Jordan Poppenk speaks with Martin Middlestadt, environmental reporter with the Globe and Mail, about trends in environmental journalism and the role of the media in environmental change.
Riyaad Ali, Operations Manager for the University of Toronto Sustainable Energy Fair, speaks about their event next week.
Scott Hansen speaks to Kitchener geologist Melissa Battler, a member of the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, about parallels between Earth and Mars geology.
The headlines in brief:
Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday that Ontario needs to build green SUVs rather than tiny hybrids if it wants to remain a leader in the auto industry;
Health Canada suggests Canadians should now limit consumption of fresh and frozen tuna, shark, swordfish, escolar, marlin and orange due to mercury contamination;
Canada and other supporters of seal-hunting urged the European Union not to ban the import of seal products;
A new study shows that global warming may not just shift existing climates, but may also create some entirely new ones.
Australia is seeking international backing for a new fund to combat deforestation and climate change, even as it refuses to sign the Kyoto protocol.
Despite dolphin-friendly tuna fishing practices, dolphin numbers in the Eastern Pacific Ocean have yet to recover.
The UN says that better architecture and energy savings in buildings could do more to fight global warming than all of the curbs on greenhouse gases agreed to under the Kyoto Protocol.
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Sapna Sharma talks to London director Rob Stewart about his award-winning film Sharkwater, which was released for viewing in theatres today.
The headlines in brief:
Canada’s Conservative government avoided a forced early election after an opposition party agreed to support a budget that pledges $3.8 billion worth of previously-announced environment measures;
Toronto officials announced a $6 billion dollar plan to build an ambitious light rapid transit network that would include seven rail lines crisscrossing the city;
Ontario is introducing $18-million in spending legislation to protect the province’s endangered animals over four years;
Ontario and federal governments would clean up four of the 15 most polluted sites by 2010 under a proposed agreement;
Environment Minister John Baird indicated that Canadian companies will not be allowed to participate in international emissions trading even if they use their own money;
This was the second-warmest winter on record in Canada and the warmest winter on average worldwide;
Documents turned over by the Bush administration suggest a concerted While-House-led effort to mislead the public about global warming, according to the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform;
A hydroelectric project in Iceland will generate green energy, but has flooded and transformed a huge tract of volcanic wilderness and ruined fishing downriver;
A study by the American National Cancer Institute highlights the continuing importance of nature as a source of new drugs, noting that 70 percent of all new US drugs in the past 25 years have come from nature;
Warming temperatures since 1981 have caused annual losses of about five billion dollars for six major cereal crops, according to a new study.
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We feature coverage of the national climate change action staged by Canadians for Kyoto on Sunday in Halifax, London, Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Victoria and Toronto. In this special episode, we feature:
Federal NDP leader Jack Layton
Green Comedian Elvira Kurt
Green Party Candidate Chris Tindle
Toronto Liberal MP Maria Minna
David Suzuki Foundation analyst Jose Etcheverry
GreenPeace Energy Coordinator David Martin
.The headlines in brief:
Canadians are choosing auto-dependent suburbs and exurbs over city life in staggering numbers, according to the 2006 census;
The Conservative government announced a $225-million plan targeted at preserving ecologically sensitive lands from development;
Alberta’s industries accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the climate-warming gases released by corporations in Canada, according to a new survey;
The Conservative government has axed the part of Environment Canada responsible for shaping the climate-change policies currently being announced;
Pro-Kyoto rallies were held in Halifax, London, Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Victoria and Toronto demanding political action on climate change;
An internal memo from the US Fish and Wildlife Service was leaked urging employees traveling abroad to keep quiet about climate change unless they have official approval to speak about it;
Britain became the first country to propose legislation setting legally binding carbon emissions limits;
Northern Thailand has not seen any rain since November and is consequently choking in a haze of smoke from forest fires and other related sources;
A new UN report says most European and North American countries have reversed deforestation, while most developing countries continue to experience high rates of deforestation.
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Jordan Poppenk is joined in studio by Elena Jusenlijska and Brennan Louw, organizers of Canadians for Kyoto, a Canadian ENGO that is rallying individuals, businesses, labour unions, environmental agencies, and communities who support Canada’s recommitment to the Kyoto Protocol in nationwide marches on Sunday, March 11th.
Scott Hansen interviews with Doug MacDonald from the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Environment about the history and future of climate change policy in Canada and around the world.
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The headlines in brief:
The federal government committed its $962-million share of public transit projects in the Greater Toronto Area;
The Toronto Star reports that Toronto has been using about 15 per cent less salt on the roads over the last few years as a salute to growing environmental consciousness;
On Wednesday, Toronto’s Exhibition Place unveiled one of the largest trigeneration systems in Canada and the first system that is municipally-owned;
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty remarked this week that the continuing gasoline shortage is a reminder of how the province needs to lessen its reliance on imported oil;
TD bank’s chief economist has come out in favour of taxing pollutants at the time they are produced;
Environmental regulators in the United States and Canada have developed a joint label for farm chemicals;
A report published by scientists this week in the journal Ambio indicates that so much mercury has accumulated in fish that there should be a worldwide public warning about eating seafood;
The US department of agriculture has given primary approval to a company that plans to grow rice that has been genetically modified to make human proteins;
The United Nations has finally received a greenhouse gas emissions report from the Bush administration that was more than a year overdue, and the results are not encouraging;
A report released last week by Beijing suggests that China will overtake the US in terms of greenhouse gas emissions by this year or next;
New research suggests that Asian aerosol pollution is having a wider effect on global weather and climate than was previously assumed;
A new UN-led alliance will develop global guidelines for the disposal of so-called ‘e-waste’, including computers, photocopiers and televisions.
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Letitia Henville interviews Danielle Murray and Devyani Srinivasan, part of a team of University of Toronto graduate students in the Planning Programme about their recent proposal to the City of Toronto for boosting Toronto’s waste diversion rate. Their report is titled Talking Trash: Options for Increasing Toronto’s Waste Diversion Rate. Note that due to technical difficulties, the introduction to this segment was lost in the podcast version of this program.
Jordan Poppenk speaks with Professor Miriam Diamond from UofT’s Environmental Chemistry Research Group about what polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are, why they’re showing up in the news, and why they’re showing up in your bloodstream.
Special web feature:
Sign the petiton in support of the Ontario Climate Change Act, which would require the Ontario government to achieve Kyoto targets and develop a plan for doing so (similar to recent federal legislation). The act was tabled in December by Ontario’s NDP Environment Critic Peter Tabuns.
The headlines in brief:
Two-thirds of consumers are likely to switch their spending to companies that have demonstrated a commitment to green policies, according to a new survey;
The Ontario NDP party is spearheading an effort that would help consumers identify what carcinogens or toxins in everyday products;
The federal conservative government and the private firm Energy Alberta are promoting the idea of using nuclear energy to develop Alberta’s massive oil sands reserves;
The Commons environment committee has endorsed a motion calling for an independent environment commissioner with the power to advocate who can’t be fired by the auditor-general;
All three federal opposition leaders dismissed as inadequate a draft conservative government plan to regulate greenhouse gas emissions;
The US Energy Department has announced that it will provide up to 385 million dollars to six ethanol refinery projects.
Beekeepers in the US are becoming increasingly alarmed as a massive honeybee die-off threatens their livelihood.
In Indonesia, scientists discovered twenty new species of sharks and rays. In a few weeks, Australia will fire up its first wave-generated power station.
Tajikistan is suffering from an energy crisis, and some citizens are building homemade hydroelectric stations that can power entire small villages.
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This week:
This week:
