E-News
A Weekly News Bulletin of the Prince Edward Island
Eco-Net de l’Ile-du-Prince-Edouard
In the news during the week of ...
February 23 - 28, 2003
1) Provincial
1.A City Faces Another
Assessment of Soil at Site of Old City Garage - February 24, 2003
1.B Energy exploration sparks
questions - February 24, 2003
1.C Regional cod fishery
expected to close - February 24, 2003
1.D Canada and PEI to Invest $30
Million in Sewage Treatment and Water Distribution - February 21, 2003
1.E Nature Trust Endangered By
insurance Rates - February 27, 2003
1.F Maritime Electric Puts
Thermal Plant On-line - February 27, 2003
1.G What's killing Mill River?
February 28, 2003
2) National
2.A Take the train, please:
Policy in Motion - February 24, 2003
2.B Sydney residents get say in
tar-ponds cleanup - February 25, 2003
2.C Activist B.C.
great-grandmother out of jail - February 27, 2003
2.D Study links male infertility
to use of solvent - February 27, 2003
2.E Data Suggests Thinning of
Arctic Ice, could be Natural - February 27, 2003
2.F Scientists will track
endangered Ontario eagles - February 26, 2003
2.G Dhaliwal Lobbies for B.C.
Offshore Drilling - February 28, 2003
3) International
3.A Coral reef damage will cost
billions: WWF - February 23, 2003
3.B Explorers' charts, logbooks
offer new insight into climate for modern scientists - February 23, 2003
3.C World's Favourite Fruit
Faces Possible Extinction - February 22, 2003
3.D Blair Urges 60 Percent
Global Greenhouse Gas Cuts - February 24, 2003
3.E UN reduces global population
estimates for 2050 - February 26, 2003
3.F American Wildlife Neglected in Troubled Times
- February 27, 2003
3.G Global Warming-Induced Extreme
Weather Expected to Continue to Worsen - February 27, 2003
4) Noticeboard
1. Provincial
1.A) City Faces Another Assessment of Soil at Site of Old City Garage -
February 24, 2003
Source: The Guardian (http://www.canada.com/charlottetown)
More contaminated soil found at
the location and Charlottetown will
spend nearly $16,000 for environmental testing. The city of Charlottetown
will spend $15,950 for an environmental site assessment at the former public
works garage on Water Street after a recent test found a new contaminant
at the location.
Jacques Whitford Environment Ltd.
will carry out the assessment at 211
Water St. and 226 King St.
Deputy Mayor Clifford Lee, who
also chairs the city's finance committee,
said the provincial Department of Environment informed the city recently
that another test was required at the site where the city's old public
works garage was located.
"We don't have a choice in
the matter,'' Lee said at council's recent
monthly meeting.
The money will be expensed to the
2003 city capital budget.Coun.
Kathleen Casey asked Lee why council couldn't wait until the city
budget is put together. Lee said the assessment has to be done now.
Back in November council approved an increase to the city's capital
budget in the amount of $15,000 to complete an assessment and cleanup
of the property.
That was on top of the $7,625
council approved a few months before that
for the assessment work.In August, a preliminary assessment of the soil
found oil and gas contaminants and Lee said contaminants continue to be
found there. Lee said the expenditure approved will bring the total amount
spent so far to clean up the site to $80,000.
Coun. Philip Brown said the city
can't build on the site or sell it to
someone else to build on because it's not what's called clean.
"We have a piece of property and, if we want to develop it, it better
have a clean bill of health,'' Brown said. "The cost of keeping the
environment clean is not a cheap process.''
Coun. Mitchell Tweel asked Lee is
he could anticipate the removal of the
contaminants.
"I'm not sure I can really
tell you what the next step might be,'' Lee
said. "We hope this test will provide the city with the answers it
needs.'' Lee said until the assessment is done the city may have to
truck some of the contaminated soil out of the site.
"We expect this to be the
final assessment that will give us all the
answers.''
The situation with the old city
garage site isn't the only area
contaminated in the capital.
Council also authorized the
disbursement of $4,791.23 to R. Birt and
Associates for removal of contaminated soil at 156 St. Peters Road. The
amount will be deducted from the proceeds of the land sale of September
2002.
Lee said one area of the lot was
found to be contaminated after the
property was sold, a surprise to the city and the purchaser.
"Morally we thought we were
selling clean land and the buyer thought he
was buying clean land,'' Lee said.
1.B) Energy exploration sparks questions - February 24, 2003
Source: The Guardian (http://www.canada.com/charlottetown)
Islanders need to know the rules,
regulations and safeguards governing
natural gas drilling in the province
It does not take much to start an
argument in this area. Just two words
are needed - wind turbines. Enough heat has been generated on that topic
in the past few weeks to keep us all warm for the rest of the winter.
Which begs the question: Why is
everyone keeping so quiet over the
recent announcement that the Rally Energy Corporation is about to begin
drilling for natural gas in the Irishtown area?
Unlike the issue involving wind
turbines, there have been no stormy
public meetings or letters to the editor.
There was an open house for local
residents to chat with members of the
Rally team, but if any of the 200 or so people who showed up at the
Kensington legion hall were there to voice concern or protest, they must
have been keeping a very low profile.
Could it be a case of numbers?
Forty-four wind turbines command
attention, whereas two drilling wells
are hardly noticeable.
French River residents Dale and
Carol Ann Desjardins are not too
surprised by the lack of questions being raised by the general public.
As consulting petroleum
geologists who moved to Prince Edward Island
from Calgary nine years ago, they realize that few people know the right
questions to ask.
"It's such a foreign thing
here," says Dale.
"Unless you're involved in
the industry, you don't really realize the
benefits and the pitfalls. Even as people working in the industry,
there's lots of things we don't know - things that have gone on in the
past that we only find out by reading books and talking to other
people."
The Desjardins say Islanders need
to know what rules, regulations and
safeguards the provincial government has in place to govern drilling
operations.
Landowners need to be aware that
they only have surface land rights.
Mineral rights belong to the government, which has already leased tracts
of land for exploration and drilling.
In Alberta, landowners are
sometimes forced to seek arbitration to
prevent oil companies from simply taking what they want. And they do not
always win their cases.
So the Desjardins ask themselves
what recourse do Islanders have?
Other questions come to mind.
- What measures are in place to
deal with disputes?
- Will those measures apply in a
situation where there is transfer of
lease ownership from one company to another?
- How can farmers be sure they
are receiving fair compensation for the
inconvenience of having a drilling rig and access roads on their land
for 25-30 years?
- What guarantees exist to ensure
that the land is restored to its
original state at the end of the contract?
The situation does not arise
often, but thought must also be given to
the possibility of groundwater contamination. ?Drilling mud', which
contains bentonite, caustic soda and other chemicals, can leach out from
the sump tanks if they are not properly lined.
There have even been instances of
tanks being emptied directly into
local streams.
And there is the noise factor to
consider, says Dale Desjardins.
"This is a 24/7 operation.
It won't be tremendously noisy, but it won't
be quiet either. You'll hear it up to one half mile away. It'll be like
running three or four diesel Caterpillars at one time."
Flaring, which occurs when gas is
found, is another issue people need to
be aware of. The Desjardins do not see that as a major concern in the
case of two exploratory wells but, if serious production follows, the
number of wells would increase significantly.
Does that imply possible health
risks?
"The gas stream contains a
lot of trace metals. I wouldn't breathe it
(air in the vicinity) if I didn't have to," says Dale.
"Red Deer, Alberta, has one
of the highest rates of breast cancer in
Canada and there's a lot of flaring going on there. It's another of the
things you want to be cautious about."
The Desjardins also raise the
question about where the gas will go.
Will it stay on Prince Edward
Island or will it, like gas from the Sable
Island rigs, end up in the U.S.?
Since it will take some time
before fossil fuels can be completely
phased out, the Desjardins feel that the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)
attitude with regard to energy source sites cannot be fully justified.
That said, they point out that
oil company executives living on the
outskirts of Calgary take exception to drilling operations near their
own properties.
Since last summer, when seismic
testing was being carried out in the
French River area, the Desjardins have been forced to review some of
their previous attitudes.
"When we saw that helicopter
hovering over our property, it gave us a
whole new perspective on what we've been doing to ranchers out west for
many years. We tended to look at them as nuisances when they didn't want
us to go on their land. Now we realize the situation they were in."
In sharing their thoughts about
gas and oil drilling operations, the
couple is anxious not to create false impressions in the public mind.
"I don't want people to
think we're trying to prevent job creation or
economic stimulus to the island," says Dale.
"We want them to realize
that there are questions that need to be
answered," adds Carol Ann. "And since this could turn into a
long-term
plan for the Island, the government has to make sure its regulations are in
place before that happens."
Kensington correspondent Mike
England can be reached by phone at
836-3190 or by e-mail: maengland@auracom.com
1.C) Regional cod fishery expected to close - February 24, 2003
Source: CBC- Prince Edward Island (pei.cbc.ca)
CHARLOTTETOWN – The federal
government is expected to announce within
weeks if the three remaining cod fisheries in the region will remain
open.
