¶ Published Monday, September 14th In Environment - No Comments »
Don’t want to beat the drum too loudly on over-fishing, but here’s some news that might actually catch people’s attention. Yes, apparently the Filet-O-Fish is at risk of going extinct! Ok, not quite. But New Zealand’s hoki fish industry, once hailed as an example of sustainable fishing, is running into serious trouble. The hoki, a deep water fish is the main ingredient in many a McDonald’s filet. New Zealand has slashed allowable catches of hoki by more than two-thirds.
¶ Published Monday, September 14th In Environment - No Comments »
A new report commissioned by Greenpeace has found that the Alberta Tar Sands emit more CO2 than some small countries, including Lithuania, and will surpass larger countries and the world’s largest volcanoes by 2020. The Tar Sands are simply massive in scale, they can be seen from outer space and their tailings ponds are bigger than your average lake. The National Geographic did a fantastic report on them a few months ago, which left many politicians on their heels. The Tar Sands may bring in billions of dollars in cash, but they are leaving a disastrous legacy for our children.Read the Rest…
¶ Published Sunday, September 13th In Environment - No Comments »
Freeman Dyson, a pioneering scientist in quantum mechanics and rocketry, was just interviewed on Charlie Rose. The interview is partially about his position on global warming (Video here). Largely he agrees the planet is warming, but thinks it may be good for us and that it is not necessarily our fault. Dyson claims that: Global warming is not bad – it helps people. Cold places are warming up most – helping grow more crops and making life easier. That bioengineering can solve our future problems. Technology is evolving fast enough to solve most of our issues. The real problems areRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, September 10th In Environment - No Comments »
The following is one of series of excerpts posted here from the business book Good to Green: Managing Business Risks and Opportunities in the Age of Environmental Awareness, by John Phyper and Paul MacLean (John Wiley & Sons, 2009). Paul MacLean is President of ÉEM, a Nimonik affiliate partner. Human capital is the key resource issue of the coming decades and its recruitment, its development, its deployment and its retention all determine a company’s potential. Unfortunately, most companies, large and small, are often ill-equipped to effectively manage talent. Key strategic challenges for the corporate human resources function today include: greaterRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, September 10th In Environment - No Comments »
For the past couple weeks, I have been working out of Paris (instead of the usual Montréal). One thing I have noticed here is the proliferation of new sushi restaurants, they are everywhere. One wonders two things, 1. How do they make enough money to pay their rent and 2. Where do all the fish come from? Most shocking in Paris is the prevalence of red tuna (actually called Northern Bluefin Tuna) on menus. Despite strict restrictions on red tuna fishing in the Mediterranean, we find the fish on many restaurant menus. It is not illegal to eat it, just toRead the Rest…
¶ Published Wednesday, September 9th In Environment - No Comments »
Environment Minister Jim Prentice is considering a climate change strategy that would impose limited emissions restrictions on oil sands producers while applying tighter regulations on other industries, according to this Toronto Star report. The problem facing the Conservative government is, of course, how to reconcile economic interests in the oil sands with Ottawa’s stated goal of harmonizing its market with the one that will emerge in the U.S. Complicating matters, Canada is under pressure to come up with a national emissions regime ahead of the Copenhagen Conference in December. It seems not everyone is happy about the idea, starting withRead the Rest…
¶ Published Wednesday, September 9th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Dianne Saxe just blogged on an alarming tactic at the MOE in Ontario. Supposedly the ministry finds interesting ways to “prove” a facility is over the emissions thresholds, forcing the company to spend money on complex monitoring programs. The claim is quite something, I highly recommend you take a look at her post.
¶ Published Wednesday, September 9th In Environment - No Comments »
Photographer James Balog set up time-lapse cameras around the world to document the dramatic retreat of glaciers. Whether or not you belive in global warming and its prophets dire predictions, these images are definitely worth watching.
¶ Published Tuesday, September 8th In Legal Issues, Video - No Comments »
We just put together a short video on the toxic substances act in Ontario, its overlap with federal legisation, purpose and potential holes.
¶ Published Tuesday, September 8th In Design & Features - No Comments »
This past week we made a number of User Interface improvements, you can now quickly search for ISO 14001 Impacts and Aspects, particularly important updates are highlighted with a red arrow and we improved the filters for the updates. Old Filters: New Filters: Important Bulletins have a red triangle:
¶ Published Monday, September 7th In Announcements, Miscellaneous - No Comments »
In August, I wrote an article, titled Saas for Environmental Compliance in the Purchasing B2B magazine, a Rogers Media publication. In the piece, I tried to layout the rationale for buying software as a service instead of a one-time purchase. Amongst other things, the article explains, In many companies, general counsel and legal departments are responsible for keeping the company up to date on constant changes to the law. But procurement departments can also take an active role in searching for simple and affordable solutions in this area. Software as a service (SaaS) and Web 2.0 technology have the powerRead the Rest…
¶ Published Saturday, September 5th In Environment, Video - No Comments »
Very cool project to illustrate, in poetry and images, what the earth looks like from outer space. It is a 45 minute video that is supposed to be watched in an immersive theatre, but here is a 5 minute trailer well worth watching: Website here.
¶ Published Friday, September 4th In Environment - No Comments »
Just came across a note that deforestation is down 46% this year in the amazon rainforest, great news. It seems this is largely due to more intense policing and prosecution of timber companies and individuals. At the end of the day, sad as it might be, the government must crack down on polluters to have a large impact. From Dow Jones: DJ Brazil Says Amazon Deforestation Drops Dramatically [JVSMTWT] SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)–Deforestion of the Amazon has fallen to the lowest level since satellite monitoring began five years ago, the Brazilian government said late Tuesday. Forest clearance fell by 46%Read the Rest…
¶ Published Friday, September 4th In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
A bill moving through Parliament in Ottawa will push fines for not recycling up steeply, a lot of money to pay for not recycling a $1 newspaper. By Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – a Nimonik affiliate Blue bins and boxes are so common around workplaces that people don’t even notice them anymore; they’re part of the industrial landscape. But while most employees may be in the habit of tossing a soda can or old newspaper in the container, not as many businesses are as diligent about recycling. That may be about to change because the price for notRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, September 3rd In Environment - No Comments »
Fantastic video of energy usage and potential savings from the German Railway company: see it here.
