Alternatives Journal articles from September 2005

Alternatives Journal archives from September 2005

Climate for change.(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... AS THE United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 11 COP/MOP 1) approaches, the media are certain to stir up a flurry of interest in this controversial issue. National, regional and local newspapers, radio and television...

Net-Zero Energy Homes.(Canada's move towards greenhouse gas emissions )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Canadian federal government has announced new funding for an innovative net-zero energy housing project: one million dollars for the construction of 14 demonstration homes throughout Canada by 2007, to expand to 1500 more homes over five...

Ontario green power.(Bullfrog Power Inc. provides green electricity )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Energy consumers in Ontario can now purchase green electricity through Bullfrog Power Inc., whose sources meet the federal government's Environmental Choice Program EcoLogo[TM] standard. Currently, wind power and low-impact hydroelectric power...

Canada's eco-embarrassment.(Canada holds 28th position in environmental performance among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... A recent David Suzuki Foundation report, The Maple Leaf in the OECD: Comparing Progress Toward Sustainability, ranks Canada's environmental performance 28th out of all 30 OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries....

Green graveyards.
September 1, 2005... LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Michael Salisbury and others are proposing to develop an ecocemetery in the Oak Ridges Moraine north of Toronto to promote ecological restoration and address a growing trend in North America. In an ecocemetery, bodies are...

Methane matters more.(Science Desk)
September 1, 2005... RESEARCHERS at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, led by Dr. Drew Shindell, have found that methane emissions bear more of the responsibility for climate change than previously thought. They reached this conclusion by uniquely...

GM Watch.(www.gmwatch.org)(exposing groups deceiving public)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... GM Watch sifts through the hype and propaganda surrounding genetic engineering, and exposes several attempts by special interest groups to blatantly deceive the public. For instance, GM Watch successfully exposed a campaign waged by Monsanto...

Wal-Mart Watch.(scrutiny on health care, gender equality, outsourcing and the environment)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Wal-Mart Watch scrutinizes the world's largest retailer on issues of health care, gender equality, outsourcing and the environment, to name only a few. It offers background articles, analytical reports, recommended links and information on...

MiningWatch.(Hot Green Websites)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... MiningWatch Canada offers resources to help people understand the health, social and environmental impacts of irresponsible mining in Canada and abroad including informative news items organized by country, Canadian province, issue and company....

Amazon gassed again.( gas leak contaminates waterways)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... A pipeline transporting natural gas from the Camisea gas project in the Peruvian Amazon has leaked for the third time this year. The mayor of the affected district, Celestino Romin, reported that the gas leak contaminated at least five...

Bigfooted Europeans.(Europen consumption of earth's resources)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... Although Europe is home to only seven percent of the world population, it uses 17 percent of the earth's resources, according to Europe 2005: The Ecological Footprint, published by the WWF and the Global Footprint Network. The average European...

Grounding the Britons.(Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research says air travel should be reduced to cut greenhouse gas emissions)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research warns that Britain must drastically reduce the growth of air travel in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The British government wants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 60 percent below...

Sensing cleaner air for China.(Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau uses Remote Sensing Technology to improve air quality )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau plans to use advanced Remote Sensing Technology to identify polluting vehides and help improve air quality in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. Beijing has purchased five remote sensing devices from...

Boycott the biggies.(Organic Consumers Association's campaign against chain stores, fast food restaurants and corporate coffeehouses )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Organic Consumers Association is organizing the Breaking the Chains campaign, from November 13 to December 31, to encourage people to boycott large chain stores, fast food restaurants and corporate coffeehouses and instead support...

Childproofing your environment.(Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment's educational resources )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Canadian Partnership for Children's Health and Environment (CPCHE) released two free educational resources as part of its national Childproofing for Environmental Health Campaign launched fall 2005. Child Health and the Environment: A...

Nahanni Forever.( Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society urges the federal government to expand the boundaries of the Nahanni National Park Reserve)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is urging the federal government to expand the boundaries of the Nahanni National Park Reserve in the North West Territories to include the entire watershed of the South Nahanni River, which is...

Monsanto applies to patent pigs.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... GREENPEACE is waging a letter campaign against Monsanto urging the company to stop its patent applications with the World International Property Organization for swine reproduction procedures and the resulting offspring. Christoph Then, a...

Power research is dung-tied.(cow dung as source of electricity)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... RESEARCHERS at Ohio State University have discovered that micro-organisms found in cow dung could provide a reliable source of electricity. The concept of using cow waste to generate energy isn't new--some farmers already use the methane...

Co-op sees climate shift.
September 1, 2005... "BECAUSE OF TOO MUCH CHANGE in the weather it makes it hard for people to go out in the bush. There is not much permafrost and the ground is still soft under the snow. The ground usually makes cracking noises when it gets really cold. We don't...

Ice melts, bogs thaw.(ice melts in Arctic region as irreversibly warming point reach)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Arctic region may have entered a phase of irreversible warming. Measurements show a consistent downward trend in the amount of Arctic summer sea ice, which suggests that the ice formed over many winters, known as multi-year ice, is...

Ozone Holding.(Institute for Research in Environmental Science says ozone layer may no longer be in decline)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... The Institute for Research in Environmental Science recently published a report that suggests the ozone layer may no longer be in decline. The study is based on ozone measurements collected by satellites and ground-based instruments in North...

Time for an oil change: Alberta should tap its much-lauded entrepreneurial spirit to lead the way in emissions reduction.(oil and gas)
September 1, 2005... HOME TO COWBOYS and roughnecks, Alberta is an aggressive, take-no-prisoners, risk-taking kind of place. From the hoodooed badlands in the east across the cattle-grazed prairie to the pump jack-studded foothills, Canada's energy capital bears...

London crawling: Britain was right on target for meeting its Kyoto commitments, but will have to pick up the pace to stay in the race.(greenhouse gas emissions )
September 1, 2005... "THE UK has proved that economic growth does not have to lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions." So wrote Margaret Beckett and Patricia Hewett in Canada's Globe and Mail in March 2005. Taking aim at the "can't do" mentality of Kyoto...

The trading game: emissions trading schemes offer pollution as a market commodity.
September 1, 2005... WITH THE CHALLENGES signatory countries now face to meet their commitments under the Kyoto accord, an inventive concept has emerged to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions: let the market handle it. Emissions trading systems treat greenhouse...

Insuring the climate: the insurance industry has not had the effect on emissions that environmentalists predicted.
September 1, 2005... IN THE MID-1990s, environmentalists hoped that the insurance industry could counter the power of fossil-fuel firms, which were successfully resisting action to limit emissions. The global insurance industry was a huge sector whose interests...

Partially hydrogen-ated: much of the necessary infrastructure for a hydrogen economy is already developing.
September 1, 2005... IS THE hydrogen economy, popularized by Jeremy Rifkin's 2002 book of the same name, all washed up? Fuel-cell technology is still expensive and there is still no widespread hydrogen production and refuelling infrastructure. For hydrogen...

Power play: the shifting dynamics in a minority government gave lobbyists a chance to put environment on the agenda.
September 1, 2005... APRIL 13, 2005 was, all things considered, a good day for the environment in Canada. The federal government released its long-awaited Kyoto Implementation Plan, which was criticized within minutes by 11 national environmental groups as...

Climate revolution.(Discovery of global warming)
September 1, 2005... The Discovery of Global Warming, Spencer R. Weart, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004. We seem so aware of global climate change as the big environmental issue; it is already difficult to recall a time when we were...