LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD OCTOBER 15TH SHOW HERE:
One of the most iconic bits of forest, , is well known here in our area. Grant Trower from Wildlife Habitats for Tomorrow in Lardeau tells us disappointing news on protecting ancient old growth cedar on the Duncan reservoir. Three of the provincial candidates in Kootenay Central introduce themselves at the October 3rd forum in Nelson. How to handle the polarization chasm that is so widespread? Keith Wiley has some suggestions.
LINKS MENTIONED:
For documentation on Duncan River Old Growth protected area, email ecocentric AT kootenaycoopradio.com.
Kootenay Central Climate Forum on Climate, forests and fires and the environment.
Watch the full video at: https://youtu.be/eN0oI9SrOVI?si=adTuIUw7Dp7QrKEd
Watch the trailer for new documentary: Silvicola.
COMING EVENTS
7 pm Wednesday, October 16th
Are you listening? A one-woman show by Zaynab Mohammed
Mir Centre for Peace at Selkirk College 301 Frank Beinder Way, Castlegar
A one-woman show about a woman who loses her innocence at a young age due to cultural inequity but finds freedom by listening to herself, others and the earth.
https://www.facebook.com/share/SFn8oavDwQ4VRaeK/
Friday Oct 18: 10:00 – noon, SKC C112/3
City of Nelson’s Climate Change Program – Emily Mask & Mary Tress
Discover the City of Nelson’s commitment to climate protection including the proactive approach of various programs and initiatives. Nelson Next, the city’s comprehensive Climate Plan, outlines impactful strategies to address climate challenges.
https://learninginretirementnelson.ca/
6:30 pm Monday, October 21st and ongoing
Online
Community Care and Repair BC gathering
Community Care & Repair is a series of bi-weekly online learning and practice sessions to build the skills and connections we need to create communities of belonging, grounded in principles of nonviolence, emergence, Nonviolent Communication and collective liberation.
You can register online at: https://communitycareandrepair.sutra.co/space/ok27md/content
7 pm Thursday, October 24th
Torchlight Brewing in Nelson
This one time – an evening of outdoor adventure stories from inspiring women+
Join us for a fun evening featuring local storytellers,
a silent auction with fantastic items from local brands, outdoor
companies and more. All in support of building backcountry mentorship opportunities for marginalized genders including women, women-identifying individuals, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people.
7 pm Saturday, October 26 2024
Snk’mip: Dig Deeper, feature documentary
Arrow Lakes Theatre Nakusp
7 pm Saturday, November 2, 2024
Snk’mip: Dig Deeper, feature documentary
Nelson United Church.
The feature documentary about reviving the marsh at the north end of Slocan Lake and building right relationship with the Sinixt people who have lived here for thousands of years.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
A national conservation organization plans to restore fish habitat in a section of Cottonwood Creek in Nelson, making it suitable for kokanee spawning.
Paige Thurston of Living Lakes Canada and local engineer Alan Thomson of Mountain Lake Consultants presented the idea to Nelson City Council at its Sept. 24 meeting.
The project would see the restoration of a 65-metre section of the creek located upstream from the Lakeside Drive bridge and downstream from the CPKC (CP Rail) lands.
Since 2022, Thurston’s group has conducted an aquatic habitat inventory of the creek, water quality monitoring, a community engagement process, and a fish habitat assessment. In the near future they plan to take measures to protect the creek from further development, and carry out a creek cleanup.
_____________________________–
Some of the oldest and largest U.S. Department of Agriculture-accredited certifiers have partnered with corporate agribusiness to change the working definition of organics, allowing large livestock factories; certified, uninspected imports; and soilless hydroponic produce grown in giant industrial greenhouses to be certified organic.
Organic certifiers are mixing lobbying, marketing, and activism with their certification responsibilities, and taking payola from the clients they certify. They are also certifying “producer groups” in Eastern Europe, Central America, and Asia without inspecting and certifying each individual farm.
Critics say this watering down in standards is a deadly blow to the competitiveness of smaller true organic producers.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/organic-certification-corruption
Montreal and Toronto have both taken steps to limit advertising for oil and gas on their subways, buses and streetcars.Toronto city council passed a motion to restrict fossil fuel advertising on city property.
Melissa Lem, president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), called Toronto’s decision Thursday a “landmark win.”
