-
Can emissions shrink while the economy grows?
EnvironmentCanada’s prime minister and premiers signed a deal in December to “grow our economy, reduce greenhouse-gas [GHG] emissions, and build resilience to the impacts of a changing climate”. The Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change outlines plans for carbon pricing, energy-efficient building codes, electric-vehicle charging stations, methane-emission regulations, and more.
-
Fighting for Climate Justice
EnvironmentA year before the devastating floods in India, Bangladesh and Texas, a little-noticed UN report revealed extraordinary figures about the effects of climate change worldwide. Climate-related catastrophe is now not just an additional hazard for the world’s poor, but a central factor in their oppression and poverty. This will eventually lead to a cascade of millions of climate change refugees, a process already starting.
-
More floods are coming and we’re making them worse
EnvironmentRestoring natural areas costs much more than protecting them in the first place, more intense and frequent storms and floods can still overwhelm natural defences, and growing human populations will further stress resources. We must work with nature to prevent problems such as flooding, water scarcity, wildfires and climate disruption. When we work against nature, we work against ourselves.
-
A Resistance Movement for the Planet
EnvironmentClimate change is out of control. It is already too late to avoid soaring temperatures, scarce water, and extreme weather. But the financial structure of capitalism is tied to fossil fuels. Market-based solutions are ineffectual. John Bellamy Foster, a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and the editor of Monthly Review, speaks about the kind of program necessary to stop this catastrophe.
-
Smoke over the skies of North America is another climate change warning
EnvironmentIt’s high time to clear the political air. Time is running out to move decisively to save the planet and mitigate the worst of what capitalism’s greed and excess is delivering. The triple scourge facing humanity must be defeated. We need to mobilize like never before and blaze new paths to a society of peace, social justice and ecological harmony.
-
Three years on, Mount Polley disaster a painful reminder of never-ending horror
EnvironmentCanada’s largest mine waste disaster on August 4, 2014, saw 24 million cubic metres of mine waste and water flushed into Hazeltine and Edney Creeks and Polley and Quesnel Lakes, all part of the Fraser River Watershed. The littoral area along the West Arm of Quesnel Lake was permanently altered by the Mount Polley spill, and there is no plan to stop polluting anytime soon.
-
4 Proposed Tar Sands Oil Pipelines Pose a Threat to Water Resources
EnvironmentAnalysis of public data shows that the three companies proposing to build four tar sands pipelines — TransCanada, Kinder Morgan, Enbridge, and their subsidiaries — have seen 373 hazardous liquid spills from their U.S. pipeline networks from 2010 to present. These spills released a total of 63,221 barrels of hazardous liquids during that time period.
-
Climate warrior? Champion of ‘Big Oil’? Canada’s leader wants to be both
Canadian PoliticsSo, there are a lot of unanswered questions about Justin Trudeau’s leadership in the fight against climate change. What’s certain is that the pipelines and refineries Trudeau is pushing for will tie Canada’s economy — and the world’s — to tar sands oil for decades to come, even as the impacts of climate change that he warns about continue to mount.
-
By 2100, Refugees Would Be the Most Populous Country on Earth
EnvironmentThe UN Refugee Agency has announced the new figures for the world’s displaced: 65.9 million. That means that 65.9 million human beings live as refugees, asylum seekers or as internally displaced people. If the refugees formed a country, it would be the 21st largest state in the world, just after Thailand (68.2 million) and just ahead of the United Kingdom (65.5 million).
-
Trumping nature
EnvironmentSuch is the depth of Trump’s planned assault on environmental regulation that it bathes his predecessors in a greenish light. As the U.S. turns back the clock on its already grossly inadequate measures to mitigate the most menacing ecological fallout from industrial capitalist civilization, the countdown to ecocide accelerates. And while some of the harm Trump & Co. wreak in other policy areas may ultimately be reversible, the injury to ecosystems will be all but irremediable.