P.E.I.'s fisheries minister Greg
Deighan isn't holding out much hope of
averting closures.
The Atlantic ministers
responsible for fisheries met on Friday with
federal fisheries minister Robert Thibault. Thibault made it clear
further measures should be taken as stocks continue to fall.
One million pounds of cod are
caught and processed each year on P.E.I.
There are approximately 100 jobs connected to the fishery.
1.D) Canada and Prince Edward Island to Invest $30 Million
in Sewage Treatment and Water Distribution - February 21, 2003
Source: gov.pe.ca
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI - The
Honourable Wayne Easter, Solicitor
General and MP for Malpeque, and Prince Edward Island Premier Pat
Binns today announced their governments' respective contributions to
sewage treatment and water distribution projects in Prince Edward Island.
The Government of Canada and the
Province of Prince Edward Island are
each contributing up to $15 million toward the following: sewage treatment
projects in Charlottetown and Summerside, a water treatment and
distribution project in Stratford, and a sludge management strategy for the
Island. Total costs for the three projects are estimated at $43 million. The
municipalities of Charlottetown, Summerside and Stratford will cover the
costs of their respective projects. Minister Easter and Premier Binns also
announced that their governments would sign formal agreements for these
projects confirming this commitment within the next six months.
"Through this significant
investment, the Government of Canada is
continuing its commitment to renew and revitalize Prince Edward Island's
municipal infrastructure. These projects are essential to ensure clean and
reliable drinking water for our citizens, the effective disposal and treatment
of municipal wastewater, and the protection of our harbour waters," said
Minister Easter. "The Government of Canada is pleased to support our
Island communities through the use of enhanced green infrastructure, as we
work together toward a healthy and sustainable future."
"This announcement
represents the single largest infrastructure investment
in the history of Prince Edward Island and, through this partnership, we
take a significant step forward in ensuring the safety of our communities
and creating opportunities for future growth and development," said
Premier Pat Binns. "The Government of PEI is committed to working with
Island communities to ensure access to clean and safe drinking water and
the protection and preservation of the natural beauty of our province for
future generations to enjoy."
Minister of Industry and Minister
Responsible for Infrastructure Allan
Rock was quoted as saying that, "The Governments of Canada and of
Prince Edward Island have agreed that these sewage treatment and water
distribution initiatives are their top joint infrastructure priorities in the
province. This partnership between the Governments of Canada and
Prince Edward Island, with the municipalities of Charlottetown,
Summerside and Stratford, to address safe-water issues and pollution will
have tremendous benefits for the people of Prince Edward Island."
Work will also begin on a
Provincial Sludge Management Strategy to
protect public health and the environment. This strategy will include a plan
of action to ensure that all sludge, including septic tank and municipal
treatment plant waste, is treated and stabilized to the highest standard
before it is land applied. By 2007, this province will prohibit the land
application of unstabilized sludge. The Provincial Sludge Management
Strategy will result in all sludge being stabilized to the highest standard in
North America.
The Canada Strategic
Infrastructure Fund supports large-scale projects in
five categories of infrastructure which are vital to advancing Canada's
social and economic objectives: highway and railway, local transportation,
tourism or urban development, broadband networks and water or sewer.
Through the $2-billion Canada
Strategic Infrastructure Fund, the
Government of Canada continues to collaborate with provincial, territorial
and municipal governments, as well as with the private sector, to invest in
strategic infrastructure projects across the country. Investments made
through the Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund are directed to
large-scale projects of major national and regional significance, in areas
that are vital to sustaining economic growth and supporting an enhanced
quality of life for Canadians.
Working with Islanders, the
Government of Prince Edward Island was the
first jurisdiction to implement buffer zone legislation; the first province to
regulate the installation and replacement of home heat tanks; more than
$12 million has been invested in soil and water conservation projects; and
we have implemented mandatory three-year crop rotations, Environmental
Farm Plans and a Drinking Water Strategy. This partnership is another
step forward in the Government of Prince Edward Island's continued
commitment to our environment.
In Budget 2003, the Government of
Canada continued its commitment to
public infrastructure through the announcement of a new $3-billion
infrastructure initiative.
For more information on the
Canada Strategic Infrastructure Fund or on
Infrastructure Canada and its programs:
http://www.infrastructurecanada.gc.ca
1.E) Nature Trust Endangered By Insurance Rates - February 27, 2003
Source: CBC - Prince Edward Island (pei.cbc.ca)
CHARLOTTETOWN – The Island Nature
Trust has been hit hard by sky-rocketing
insurance rates. Over the past three years, the non-profit conservation group
has watched its rates go up by 350 per cent.
In 1999, the organization paid
about twelve hundred dollars for liability and property
insurance. This year, their bill will be close to six thousand dollars. Kate
MacQuarrie is with Island Nature Trust.
"There's not much that the
average person, be that a non-government organization like
ours, or an individual on the street, can do about it. It seems that you apply,
you have to
have insurance to do your daily business, and you're really at the mercy of the
insurers,
who can charge pretty much what they want."
MacQuarrie says the high rates
could have an impact on Island Nature Trust's many
conservation projects. She says she doesn't want money raised from donors to go
toward paying higher insurance rates. Instead, she hopes the provincial
government
will help out with the bill.
Island Nature Trust currently
owns about 26 hundred acres of property on the Island.
1.F) Maritime Electric puts thermal plant on-line - February 27, 2003
Souce: CBC - Prince Edward Island (pei.cbc.ca)
CHARLOTTETOWN – Maritime Electric
has decided to use the Charlottetown thermal
plant to help supply the Island's electrical needs because the cost of
supplying power from
the Mainland is too high. Maritime Electric president Jim Lea says producing
power on the
Island is now the company's least expensive
option.
In addition to using its plant
for Island needs, Lea says the utility is also selling power to other
areas. He says the demand for electricity in the Maritimes and the northeastern
United States
has hit new peaks. Lea says all profits made from off-Island sales will go
towards off-setting
energy costs on P.E.I.
Maritime Electric will continue
to operate the Charlottetown plant until temperatures moderate
and prices are brought back in-line.
Return to Top
1.G) What's killing Mill River? February 28, 2003
Source: CBC- Prince Edward Island (pei.cbc.ca)
MILL RIVER – Mill River area
residents will get their first look at a $90-thousand report
into what's killing the river on Friday night. The river has been plagued with
anoxia, a
depletion of oxygen, for decades.
The river has been swamped with
stagnant sea lettuce which chokes the oxygen out of the
water. Brian Thompson is an environmental manager with the P.E.I. department of
transportation.
"People would notice an
odour, not too dissimilar to a rotten egg smell. And you can see
some film. It might be a white foamy condition in the worst case.
Thompson is also coterie of the
Mill River Watershed Round Table. It includes local residents
as well as government officials. Thompson says the consultant has looked at
every possible
source of contamination.
"Facilities like the golf
course, or land clearing, also the use of farmland for growing crops
like potatoes, also the presence of cottages and septic systems and what impact
that may
be having on the river."
The report also covered several
bridges and causeways in the area. It will include a list of
recommended actions to return the river to a healthier state.
Thompson says the ninety thousand
dollar report can be used as a template for solving
problems in other watersheds across the Island.
2. National
2.A) Take the train, please: Policy in Motion - February 24, 2003
Source: The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
A new OECD study shows that,
given its hidden costs, our current
dependence on cars is a form of highway robbery, say rail activists
Chris Jones and Robert Taylor
By CHRIS JONES and ROBERT TAYLOR
Tomorrow, Transportation Minister
David Collenette will unveil his
Transportation Blueprint; we eagerly await signs that Canada is paying
close attention to major U-turns in transportation policy from the other
side of the Atlantic. London has just launched an enlightened experiment
to charge for traffic congestion. And in Paris, the traditionally
conservative Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has
published a key study on surface transportation policy.
The OECD isn't often associated
with "green" thinking. On the contrary,
this global think tank embraces orthodox, laissez-faire policies that
make economic growth an article of faith. So the OECD's conversion to
concern over the financial and environmental sustainability of
transportation policy is striking.
Its 2002 report, Policy Instruments
for Achieving Environmentally
Sustainable Transport, provides a stark assessment of the full social
costs of surface transportation systems. It considers the true price of
transport to include all costs stemming from the supply of
infrastructure (investment, operation, maintenance) and its use during
transport activities.
Private costs are partly covered
by the price of the product (e.g. the
car and its fuel). External costs include air and water pollution,
noise, accidents, congestion and junked machinery. They also include the
disruption of communities and ecosystems by infrastructure and traffic
flows, altered land use, and the aesthetic impacts of all of these.
External costs, often hidden, are unfairly passed on -- to society,
taxpayers, adjacent residents and landowners, to people who don't own or
use private cars, and the natural ecosystem.
