LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD OCTOBER 24 SHOW HERE:
A “best of” repeat show, featuring great interviews from earlier this year. Sarah Newton from Revelstoke talks about the success their Old Growth Revylution campaign had in protecting forests. And about a concerning development this year.
Kendall Anderson works with the Transition Group at the Pembina Institute. Last March around International Women’s Day she talked to us about how the economic transition off fossil fuels must be fair for women as well as for resource sector employees.
Len Vanderstar from Smithers campaigns about slash burning smoke. The people of Smithers were sold a new wood pellet mill with the promise that it would reduce slash burning and wood smoke in the Bulkley Valley. So far, no luck with that he says.
LINKS:
Revelstoke’s Old Growth Revylution. On Facebook.
Kendall Anderson from Pembina.org on just transition.
EVENTS:
The fall Go By Bike BC event is in its second week right now. YOu can ride your bike, go online and register your ride and put your name into a draw for prizes. Registration at GoByBikeBC.ca is FREE!
Any and every ride logged will enter you into the draw for one of many great prizes, including a Pedego Electric Bike, Axiom Gear, Visa Gift Cards, and more! The more rides you log, the more chances of winning!
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Friday October 27, there’s the final Friday of the month CRITICAL MASS MOVIE & RIDE
The event kicks off with a movie at 4:30 Friday, Oct 27 at Nelson Civic Theatre
The film is called. You Never Bike Alone – a 2007 documentary film exploring Vancouver’s vibrant bike culture and its development as a viable form of transport. Tickets are just $5.
After the movie there is a Critical Mass Bicycle Ride on Nelson’s city streets. It’s Halloween weekend so come in costume. Bike lights are essential.
https://westkootenaycycling.ca/
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Thursday, October 26 at 10 am.
Online.
Coming from resistance.org the event will explore what degrowth is (and isn’t), how people are embracing the concept of degrowth, what needs to happen to move degrowth from classrooms to boardrooms and staterooms, and how to confront powerful people and institutions who are trying to keep us pinned to the ruinous growth paradigm.
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The Regional District of the Central Kootenay’s Climate Action Open Houses wind up at the end of October here .
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.
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Monday, Nov. 6, 7-8:30 pm
Interactive Climate Solutions Workshop at the Nelson Library
Nelson Public Library, 602 Stanley St.
Interactive workshop for the community to explore climate solutioins, using the cutting-edge simulator En-ROADS.
Together participants will test ideas on how to keep global heating to the goals of the Paris Agreement, while getting a better understanding of how climate, energy and land systems are interconnected.
The free workshop is part of the library’s Climate Action Week, which is part of a larger BC-wide initiative of the BC Library Association.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
Barry Saxifrage from the National Observer reports climate statistics and numbers with clear charts and exposés, the most recent one on natural gas, methane, fossil gas pollution. He has as always detailed numbers. Saxifrage says…
Canada is a major emitter of methane, natural gas, — both in total emissions and emissions per capita.
Our single largest source is “fugitive emissions” – leaks – rom the oil and gas industry and fracking.
According to Canada’s official National Inventory Report (NIR), these leaks emit about half our national methane total. But the actual amount the industry is leaking is likely much larger.
“For scale, Canada’s methane leaks pack a 20-year climate punch equal to five tonnes of CO2 per Canadian. That’s more than from our cars, trucks, SUVs and homes combined.
Methane’s short-and-fast heating acts like climate napalm in the first decade or two.”
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The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) project pipeline data shows that solar could feasibly push out natural gas as the No. 1 electricity source by 2030.
Decarbonized energy is set to grow dramatically and to push out fossil fuel sources. Methane, fossil gas or natural natural gas remains the leader in total available installed generating capacity. More than 44% of available electricity generation capacity comes from natural gas, followed by coal, wind, hydropower, and solar.
FERC forecasts strong growth in solar for years to come. It expects more than 83 GW of “high probability” solar capacity additions through August 2026. This dwarfs the 4 GW of natural gas additions expected through that date.
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Experts from Colorado have busted two of the most widespread myths about solar panels on social media and in the mass media. Writing in the journal Nature Physics, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Colorado have pushed back on claims that solar uptake will lead to a “waste mountain” of discarded panels, and further show that the purported toxicity of solar panels has been greatly exaggerated by media and even by government departments.
Their research shows that solar panel waste would only be a tiny fraction of waste from other sources, such as coal. They say ”35 years of cumulative PV module waste (2016–2050) is dwarfed by the waste generated by fossil fuel energy and other common waste streams,”
They note that the volume of coal ash and oily sludge waste from fossil fuel energy is up to 300–800 times and 2–5 times greater, respectively, than that from solar modules. And crucially, they point out, most solar waste is already recyclable, with a growing recycling industry developing around the recovery of materials for reuse.
They also do say, however, taht recycling of solar modules is “critical to decarbonizing the PV supply chain and minimizing waste.” Rapid advances in solar technology are allowing manufacturers to start targeting a 50-year lifespan for panels.
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On October 4th, 2023, eight years after the publication of the encyclical Laudato Si’ on the care of the common home, Pope Francis published an apostolic statement as a complement and update.
The Pope’s update on the need for urgent action on the climate crisis is being very well promoted on, of all places YOUTUBE. You can hear the Pope’s message, read it and hear several commentaries on a special website: laudatedeum.church. I will spell that for you. I’ve never seen the Catholic Church be so bold and effective in its messaging. That’s saying something.
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 