Having a quiet wildfire season this summer? Snow helps but so can we. Nelson Fire and Search and Rescue Chief Len MacCharles talks about how Nelsonites can protect their community. In 1991 Dolores Broten founded the small but mighty BC environmental magazine, The Watershed Sentinel. Ever since, she tells us, the issues have seemed the same over and over. Climate activists Avi Lewis and Anjali Appadurai talk about hope in a terrible time.
LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD MARCH 8TH SHOW HERE:
LINKS AND EVENTS
Webinar on climate, Just Transition and times of crisis with climate leaders Avi Lewis and Anjali Appadurai. https://act.350.org/signup/ipcc-organizing-call?akid=192478.320831.q96bRx&rd=1&t=9&utm_medium=email&utm_source=actionkit&fbclid=IwAR0P04U6bBCVSnOO0Yws_lkW-AzQh_OkJdOriMz_xWN20djNMyd1GBJggLc
Webinar on expanding Kootenay cycling routes
Noon, Friday, March 18th.
The West Kootenay Cycling Coalition (WKCC) is thinking big about improving dedicated Kootenay cycling routes and they are holding a webinar coming up at noon on Friday March 18th.
One of the things they will be presenting are the first public plans for the Nelson–Castlegar “Dream” a bike route for work and play. The Cyclling coalition says it could be a great multi-modal, all-access transportation to help us pivot from carbon. And they are looking for a Kootenay name for the route!
You can register for the online event following links on the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition website or facebook page or at
https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/
Webinar: Transportation in a Time of Climate Crisis
Wednesday March 9, at 4pm there’s the first in a series of four webinars put on by the West Coast Climate Action Network on Transportation in a Time of Climate Crisis. The March 9th one is on transit and public transportation particularly and has guest speakers Kukpi7 Chief Judy Wilson, from the BC Union of BC Indian chiefs, and Eric Doherty, a Victoria-based transportation planner. The MC is Tara Howse, co-founder of the BC Climate Alliance, based in Rossland BC. Free. https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/great-public-transit-urban-and-rural-tickets-271858103907
Saturday March 12 is a National Day of Action for a Just Transition Act
It’s been nearly 3 years since Justin Trudeau promised the Just Transition Act so far no new law. On March 12th people from across Canada will take action for a Just Transition Act that guarantees good jobs, puts people first and leaves no one behind and moves us past fossil fuels. In Nelson the local Council of Canadians chapter is holding a petition signing on Baker Street from 10 to 2 this Saturday March 12th.
More information is on the national websites for the Council of Canadians, which is simply canadians.org and for 350.org which is ACT.350.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/343916990943079
Two websites that have great info on BC and Kootenay environmental activities are the West Kootenay Climate Hub and the West Coast Climate Action Network… both are pretty new and upcoming sites to find out more about climate action in BC.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS FOR MARCH 8 2022
week world leaders, environment ministers and other representatives from 173 countries have agreed to develop a legally binding treaty on plastics.
The UN environment assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, called for a treaty covering the “full lifecycle” of plastics from production to disposal.
It has been described by the head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) as the most important multilateral environmental deal since the Paris climate accord in 2015.
Approximately 7 billion of the estimated 9.2 billion tonnes of plastics produced between 1950 and 2017 are now waste. About 75% of that waste is still with us stuffed in landfills or spreading around our ecosystems and oceans.
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An analysis last month from the International Energy Agency found that methane emissions from oil, gas and coal are about 70% higher than what companies and governments are officially reporting. Because methane is a extra potent greenhouse gas, cutting fossil gas emissions is a great strategy to tackle the crisis.
But where is all the methane coming from. In the next few years, several new satellites with far higher resolutions are set to be launched, including MethaneSat, scheduled for launch by the US nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) in early 2023, and the first two satellites from Carbon Mapper in late 2023.
These satellites will allow an unprecedented tracking of the sources of this potent greenhouse gas and, it’s hoped, ultimately help to stop the emissions occurring in the first place.
Methane is the second largest contributor to climate change after CO2, and emissions world wide have been climbing steeply.
They increased by around 8-10% between 2000 and 2017. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that methane is responsible for about a quarter of the 1.1C warming we are seeing today, while a UN report last year said cutting methane emissions by 45% would avoid 0.3C of warming by the 2040s. Tackling methane will have a huge impact on whether the world manages to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5C.
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FortisBC wants to turn its existing LNG storage plant on the banks of the Fraser River into a major export and refueling facility. This expansion could create as much carbon pollution as major cities like Vancouver and Surrey. It would increase emissions from BC’s oil and gas sector when the CleanBC plan requires them to be cut by 33 per cent.
The proposed Tilbury LNG would lock in decades of consumption of fracked gas and BC climate activists say it can’t go ahead. They point out it’ is completely out of line with provincial climate goals.
The BC Environmental Assessment Office is currently taking public input on the proposed expansion and several BC environmental organizations are encouraging everyone to tell them no to the expansion. Search Tilbury LNG and the name of your favourite environmental group to find out more. I’ll put links up on TheEcoCEntricRAdioShow.ca
https://www.stand.earth/stop-tilbury-lng-plant
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350.org founder Bill McKibben put out a great opinion piece on how to discourage further war in the Ukraine. He points out that Russia is funding the war and fueling it with its fossil fuel exports so Bill McKibben says the best strategy is to reduce fossil fuel use and cut investment that feeds the Russian attack. He calls it Heat Pumps for Peace and Freedom. Bill McKibben saying urgent action to switch to renewable energy is the best way towards peace in Europe and beyond. You can find the Bill McKibben article on his substack.
https://billmckibben.substack.com/p/heat-pumps-for-peace-and-freedom
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New Brunswick wood product mills made a record $2.6 billion in 2021 but even though the prices for lumber are sky high the mills only paid the same timber royalty rates they did in 2016.
Prices for lumber in North America have almost tripled since last August and are nearing record levels set last spring.
A series of shocks to lumber supplies, including historic flooding in British Columbia in November and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have taken turns roiling markets.
Russia is a significant global exporter of softwood lumber and sanctions on Russia have created uncertainty and higher prices in global lumber markets that were already elevated. But the province of New Brunswick isn’t getting a fair share of the increase.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/surging-lumber-prices-nb-trees-1.6374929
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Prime Minister Trudeau’s former environment minister Catherine McKenna is speaking out about plans to budget for billions in subsidies to big fossil fuels producers in this year’s budget. The issue is developing more carbon sequestration and storage to reduce emissions from Canada’s petroleum industry.
McKenna complained about the hugely profitable companies coming again to the public budget for subsidy. “When you see companies issue large dividends, fail to invest in technology, and make large profits, then ask the government to step up but say there’s no way they would do it themselves, it actually makes you wonder about their business model.”
Current Environment and Climate Minister Steven Guilbeault told the House of Commons that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has endorsed CCS. But scientists and activists have put out widely-circulated letter opposing the carbon capture scheme and its C$75-billion price tag, calling the whole technology a “pipe-dream”.
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