The OECD says, "A fair
market for transport services requires that the
prices of transport include all social costs, i.e. both private and
external costs" and that they be transparent to consumers (users) and
producers. Failure to make these costs transparent will distort the
market system.
The report adds,
"non-internalization of the external costs in the
transport sector can . . . lead to inefficiencies in the form of
congestion, lack of safety, and health and environmental impacts."
Even a casual observer would see
such problems in and around Canada's
major cities and highways. They're the costs governments aren't taking
into consideration. Drivers only need to think about their own marginal
costs -- parking and gas. Street repair, road maintenance, ambulances
and traffic lights are experienced as free goods.
As a result, discretionary
personal car use by Canadians has soared.
Ottawa predicts that car use will be 50-per-cent to 60-per-cent higher
in 2015 than in 2000. Worse, more and more drivers are single-occupant
vehicle (SOV) commuters driving sport utility vehicles.
Commercial trucking's market
share has also increased markedly -- due,
in part, to the failure to apportion most of the costs cited above.
Trucking activity has more than doubled in the past decade, with an
annual average growth rate of 11 per cent. Just in terms of
infrastructure cost recovery (and not counting environmental
remediation, congestion or accident costs), the U.S. Department of
Transportation estimates that loaded tractor-trailers in excess of
100,000 pounds pay only 40 per cent of their road-impact costs. Clearly,
governments are heavily subsidizing private motorists and intercity
trucking, and are indifferent to the resulting market imbalances.
The OECD sketches two
conservative scenarios. One is a business-as-usual
scenario in which no effort is made to address the highly
energy-intensive way we currently move people and freight. The other is
an environmentally sustainable transport scenario in which a variety of
public policy instruments and incentives are used to lessen reliance on
energy-intensive, polluting modes. Both scenarios are rolled out to 2015
and applied to the nine countries (including Canada) that participated
in the study.
Under business as usual, the
total cost of surface transport in the nine
countries is $472-billion in 2015. With environmentally sustainable
transport, the OECD estimates the cost would diminish to $223-billion by
2015. On a per capita basis, the first scenario generates a charge of
$1,728 for every one of the 273 million inhabitants of the nine
countries surveyed. The environmental scenario reduces that per person
charge to $816.
Without a user-pay system based
on true external costs, we all pay --
through increases in taxes, health-care costs, increased congestion and
so on. (When the OECD data is broken down by mode, it finds that car
travel is 54 per cent of business-as-usual costs in 2015; light-duty and
intercity trucks are 33 per cent; rail/intermodal freight is 2 per
cent.)
Traditionally, governments have
argued that external costs are hard to
quantify. That's changing. London is capturing some of the cost
attributed to inner-city vehicle use by introducing a congestion charge
of £5 ($12.26 Cdn.) per day. Other cities -- Singapore, Melbourne,
Bergen, Oslo and Trondheim -- are pioneering such means as
weight-distance charges and emissions charges to rein in the excess
demand that prevails when public goods are underpriced.
The OECD report states that if we
are to achieve environmentally
sustainable transportation systems, we must learn to do things
differently. And "the most conspicuous differences will concern the use
of rail tracks rather than roads, particularly for freight movement but
also for the movement of people."
We believe governments can take
all kinds of measures to lower external
costs. They can establish stricter land-use controls with growth
boundaries and minimum densities; reduce intercity speeds; provide tax
incentives for privately run railways; and require environmental
assessment of new develop- ments. Some of these measures apportion the
cost directly to the user and are by nature coercive, such as road
tolls. Others help reduce external costs simply by encouraging
behavioural change, such as walking to school. We urge Canadian
governments at all levels to examine the OECD's analysis, do the math,
and stop underwriting Canada's descent into the pit of highway spending
and environmental degradation.
Chris Jones is director of
government relations at the Railway
Association of Canada. Robert Taylor is the RAC's executive director of
policy development and economic research.
2.B) Sydney residents get say in tar-ponds cleanup - February 25, 2003
Source: The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
HALIFAX -- The residents of
Sydney, N.S., will finally begin to offer
their advice on how best to clean up the town's infamous tar ponds, the
worst toxic-waste site in the country.
Experts hired to study the
cleanup of the former Sydney Steel mill site,
heavily polluted by a century of steel making, say it will take from
four to 11 years to complete the job and could cost between $110-million
and $440-million.
"The community has a big
opportunity to advise us what's acceptable and
what's not acceptable," said Dan Fraser, chairman of a citizens'
committee called the joint-action group, which will gather the data and
make a recommendation to government in May.
"There's never been this
much involvement from residents in this kind of
project before in Canada. It's unprecedented. And people are just
relieved that this is finally happening. People want this mess out of
our community."
Conestoga Rovers and Associates,
the environmental-consulting firm
overseeing the cleanup, held a briefing in Sydney yesterday to outline
the contents of the two-volume technical report that offers six options
for cleaning up the tar ponds, which Ottawa has described as the worst
environmental mess in the country.
The report was prepared by two
engineering firms and also offers four
options for dealing with the defunct steel company's 60-hectare
coke-ovens.
David Darrow, Sydney Tar Ponds
Agency chief executive officer, called
the list "a turning point for Sydney that would let this community get
on with the job."
"No community in Canada has
ever had so much influence in a major
environmental cleanup," Mr. Darrow said. "It's going to be important
for
the residents to participate over the next two months."
The two firms are proposing a
variety of cleanup methods, including
bioremediation, which involves using fertilizers to encourage bacteria
to consume toxic hydrocarbons. Soil washing and incineration of toxins
are also being considered to clean up the site, which includes a
700,000-tonne stew of toxic sludge contaminated with polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls.
One idea simply involves covering
the site to contain it and planting
grass on top of the cap. This is the least expensive option and one of
the quickest.
The report, the result of six
years of work by scientists, engineers and
community volunteers, was prepared by two companies: CBCL Ltd., of
Halifax and Sydney, N.S., and ENSR Inc. of Westford, Mass.
"We selected only
technologies that had proven successful at cleaning up
sites of comparable size and complexity," said Ray D'Hollander, senior
regional engineer with ENSR Inc. "Both the community and the government
partners made it clear that they did not want any experimental
processes.
"The community and
government partners can choose any of those options
with confidence that they are effective and safe. Any one of them can do
the job."
When the data have been collected
and analyzed, a report will be sent to
the joint action group that Mr. Fraser leads, which will make a
recommendation to the provincial and federal governments. It is expected
that the actual work will begin early in 2005.
"There are advantages and
limitations to each, a time frame and a cost,"
Mr. Fraser said. "Members of the community will come to their own
conclusions about what's acceptable."
John Morgan, mayor of the Cape
Breton Regional Municipality, said
yesterday that cleaning up the tar ponds would improve every aspect of
the community
2.C) Activist B.C. great-grandmother out of jail - February 27, 2003
By BRENT JANG
Source: The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
VICTORIA -- Betty Krawczyk, 74,
has seen the future of British Columbia and it's an ugly picture of tree stumps
replacing majestic forests in the wilderness.
Mrs. Krawczyk is so devoted to
the environmental movement that, in a Victoria courtroom yesterday, she pleaded
with a judge to keep her in jail.
The great-grandmother had been in
custody since she was arrested on Feb. 14 for willfully obstructing a peace
officer, but she told B.C. Provincial Court Judge
Anne Ehrcke that jail isn't so scary.
Judge Ehrcke, unmoved by Mrs.
Krawczyk's request, ordered that she be released and return to court for a
March 19 trial. If convicted, she faces a maximum jail
term of two years, less a day.
Outside the courtroom, Mrs.
Krawczyk said the judge grew exasperated with her refusal to sign a declaration
to report to a bail supervisor.
"I didn't promise to
maintain the peace. I didn't promise anything," said a defiant Mrs.
Krawczyk, who has attracted legions of fans in the West Coast's
environmental movement for her willingness to clash with authorities.
On Valentine's Day, she and 20
other members of an environmental group named Women in the Woods staged a
protest on the main road in front of the B.C.
Legislature.
They made signs in the shape of
hearts with the slogan, "We love our forests." And they brought along
their good-luck charm -- a sculpture of a nude woman
running through the woods.
Mrs. Krawczyk, who pleaded not
guilty yesterday to the obstruction charge, said she will defend herself in
court. "Nobody knows better my motives and my
aspirations and my feelings for the forests of British Columbia," said the
mother of eight children, grandmother of eight and great-grandmother of one.
She was the lone protester
arrested on Feb. 14 during what she calls principled civil disobedience. She
spent four nights in a Victoria jail cell, which she described
as "kind of hellish," then was transported to the Burnaby
Correctional Centre for Women in suburban Vancouver, which was "not
bedlam".
She got her first taste of jail
in 1993 after joining hundreds of people who protested against logging of
old-growth trees in Clayoquot Sound on Vancouver Island.
Since then, she's become an
unabashed activist and has been named an honorary member of the Raging
Grannies, a group of older women who support peace and
environmental causes through their satirical songs.
