This week:

• MP Martha Hall Findlay (Willowdale) speaks with political corespondent Danny Leskiw about the Liberal Green Shift Carbon Tax Proposal.
• Engineering correspondent Nicholas Wood interviews Professor David Keith, Director of the ISEEE Energy and Environmental Systems Group at the University of Calgary, who speaks about the frightening last-resort measures scientists are cooking up “just in case” of a climate catastrophe.
• Danny Leskiw is featured as this week’s guest host.

The headlines in brief:

• The Conservative government muted the release of a major Health Canada report, warning of the dire health consequences of climate change on Canadians.
• A private members’ bill was given royal assent this week that requires all civil servants to meet particular carbon standards in all decision-making, and to give every decision a “green screen”.
• The Western Climate Initiative (WCI), which will include a cap and trade carbon market for all member states, was founded this week, with BC, Manitoba, Quebec and seven American states signing on. Ontario announced later in the week that it intended to join the initiative as well.
• The provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, meanwhile, rejected the WCI this week, saying a cap-and-trade system would never be practical nationally as it disproportionately hurts energy rich provinces.
• EU puts restrictions on the import of Canadian seal pelts, saying they will reserve a right to reject any pelts they feel may have involved unnecessary animal cruelty.
• The Greater Vancouver Area passed a raft of by-laws this week requiring consumers to pay for almost all kinds of carbon emissions, and to pay for the use of any toxic chemicals in the country’s strongest “polluter pays” legislation.
• Liberal leader Stephane Dion announced this week plans to impose trarrifs on imports from the worst polluting countries.
• Ottawa is being urged to curb mine waste in tailing ponds after a new report shows the waste to exist at all-time high levels across the country.

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In this show we feature excerpts from the first of a series of Toronto School of Theology’s Ecumenical Seminars on Religion and Public Policy. The panel, entitled “Ecology, Environment and Religion,” was held October 18, 2007, in Massey College’s Upper Library at the University of Toronto. The excerpts focus on panellists Dr. Christina Vanin, author of Ecofeminist Theology: Choosing Life for All, and Susan King, a graduate student in Religious Studies at U of T, who looks at the religious dimensions of the First Nations fishing dispute. The talk was hosted by Lois Wilson, former Moderator of the United Church of Canada and Ecumenist in Residence at TST. The planning committee included graduate students Donna Kerfoot, Susan Harrison, and David Byrne.
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We dedicate this week’s program to a keynote lecture by Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada. May previously served as the Director of the Sierra Club of Canada and has been praised by many for her pragmatic approach to environmental change, straying beyond party lines when doing so promises what she believes to be the best environmental outcome. The lecture we recorded was not a political one; May speaks at the theological symposium Faith and the Common Good, where she describes her view of the spiritual relationship between the environment, life, and politics.

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Students at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick will soon be able to tune into TGM. Sackville’s campus and community radio station, CHMA 106.9FM, will broadcast the program on Wednesdays at 3PM, AST.

This week:

• We feature the 2008 Hart House Stages Panel held at the University of Toronto on the music industry and its environmental practices, hopefully titled, “Can music save the environment?” The panel was organized by Mitchell Wong, Julia Lo and Brett Winestock. This coming together of minds on music and environmental issues involved a unique mix, ranging from label managers to student musicians. The panel included:
• Candace Alper: Creator / Executive Producer of Name Your Tune
• Jennifer Larry: Digital Media and Marketing Manager for Sunrise Records
• Liam O’Doherty: student organizer with the University of Toronto Environmental Resource Network (UTERN)
• Barzin Hosseini-Rad: Musical performer

The headlines in brief:

• Canada was ranked second to last among G8 coutries this week in a comprehensive climate change report performed by the WWF;
• PM Harper warned European countries that they will have to accept Canada’s model of environmental legislation due to increasing global recession;
• The European Commission will ask its member states to ban the importation of furs made from the skins of young seals hunted in Canada;
• Tens of thousands of farmed Atlantic salmon escaped into the Campbell River, posing a great threat to wild stocks;
• A new report has revealed dismal on-time performance for Via Rail last year, with delays affecting up to three-quarters of arrivals during some months;
• Canada’s first carbon tax has taken effect this week in B.C;
• The B.C. government has begun negotiations with American coastal states to develop alternative energies and a broader collective green strategy;
• An Ontario high school student has isolated a bacteria that can biodegrade plastic bags in less than six months.

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