“We’re hoping to send the politicians a message,” sayJannelle Frail, explaining this weekend’s environmental gathering on
the Common.
Frail is an organizer with the local branch of 350.org, an international group drawing attention
to the need for strong results from the UN’s Climate Change conference
in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December; “350” refers to the maximum
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere—350 parts per
million—that climatologists say can be sustained without causing
irreversible climate change. There is presently a CO2 concentration of
about 385 ppm.
“Copenhagen is the last best chance we have to avoid irreversible
climate change,” says Andrew Weaver, Canada’s most prominent
climatologist and lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s reports examining the problem. “If we don’t reach agreement in
Copenhagen, we might as well forget it.”
Saturday has been dubbed the International Day of Climate Action, an
opportunity for regular people to express their concerns, and nearly
4,000 different community events in 163 countries are listed at
350.org. 350 events are also planned in
Wolfville, Margaree, Bridgewater and Shelburne.
Locally, a wide range of groups, including all local environmental
organizations, social justice groups and the labour council, are
supporting the event. Church groups are also heavily involved—the
interdenominational KAIROS group, the United Church and the Lutheran
council are all co-sponsors.
“We’re trying to make it so it’s not the same people doing the same
action, over and over again,” says Frail. “We really want to get a
variety of people in Nova Scotia showing what they’re concerned about.
It is a collective concern for future generations.”
Festivities start at 2pm on the field next to The Pavilion. Music
and speakers are planned—MP Megan Leslie and meteorologist Richard
Zurawski have confirmed, and invitations have been extended to mayor
Peter Kelly and premier Darrell Dexter.
Throughout, people will be asked to make signs. “One side of the
sign will be what you’re concerned about with climate change—your
neighbour, or someone who lives on the coast or your favourite
wilderness area,” explains Frail. “On the back, they can write the
solution to that. We’re encouraging people to write ‘350,’ and that
will hopefully create awareness about 350 parts per million, 350.org, as the solution.”
Those attending will also be invited to sign the Kyotoplus petition,
which calls for the Canadian federal government to take a leadership
role at Copenhagen and to set a national target of reducing greenhouse
gas emissions to 25 percent below the 1990 level by 2020.
At 3:50pm the assembled will be asked to stand in a formation
spelling out 350, and at least 10 local churches will toll their bells
35 times each.
“We’ll be putting pressure on the federal government to take action
at Copenhagen,” says Frail.
The Canadian government has been widely criticized for what Weaver
calls its “inaction and obstruction” on climate change. At a meeting in
Bali last year in preparation of the upcoming Copenhagen conference,
Canada received the majority of the “Fossil of the day” awards for the
country most dedicated to blocking progress in addressing climate
change.
Along with the United States and Australia, Canada is one of the
largest per-capita of greenhouse gas producers in the world, with about
20 tonnes emitted per person. Because most of the electricity in Nova
Scotia is generated with coal, provincial per capita GHG emissions are
even higher, at about 25 tonnes per person.
This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2009.
Take a look at this : http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rowen…
Any response to points 1 and 5 ??
and also this :
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rowen…
or this one which predicts a 60% increase in UK energy costs by 2015 (Electricity in UK is 2x the price we pay in Nova Scotia)
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/rowen…
I think I’ll emigrate to the Seychelles, best climate in the world .
Energy prices are going up, no matter what we do. Way up.
The smartest thing to do would be to charge additionally for GHG emissions– a carbon tax or some other scheme — such that renewables become more appealing. We’ll reach the higher price regardless, so we may as well get some benefit out of it.
I’ll have more on this subject in a blog post, maybe later today.
There is also the option of building very energy-efficient houses, such as the Earthship design, that would in theory require no (or close to no) supplemental heating or cooling over the year. This type of construction basically acts like a giant solar-powered thermal battery with excellent insulation and is mostly built from discared materials; namely old tires packed with dirt or gravel and sealed in earthen plaster.
Going all out, it’s possible to make these houses work completely off-the-grid, but in an urban or suburban environment it would at least allow to save a considerable amount of energy if only by the absence of a heating bill.
I’ve started a slow study in the technical and legal aspects of building a number of these houses up here around Halifax.
http://earthship.net
‘Whether or not the US and Europe listen, the oil industry is still more than conscious that emerging markets are only in the early days of their love affair with hydrocarbons.
According to industry predictions, the growth of demand for oil will increase by 1m barrels per day each year driven mostly by Chinese demand. Statistics show that while the US has 800 cars for every 1,000 people, China has 30 cars per 1,000 – a figure that is growing at the alarming rate of an extra 1.2m car sales per month. ‘
Source : Sunday Telegraph Oct 25 2009