On the second floor of a hotel in the shadow of the CN Tower, Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership and their allies crowded around laptops and cellphones for one purpose: confront RBC executives over the bank’s financing of the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
More than 1,000 scientists across the globe chained themselves to the doors of oil-friendly banks, blocked bridges, and occupied the steps of government buildings on Wednesday to send an urgent message to the international community: The ecological crisis is accelerating, and only a “climate revolution” will be enough to avert catastrophe.
Policies in place to reduce emissions as of December 2020 would lead the planet to 3.2 degrees Celsius of warming, more than double the 1.5 degrees limit that scientists say is essential for avoiding the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
Diane Nicholls takes a senior role in a controversial industry she helped regulate. And promote.
At mid-afternoon on Monday, senior staff at B.C.’s Forests Ministry were told that one of their highest-ranking members — the province’s chief forester, Diane Nicholls — was entering a revolving door that would sweep her seamlessly out of government and into the industry her ministry regulates.
One in five Canadians lives in energy poverty, meaning they spend a disproportionately high percentage of their income on home energy bills.
Despite the numbers, federal support for energy poverty is lacking, said Abhilash Kantamneni, a research associate at Efficiency Canada, which released a report Thursday looking at the state of energy poverty programs across the country.