Mrs. Krawczyk spent more than
four months in jail when she defied a court order in 2000 by blocking a logging
road into the Elaho Valley, near Whistler.
As a self-proclaimed tree hugger,
she said spending time behind bars is the least of her worries when vast tracts
of forests are on the line.
British Columbia's Liberal
government is expected to introduce "working forest" legislation this
spring to designate 45 million hectares of Crown land, or 48 per cent
of the province, as property that can be logged.
Three months ago, the government
unveiled its new forest practices code to give loggers greater flexibility to
carry out their timber harvesting.
2.D) Study links male infertility to use of solvent - February 27, 2003
By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT
Source: The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
In a major finding, a team of
Canadian and U.S. researchers has linked male infertility to a widely used
industrial and household solvent, providing a possible clue to
the decline in male sperm counts that has been observed in many countries.
The researchers suspect that
trichloroethylene, a solvent used in industry to strip grease from metals and frequently
found in such consumer products as paint
thinners, spot removers and rug-cleaning fluids, concentrates in the male
reproductive system, where it impedes the growth of healthy and viable sperm.
Although TCE, as the chemical is
commonly known, is a suspected carcinogen that also causes liver, kidney and
lung damage, the new research is the first to link it
to male reproductive disorders.
The use of TCE in workplaces and
its dispersal into the environment is a likely explanation for some of the decline
in male sperm levels, said Poh-Gek Forkert, one
of the researchers who conducted the study, based on infertile Ottawa-area auto
mechanics.
"From our study, it
certainly supports that premise," said Ms. Forkert, a Queen's University
toxicologist and lead author of the paper that will appear in next month's
issue of the journal Drug Metabolism and Disposition.
TCE is one of the most widespread
environmental contaminants in Canada; traces have been found in the drinking
water of an estimated one million people,
primarily those who rely on groundwater polluted by industrial sites or
landfills. The chemical is also used in thousands of workplaces.
In December, the federal
government ordered companies to reduce their usage of TCE by 65 per cent because
of concerns that it is toxic, but the cut doesn't take
effect until 2007.
The finding that TCE is linked to
damage of the male reproductive system is likely to intensify calls from
environmentalists for an outright ban on TCE. There are
safer substitutes for most of its uses.
Ms. Forkert concluded that men
can be damaged by the solvent based on a review of car mechanics, a trade that
uses TCE to clean grease from auto parts.
The researchers tested eight car
mechanics from the Ottawa area who had been diagnosed with infertility because
of low sperm counts or high numbers of damaged
sperm.
All the men had used TCE for at
least two years on the job, and all had the solvent or metabolic breakdown
products from the chemical present in sperm samples
they provided to researchers.
The researchers also tested five
men who did not use TCE and didn't find any of the chemical in their sperm.
The study was based on a small
number of samples. The researchers said they were unsuccessful in getting
additional semen samples from fertile men who were also
exposed to TCE.
2.E) Data Suggests Thinning of Arctic Ice, could be Natural - February 27,
2003
Source: CNEWS Science (cnews.canoe.ca)
OTTAWA (CP) - Data compiled from
the journals of early Arctic explorers casts doubt on the assumption that
recent thinning of Arctic ice is the result of
human-induced climate change.
A Norwegian study using the
explorers' ancient logbooks suggests that dramatic shrinkage of sea ice, widely
cited as evidence for global warming in recent years,
has occurred before.
That doesn't necessarily prove
that recent disappearance of sea ice is natural, but raises the possibility
that it could be, researchers say.
Adventurers of the 1700s, who
took meticulous notes on their voyages, encountered ice conditions similar to
those seen today, researcher Chad Dick said in an
interview from Norway.
"If you go back to the early
1700s you find that sea ice extent was about the same then as it is now,"
said Dick of the Arctic Climate Systems Study, an international
research program.
In Canada there has been alarm at
reduced ice cover in Hudson's Bay which is causing problems for polar bears.
There's also been debate about
disappearing ice in the Northwest Passage, which could result in challenges to
Canadian sovereignty over the passage.
Those phenomena have been cited
as evidence that humans are causing the global climate to warm.
But similar shrinkage has
occurred before, according to the Norwegian researchers who have drawn up
Arctic ice charts covering 500 years.
The charts show sea ice has
declined by about 33 per cent over the past 135 years, but much of that
thinning occurred in the early part of that period, before the
industrial revolution unleashed greenhouse pollution on a large scale.
In the more distant past, ice
conditions were similar to those seen today.
That raises the possibility --
but does not prove -- that recent ice shrinkage could be part of a natural
cycle, rather than the result of human-caused greenhouse
emissions, Dick said.
"The evidence at the moment
is fairly inconclusive. The fact is there are natural cycles in sea ice extent
and we're not outside the range of those natural cycles at the moment."
He said natural climate cycles
like ice ages are driven by the way the earth orbits and wobbles in its orbit
and resulting changes in the amount of solar radiation
reaching Earth.
If the current reduction in ice
cover is part of a natural cycle, ice cover should soon start to grow again,
said Dick.
"We've definitely lost a lot
of sea ice over the past 20 years or so. If this is a natural cycle, then
things should start returning to a more average condition, so we should see sea
ice thickening up and extending further south. If we don't see that, if we see
it continuing to thin and disappear, then in 10 years time we're pretty well
going to be beyond the range of natural cycles we've seen up to now."
He emphasized that the study
doesn't refute the theory of global warming, but points to the inadequacy of
current climate models.
"Just to say, it was the
same in the 1700s and therefore it's natural, doesn't follow. It's not
necessarily wrong but it doesn't follow.
"What we need to understand
is what these natural cycles are about and why they occur and if we could do
that we could tell where in the natural cycle we were
meant to be."
The World Wildlife Fund is
publishing the sea-ice charts on CD-ROM for researchers around the world to
use.
"I would say that in about
10 years time we'll know whether this is a human effect or not," said
Dick.
2.F) Scientists will track endangered Ontario eagles - February 26, 2003
By MARLENE HABIB Source: CNEWS (cnews.canoe.ca)
TORONTO (CP) - Talk about birds
of a different feather.
Beginning this spring, if all
goes according to plan, several fledgling bald eagles in southern Ontario will
be sporting high-tech backpacks - special satellite tracking
devices - so scientists can monitor their whereabouts.
And Web surfers will be able to
follow the birds' airborne adventures online. The three-year project will
hopefully determine why bald eagles in southern Ontario -
where the bird is endangered - have lower rates of survival than in other parts
of North America, says biologist Debbie Badzinski of Bird Studies Canada, one
of the
project partners.
"It's pretty high-tech for
bird monitoring, that's for sure, and it's pretty new to us," Badzinski
said on the line Wednesday from Port Rowan, Ont., on the shores of
Lake Erie southeast of London, where the non-profit bird-monitoring
organization is based.
"But we want to find out why
these birds die so much younger than they should. Right now, it's really a mystery
to us."
The project still has to be
approved by Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources, which has partnered with
Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service,
Pud Hunter, a ministry spokesman, said from Aylmer near London.
But Badzinski is confident the
project will take flight soon.
In the next month, bald eagles -
with their gleaming white-feathered crowns (they're really not bald) and curved
talons - will be preparing their nests and laying their
eggs. The hatched birds will be the targets for the project.
In late June, when the birds are
about eight weeks old and getting ready to leave their parents and their nests,
scientists and volunteers plan to climb into tall trees in
order to put bands around the legs of several eagles for identification
purposes.
By Aug. 1, they hope to outfit
several eagles with the satellite-linked telemetry units.
The units, weighing about 90
grams, will be slipped around the wings onto the birds' massive bodies. At
eight weeks, they have a two-metre wingspan - taller than
the average man - and weigh nearly 10 pounds.
The tracking units will feed
information about the birds' whereabouts to Badzinski's computer, and the data
will then be posted on to Bird Studies Canada's Web
site (www.bsc-eoc.org) for bird lovers to follow.
In its first year alone, the
three-year project will cost about $50,000. So far, Ontario Power Generation
has donated $25,000, and the ministry also plans to provide
funding.
Badzinski can only speculate
about why southern Ontario's eagle flock is so small compared to other parts of
Canada. Last year, there were about 50 adults
producing about 40 offspring.
The project wants to know where
these birds fly because many of them never return to southern Ontario.
"Some bald eagles have shown
up dead in southern and Northern Ontario, and an analysis has found elevated
levels of mercury and lead in their bodies," she said.
Many of these majestic predators
may die as a result of eating tainted fish, she speculated, "so we're
trying to find out where they may be picking up this
contamination."
Scientists hope to soon launch a
project to monitor southern Ontario bald eagles to determine why many die
young. Some facts:
Appearance: Bald eagles aren't
bald. Their head is covered with white feathers, which come in when they're
five or six years old.
Diet: Mostly fish.
Size: Wingspan of about two
metres, average weight of about 10 pounds; females usually up to one-third
larger than males.
Average life expectancy: 20 to 25
years.
