considered the dirtiest energy project
on earth.
Please sign our petition urging President Obama and Canadian Prime
Minister Harper to stay true to the goal of a clean energy economy
and ensure tar sands are not exempted from any climate agreement with
Canada.
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?
pagename=ADV_Tar_Sands_Petition&autologin=true&autologin=true
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Catastrophic Fall in 2009 Global Food Production
Global Research, February 10, 2009
After reading about the droughts in two major agricultural countries,
China and Argentina, I decided to research the extent other food
producing nations were also experiencing droughts. This project ended
up taking a lot longer than I thought. 2009 looks to be a
humanitarian disaster around much of the world.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?
context=viewArticle&code=DEC20090210&articleId=12252
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
BILL INTRODUCED IN PARLIMENT WOULD SET SCIENCE-BASED GHG REDUCTION
TARGETS
The New Democratic Party of Canada have reintroduced Bill C 377 the
Climate Change Accountability Act. This act would provide the
necessary tools and targets for the federal government to
sufficiently reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid
dangerous climate change by 2050.
See Globe and Mail article>
See CBC article>
See the Bill>\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
Ontario can achieve a virtually complete coal phase-out by January 1,
2010 - five years ahead of the Government’s current schedule
according to a new Ontario Clean Air Alliance report: Ontario’s Coal
Phase-Out: A major climate accomplishment within our grasp.
According to Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator,
Ontario’s coal-free generation capacity currently exceeds our peak
day demand by 7%. In addition, almost 4,000 megawatts of additional
coal-free generation will come on line by 2010.
The only question remaining is whether the Government will seize this
opportunity to achieve an immediate and significant climate benefit
or whether it will sit back and let Ontario Power Generation continue
to produce dirty power for export sales. In 2008, approximately 47%
of the coal-fired electricity produced in Ontario was exported to the
U.S.A.
Please contact Ontario’s Energy Minister George Smitherman and ask
him to ban non-emergency coal-fired electricity exports and imports.
Mr. Smitherman can be reached at George.Smitherman at ontario.ca.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>
> The Onion has a great spoof drug ad for:
> Despondex - a new drug for those who are permanently perky
> http://www.theonion.com/content/video/fda_approves_depressant_drug_for
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
AECL turns to Ottawa to cover $100-million overrun
The Globe And Mail, Friday, February 13, 2009
In another damaging setback for the reputation of federally owned
AECL Ltd., Ottawa has been forced to cough up $100-million in
emergency funding to cover cost overruns incurred in the refurbishing
of aging Candu reactors.
The financing -- contained in supplemental spending estimates tabled
yesterday -- is another black eye for Canada's nuclear flagship
company, coming just two weeks before it is due to submit a bid to
build new reactors for Ontario.
The $100-million payment is in addition to the $351-million allocated
in the federal budget two weeks ago to cover continued design work on
the Advanced Candu Reactor (ACR) -- which AECL hopes to sell to
Ontario -- and maintenance at its troubled Chalk River facility,
where recent leaks of radioactive material into spill tanks raised
concerns. <snip>
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090213.RAECL13/
TPStory/Business
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Eulogies and Condolences for Tooker
and Stories of ecology and activism
http://www.greenspiration.org
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Join our email list by emailing us at:
greenspiration at web.ca
Write "subscribe" in the subject line
and tell us what city/country you live in
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/lists/private/greenspiration/attachments/20090214/19bc658a/attachment-0001.htm>
More information about the Greenspiration
mailing list