¶ Published Tuesday, February 23rd In Environment, Legal Issues - No Comments »
Treating toxic waste is very expensive. So, some less than savoury companies hire ships to carry their waste and then… the ship mysteriously sinks! Who could imagine? To bring light to this issue, a new mash-up of shipping data exposes some questionable losses. “In Fondo Al Mar“, or At the Bottom of the Sea, illustrates the ships, their contents and their location of sinking. Ships contained marble (which is used to hide nuclear waste), toxic sludge and various mining ores – great fish food. Not only do fish die, but there are numerous reports of hazardous waste leading to civilRead the Rest…
¶ Published Saturday, February 20th In Miscellaneous - No Comments »
We deal with a lot of companies who are certified ISO 14001 – a popular environmental management system. But who knew there was an ISO standard for tea making. Among other things, the standard outlines the ideal tea pot dimensions. Make sure to follow closely for ideal tea quality. See some interesting comments on the standard and details of brewing tea.
¶ Published Wednesday, February 17th In Environment - No Comments »
Carl Zimmer reports on a new study on sea acidification and worries that we may be headed inexorably towards a massive wave of marine extinctions: The acidification of the ocean today is bigger and faster than anything geologists can find in the fossil record over the past 65 million years. Indeed, its speed and strength — Ridgwell estimate that current ocean acidification is taking place at ten times the rate that preceded the mass extinction 55 million years ago — may spell doom for many marine species, particularly ones that live in the deep ocean.
¶ Published Tuesday, February 16th In Environment - No Comments »
Who thought this could happen, Bill Gates gives a stunning presentation on climate change. Famous for his cluttered slides and disorganized presentations, Gates has seriously improved his game. Soon, he might be toting an iPhone and wearing black turtlenecks. Here is a rundown of the presentation by design gurus at Duarte. But just look at some of these slides, gorgeous.
¶ Published Monday, February 15th In Announcements - No Comments »
The main Nimonikapp site is currently down. We are working hard to fix the situation. No data has been lost. We will post when the site is back up and running. Contact us if you have questions or concerns. UPDATE (16/02/2010 10:30AM): The site is back up and running normally, we apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.
¶ Published Sunday, February 14th In Environment - No Comments »
There is pressure mounting on large companies to increase transparency of their environmental damages. Pressure is coming from three places, consumers, investors and other companies. Just recently, Whole Foods, which drives over 21 million miles a year, has decided to boycott tarsands produced oil (article here). Recently I visited many Canadian companies websites to see who is ISO 14001, but one interesting thing struck me – at least 80% of companies now have a page dedicated to their environmental work or policies on their site. This is rather new and quite promising, companies seem to understand that strong environmental stewardshipRead the Rest…
¶ Published Friday, February 12th In Environment - No Comments »
China is building a train network that should wake you up (NYT article here). Their voracious appetite for energy has spurred China to build a high-speed network of trains to remove traffic from the existing rails so that coal and raw materials can more easily be transported around the country. The middle kingdom will build 5000 miles of high-speed trains by 2012. Canada and America have no high-speed trains and the first one might be working in 2014. Talk about being asleep at the wheel.
¶ Published Wednesday, February 10th In Environment - No Comments »
Things are really unraveling at the IPCC, with officials finally admitting that the UN panel has to improve its procedures when reviewing reports. The worst part about any scandal is the cover-up and Climategate is no exception. Had climate scientists come down hard, early on, on the practices at East Anglia and the methods of the IPCC, this series of blunders could be more easily corrected and forgotten. Here’s what the Observer has to say about the series of blunders committed by the IPCC lately: “[Deniers] deal not in the balance of risk but the exposure of uncertainty. Tiny doubtsRead the Rest…
¶ Published Tuesday, February 9th In Environment - No Comments »
A new report from the Chinese government outlines that water pollution, mainly from agricultural fertilizers, is much worse than previously thought. The report outlines the 30 million tons of effluent sent into the waterways and how it is a major obstacle to future growth. The New York Times has a good rundown of the report here. In 2005, I lived in Beijing and worked for a steel equipment manufacturer. I travelled to many industrial towns and saw the tremendous pollution caused by China’s growth. What I saw in China made me reconsider my career as a metallurgical engineer and turn myRead the Rest…
¶ Published Monday, February 8th In Environment - No Comments »
A funny superbowl ad pits the “green police” against your everyday polluters – plastic bags, hot tubs, composting, … worth a quick watch.
¶ Published Friday, February 5th In Environment - No Comments »
I recently attended a conference on waste management in Quebec, organized by CRE Montreal with speakers from the Recyc-Québec, Centre Eaton and Héma-Québec. The conference was titled, “Projet de nouvelle politique de gestion des matières résiduelles” The main speaker was Mario Laquerre, from Recyc-Québec, went through their plans for reducing the of waste sent to landfill. Recyc-Québec’s first policy came out in 1989, the second in 1998 and the third in 2010. The new goals go further than ever before and have the ultimate purpose of sending 100% of recyclable or valuable waste to the appropriate processing facility. Despite their best efforts, the amountRead the Rest…
¶ Published Wednesday, February 3rd In Environment - No Comments »
¶ Published Monday, February 1st In Announcements - No Comments »
As a special offer, we are posting all of our environmental guidance text in all of the jursidictions available to non-members. This is a temporary offer for one week, please let us know what you think and feel free to sign-up for an account. Here are our topics and sub-topics: Click here to access all of the topics listed below. Air Emissions Prohibitions and Approvals Ambient Air Quality Standards Air Emissions Standards Combustion Emissions Standards Monitoring and Reporting Vehicle Emissions Other Requirements Approvals, Authorizations or Permits Approvals, Authorizations or Permits Contaminated Sites New contamination Investigation of suspected contamination Registration ofRead the Rest…
