Archive: Around the web
After helping bring climate change into the spotlight, the United Nations, under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, urged business and political leaders to respond to looming water shortages around the world. Ban, speaking at the World Economic Forum, cited water shortages as significant contributing factors to the conflicts in areas like the Darfur region of Sudan.
Water supplies as a source of conflict
Referring to a recent International Alert report that claims water crises will affect almost 4 billion people as the global economy grows and there’s a per capita increase in water usage:
“Too often, where we need water we find guns instead,” Ban said. “Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon.”
He said a recent report identified 46 countries with 2.7 billion people where climate change and water-related crises create “a high risk of violent conflict” and a further 56 countries, with 1.2 billion people “are at high risk of violent conflict.” The report was by International Alert, an independent peacebuilding organization based in London.
Ban told the VIP audience that he spent 2007 “banging my drum on climate change,” an issue the Forum also had as one of its main themes last year. He welcomed the focus on water this year saying the session should be named: “Water is running out.”
“We need to adapt to this reality, just as we do to climate change,” he said. “There is still enough water for all of us — but only so long as we can keep it clean, use it more wisely, and share it fairly.”
Privatizing the world’s water supply
Dead in the Water. A 2004 documentary called Dead in the Water, produced by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate, investigates the ongoing efforts of business and government to deliver water to consumers, focusing on the business side of things. The primary focus of investigative reporter Linden MacIntyre is the privatization of water supplies, something he feels should be considered a public trust, managed by and for the citizens of the world.
The New York Times served up a good recap of the acceptance speech Al Gore gave while picking up the Nobel Peace Prize in Stockholm earlier this week. In the speech, Gore encourages the world’s largest current emitters of carbon dioxide (CO2) to reduce output drastically, to limit the effects of human-influenced global warming.
Some critics have pointed out that Gore’s emphasis on the current status of China and the United States as major CO2 emitters understates the historical role of North American countries played in the development of the current pickle in which we’ve found ourselves enmeshed.
I understand that argument, and I agree completely that it’s not necessarily fair that China be denied the same unfettered form of development that many western nations enjoyed, BUT it doesn’t discount the fact that we live in the now, and CO2 emitted by developing nations is the same stuff that more developed economies are spewing into the atmosphere.
CO2 is CO2 and, according to Gore, it’s one of the single greatest threats to human life on this planet. I think the Nobel organization recognizes this, and it’s for this reason that Gore was granted a Peace Prize, and not an award in another category.
In a joint study released by Germanwatch and Climate Action Network Europe, Canada received a very poor assessment regarding its ‘Climate Change Performance’.
The performance rating is based on a study that looked at the C02 emissions from the 56 nations that produce 90 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. According to the CBC, “The countries were ranked based on the amount of emissions they produced over the past year, the amount of reductions they made to their emissions levels and the strength of their climate-change policies.” Canada ranked fourth-to-last in the study, ranking ahead of Australia, the United States, and Saudi Arabia.
I know, a day late and a dollar short, but I did want to chime in on the results of the most recent Canadian federal election.
Federally, the Conservatives ‘won’ a minority government, giving Canadians their first non-Liberal government since the Kim Campbell PCs were annihilated in the mid 1990s. The Conservatives did a great job managing their federal campaign, running on a basic plank that focused on core issues, as well as keeping the party’s ’social conservatives’ from the media spotlight — something that surely cost the party in the closing days of the last federal election. The Liberals didn’t win, but they weren’t wiped out either — which is either a testament to Canadians’ unwillingness to let Harper’s Conservatives run amok with their planned policies or a statement about the overall level of discontent (ie. not very) within the country. The NDP made significant gains in British Columbia but not really in any other part of Canada — British Columbia again carried on with its contrarian voting tendencies.
Locally, the results were very similar to those from the election of 2004. Incumbent Randy Kamp (Conservative) defeated his closest rival, Mike Bocking (NDP), by a couple of thousand votes. The Liberal candidate, parachuted in from outside of the riding, garnered about 10,000 votes but it’s not possible to say whether he cost Bocking a seat in Ottawa or kept Kamp from winning a landslide. And, really, it’s not important because Kamp won the riding and is on his way back to Parliament. Read the rest of this entry »
I admit it: I’ve been lax with the posting during the past few weeks. I’ve got a bunch of different reasons for my absence but they don’t really have a whole lot to do with Growing Our Community, so I’ll carry on as if things are back to normal (mostly because they are).
A few weeks back, I was reading a magazine article that discussed a biogas plant in Vegreville, Alberta. According to Alberta Venture, the biogas plant uses a number of technological processes to transform feedlot manure into fertilizers, reusable water, and energy. Highmark Renewables — the company behind the project — is working to bring its IMUS plant to market. Not bad for a small farming town who’s major claim to fame is being the home of the World’s Largest Ukrainian Easter Egg.
The Pacific Northwest certainly has lived up to its billing as a temperate rainforest over the past month, during which time there’s been all too little respite from a constant deluge of rain. The unusual conditions have placed strain on the District of Maple Ridge’s ability to deal with the runoff, and it’s interesting to me that the existing management strategies haven’t been as effective as I would have hoped. So how can people deal with flooded yards and saturated soil? There’s a good writeup on Cascadia Scorecard Weblog about backyard bogs. In essence, the entry discusses ways that people can convert soggy (or not so soggy) properties into water processing factories that reduce stormwater runoff and help keep harmful pollutants out of public water systems.