Habitat: Usually near the sea;
trees at least 30 metres high.
Nest: They add to their nest over
and over. Sometimes it can take a pair of eagles as long as six weeks to build
their nest for the first time. The heaviest nest ever
found weighed one tonne.
2.G) Dhaliwal Lobbies for B.C. Offshore Drilling: Seeks assessment of
effects of ending ban - February 28, 2003
By STEVEN CHASE AND PETER KENNEDY
Source: The Globe and Mail (theglobeandmail.com)
OTTAWA and VANCOUVER -- Federal
Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal is lobbying his cabinet colleagues to
take what could be the first step toward
lifting a ban against drilling for oil off the coast of British Columbia.
Mr. Dhaliwal, the senior Liberal minister
responsible for the province, made his pitch before the powerful cabinet
committee on economic union yesterday, federal
sources said.
He is proposing a federally
backed commission -- also known as an expanded strategic environmental
assessment -- that would examine whether the moratorium
against drilling off the province's northwestern coast should be lifted.
"Offshore exploration
presents significant economic opportunities for B.C. communities and we can't
afford not to explore all possible avenues," said a federal
official familiar with the proposal.
The rough plan for the commission
calls for three federally appointed members to lead the assessment and conduct
public hearings throughout British Columbia. The
appointment of the panel would be made in consultation with other ministers.
The assessment, which also would
include consultations with native bands, would consider the impact on the
people and economy of the area.
However, Mr. Dhaliwal's proposal
is running into resistance from Environment Minister David Anderson, one of the
people who helped to put the drilling ban in
place in the 1970s, sources said.
Mr. Anderson said yesterday that
he thinks oil companies should pay for the cost of studies to assess the risks
and benefits of drilling, a bill he suggested could be
$100-million to $120-million.
"Why should they be given a
ride out of the taxpayers' pocket?" he said. "There's a big price tag
in terms of work on earthquakes, tsunamis, wave patterns,
currents."
Mr. Anderson, who was attacked by
the Canadian Alliance for allegedly blocking the move to consider lifting the
moratorium, said he expects that "one day it will
be lifted."
However, he reminded the House of
Commons of the dangers of oil spills.
"The Alliance does not
believe that there could possibly be any risk. I suggest it look at the figures
on the coast of Spain," a reference to the November, 2002, spill
that blackened the northwestern Spanish coast.
Meanwhile, the B.C. government is
moving ahead. Hoping that the moratorium will soon be lifted, the province's
governing Liberal Party said recently that it hoped
offshore production would begin by 2010.
With that target in mind, the
Ministry of Energy and Mines has established a nine-member team to develop
provincial positions on offshore development issues.
The Geological Survey of Canada
has estimated that 9.8 billion barrels of oil and 25.9 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas are available in the Queen Charlotte Basin, the
largest of several basins off the B.C. coast that are believed to hold large
oil and gas resources.
Those estimates indicate that the
offshore reserves could be larger than Newfoundland's Hibernia. The nearby
Winona and Georgia basins are thought to contain an
additional 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to provincial
estimates.
Patrick O'Rourke, a senior
official with the B.C. government's Offshore Oil and Gas unit, said
northwestern coastal communities are keen on the economic benefits
from drilling because they have been hammered by declines in the fishing and
forestry industries.
"But I think they are also
concerned about the environment," he said. "There is also no doubt
that [there are] First Nations up and down the coast who are very
interested in, but also are very concerned about, [the impact] of offshore oil
and gas."
These concerns have an additional
legal aspect because of aboriginal rights that both the provincial and federal
governments must address.
The target for developing
offshore oil and gas in the next seven years, which would provide a boost to
the B.C. economy, was announced in the provincial Throne
Speech this week.
Federal and provincial
moratoriums on oil and gas drilling off the B.C. coast have prevented, for more
than 25 years, the kind of exploration that has opened energy
reserves in the Arctic and in basins off Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.
Because the oil and gas companies
are wary of provoking environmental protests, they are unlikely to press the
subject until the future of the moratorium is sorted
out.
In the late 1980s, Ottawa and the
B.C. government were close to an agreement to reopen offshore oil and gas
development.
But in 1989, a series of oil
tanker spills, including the Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska, killed those
chances.
The main political obstacle to
lifting the ban is that many of the potential oil and gas deposits lie just off
the shore of the Queen Charlotte Islands, which are
considered an environmental jewel.
3. International
3.A) Coral reef damage will cost billions: WWF - February 23, 2003
Source: Yahoo! News (news.yahoo.com)
GENEVA - Rapid destruction of the
planet's coral reef system will cost
the global economy billions of dollars and hit poorest countries
hardest, according to a new environmental report.
The independent study, The
Economics of Worldwide Coral Reef
Degradation, was commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund. It warns that
up to 60 per cent of the planet's coral reefs are at risk of being
destroyed during the next 30 years.
In addition to being an enormous
ecological loss, industries like
tourism and fishing will be hit hard, according to the report. Millions
of people could lose jobs as well as an important source of food.
The biggest hardship will be in
developing countries, where most of the
coral reef systems are located, the experts warn.
"The findings of this new
study bring a renewed urgency to coral reef
conservation efforts," says Simon Cripps, director of the WWF's
endangered seas program.
"Good reef management
certainly has its price but the loss will be much
higher if governments fail to realize both the economic and ecological
benefits of these ecosystems, and drag their feet over protecting them."
The biggest threats to the coral
are pollution, unregulated coastal
development, overfishing, climate change and mass tourism.
The WWF wants the reefs declared
"marine protected areas" that are
closely monitored.
"This report shows that we
are at a critical point where governments
must take responsibilities for the future of their coastal communities
by implementing dramatic measures that ensure the long term health of
important biological and economic resources, and contribute to alleviate
poverty," Cripps said.
3.B) Explorers' charts, logbooks offer new insight into climate for modern
scientists - February 23, 2003
By KRISTIAN KAHRS Source: CNEWS Canada (cnews.canoe.ca)
OSLO (AP) - Using 500-year-old
logbooks and sea charts, scientists are examining the effects of global climate
change in the Arctic.
Terje Loyning, an oceanographer
with the project, said there is evidence of less ice. "Yes, we have seen
climate change, but we don't know how much has been
created by humans," he said Friday. The Norwegian Polar Institute and the
World Wide Fund for Nature compiled the Arctic Climate System Study Historical
Ice
Chart Archive to gauge global warming on the ice around the Arctic Sea. The
Norwegian Meteorological Institute also took part.
The archive contains details of
climate change in and around the Arctic from 1553 to 2002.
Loyning has been collecting sea
charts covering an area from Greenland east to Novaya Zemlya, Russia, to
compare the amount of ice explorers encountered
hundreds of years ago.
"Much has been made in
recent years of the connection between global warming and sea ice extent,"
said Lynn Rosentrater, a scientist with the International Arctic
Program. "But prior to the development of satellites few direct
observations of sea ice were made in any systematic manner."
Rosentrater said that "we
believe, along with two-thirds of scientists, that the climate change in the
Arctic is caused by the burning of fossil fuel," she told The
Associated Press. "It is very clear that there are natural cycles, but
there is a clear human footprint."
Many scientists believe that the
burning of fossil fuels is causing an increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide,
triggering what is called the greenhouse effect. A higher
concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would trap more of the sun's
heat, possibly causing temperatures to rise.
Other methods of tracking the
effect of climate change in the Arctic have used drilling deep within the ice.
Ice cores contain detailed, natural records of climate
change.
Using the charts of seagoing
explorers, both groups said they created a massive database that extends 500
years back.
"With the charts and logbooks
we can compare the ice edge as it was. We have to be a bit careful about the
assessment, but there has been a steady decrease of
the ice starting long before the industrial age," Loyning told the AP.
"We have to assume that those who travelled without engine power sailed in
areas where a third
of the ocean was covered by ice."
The oldest records are from 1553
when English explorer Hugh Willoughby sought to find a northeastern route to
China.
Willoughby and his crew perished
when their ship got stuck in ice, but the voyage eventually resulted in trade
between Britain and Russia. The ship's log and other
documents were recovered by later explorers.
Links On the Net:
Norwegian Polar Institute: acsys.npolar.no
World Wide Fund for Nature: wwfint.org
3.C) World's Favourite Fruit Faces Possible Extinction - February 22, 2003
Source: CTV.ca
The world's favourite fruit is
facing a bleak future after making its
way into kitchens and lunch bags across North America. As CTV's food
specialist Jennifer Tryon reports, the banana may be facing extinction.
A fruit fungus called Fusarium
Wilt has infested commercial banana crops
in Asia. Producers fear more losses if it creeps into Central and South
America -- where most of the bananas shipped to Europe and North America
are produced.
"Banana production in many
countries in the developing world has dropped
50 per cent because of diseases," David Mowbray of the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture told CTV News.
The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) says
the problem is largely the result of producers relying on one type of
banana -- the Cavendish -- for export.
