Alexandre Buisse / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 3.0
To its credit, the Forest Products Association of Canada recognizes climate change is a serious threat to forests and habitat, and has vowed the sector it represents "is doing its part to fight climate change through work in our forests, at our mills and through the products we make."
<p>But it appears the association has an ulterior motive. Its climate commitments are spelled out on a website page that focuses on the role of climate change in caribou population declines, and argues a federal strategy to protect at-risk caribou, in part through habitat management, "won't work and will hurt local economies."</p><p>There's no climate science denial, but there is caribou science denial. To downplay the urgent need to protect caribou and manage habitat, and to diminish their own role in boreal caribou declines, forest industry associations are using tactics the fossil fuel industry <a href="https://e360.yale.edu/features/global_warming_deniers_and_their_proven_strategy_of_doubt" target="_blank">uses to sow doubt and confusion</a> about scientific evidence.</p><p>These "strategies of manufactured uncertainty" have "successfully delayed efforts to effectively address the decline of boreal caribou, which is protected under federal, provincial and territorial legislation, and inhibited meaningful dialogue about socially acceptable conservation solutions," according to a new report in the June issue of Wildlife Society Bulletin, <em><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/wsb.891" target="_blank">From Climate to Caribou: How Manufactured Uncertainty is Impacting Wildlife Management</a>.</em></p><p>The report, by researchers from Ontario Nature and the Universities of Guelph and Toronto, further states that while the fossil fuel sector is the most prominent purveyor of science denial—with five companies and organizations alone spending <a href="https://influencemap.org/report/Climate-Lobbying-by-the-Fossil-Fuel-Sector" target="_blank">US$115 million a year</a> "to avoid new climate policy and regulation"—similar tactics have been used in debates over regulating lead paint, tobacco, DDT, acid rain and chlorofluorocarbons. All employ a "multi-pronged strategy of denial": deny the problem exists, deny its key causes and claim that resolving the problem is too costly.</p><p>The strategy also includes vilification of and personal attacks against those who advocate for change. Some have cast efforts to improve caribou habitat policy as "eco-terrorism" and "environmental extremism."</p><p>Focusing on Ontario, the researchers show the strategy has been employed in the conflict between industrial logging and boreal caribou conservation. Boreal caribou are listed as "<a href="http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/document/default_e.cfm?documentID=2253" target="_blank">threatened</a>" and are protected under federal species at risk legislation. "Yet, as scientific understanding of the decline of boreal caribou populations has become clearer, and agreement among scientists and governments about habitat management requirements has increased, campaigns of denial have intensified in the public sphere," the report says.</p><p>The Ontario Forest Industries Association and others deny boreal caribou are at risk, despite numerous studies showing they are, and <a href="http://www.ofia.com/images/OFIA-%20Caribou%20OpEd.pdf" target="_blank">claim</a> that "without an adequate understanding how woodland caribou herds use the landscape—let alone a firm grasp of the differences between ecotypes of the subspecies—it is not possible to develop science-based policy."</p><p>The report quotes forestry interests that claim industrial logging does not harm caribou and, in fact, may help them, despite contrary evidence from numerous peer-reviewed studies.</p><p>A number of organizations, politicians and media outlets have also argued protecting caribou will kill jobs and wreak economic havoc. However, research shows that other factors, such as "structural changes in the demand for forest products, high labour and energy costs, and decline of real net investment in the sector" have caused recent forest industry downturns. Ultimately, if economic growth must come at the cost of boreal caribou survival, it isn't sustainable. </p><p>The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada, which assesses species and makes recommendations about their listing under the Species at Risk Act, has examined the available evidence and concluded <a href="http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/sar/index/default_e.cfm" target="_blank">81 percent</a> of boreal caribou herds are in decline and all woodland caribou ecotypes—boreal, mountain and migratory—are diminishing in Canada. A main cause for boreal caribou decline is habitat degradation, mostly from industrial activity, and consequent changes in predator-prey dynamics.</p><p>Caribou play an important role in forest ecosystems. With all we know about the animals and how to protect them, we must resist industry's false narrative. As the report concludes, "the debate should now focus on goal-setting and implementation of caribou conservation strategies, including range plans and protection of critical habitat, which have the highest likelihood of achieving long-term caribou persistence while minimizing effects to jobs in the sector."</p>
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Are You Willing to Pay for Your Time Stuck in Traffic? Londoners Already Are
30 May 2018
Insights + Opinion
By 2002, drivers in London, England, were spending as much as half their commuting time stalled in traffic, contributing to much of the city center's dangerous particulate pollution. To deal with a growing population, increasing gridlock and air quality concerns, the city implemented a congestion charge, using a photo-based license-recognition system.
