¶ Published Tuesday, September 29th In Environment - No Comments »
Interesting interview, in French, with Maude Barlow, who just finished her rotation at the UN’s water commission. She claims our water rights in Canada are progressively being sold off to private companies. Even more interestingly, she points out we do not have as much water as we might think. We are often told Canada has the most fresh water per habitant and should thus not be too worried about consumption and sale of it. However, she claims we have significantly less water when we account for how much we can sustainably extract and its accessibility – most is locked upRead the Rest…
¶ Published Monday, September 28th In Environment - No Comments »
In my latest article for National magazine, I assess some of the challenges facing lawyers and businesses in addressing the growing patchwork of climate change legislation.
¶ Published Friday, September 25th In Environment - No Comments »
Moving ever so swiftly, Ontario announced yesterday a series of Green Energy Act regulations that formally remove layers of municipal and provincial approvals for renewable energy projects. The MOE has now set up a one-stop agency to facilitate new approvals. The MOE also officially launched the country’s first feed-in tariff, a key part of Ontario’s renewable energy plan, consacrated earlier this year by the adoption of the Green Energy Act. Administered by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), the “Feed-in Tariff” is the price paid to renewable energy suppliers for the green energy they produce. It’s designed to guarantee market pricesRead the Rest…
¶ Published Friday, September 25th In Environment - No Comments »
Hardly, according to the (albeit unscientific) calculations of theGlobal Footprint Network, a sustainability international think tank. The NGO has identified today, September 25th, as Earth Overshoot Day, a milestone that marks in this calendar year “the day when humanity begins living beyond its ecological means.” From now until the end of the year, we are in ecological deficit — the difference between the Earth’s biocapacity and our ecological footprint. It would appear we consume in 10 months what takes the planet a year to regenerate.
¶ Published Thursday, September 24th In Environment - No Comments »
We really appreciate your time and to ensure the video is of the best possible quality, please read some of the tips below. Set-Up Use a microphone If possible, try and use a microphone, bluetooth or USB headset. This significantly improves the audio quality and makes for a better video. Good, frontal lighting is essential In a typical office, there is often more lighting in back of you than in front, this leads to a dark face on the video. The lights in the background or on the ceiling lower the quality. Please place a desktop lamp in front ofRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, September 24th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Ontario Gets Even Tougher On Hazardous and General Waste Manufacturers, trucking companies and disposal sites handling waste must ensure that they don’t harm human health and safety or the environment. If they don’t, they could see life through an iron curtain. – By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada, a Nimonik partner When it comes to insisting that businesses properly store and dispose of hazardous and other wastes, Ontario’s Ministry of Environment isn’t fooling around. Ian Herd, apparently the sole owner of a numbered Ontario corporation, failed to properly clean up soil-contaminated property he purchased near St. Catherine’s after beingRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, September 22nd In Environment - No Comments »
China stole the show today at the the UN summit on climate change by stating its plans to invest massively in energy-saving technology and nuclear power. Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, also pledged to “cut carbon emissions per unit of GDP by a notable margin by 2020.” Pretty vague still, and it’s worth remembering that these amount to a commitment to reduce China’s energy intensity – not emission cuts per se. But in the lead up to Copenhagen (and the upcoming debate in the U.S. about passing climate change legislation), it is promising news nonetheless.
¶ Published Tuesday, September 22nd In Legal Issues, Video - No Comments »
We just put together a short video that tries to explain the new remediation certificates in Alberta, please leave your comment bellow. Much more information on the new requirements is available at www.nimonikapp.ca
¶ Published Monday, September 21st In Environment - No Comments »
While leaders have the power to change things, they rarely do. How do you make world leaders act? They are bogged down by political considerations, powerful lobbies, historical issues and gigantic bureaucracies with entrenched interests. To break the deadlock, the UN is planning on mixing things up at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference (Guardian Article). One interesting idea is to strip the leaders of the attachés, assistants, and entourage and place them at a table with the leaders of countries their pollution is affecting most. In effect, they hope to strip the leaders of their protective bubble and return themRead the Rest…
¶ Published Sunday, September 20th In Environment - No Comments »
Connie Hedegaard, Denmark’s minister of climate and energy, will be hosting the UN-sponsored global climate treaty negotiations, to be held in Copenhagen in December. In the coming months, expect her to get a lot of media attention. The New York Times profiles her here.
¶ Published Sunday, September 20th In Environment - No Comments »
Two ships have successfully navigated from Asia to Europe via the northeast passage, without the aid of ice breakers. BBC video here.
¶ Published Saturday, September 19th In Environment - No Comments »
Back on the fish bandwagon. Many people claim that aquaculture, raising fish in “farms”, will allow us to continue to eat fish without the depleting the oceans reserves. The problem is that fish eat fish. Half of the fish we consume today come from aquaculture, but those fish require fish to live. To produce 1 pound of salmon, you need 5 pounds of feed produced from smaller fish. So, while salmon in the wild may be less fished, the smaller fish, on which they and other fish rely are being fished to extinction. The solution, proposed by some, is toRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, September 15th In Video - No Comments »
Justin Lacey is the founder and president of Walk Softly communications – a sustainability and marketing consultancy based in Vancouver, BC. He helps small businesses promote their green efforts and gain new clients. About a month ago, we chatted about his work, green-washing, carbon credits and where he sees the marketplace going. The audio is a bit scratchy, but the short 3 minute video should help you better understand his work. Enjoy and please leave comments below.
¶ Published Tuesday, September 15th In Environment - No Comments »
The coal industry is often criticized as a global warming villain, but that is the least of its problems. Coal is filthy and clean coal is sham. They can installs scrubbers to clean their emissions, but at the end of the day, pollution is inevitable. Between the mines, transportation, carcinogenic chemicals, mountain top clearing and destroyed ecosystems – there is nothing good about coal. Add onto this fact that the coal industry is notoriously careless with wastewater regulations and their neighbours’ health. A recent New York Times article outlines how the Clean Water Act in the US has been violated overRead the Rest…
¶ Published Monday, September 14th In Legal Issues - No Comments »
In Canada, the government has copyright over its publications, paid for with your money. The copyright extends to laws, regulations, and other documents. A copyright makes it difficult for companies and non-profit organizations to reproduce government information without their explicit permission. This slows innovation, reduces transparency and adds bureaucracy. As part of the ongoing copyright, intellectual property and information technology consultations in Ottawa, Crown Copyright is being discussed. It is very, very important for the future of Canadians and their government that the Federal government change the existing structure. Please take 1 minute of your time to sign the petitionRead the Rest…