“This bold move signals the end of unchecked fossil fuel advertising and positions Toronto at the forefront of a global shift,” said Lem, a family doctor in Vancouver.
“We want to take a stand and — even if it’s a lonely stand at first — show the rest of the country that we don’t want more harmful advertising driven by fossil fuel companies.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/what-on-earth-fossil-ads-1.7347240
_____________________________–
Portugal is launching a new €20 monthly train ticket dubbed the Green Rail Pass.
The pass will allow passengers to travel on nearly all urban, regional, inter-regional and inter-city services operated by state-owned rail company Comboios de Portugal (CP).
Premium high speed tilting Alfa Pendular trains will not be included in the ticket and it isn’t valid on other forms of public transport like metros or light rail systems.
_____________________________–
The International Energy Agency (IEA) increased its forecast for global renewable energy deployment this decade by two-thirds in a major report released earlier this week. Renewables are rising to almost half of global electricity production in just the next few years.
“WOW,” Carbon Brief Deputy Editor and Senior Policy Editor Simon Evans wrote in a LinkedIn post after the IEA released [pdf] its Renewables 2024 report.
in Renewables 2024, it’s significantly increased that forecast, to 3,700 GW over the same five years—and a massive 5,500 GW by 2030.”
That total translates into a 2.7-fold increase in global renewables capacity through 2030, with renewable growths expected to exceed government targets by nearly 25% thanks to supportive policies in around 140 countries and favourable economic conditions.
Form Energy, a company that is beginning to produce a 100-hour iron-air alternative to lithium batteries, Manufacturing long-duration energy storage at a commercial scale is seen as essential for lowering carbon emissions that are causing climate change, because it makes clean energy available when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
Lithium-ion batteries typically last four hours, but Form is one of many companies pursuing entirely different chemistries. Its batteries use iron, water, and air and are able to store energy for 100 hours, meaning if they work at scale, they could bridge a period of several days without sunlight or wind. Iron is also one of the most abundant elements on Earth, which the company says helps make the technology affordable and scalable.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland took advantage of a major responsible investment conference in Toronto to announce another 12-month process to set government rules for sustainable investment and corporate reporting.
Freeland unveiled a “plan to deliver Made-in-Canada sustainable investment guidelines,” featuring “mandatory climate-related financial disclosures for large, federally incorporated private companies” to help investors identify “green” and “transition” economic activities.
“Specifically, the government intends to bring forward amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act that will require these disclosures,” Finance Canada said in a release.
There has been a 73 per cent decline in the average size of monitored wildlife populations* globally in just 50 years (1970–2020), according to WWF’s Living Planet Report (LPR) 2024. Habitat degradation and loss is the most reported threat in each region.
Declines have been less dramatic in North America (39 per cent), but this reflects the fact that large-scale impacts on nature were already apparent before 1970 in these regions. The findings are based on the Living Planet Index (LPI), which is calculated by Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and based on almost 35,000 population trends and 5,495 amphibian, bird, fish, mammal and reptile species from 1970–2020.
This Thursday, outside Bathurst Station in Toronto there is a rally being held to boost transit in the big city.
Users say service is lacking and often late. You deserve transit you can rely on. We are asking the federal government to speed up investments in public transit for a faster, safer and more dependable TTC. It’s time to end subway slow zones. The rally is part of a national week of action, with transit groups across the country pressuring the federal government to step up for public transit.
https://www.ttcriders.ca/fixthettc
The Guardian is reporting that at least 196 people were killed world-wide last year for defending the environment. More than a third of killings took place in Colombia, new figures show.
From campaigners who spoke out against mining projects to Indigenous communities targeted by organised crime groups, an environmental defender was killed every other day in 2023, according to the report by the NGO Global Witness.
Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Honduras were the most deadly countries for people trying to protect their lands and ecosystems, making up more than 70% of all recorded killings globally.
The Guardian also published a special feature on Canada’s debate over the carbon Tax. The newspaper says it is “Hailed as a global model of progressive environmental policy.
The report goes on Canada’s carbon tax has reduced emissions and put money in the pockets of Canadians. The levy, endorsed by conservative and progressive economists, has survived multiple federal elections and a supreme court challenge. But this time, a persistent cost-of-living crisis and a pugnacious Conservative leader running on a populist message have thrust the country’s carbon tax once more into the spotlight, calling into question whether it will survive another national vote.
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 