<p>Between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays, drivers entering a 21-square-kilometer zone in Central London are charged a fee, which has risen from about C$8.50 in 2003 to $20 now. The city offers discounts or exemptions for zone residents, people with disabilities, emergency vehicles, motorcycles and taxis.</p><p>Congestion pricing is a solution that works. But politically, it's a difficult sell. Drivers don't like to pay tolls on top of what they already pay to buy, maintain, fuel and park their vehicles. They often forget, though, the less visible costs of congestion: arriving late, having to leave early and burning fuel while stalled or moving at a crawl. Most people end up better off with a well-designed congestion pricing plan.</p><p>Although London's plan faced opposition and debate—even a legal challenge—its success has led to widespread acceptance. Almost overnight, drivers who could change behavior did, traveling at off-peak hours, carpooling or taking transit. Those who chose to drive despite the charge benefited from less congested roads. <a href="https://theconversation.com/london-congestion-charge-why-its-time-to-reconsider-one-of-the-citys-great-successes-92478" target="_blank">Within just three years, traffic went down</a> by 15 percent, and congestion—the extra time to make a trip because of impeded traffic flow—was reduced by 30 percent. Businesses saw immediate gains, as costs of shipping delays and paying drivers stuck in traffic fell.</p><p>Benefits continue. More people take buses to the center and fewer rely on private automobiles. Shorter commuting times mean more time with family and friends, less aggravation and saving money on gas and vehicle maintenance. The fees also generate about <a href="https://pricetags.ca/2018/05/24/mobility-pricing-in-other-places/" target="_blank">C$300 million a year</a>, which are invested in non-car transportation improvements.</p><p>London now has new congestion challenges. To improve safety, health and the environment, and to move more people, road space has been allocated to walking and cycling, which are surging in popularity. For-hire vehicles like Uber, taxis and minicabs—which are exempt from the fee—have also increased significantly. London is looking to a number of solutions, including expanding the fee zone and studying congestion pricing in places like <a href="http://thecityfix.com/blog/toward-car-free-cities-stockholm-shows-the-sometimes-bumpy-road-to-congestion-charges/" target="_blank">Stockholm, Sweden</a>, where rates vary according to zone and time of day.</p><p>As cities grow, challenges around pollution, traffic congestion and automobile infrastructure increase. Studies show you <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/10/23/6994159/traffic-roads-induced-demand" target="_blank">can't build your way out of congestion</a>. More roads and bridges bring more cars. </p><p>Cities worldwide have implemented or are considering congestion pricing, including Singapore, New York and my hometown of Vancouver. Metro Vancouver's Mobility Pricing Independent Commission <a href="https://www.itstimemv.ca/" target="_blank">recently released a report</a> that concluded, "Region-wide road usage charging is the most effective tool to provide a systematic, meaningful and lasting reduction in traffic congestion."</p><p>The report recommends point- or distance-based charges which "could generate enough revenue to re-assess our broader approach for funding transportation in the region," including "the potential to shift or reduce taxation away from other existing revenue sources, including the regional fuel sales tax."</p><p>The commission acknowledged that more study is needed to ensure the system is fair and effective. For example, London already had a good public transportation system and added 300 buses to the Central London fleet on the day the congestion fee came into effect. Because the charge is designed to encourage people to use other forms of transportation, <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/what-vancouver-can-learn-from-london-about-mobility-pricing-1.4666862" target="_blank">viable alternatives must be available</a>.</p><p>The report says <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/mobility-pricing-commission-recommends-more-study-of-road-pricing-for-metro-vancouver-1.4676431" target="_blank">congestion pricing could cost an average household</a> that doesn't alter commuting behavior anywhere from $5 to $8 a day, not accounting for savings from reduced congestion. Charges would reduce congestion by 20 to 25 percent—<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/here-s-how-much-time-you-save-by-commuting-anywhere-in-b-c-but-vancouver-1.4425547" target="_blank">an hour or more a week</a> for the average city commuter. Costs can be offset by reducing or eliminating gas or other taxes, and revenues can be invested in transit improvements to make getting around without a car easier.</p><p>Reducing congestion and pollution and tackling the climate crisis require getting people out of their cars. Congestion pricing is a fair, effective way to reduce reliance on private automobiles, improve traffic flow and help fund public transportation. Let's do it.</p>
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Ceyhun Jay Isik / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Transportation accounts for about a quarter of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, making it the second-highest source, slightly behind the oil and gas industry. In the U.S., it's the largest source of emissions and pollution. Despite continued improvements in personal vehicle fuel standards since 1975, Canada's transportation emissions grew by 42 percent from 1990 to 2015, partly because of growing populations and increasing numbers of vehicles on the road, and because of huge increases in sales of trucks, SUVs and "crossover" vehicles for personal use. Clearly, we must do better.
<p>Instead, after years of progress, the U.S. administration is <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/epa-gasoline-mileage-1.4602757" target="_blank">planning to roll back</a> world class passenger vehicle fuel efficiency and emissions regulations set by the previous administration, bucking a worldwide trend toward cleaner vehicles. Since Canada and several other nations have historically followed the U.S. on fuel standards, this announcement could have negative ripple effects around the world.</p><p>It's difficult to fathom why a government would be so opposed to clean air, technological innovation, economic progress and healthier citizens that it would undo effective regulations that few people, even in industry, oppose. The only industries that might benefit are oil and automakers, and there's no indication they've been hurt by progress made over the past half century of increasingly higher standards. Top executives at Ford and GM have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/opinion/emissions-standards-auto-industry.html" target="_blank">stated they support the standards</a>, as have Toyota, Jaguar and Volvo.</p><p>The good news is that California and about a dozen U.S. states will continue to use their influence to maintain and strengthen much-needed rules, although there are hints the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/2/17181476/tesla-epa-fuel-economy-standards" target="_blank">might undo a 50-year-old waiver</a> that allowed California to set its own standards.</p><p>Whatever the U.S. does, it's time for Canada to steer its own course. If we want to meet our <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement" target="_blank">Paris agreement</a> climate commitments and protect citizens from pollution and climate disruption, we need policies and regulations to make all vehicles—including trucks and SUVs—less polluting.</p><p>Of course, the top priority should be to get people out of cars and trucks as much as possible, through investments in public transit and infrastructure for active transportation like cycling and walking. That would also help reduce congestion as growing populations add to the pressure on our roads. But we also must ensure that the cars, trucks and buses that will be with us for years to come are as non-polluting as possible.</p><p>One of the more promising developments is the rapid innovation and deployment of electric and hybrid vehicles. Electric vehicles <a href="https://about.bnef.com/electric-vehicle-outlook/" target="_blank">are on track</a> to reach more than half the world's new car sales by 2040, but the trend must accelerate if we are to succeed in addressing the climate crisis.</p><p>Just as the U.S. has followed California's example, Canada should follow Quebec's. In January, the province <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-zero-emission-vehicles-zev-standard-comes-into-effect---automakers-will-have-to-offer-more-rechargeable-electric-and-hybrid-vehicle-models-in-quebec-665011043.html" target="_blank">adopted a zero-emission vehicles standard</a>, similar to California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. Under the plan, subject automakers must accumulate credits for putting zero- and low-emission vehicles into the market. The Quebec government says 41 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions are from the transport sector. Its goal is to increase zero- and low-emission vehicle sales and leases to 10 percent of its market by 2025.</p><p><a href="https://ipolitics.ca/2017/12/18/road-ready-get-canadians-driving-electric/" target="_blank">Canada signed on to a global goal</a> of increasing electric vehicles sales to 30 percent by 2030 and has committed to developing a zero-emission strategy, but has set no targets nationally. Progress has been slow, hindered in part by <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/06/06/news/automakers-oppose-forced-sales-electric-cars" target="_blank">opposition from car manufacturers</a>. Canada doesn't currently make mass-market electric vehicles.</p><p>As large economies including China, California and the European Union now require car dealerships to sell a greater proportion of zero- and near-zero-emission cars and trucks, Canada's counterparts may want to reconsider and join the leading edge of this revolution. Clinging to the status quo puts car manufacturing in Canada at risk.</p><p>Adopting a national zero-emission standard and investing in clean car manufacturing could save Canada's car industry and help counter the climate crisis.</p><p>For the sake of human health, the climate, our economy and innovation, it's time to gear up, even if the U.S. decides to jam on the brakes and shift to reverse.</p>
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The fossil fuel era must end, or it will spell humanity's end. The threat isn't just from pollution and accelerating climate change. Rapid, wasteful exploitation of these valuable resources has also led to a world choked in plastic. Almost all plastics are made from fossil fuels, often by the same companies that produce oil and gas.
