Originally published on EV Obsession. Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, will be introducing a new electric truck rebate program — designed to provide up to 60% of the incremental purchase cost of an electric truck, as compared to a conventional diesel equivalent. There’s an upper limit of CAD$75,000 per unit. The aim of
The United States is now the only country in the world not committed to the carbon reduction goals announced in Paris at the COP21 climate change summit in 2015. But that doesn’t mean all Americans have abandoned the fight. At the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, Germany, last week, more than 100 people from the
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Navigating through the icy waters of the Arctic, the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise” is delivering solar panels to the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut. Delivering solar panels and a team to install the systems for the Clyde River community is Greenpeace’s way of offering a better solution to meet increasing
Pakistan received a major boost in its endeavour to expand renewable energy infrastructure as Canada agreed to set up large-scale solar power projects in one of the country’s provinces. According media reports, the can Canadian government recently signed an agreement with the government of Balochistan to set up 1 GW solar power capacity in the
The United States, Mexico, and Canada have inked a new climate pact to produce 50% of their electricity by 2025 from clean energy sources. The clean electricity pact includes wind, solar, nuclear, and hydropower. The deal is set to be announced Wednesday at a summit of the three nations. As reported by Reuters, this agreement builds
The G20 meeting of the world’s most influential political and economic leaders in Brisbane, Australia, began slightly off-track today, according to Reuters. President Obama put out a few words about climate change at the start, announcing a much-needed US pledge of $3 billion to get the world two-thirds of the way toward a $10 billion
Quantum entanglement — what Einstein called “spooky action at a distance” — involves a peculiarly strong correlation between two particles (typically, polarized photons) such that measuring a property of one particle simultaneously determines the property of the second particle — even when those two particles are separated by great distances (theoretically, even when the particles are at
http://youtu.be/J_QAdup7G0o Legendary rocker Neil Young, born in Toronto, recently went on a tour in Canada aiming to support the rights of First Nations when it comes to tar sands development. Needless to say, First Nations citizens are being almost completely ignored and greatly harmed by reckless development of the tar sands. Young asserted that Canadian
At the late November meeting of UN climate delegates in Warsaw, negotiators from Canada–once a strong supporter of fast-start financing to limit greenhouse gas emissions from developing countries–and Australia, now led by a rashly conservative government, sat on their hands. Reeling from the costs of mitigation at Fukushima and a stopgap return to fossil fuels,
The province of Ontario may soon ban power plants from burning coal. This is an outright ban, nothing less. According to CTV News, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, alongside Al Gore, announced the proposed ban, which will be introduced by Monday and take effect in 2014 if passed. Her party (the Liberals) was criticized for being
The Montreal SPCA and Quebec government seized over 100 dogs and puppies from a commercial breeding facility. These establishments are also sometimes called puppy mills. An e-mail from Humane Society International said, “The dogs and puppies were housed in barren, metal cages and denied the most basic of their needs. Inside, the smell of ammonia
The old saying “fighting fire with fire” may be true or not depending upon the situation, but if someone told you the best way to fight (carbon-based) gas is with another gas, you might raise a skeptical eyebrow or two. But that’s exactly what a Swedish engineering company is claiming: successful capture of carbon from
Citing significant safety concerns, the government of British Columbia, Canada, has announced its formal rejection of the proposed ‘Northern Gateway’ tar sands pipeline which would, if approved and built, bring 500,000 barrels of (diluted bitumen) oil straight through the pristine rainforest along the ‘Spirit Bear Coast’, en route to points east and south (mostly, China,
Research has found that approximately 99% of our planet’s land-locked ice is held up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The remainder, however, is out in the open, located primarily in the glaciers dotted throughout the appropriate latitudes across the planet. And according to new research, those glaciers contributed approximately the same amount of
Often any ship news that ends up on a site like Planetsave inevitably refers to a ship crashing into a coral reef or spilling massive amounts of oil into the ocean. However, today, we have a story that is likely to terrify you right out of your pants. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP) the Russian ship Lyubov
