Canada

06/05/24
Author: 
Peter Fairley
Melanie Murray, left, Howard Breen, centre, and lawyer Joey Doyle, right, at Nanaimo Law Courts last August, where they were allowed to argue a ‘defence of necessity’ for engaging in civil disobedience to protest the climate crisis. Photo by Peter Fairley.

May 3, 2024

A Nanaimo judge ruled today that the peril of climate change is insufficient in justifying the duo’s actions.

06/05/24
Author: 
Eugene Kung, Staff Lawyer
Protect the Inlet march - Mar. 10, 2028 - Ian MacKenzie

Today Trans Mountain commenced operations on its new expanded oil pipeline system (TMX). It is a solemn day for us at West Coast Environmental Law, as we have been part of the massive social movement opposing this megaproject for more than 10 years, fighting for climate action, land and water protection, and Indigenous self-determination. 

29/04/24
Author: 
Mitchell Beer
Sometimes, all you want is a toaster. Photo: Trusted Reviews

Apr. 28, 2024

It’s been 38 years since the Chornobyl nuclear plant exploded in Ukraine. Now we’re coping with an explosion of hype and exaggeration about new nuclear technologies that still aren’t ready to deliver.

To cope with the routine spin and exaggeration we keep seeing from the nuclear energy lobby, it helps to take an over-sized, over-priced, over-hyped technology and bring it down to something more…everyday.

So imagine that you’re setting out to buy a new toaster, and your online sleuthing brings you to an offer that looks too good to be true.

28/04/24
Author: 
Ashley Dawson, Bridget Moynihan, and Desen S. Özkan, Next City.
photo: Block Island Wind Farm, America’s first commercial offshore wind farm, went online in 2017 near Block Island, Rhode Island. Shaun Dakin / Unsplash.

Profiteers cannot be cajoled or shamed into acting for the public good. They must be compelled or replaced--and SOON!!

         -- Gene McGuckin

Apr. 22, 2024

27/04/24
Author: 
Calvin Sandborn and Fraser Thomson
An aerial view of Teck Resources Elkview Mine in the east Kootenays. Selenium pollution from mining has left a legacy of impacts. prv

Apr. 23, 2024

Opinion: If government is not careful, it could saddle Canadian taxpayers with a multi-billion dollar liability — and an unsolved pollution catastrophe

“Clean up your own mess.” — Robert Fulghum, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Ottawa must soon decide whether to approve Glencore’s bid to buy Teck’s Elk Valley coal mines. If the government is not careful, it could saddle Canadian taxpayers with a multi-billion-dollar liability — and an unsolved pollution catastrophe.

27/04/24
Author: 
Jon Tattrie
Gurpreet Singh Selopal’s research team with their “quantum dots” for sustainable energy technologies. Photo courtesy of Dalhousie University

Apr. 26, 2024

Nova Scotia has announced its green hydrogen action plan, calling it an “alternative clean energy source” and adding that we’re emerging as a region with “ample opportunity” to produce the product — in part because of our potential offshore wind resource.

The government wants to help create a green hydrogen sector in Nova Scotia that “produces local benefits from both domestic and export opportunities.” There currently is no hydrogen-producing industry in the province.

25/04/24
Author: 
Saul Elbein
Greenpeace activists call for action ahead of the second session of global negotiations on plastic pollution, hosted in Paris in May 2023. (Michaela Cabrera/Reuters)

Apr. 23, 2024

What to know about the pivotal UN plastics negotiations

As both plastics pollution and concerns over its impacts on the environment and the human body grow, world governments, environmental groups and the plastics industry are meeting in Ottawa, Canada, over the next two weeks in an effort to reach an agreement on reducing waste.

24/04/24
Author: 
Ben Parfitt
Thousands of logs and mountains of wood chips await conversion to wood pellets at the Drax pellet mill at Houston in north-central BC. Photo via Stand.earth.

Apr. 24, 2024

And what needs to change to protect the environment and jobs.

24/04/24
Author: 
Emily Eaton, Andrew Stevens and Sean Tucker
Corporations are using calls to continue using fossil fuels to delay action on a just transition for workers. Photo by Christian Lagerek via Shutterstock.

Apr. 24, 2024

Fossil fuel companies are building on right-wing protests to stop change and cut salaries.

What comes to mind when you read the slogan “I love Canadian oil and gas”? Energy independence? Royalties for government coffers? Good jobs for Canadian workers?

24/04/24
Author: 
John Woodside
Natural Resources and Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson sits down with Canada's National Observer to discuss how the country can build the clean power grids of the future. Illustration by Ata Ojani/National Observer

Apr. 23, 2024

If Canada is going to meet its climate targets, virtually everything will need to be electrified. Gas guzzlers swapped for electric vehicles and public transportation; heat pumps put in place of gas furnaces; and renewable energy moving to centre stage as coal, oil and gas power plants are phased out.

Affordable, reliable electricity grids are essential to modern life and form the backbone of Canada’s economy. Without abundant power, energy-intensive sectors like auto manufacturing or steel production fall by the wayside.

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