MB Co-Operator - Oc.15-'09
State-of-the-art labs for research into ways to reduce pesticide use will open Fri....
Friday, October 16, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
BIODIVERSITY: Earth's Life Support Systems Failing
Stephen Leahy - Inter Press Service 
UXBRIDGE, Canada, 13 Oct (IPS) - The world has failed to slow the accelerating extinction...
West Side Power Line Could Cut Through Forest Reserves
Winnipeg Free Press - By: Staff Writer - 14/10/2009
Artist: Mary Jane Eichler
WINNIPEG — The west side power line will skirt provincial parks but it could cut through several forest reserves, according to...Larry Writes to the Prime Minister
Please note the response from the PMs office (I'm taking his answer as a "no.") & Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May at the end.
=========
Dear Honourable Prime Minister,
=========
Dear Honourable Prime Minister,
Is it true that you won't be attending the key climate change summit in Copenhagen in December?
Here is what the Environment Canada website says about this.
"Canada will be represented at COP 15 by the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of the Environment, and by Michael Martin, Chief Negotiator and Ambassador for Climate Change."
Surely your absence will only deepen the already deep cynicism that surrounds your commitment to fighting climate change and global warming.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has already promised he will attend the Copenhagen conference, and urges other world leaders to do the same. He says such attendance is essential "to avert the grave danger that nations will face if they fail to agree on a new global pact tackling climate change."
I realize you might define Mr. Brown as a "socialist." But surely your attendance would go a long way toward showing the world that even Conservatives can care about Mother Earth!
Perhaps you could confirm your attendance/non attendance via return email.
Thank you!
======
COMMENT: Great letter, Larry. I will send one too. - Anne
======
Dear Mr. Powell:
On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent e-mail.
Please be assured that your comments have been noted, and that they will receive due consideration from the Minister, whom you also addressed in your correspondence.
Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.
P. Monteith
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre
=======
Dear Larry,
======
Dear Mr. Powell:
On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent e-mail.
Please be assured that your comments have been noted, and that they will receive due consideration from the Minister, whom you also addressed in your correspondence.
Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.
P. Monteith
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre
=======
Dear Larry,
Many thanks for taking the time to write. I will be attending the negotiations in Copenhagen this December. I will also join the crowd of concerned citizens rallying on Parliament Hill on October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action.
Canadian elected officials are not addressing the issue of climate change. I attend Question Period on a regular basis, and I am appalled at the lack of attention to such a critical issue facing our country. The climate crisis continues to worsen while the parties in the House ignore the issue.
Internationally, Canada has been criticized for blocking progress at several international climate forums. Most recently, Canada received a Fossil Award during the opening day of the UN Climate Negotiations in Bangkok because Prime Minister Harper chose to visit a Tim Horton's in Oakville instead of addressing the UN.
Saturday, October 24 is a world day of action to build support for real action in Copenhagen. It is an opportunity for a huge citizen mobilization. The youth movement is rising to the challenge, but they need their parents and elders to stand with them. The new film, “The Age of Stupid” is being shown by groups across Canada. The premise is that sometime in the future an archivist/historian looks back at humanity and asks “why didn’t we save ourselves while we still had the chance?”
Will we be too busy scoring points off each other in endless rounds of political brinksmanship? Can we ensure our epitaph is not the “Age of Stupid”?
We are not powerless. We are not alone. We are the majority. We do not have the right to give up on our children’s future.
Thank you again for writing. For more information or to find out about activities in your area on October 24th, please visit the Green Party website, the Fill the Hill website, or 350.org.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth May, O.C.
Leader
Green Party of Canada
1-866-868-3447
Victim of Drought
A baby elephant receives a bottle of milk Wednesday at the David Sheldrick Wildlife trust which cares for orphaned elephants on the outskirts of the Nairobi national park in Kenya. Some of the baby elephants have been orphaned by one of the worst droughts in recent years affecting millions of people across East Africa.(KAREL PRINSLOO / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
What’s the Big Clucking Deal?
by Nikko Snyder - THE SASQUATCH -
Sept/Oct 2009 (Vol I No. 4)
When citizens contacted the City of Regina to inquire about raising chickens on urban properties, the municipal fist came down hard...