Talk of flooding to an Australian these days and you’ll discover just how affected we all were by the 2010–2011 Queensland floods. Nearly forty people lost their lives and $30 billion AUD was racked up in damages. New geologic evidence should similarly concern residents of California according to an article in Scientific American entitled ‘California Megaflood:
According to a resident of the suddenly-important aboriginal village of Old Massett in British Columbia, Canada, the Canadian government knew all about the well-publicised ocean fertilization project conducted off Canada’s west coast earlier this year. John Disney of the Village of Old Massett told a press conference that the project followed international legal and scientific
Howard Steven Friedman is a statistician and health economist for the United Nations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He also has a new book out called The Measure of a Nation: How to Regain America’s Competitive Edge and Boost Our Global Standing, which is sure to provoke
New research has discovered that Native American populations ranging from Canada to the southern tip of Chile all arose from three migrations, with the majority descended almost entirely from one single group of First American migrants that crossed from Asia into America across the then existing Beringia land bridge, more than 15,000 years ago. The
In a briefing paper released January 19 by Oxfam.org entitled, “Left behind by the G20? How inequality and environmental degradation threaten to exclude poor people from the benefits of economic growth,” the standard mantra of pro-growth policy — a rising tide lifts all boats — appears to be an economic myth (like “trickle down”) and
by Jamie Henn A startling new study from the Center for Global Development shows that full development of the Canadian Tar Sands would have a devastating effect on global food production, especially in climate vulnerable continents such as Africa. A loss in agricultural productivity due to climate change will affect more than 3 billion people around
Of course they don’t. Who would? But you know they’re doing everything they can to keep that a secret, given their recent withdrawal from the Kyoto Protocol (because of the tar sands, no doubt). “In public, Canada’s environment minister says tar sands are “sustainable”, in private the government says there is no “credible scientific information”
Sad news for all those who love reindeer (and who doesn’t?)… the world’s largest herd of reindeer has dropped from a population of about 800,000-900,000 to about 74,000. Yes, that’s up to a nearly 92% drop. Disheartening. “The herd roams the vast tundra of Quebec and Labrador in eastern Canada. Known as caribou
Some more green news of the week: 1. The Weekly Standard Does Horrible Job Covering “Climategate 2”. The full post The Weekly Standard apart over on Media Matters is worth a read, but here are the key points from the piece (note: Hayward is the author): Hayward Cites Email About Page Limits To Claim That
This video from Amy Goodman and Democracy Now cuts to the chase. The horror of this environmental disease known as tar sands ‘development’ is succinctly explained by young and indigenous activists. Tar sands development will push our planet of global warming and climate change tipping point, which is why hundreds of activists in Durban, South Africa (where
This girl has a future! Beautiful song and message! And she’s 10!! I don’t know how I didn’t hear about this when it was created. Watch this beautiful video and song, “Shallow Waters.” A description from the YouTube page is underneath it, followed by more information on Ta-Kayia Blaney and her environmental activism. “10
The battle of domestic energy production verses the protection of natural resources and wildlife “treasures” has many fronts. With attention largely focused on the environmental and climate change impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline, passing almost under the radar is another proposed pipeline — the Northern Gateway pipeline (proposed by energy giant Enbridge*) — that
In September 2010 Cape Farewell began its 9th Art & Science expedition to the Arctic. For 22 days the crew of 20 voyagers sailed around Svalbard and Spitsbergen on the Noorderlicht(an 100 year old ship), sailing north of the 80th parallel to the ice edge from Spitsbergen and east towards Russia.
ForestEthics board member Michael Uehara is on his way to row 26 miles through coastal waters of British Columbia in an attempt to raise awareness about the dangers of a pipeline that energy giant Enbridge wants to install along the route.
Ending only September the 3rd, a group is planned to protest every day for two weeks, and more than 2100 people have signed up. Already, an estimated 222 people have been arrested, 65 on Saturday, 45 on Sunday, 52 on Monday and 60 on Tuesday, including Canadian actors Margot Kidder (best known as Lois Lane in four of the original Superman movies) and Tantoo Cardinal (indigenous actor best known for her roles in Legends of the Fall, Dances with Wolves, and Smoke Signals).
After 11 months since it calved off the northwestern coast of Greenland, this massive ice island is now wandering around off the coast of Labrador, Canada, caught int he ocean currents.
