WINNER IN WORLD PHOTO CONTEST.
DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN HERE:
BC is suffering badly from an historic drought. We talk with Dr. Martin Carver, a local hydrologist about how this drought reflects the climate crisis, and what it means for our local systems.
Last year Canadian wildfires set far higher all time records burning far more forest and trees than all previous records. Canada doesn’t count climate emissions from forests, from wildfire or from forestry. At the same Canada does count the carbon kept out of the atmosphere by our forests. Last week a large group of Canadian experts sent a letter to government saying Canada has to do much better at accounting for the real costs and benefits of our forests and forestry industry. Michael Polanyi from Nature Canada tells us how we can do better.
We also have a song by Canadian folkie Bob Bossin, and a teaser from a special video, Stories For Life.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Stories for Life
Beautiful about humanity at a cross roads. https://stories.life/
Sulphur Passage
1994 Video from Bob Bossin with appearances by a great list of BC folkies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxGjtMk7CNY
Conservation Groups Urge Feds to Address Logging Emission Gap in Review
https://naturecanada.ca/news/press-releases/conservation-groups-urge-feds-to-address-logging-emission-gap-in-review/?
ENVIRONMENT EVENTS
Wednesday, April 10 7 pm
Nelson Public Library
Beat the Climate Blues
The West Kootenay Climate Hub and the Nelson Public Library are teaming up to offer an evening of exploration of practical climate solutions.
The community is invited to explore three different tools that can make a positive impact on our environment: heat pumps, electric vehicles and renewable energy. Participants are encouraged to bring any questions or curiosities they might have about these technologies.
To register for the free event, please email mstorey@nelson.ca. Limited spaces are available.
Friday, April 19 Noon
Zoom – registration required
West Kootenay Climate Hub Webinar: Columbia River Treaty and Climate Change
How will the Columbia River Treaty negotiations affect ecological integrity, Indigenous rights, and climate resilience? What are the trade-offs between electricity generation and functioning ecosystems? Join Greg Utzig for our April webinar exploring the Columbia River Treaty. https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/upcoming-events
Sunday, April 21, 10 am – 3 pm
5915 Taghum Hall Rd, just outside Nelson
Celebrate Earth Day
Come celebrate Earth Day at Taghum Hall’s family friendly event, featuring 40+ vendors and information booths, full concession, entertainment in the gazebo, contests, kid zone! The Climate Hub invites you to share your love of the lake, mountains, trees and living beings of the Kootenays in activities for the whole family. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, April 21, 10 am – 2 pm
Outside Ripley’s, 8816 Slocan Rd S Trail, Village of Slocan
Celebrate Earth Day in the Slocan Valley
Climate Hub members in the Slocan Valley will have a table at the Earth Day event outside of Ripley’s in Slocan from 10am – 2pm on Sunday, April 21st. It’s free, but please bring food to share.
May 1, 2024, 7 – 9pm
Nelson, Capitol Theatre
Lean in and Listen: Building Bridges in a World on Fire
Hear renowned environmental activist Tzeporah Berman reflect on 30 years of advocacy for old-growth forests and climate justice—and the surprising lessons she has learned about finding common ground with logging executives and with the oil industry.
Tzeporah Berman is one of Canada’s best-known environmental activists. She made her name as a leader of the protests against logging in Clayoquot Sound over 30 years ago.
She has spent time in jail, won global awards, chaired government advisory committees and negotiated some of the most groundbreaking deals to protect the environment this country has ever seen, including the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement and the first climate plan in Alberta’s history.
In 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from UBC for her work advancing agreements and policy to set a higher standard for protecting our environment.
Tickets are available through the Capitol Theatre.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
One of the criteria to become a Bird Friendly City is to decide on a species to be designated Nelson’s city bird. The bird with the most nominations by April 22, Earth Day, will be chosen.
Nature Canada has developed the Bird Friendly City programme to help cities protect urban birdlife, and Nelson residents can get involved.
A Bird Friendly City as defined by Nature Canada is a community that mitigates threats to birds, restores nature so populations can grow, has residents engaged in monitoring local bird populations, organizations that create events to protect birds, policies that protect urban birds and a local bird team created to oversee and lead these initiatives.
nelsoncitybird@gmail.com
About one million litres of sewage per day leaked into the Kootenay River between March 27 and April 3. But Nelson’s public works director says the volume of a sewage leak into the Kootenay River on March 27 was “negligible.”
In an April 4 news release, Charlie Henderson said the leak occurred in a pipe that transports sewage from the city to the sewage treatment plant at Grohman Narrows. The pipe is located about 30 metres below the surface of the Kootenay River.
“For context, the Kootenay River flow in this location is 36 million cubic metres per day,” Henderson said. “Even though the leak was minor, the City of Nelson, along with the co-ordination team, took this event very seriously.”
The incident was reported by B.C.’s environment ministry on its website on March 28. The ministry reported in an email on April 4 that the leak was repaired on April 3 by a dive team.
The proposed US$3.4-billion Cedar LNG facility has passed another milestone towards construction in Kitimat.
RBC Capital Markets said Friday it expects Pembina Pipeline Corp. and its partner, the Haisla Nation of B.C., to green light the project with a final investment decision soon.
Cedar LNG is a proposed floating liquefied natural gas facility that pipeline company Pembina is planning to build with the Haisla in Kitimat, B.C.
The facility, which would produce LNG for export to Asian markets, would be owned by the Haisla, making it the largest Indigenous-owned infrastructure project in the country.
The plant is required by law to be carbon neutral in just a few years, but few experts believe that to be possible in any way, and say growing the LNG export industry will make it impossible to meet BCs emission targets.
On 18 March, 2022, scientists at the Concordia research station on the east Antarctic plateau documented a remarkable event. They recorded the largest jump in temperature ever measured at a meteorological centre on Earth. According to their instruments, the region that day experienced a rise of 38.5C above its seasonal average: a world record.
This startling leap – in the coldest place on the planet – left polar researchers struggling for words to describe it.
Poleward winds, which previously made few inroads into the atmosphere above Antarctica, are now carrying more and more warm, moist air from lower latitudes – including Australia – deep into the continent, say scientists, and these have been blamed for the dramatic polar “heatwave” that hit Concordia.
In case you’re wondering what’s happening with the climate amidst all the ruckus over climate policy… The global heat wave is marching on. In March, our planet set a new monthly record, for the 10th consecutive month.
theecocentricradioshow.ca 