This past Sunday, Nelson had it’s first Winter Cycling Expo. The City is giving away lots of winter cycling gear in a series of promotions of winter cycling.
LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD NOV 28 SHOW HERE:
Cecilia Jaques the City’s Senior Climate & Energy Strategist talks about the winter cycling promotion, snow clearing, city cycling route progress and more. Sarah Simonet is a Nelson Uphill year-round cyclist who tells us how studded tires made the difference. Doug Dunlop, a Calgary winter cycling pioneer talks with Solita about how long he’s been commuting year round and hosts kids including young kids for winter actives, all-day, every day. Year round. With no car. Requires mittens. Lots of mittens.
November 28th show Hosted and Produced by Solita Work, from the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Doug Dunlop’s website with pogies for your handlebars in the winter:
https://www.coldbike.com/
Nelson winter cycling promotion.
Still thousands of dollars in winter cycling gear to win.l
http://nelson.ca/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=776
COMING EVENTS:
Tuesday, Dec 5, 2023, 7 – 9pm
Mir Lecture: The Wall Between
Brilliant Cultural Centre
Just released, the new book, The Wall Between is about the wall of distrust, enmity and misunderstandings that exist between Jewish and Palestinian communities arouodn the world. The book was written by two fathers who lost daughters in the conflict one Palestinian, one Jew—have travelled this journey themselves.
Both authors will be speaking at this special Mir Centre for Peace event to open to new possibilities within the Israel-Palestine discourse in the West.
Doors open at 6:30 pm https://selkirk.ca/events/mir-lecture-wall-between
Fri. Dec. 1, 6 p.m.
Online: Real World Regeneration – Permaculture
Explore the reality of making regenerative projects work on the ground in real time with permaculture designers Erik Ohlsen & Starhawk.
https://earthactivisttraining.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYpd–sqDMpEtQmiOOWpM30X9QM1m-bh8nZ#/registration
December 1–11
Daily live broadcasts from COP28 in Dubai.
COP28 Climate Hub
https://www.wedonthavetime.org/events/cop28
Saturday, December 9th 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Neighbours United is launching Deep Canvassing for Old Growth Forests
Neighbours United Office in Castlegar.
The B.C. has just release sa framework for a Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law. With your help, we can make sure this framework is strong and will be the change we need for B.C.’s forestry practices.
Together, let’s have transformative conversations with our neighbours in Castlegar to safeguard the last remaining old growth forests of B.C. Join us to learn the skills of deep canvassing to make a lasting impact and unite with like-minded individuals in a journey of preservation.
Training and support will be offered at the workshop December 9th at the Neighbours United Office in Castlegar.
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
Just prior to COP 28, the UN Climate Talks in Dubai, the European Parliament voted to demand nation states join the growing bloc of governments seeking to negotiate a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty:
“The European Parliament supports a global target for tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 at COP28, together with a tangible phase out of fossil fuels as soon as possible to keep 1,5°C within reach, including halting all new investments in fossil fuel extraction.”
It is the second year in a row that the European Parliament reiterated its support for the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty proposal in their COP28 position.
https://fossilfueltreaty.org/european-parliament-2023
Famous French economist and author Thomas Piketty says it’s time to ban private jets to address the climate crisis,
He says egulations are needed to outlaw goods and services that have unnecessarily high greenhouse gas emissions, such as private jets, extra large vehicles, and flights over short distances.
Rich countries must also put in place progressive carbon taxes that take into account people’s incomes and how well they are able to reduce their emissions, as current policies usually fail to adjust for people’s real needs, Piketty told The Guardian newspaper.
BC United – formerly the BC Liberal Party, which introduced carbon taxes, a low-carbon fuel standard, the Clean Energy Act and electric vehicle rebates – would scrap the NDP’s CleanBC plan, go all-in on LNG, and end “unfair subsidies” for electric vehicles, if it were to form government in the next election.
BC United Leader Kevin Falcon announced Tuesday a BC United government would scrap the CleanBC plan and replace it with “a commonsense plan that will build B.C.’s economy, create jobs, and grow peoples’ paycheques, all while reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.”
A BC United government would instead “go all-in on LNG,” electrify the LNG industry and prioritize carbon capture and storage. It would “invest in climate-resilient infrastructure,” end the subsidies for electric vehicle purchases and do more to suppress wildfires.
He has also said that if given the chance after a change in the federal government, he would entirely eliminate the carbon tax that he helped introduce as a BC Liberal cabinet minister.
https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/458642/Kevin-Falcon-vows-to-tear-up-CleanBC-plan
And, last week, the leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad, released a statement saying he believes humans have an impact on the climate and that climate change is real, but that it is not a crisis.
“British Columbians are NOT facing an existential threat from our changing climate,” he said. “It isn’t a crisis. In fact, our changing climate is not the most pressing issue facing us in B.C. or around the world.”
https://thetyee.ca/News/2023/11/24/What-Climate-Crisis/
A new report from the International Energy Agency warns against banking on technology as the planet continues to warm.
In a report released Thursday, the Paris-based IEA said oil and gas companies need to start “letting go of the illusion” that “implausibly large” amounts of carbon capture are the solution to the global climate crisis.
The report says oil and gas companies need to consider diversifying into clean energy rather than simply counting on carbon capture to help them maintain the status quo.
Oilsands companies, for example, have banded together to propose a $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage project in northern Alberta that they say will help them reach net-zero emissions from production by 2050.
The federal government is also trying to spur investment in the pricey technology with the promise of a tax credit for companies that deploy carbon capture projects. Legislation to implement the tax credit is expected to be tabled within weeks.
Alberta is underestimating methane emissions by 50 per cent, according to a team at Carleton University that studied 3,500 different oil and gas facilities and 5,600 wells. Not only is there much more leakage, The Canadian Press reports “methane is coming from significantly different sources than government and industry think it is. Venting from tanks accounts for about a quarter of such emissions, instead of the three per cent that official sources say.”
https://www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters/zero-carbon/2023/11/24/2-days-above-2-degrees
The scale of solar power in China is hard to wrap your head around. China deployed a record 142GW in the first 10 months this year.
If gigawatts don’t help you with the head-wrapping, consider this: the runner-up is the U.S. and it has installed 141GW in total, since Americans bought their first panels in the 1970s. As of October, China has 540 GW on the grid.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/newsletters/zero-carbon/2023/11/24/2-days-above-2-degrees
The world’s 280 million electric bikes and mopeds are cutting demand for oil far more than electric cars
On the world’s roads last year, there were over 20 million electric vehicles and 1.3 million commercial EVs such as buses, delivery vans and trucks.
But these numbers of four or more wheel vehicles are wholly eclipsed by two- and three-wheelers. There were over 280 million electric mopeds, scooters, motorcycles and three-wheelers on the road last year. Their sheer popularity is already cutting demand for oil by a million barrels of oil a day – about 1% of the world’s total oil demand, according to estimates by Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
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