They had me going for a couple minutes. I got a press release this morning that was supposedly from Environment Canada, but it was a fake. It was convincing in its tone, but its content was too good to be true. The press release announced a new Canadian climate agenda with reductions targets of 40 […]
Copenhagen
Posted inNews + Opinion
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
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax environmentalists prepare for Copenhagen
Haligonians are preparing for the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark next week. The meeting of world leaders is being billed as the last chance for humanity to implement meaningful policies to avert cataclysmic climate change. Lil MacPherson, owner of The Wooden Monkey, leaves Tuesday to attend the conference as an observer with […]