This Envisat image features three of Envisat’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) acquisitions (19 November 2009, 8 April 2010 and 13 May 2010) laid over one another, depicting the changes in the surface of the Yukon Delta, in Alaska, between when the photos were taken.
More than a thousand icebergs break off southern Labrador and northern Newfoundland from late May to late June each year, earning this stretch of the Labrador Sea featured in the image below the nickname ‘Iceberg Alley.’
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image of the over a hundred fires burning in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories in Canada on May 16, 2011.
I saw the news that the Green Party might win its first seat in Canadian Parliament last week on our sister site, Red, Green, and Blue. I thought, “That’s good news!” but, to be honest, I didn’t think it would happen (call me pessimistic). Turns out it did, though.
While U.S.-born Elizabeth May — an environmentalist, lawyer, writer, activism, leader of the Green Party of Canada, and 17-year executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada — will have more political power than ever, she won’t have a ton of practical influence. She will have to influence through here personality and excellent communication skills, though, Barbara Yaffe of the Vancouver Sun writes….
The Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador was captured blanketed in ice and snow in this image captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite on April the 9th.
With all the focus placed on the Japanese radiation leak as well as the toxic plume of radioactive particles (possibly containing uranium and plutonium) heading for the United States, another potential disaster is receiving virtually no attention.
This is news from a couple weeks ago. Nonetheless, worth writing about and bringing to more people. Also, there is a petition going around on this and if you haven’t signed it yet, I imagine you would like to. And one more important way to help ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen (or happens
For the first time since the 1800s, a small group of wild bison was herded Wednesday through fresh-fallen snow to reach their historical grazing grounds north of Yellowstone National Park. As pronghorn antelope and mule deer scattered to avoid the procession, park employees and state livestock agents on horseback pushed the 25 bison about 10
I’ve written about the magical spirit bears on Planetsave before. They are, unfortunately, threatened with extinction from overly rapacious oil companies. A petition over on Change.org directed at key government leaders is aimed at protecting the Great Bear Rainforest and spirit bears. Here’s the intro: Enbridge, Inc. has plans to build an oil pipeline through
Oil companies will say anything they need to say to get approval for one of their projects. But as we should know by now, they are not the best neighbors or stewards of the land. ForestEthics recently held a panel discussion on such matters in British Columbia (Canada). Here’s the organization’s news release, titled Gulf
Some of the top climate science news from around (other than what we’ve already covered): Must-read Hansen and Sato paper: We are at a climate tipping point that, once crossed, enables multi-meter sea level rise this century Climate change is likely to be the predominant scientific, economic, political and moral issue of the 21st century
74% of recyclable water bottles end up clogging landfills, polluting the oceans, or littering our natural environments. Well, from what I’ve heard, one company is unveiling the world’s first biodegradable and recyclable water bottle in January to help address this issue. Canada-based redleaf Water will be introducing these “Bio Bottles” in Canada and some stores
Global warming news of the week (other than what we reported already). Desertification is Greatest Threat to Planet, Expert Warns Desertification and land degradation is “the greatest environmental challenge of our time” and “a threat to global wellbeing”, according to the UN’s top drylands official, Luc Gnacadja, who says people must be paid via global
There is more global weirding news streaming through my news feeds every week than I could ever cover in depth here on Planetsave. There are a number of pieces every week that I wish I had more time for but, unfortunately, just don’t. So, I think I am going to get back to weekly news
I heard some years ago that the insurance industry was one of the leading industries as far as acknowledging climate change. Why? Because they get screwed if they don’t recognize the risks of climate change and adjust their policies accordingly. Canadian insurance companies recently reported that they were, indeed, hit hard by claims in 2009,
“Spirit bears” (aka Kermode bears) are a very unique subspecies of North American black bears. About 1/10th of the Kermode bear subspecies are born white (hence the name), due to some sort of genetic variation scientists are yet to pinpoint. The most common belief is that bears are born with white hair for the same
By the 2030’s, more and more regions across our planet will be entering drought conditions, according to a recently published study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. This dryness trend, which encompasses much of the temperate and tropical Western Hemisphere along with large areas of Eurasia and