<p style="">Our profligate use of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics">plastics</a> has created swirling masses in ocean gyres. It's worse than once thought. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w" target="_blank">New research concludes</a> that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch-texas-2551330463.html">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a> is 16 times larger than previously estimated, with 79,000 tonnes of plastic churning through 1.6 million square kilometers of the North Pacific. That's larger than the area of Quebec—and it continues to grow! Researchers say if we don't clean up our act, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/22/great-pacific-garbage-patch-sprawling-with-far-more-debris-than-thought" target="_blank">oceans will have more plastics by weight than fish by 2050</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed" style="">
</p><div id="e41b2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1BV92B1576663801"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="978315696936497152" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The Great Pacific garbage patch is now twice the size of Texas. https://t.co/4MGzVMOUjK</div> — Greenpeace USA (@Greenpeace USA)<a href="https://twitter.com/greenpeaceusa/statuses/978315696936497152">1522083613.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.theoceancleanup.com/" target="_blank">Ocean Cleanup Foundation</a> commissioned the study, published in Nature, based on a 2015 expedition using 30 vessels and a C-130 Hercules airplane to look at the eastern part of the patch.<br></p><p style=""><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/great-pacific-garbage-patch-1.4582626" target="_blank">According to a CBC article</a>, researchers estimate that the patch holds 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, much of it broken down into <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/microplastics">microplastics</a> less than half a centimeter in diameter. They also found "plastic bottles, containers, packaging straps, lids, ropes and fishing nets," some dating from the late 1970s and into the '80s and '90s, and large amount of debris from the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima, Japan.</p><p style="">When plastics break down into smaller pieces, they're more difficult to clean up, and marine animals often ingest the pieces, which is killing them in ever-increasing numbers. Larger pieces can entangle marine animals, and bigger animals often ingest those, too. </p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.popsci.com/sea-plastic" target="_blank">North Pacific patch isn't unique</a>. Debris accumulates wherever wind and ocean conditions and Earth's rotation create ocean gyres, including the North Pacific, North Atlantic, South Pacific, South Atlantic and Indian Ocean. There's also one in the Arctic Ocean, although it isn't a gyre, but an "accumulation zone," where water from warmer areas sinks as it cools.</p><p style="">As the <a href="https://www.5gyres.org/" target="_blank">5 Gyres</a> organization points out, plastics are everywhere, not just in the gyres. It says the idea of a <a href="https://www.5gyres.org/faq/" target="_blank">floating island of garbage is a misconception</a>: "In the ocean, plastic is less like an island, and more like smog." </p><p>Although some of the plastic comes from ships, most is washed from land into the seas via runoff, rivers and wind.</p><p style="">Scientists are conducting research into ways of cleaning up some ocean plastic, but say the only way to adequately address the problem is to stop it at its source. Marcus Eriksen, 5 Gyres co-founder and research director, told CBC that governments need to implement policies to get manufacturers to clean up their acts, "And make smarter products and think of the full life cycle; stop making something that, when it becomes waste, becomes a nightmare for everyone."</p><p style="">Fossil fuels and the products derived from them have made life easier, but at what cost? We've only been using plastics since the 1950s, and our excessive fossil fuel use is also a relatively recent phenomenon. Putting plastics in the recycling bin isn't the only answer either. Low fossil fuel prices and lack of profitable markets for recycled materials means a lot of plastic doesn't get recycled, and it doesn't biodegrade.</p><p>We don't have to stop using fossil fuels and producing fossil-fuel-derived plastics overnight, but we can't continue to regard the industry as the backbone of our economies and ways of life, and we must stop being so wasteful.</p><p>As individuals, we can help reduce the amounts of plastic waste in the oceans and on land by eschewing single-use items like plastic bags, drink containers, straws and excessively packaged items; by avoiding clothing made with plastic microfibers and products containing microbeads; and by choosing reusable containers or disposables made from other materials, such as aluminum, that are more likely to be recycled. Be wary of compostable plastics. Although made from plant materials, they require large industrial facilities to break them down.</p><p style="">The real solution is to buy less stuff in the first place, reduce waste, conserve energy and shift to cleaner, renewable power sources and product materials. It's past time to take pollution, climate change and waste seriously.</p>
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When the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency increased safety and environmental standards for cars in the 1970s, automakers responded. Although they had to adhere to the new rules, they didn't base their entire response on safety or pollution concerns. Instead, they looked for loopholes.
