This week in environment

There are a number of stories in the Canadian news media that warrant some attention this week. Here are but a few:

1. In response to the lack of political leadership on climate change and the environment in Canada, 11 of Canada's major ENGOs have released a plan for action. The report, entitled Tomorrow, Today: How Canada Can Make a World of Difference, covers seven key areas such as energy, food and agriculture, oceans, etc. It recommends ways for the government to get the ball rolling on sustainability and conservation. This kind of cooperation between ENGOs is rare, as there is often a lot of politicking between groups. Thus, this collaborative effort is worth checking out. Maybe send John Baird a copy too.

2. The Vatican decrees: Thou Shall Not Pollute in its new list of sins in a globalized world. In addition, thou shall not widen the gap between the rich and the poor, collect excessive wealth, nor create poverty. The condemnation of these globalization sins would probably be more meaningful if birth control and drug abuse weren't also included on the list.

3. Earth Hour is Saturday March 29th 2008. It is a worldwide movement of dozens of cities that asks people and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour in an effort to inspire other to take action on climate change. It began in Sydney, Australia, on 31 March 2007, when 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses turned off their lights for one hour - Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney's energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year. So far,  Jasper and Edmonton are the only two Albertan cities to officially sign on. But dozens of non-Albertan Canadian cities have joined as well. For more information about the event and how to get your city involved, click here.

Oh, and here is a somewhat cheesy video (complete with Australian Aborigine music) to inspire you to have dinner by candlelight that night:

4. The federal government will soon require carbon capture and sequestration technologies on all new tar sands projects and all new coal-fired electricity plants. Existing operations will be held to a modest 18% intensity target.  I have a few questions. Who is going to pay for the CCS technology? I have a feeling the energy companies won't be footing the bill on their own. Although I wish the government would adhere to the polluter pays principle, I wouldn't be surprised if subsidies and or generous tax breaks were involved. How is the Alberta government going to respond? My guess is poorly.

5. The 'Wikipedia for Biodiversity' goes online. Encyclopedia of Life is a wiki-style website that aims to establish a complete record of all known species on Earth. This is an astronomical task because no one even knows how many are out there (some people guesstimate around 1.8 million though).

UPDATE: I probably should have mentioned the release of a report by NRCan last week that suggests Canada is going to hell in a handbasket. I may or may not have worked for the aforementioned agency at some point in the past, and I would say that (unfortunately for us) this modeling and the people doing it  are both credible.