Archive for September, 2009
Two ships have successfully navigated from Asia to Europe via the northeast passage, without the aid of ice breakers. BBC video here.
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 to produce feed for aquaculture fish on land or via genetically modified crops (certain algae) for example. All this for smoked salmon!
It might be easier to simply eat less fish.
via Blog Post here
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.
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 over half a million times. People are dying. One tidbit of info from the article concerns coal companies in West Virginia,
For instance, three coal companies — Loadout, Remington Coal and Pine Ridge, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy, one of the largest coal companies in the world — reported to state officials that 93 percent of the waste they injected near this community had illegal concentrations of chemicals including arsenic, lead, chromium, beryllium or nickel.
Here is an image from the NYT interactive series on clean water act violations and enforcement levels:
On top of this disheartening news, it was just announced that Duke Energy and Alstom have quit the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) due to its stand against climate change regulation and its practice of forging letters to congress. Article here.
Coal is a cheap and abundant energy resource, so it is a tempting option, but so was slavery.
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 petition found here at Visible Government, a non-profit organization for the transparency of government.