The FAO says large-scale
producers should seek some of the diverse
banana plants from around the globe as a means of improving the crop.
Last year, Canada imported nearly
a quarter of a billion dollars worth
of the Cavendish. Although other varieties are imported, Tryon reports
they don't sell as well.
Tryon says that large crops are
easy prey for disease and since bananas
are seedless they're not easily reproduced. So Canada isn't taking any
chances.
Scientists are collecting and
storing DNA from every fruit and vegetable
grown in Canada, where the extinction of some Ontario apple varieties
has already occurred.
"We don't want any more
plants to become extinct so we're maintaining
them here under controlled protected culture conditions, so that they
will survived," Margie Luffman of the Canadian Clonal Genebank told CTV.
3.D) Blair Urges 60 Percent Global Greenhouse Gas Cuts - February 24, 2003
Source: Environmental News Service (ens-news.com)
LONDON, UK, February 24, 2003
(ENS) - To stop further damage to the
global climate a 60 percent reduction in emissions by 2050 is required,
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said today in a major speech on sustainable
development in which he committed Britain to the 60 percent cut.
Speaking at an event organized by the United Nations Sustainable
Development Commission, he set out the case for a new international
consensus to tackle key issues of sustainable development like climate
change.
Today, Blair and Swedish Prime
Minister Goran Persson wrote a joint
letter to the Greek Prime Minister, Costas Simitis, in his capacity as
President of the European Council. In it the two nations confirm their
ambition to reduce emissions across the European Union by 60 percent by
2050, and their commitment to policies that will demonstrate how it can
be achieved.
Climate change is a crucial long
term global security issue comparable
to the immediate security threat posed by weapons of mass destruction,
Blair said.
"The world is in danger of
polarizing around two different agendas,"
warned Blair. "On the one hand there are the very clear and dangerous
threats of unstable states developing or proliferating weapons of mass
destruction and the evil of terrorism exemplified by September 11th.
These are the issues, if you like, of immediate security. They are a
threat we can see confronting us directly and now."
"On the other hand, there
are the issues that affect us over time. They
are just as devastating in their potential impact, some more so, but
they require reflection and strategy geared to the long term, often
straddling many years and many governments," said the British Prime
Minister, now in his second term.
Within the long term category,
said Blair, are "issues of global
poverty, relations between the Moslem world and the West, environmental
degradation, most particularly climate change."
Calling climate change
"unquestionably the most urgent environmental
challenge," Blair said the only answer is to construct "a common
agenda
that recognizes both sets of issues have to be confronted for the
world's security and prosperity to be guaranteed." He said his
government will continue to make the case, "to the U.S. and to others,
that climate change is a serious threat that we must address together as
an international community."
Blair stressed the potential of
technological development to achieving
transition to "a truly low-carbon economy" without causing the sort
of
economic damage feared by countries like the United States.
Blair said Britain is "well
on the way" to meeting its greenhouse gas
reduction target of 12.5 percent under the United Nations Kyoto climate
protocol, which U.S. President George W. Bush rejected.
"But while the Kyoto Protocol
was "an enormous achievement," Blair
warned, "it is clear Kyoto is not radical enough." He acknowledged
that
it represents the most that is "politically achievable" at this time.
Global emissions of greenhouse gases have risen 10 percent since 1990,
with a 35 percent increase in developing countries, and Blair said even
the Kyoto Protocol limits and deadlines will not be enough to avert
global warming.
"At best Kyoto will mean a
reduction of two percent in emissions. That
is better than emissions just continuing to rise and rise. But we know
now, from further research and evidence, that to stop further damage to
the climate we need a reduction in 60 percent reduction worldwide," the
Prime Minister said, relying on the 2000 report of a Royal Commission on
Environmental Protection.
Many, including the Bush
administration, see the Kyoto Protocol as a
threat to the pursuit of economic growth, but said Blair, "I believe
this needn't be the case. If we harness new technology the evidence is
mounting that we can achieve a target of 60 percent - and at reasonable
cost."
The solutions to climate change,
such as hydrogen fueled vehicles, are
not expensive "against the scale of the problem," said Blair. It is
"a
myth" that reducing emissions makes us poorer, he said. "The UK's
economy has grown by nearly 17 percent since 1997," when the Blair
government took office, he said. "In that time, emissions have fallen by
five percent."
There are "clear economic
advantages" for Britain in taking the lead in
combating climate change, Blair said. "We have enormous potential in
this field - in our universities, our research institutes, our
businesses."
"Today I am pleased to
announce its first large portfolio of projects -
including fuel cells, wave power, photovoltaics and CHP [cogenerated
heat and power] - which together will amount to £70 million in combined
public-private investment," Blair said.
Britain's commitment on cutting
carbon dioxide emissions was included in
a long anticipated energy white paper, which puts an end to months of
speculation over national policy on renewable energies and nuclear
power. A new ambition of a 20 percent share of electricity from
renewables by 2020 is included.
The question of possible new
nuclear power capacity is left open.
Ensuring security of energy
supply drives the white paper. Britain is
set to become a net importer of energy in 2010 for the first time in 30
years. Under a business as usual scenario by 2020 around 75 percent of
primary energy supplies will be imported.
Better energy efficiency,
establishment of the forthcoming EU carbon
trading scheme and planning system changes to remove obstacles to new
renewables infrastructure build are included.
While Blair's speech seemed to
place Britain in the vanguard of the
battle against global warming, government environment adviser Sir
Jonathon Porritt has warned that the UK would fall `"well short'' of its
goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2010 unless
major policy changes are made, particularly on reducing car use.
Today Blair did not mention his
government's previous commitment to cut
carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent over 1990 levels by 2010.
Blair did stress that his
government is acting to clean up the
environment, "not just globally, but locally," in towns and cities,
where "the environment is overwhelmingly an issue of concern for the
poorest citizens in our communities."
"It is the poorest that live
in the worst housing, and are the most
affected by traffic pollution, live closest to landfill sites and have
the worst graffiti and litter problems," the Prime Minister said.
Friends of the Earth UK Director
Tony Juniper commented, "Tony Blair's
speech today contained important passages about the relationship between
poverty, social exclusion and environmental damage. The need for
environmental justice has been the central theme of Friends of the
Earth's campaigning for a number of years. Mr Blair's clear
understanding of this crucial issue is very welcome."
But, said Juniper, many of the
UK's environmental problems are getting
worse, not better, under the Blair government. "Greenhouse gas emissions
are not falling. Road traffic is rising. And so is the amount of
household waste being sent to landfill."
Juniper called for "specific
and radical targets and timetables," backed
with sufficient funding. "Otherwise we may simply return in a year or
two to hear the same pledges and depressing realities all over again."
3.E) UN reduces global population estimates for 2050 - February 26, 2003
Source: CTV.ca
UNITED NATIONS — The United
Nations on Wednesday reduced its estimate of what the world's population will
be in 2050 by 400 million, primarily because
of the impact of the AIDS epidemic and lower than expected birth rates.
At the dawn of the new
Millennium, the UN Population Division forecast that 9.3 billion people would
inhabit the Earth at mid-century but a new revision of the
estimate projects a lower population of 8.9 billion.
About half the 400 million drop
is a result of an expected increase in the number of deaths, primarily from
AIDS, the forecast said. The other half is due to a
reduction in the projected number of births, mainly as a result of lower
expected fertility rates.
"For the first time, the
United Nations Population Division projects that future fertility levels in
most developing countries will likely fall below 2.1 children per
woman, the level needed to ensure the long-term replacement of the population,
at some point in the 21st century," said the forecast.
By 2050, it projects that three
out of four countries in less developed regions will have fertility levels
below replacement levels.
The report, "World
Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision," confirms key conclusions from
previous revisions about population growth.
Despite expectations of lower
fertility levels and increased death risks, global population is still expected
to increase from 6.3 billion today to 8.9 billion in 2050, it
said.
The Population Division warned,
however, that the latest projections depend on ensuring that couples have
access to family planning.
If fertility in all countries
remained at current levels, it said, "the total population of the globe
could more than double by 2050, reaching 12.8 billion."
But based on the new estimates,
the forecast predicts that the population of more developed regions, currently
at 1.2 billion, will change little during the next 50
years.
Thirty three countries are
projected to be smaller at mid-century than today — Japan losing 14 percent of
its population, Italy 22 percent of its population, and
Bulgaria, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Russia and Ukraine between 30 and 50
percent of their populations.
By contrast in less developed
regions, the population is projected to rise steadily from 4.9 billion in 2000
to 7.7 billion in 2050, according to the forecast.
The populations of Burkina Faso, Mali,
Niger, Somalia, Uganda and Yemen, are projected to quadruple because of
expected annual growth rates of more than 2.5
percent between 2000 and 2050, it said.
In the most populous countries,
large population increases are expected even if fertility levels are projected
to be low.
Between 2000 and 2050, the
forecast said eight countries are expected to account for half the world's
projected population increase — India, Pakistan, Nigeria, the
United States, China, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Congo.
