This week:

• Dr. Devra Davis, a cancer epidemiologist and Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, speaks with Danny Leskiw about the war on cancer, some missteps it has taken, and environmental causes of the problem.
• First-time correspondent Chris Berube speaks to Matthew Price, a spokesperson of Environmental Defense, about public environmental attitudes in Alberta and their eye-catching report last week about the tar sands, which described the project as the “most environmentally destructive project on earth.”

The headlines in brief:

• The 2008 federal budget includes two main environmental measures: $250 million for carbon capture technology and $500 million for public transit.
• The Conservatives’ much-criticized clean-car rebate program has been scrapped;
• A group that includes all major oil sands producers, the Cumulative Environmental Management Association, is asking Alberta to stop selling oil sands leases;
• Canada is overhauling its 18-year-old strategy on sustainable packaging and corporate responsibility;
• An endangered bird, the Roseate Tern, is affecting the fate of a $4-billion dollar energy project on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore;
• An Alaskan town north of the Arctic Circle has filed suit against 24 energy companies over erosion they say is caused by climate change.
• South Africa has announced that it is reversing a 1995 ban on killing elephants, in an effort to control their numbers.

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Amhurst Island Public Radio, CJAI 92.1 FM, is the latest station to join the TGM project.

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CJAI boasts the title of Canada’s smallest legal FM station. Broadcasting out of a milkhouse in an old dairy barn, their 250 watt signal covers the Thousand Island area in Ontario. CJAI is the fifth community station to join the TGM project.

As Stewart McLean might say, they “may not be big, but they’re small.”

You can now tune into the program in the Thousand Islands on 92.1 FM on Wednesdays from 12-1pm EST and Saturdays from 10-11am.

This week:

• After digging for background on the drive-thru ban that’s been proposed in major Canadian cities such as Toronto and Vancouver, green life correspondent Peter Stock delivers a comprehensive exposé on the drive-thru, speaking to a number of experts on both environmental considerations and their surprising effects on health. Experts interviewed include Toronto Ward 21 Councillor Joe Mihavc, biophysicist Dennis Corr, and Rob Evans, president and CEO of The Ontario Restaurant, Hotel & Motel Association (ORHMA).
  
• First-time engineering correspondent Nicholas Wood speaks with Gideon Forman, CEO of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, a group that represents physicians in Canada who are concerned about the environment. They discuss the effect of pesticides and other compounds on human health.
  

The headlines in brief:

• British Columbia Liberals have made big headlines in the past week by introducing North America’s first carbon tax to be introduced in June;
• Toxic chemicals have again been detected in “Chemical Valley”, home to an aboriginal community of 900 in Sarnia, Ontario.
• A new Environmental Defense report has described the Alberta tarsands as “the most destructive project on earth”;
• An AltaGas sour gas plant north-west of the town of Worsley erupted into flames for unknown reasons;
• Alberta party leaders squared off on a televised debate that revealed fundamental differences on party responses to the environment;
• The federal government pledges another $18 million toward cleaning up Lake Simcoe, bringing the total to $30 million.
• The federal government has announced new limits on phosphates in household detergents to reduce blue-green algae growth in Canadian lakes;
• Pelmorex Communications Inc. has been given a category 2 license for Canada’s first environment channel;
• Uganda, Rwanda and Congo have joined together in an unprecedented effort to save the endangered mountain gorillas that range across the three countries.
• Four countries and several cities and corporations have announced a new web-based information hub to assist with efforts to become carbon-neutral.

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This week:

• Dr. Danny Harvey, a Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto, speaks with host Jordan Poppenk about new research into whether biofuel is as eco-friendly as is often advertised.
• Chris Tindal, Green Party candidate for Toronto Centre, discusses the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) negotiations and their relevance to environmental policy in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. A conservative candidate from the same riding was unavailable to join the discussion. See the Green Party FAQ on the SPP, as well as a YouTube video from CUPE depicting alleged “police provocateurs” at the event (first aired August 31, 2007).

The headlines in brief:

• The federal government has come through on transit funding for the city of Toronto that’s been in arrears since a $1 billion deal made in March, 2004;
• Ontario has implemented new rules about the way its environmental assessments are conducted;
• Ontario’s transportation planning chief Rob MacIsaac has advised a Toronto panel that the city should upload costs of the subway system;
• The cold is causing major cost overruns for tarsands projects in Alberta; British Columbia’s Throne Speech has mapped out various action plans to improve the environment;
• Dawson Creek, British Columbia, is becoming a booming area for the natural gas industry;
• Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, received a Greenpeace ‘destroyer’ award;
• The United States has missed a second deadline to decide if polar bears should be listed under the Endangered Species Act;
• Abu Dhabi has begun to build what it says is the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city;
• According to a recent poll, nearly two thirds of people in Japan support the country’s whaling program.

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This week:

• Correspondent Danny Leskiw speaks with Dr. Gordon Edwards, a top nuclear expert, about the by-products of nuclear power generation;
• Green Life reporter Peter Stock speaks with Chris Turner, author of The Geography of Hope: a tour of the world we need. The text focuses on good news environmental stories around the globe. It is available online and at good bookstores everywhere (first broadcast November 2, 2007).
• Host Jordan Poppenk and pundit Kevin Farmer discuss recent changes at Environment Canada.

The headlines in brief:

• Environment Canada has muzzled its scientists by ordering them to refer all media queries to Ottawa;
• Federal Environment Minister John Baird has come under scrutiny regarding possible interference with an Ottawa municipal election;
• A number of tar sands companies have joined forces to fund a large-scale test of a carbon capture technology that could help to limit Alberta’s greenhouse gas contributions;
• With $40.6 billion in profit, Exxon Mobil Corporation has again posted the highest annual profit of any company, anywhere, ever before.
• Scientists in Britain, Germany and the United States have produced a report that warns of “tipping points” that could bring about rapid, damaging climate shifts.
• Three Wall Street banks have said they will set environmental standards that factor in carbon-emissions when they lend money to power companies that plan on building coal-fired power plants.
• In his annual state of the nation address, Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev has urged his country to go green.
• Britain has announced that its greenhouse gas emissions dropped in 2006 by half a percent.

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