¶ Published Friday, January 29th In Miscellaneous - No Comments »
I just purchased a one-way ticket to Toronto on the Via Rail website. The experience was decent enough, though one thing did baffle me. Take a look at the screen-shot below of the last screen before the purchase. It states that the ticket is “Non-exchangeable and non-refundable” and below it says it is “Fully refundable prior to paper ticket issuance…”. If this is not contradictory, I do not know what is – very confusing.
¶ Published Friday, January 29th In Environment - No Comments »
Canada drops from 12th in 2008 to 43rd out of 163 countries, according to the 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI). The EPI relies on 25 performance indicators covering both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality. It’s worth noting that Canada fares quite well on some indicators — in forestry and agricultural practices, notably. Surprisingly, considering our reputation as one of the worst water wasters in the world, Canada also nears the top in water. Sure we have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation. But our generous endowments in water ought not excuse us from more responsible conservation practices.Read the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, January 28th In Environment - No Comments »
In 1927, Charles Lindberg, flew from Paris to New York solo and kicked off the air transportation industry. Today, Bertrand Piccard carries on the torch with his project Solar Impulse. He plans to fly around the world with no fuel – just solar panels and batteries. For a great description of his project and motivations, watch the TED talk:
¶ Published Wednesday, January 27th In Environment - No Comments »
The New York Times has an item on a series of climate change lawsuitsthat are making their way through the courts around the U.S. Already, two federal appeals courts have reversed decisions by federal district courts to dismiss climate-change decisions. One of the cases (Comer v. Murphy Oil USA (5th Cir. Miss. October 16, 2009)), a decision of the Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, involved Gulf Coast property owners who claimed property damage resulting from Hurricane Katrina. The plaintiffs sued several large energy and power companies for compensatory and punitive damages, charging that these were caused by greenhouseRead the Rest…
¶ Published Sunday, January 24th In Environment - No Comments »
Just read a great article by Ralph Losey about the challenge of converting lawyers to a paperless office, or at least an electronic centric office. His article revolves around Plato’s Cave allegory and his argument boils down to, “Old lawyers have only ever known paper, thus they cannot see all the amazing benefits of e-discovery. Electronic lawyers cannot communicate the benefits to people who are unwilling to change their ways or see the shadows for what they are”. A great section of the article talks about the bar association made a young lawyer print out his entire website to have it reviewed, itRead the Rest…
¶ Published Friday, January 22nd In Environment - No Comments »
News today that MiningWatch Canada won its Supreme Court case concerning the Red Chris mine. Interestingly, the Supreme Court ruled that the project can move forward because the BC government had already given it the go ahead. But environmentalists are nonetheless claiming victory because the Court also ruled that from now on the federal government must conduct comprehensive assessments of all big projects over a certain size that might affect the environment, the people and the long term future of the area affected by a major project. The decision says that the Canadian government violated the Canadian Environmental Assessment ActRead the Rest…
¶ Published Wednesday, January 20th In Environment - No Comments »
The sheer scale of humanity, 6.5 billion souls, means that our daily actions matter. It is so easy to justify a bottle of water, a disposable cup, a fuel consuming vehicle, yada yada yada. Great article, “How bad can one bottle of water be, says the 30 millionth person today“. Take a look at this informative infographic of well-intentioned american’s thoughts:
¶ Published Monday, January 18th In Environment - No Comments »
Greenies have a romantic vision of green – living on a farm, eating bio and getting your power from solar and wind energy. The reality is that we are simply too many people, 6.5 billion at last count, to live like that. There is not enough land, water, wind or sun to power our society that way. Therefore, the solution to our unsustainable lifestyle can only be one of two options – innovate or downgrade. Last time I checked, not too many people were keen to give up their washing machines, cars, heating or electricity. Despite our noble savage romanticism, fewRead the Rest…
¶ Published Friday, January 15th In Environment - No Comments »
On this blog, we have sung the praises of Bjorn Lomberg and his skepticism of doomsday global warming scenarios. There is no denying he has an ideological bend to his statements, but that does not mean he is wrong. Like anyone trying to make a point, he selectively chooses data and case studies. However, does his data choices venture beyond selection and into manipulation? Does he compare apples to oranges? The criticism below claims he does, and while I do not agree with everything stated by Lomborg or the critic below, both are certainly worth reading. View a good, detailed, criticism ofRead the Rest…
¶ Published Thursday, January 7th In Environment - No Comments »
Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2001 Nobel Laureate and Professor in Economics at Columbia University, concludes that world leaders at the Copenhagen climate conference failed not only to reach a binding agreement, but also to agree on how to save the planet. An entirely new strategy is needed, he says, to effectively address climate change: “Perhaps it is time to try another approach: a commitment by each country to raise the price of emissions (whether through a carbon tax or emissions caps) to an agreed level, say, $80 per ton. Countries could use the revenues as an alternative to other taxes –Read the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, January 5th In Environment - No Comments »
NASA’s earth observatory site is well worth a visit for anyone interested in witnessing changes to the planet’s surface. Click here to watch satellite images of Dubai’s “progress” over the last decade. Dubai in 2000… … and in 2009 An even more disturbing slide on the deforestation of the Amazon is here.