When citizens contacted the City of Regina to inquire about raising chickens on urban properties, the municipal fist came down hard...
Beef-Eaters be Careful! It's a "Buyer-Beware" World our There
NY Times - Michael Moss - Oc 3-'09
E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection...
E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection...
Monday, October 12, 2009
UK'S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan
This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
========================================================
ISIS Report 12/10/09
UK’S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan
##################################
The belated
The world is shifting to renewable energies in the wake of peak oil and accelerating global warming. Contrary to exhausting supplies of fossil and nuclear fuels, renewable
energy is inexhaustible energy. In 2008, more capacity in renewable energies has been added than conventional, and the trend is continuing, with many politicians and experts considering 100 percent renewable by 2050 a distinct possibility [1] (see Green Energies - 100% Renewable by 2050, ISIS publication). The German government, for one, appears to have made 50 to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 its target [2] (Germany 100 Percent Renewables by 2050,
SiS 44)
The UK has lagged far behind. It is trailing the EU league for renewables, being third from bottom ahead of Luxembourg and Malta [3]. UK received 1 percent of its energy from
renewables in 1995; that increased to 1.3 percent ten years later in 2005, and is currently about 1.8 percent.
The UK government’s White Paper [4] is a belated attempt to salvage the situation by taking on board the message of the Stern Report [5, 6] (see The Economics of Climate Change,
SiS 33) including the positive finding that mitigating climate change is not only possible but affordable.
The good
The short term aim is that by 2020 the UK’s emissions should be reduced by 18 percent from the 2008 level, a larger reduction if the Copenhagen summit agrees appropriate
international targets. By 2050, emissions are to be cut by 80 per cent from 1990 levels, a target recommended by the Independent Committee on Climate Change as the UK’s
contribution to halving global emissions by 2050.
A separate report, The UK Renewable Energy Strategy 2009 [7] from the Department of Energy and Climate Change sets out a path to a “legally binding target” of 15 percent of UK’s
energy from renewables by 2020, reducing 750 Mt CO2 by 2030, and decreasing UK’s overall fossil fuel demand by around 10 percent and gas imports by 20-30 percent. A £100 billion new investment will create 500 000 jobs in the renewable energy
sector.
The White Paper [4] contains a great deal of detail on how the targets are to be achieved. There is a long list of measures (see Box 1) for producing low carbon energy and for reducing energy consumption, and a long appendix giving the savings that each is supposed to contribute. There is to be an EU-wide carbon trading scheme with a total that reduces year by year. There is to be support for energy conservation, for the development of renewable energy sources, for measures to reduce emissions from farms, for
the creation of more woodland to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and more. That’s the good news.
Read the rest of this report
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
Or read other articles about climate change
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/climateglobalwarming.php
========================================================
This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
All new articles are also announced on our RSS feed
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If you like this original article from the Institute of
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articles of this calibre, please consider making a donation
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If you would like to be removed from our mailing list unsubscribe at
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========================================================
CONTACT DETAILS
The Institute of Science in Society,
The Old House 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP
telephone: [44 20 7700 5948] [44 20 8452 2729]
For email details, see
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/contact.php
MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM
WITHOUT EXPLICIT PERMISSION. FOR PERMISSION, PLEASE
CONTACT ISIS at http://www.i-sis.org.uk/contact2.php
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
========================================================
ISIS Report 12/10/09
UK’S Lackluster Low Carbon Transition Plan
##################################
Belated, good in parts, but not green and definitely lacking
in vision. Prof. Peter Saunders and Brett Cherry
in vision. Prof. Peter Saunders and Brett Cherry
The belated
The world is shifting to renewable energies in the wake of peak oil and accelerating global warming. Contrary to exhausting supplies of fossil and nuclear fuels, renewable
energy is inexhaustible energy. In 2008, more capacity in renewable energies has been added than conventional, and the trend is continuing, with many politicians and experts considering 100 percent renewable by 2050 a distinct possibility [1] (see Green Energies - 100% Renewable by 2050, ISIS publication). The German government, for one, appears to have made 50 to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050 its target [2] (Germany 100 Percent Renewables by 2050,
SiS 44)
The UK has lagged far behind. It is trailing the EU league for renewables, being third from bottom ahead of Luxembourg and Malta [3]. UK received 1 percent of its energy from
renewables in 1995; that increased to 1.3 percent ten years later in 2005, and is currently about 1.8 percent.
