Science correspondent Sapna Sharma interviews Dr. Harold Harvey, Professor Emeritus and Director of the Bait Association of Ontario, about how a new aquatic virus in Lake Ontario is shutting down the Ontario bait business.
Out-of-range correspondant Ryan Wiseman talks about green social bookmarking.
Kevin Farmer and Jordan Poppenk discuss a set of large funding announcements for federal environment initiatives.
The headlines in brief:
A 150,000-litre fuel spill was caused by a broken fuel line on Brevoort Island;
Durham’s city council decided this week to drop the identification of five parcels of environmentally sensitive land for a future growth study;
Oneida Nation of the Thames has started court action over the proposed sale and expansion of the Green Lane landfill site to the City of Toronto;
Nova Scotia government plans to generate close to 20 per cent of the province’s electricity from renewable sources by 2013;
Canada’s federal Conservatives have announced billions in plans for revived environmental spending;
Stephen Harper indicated that Canada won’t follow the US in setting hard targets for reducing oil consumption, as it intends to become a world energy superpower;
Ten executives rwwepresenting major US companies urge Bush to create a cap-and-trade program for carbon emissions;
Bush’s State of the Union Address mentions climate change but shies away from serious commitments;
The Canadian Navy will continue to train with sonar for two years, even though marine mammals may be negatively affected;
An oil spill caused by last summer’s conflict in Lebanon has been successfully contained by a UN task force;
Stinging Portuguese Man-O’-War threaten Australian beachgoers more and more as oceans warm;
Nearly half of the world’s waterbirds are in decline.
You can download the show here (right click, save as…), or listen in the player ** Note: player will close if you surf away from the page**
We go live with our new toll-free talkback number, 1-888-4-MY-CIUT, or (888) 469-2488. Call in with your opinions or feedback about the show, and we’ll try to play your comments on the coming week’s program.
Elise Haughton speaks about what are kids learning about the environment in Ontario during Climate Change and the Coming Energy Crisis, held by Peace Magazine.
.
The news in brief:
Documents obtained by Radio-Canada indicate that, just days after the federal Conservative government won the previous election, representatives met with US delegates to negotiate a five-fold increase in Alberta oilsands production, with “streamlined” environmental procedures;
Imperial Oil Ltd. was fined $100,000, plus a victim fine surcharge, after being convicted of discharging a significant quantity of sand-like material that settled on a residential area;
Ontario Liberals are seeking public input on a regulation that would ban the burning of used oil in space heaters;
The Ontario government also issued approvals permitting Lafarge to collect, store and burn various wastes, including used tires, which are slated for waste diversion;
The CBC reports that Dion called for the Green Party to be included in the televised leaders’ debate (click here for a petition);
The Conservative government announced $230 million in new funding for the development of clean energy technologies;
Deadly winter storms have hit Europe and the US, hurting crops and bringing entire national transportation networks to a standstill;
Saudi Arabia plans to step up oil production by 40% to meet growing demand;
A meeting of Southeast Asian and Pacific nations yielded a vague plan to curb pollution and promote biofuels;
British scientists have drafted a plan to save the planet’s strangest animals.
You can download the show here (right click, save as…), or listen in the player ** Note: player will close if you surf away from the page**
Jordan Poppenk follows a story about the Tiny Township acquifer - recently found to be the purest source of water on the planet - in our first appearance in the Queen’s Park press gallery (with an exclusive question period: backgrounder here).
We present a recent lecture by Jack Santa-Barbara, director of the Sustainable Scale Project, an NGO dedicated to promoting a scale of human economic activity that is ecologically realistic in the long term.
The headlines in brief:
The Climate Action Network — a coalition of environmental groups – has unveiled a list of actions it says the government could take to curb emissions;
An international conference for convention planners in Toronto is being touted as the country’s first large-scale zero-waste convention;
Two trucks carrying medical waste from Toronto overturned earlier in the week on a highway in Michigan;
Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced the start of construction Thursday for the province’s biggest hydroelectric project in a decade, the $5-billion Eastmain -1-A in northern Quebec;
It could be 2009 before a plan to clean up the Yukon’s Faro mine site is completed;
The US Government removed a ban on oil and gas exploration in an endangered Right Whale habitat;
Scientists claim some earthquakes may be caused by human factors, such as mining;
A warm December made 2006 warmest year in the US since recordkeeping began.
You can download the show here (right click, save as…), or listen in the player ** Note: player will close if you surf away from the page**
Jordan Poppenk speaks with Andreas Marouchos, engineer and Directorof the Bluesky solar racing team at the University of Toronto, about the present and future of solar cell technology as an energy source.
Environment Minister Rona Ambrose gets shuffled out of the federal Conservative environment portfolio to be replaced by former Treasury President John Baird. Jordan Poppenk and Scott Hansen discuss the implications.
Scott Hansen delivers his predictions for thetop environmental stories of 2007.
The headlines in brief:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is dumping Environment Minister Rona Ambrose and replacing her with his Ontario political minister, John Baird;
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has dismissed a special environmental adviser the former Liberal government named to kick-start Canada’s attempts at curbing greenhouse-gas emissions under the Kyoto accord;
The new year has been welcomed by bizarre weather across the country;
Environmental Defence identified harmful pollutants in the bodies of four federal politicians who volunteered to have their blood tested;
According to a Decima Research poll released this week to The Canadian Press, environmental policy is both the top priority of Canadian voters and the subject of the most dissatisfaction with government performance;
British climate scientists are predicting that 2007 may be the world’s hottest year ever recorded;
Researchers have found that the plants in the Amazon rainforest rely on nutrient-rich dust from a valley in the Sahara desert;
The Union of Concerned Scientists has accused energy giant ExxonMobil of ‘manufacturing uncertainty’ about climate change by donating large sums of money to climate change skeptic groups;
Melting sea ice in the Arctic is helping ocean waters soak up more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere;
The scimitar-horned oryx, an antelope that had been wiped out of its native habitat in Tunisia is being reintroduced into the wild.
You can download the show here (right click, save as…), or listen in the player ** Note: player will close if you surf away from the page**
New theological contributor Simon Watson interviews 
