Logging blockader Jessica Ogden released from jail. Words of support and from the blockade. The Council of Canadians national Green New Deal campaigner, Dylan Penner, gives us an update. Edmonton net zero home builder Peter Amerongen talks about a high efficiency retrofit on the 59 units in Sundance Housing Coop.
Environment News
As the Democratic Presidential debates kicked off in Miami this week, dozens of young protesters from the Sunrise Movement picketed outside the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in Washington D.C.
This after the DNC’s refusal to host a Climate Change centered debate. Of Wednesday’s 2 hour debate, only about 7 minutes focused on the impending Climate Crisis.
Here is MSNBC moderator Rachel Maddow questioning prospective presidential candidate Washington Governor Jay Inslee who has staked his presidential bid on addressing the climate crisis…
(Rachel Maddow and Jay Inslee clip)
That was Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Wednesday’s Democratic primary debate. Governor Inslee has also joined the call on the DNC to host a separate primary debate solely on the Climate Crisis issue.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/27/activists_still_want_a_separate_debate
The Regional District of Central Kootenay wants the Province to ban Glyphosate Herbicides being sprayed on BC’s forests.
Although a ban on Glyphosate, the primary ingredient in RoundUp, is not within the RDCK’s jurisdiction, the Regional District is calling on the Provincial government to ban the herbicide until a comprehensive scientific study can be completed examining the safety of glyphosate.
Glyphosate sprays have become a hot button issue since the World Health Organization labeled it a “probable carcinogen”.
The defoliant is used by the BC Government to destroy leafy canopy trees like aspen and birch, in order to promote the growth of marketable lumber trees like pines and firs. Unfortunately, deciduous trees are highly fire resistant and provide a key buffer against wildfires. Destroying these precious trees increases the wildfire risk to communities across the interior.
https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/rdck-wants-province-to-ban-herbicide-glyphosate/
Cities across the West Kootenays are slated to get upgraded with Fast Charge Electric Car stations.
The BC Government has selected the communities of Rossland, Nelson, Kaslo, New Denver and Nakusp among others to receive the fast charge stations.
Fast-charging stations are expected to fully charge a compact electric vehicle in about a half an hour, as compared to a Level-2 station that requires about three to four hours. The BC Utilities Commission-approved charge rate is $9 for a full half hour charge.
This will mean that electric vehicle drivers can travel from the Kootenays to Vancouver without worrying about long wait times for charges. Just imagine driving from Nelson to Vancouver and only spending 18$ on electric fuel.
https://www.nelsonstar.com/news/fast-charge-electric-station-coming-to-rossland/
Democracy Now reports that a United Nations expert has warned we are on track for a “climate apartheid,” where wealthy people can pay their way out of the consequences of climate devastation while others will face hunger, conflict and mass displacement.
A new report by Philip Alston, the U.N. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, says that the U.N. and the larger human rights community has been complacent in the planet’s “impending disaster” and that even if current global emissions targets are met, “millions will be impoverished.”
Poorer countries are expected to bear at least 75% of the costs of climate change, even though the poorer half of the world’s population generates just 10% of global emissions.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/27/headlines/un_expert_warns_of_impending_climate_apartheid
New York City Council voted Wednesday to declare a “climate emergency,” joining over 650 municipalities in 15 countries, including Canada, who have also made the symbolic declaration.
Other major cities to have done so include Vancouver, San Francisco, and London.
In the Kootenays, Nelson City Council has recently passed a Motion of Notice to open debate on a “Climate Emergency” declaration. This Motion would also see Nelson’s current path to 2040 targets be upgraded to “reduce emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net zero carbon emissions before 2050”.
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/6/27/headlines/nyc_votes_to_declare_a_climate_emergency
https://nelson.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Id=1218
The Canadian Federal Government has tabled plans to create the largest protected area in Canada conserving a vibrant deep-sea oasis.
The “Offshore Pacific Area of Interest” is four and a half times the size of Vancouver Island, the nearest point of land, and extends all the way to the outer edge of Canadian jurisdiction. It would be the biggest protected area of any kind in Canada, and nearly triple the total size of all current marine protected areas.
It would protect against just about anything that affects the ocean floor, including mining, bottom-contact fishing, oil and gas exploration and dumping. It would not protect against fishing higher up in the water column.
https://thenarwhal.ca/deepsea-oasis-slated-become-canadas-biggest-protected-area/
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