This video went viral on YouTube, with over six million views after four days. And no wonder – it really is the best proposal ever1
Continue readingTag: climate change
DeSmogBlog: Why Is Pfizer Still Aligning Itself With Heartland Institute On "Public Health" Record?
Pfizer.png The Heartland Institute has had a rough time the last couple of months. The climate denial shop has endured the release of embarrassing leaked documents. Then it launched a devastatingly ill-conceived billboard campaign associating climate science adherents with serial killers. That didn't work out so well. So Heartland's donors started
Continue reading350 or bust: Alberta Oil Sands Fly-Over: We Can Do Better
We can do better. Let’s honour past, present and future generations. It’s time for cleaner options for energy production. Singer-songwriter Jennifer Berezan, eco-philosopher Joanna Macy and Catholic activist Anne Symens-Bucher flew over the Alberta’s oil/tar sands. In response to the experience, Jennifer, singer songwriter native to Alberta, wrote “My Memory
Continue reading350 or bust: Scientists: Catastrophic Tipping Point Looming
The evidence continues to pile up: humanity’s uncontrolled appetite for slashing, burning, and polluting is rapidly pushing the earth’s ecosystem to a tipping point that will have disastrous consequences for our children and grandchildren: A prestigious group of scientists from around the world is warning that population growth, widespread destruction
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
[I was suprised to see Canadian cities come out in the lead on adaptation. But also a bit disturbed to see just how nascent these efforts are, not just here, but globally. We’ve got a long way to go… @ sustainable cities canada] Canadian cities are world leaders in preparing
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
[I was suprised to see Canadian cities come out in the lead on adaptation. But also a bit disturbed to see just how nascent these efforts are, not just here, but globally. We’ve got a long way to go… @ sustainable cities canada] Canadian cities are world leaders in preparing
Continue readingopenalex: Canadian Cities Lead on Planning for Climate Impacts
Not long ago people didn’t want to talk about adapting to climate change. In some cities – particularly in wealthy Northern countries – there was a sense of optimism and invulnerability. Discussing adaptation was also taboo; it was seen to take away from efforts to reduce our emissions. It was like admitting defeat.
But with global efforts to cap emissions failing, that began to change.
Iconic metropolises like New York and London began assessing the serious impact that an unstable climate would have on them. Late in 2010 planning guides were released in both the US and Canada to help all cities to identify their vulnerabilities and plan for new conditions.
The M.I.T. report, lead by Dr. JoAnn Carmin a top expert on urban adaptation planning, gives us our first view of the overall state of affairs. Based on survey responses from 468 cities on six continents the report provides interesting big picture conclusions, as well as more specific regional insights.
Climate Change Has Landed, But Resources Are Lacking
The first is that climate change has landed. Fully 79% of cities surveyed report that they are already feeling the impacts of stronger storms, longer droughts, flooding, and higher temperatures. This is leading to concerns over their ability to deal with increased future risks ranging from damage to municipal infrastructure, to the emergence of new diseases and declining housing safety.
Overall, despite having identified high levels of vulnerability, cities globally report that they lack the financial, institutional, and political resources that they need to respond effectively. Even basic preliminary work – like creating a vulnerability assessment – is stretching available resources. Sixty percent of cities are receiving no support whatsoever for their adaptation work. This is exacerbated by difficulty winning support for adaptation from local officials, and a perception that national governments know little about the impact that climate change will have on their cities.
Canadian Cities Leading (Minus the Feds and Business)
Canadian cities stand out in a number of ways. They report the second highest rate of engagement with adaptation planning. They also report relatively high rates of support for adaptation work from local politicians and government departments. As a result Canadian cities lead their peers in various aspects of planning for the impacts of climate change. Canadian cities also stand out for the relatively high level of financial support they receive from the Provinces.
While the Provinces may be supportive, the story is different when if comes to the Federal government. Seventy percent of Canadian cities reported that national government had only a partial grasp of the local impacts of climate change; 30% reported that the federal government had no understanding at all. The only country reporting lower confidence in national government was the United States.
Interestingly, Canada is also the only country where not a single municipality reported involving business in the adaptation planning processes. Our cities are also exceptionally unconcerned with the economic impacts of climate change. Only a small minority report being worried about potential losses of revenue, tourism, or jobs. Put those two together and it seems to me we may be overlooking both valuable partners and important risks.
Working Alone
While these last two may be troubling for Canadians, overall the report draws attention to a much bigger challenge. Cities around the world are only just beginning to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Most are conducting preliminary meetings with local government departments, doing on-line research, and forming commissions or task forces to support adaptation planning.