<p><a href="http://www.meca.org/regulation/the-clean-air-act" target="_blank">Under the U.S. Clean Air Act</a>, vehicle manufacturers were required to more than double fuel efficiency for cars over the following decade. Canada and other countries followed suit. But trucks, vans and SUVs weren't subject to the same regulations, so automakers started marketing them as family vehicles.</p><p>In many countries, greenhouse gas emissions have been falling in some sectors, thanks largely to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43308567" target="_blank">a shift from coal-fired power</a>. But they've been rising in the transportation sector. That's bad news. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/suv-sales-global-climate.html" target="_blank">Transportation accounts for about 14 percent of global emissions</a> and is now the <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/11/16874696/greenhouse-gas-co2-target-2017-paris-trump" target="_blank">largest source of CO2 emissions</a> in the U.S., mostly from cars and trucks.</p><p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions/canadian-economic-sector.html" target="_blank">In Canada, the largest share of emissions</a> is from the oil and gas industry, at 26 percent, but transportation, at 24 percent, is a close second. While emissions from electricity generation and heavy industry have been declining in Canada since 1990, emissions from oil and gas and transportation have been rising, by 76 percent for oil and gas between 1990 and 2015, and 42 percent for transportation. According to the Government of Canada, car emissions went down by 23 percent over that period, but "emissions from light trucks (including trucks, vans and sport utility vehicles) doubled."</p><p>Fuel efficiency, hybrid and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/electric-vehicles">electric vehicles</a> and cleaner transportation options such as car-share programs, transit and cycling infrastructure are necessary to reduce pollution and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>. But the growing worldwide market for trucks, SUVs and "crossover vehicles," which combine car and SUV design, are negating advances in those areas.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/suv-sales-global-climate.html" target="_blank">As the New York Times points out</a>, "For the first time, S.U.V.s and their lighter, more carlike cousins known as 'crossovers' made up more than one in three cars sold globally last year, almost tripling their share from just a decade ago, according to new figures from the auto research firm JATO Dynamics." In the U.S., low gas prices spurred a boom in "light-duty" vehicles like SUVs, which accounted for 63 percent of 2017 vehicle sales.</p><p>In Canada, according to the government, "Since 1990, the increase in the number of light trucks has been more than three times greater than the increase in the number of the overall fleet of passenger on-road vehicles."</p><p>Pickup truck sales are also booming, with the Ford F-series poised to beat out the Toyota Corolla as the world's top-selling vehicle.</p><p>The UN Global Fuel Economy Initiative concludes that global fuel efficiency for new cars has to improve by three percent a year just to stabilize emissions. As the New York Times reports, "Between 2005 and 2008, the average fuel economy of new cars worldwide improved by about 1.8 percent a year," but the "pace has slowed to 1.1 percent in 2015." As countries like China and India accelerate their embrace of car culture, the problem will only get worse.</p><p>Even though trucks and other large vehicles are useful for many types of work, they're often unnecessary as personal vehicles. Too many SUVs on city streets often transport only a driver, and there's little evidence that many have ever been off-road. <a href="https://www.accessmagazine.org/fall-2002/suvs-really-safer-cars/" target="_blank">SUVs don't necessarily contribute to overall increased safety either</a>, because they're more prone to roll over, and even though people in an SUV may avoid death or serious injury in a collision, <a href="http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/vehicle-size-and-weight/fatalityfacts/passenger-vehicles" target="_blank">people in smaller cars that collide with the larger vehicles</a> are more likely to be killed or seriously injured than if they collided with a smaller car.</p><p>Bigger vehicles mean greater profits, and they help keep the oil and gas industry thriving. That both industries prioritize profits over the need to address pollution and climate change is unconscionable.</p><p>It's up to industry and governments to take the major steps to combat climate change and reduce pollution, but individuals also have a responsibility. Personal transportation choices can make a major difference. Driving SUVs and trucks when less-polluting options would serve as well or better is irresponsible. We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of the world to do better.</p>
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Anishinaabe economist and writer Winona LaDuke identifies two types of economies, grounded in different ways of seeing. Speaking in Vancouver recently, she characterized one as an "extreme extractive economy" fed by exploitation of people and nature. The second is a "regenerative economy" based on an understanding of the land and our relationship to it.
<p style="">We now go to extremes to access fossil fuels. <a href="https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/hydrofracking_w.html" target="_blank">Hydraulic fracturing</a> shatters bedrock to release previously inaccessible gas, requiring large amounts of water made so toxic through the process that it must be disposed of in deep wells. We extract bitumen from Alberta's oilsands using techniques that emit more than twice as many greenhouse gases as average North American crudes. The Pembina Institute reports that 1.3 trillion liters of fluid <a href="http://www.pembina.org/blog/tailings-ponds-worst-yet-come" target="_blank">tailings have accumulated</a> in open ponds in Northern Alberta <a href="http://www.pembina.org/blog/fifty-years-of-oilsands-equals-only-0-1-of-land-reclaimed" target="_blank">since oilsands operations started in 1967</a>.</p><p style="">Human innovation has made it possible to extract less-accessible fossil fuels, and that's provided jobs. But environmentally, socially and economically, this extreme behavior can't continue. We need new options. We must innovate and create jobs in a regenerative economy.</p><p style="">In her talk, LaDuke said, "The reality is that the next economy requires re-localization of food and energy systems, because it's more efficient, it's more responsible, it employs your people and you eat better."</p><p style="">Re-localization is happening in communities across Canada.</p><p style="">The David Suzuki Foundation's new, nationwide <a href="http://davidsuzuki.org/chargedup" target="_blank">Charged Up</a> program is collecting stories to help inspire people to take on renewable energy projects in their communities.</p><p style="">In Oxford County, Ontario, local farmers, community members, the Six Nations of the Grand River and Prowind Canada launched Gunn's Hill Wind Farm in 2016. It produces enough electricity to power almost 7,000 homes. </p><p style="">Miranda Fuller, head of the Oxford Community Energy Co-operative, said the project helps connect people with the power they use and gives them a stake in their energy system. Its revenues are helping stabilize rural farm incomes, which helps protect local food systems and the community's way of life.</p><p>The project created about 200 jobs through development and construction. Some revenue goes to a community vibrancy fund and to student bursaries aimed at giving young people opportunities.</p><p>Fuller makes an important observation: Community-led renewable energy projects provide a way for people to become active producers of energy rather than just passive ratepayers or consumers.</p><p style="">Oxford County became the second local government in Canada, after Vancouver, to adopt a commitment to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. Gunn's Hill makes up 15 percent of Oxford County's goal.</p><p style=""><a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/powering-reconciliation---survey-of-indigenous-participation-in-clean-economy-650338393.html" target="_blank">Indigenous communities are also innovating</a> and leading on renewables.</p><p style="">Chief Patrick Michell of the Nlaka'pamux Nation in BC said meeting energy needs in concert with nature resonates with his nation's values. Nlaka'pamux is working toward food and energy self-sufficiency. The Kanaka Bar Indian Band, one of 17 bands in the nation, has solar projects and has partnered with Innergex Renewable Energy and others on a run-of-river project to generate power and income.</p><p style="">"What you do to the land, you do to yourself," Michell said, quoting a traditional saying.</p><p style="">He said his people have been food and energy self-sufficient for thousands of years, but recently his community has seen changes in weather patterns, water flows, precipitation, forest fires and ecosystems, often related to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>. </p><p style="">Kanaka Bar is building more energy-efficient homes and retrofitting existing houses to reduce energy needs. That costs money up front, but Patrick said he's seen some of his neighbors' energy bills plummet. </p><p style="">Neighboring communities are asking about Kanaka Bar's experience, and Michell is happy to see the work rippling out. For him, these efforts represent a return to the land, to values that will help his community become more self-sufficient, vibrant and resilient.</p><p style="">LaDuke said, "Keep your eye on where you're going. Operate not out of a place of fear, but a place of hope." Good advice for us all, as we celebrate the efforts of these communities and look to put the lessons they've learned into action across Canada. </p><p style="">Let's focus on hope. On climate solutions. On renewable energy led by communities like Oxford County, Kanaka Bar and others rising to the challenge to create a regenerative economy for everyone.</p>
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Contrary to a common perception, ignoring climate change won't make it disappear. Global research going back to 1824 in fields ranging through physics, oceanography, biology and geology have confirmed human activity—mainly burning fossil fuels, raising livestock and destroying carbon sinks like forests and wetlands—is increasing greenhouse gas emissions and causing global temperatures to rise rapidly, putting humanity at risk. Every legitimate scientific academy and institution and every government, except the current U.S. administration, agrees.
