Environment

Tar sands threatens millions of birds, report says

December 2, 2008

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail December 2, 2008 at 4:27 AM EST The development of the tar sands could lead to the loss of more than 160 million birds over the next 30 to 50 years because of the elimination of habitat and deaths from drowning in tailings ponds, according to a report being released today. The impact of the oil sands on birds has been in the spotlight, especially since a...

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Baffin Island tourists evacuated amid flood fears

August 1, 2008

Things are melting really fast in the Canadian Arctic this year, causing all kinds of unwelcomed changes. Here’s an article on another such event.  

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This is gonna hurt — but we’ll be thankful later.

July 30, 2008

An excellent article by journalist Dan Gardner. I very much agree with what he says. Here’s an excerpt: Like an addict kicking a habit, we will have to go through a period of painful withdrawal. But the good news is that, in time, we will all agree it was for the best.  

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America is doomed

June 28, 2008

The things that Bush can say and do while maintaing a straight face are just amazing. His pandering to his oil industry buddies knows no bounds. He is perfectly OK with authorizing drilling for oil off the pristine coast of Alaska, but he has just put a freeze on solar farms in the desert because he is worried about their potential impact on the desert’s environment. This is the same guy who said America...

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Report from the Subcommittee on Global Change Research

June 24, 2008

A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research, a Bush appointed comittee. http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-3/final-report/default.htm  

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Political Manipulation of EPA Science

April 25, 2008

It’s no secret that the Bush Administration and the Harper government both censor scientists on a regular basis, making sure that nothing that could harm their energy industry bodies gets out. Scientists from NASA, NOAA, EPA, and Environment Canada have complained about this fact for several years. The EPA even famously cancelled a report on the environment and global warming after the White House gutted out all the hard facts on climate change. Now...

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Senator Boxer Bashes EPA Head: “I’ve Never Seen Anything Like It”

January 25, 2008

From The Daily Green: It was California Senator Barbara Boxer versus EPA head Stephen L. Johnson yesterday on Capitol Hill. It wasn’t even a close match. In an extraordinary hearing on Johnson’s much-maligned decision to deny California and 14 other states the right to cut tailpipe emissions, committee head Barbara Boxer was quoted as saying:”You’re going against your own agency’s mission and you’re fulfilling the mission of some special interests.” But that wasn’t nearly...

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Oil Sand Disaster Denial

January 17, 2008

I have discussed in these pages the environmental disaster of biblical proportion that is caused by oil sand exploitation in northern Alberta.  Now it looks like Premier Stelmach is in total denial. It’s amazing how low people can sink just for money. Reposted from DeSmogBlog. Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach was in Washington, DC today hyping his province’s vast reserves of oil-soaked tar sands. Not everyone was applauding Stelmach, and rightly so. According to news...

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Report pans environmental record of tar sands companies

January 10, 2008

The exploitation of the tar sands in Northern Alberta is an economic disaster of epic proportions. Now the Pembina Institute and the World Wildlife Fund have issued a scathing report on the lack of effort from the industry to do better, and from the government to oversee and regulate them. By BOB WEBER The Canadian Press January 10, 2008 at 12:27 AM EST EDMONTON — A new report comparing the environmental performance of Alberta’s...

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Harper and Bush’s little plan to ruin the planet.

December 7, 2007

As a follow-on to my previous post on our little Canadian Dictator and his position on Global Warming, here’s a very nice little explanation of what is really going on, courtesy of DeSmogBlog. If you owned a distillery, you would probably not be in favour of prohibition. So it is little wonder why Harper is opposed to binding emission targets at the UN climate negotiations in Bali. Harper’s adopted province of Alberta is home...

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