The 2002 Revision indicates a
worsening of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in terms of disease, deaths
and population loss.
In the current decade, 46 million
people are expected to die of AIDS in the 53 most affected countries, "and
that figure is projected to ascend to 278 million by
2050," the forecast said.
3.F) American Wildlife Neglected in Troubled Times - February 27, 2003
Source: Environment News Service (ens-news.com)
WASHINGTON, DC, February 27, 2003
(ENS) - A survey of recent actions affecting wildlife by a nationwide
conservation group notes positive results for the
whooping crane, but warns of dangers for species such as panthers and salmon
from government policies that neglect protection of key wildlife habitat and
ignore
scientific findings.
The National Wildlife Federation
(NWF) released its new report "The Best and Worst for Wildlife"
Wednesday, with a plea to its members, the public and the
government not to forget about the importance of protecting wildlife and wild
places.
"The needs of wildlife must
not be swept away in troubled times," said NWF president and CEO Mark Van
Putten.
Although there are a wide range
of serious concerns for much of America's wildlife, the NWF is "more
certain" than ever, Van Putten said, of the need celebrate
success stories.
The report details the best and
worst for the following five categories: species, habitat, science, national
and financing.
On the positive side, NWF
highlighted a trio of successes for the endangered whooping crane, including
the successful migration of whooping cranes in their eastern
flyway without ultralight plane guidance.
In other good news for the
species, the flock introduced near central Florida's Kissimmee Prairie produced
its first fledgling and a group of 17 young whoopers
followed three crane costumed pilots in ultralight planes from Wisconsin to
their winter home in Florida.
There are now three major groups of whooping cranes, totaling some 400
individuals, in the United States, a marked turn around for a species that
stood on the
brink of extinction early in the 20th century.
Protection of whooping crane
habitat, particularly along the Platte River in Nebraska and the Guadalupe
River estuary on the Gulf Coast of Texas, stands as the key
factor in the species' ultimate survival, according to Duane Hovorka, executive
director of the Nebraska Wildlife Federation.
The lesson from the whooping
crane story, Hovorka said, is "don't give up hope."
"When you are down to 15
whooping cranes, it doesn't get much worse than that."
The wildlife loser in the report
is the Florida panther, one of the nation's most endangered species. The story
here is habitat, said Franklin Adams, a Florida fishing
guide and member of the Florida Wildlife Federation's Board of Directors.
Fewer than 100 Florida panthers
exist in the wild, but development within the state is crowding out what little
land is left for animals that each need up to 200 square
miles of habitat. The situation has been made worse, Adams said, by the Fish
and Wildlife Service's unwillingness to protect habitat under a 1993
federal-state plan.
Since the plan was signed, the
agency has approved the destruction of some 6,000 acres of panther habitat covered
by the agreement.
"The science is clear but
the federal government is failing to act," Van Putten said.
The other species identified in
the report as facing a crisis is Pacific salmon, which is cited as the loser in
both the habitat and financing categories.
Last year's draining of the
Klamath River, which killed more than 30,000 adult salmon, demonstrates that
"we are not doing enough to save these salmon," said
James Martin, an Oregon fish biologist and member of NWF's Board of Directors.
The "fiasco" of the
Klamath River water diversions, Martin said, occurred because of the current
administration's opposition to restoring the river by limiting
agricultural use of its scarce water.
"We are long past the point
of needing to convince people there is a Northwest salmon crisis," he
said.
The continued barging and
trucking of millions of threatened and endangered juvenile salmon and steelhead
around dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers is
identified as a financing failure in the report. NWF calls this practice a
"major part" of a failing restoration program that has cost taxpayers
some $3.3 billion over the
past two decades.
The report's financing success
story lies in the conservation investments in last year's 2002 Farm Bill, which
it says benefit grassland and wetland wildlife through
increased funding for protection efforts.
The federation's report
recognizes that the bill is "far from flawless," but the organization
believes its true legacy lies in "expanding wildlife conservation incentives
on
working landscapes."
On the national front, the report
praises last year's vote by the U.S. Senate to prevent oil and gas drilling in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The "national flop" is
identified as the Bush administration's "unprecendented assault" on
western public lands through its efforts to allow increased oil and gas
drilling.
"The dangers inherent in the
administration's energy policy make it the most serious challenge to sound
wildlife conservation on the national level in recent history,"
according to the report.
The California legislature, for
its efforts to aggressively move forward on climate change issues, is the
report's sound science winner.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
because of several plans that it has approved without consideration of their
environmental impact, received NWF's label of
"conservation con job."
The report spotlights two issues
that NWF is working on this year - the administration's plans to roll back the
Clean Water Act and the increased presence of
chronic wasting disease in wild and captive deer and elk populations.
Chronic wasting disease was found in deer and elk in regions of the country
where it had not been diagnosed before, discoveries that raise human health
concerns.
Although there is no scientific evidence of deer or elk passing the disease to
humans, chronic wasting disease is in the same group of disorders as bovince
encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease, a human varient of which is
responsible for human fatalities.
Until two years ago, the disease
was confined to Colorado and other western states, but it has been spreading
eastward. Earlier this month, the Illinois Department
of Natural Resources expanded its testing of white-tailed deer in Boone,
McHenry and Winnebago counties for chronic wasting disease, where seven
confirmed
cases of the disease have occurred.
In addition to Illinois, chronic
wasting disease has been found in deer and elk in Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma,
South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The NWF is concerned that some
state and federal agricultural agencies may be using public fears about chronic
wasting disease to "muscle in on wildlife
management." The organization worries that these agencies may push for
implementation of strategies to eradicate wild herds without scientific
justification for the
action.
The full NWF report can be found
at http://www.nwf.org/bestandworst/
3.G) Global Warming-Induced Extreme Weather Expected to Continue to Worsen -
February 27, 2003
Source: CNEWS - (cnews.canoe.ca)
LONDON (AP) - The world has
experienced unusually extreme weather in recent decades and economic losses
from storms and other catastrophes have
increased tenfold, an independent research group reported Thursday.
The World Water Council said more
intense rainy seasons, longer dry seasons, stronger storms and rising sea
levels helped cause an increasing number of disastrous
floods and droughts. Global warming is causing the changes in weather patterns,
while growing populations and migration to vulnerable areas is increasing the
cost of
each disaster, said William Cosgrove, vice-president of the World Water
Council.
"The forecast is that it's
going to continue to get worse, unless we start to take actions to mitigate
global warming," he said.
Between 1971 and 1995, the group
reported, floods affected more than 1.5 billion people around the world. About
318,000 people died because of floods and
more than 81 million were made homeless, the council said.
The figures were culled from
research done by scientists at the Dialogue on Water and Climate, as well as
papers by researchers from other groups. The findings will
be presented in greater detail at the World Water Forum, scheduled to be held
next month in Kyoto, Japan, site of negotiations for the global warming
protocol that
was rejected by President George W. Bush.
The council quoted climate
experts predicting changes in the next century will lead to shorter and more
intense rainy seasons in some areas and longer droughts in
others, endangering some crops and species and causing a drop in global food
production.
Rising sea levels pose a serious
threat to small island countries, low-lying countries like Bangladesh and the
Netherlands and major cities like New York City,
Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Argentina and Lagos, Nigeria, the group warned.
Sea levels are expected to rise
by 48 centimetres between 1990 and 2100, the scientists estimated.
"Even if we were to stop all
carbon-dioxide emissions today, global warming is going to continue,"
Cosgrove said.
"As a consequence, the sea
is going to continue expanding and rising."
Carbon dioxide is among the
"greenhouse gases" blamed for warming the Earth. While most climate
experts agree pollution is responsible, a few remain skeptical.
The White House said humans
clearly are agents of environmental change but it is unclear to what degree.
Bush has called for more research on warming, a stance
criticized this week by a U.S. National Academy of Sciences panel.
While scientists could not say
exactly how much the incidence of extreme weather has increased, Cosgrove said
records for storms, floods and droughts are being
broken every year, killing thousands and causing serious economic disruption.
"Most countries aren't ready
to deal adequately with the severe natural disasters that we get now, a
situation that will become much worse," he said.
The council said there were 26
"major flood disasters" worldwide in the 1990s, compared with 18 in
the 1980s, eight in the 1970s, seven in the 1960s and six in the
1950s. The largest number of severe floods occurred in Asia, the council said.
Overall, precipitation worldwide
has increased by about two per cent since 1900, the group said.
Poor countries tend to suffer far
more than wealthier ones when hit by weather disasters, both in terms of human
casualties and economic loss, the council said.
While 2000 flooding in Mozambique
cut the southern African country's gross domestic product by 45 per cent,
severe floods last year in Germany were blamed for
just a one-per-cent decline in GDP, the group said, citing World Bank figures.
Hurricane Mitch had a devastating
impact when it walloped Central America in 1998, killing thousands and causing
billions of dollars in damage.
