A new major ski and year round biking resort proposal has been floated by David Harley from Valhalla Pure Outfitters. It’s called Zincton, and it’s just a few kilometers up the highway east of New Denver. We speak with New Denver activist KL Kivi about the plan and then with wildlife biologist Michael Proctor about the grizzly bears that would be affected. Comments on the proposed Zincton development can be emailed to mountainresortsbranch@gov.ab.ca by June 22.
This past Saturday, Nelson saw its first critical mass bike ride in a few years…. partly in reaction to Nelson City Council’s flip-flopping decision-making on Nelson’s first real bike route, running on High Street. We talk to Rik Logtenberg, the City Councillor who asked for reconsideration on the High St. bike lane decision, to unpack the process for us.
Listen the full show here:
Environment News for June 16, 2020
The massive spill of crude oil on Saturday from the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Abbotsford has been estimated at 190,000 litres.
Trans Mountain says the pipeline was shut down after learning of a spill at its Sumas Pump Station early Saturday morning.
It says the spill was confined to the facility’s property and no waterways were impacted.
B.C.’s Ministry of Environment called the spill “deeply concerning.”
“Our government maintains that the TMX project poses unacceptable risks to our environment, our coast and our economy,” said the ministry in a statement.
Chief Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation said they conducted their own assessment of Trans Mountain using leading science and Tsleil-Waututh’s Indigenous law and concluded that oil spills are inevitable, can’t be fully cleaned up, and have devastating effects,”“This most recent spill is another reminder that the risk is too great to accept.” she said.
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Since the 2013 rail disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que., that killed 47 people, there have been seven major derailments of crude oil trains in Canada. In each case, investigators blamed broken track.
Experts say the Transportation Safety Board documents suggest the government regulator, Transport Canada, is failing to properly oversee rail companies and ensure the safety of hundreds of communities along the country’s vast rail networks.
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Clean electricity could power 90% of the United States grid by 2035, at lower cost than non-renewable sources, according to a new study released this week by the University of California Berkeley. They project more than a 10% reduction in electricity costs if utilities can make the transition.
The shift includes a complete coal phaseout in the next 15 years.
The researchers found that it will be economically feasible to power a reliable grid by 2035, while only depending on natural gas for 10% of annual electricity production,” Greentech Media reports. The plummeting price points explain how “in just a few years, decarbonizing the grid went from a solar-lover’s pipe dream to something many major American utilities have committed to.”
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The destruction of the Amazon rainforest accelerated by 55% in the first four months of 2020 compared to the previous year. Brazil’s far right government has slashed the budgets for ecosystem and climate protection.
As COVID-19 rampages through Brazil—with mortality rates especially high among Indigenous peoples—“efforts to keep the Amazon rainforest standing and reduce Brazil’s planet-warming emissions are being hampered by budget cuts for the country’s environmental watchdog and its main climate change program,”
Brazil’s national climate change plan has seen its budget cut by more than 40%, from $436 million Reals for 2019 to R$247 million Reals for 2020.
The government appears to be abandoning targets established in 2015 by then- president Dilma Rousseff, including “cutting illegal deforestation in the Amazon to zero by 2030, and restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares”.
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As European cities emerge from quarantines, bicycles are a big part of people going back to work. Governments are trying to revive their economies from a deep recession but public transportation is hampered because of social distancing. In urban areas bicycles are suddenly part of what’s being used to restarting economic growth.
In Europe many cities have integrated cycling as a mode of transportation. The pandemic is speeding up an ecological transition to limit car traffic and cut pollution, especially as new research draws links between dirty air and COVID-19 death rates.
France, Italy, Britain and their neighbors are putting hundreds of millions of euros in investments on new biking infrastructure to get people pedaling.
The New York Times |
Jun 12, 2020
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Meanwhile Canada is talking, ahem, about maybe developing a national biking policy. On March 11 Andy Fillmore, parliamentary secretary to Infrastructure and Communities Minister Catherine McKenna, announced that he was tasked with creating Canada’s first national active transportation strategy.
Fillmore said “By considering active transportation, alongside transit, as a component of integrated mobility within communities, this strategy should guide and inform our government’s commitment to permanent public transit funding.”
Another great promise to start planning change.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/06/15/COVID-National-Cycling-Strategy/
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Greta Thunberg is urging small island diplomats to put Canada and Norway’s oil interests in the spotlight as the two countries seek election to the UN security council.
Thunberg is one of four youth activists to sign a letter, along with 22 climate scientists, raising “grave concerns” about Canadian and Norwegian policies to expand and subsidise fossil fuel extraction.
Canada and Norway are competing with Ireland for two seats on the UN security council, both promising to address climate change as a threat to peace and stability.
Yet their support for increased oil and gas production is incompatible with international climate goals, argued signatories to the letter.
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The climate plan for commercial aviation has been slow getting started. Airline transport is a tremendous contributor to emissions and pollution. Under current plans, *some* airlines would offset *a fraction* of their emissions from 2020 by paying for carbon cuts elsewhere.
But in Europe the airline industry has said because of the COVID crisis, it can’t even take small steps on offsetting its emissions. Climate Change News reports the industry seems to have lobbied its way out of even that modest contribution for the next few years.
The EU was campaigners’ best hope to force airlines to cover even part of their real cost. But with only Sweden opposing the industry proposal, it is likely to be waved through by the UN aviation body, in closed-door meetings.
https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/06/12/aviation-cop-climate-weekly/
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