Environment
Forum aims to help local politicians make 'progressive' change
By March 28, 2012 03:40 pmA two-day conference starting Friday will bring together B.C. politicians, policy-makers, educators and others who are at the cutting edge of social change -- and finding that edge close to home. The range of workshops at The Future Is Local Civic Governance Forum, to be held at Harrison Hot Springs, reflects various hot button issues local public officials face these days, said Charley Beresford, executive director of The Columbia Institute, which is putting on the event. Read more…
Ditching fossil fuels could be 'the hardest thing humans have ever done': McKibben
By March 27, 2012 12:55 pm 21 comments"We've dug ourselves into a hole with fossil fuels and climate change," noted environmental activist and author Bill McKibben told a sold-out crowd at the 15th anniversary banquet for the B.C. office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on March 27, citing an alarming increase in climate change related disasters over the past decades. Read more…
Filed inJumbo Glacier ski resort likely to fail, says NDP's MacDonald
By March 20, 2012 03:20 pm 4 commentsDespite the British Columbia government's approval of the Jumbo Glacier ski resort, the project is unlikely to happen anytime soon, said New Democratic Party MLA Norm MacDonald. Read more…
Controversial Jumbo Glacier ski resort can go ahead: BC minister
By March 20, 2012 01:16 pm 7 commentsThe British Columbia government has approved a controversial plan to build Jumbo Glacier ski resort in the southeast of the province. Read more…
'Pipeline spills are not just an environmental concern': study
By March 14, 2012 01:26 pm 1 commentsA oil spill from TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline could have major economic consequences, claims a new report from Cornell University. Read more…
Filed in'Industry people have threatened me': AB air pollution campaigner
By March 14, 2012 11:37 am 5 commentsA 49-year-old rancher battling air pollution in Alberta’s Peace River country hopes a high profile meeting with four Alberta government ministries and two local MLAs will result in some concrete changes this Friday. Read more…
Atlantic salmon in Lower Mainland markets test positive for ISA virus: Morton
By March 13, 2012 04:10 pm 9 commentsAtlantic salmon purchased in three Lower Mainland supermarkets have tested positive for Infectious Salmon Anemia virus (ISAV), according to biologist and wild-salmon advocate Alexandra Morton. While ISAV is not known to harm humans, it poses a threat to both farmed and wild salmon. Read more…
Filed inTory plan to streamline environmental oversight draws fire
By March 13, 2012 12:00 pm 2 commentsQuicker environmental assessments are step closer to reality now that a House of Commons committee has given the federal government a blueprint for how to streamline lengthy hearings. Read more…
Syncrude, Suncor have ambitious plans to clean up oil sands mess
By March 12, 2012 09:59 am 8 commentsAlberta's oilsands producers are used to thinking big, and their plans to clean up the mess their mines leave behind are fully in line with the outsized trucks that prowl their pits and the outsized budgets that keep them growing. Read more…
Filed inFive arrested at Lakota oil sands blockade
By March 7, 2012 09:57 am 6 commentsFive Lakota peoples were arrested Tuesday at an oil sands blockade in North Dakota, including two who The Tyee spent time with last September. Read more…
Filed inLA Times showcases BC's lessons from Climate Action Plan
By March 5, 2012 05:00 pm 4 commentsFive years after B.C. passed its cutting-edge Climate Action Plan, an extensive reporting project on the results is getting a lot of attention in California and beyond. Read more…
BC First Nations angry as tankers win bureaucratic nod to ply coastal waters
By February 24, 2012 02:30 pm 6 commentsVANCOUVER - First Nations along British Columbia's north and central coast say it's unfathomable that Transport Canada approves the use of oil supertankers in the province's treacherous inlets and marine passages. Read more…
Filed inEU makes no decision on 'oil sands' dirty fuel vote
By February 23, 2012 07:50 am 5 commentsAn EU committee has failed to decide on a proposal to label so-called oil sands as worse for climate change than average crude oil. Read more…
Filed in'World-leading' BC carbon tax under review, others not keeping up
By February 22, 2012 08:18 am 12 commentsBritish Columbia's "world-leading" carbon tax is being reviewed because the rest of North America hasn't followed through on pledges to keep up, the province's finance minister says. Read more…
Filed inBudget signals waning of BC's climate change leadership: eco-group
By February 21, 2012 04:00 pm 3 commentsToday's unveiled budget will harm the BC Liberal government's reputation as a leader on climate change policies, says Ben West, spokesperson for the Wilderness Committee, a B.C.-based environmental group claiming Canada's largest membership. Read more…
Filed inScientist apologizes for using fake name to obtain Heartland docs
By February 21, 2012 03:59 pm 2 commentsA prominent water scientist and climate change defender has apologized for using a fake identity to obtain sensitive documents from the Heartland Institute, an American think-tank which questions the scientific basis of global warming. Read more…