Treehugger has a thought-provoking piece on ‘conspicuous green consumption‘. The entry is based on an opinion piece by Daniel Akst, where he argues that many of the model, eco-friendly homes out there are simply giving lip service to ‘green’ living:
By now these environmentally conscious “green” houses are a staple of home design magazines, where they are presented as exemplars of both good taste and good intentions. The Colorado house, for instance, has won awards from the state and the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and has appeared in the Washington Post and on Home and Garden TV.
The question, of course, is what on earth are all these people thinking? How “green” can huge and, in many cases, isolated houses be? Wouldn’t it be better to risk traumatizing the children by squeezing into a 3,000-square-foot home, especially one close to shopping, schools and work? How many less affluent, less guilt-ridden Americans can afford to build such environmental show houses?
Last, but not least, in this week’s roundup is an extensive list of books for thinking about the future. There’s lots of good stuff mentioned in the entry and the first follow up comment — if anything piques your interest, be sure to add it to your reading list.
Mayor Gordy Robson lost his first vote as a member of Maple Ridge Council this week. The vote, which dealt with an application by Joginder Dhaliwal to remove an additional 50,000 cubic metres of gravel from a site on 256th Street, was supported by all councillors except Robson. Based on the report in the local paper, the ‘gravel pit issue’ is a pretty complex one, involving both local and provincial governments, private stakeholders, and the public at large. However, in light of the lopsided vote result, it will be interesting to see how (and if) the issue sees the light of day again.
Elsewhere, researchers announced that people with chronic back pain can find some relief through the practice of low-intensity yoga:
Their study of 101 adults with persistent low back pain found that a gentle yoga class seemed to be a better alternative to either general exercise or a self-help book. Though people in the exercise class eventually improved to a similar degree as their yoga-practicing counterparts, yoga class brought quicker results.
In Texas and Oklahoma, at least 73 wildfires raced across the landscape, burning everything in their paths. Started by irresponsible citizens and fuelled by tinder try bushes and moved by high-winds, the fires have destroyed 20 homes and are responsible for at least one death.
See you all next week. We look forward to an exciting and rewarding 2006!
The United States Senate blocked a proposal that would have allowed oil companies to begin drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. According to the Seattle Times, proponents of the plan fell four votes short of its approval, heading off a filibuster attempt from Senate Democrats: Read the rest of this entry »
A massive spill of the toxic chemical benzene is flowing towards the city of Khabarovsk as workers in China and Russia rush to prevent its spread. Benzene is a carcinogen found in industrial products like solvents, petroleum, and degreasers; it can also be found in consumer products like cigarettes and denture adhesives.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was given the Zayed Prize for Global Leadership on the Environment. The Zayed Prize, which carries a monetary award of $500,000 was given to Annan for his efforts on raising awareness about sustainability on a global scale.
Scientists with the World Meteorological Organization reported that 2005 could very well be the warmest year on record. The organizaton’s report made alarming claims about the impact of greenhouse gas emissions have on climate change: an Arctic ice cap that is 20% smaller than its 25 year average; warm water currents in the Atlantic are slowing in the face of melt water from glaciers and northern ice caps, something that could contribute to a general ‘cooling’ in Europe; four years of drought in Southern Africa contributed to rising temperatures in that region.
San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom made a proposal that would result in the production of up to five million gallons of B20 biodiesel per year, fuel that would be used to power part of the region’s transit fleet. The biodiesel would be produced from inedible animal byproducts at a local rendering plant
A couple of weeks ago at a United Nations Conference on climate change, Paul Martin piped up about US hesitance to join international talks on climate change. The irony of the calling out, of course, was the fact that Canada’s record for reducing greenhouse gases — based on percentage increase since 1990 — was even worse than America’s failures.
Environment Canada’s 2005 report on Canadian Sustainabilty Indicators (.pdf) is breaks down the numbers and provides some interesting information about the sources of greenhouse gas emissions (major urban sectors and the gas and oil drilling areas of Alberta). The 2005 report, and all subsequent reports, will use a standardized set of indicators which allow Canadians to compare emission changes over time. These indicators which are set to monitor air quality, greenhouse gas emissions, and freshwater quality. Green Car Congress has a decent overview of the report’s numbers if you aren’t interestested in reading the entire report.
I’m hesitant to imagine what’s going to happen with these numbers when administrations like Gordon Campbell’s British Columbia Liberals actually start allowing corporations to develop oil exploration projects and to drill for natural gas. Are British Columbians going to see the same sort of ground-level ozone increases as those found in neighbouring Alberta? Do they care about emissions if development brings more jobs to non-urban communities? How does this fit into the general idea of sustainability that is being tossed about by politicians at all levels?
The CBC is reporting that Maritime Electric recently committed $60 million to a wind farm project on Prince Edward Island. The utility, which provides power to PEI’s residents, stated in the past that wind power was too expensive, relative to other forms of energy generation.
“The technology has improved dramatically in the past few years,” president Jim Lea now says. “The cost has declined and the reliability has increased. That has a big factor on the economics.”
There are already eight wind generators at the PEI Energy Corp. site. They’re expected to supply two per cent of the province’s needs. PEI Energy Corp. is a Crown corporation and the province is pushing wind power because it’s a clean, renewable source.
This new announcement, of course, changes Maritime Electric’s stance and is encouraging news for a province that seeks to generate 15% of its energy from sustainable sources by the year 2010. The PEI developments comes hot on the heels of news that Ontario is committed to the building of eight sustainable energy projects that are expected to generate upwards of 975 megawatts upon completion.
