Tyler Irving hosts a discussion with Daryn Caister, Kevin Farmer and Jordan Poppenk about the state of climate policy in Canada and why more action has not apparent from successive federal governments.

Peter Stock coerces the staff of Alternatives Journal to do a radio dramatization of “Mending Our Fuelish Ways”, Kirk Gaudreau’s five act “play” in which five of Canada’s leading environmental thinkers share their views on Canada’s energy future.

Donna Vakalis speaks with Julian Smith, director of the Willowbank School about green architecture and reviving the design/craft ethos in archtectural studies.

Dylan Jervis speaks with Richard Peltier, professor of Physics at the University of Toronto and Director of The Centre for Global Change Science about how science professionals view the University of East Anglia climate change email controversy and what it all really means.

Today we explore the world of Junk Science. Though to get there we might have to do a little “Data Dredging” and “Preception Manipulation”.

Trent University professor Stephen Bocking reviewed four junk science expose books in his recent Alternatives Journal article “Skewing Science: Four new books expose how government and industry manipulate science to fit their needs.” Bocking defines “Data dredging” as “Conducting a study, then shuffling the numbers until desired results appear”.

Sound outrageous? It shouldn’t. In his two-part interview with Bocking Peter Stock discovers that these are all too common tactics employed by climate crisis deniers, profit driven corporations, and their on-the-take junk scientists.

Booklist

Diagnosis: Mercury: Money, Politics and Poison, Jane M. Hightower, Washington, DC: Island Press, 2008, 326 pages.

The Secret History of the War on Cancer, Devra Davis, New York: Basic Books, 2007, 560 pages.

Bending Science: How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research, Thomas O. McGarity and Wendy E. Wagner, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2008, 400 pages.

Doubt is Their Product: How Industry’s Assault on Science Threatens Your Health, David Michaels, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, 384 pages.

Zero Waste Simcoe is an environmental group, working to bring the benefits of Zero Waste to Simcoe County. With more than 200 members from across the County, Zero Waste Simcoe is dedicated to making Simcoe County a Zero Waste jurisdiction. Gord McKay, Chair of ZWS speaks about his organization.

Reporter Peter Stock speaks with Terris Lutter of Foodforethought.net about a New York Times Op Ed about the controversial changes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations regarding biofuels.

Dylan Jervis speaks with Alex Wood, Senior Director for Policy and Markets at Sustainable Prosperity, to clarify much bandied terms such as “carbon tax” and “Cap and Trade”

On January 31st 2010 Toronto was the first city in North America to put into practice a Green roof bylaw along with a new grant incentive program. The term ‘green roof’ seems to be gaining currency. Professional living roof systems designer Kelven Goodridge gives first-time TGM correspondent Donna Valkis a novice introduction of the technologies for greening our own homes and city, and asks us to consider the broader cultural
ramifications of the changing Canadian policies around living architecture.

To find out how to eat locally during the cold winter months, environmental law and policy correspondent Naomi Jehlicka takes a break from talking politics to speak with Dan Donovan – a founding member of Ontario’s Own, a company that aims to deliver innovative, great tasting Ontario food products all year round. To learn more about this exciting organization, as well as discover where to find find their locally sourced goodies, visit them at ontariofoodcompany.com.

Award-winning director/producer Donna Zuckerbrot of Reel Time Images talks about her latest documentary, My Nuclear Neighbour, which follows two Alberta women traveling to Kincardine, Ontario to discover what it means to have a nuclear plan in their backyard. The documentary airs Thursday, February 11 at 8 pm on CBC’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.

We know that the Alberta tar sands industry forms one of Canada’s biggest environmental blights. Now, a new documentary by award-winning filmmaker Peter Mettler shows us that the tar sands site is also stunning to look at, literally. Petropolis is a beautifully filmed piece portraying aerial perspectives of the open pit mines and processing facilities at the tar sands and also the pristine Boreal forest that surrounds the site. Petropolis filmmaker Peter Mettler joins reporter LeeAnne MacGregor in the studio to discuss this unique project that combines art and activism. For a photographic tour of the film visit http://www.petropolis-film.com/.

Guerrilla environmental activists the Yes Men have infamously exploited all forms of media to shame the WTO, the BBC, Dow Chemical, the New York Times, Exxon, Haliburton, the US Chamber of Commerce and most recently, the Government of Canada. Yes Man “Andy Bichlbaum” joins Peter Stock in studio in advance of the Toronto opening of their new film “The Yes Men Fix the World”.

Whether it’s for reasons of sustainability, health promotion, or just for fun, the popularity of urban gardening is on the rise. Tyler Irving speaks to Jason Qu of the Campus Agriculture Project and Heather Wray of the Urban Agriculture Society about what it takes to start growing your own food in the city.

Spirotetramat is an agricultural pesticide that was banned in the US by a recent court order. This pesticide, however, is still legal in Canada. We speak with Michael Bernard of Sierra Club Canada about spirotetramat and why Sierra Club Canada would like to see it banned here as well.

Producer Peter Stock speaks with renowned academic, environmentalist and father of the Carbon Footprint, William Rees. The topic is ostensibly his Alternatives Journal New Ecology article “What If Prime Minister Harper and President Obama Led as Though Ecology Mattered”. But the conversation covers much more ground.

The entire show this week is dedicated to our second annual review of the past year. News correspondents Chris Berube and Daryn Caister join host Tyler Irving and producer Jordan Poppenk to recall their favourite environmental headlines of the past year. Highlights include:

• The UNFCCC Conference in Copenhagen
• Canadian political turmoil, including Michael Ignatieff’s endorsement of the Tar Sands and the collapse of the Green Party of Alberta
• The victory in Tiny Township over the prosed dump known as Site 41
• Ontario’s Green Energy Act and Pesticide Ban

And much more!