Filed inGaliano Island conservancy expansion will protect 'red listed' eco-communities
By February 21, 2012 08:30 amA big swathe of land on the west coast of Galiano Island is going to be protected from loggers and developers, thanks to the efforts of an island-based non-profit group, the Galiano Conservancy Association. Read more…
Filed inFor sport fishers, what’s the global limit
By February 20, 2012 04:47 pmWith recreational fishing numbers reaching all time highs, scientists say it's time for governments to start putting caps on the number of fish being caught outside of mainstream industrial catches. But there's a catch: most governments don't know how much recreational fishers take. Read more…
Filed inBC minister Lake on missed cap and trade deadline: 'We're not quite there yet'
By February 20, 2012 02:12 pm 4 commentsThe British Columbia environment ministry's website says Jan. 1, 2012 is the planned start date for a cap and trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That date has passed, the program is not in place, and the minister responsible says the government hasn't decided what to do. Read more…
Humans need not be enemies of healthy ecosystems, argue two scientists
By February 18, 2012 12:00 pm 2 commentsGood environmental news is hard to find, so what a relief to sit in on a session where scientist Heather Tallis shared creeping evidence that when humans exploit the environment, it's not always a slam dunk that they will decimate it. There may be practical, sustainable ways to manage an ecosystem that still benefits humans. Read more…
Filed in
The next page contains:
Jumbo-sized carbon footprint of farmed shrimp tracked by scientist
Group concerned AG's forest report will lead to more spraying
BC failing to plant enough trees to sustain future timber supply
Councillors in Terrace, BC, vote to oppose Northern Gateway project
'We are going to need two or three Enbridge-Keystones': Liepert
List details $18.2 million in public sector spending on carbon offsets
Appeal court upholds ruling on protection of orca habitat
Greens exaggerating fracking fears 'to control you': Santorum
Enviros want BC premier to protect more of Great Bear sooner
BC Hydro urges Clark to follow 'self-sufficiency' shift by halting private river projects
MLA vows to fight BC plan to use farm land for foreign trade zone
No independent agency, but increased monitoring in oilsands
Alberta, Ottawa to release plan for oilsands environmental monitoring
Alberta launches legal action against logging protesters
Former AB premier Stelmach advises Ukraine on shale gas: report
'Radical' federal remarks boost fundraising, support for enviro groups
Keystone XL fight not over yet: Nebraska State Sen.
PMO threatened environmental charity, affidavit alleges
Hydro carbon emissions drastically underestimated: report
Obama rejects Keystone XL pipeline
The page after that contains:
Canadian coal, oil and petroleum production grew in 2010
Northern Gateway hearings on move to Terrace, B.C.
Federal fisheries minister visting salmon enhancement projects
Redford, Bacon anti-oil crusaders in Enbridge pipeline drama
Joe Oliver says he's only opposed to foreign environmentalists
'Environmentalists, other radical groups,' threaten pipeline: Joe Oliver
Northern Gateway hearings start in Kitimat on $5.5 billion oil pipeline proposal
EthicalOil.org attacks 'foreigners and their puppets' questioning Northern Gateway pipeline
Oil producers could lose $72 billion without Northern Gateway pipeline: Report
Right group given wrong oil and gas question, says BC MLA
Cohen Commission hears explosive testimony on salmon disease
Premier Clark says jobs-environment conflict consumes her government
Oil industry fighting for 'weak' BC-style clean fuel law in California
Quebec to start cap-trade climate plan with California and perhaps nobody else
Canada becoming global laughing stock: Guardian
Poor monitoring of pipelines could harm Canadians: watchdog
Encana demands review of EPA report on Wyoming groundwater pollution
National law organization joins call to ban asbestos
Federal government gives green light to $9-billion Joslyn oilsands mine project
BC NDP right to look closely at fracking, says enviro lawyer
Democratic Trust
As British Columbia and other jurisdictions consider allowing online voting, can it be made secure enough that people will trust it? Will it encourage more people to vote? But if something goes wrong, will it further erode people's confidence in their democracies? And what role is the media likely to play in shaping the debate?
These are among the issues to be considered at a May 26 discussion that Fair Voting BC and PartyX are hosting at The Hive in Vancouver. I'll be on the panel, along with UBC Law's Fathima Cader and SFU computer scientist Steve Wolfman. The results and recommendations are to inform the two organizations' public positions on online voting.
Meanwhile join me and other contributors on The Hook as we bring you the latest from B.C. and across Canada.
-- Andrew MacLeod
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The Hook Most Recent
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The Tyee Most Recent
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'The Dictator'
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Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
Folks, this is not a referendum on whether teachers 'nurture' or 'care' enough.
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