Cosgrove blamed the difference in
impact partly on growing populations in poor countries and migration to risky or
environmentally damaged areas such as flood
plains or bare mountainsides at risk of mudslides.
In drought-prone regions, growing
populations put more pressure on food and water supplies and mean shortages
happen faster when rains stop, he said.
The group also said droughts are
growing more severe and widespread, accounting for up to 45 per cent of
reported deaths from natural disasters between 1992
and 2001.
On the Net:
Dialogue on Water and Climate report, waterandclimate.org
World Water Council, worldwatercouncil.org
World Water Forum, worldwaterforum.org
4. Noticeboard
DAVID
SUZUKI WILL BE COMING TO PEI TO SPEAK ABOUT 'THE NATURE CHALLENGE'.
SO KEEP MAY 10TH OPEN!! MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW
SHORTLY!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VRC 25th CONCERT CONFEDERATION
CENTRE
March 15th at 8pm, The Abegweit Chimes, Patricia Murray, Judy MacLean
Dancers and Celtic Review (Connor O'Callaghan) along with other Island
entertainers join together to make an evening of celebration to kick off a
series of events planned for the VRC silver anniversary.
With MC Urban Carmichael it will be an evening to remember and celebrate
teenty-five years of VRC service to the Island community.
Tickets available at the Confederation Centre Box Office or call the VRC at
368-7337 or drop by at 81 Prince Street.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Job Posting: The Alzheimer
Society of Nova Scotia
Coordinator, Community
Initiatives (part-time, 3 days/week)
This home-based position in Cape Breton works with a variety of service
providers and organizations to respond to identified needs around
Alzheimer Disease and integrates Society programs, services and
initiatives with those of other organizations. Assists with volunteer
development to implement support and education priorities of the
Society.
Qualifications: academic training in health education or adult education
with 3-5 years demonstrated experience in community development;
volunteer development, program planning and group facilitation skills;
knowledge of community supports within Cape Breton, the Nova Scotia
health system and a health charity environment; and a basic knowledge of
Alzheimer Disease is an asset. Access to a vehicle required.
Application Deadline: March 3, 2003
Coordinator, Education
(part-time, 3 days/week)
Working from the provincial office in Halifax, this position is
responsible for the development and coordination of programs and
services that meet the education needs of the general public and
professionals related to Alzheimer Disease, based on the Society’s
strategic plan.
Qualifications: academic training in health education or adult education
with 3-5 years experience planning education programs and events;
volunteer development and group facilitation skills; knowledge of the
Nova Scotia health system and a health charity environment; basic
knowledge of Alzheimer Disease is an asset.
Application Deadline: March 3, 2003
Applications in writing, by mail,
including two references to:
SEARCH COMMITTEE
The Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia
5954 Spring Garden Road
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 1Y7
(no phone calls please)
While we thank you for your application, only those selected for an
interview will be contacted.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPEI to Host Town Hall Meeting
with Minister of Foreign Affairs
All faculty, staff and students
are invited to take part in “A
Dialogue on Foreign Policy” with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bill
Graham on Tuesday, March 4th, from 1.00 to 2.30 p.m. in the
Duffy Amphitheatre.
“A Dialogue on Foreign Policy” is
part of a series of Town Hall
community consultations taking place across Canada to engage
Canadians in discussion about the country’s choices and priorities
and the future direction of our foreign policy. Faculty are
encouraged to share information with their students about this
opportunity to take part in the Dialogue.
In announcing the Dialogue,
Minister Graham released a
discussion paper, which includes questions for public comment.
You can find the paper at www.foreign-policy-dialogue.ca
For more information contact Anne
McCallum in Advancement Services
at 566-0760.
Town Halls in the Atlantic
provinces
Duffy Amphitheatre
Charlottetown, PEI
March 4, 2003, 12:30 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ECOPEI Annual Meeting and Discussion with David MacDonald
(former Minister of Communications)
Topics: HOW'S THAT WATER? Sustaining our Communities Water Resources
plus: UPEI Environmental Awareness, preparations for Earth Day, etc
Thursday, March 13th
7 -9 pm
at Colonel Gray High School [storm date March 14th location TBA]
Everyone Welcome !
For more info, call 569-2215 or 675-4093
or go to www.ecopei.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Weekend Workshop in the Woods! What can we do about climate change?
When: Friday, March 28, 6
pm, to Sunday, March 30
Where: Greenhill Lake Camp – 30 minutes from Fredericton
All meals and accommodations are
provided
Limited travel subsidies are available
Transport can be arranged
Early Bird Registration
Fee: $15
Registration Deadline: March 13
Registration Fee after March 13: $20
Register Online at www.nbhub.org or call (506) 462-0930
PRIZE GIVEAWAY: A brand new
Acoustic Guitar!(sponsored by Digital World, Fredericton)
Be a part of the solution – join
us for ‘Climate Change and Youth Action!’
Content: climate change science, government policy (eg. Kyoto Protocol),
technologies (wind and solar power, electric-hybrid vehicles, and more), what
environment and health groups are doing across Eastern Canada, building a
regional youth network, indoor and outdoor activities, great cooking, evening
musical gathering, and even more!
Questions? Contact:
Eddie Oldfield
Phone: (506) 462-0930
Email: cchub@nb.lung.ca
Presented by:The Fredericton
Youth Environmental Action Group andThe New Brunswick Environmental Network’s
Youth Action Group Sponsored by:The New Brunswick Climate Change Hub,The New
Brunswick Lung Association, andEnvironment Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Head, Heart, Feet 2003
Experience Engagement
March 8,9,10, 2003
Opening Night, Friday March 7
At the NavCan Conference Centre,
Cornwall, Ontario
Youth and Adult Partnerships in
Research:
Social Inclusion and Reciprocal Knowledge
What can we do to improve the way
adults and youth work together on issues of concern to youth?
What does research mean to youth and how is it useful to them?
What does youth participation mean to adult researchers and practitioners and
how is it useful to them?
This conference will not only look at the issues, it will also attempt to be a
model of effective engagement in its execution, connecting
research, policy and practice through engagement.
- It will examine issues of concern to youth and will engage youth and adults
in looking at the latest in research findings, figuring out
what they mean to youth, and recommending what to do with them.
- It will engage adults and youth working together to produce concrete
products.
- It will be an experience for your head, your heart, and your feet.
The event itself will be three
days, and all participants, presenters and others should be there for all days,
as it is a process event. Styles
of program events will include: conceptual learning, facilitated dialogue,
hands-on, multi-intelligence, experiential, etc.
Participants will:
1. Examine research findings of interest to youth and discuss their meaning,
implication
2. Identify targets for action, create policy
3. Identify targets for communication, create communication vehicles
4. Experience and learn practical tools for engagement
5. Create ways to make research accessible
All five Centres of Excellence
for Children's Health and Well-Being will be featuring some of their
work, with youth co-presenters. On-line registration is at
www.tgmag.ca/centres. If you'd like these materials in French, please let me
know. There will be ASL translation, as well at the conference.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
IDRC Forum on Ecohealth
If Ecosystem Approaches to Human
Health is a subject that interests you,
don't forget to register to the upcoming International Conference taking
place from May 18 to 23, 2003 in Montreal, Canada. The Forum will
provide an opportunity for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and civil
society representatives from around the world to share knowledge and to
consider useful strategies for solutions.
The deadline for EARLY
registration is March 1, 2003, at which time the
fee will increase.
For more information on
accommodation, registration and programming,
visit the Forum website http://www.idrc.ca/forum2003.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The 2003 Great Greenwing Adventure is open for applications!!
Ten teens, 13-17 years old will be selected, one from each province, for an all
expenses paid week-long eco-adventure of a life-time
during this International Year of Fresh Water. The Adventure will be delivered
by experienced interpreters and biologists between
August 9-15, 2003 at Oak Hammock and Delta, MB; two of Canada's Ramsar
Marshes of international significance. Our top 2
campers will have an added opportunity to attend an exchange with our sister
camp in Arkansas next winter-- Anne Pomerleau
(17) of Quebec and Russell Shuttlewoth (14) of Alberta just returned from their
amazing learning experience about southern
wetlands! For more information please visit: http://www.ducks.ca/greenwing/adventur.html
PEIEN E-News is a weekly compilation of environmental news headlines.
It is sent electronically to PEIEN members every Friday to update them on
issues of interest in the environmental field. Please Note:
The opinions and ideas expressed by the authors of the news articles are their
own and are not necessarily the opinions of the E-News Editor, the PEI
Eco-Net, or Other PEI Eco-Net members.
If you have any comments or
suggestions about this or upcoming editions, please contact the PEIEN office at
566-4170 or by email at peien@isn.net.
Marc A. Smith, Developer
Prince Edward Island Eco-Net de l'Ile-du-Prince Edouard
126 Richmond St, Charlottetown, PE C1A 1H9
Tel: (902) 566-4170 Fax: (902) 566-4037
http://www.isn.net/~network
"Providing information and
resources to groups that care about our environment"