LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD THE FEBRUARY 27 SHOW HERE:
Solita Work from the West Kootenay Cycling Coalition co-hosts the show about the steady growth and improvement of intercommunity rail trails in the Kootenays. Mike Koolan from the North Slocan Rail Trail tells us how valued the trail is by the local community at the north end of Slocan Lake. Tim Wintoniw from Black Dog Cycle and Ski in Kimberley talks about the fully paved trail linking Kimberley with Cranbrook. The Great Northern Rail Trail running south from Nelson all the way to Salmo is pretty good as far as Ymir, but John Kinstad from Salmo says motorized traffic makes the Trail rough north of Salmo.
LINKS MENTIONED IN THE SHOW
North Slocan Rail Trail from New Denver to Summit Lake
https://roseberysummitrailtrail.com
North Star Rails to Trails. Kimberley Cranbrook
https://www.northstarrailtrail.com/
Nelson Great Northern Rail Trail
https://www.bcrailtrails.com/rail-trail/nelson-to-salmo-great-northern-rail-trail/
And many other great BC Trails
https://www.bcrailtrails.com/
ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS
Thursday, February 29 7 pm
Youth Climate Corps Canada Movie Launch: Climate Action & Chill
Online event
Join us for an exciting online event, the YCCBC Movie Launch: Climate Action & Chill! Get ready to be inspired about climate change through the power of film.
The movie follows the Youth Climate Corps participants and community leaders in Kamloops and Nelson, BC. It is an amazing story of how we can address climate action in communities by empowering youth in meaningful ways.
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAocOuqqz8jHtGHBBPVqWgZeLEjzm8WAxLo#/registration
Friday March 1 10 am.
Learning in Retirement
Online Zoo
What Can You Do To Green Canada’s Financial System? with Adam Scott, Britt Runeckies, Sustainable Investing in Retirement – Tim Nash
There is no retirement security without a safe climate future to retire into. But Canada’s largest pension funds, including the Canada Pension Plan, are not on track to protect our retirement savings from the climate crisis or to support the transition to a low-carbon future.
In this engaging and thought-provoking presentation, you’ll learn how investors are ‘doing less evil’ and ‘doing more good’ with their portfolio. We’ll discuss topics like fossil fuel divestment and community bonds to help you put your money where your values are.
I will put the link up to register for the event. Adam Scott, Britt Runeckies, and Tim Nash are presenting the event.
Thursday March 7, 2024 2:30 pm.
Mir Centre for Peace, Castlegar Campus at 7 pm in person or by ZOOM
The Mir Centre, Selkirk College
Peace Cafés: Wounded Doves – Israel/Palestine Crisis – Conversation with Raja Khouri & Jeffrey Wilkinson, The Wall Between
Join Raja Khouri and Jeffrey Wilkinson, co-authors of The Wall Between: What Jews and Palestinian Don’t Want to Know About Each Other, for a Q&A about their book and their recent work facilitating dialogue in workplaces experiencing “the conflict about the conflict.” By donation to defray the costs of hosting the event. If donations exceed the costs, the surplus will be donated to MSF.
Noon Friday, March 1
West Kootenay Transit Action presents: Ten-year vision for expanded BC transit
Webinar Online
BC economist Marc Lee presents his new study: Connecting BC: A Ten-Year vision and investment plan for public transit throughout BC.
Marc Lee says: “British Columbians deserve to be able to get to where they need to go quickly, conveniently and affordably, no matter where in the province they live. But after years of neglect and privatization, today’s transit system is plagued with overcrowding, delays and big gaps in service.”
Nelson City Councillor Rik Logtenberg will respond to the report and talk about local transit on the webinar, and there will be time for your questions and discussion.
The West Kootenay Transit Action group is collaborating with the West Kootenay Climate Hub on this special noon hour webinar, this Friday March 1.
I will put up links to the full report and to register for the webinar.
You can download his full report here and you can hear him talk about it at our Zoom event coming up at Noon, Friday March 1st. Sign up here. We are happy to be collaborating with the West Kootenay Climate Hub on this event.
REGISTER HERE: https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/upcoming-events
Noon Friday, March 15
West Kootenay Climate Hub webinar: Weaving together people and place – creating a climate of regeneration
Jan Inglis will be exploring the concept of bioregionalism within our own community, sharing examples of on the ground regenerative projects and discussing how we can deepen ecological connections.
https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/event-details/march2024-webinar
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
Last week’s BC budget is pretty low key on climate actions according to several commentators.
Following a record wildfire season in 2023 and record flooding in 2021, the B.C. government announced Thursday it was spending an additional $405 million over the next four years to prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters.
The Wilderness Committee called the incentives for heat pumps one of the budget’s “bright spots” but said spending on public transportation as “modest.”
“As in past budgets, the focus is on responding to climate disasters as opposed to investing in deeper emissions cuts,” the group said in a news release.
The budget also includes $248 million in funding over three years to expand B.C. Transit infrastructure outside the Lower Mainland, including new zero-emission buses and increased capacity of depots and passenger facilities.
After successive years of flooding, wildfire and now drought, critics expected more real climate emissions action but said the province was merely paying “lip service” to longer-term efforts on lessening the crisis.
The last offshore oil and gas permits for Canada’s Pacific coast have been retired, Ottawa announced last week.
Chevron Canada ceded 23 offshore oil and gas permits, the last in existence on the B.C. coast, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said at a Victoria press conference.
Natural Resources Canada has now officially secured the surrender of all 227 permits involving historical offshore oil and gas rights along the Pacific coast, which has been under a federal moratorium on offshore oil and gas activity since 1972.
People in BC when asked about the BC government’s energy plans, show support for renewables has grown to 69 per cent, up from 61 per cent recorded in November 2020.
At the same time, support for LNG has dropped from 22 per cent in November 2020 to 15 per cent now.
David Suzuki Foundation senior climate policy adviser Tom Green told Canada’s National Observer it was encouraging to see the province recognize the value of clean electricity as fossil fuels are replaced.
Tom Green warns that as the LNG industry expands, the province risks squandering electricity needed to decarbonize the rest of the economy by using its clean power advantage to electrify LNG production. A booming LNG export industry could need up to 8.4 Site C’s worth of power, he said. (Site C is a 1,100-megawatt generating hydro dam with a price tag of approximately $16 billion.)
Electrifying LNG “would undermine the province’s ability to meet the need for electricity to power heat pumps, EVs and industry as we swap out polluting fossil fuels across the economy,” Green said.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2024/02/22/news/public-support-bc-lng-plans-falling-poll
Heavy conservative push back on environmental progress continues across Canada.
In Ontario the Ford government is kneecapping that province’s energy regulator. The regulator ruled to protect existing customers from the costs of Enbridge’s plans to expand the gas grid. It was a blow to Enbridge, and the Ford government has tabled legislation to overrule the Ontario Energy Board, saying it will replace the chair of the board and issue a policy directive about natural gas.
Alberta’s United Conservative government is ramping up opposition to any cap on emissions from the oil and gas sector. The latest furor stems from Justin Trudeau’s comments that “the world is changing… But right-wing ideology is getting in the way of Alberta’s success.”
A cap on emissions would formalize all the promises and advertising by the oil and gas sector. “It essentially calls the industry’s bluff on targets and technologies it has been talking up for years,” says the National Observer’s Max Fawcett.
theecocentricradioshow.ca 