DOWNLOAD OR LISTEN TO THE OCTOBER 10 ECOCENTRIC HERE:
World-wide, we saw even higher record climate impacts in September. It’s time to tell the truth about the crisis. Old growth logging is continuing as usual and the BC government is not accurately reporting it, according to new research from the Sierra Club of BC. Jens Wieting explains the reality to us. Long-time Kootenay forest defender Tom Prior talks to us about impacts of logging in our back yard, the Duncan and local highways too. The West Kootenay Climate Hub wants to let the Regional District of the Central Kootenay know how many people really see the need for a climate plan. Laura Sacks tells us how everyone can pitch in.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:
Chris Hatch’s [Zero] Carbon column from the NationalObserver.com
Sierra Club of BC research shows logging of old growth continues unimpeded.
Saturday, October 14. Climate Friendly Homes Tour
West Kootenay Climate Hub Petition of support for RDCK Climate action plan
ENVIRONMENT EVENTS
Two Wednesdays, October 11th and 18th starting at 7 pm
Active Hope – eco-grief workshop
Kootenay Shambhala Meditation Centre. 812 Stanley St.
This workshop is a safe place to be with our feelings regarding what is happening in our lives, our communities and our world; the ecological crises and human sufferings. The approach is based on the work of Joanna Macy PhD, a scholar of Buddhism, systems theory, and deep ecology. Facilitated by Malin Christensson who has trained with Joanna Macy and hosted many eco-grief trainings.
Come for one or both sessions. By donation.
______________________________________
Starting in January 2024, Dr. Simard and her teaching team will roll out a new UBC online course that showcases how forests can provide natural solutions to climate change and social well-being. Tailored for UBC students who do not necessarily have a background in scientific study or forestry, the course, FRST 304 Forest Stewardship in a Changing Climate, will give students a foundation in everything from restoration practices such as protection of mother trees and soils to carbon and conservation financing and the emergence of value. added industries. Apply by October 15th. Apply here.
______________________________________
The Regional District of the Central Kootenay’s Climate Action Open Houses have just started and run in communities all around the district until the end of October.
The RDCK has also launched an online way you can send in your views at engage.rdck.ca.
This is a great chance to get our Region really proactive on reducing the climate crisis, and adapting to the extreme conditions we now have. Or search RDCK climate HYPHEN action.
______________________________________
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
environews oct 10
The huge new LNG plant in Kitimat spells ‘dire’ trouble for whales off Canada’s coast
Humpbacks and fin whales at risk. A new study predicts increased ship traffic could cause 30 times more fatal collisions over the next decade
Collisions between large whales and even larger ships have been growing more common as marine traffic increases, including a spate of deadly collisions this summer (the same ferry struck another humpback a month earlier). Now, with the opening of a huge new liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal in 2025, transforming the deep fjords of northern British Columbia into a crowded marine highway, researchers are warning of a likely “dire” increase in whale deaths.
The increase in strikes by large ships by 2030 could result in the deaths of two more fin whales and 18 humpbacks each year than are already being killed.
_____________________
The federal government is offering $12.5 million for environmental literacy projects aimed at young Canadians as part of its long-term efforts to tackle climate change.
The money will come from the federal Environmental Damages Fund, which redirects the money companies pay from court penalties and settlements to projects that repair environmental damage as well as further education and awareness, among other things.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2023/10/10/news/feds-pump-125m-environmental-literacy
_____________________
At least 1,000 birds died from colliding into a single building in Chicago on Thursday, 5 October, as they migrated south to their wintering grounds. Volunteers are still recovering bird carcasses within 1.5 miles of McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America, which is largely covered with glass.
From late Wednesday, 4 October, through early Thursday, 5 October, a peak estimate of 1.5 million birds were in the air over Cook county, home to the Chicago metropolitan area. Carcasses of Tennessee warblers, hermit thrush, American woodcocks and other varieties of songbirds were recovered.
