Due to exceptional circumstances, no audio technician was available for this week’s program. Please forgive intermittent clipping and audio quality problems.

This week:

  • University of Toronto Blue Sky Solar Racing Team Director Andreas Marouhos discusses the release of his team’s 5th generation solar car, which will soon compete in the World Solar Challenge in Australia.
  • 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 (first aired on March 30, 2007).

The headlines in brief:

  • Federal Conservatives have snubbed a private members bill passed in February by opposition parties that was intended to force the government to outline how Canada will meet its Kyoto targets;
  • A document obtained through an Access to Information request suggests that senior government experts disagreed with Environment Minister John Baird’s warnings that the Kyoto Protocol would provoke an economic disaster;
  • Another such document indicates the Conservative government was warned that the vehicle rebate program it is implementing would be cost-ineffective at reducing CO2 emissions;
  • Several of Ontario’s nuclear reactors have been offline for unexpected maintenance this summer, forcing a large spike in emissions from Ontario’s coal plants;
  • A diesel spill that occurred Monday near Vancouver Island could threaten the habitat of killer whales that frequent the area;
  • Unsatisfied with Environment Canada forecasts, the Canadian Wheat Board is investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into its own weather system;
  • The federal government has purchased a new Dash 8 to patrol the West Coast to monitor illegal bilge waste dumping.

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