LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD NOVEMBER 7 ECOCENTRIC HERE:
This week, BC and the federal government announced they have committed $1 billion in conservation efforts to protect 30% of BC by 2030. Local forest ecologist Rachel Holt says it’s good news, but only details will show if it will protect high value, old growth forests.
A new report from Canadians for Tax Fairness shows that the bottom 90% of Canadians have reduced their emissions by 4 tonnes per person since 1990, but the top 1% increased their emissions by 34 tonnes per person. With fairer taxes Canada can afford a full green transition, says executive director Katrina Miller.
A new documentary about the Columbia River system is called Changing Course: A river’s journey of reconnection. With many local interviews, the film shows how major dams for flood control and hydropower impacted the river dramatically. The Columbia River Treaty renegotiation between Canada and the United States is crucial to revitalizing its ecosystem health. It’s showing at the Capitol Theatre on Wednesday, November 25. We talk to the film’s producer Jon O’Riordan.
LINKS MENTIONED
BC and Canada have committed up to $1 billion to protect 30% of the province by 2030. Excellent CBC Report: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2279578691613
Report by Canadians for Tax Fairness. https://www.taxfairness.ca/en/media/releases/new-report-shows-tax-system-working-against-canadas-climate-and-equality-goals
Capitol Theatre showing Wednesday November 15th of new documentary on Columbia River system and treaty: https://capitoltheatre.ca/event/changing-course-capitol-season/
EVENTS
Wed. Nov. 8, 6:30 p.m. PDT
ONLINE: John Vaillant: Our New Fire Weather
BC Libraries Climate week includes a special online presentation by author John Valliant on Our New Fire Weather.
After the most devastating wildfire season in recorded history, many are wondering how these fires got so big, what we can learn from our current responses, and whether we are prepared for an ever warming future. John Vaillant’s book Fire Weather has become a de-facto guide on the new dangers posed by these fires supercharged by a warming planet.https://www.crowdcast.io/c/bclibraries-nov8
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Thursday November 9 Noon
Nelson City Hall
If you are looking to call for Ceasefire Now and an end to the genocide in Gaza there is a protest at Noon this Thursday November 9 at Nelson City Hall. The rally will be followed by a march.
Organizers note that no racist, or hate actions or speech will be tolerated and it is a non violent peace action.Join us to promote peace, love, understanding and anti colonial solidarity.
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Thursday, Nov 23, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Selkirk College Castlegar.
TedX Countdown event Championing and Accelerating Solutions to the Climate Crisis
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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ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
“Canada is the only G7 country that has not achieved any emissions reductions since 1990,” Jerry DeMarco, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, said in announcing the new report card on Canada’s climate targets.
The report painted a grim picture of emission reductions in Canada over the past 20 years. The only significant drops in emissions came during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, which had little to do with emissions reduction policy.
Shortly after coming into office in 2015, the Liberals agreed to adopt the Paris Accord targets to cut carbon emissions by at least 40 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030,
“We found that the measures most critical for reducing emissions had not been identified or prioritized,” Demarco said.
DeMarco’s audit said the Liberal government later cut its projections for how much it would reduce emissions, first to 36.4 per cent below 2005 levels and then again to 34 per cent.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/environment-comissioner-audit-emissions-charging-stations-1.7020689
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BC’s greenhouse gas emissions are slowly falling, but in 2025 that downward trend will slow or even halt as the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat starts operations, preventing the province from meeting its climate commitments.
Ksi Lisims LNG is a proposal in Nisga’a territory to liquefy almost as much gas as LNG Canada.
Backers of the project want to use hydroelectricity to liquefy the gas but that will only happen if BC Hydro — and its ratepayers — build it a brand new transmission line. Even then, the fracking required to fill it will make the facility among the province’s worst polluters.
While the project’s backers, the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG and Western LNG, claim their “net-zero” LNG will combat climate change, experts say otherwise. When the UN Secretary General tasked a group to define net-zero to avoid greenwashing, it found “Net Zero is entirely incompatible with continued investment in fossil fuels.”
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‘Energy independent’ Uruguay runs on 100% renewables for four straight months
Uruguay used to rely almost entirely on hydro- and oil & gas-based power. But as the economy grew and electricity demand threatened to overtake supply from the early 2010s, it needed to add additional generating capacity, and fast.
Because the state couldn’t fund a massive energy programme alone, it ran a series of clean power auctions, where it offered project developers 20-year contracts to sell electricity into the national grid at guaranteed rates.
In just five years, $6 billion was invested in renewable energy — the equivalent of 12% of Uruguay’s GDP.
Power production costs have declined “by almost half”, and the clean energy sector has created 50,000 new jobs. Uruguay has become a net exporter of electricity.
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Canada could rake in an additional $4.2 billion from major oil and gas companies over the next five years if it implemented a windfall tax on the fossil fuel industry’s record profits, according to a new analysis from the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO).
The analysis published Thursday assumed a one-time tax of 15 per cent on oil and gas companies making over $1 billion in taxable income, paid out in instalments of $833 million per year from 2024 to 2028. For the analysis, the PBO extended the Canada Recovery Dividend — a windfall tax Ottawa previously slapped on banks and insurance companies earlier this year — to fossil fuel companies.
The PBO report follows a motion from Green MP Mike Morrice, which was also supported by Green MP Elizabeth May and NDP MPs Laurel Collins and Richard Cannings, calling on the federal government to apply the Canada Recovery Dividend to fossil fuel companies and reallocate the money to address the climate crisis.
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As Oil Change International said in a landmark September report, the U.S. is responsible for more than a third of planned fossil fuel expansion around the world between now and 2030, far more than any other country. We are, it concluded, the “Planet Wrecker in Chief.” (The other biggest troublemakers include Canada, Norway, and Australia, which is to say rich well-educated countries that can find plenty of other ways to make a living).
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/biden-halt-lng-export-terminals
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 