Oct 19 2017 — Carl Meyer — National Observer — The Climate Change and Atmospheric Research program (CCAR), which supports seven independent projects in climate science, is due to run out at the end of the year, to the dismay of countless scientists, advocacy groups and environmentalists. One of the projects it supports, the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL), is a crucial Arctic lab […]
Oct 18 2017 — Policy Options — In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping famously articulated the “24-character strategy,” in which he suggested that China “keep a low profile” (tao guang yang hui, or 韬光养晦) and “never claim leadership.” This status quo strategy informed China’s foreign policy for decades and became the cornerstone of its political thought throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. […]
Oct 17 2017 — Biofuels Digest — Earlier this month Canada’s Environment Commissioner urged MPs to push the government from ‘seemingly endless planning mode into action mode’ on climate change. By now we all know the road to achieving meaningful GHG emission reductions from transportation isn’t easy: new infrastructure, clean technology, and changing consumer habits can be tricky business. But identifying and […]
Oct 12 2017 — The Canadian Press — Canada is joining forces with the United Kingdom to push for a global crackdown on unabated coal-fired electricity. Eliminating, or at least reducing, the world’s reliance on coal is a critical step in the Paris climate change accord’s efforts to prevent the planet from warming more than two degrees Celsius over with pre-industrial times. Environment […]
Oct 12 2017 — CBC — In the race to slow global warming, science has been exploring ways to manipulate the climate, but until recently the conversations have been confined to laboratories. While the growing field of geoengineering offers promise, it also comes with all kinds of potential pitfalls, and that’s what experts and policy-makers are discussing at a conference in […]
Oct 11 2017 — Margo McDiarmid — CBC — An increasing number of Indigenous communities are becoming partners in renewable energy projects in Canada and creating thousands of jobs as they do it. A new national survey shows nearly one fifth of the country’s power is provided by facilities fully or partly owned and run by Indigenous communities. It represents a dramatic increase in […]
Oct 10 2017 — The Conversation — Fall is always a good time to create new habits, and coffee chains know it. These days, they are desperately trying to find any excuse to get you to drink their java. Many chains used National or International Coffee Day, just passed, as a reason to offer their coffee at a discount, or even for […]
Oct 10 2017 — CNN — The ongoing natural disasters that are ravaging both the western and gulf coasts of the United States should serve as a dire warning to the world about the consequences of climate change, especially with a “climate denier in the White House,” according to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. Inslee said that the damage being done by […]
Oct 4 2017 — The Conversation — Last year about 11 per cent of the total human population (approximately 850 million people on the planet) suffered from daily hunger, according to a recent United Nations report on the state of food security and nutrition in the world. This is a tragedy no matter how you look at it. The numbers show a […]
Oct 3 2017 — Biofuels Digest — Electrics are improving on emissions and cost, but not enough to make driving an electric car the smart choice for consumers looking to save time and reduce environmental impacts. According to a new analysis, biofuels still reign. If you’re driving an electric car, you’re driving the grid, and the grid isn’t all that green, yet. […]
Sep 20 2017 — National Observer — I read lots of articles these days pointing to the rapid expansion of renewable energy as a reason to be hopeful about our unfolding climate crisis. Unfortunately, the climate doesn’t care how many solar panels and wind farms we build. What determines our climate fate is how much climate-polluting fossil fuels we decide to burn. […]
Sep 19 2017 — Karen Kohfeld and Zanna Chase — The Conversation — Over the past few decades, scientists have monitored the atmosphere and oceans using instruments, gauges and satellites. But modern climate variability remains small compared to what we can expect in the future due to human emission of carbon dioxide. How can we be sure we understand how climate and carbon dioxide are linked? Our research […]
Sep 18 2017 — The Canadian Press — Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says the United States has provided no new information about what it would take to entice it back into the Paris climate change accord. McKenna was one of about a dozen environment ministers from the world’s most influential nations invited to an informal breakfast meeting Monday in New York with U.S. […]
Sep 13 2017 — The Canadian Press — Ontario’s third cap-and-trade auction has sold out of all allowances. The September auction follows two similarly successful efforts in March and June, all of which are aimed at lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the province. The government puts caps on the amount of pollution companies in certain industries can emit, and if they exceed those […]
Sep 13 2017 — The Canadian Press — Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says there is still time to convince the United States not to withdraw from the Paris climate change accord and an unexpected meeting scheduled for New York next week might be the first step in that direction. McKenna is one of about a dozen environment and climate ministers from the world’s […]