Annually, up to a billion birds die due to collisions, and in the case of Chicago, the dead and injured birds were most likely flying from Canada en route to South and Central America.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/07/chicago-mccormick-place-building-bird-deaths-windows
_____________________
Fifty-five environmental and animal care organizations, conservationists, scientists and nature-based businesses have signed a joint letter to the BC government opposing a new plan that would profoundly change the management of grizzly bears. The plan would set up a system of local and regional wildlife advisory committees across BC, for the purpose of creating their own, separate grizzly bear management plans.
This plan was recently revealed in a report called “Grizzly Bear Stewardship Framework”, a collection of grizzly bear information to be used by the committees to “increase the potential to realize locally desired outcomes for grizzly bears and their habitat”. The letter by the conservation coalition states that:
Grizzly bear trophy hunting was banned in BC in 2017, but hunting organizations have been lobbying heavily to reopen the hunt. Valhalla Wilderness Society helped pull together the recent letter. I hope to have them on next week to tell us more.
_____________________
After last week’s election of Wab Kinewa’s NDP, Manitoba will not go back to court over carbon pricing like former premier Heather Stefanson had hoped.
But Manitoba’s NDP is going to act on affordability and pledged to put a temporary freeze on utility rates, meaning electricity and natural gas bills shouldn’t rise in the coming months. The party also promised to temporarily axe a 14-cent-per-litre flat fee the province collects at the pump.
_____________________
CleanTechnica.com is reporting on the Rocky Mountain Institute’s reports on lower costs of renewable energy. The International Energy Agency is also busting ten myths about the cost and impact of renewable power and their numbers show the same thing.
The IEA’s latest Net Zero Roadmap finds that at current growth rates we will see electric vehicles account for two-thirds of car sales by 2030 and solar and wind will be be 40% of electricity supply, very similar to the research that RMI just published.
The IEA busts 10 prominent myths that are misleading society about the energy transition.
The IEA note that it is much cheaper not to put the emissions in the air in the first place than to try to take them out later. Delayed action allowing more emissions would cost $1,300 billion per annum to remove the excess carbon from the air in the second half of the century; that is 50 percent more than we invest today on oil and gas capital expenditure.
Of the 65 million people working in the energy sector, half already work in clean energy. The expansion of the renewable systems will create far more jobs than are lost in the fossil fuel systems. The IEA calculate that by 2030 there will be 30 million new jobs in the clean energy economy versus 13 million jobs lost in fossil fuels.
_____________________
The West Coast Climate Action Network has created a special appeal to Premier Eby and the provincial government to really respond to the exploding climate crisis.
But given how rapidly the climate crisis is growing, and knowing that it is the prime cause of the increased volume and intensity of the fires, we implore you to accelerate B.C.’s climate action plans to reach true zero by 2040, rather than net zero by 2050.
This summer is making many people feel fear, with its dramatic increase in forest fires, its extreme temperatures, the increased intensity of flooding around the world, and the dramatic warming of the ocean. And this is just the beginning of the climate crisis
You can read the full letter and the long list of organizations supportint it at WestCoastClimateAction.ca
Tell BCUC Not to Agree with FortisBC’s Claim that RNG is Carbon Neutral by October 14th
FortisBC wants to be able to claim that all new homes will receive 100% Renewable Natural Gas (RNG), which is false for a number of reasons. If the BC Utilities Commission agrees, the Zero Carbon Step Code will be worthless. Fortis is asking the BCUC for permission to say that RNG is carbon neutral. If BCUC agrees, RNG supply to new buildings will be declared 100% GHG emission free, and blow by the ZCSC restrictions imposed by municipalities. To submit your letter, click on the BCUC link. Under Proceeding Name, go to ‘FEI BERC Rate Methodology and Review of Revised RNG Program’. For background info, click here. Write to BCUC here.
Transitioning nearly the entire world to an efficient and renewable energy system would cost nearly $62 trillion, according to analysis by researchers at Stanford University. The research team looked at the costs of switching to renewables in 145 countries that, combined, emit 99.7% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil fuels. Building all that new stuff is what would cost $62 trillion. But in less than six years, those savings would outweigh all the initial building costs. Even more savings could be factored in by incorporating all the societal costs from fossil fuels. (WE-CAN comment: the research does not appear to address the looming critical minerals shortage.) Read more.
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 