LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD OCTOBER 31 SHOW HERE:
Solita Work from the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition is back with another focus on transportation and cycling. BC has a mandatory bike helmet law, if you ride a bike you are supposed to wear a helmet. Does this frighten people about cycling? We had our first international interview in a long time as Solita spoke with Chris Bruntlett with the Dutch Cycling Embassy in Den Haag Holland.
Cailyn Klingbeil is a journalist in Calgary who looked into the research on bike helmets and safety. She says biking is a very safe activity even without helmets.
Nelson cyclist Matt Nuttall used to serve on the Vancouver Citizens Cycling Advisory Committee and was around for the planning during the explosion in biking in that City. Biking had to grow, Nutall says, because there was no room for more cars.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW:
Holland is famous for its cycling. It’s very safe and they DON’T wear helmets. Canadian Chris Bruntlett now works for the Dutch Cycling Embassy to help promote cycling around the world.
Video from cycling advocate Tom Babin: I don’t usually wear a helmet. Does that make me an idiot?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=rhzH6mEpIps
Vancouver has built up a tremendous network of cycling routes. Check out the full map.
https://vancouver.ca/streets-transportation/cycling-routes-maps-and-trip-planner.aspx
EVENTS
Monday, Nov. 6, 7-8:30 pm
Interactive Climate Solutions Workshop at the Nelson Library
Nelson Public Library, 602 Stanley St.
Join an interactive workshop to explore that question of how best to bring down climate emissions using the cutting-edge simulator En-ROADS.
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.
Thursday, Nov 23, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
TedX Countdown event at Selkirk College Castlegar.
Championing and Accelerating Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Castlegar, 301 Frank Beinder Way, Castlegar, BC V1N 4L3, Canada
In person this year! This 4th Annual Countdown event will be at Selkirk College’s Castlegar campus “pit” — near the main entrance.
Local speakers will share their passions about their work on climate solutions. More details to follow!
Transportation options available between Nelson, Castlegar and Trail. Snacks and beverages will be provided.
https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/event-details/tedxselkirkcollege-countdown-2023
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Friday November 3 & Saturday 4
350.org is holding Global Power Up for Climate Solutions!
Online
From 350.org: All around the world, people will come together to power up the global renewable energy revolution. Let’s shift money and political influence away from fossil fuel companies and towards a clean and equitable future for all! We will take to the streets to show that a world powered by clean and fair renewable energy is ours to make. On every continent, in big cities and small islands, we’ll spotlight the oil industry’s greed and reclaim the money and power to fund a just future powered by the sun and wind. Read more
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Last week in the East Kootenay Premier David Eby unveiled a new $300 million Conservation Financing Mechanism that will help progress British Columbia’s mandate to protect 30% of its land and water by 2030 (30×30). The funds, which consist of $150 million from the province and $150 million through the BC Parks Foundation, will be used to support conservation initiatives that are led or supported by First Nations.
“This is a very welcome and necessary first step in order to fulfill the provincial and federal 30×30 mandate,” says John Bergenske, Wildsight Strategic Advisor. “It’s the missing piece in the government’s support of Indigenous-led conservation and a conservation-led economy.”
Conservation financing is a core tool that will support new conservation initiatives such as Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas, capacity building for First Nations, stewardship and guardian programs, and support for low-carbon economic opportunities.
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In September, US President Joe Biden announced the launch of the American Climate Corps, or ACC — a program that will train some 20,000 young people in careers in climate and clean energy. The program, which hearkens back to President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps but with an emphasis on diversity and inclusivity, will put young people to work restoring wetlands, installing solar panels and advancing environmental justice across the country.
In Canada the Climate Emergency Unit is pushing for a Canadian Youth Climate Corps from the federal and provincial governments. Wildsight BC already has youth involved in Climate Corps activities for the past two years in the kootenays. For more info.
https://www.climateemergencyunit.ca/climatecorps
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B.C. is going require all new light-duty vehicles sold in the province, including passenger cars and trucks, to be emission-free by 2035, five years before the initial goal of 2040.
The accelerated timeline would mandate automakers to meet an escalating annual percentage for light-duty zero-emission vehicle sales and leases, with targets of 26 per cent by 2026, 90 per cent by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2035.
A statement from Energy Minister Josie Osborne said the province is the “first in the world” to put an EV sales target into law, and the proposed amendments would make it easier for people purchasing their next vehicle to choose electric.
The province also announced Tuesday that B.C. has “recharged” its Go Electric EV Charger Rebate Program with $7 million in new funding.
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The world’s leading doctor and health bodies, representing more than three million health professionals worldwide, delivered an open letter on Saturday calling for urgent action against climate change to protect the health of communities.
“We the family doctors, doctors and health professionals of the world call on world leaders to take urgent action to safeguard the health of global populations from the climate crisis,” the open letter reads.
Signatories from 39 leading health bodies, including Australia’s peak body for GPs and rural medicine, say they’re already seeing widespread impacts on human health caused by climate change in their patients.
“If we are to have any chance of limiting warming to 1.5C and halting the escalation of the climate health emergency, we must end the proliferation of fossil fuels,” the letter says.
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With their high greenhouse gas emissions and record profits, oil and gas companies are facing new pressure across party lines on Parliament Hill.
That pressure includes accusations of price “gouging” and of profiting off climate chaos. It also includes a growing number of demands for a tax on the companies’ “excess” profits.
Those calls for a new tax enjoy some cross-party support among Liberals, the Bloc Quebécois, New Democrats and the Greens.
“It’s by gouging Canadians that these companies are making record-breaking profits,” said Green Party MP Mike Morrice.
After UN chief calls out ‘scandalous’ profits, Ottawa offers no plan to hike taxes on oil and gas industry
The Liberal government already has introduced an excess profits tax on banks and life insurance firms whose revenues grew during the pandemic. The Canada Recovery Dividend applies a 15 per cent one-time tax on average taxable income above $1 billion in 2020 and 2021.
“We’re now saying let’s apply this to oil and gas,” said Morrice, who is calling on other MPs to support his House of Commons motion to apply the tax on banks to fossil fuel companies.
Oilsands companies made $38 billion in profit in 2022
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/oil-gas-climate-change-windfall-tax-1.7011125
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Montreal is ruling out methane gas. The city is banning gas hookups for most new buildings (three storeys or less) starting next October and for larger buildings as of April 2025.
The ban means new building permits will not allow fossil gas for heating and hot water or for stoves and pools. No heating oil or propane, either (little barbecue tanks get a pass).
“When we see how much greenhouse gases come from buildings, then this is clearly the right thing to do,” said Mayor Valérie Plante.
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