<p style="">Yet the disconnect between that reality and government action to confront the greatest crisis humanity faces is astounding. Nowhere is that disconnect more profound than in the U.S., where the attitude is "out of sight, out of mind."</p><p style="">U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, appointed by President Donald Trump, <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/scott-pruitt-personally-oversaw-efforts-erase-climate-change-information-epa-798069" target="_blank">told staff to scrub the agency's website</a> of information about climate change and the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from power generation. According to Newsweek, "Pruitt ordered edits that would modify search results for 'Clean Power Plan' to link to a page promoting Trump's executive order, with a photo of the president and the EPA administrator posing with coal miners."</p><p style="">That's just one among many moves by the administration to reduce environmental protection and overturn measures to reduce climate change and shift to a clean energy economy. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/07/epa-head-scott-pruitt-says-global-warming-may-help-humans-flourish" target="_blank">Pruitt has also suggested climate change might be beneficial</a>!</p><p style="">Trump, as with many issues, is both confused and ignorant about global warming.</p><p style="">"There is a cooling and there's a heating," <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/trump-questions-climate-change-piers-morgan-793135" target="_blank">Trump told British journalist Piers Morgan</a> in an ITV News interview. "I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasn't working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place."</p><p style="">His comment shows <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/29/debunking-the-claim-they-changed-global-warming-to-climate-change-because-its-cooling/?utm_term=.925af03850c1" target="_blank">the president doesn't understand</a> the difference between climate and weather or the history and basics of climate science.</p><p>Although Canadian governments sound more reasonable, their actions demonstrate a similar disconnect. The Alberta and federal governments talk about reducing emissions but somehow believe expanding oilsands production and shipping dirty bitumen around the world to be burned are compatible with their climate plans.</p><p style="">"We need to make sure we're both protecting the environment and growing the economy at the same time," <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/trudeau-bc-alberta-pipeline-nanaimo-town-hall-1.4516737" target="_blank">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told CBC</a> in defending Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, which would <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-creates-uncertainty-for-transmountain-with-bitumen-restriction-1.4510839" target="_blank">triple the amount of bitumen shipped</a>. </p><p style="">The economy and the environment aren't equal considerations. We invented the current economy and can change it, as we often have, when it no longer suits our needs or realities. Demanding constant growth on a finite planet is suicidal. And extracting, processing, selling and transporting polluting, climate-altering fossil fuels isn't the best way to ensure economic prosperity.</p><p style="">The <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/environmental-indicators/greenhouse-gas-emissions/canadian-economic-sector.html" target="_blank">oil and gas sector emits 26 percent of Canada's greenhouse gases</a> (almost <a href="https://www.canadasoilsands.ca/en/explore-topics/ghg-emissions" target="_blank">10 percent from oilsands</a>)—not including emissions from burning the product!—yet only <a href="http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/facts/energy-economy/20062" target="_blank">contributes about five percent of GDP</a>, with the <a href="https://www.desmog.ca/2014/07/04/new-poll-canadians-overestimate-oilsands-contribution-economy-yet-still-want-clean-shift" target="_blank">oilsands contributing about two percent</a>. The <a href="http://careersinoilandgas.com/publications" target="_blank">industry employed around 178,000 people</a> in 2017, with <a href="https://careers-oil-gas.s3.amazonaws.com/publications/3/en/canada-wide-labour-market-outlook-final.pdf" target="_blank">fewer than 30,000</a> in the oilsands. That's significant, but <a href="https://www.nationalobserver.com/2017/12/13/news/there-are-nearly-300000-high-paying-clean-tech-jobs-canada" target="_blank">clean tech employs more people</a>, often in more widely distributed, high-paying jobs.</p><p style="">Trudeau's claim that reducing direct oilsands emissions is enough is also disingenuous. Canada isn't on track to meet its commitments under the Paris agreement, and he ignores the fact that countries buying our bitumen will burn it, further fueling global warming. Assurances that Canada has adequate plans to protect the BC coast from a spill, with an <a href="https://twnsacredtrust.ca/concerns/tanker-traffic/" target="_blank">increase in crude oil tankers through Burrard Inlet from 60 to 400 a year</a>, are absurd.</p><p style="">No matter what lengths politicians, corporate interests and others take to avoid, downplay and obfuscate serious issues around environmental degradation and our economic system's destructive path, we can't deny reality. Studies show we must <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30709211" target="_blank">refrain from burning most fossil fuel reserves</a> to avoid catastrophic warming.</p><p style="">In little more than a century, the human population has more than quadrupled to seven billion and rising, and our plastic-choked, consumer-driven, car-obsessed cultures have led to resource depletion, species extinction, ocean degradation, climate change and more. It's past time to open our eyes and shift to a more sensible approach to living on this small, precious planet.</p>