The UK government’s White Paper [4] is a belated attempt to salvage the situation by taking on board the message of the Stern Report [5, 6] (see The Economics of Climate Change,
SiS 33) including the positive finding that mitigating climate change is not only possible but affordable.
The good
The short term aim is that by 2020 the UK’s emissions should be reduced by 18 percent from the 2008 level, a larger reduction if the Copenhagen summit agrees appropriate
international targets. By 2050, emissions are to be cut by 80 per cent from 1990 levels, a target recommended by the Independent Committee on Climate Change as the UK’s
contribution to halving global emissions by 2050.
A separate report, The UK Renewable Energy Strategy 2009 [7] from the Department of Energy and Climate Change sets out a path to a “legally binding target” of 15 percent of UK’s
energy from renewables by 2020, reducing 750 Mt CO2 by 2030, and decreasing UK’s overall fossil fuel demand by around 10 percent and gas imports by 20-30 percent. A £100 billion new investment will create 500 000 jobs in the renewable energy
sector.
The White Paper [4] contains a great deal of detail on how the targets are to be achieved. There is a long list of measures (see Box 1) for producing low carbon energy and for reducing energy consumption, and a long appendix giving the savings that each is supposed to contribute. There is to be an EU-wide carbon trading scheme with a total that reduces year by year. There is to be support for energy conservation, for the development of renewable energy sources, for measures to reduce emissions from farms, for
the creation of more woodland to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and more. That’s the good news.
Read the rest of this report
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
Or read other articles about climate change
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/climateglobalwarming.php
========================================================
This article can be found on the I-SIS website at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/UK_lackluster_lowcarbon_transition.php
All new articles are also announced on our RSS feed
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/feed.xml
If you like this original article from the Institute of
Science in Society, and would like to continue receiving
articles of this calibre, please consider making a donation
or purchase on our website
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/ISISappeal.php
ISIS is an independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing critical public
information on cutting edge science, and to promoting social accountability and ecological sustainability in science.
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list unsubscribe at
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/unsubscribe
or email unsubscribe@i-sis.org.uk
========================================================
CONTACT DETAILS
The Institute of Science in Society,
The Old House 39-41 North Road, London N7 9DP
telephone: [44 20 7700 5948] [44 20 8452 2729]
For email details, see
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/contact.php
MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM
WITHOUT EXPLICIT PERMISSION. FOR PERMISSION, PLEASE
CONTACT ISIS at http://www.i-sis.org.uk/contact2.php
Wild Birds Blamed for Avian 'Flu in the Fraser Valley
MB Co-Operator - Oc 9'09
Wild geese. l.p. photoWild birds are seen as the carriers of a "low-path" H5N2 avian flu virus that hit a turkey farm....
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Millions Will Starve as Rich Nations Cut Food Aid Funding, Warns UN
The Guardian - UK - Oct.10-'09
Aid agencies fear global disaster as support for World Food Programme hits 20-year low...
=====
EDITOR'S NOTE: At the same time the US was pledging billions to bail out rich banks & financiers on Wall Street, it was cutting back on its pledge to the World Food Program by almost $1B!
Ironic, isn't it? Especially considering one of the counties to be hardest hit by such stinginess will be President Obama's ancentral home, Kenya! l.p.
Aid agencies fear global disaster as support for World Food Programme hits 20-year low...
=====
EDITOR'S NOTE: At the same time the US was pledging billions to bail out rich banks & financiers on Wall Street, it was cutting back on its pledge to the World Food Program by almost $1B!
Ironic, isn't it? Especially considering one of the counties to be hardest hit by such stinginess will be President Obama's ancentral home, Kenya! l.p.
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Are hungry kids a priority for the Harper government? by Larry Powell The forum (for the riding of Dauphin - Swan River - Neepawa) w...
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by Larry Powell Planet In Peril has sorted through some of the confusion surrounding the absence of Robert Sopuck, the Conservative M...
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Larry Powell Powell is a veteran, award-winning journalist based in Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Canada. He specialize in stories about agriculture...