Jessica Ogden talks about ForestMarchbc.com and the Nelson event starting at 10 am April 6th at Cottonwood Falls Park. Wilderness Committee’s Charlotte Dawe is back to discuss new deals on caribou preservation. Nikita McDaniel from the Cottonwood Lake Preservation Society talks about RDCK land deal and remaining forest to be protected, as well as upcoming events. World Water Day was March 22 and RDCK Area E Director Ramona Faust talks about local water issues.
Environment News
When it comes to zero-emission transit, Montreal has one of Canada’s most forward-thinking strategies. Not only does Société de transport de Montréal have zero- emission ambitions for 2040, but it has a clear plan for how it will get there. Between now and 2025, all new acquisitions will be hybrid or electric, becoming 100% electric after 2040. e wheels are already in motion, with the transit authority in the process of acquiring six rapid-charge buses, 30 slow-charge buses, and six other electric buses and para-transport vans from Canadian manufacturers.The move follows a successful test of three rapid-charge buses over an 18-month period
in 2017 and 2018. During the trial, the buses were charged 11,000 times with an average charge time of three minutes, travelled more than 100,000 kilometres, and saved well over 100 tonnes of CO2.8
http://cleanenergycanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Report_TER2019_Ebuses.pdf
______________________________________________
Three Canadian companies are using different technologies to tackle a tough environmental problem. Styrofoam is rarely recycled and usually ends up in landfill.
Montreal-based Pyrowave, Montreal-based Polystyvert, and Brantford, Ontario based GreenMantra, have developed new chemical processes to break styrofoam down and turn it into other products in ways that are more efficient than exist.
This process opens the possibility of a “circular economy,” where products are used, reused and recycled almost endlessly. If it works, it would keep material out of dumps and reduce our dependence on oil.
______________________________________________
Last Thursday, a new southern mountain caribou protection agreement was signed between the BC and Federal governments amd Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations. The agreement is being heralded as a landmark measure to protect six highly endangered herds in Treaty 8 traditional territory in B.C.’s northeast.
But scientists say a second, new conservation agreement aimed at protecting the rest of B.C.’s imperilled southern mountain caribou herds is “vague,” and has no fixed timeline.
It focuses mainly on wolf and moose killings and does little to restrict logging in critical caribou habitat.Some conservation groups are calling it a roadmap for the potential local extinction of herds.
https://thenarwhal.ca/agreements-mark-turning-point-six-b-c-caribou-herds-leave-most-herds-hanging/
______________________________________________
Around three-quarters of US coal production is now more expensive than solar and wind energy in providing electricity to American households, according to a new study.
The study’s authors used public financial filings and data from the Energy Information Agency (EIA) to work out the cost of energy from coal plants compared with wind and solar options within a 35-mile radius. They found that 211 gigawatts of current US coal capacity, 74% of the coal fleet, is providing electricity that’s more expensive than wind or solar.
The Energy Innovation report, which suggests the “smooth shut down” of ageing coal plants, comes as states and territories start to rally to California and Hawaii’s lead in committing to 100% renewable energy.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/25/coal-more-expensive-wind-solar-us-energy-study
______________________________________________
Recent summers in the Pacific Northwest have been beset by record heat, and higher water temperatures are killing the adult salmon before they can reproduce.It’s not just heat that is threatening fish. Dwindling winter snowpack has deprived the rivers and streams where salmon spawn of a key source of water.
This news comes from experts at Salmon Hatcheries in Washington state, many of which are operated by First Nations.
“With lower water [levels] and higher water temperatures, it makes it a lot harder for them to find the safe places to survive until they’re ready to spawn,” said Ashley Caldwell, a fisheries biologist for the Tulalip Tribes, who explained that increased rain in cooler months is making life difficult for the salmon as well.
______________________________________________
The Board of Directors of the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) today approved the purchase of 21.6 hectares of private land around Cottonwood Lake that had been slated for logging by the private landowner. The purchase price is $450,000 for the purchase of timber on the property, plus closing costs, and the issuance of a tax receipt for the value of the land (without timber).
“The Commission and my colleagues on the board have received hundreds of letters, emails and phone calls from residents and visitors who wished to express their concern for this issue,” said Ramona Faust, Director of Electoral Area E.
The response was tremendous, and I would like to thank everyone who took the time to contact us and tell us how you feel. We appreciate your passionate engagement and your commitment to working towards a solution.”
______________________________________________
On Tuesday, Klawock, Alaska topped out at 70 degrees Fahrenheit (thats 21 degrees Celcius). That marks the earliest 70-degree Fahrenheit day ever recorded in Alaska.
The heat didn’t stop at the border, either. Record-setting warmth spread over western Canada and the Pacific Northwest as monthly records fel lacross British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon.
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, and hasn’t been this hot in thousands of years. Even if the Paris agreement is met, the united nations still expects as much as 15 degree temperature rise in the arctic. Sea ice extent, which has shrunk about 40 percent since regular satellite monitoring began in 1979, could reach zero percent in summer as early as the 2030s.
https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-arctic-is-on-track-to-warm-over-15-degrees-this-cen-1833288900
______________________________________________
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 