Can Elizabeth May Unmuzzle Canada’s Scientists?
Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May. The success rate of private member’s bills in the federal parliament is abysmal. In the 100-plus years since 1910, Ottawa has passed just…
Alternatives Journal
Ontario Anti-Fracking Bill Passes Second Reading
NDP MPP Peter Tabuns speaking with reporters at Queen’s Park. (CBC News Image.) A PRIVATE MEMBER’S BILL from Toronto-area NDP MPP Peter Tabuns to ban fracking in the province passed…
What’s Worth More: Your Time or the Planet?
WAITING FOR THE BUS one morning on your way to work, you realize your reusable travel mug is at home. You’d rather not use another single-use plastic cup, but if…
Cost of Great Lakes Plastic Clean-Up Could Top $486 Million
SHOULD THE FINANCIAL BURDEN of removing all plastic debris from the Great Lakes fall on the shoulders of the 36 million people within the basin, researchers now have an estimate…
Toronto Fish Health Improving – But You Can’t Eat Them Yet
Local man fishing in Toronto Harbour. THE LATEST STUDY from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the University of Toronto analyzed government data on mercury, dioxin/furans…
Waste Mismanagement Leads to Plastic-Filled Oceans
Up to 12.7 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the world’s oceans every year, partly due to litter and inadequate waste management. Plastic particles sit in sieves ready for sorting.…
Ontario’s endangered species get their day in court
Endangered American Eel. LAWYERS ACTING ON BEHALF of the Ontario government told the courts last month that Ontario’s endangered species legislation is now only concerned with the most dire of…
Melting Glaciers to Release Billions of Kilograms of CO₂ by 2050
A new study finds sea-level rise isn’t the only thing to fear about melting glaciers. Antarctic Ice Shelf Loss Comes From Underneath by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center \ CC…
2014 — Canada’s Year of the Pipeline
Keystone XL wasn’t the only pipeline project to rankle Canadians in 2014. WIDESPREAD PUBLIC DEBATE on building vast networks of snaking energy pipelines throughout Canada dominated the country’s environmental newsreel…
Historic dam latest line of defence against invasive Asian carp
Carp over Barge. (Photo: Dan O’Keefe, Michigan Sea Grant) THE NEXT LINE OF DEFENCE against keeping invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes will come at an 81-year-old lock…
Loopholes threaten Ontario Greenbelt
The Greenbelt Alliance wants better protection for the ecologically sensitive area, which remains at risk from sprawl, mega-highways and contaminated soil. Map of Greenbelt and other protected lands in Southern…
New ‘Tipping Point’ Model Could Help Predict Species Extinction
Species may be more adaptive to environmental changes than we thought, but small shifts can still be enough to cause extinctions. Snowshoe hares are facing increasing challenges as snow patterns…
NDP to refuse support for Rouge National Urban Park bill
Everyone wants the 10,500 acres in the Rouge Valley to be made into a national urban park, yet few but the Harper Tories think their plan for the green space…
Ocean Warming and Acidification will Crash Crabs’ Metabolism
Porcelain crab. (Image courtesy of Stillman’s Lab) BASED ON FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS, researchers believe coastal ecosystems will see increased extremes in low tide temperature fluctuations and drops in pH levels…
Ontario Invasive Species Act gets second chance
A control test site for invasive plant phragmites at Wasaga Beach on Lake Huron. LIBERAL NATURAL RESOURCE MINISTER Bill Mauro reintroduced the Invasive Species Act Wednesday, the first standalone legislation…
Ontario and Ottawa face off over fate of Rouge Park lands
A STANDOFF IS BREWING east of Toronto in the Rouge Valley between Queen’s Park and the federal government over the proposed Rouge National Urban Park. Ontario Infrastructure Minister Brad Duguid…
ECO urges province to create new climate action plan
SO MUCH OF THE THINKING around climate change has evolved since 2007 that Ontario’s seven-year-old climate action plan is now “irrelevant” according to Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller. In releasing Looking…
Ontario adds Climate Change to MOE Portfolio
IN ANNOUNCING her new cabinet last week, Premier Kathleen Wynne has charged former Transportation Minister Glen Murray with taking over Ontario’s newly revamped environment ministry. Murray, the sitting MPP for…
Ottawa approves $5.5 billion Northern Gateway pipeline
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT has approved the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline project from Enbridge, to carry 525,000 barrels of crude oil each day from Bruderheim in northern Alberta to the port…
MNR lacks real-time data on controversial spring bear hunt
Black bear. (Flickr photo by Casey Brown) JUST OVER HALFWAY through the reintroduced six-week spring bear hunt, which runs from May 1 to June 15, the province of Ontario has…