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All nine community water systems on Lytton First Nation land in BC have been under boil water advisories at one time or another. Now the First Nation is taking an innovative approach to resolving its drinking water problems. It's working with public and private organizations and universities in a "circle of trust" to identify challenges and test solutions in real-world conditions. The approach came about as the result of a partnership with RES'EAU-WaterNET, a strategic research network under the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
<p style="">Because problems with drinking water systems vary, RES'EAU-WaterNET works with communities like Lytton First Nation to gain insights early on in the process. With Lytton First Nation's water treatment operators at the center of an "innovation circle," they and experts from government, universities, consulting firms, water companies and contractors identified and piloted several options for providing affordable, sustainable water treatment solutions. Community members, including elders and youth, were also included in discussions.</p><p style="">A lab at the University of British Columbia built a mobile, state-of-the-art water treatment plant that can fit on the back of a truck. With help from UBC students, it was up and running at the Lytton First Nation in 2016, providing filtration and disinfection for water from Nickeyeah Creek.</p><p style="">It's one of several innovative, much-needed approaches to meeting the federal government's promise to end all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations communities by 2021. As commendable as the government's commitment is, new research shows it's falling short on progress.</p><p style="">A David Suzuki Foundation report, <em><a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/science-learning-centre-article/reconciling-promises-and-reality-clean-drinking-water-for-first-nations/" target="_blank">Reconciling Promises and Reality: Clean Drinking Water for First Nations</a></em>, finds the government failing on eight of 14 indicators developed to assess its progress.</p><p style="">Lack of clean water in Indigenous communities is astonishing in a country where many of us take that for granted. "Right now, we have elders going down to the lake, chopping holes in the ice to bring water to their households. Right now," Assembly of First Nations Manitoba regional chief Kevin Hart <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/first-nations-gathering-in-vancouver-want-better-water-legislation-safe-drinking-water-1.4523943" target="_blank">said</a> at a Vancouver symposium, Reconciliation through Sustainable Water Management, in early February.</p><p style="">As of Jan. 23, there were 91 long-term drinking water advisories affecting First Nations communities on public systems. (Adding short-term advisories brings the number to 147, as of Oct. 31, 2017.) Over the past two years, the government has lifted 32 advisories, but 22 new ones were added over the same time, illustrating the complexity of the problem.</p><p style="">Part of the problem is inadequate funding. The 2016 federal budget included $1.8 billion in new funding to help resolve the crisis, but a December 2017 Parliamentary Budget Officer report found these new investments into waste and water infrastructure <a href="http://nationalpost.com/news/politics/government-spending-only-70-of-whats-needed-to-end-boil-water-advisories-on-reserves-pbo" target="_blank">represent just 70 percent of what is needed</a> to end all First Nations drinking water advisories by 2021.</p><p style="">Meeting the government's commitment will require a number of measures. Ensuring that First Nations lead the processes and have the tools, money and training needed to operate and maintain systems, and recognizing that a one-size-fits-all approach won't address the varying needs of different communities are among the first steps.</p><p style="">The report recommends a number of ways to improve processes, including the 12 recommendations from the Foundation's report released a year ago, <em><a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/science-learning-centre-article/report-glass-half-empty-year-1-progress-toward-resolving-drinking-water-advisories-nine-first-nations-ontario/" target="_blank">Glass Half Empty? Year 1 Progress Toward Resolving Drinking Water Advisories in Nine First Nations in Ontario</a></em>, that still apply.</p><p style="">It also recommends that government invest in and share successful models of First Nations-led approaches to resolving drinking water advisories, including developing and implementing source water protection plans. It should ensure systems are upgraded quickly and effectively, with adequate and transparent funding provided for operations and maintenance. Legislation and regulations should also be developed, with First Nations as equal partners, to hold the federal government accountable to First Nations for safe drinking water.</p><p style="">Support from provincial governments is also necessary, as is being done in Ontario.</p><p style="">"A long history of colonialism has had disastrous effects on social, psychological and economic resilience in communities. Only a holistic approach that builds capacity and infrastructure throughout communities and across sectors will be successful," the report notes.</p><p style="">Water is life. We all have the right to safe water for drinking, cooking and bathing. Reconciliation means many things, but access to clean water is an absolute requisite.</p>
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Canada is losing a lot of its wildlife. The World Wildlife Fund's 2017 Living Planet Report Canada found half the monitored mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species declined from 1970 to 2014. Threatened and endangered species continue to disappear despite federal legislation designed to protect them and help their populations recover. What's going wrong?
