Inka Milewski raises an issue about method: “The scale at which an observation is made is really important.” When government scientists measured the North Atlantic cod population in the early ’90s, they missed small areas where cod had disappeared. They were looking at too large portions of the ocean—the small collapses were averaged out by […]
environment
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2010 resolution: quit and start over
That was no vacation, it was the holidays: a forced shopping mall feeding frenzy spread over end-of-year overtime and out-the-door queues, visits with family, friends, friends-of-family, family-of-friends, gift-wrap shredding, plastic chucking, meat and sugar binging, gift returns and more cut-rate shopping. No wonder come January we’re ready to swear off every earth plundering bad habit […]
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Wizened optimism
Tim Bousquet: Yes, I do actually give a shit! Just reading your “False reflection” editorial (December 31, 2009), I do agree with you to some extent, that people in general have some difficulty coming to grips with the implications of climate change and actually doing something about it. Individually, we feel we are doing “what […]
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Emily Rideout Post-Copenhagen Debrief
I asked Sierra Club Atlantic representative and Dal student Emily Rideout for her post-Copenhagen thoughts. What were her feelings about the conference and the outcome, and what’s next for the climate movement? Here is Emily’s response: There was some progress made in terms of process that may help us create a real climate deal within […]
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Thea Whitman Post Copenhagen Debrief
I asked Kings County activist and member of the Canadian Youth Delegation Thea Whitman for her post-Copenhagen thoughts. What were her feelings about the conference and the outcome, and what’s next for the climate movement? Here is Thea’s response: I am disappointed – you might even say devastated – to see this as the result […]
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They Failed Us
oops we failed again It ended with a whimper. Humanity should be so lucky. After 12 days of bitter arguments, leaked documents, sit-ins and arrests, negotiators agreed it would be the lowest common denominator all around. Poor countries didn’t want rich countries verifying their results. They got what they wanted. Rich countries didn’t want citizens […]
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Final Day, Maybe
It’s the final day of the Copenhagen climate conference. In the words of WWF Sweden CEO Lasse Gustavsson, “world leaders have arrived and negotiated overnight with little or no progress.” Shocking that even with 120 super-egos in the room they couldn’t save the world overnight. You think maybe they should have allotted more time for […]
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Q & A with Dr. Claire Campbell in Copenhagen
Q. Is this your first experience at an international conference of this nature? Like many academics I go to international conferences occasionally, though I’ve never been to a COP. I was just in Copenhagen in August, actually, for the first World Congress in Environmental History. Denmark is my favourite country in the world after Canada, […]
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VIDEO: NGO Smackdown at COP15
“I couldn’t get in today even though I have all the right badges,” Emily Rideout tells me. “It’s total BS.” She confirms reports that NGO workers have been mostly shut out of today’s negotiations and plenaries in Copenhagen. UN climate chief Yvo de Boer is claiming responsibility for booking more than 46,000 people into the […]
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Real Negotiations Begin in Copenhagen
Everyone’s going gaga over the arrival in Copenhagen of the Prince of Wales, who is really the Prince of England, who really has no power except the influence media and celebrity worship afford him. Yep, things keep getting weirder in Copenhagen, or maybe we’re just better equipped to witness the weirdness and paying more attention […]
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Mark Parent: HRM back-tracking on wilderness park is “height of political Machiavellianism”
Earlier this year, the province officially designated 1,350 hectares west of Bayers Lake Industrial Park as the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness. The designation capped a two-year effort that began under former minister of the environment Mark Parent. But last month, Halifax mayor Peter Kelly told the CBC that he won’t agree to the city […]
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Yes Men prank Canada
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 […]