Going from there to creating strategies and integrating them into municipal operations will be a huge leap. Everything indicates that cities currently lack the political, financial, and institutional resources that they need to accomplish that critical work.
[I’ve covered work on urban adaptation quite a lot over the past few years. If you are interested in more, see these past articles.]
Continue readingbastard.logic: These Are Not Your Father’s Tories. Seriously.
“I worked for (Mulroney-era environment minister) Tom McMillan, who was a very red Tory. I wrote speeches for him. We never checked his speeches with the PMO. He’d get up to answer in Question Period. He didn’t have a script for how to answer. Brian Mulroney was not telling his
Continue reading350 or bust: Canadian Democracy in Disarray
* There is mounting alarm and opposition across Canada, even among many conservatives, about the Harper government’s omnibus budget bill, Bill C-38. Yesterday Parlliamentary Speaker Andrew Scheer (a Conservative MP from Saskatchewan) denied Elizabeth May’s well argued Point of Order re: allowing Omnibus Budget Bill C-38 as a legitimate omnibus
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: A Green Industrial Revolution
Today the CCPA released a new big picture report by myself and student researcher Amanda Card calling for a Green Industrial Revolution. The report builds on work done for the BC-focused Climate Justice Project, bringing to bear a national analysis of green and not-so-green jobs. We take a close look
Continue reading350 or bust: Growing Food, And Other Radical Acts
* It’s time for a tour of my garden, as promised. I should preface this by saying there’s a reason that I’m attracted to the randomness/wildness of the “hugel kultur” raised bed garden. (“Hugel” means hill in German – thanks Mom Polle – so saying hugel kultur – pronounced “hoogel
Continue reading350 or bust: Saturday At The Movies
Here’s a video out of small-town New Brunswick that’s gone viral, From Sussex and I Know It. The lyrics are a little hard to understand, but I’ve copied them below: * First Verse When I walk on by, cow be lookin’ like damn he fly Big piece of meat, with
Continue reading350 or bust: #EpicFail At Shell’s Arctic Launch Celebration
Via Occupy Seattle, a close-up glimpse at the folks our governments are trusting to keep our Arctic pristine and untouched. They can’t even run a launch party without a spill: * Occupy Seattle’s website says that Logan Price, a Seattle Occupier who’s now living in New York, managed to infiltrate
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A Climate Change Noah’s Ark
Consider it something like a bomb shelter for species endangered by global warming. The Nature Conservancy is cataloguing regions best suited to accommodate plant and animal species that might otherwise be rendered extinct by climate change. The report, Resilient Sites for Terrestrial Conservation, (linked here) identifies large tracts of the
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: States Continue To Push For Anti-Climate and Anti-Evolution Curriculum Laws
confused-child.jpg It looks like Tennessee can add another dumb law to join the ranks of other special ones such as being able to shoot whales out of a car, marrying your cousin, and not being allowed to carry skunks into the state or electrifying your trash. It now joins Louisiana
Continue reading350 or bust: Science Brings Rare Planetary Event To Our Living Rooms
For those of you who, like me, didn’t have a pair of eyeball-protecting goggles to watch as the planet Venus crossed the face of the sun this past Tuesday, here’s some stunning HD images released by NASA yesterday. The pictures were collected by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is,
Continue reading350 or bust: Hey Mister Prime Minister, Why Are You So Afraid Of Canadians?
Courageous and talented Canadian artist Franke James, whose 2011 European art tour was cancelled after interference from the Harper government, has recently published an illustrated essay on the current overlap of oil and state (with a large dose of anti-science, anti-democratic polemic) in Canadian politics. You can find Franke’s essay,
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: What is Harper Afraid Of? [Animated Video]
By Franke James Here is the animated video version of What Is Harper Afraid Of? See the cartoon from last week.
Continue reading350 or bust: For Sale: All Of Canada
* The federal government has suggested it could replace a team of smokestack pollution specialists by turning to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, appearing to contradict its own description of the scientists and their work on Environment Canada’s website. The apparent contradiction comes as hundreds of charities and organizations across
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Time to Audit the Fraser Institute
Fraser-Institute.jpg On March 25, 2012, the Compliance Division of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) received a letter from Jensen Shawa Solomon Duguid Hawkes LLP (aka JSS Barristers). In 11 detailed pages, JSS Barristers lodged a complaint against Environmental Defence, a charity registered with the CRA, on behalf of Ezra Levant’s
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