<p style="">The report puts the blame on habitat loss, farming, forestry, urban and industrial development, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>, pollution, invasive species and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/overfishing">overfishing</a>—all related to human activity.</p><p style="">One reason plant and animal populations continue to suffer is that protection under the Species at Risk Act is plagued by delays at every step. The government often delays making a decision on whether to accept scientific recommendations that a species should be listed. The <a href="http://www.registrelep-sararegistry.gc.ca/document/default_e.cfm?documentID=2253" target="_blank">woodland caribou</a>, for example, was listed as threatened in 2003 but its recovery strategy wasn't available until 2012. More delays regularly follow between a species being listed and following up with measures to protect it. And actions finally taken are sometimes inadequate to stop the decline or start the recovery of a species. The <a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/" target="_blank">David Suzuki Foundation</a> and other environmental groups have gone to court many times to try to end these delays.</p><p style="">Enter a little used legal tool: an <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/S-15.3/page-10.html#h-22" target="_blank">emergency order</a> under the Species at Risk Act. An emergency order is a <a href="https://www.ecojustice.ca/how-is-sara-protecting-wildlife/" target="_blank">flexible, effective tool</a> that can be tailored to a species' specific needs. It provides measures to address imminent threats to a species. Emergency orders helped stop further declines of western chorus frogs and rebuilt greater sage grouse populations.</p><p style="">West Coast conservation groups, including the David Suzuki Foundation, <a href="https://davidsuzuki.org/action/demand-emergency-order-salish-sea-orcas/?utm_campaign=orcaEmergencyOrder-emergencyOrderAction-en-30jan2018&utm_source=scienceMatters&utm_medium=page-link" target="_blank">are calling for an emergency order</a> to protect Canada's most endangered marine mammal: southern resident orcas, or killer whales. The 76 remaining animals—which can be found in the Salish Sea near Vancouver and around Washington State's San Juan Islands and BC's Gulf Islands—face threats that imperil their ability to survive. This is the orca's lowest population in more than three decades, and <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/orcasurvey" target="_blank">no surviving calves have been produced since 2015</a>. </p><p style="">The act compels the ministers responsible to recommend an emergency order to cabinet if they believe a species is facing imminent threats to its survival or recovery. Emergency orders can require actions over and above any laws, policies or regulations already in place to recover the species. Although the act requires that southern resident orcas and the habitat they need for recovery be given automatic protection, not enough has been done to prevent their continuing decline. Urgent additional measures are needed to ensure survival and recovery. </p><p style="">The three biggest threats to the whales' recovery are underwater noise and disturbance, contaminants and a reduction in the whales' favored prey, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/wild-salmon-sierra-2522468241.html">chinook salmon</a>. While all these threats require an immediate response, recent deaths—in particular <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2017/06/29/study-shows-high-pregnancy-failure-in-southern-resident-killer-whales-links-to-nutritional-stress-and-low-salmon-abundance/" target="_blank">among calves and mothers or pregnant whales</a>—appear to be <a href="https://www.whaleresearch.com/j52" target="_blank">driven by food scarcity</a>.</p><p style="">The orcas feed primarily on Fraser River chinook, whose populations and <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/whalereview-revuebaleine/review-revue/killerwhale-epaulard/page06-eng.html#61" target="_blank">nutritional yield</a> have declined over the past 12 to 15 years. Habitat change, harvest rates and hatchery influences, along with climate change impacts and possibly disease threats from open net-cage salmon farms, all play roles in the chinook's decline. Recreational and commercial fisheries are competing with the whales for salmon and disrupting the whales when they try to feed.</p>
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</p><div id="e8c71" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ZX7V8A1576662328"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="951093096573480960" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Salmon and Orca Survival Threatened by Chlorpyrifos Pesticide: Government Report https://t.co/UThR2E78dd… https://t.co/dZ46pRKQDm</div> — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch)<a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/statuses/951093096573480960">1515593239.0</a></blockquote></div>
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<p style="">The emergency order calls for limits to the number of chinook that can be caught and for other restrictions on fishing. It also calls on government to designate whale feeding refuges during spring and summer for a minimum of five years. The refuges would allow the orcas to forage without noise and disturbance from fishing and whale-watching vessels. Protection could also include introducing speed limits for large commercial vessels that travel along key foraging areas. These solutions are supported by <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/whalereview-revuebaleine/review-revue/killerwhale-epaulard/page06-eng.html#61" target="_blank">Fisheries and Oceans Canada's own science</a> and are part of recovery strategies and action plans.<br></p><p style="">Research indicates a 24 to 50 percent risk of southern resident orca <a href="https://www.raincoast.org/2015/06/pva-on-srkws/" target="_blank">extinction this century if conditions don't change</a>. It's a colossal failure of policy and will that finds Canada's wildlife in such dire circumstances. The extinction of these whales, and many other endangered species in Canada, is a preventable tragedy. It's urgent for government to act immediately to ensure these iconic Salish Sea animals survive.</p>
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Brazil has flooded large swaths of the Amazon for hydro dams, despite opposition from Indigenous Peoples, environmentalists and others. The country gets 70 percent of its electricity from hydropower. Brazil's government had plans to expand development, opening half the Amazon basin to hydro. But a surprising announcement could halt that.
<p style="">In an interview with O Globo, Mines and Energy Executive Secretary Paulo Pedrosa said the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/04/brazil-raises-hopes-of-a-retreat-from-new-mega-dam-construction" target="_blank">government is reconsidering hydro construction</a> in the face of societal pressure, environmental damage and increasingly competitive <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/">renewable energy</a> options.</p><p style="">We can see parallels in Canada, where large hydro projects have been pushed through despite similar opposition and concerns.</p><p style="">With an October election in Brazil, things could change, but we hope whatever government holds power will recognize there are better options than large-scale hydro. We also hope the BC government will reconsider its decision to proceed with Site C.</p><p style=""><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/hydropower-methane-climate-change-2024731803.html">Hydropower isn't as "green"</a> as many people once thought, and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> creates new challenges. Decades of research show <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/nov/06/hydropower-hydroelectricity-methane-clean-climate-change-study" target="_blank">greenhouse gas emissions from large hydroelectric projects can be substantial</a>, especially if carbon dioxide emitted during steel and concrete manufacturing and construction activities is accounted for.</p><p style="">Decomposing materials in reservoirs emit <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/methane">methane</a>, a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 over the short term. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/14/hydroelectric-dams-emit-billion-tonnes-greenhouse-gas-methane-study-climate-change" target="_blank">2016 study</a> confirmed findings of <a href="https://inis.iaea.org/search/search.aspx?orig_q=RN:24074728" target="_blank">studies from Canada and elsewhere going back decades</a> that methane emissions from hydro dams are far greater than previously estimated. Minimum emissions are similar to those from generating electricity using natural gas. And receding glaciers and changes in precipitation patterns from global warming put <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001159" target="_blank">hydro dams at risk</a> because of lower water levels.