Media and politicians often regard environmentalists as a special interest group with political priorities served by “green” parties. If a Green politician isn’t present or allowed to participate in a public debate, journalists tend to eschew environmental questions, considering them the purview of the absent party. It’s absurd to think an issue like climate change […]
climate crisis
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Climate change and biodiversity should be top headline news
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a special report in October warning of how quickly we’re advancing toward irreversible climate chaos, it led the —for a day. A massive study in May by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services about rapid wildlife extinction met a similar fate. In Canada, issues […]
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Q&A with Kings County Activist in Copenhagen, Thea Whitman
Canadian Youth Delegation members Kimia Ghomeshi, Toronto; Caroline Lee of Fredericton; and Thea Whitman, Kings County Kings County’s Thea Whitman is one of 30 members of the Canadian Youth Delegation in Copenhagen. The group has garnered a lot of attention for its creative direct actions at the conference and drawing attention to Canada’s failure on climate change action. Whitman graciously provided detailed answers (with links!) to my questions. Q. What is the Canadian Youth Delegation’s role in Copenhagen, and how does direct action affect things there? The Canadian Youth Delegation is a group of around 30 young Canadians from across
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The Fossil’s Revenge
On Day 5 of Cop15 in Copenhagen, here are some of the most interesting developments emerging: Small Island States Want MoreTuvalu stopped the show on Tuesday when it demanded a legally binding agreement for everyone. The very rich countries and very poor countries were divided. The big poor countries like India, China, and Indonesia were opposed, and probably appalled. Yesterday, Tuvalu teamed up with the Alliance of Small Island States to release a proposal for a two-protocol, legally binding outcome. That proposal would amend and extend Kyoto until 2017 (it is currently set to expire in 2012). At the same
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Q&A: Sierra Club’s Emily Rideout at the Copenhagen summit
Emily Rideout inside the Copenhagen talks Emily Rideout, who is representing Sierra Club Atlantic in Copenhagen, graciously provided detailed answers to my questions on her experience there, and what she is witnessing from inside the conference: Q. Is this your first experience at an international conference of this nature? A: No, I represented Sierra Club […]
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Copenhagen Cops crack down
My friend Brad Axmith, a Canadian who has been living in Copenhagen for a number of years, wrote me this week. He calls himself a centrist and a “concerned bystander trying to take note of the changes being instituted in my children’s land of birth.” He is also a scholar with an astute eye for […]
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Halifax Geared Up
Halifax’s environmental community has its eyes firmly on Copenhagen, where 15,000 representatives from 192 countries have gathered to negotiate the world’s response to climate change. Those who stayed home are finding other ways to make their voices heard, in a two-week series of protests, vigils, and workshops. The Ecology Action Centre and Sierra Club teamed […]
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May’s Day in Copenhagen
Elizabeth May will fly to Copenhagen tomorrow, and she knows what to expect. “I haven’t attended every climate change conference but I’ve attended quite a few,” she tells me. “They are always very intense.” As Green Party of Canada leader, May has access to all negotiations and plenaries, though the plenary rooms are often too […]
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We are Canadian. We are all villains now.
“O wad some Power the giftie gie us, to see oursels as ithers see us!” Robbie Burns composed those immortal lines before the advent of today’s powerful international media. These global village chroniclers are certainly giving Canadians the gift of seeing ourselves—and the picture’s not pretty. Apparently we’re seen as corrupt villains bent on derailing […]
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2009 State of Nova Scotia coast report
Sea levels in Nova Scotia are expected to rise sharply over the next century —- anywhere between 70 and 140 centimetres. (Or between two feet, three inches and four feet, seven inches.) Those figures are contained in The 2009 State of Nova Scotia’s Coast Report released today in Halifax. The report says global sea levels […]
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Halifax Climate Events
Please note the changed dates below: If you were too broke or too worried about your own emissions to jump the bandwagon in Copenhagen, there’s still lots you can do right here in Hali to be part of “the most important human gathering ever.” On Saturday, December 12 at 5:00 pm there will be a […]
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Summit talk starts to heat up
Negotiations are heating up in Copenhagen. Tuvalu has demanded that any agreement coming out of negotiations be legally binding. Their reasoning: they’d prefer not to sink. Back in 1992, at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, parties signed a treaty called the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Signatories agreed to create protocols setting […]