This week:

  • We present reflections by speakers at the opening ceremonies of Chernobyl: 20 years, 20 lives, an exhibit featuring the work of Danish photographer Mads Eskesen. Comments are made by Chernobyl medical researcher Dr. Luba Komar and Toronto Councellor Gord Perks. The exhibit, an attempt to humanize the disaster by focusing on the lives of affect individuals, can be seen over the next two weeks at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto (1214 Queen St. W).
  • Jordan Poppenk and Kevin Farmer discuss greenwashing and the changing relevance of anti-litter initiatives to the environmental movement.

The headlines in brief:

  • CNR has been charged with five counts of environmental infractions stemming from a 2005 train derailment that resulted in 40,000 litres of lye spilling into the Cheakamus River in B.C.;
  • The environment has dominated the debate over the last two days during a meeting of Canada’s 13 premiers in New Brunswick;
  • A group of protesters are expressing their discontent over a flawed environmental assessment process regarding the proposed construction of a new incinerator by Durham/York regions;
  • Verdun in Montreal and a city infrastructure group are conducting more analyses to find out how raw sewage is getting into the St. Lawrence River;
  • Prince Edward Island announced a new Office of Energy Efficiency in its Department of Environment, Energy and Forestry;
  • Emergency officials in Newfoundland and Labrador are warning residents to heed new rainfall warnings;
  • The Blue Sky Solar Racing team at the University of Toronto unveiled its fifth solar powered vehicle on Thursday in an event that marked the team’s 10th anniversary;
  • On Wednesday, China held a celebration to mark one year until the 2008 Beijing Olympics, although pollution threatens some of the events;
  • A new study says that the length of heat waves in Western Europe has doubled since eighteen eighty, and the number of very hot days has tripled;
  • A study by US Environmental officials says that the number of U.S. beaches declared unsafe for swimming reached a record high last year.

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