</p><p style="">Large-scale hydro also causes enormous environmental and social damage, including farmland and habitat destruction, changes to waterways and water tables, and displacement of Indigenous Peoples. Where large areas of land are flooded, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lead-mercury-arsenic-autism-kennedy-2181997944.html">mercury</a> in fish increases several-fold, making this traditional source of protein risky to eat.</p><p style="">In Canada, large-scale projects such as Site C in BC and Muskrat Falls in Labrador run counter to our commitments to combat climate change and respect Indigenous Peoples' rights. Both projects are over budget and years behind schedule.</p><p style=""><a href="http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/internet/English/mr_20171003_e_42600.html" target="_blank">Canada's auditor general recently found</a> the current mid-century climate strategy won't meet our international commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent between 2005 and 2050.</p><p style="">These facts and rapid improvements in electricity generation suggest Canada should rethink its climate strategy. Renewable energy options can generate needed electricity for lower cost and in a timelier manner, as a <a href="http://watergovernance.ca/2017/07/15/assessing-alternatives-to-site-c-environmental-effects-comparison-briefing-note/" target="_blank">recent Site C analysis shows</a>. Conservation measures can reduce energy needs.</p><p style=""><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/solar">Solar</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wind">wind</a> power have increased in efficiency and decreased in cost at several times the rates estimated a decade ago. The <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3915558/edmonton-based-company-among-3-chosen-to-build-4-alberta-wind-power-projects/" target="_blank">lowest electricity cost in Canada is from an Alberta wind farm</a>, which will supply 600 MW of electricity at an average cost of 3.7 cents per kWh, at least three times lower than Site C power.</p><p style="">Fears that solar and wind are unpredictable have been nullified by recent developments in mega-storage batteries. In November, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-42190358" target="_blank">Tesla installed a 100-MW battery in Australia's outback</a> to handle power outages and daily demand fluctuations. In contrast to recent hydroelectric projects, it was delivered ahead of schedule and on budget.</p><p style="">Despite Natural Resources Canada's identification of enormous geothermal resources in Canada, this power source <a href="http://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/451772/publication.html" target="_blank">has scarcely been considered</a>, except for shallow heat pumps for individual dwellings and buildings. Many <a href="https://www.pembina.org/pub/heat-seeking" target="_blank">oil and gas wells in Western Canada reach hot water</a>, which might be used either directly or to map underground isotherms that allow efficient drilling for geothermal power. Expertise for drilling geothermal wells already exists in the oilpatch, facilitating the transfer of jobs from old fossil fuel technology to less carbon-intensive industries.</p><p>Provincial and federal government ministers have touted continued development of oilsands, LNG-fired electricity and pipelines as interim activities needed to make the transition to a low-carbon economy. As the auditor-general's report demonstrates, these activities will prevent Canada from fulfilling its international obligations to reduce emissions. We have neither need nor time for transitional industries.</p><p style="">Brazil's announcement sets an example. Canada must also meet its commitments to reduce greenhouse gases and improve relations with Indigenous Peoples. To do so requires avoiding the massive hydro development that Canada's mid-century climate plan would require and instead rapidly transition to modern energy sources.</p>
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My parents were born in Vancouver—dad in 1909, mom in 1911—and married during the Great Depression. It was a difficult time that shaped their values and outlook, which they drummed into my sisters and me.
"Save some for tomorrow," they often scolded. "Share; don't be greedy." "Help others when they need it because one day you might need to ask for their help." "Live within your means." Their most important was, "You must work hard for the necessities in life, but don't run after money as if having fancy clothes or big cars make you a better or more important person." I think of my parents often during the frenzy of pre- and post-Christmas shopping.
<p style="">We moved to Ontario after the Second World War. We were destitute. (As Canadians of Japanese descent, we had been treated as enemy aliens and lost everything, including all rights as Canadian citizens). I needed a coat for the cold eastern winter, so my parents purchased a new one—a big expense for farm laborers. Unfortunately, I was 11 and going through a growth spurt and quickly outgrew the coat, so it was passed on to my twin sister, Marcia. She wore it for longer but also outgrew it and gave it to our younger sister, Aiko. My parents boasted that the coat was so well made, "it went through three children." It's been a long time since I've heard durability as a positive attribute of a product. In today's fashion-obsessed world, how many children would accept hand-me-downs from siblings?</p><p style="">How did "throw-away," "disposable" and "planned obsolescence" become part of product design and marketing? It was deliberate. Wars are effective at getting economies moving, and the Second World War pulled America out of the Great Depression. By 1945, the American economy was blazing as victory approached.</p><p style="">But how can a war-based economy continue in peacetime? One way is to continue hostilities or their threat. The global costs of armaments and defense still dwarf spending for health care and education. Another way to transform a wartime economy to peacetime is consumption. <a href="http://www.econlib.org/library/Smith/smWN18.html" target="_blank">Adam Smith</a>, the father of modern economics, wrote in 1776, "Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production."</p><p style="">Seized upon by the <a href="http://enacademic.com/dic.nsf/enwiki/869764" target="_blank">Council of Economic Advisers to the president</a> under Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, consumption was promoted as the engine of the economy. Retailing analyst <a href="http://sustainablesociety.com/social/consumerism#.Wk0vv1WnG70" target="_blank">Victor Lebow</a> famously proclaimed in 1955: "Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate."</p><p style="">Now, we are no longer defined by our societal roles (parents, churchgoers, teachers, doctors, plumbers, etc.) or political status (voters) but as "customers," "shoppers" or "consumers." The media remind us daily of how well we're supporting continued economic growth, using the Dow Jones average, S&P Index, price of gold and dollar's value.</p><p style="">But where is the indication of our real status—Earthlings—animals whose very survival and well-being depend on the state of our home, planet Earth? Do we think we can survive without the other animals and plants that share the biosphere? And does our health not reflect the condition of air, water and soil that sustain all life? It's as if they matter only in terms of how much it will cost to maintain or protect them.</p><p style="">Nature, increasingly under pressure from the need for constant economic growth, is often used to spread the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/overconsumption">consumption</a> message. Nature has long been exploited in commercials—the lean movement of lions or tigers in car ads, the cuteness of parrots or mice, the strength of crocodiles, etc. But now animals are portrayed to actively recruit consumers. I'm especially nauseated by the shot of a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoyWNoZP4O0" target="_blank">penguin offering a stone to a potential mate</a> being denigrated by another penguin offering a fancy diamond necklace.</p>
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<p style="">How can we have serious discussions about the ecological costs and limits to growth or the need to degrow economies when consumption is seen as the very reason the economy and society exist?<br></p>
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