THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment
Fisherville, Ontario, Canada
Tel. 416 410-0432, Fax: 416 362-5231
Editorial: editor@gallonletter.ca
Subscriptions: subscriptions@gallonletter.ca
Vol. 12, No. 6, June 18, 2007
Honoured Reader Edition
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This is the honoured reader edition of the Gallon Environment Letter and is distributed at no charge: send a note with Add GL or Delete GL in the subject line to subscriptions@gallonletter.ca. Paid subscribers receive a more complete edition without subscription reminders and with extensive links to further information following almost every article. Organizational subscriptions are $184 plus GST and provide additional benefits detailed on the web site. Organizational subscribers also receive the monthly Sustainable Technology & Services Supplement. Individual subscriptions are only $30 (personal emails/funds only please) including GST. If you would like to subscribe please visit http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription.htm If you feel you should be receiving the paid subscriber edition or have other subscriber questions please contact us also at subscriptions@gallonletter.ca. This current free edition is posted on the web site about a week or so after its issue at http://www.cialgroup.com/whatsnew.htm. Back free editions from January 2007 are available at http://www.cialgroup.com/whatsnew-a.htm
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ABOUT THIS ISSUE
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says the Great Lakes are very important but then goes on to blame the federal government for failing to provide leadership in cleaning them up. Can this be the same Ontario Premier whose Environment Ministry issued a press release in 2004 with the headline McGuinty Government Taking Strong Action to Help Protect and Clean up the Great Lakes? In this issue, as in all issues, Gallon Environment Letter brings you information and opinion, not excuses.
McGuinty's rant provides relevant background to this issue’s feature on water issues. Our editorial, which tackles a sacred cow of many environmentalists, is bound to raise some hackles but we hope that it also gives pause for thought about our most common refreshments. Berkeley National Laboratory has published some good information demonstrating that water is over-used in our economy in many more ways than just as a beverage. Many of those ways are, quite interestingly, linked to our insatiable appetite for energy. Canada is weak on water data but we have dug up some water-related energy data which we hope you will find interesting.
We also look at the link between water and food, where between 2,000 and 3,000 litres of water are used to produce the daily food for each person, and at some of the factors continuing to impair water quality in the Great Lakes. Alcoa is reporting that it intends to dramatically reduce water use at its facilities in China. Greater Vancouver is improving its water treatment system, remember the boil water orders of last year, and will be reducing the use of chlorine, an issue that Pollution Probe raised in 1982 but which seems to have been forgotten by most governments. It is difficult to discuss water issues in Canada without mentioning the huge volumes used in the oil sands projects. Hence we ring the alarm bells, as the National Energy Board, not usually known for its radical views, has already done.
We announce to all who missed the ceremony the winners of our 2006 EcoCouncillor Award - congratulations to the 2006 winners and municipal officials take note - it is only a matter of a few months before we open nominations for the 2007 award.
Two Letters to the Editor made it into this issue - keep them coming - and we correct an error from our last issue: George Kerr was Ontario's first Environment Minister but the first Environment Minister in all of Canada was in Alberta! Our new feature, On GL's Readers' Bookshelves, has come up with a book which our reader describes as 'provocative, exciting and positive' - now that really is something for an environment book! We have articles on two more books: Mathsemantics, from which we share a fascinating quiz, and The Gift of Nothing which we bought for a child but which is equally appropriate as a gift for an adult when you need just a little more than nothing but still want to avoid buying something unnecessary. Talking of Mathsemantics, Environment Minister John Baird showed CBC's Don Newman how little he understands about basic percentages. We give you our take on the Minister's climate change interview and on the much better informed Pembina Institute position on Canada's climate change program.
The Conference Board of Canada has come out with a report on Innovation which blasts Canada for falling behind in environmental and social responsibility. We present the highlights and, as always, provide our paying subscribers with a link to the source of more information.
We have suggested before that abandonment of environmental responsibility by government is likely to lead to more litigation. Now a couple of Quebec cases are going further, with lower courts suggesting that even if a company has a permit for environmental emissions from the government of Quebec, affected neighbours can still sue successfully for harm inflicted. The cases, involving Domfer Metal Powders, Inc. and St. Lawrence Cement, are now proceeding to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court upholds the decision of lower courts and awards multimillion dollar settlements against the companies, our entire system of government approvals for industrial emissions may be thrown into turmoil. We say: not a moment too soon! This is a case that is well worth watching.
In a recent conversation with GL's editor, Toronto Mayor David Miller agreed that the real test of the 'greenness' of a government is the extent to which it has incorporated environmental and social responsibility into its day to day business. In that regard it is a pity that Canada's government did not use the recently announced new rules for passports to save greenhouse gas emissions by switching from a five year to a ten year document life. We look into the matter.
In our next issue, unless something even more interesting diverts our attention, we are planning a special feature entitled Unlocking the Mysteries of Life Cycle Analysis. Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this issue.
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WATER CONTENT, NOT WATER BOTTLES, SHOULD BE THE BIG CONCERN
Last summer the General Council of the United Church of Canada passed a resolution directing the Church to discourage the purchase of bottled water. While much of the reasoning behind the resolution has merit, GL's opinion is that targeting bottled water may not be the best approach to addressing the environmental and social responsibility issues associated with the way we use water.
Much more environmental harm is associated with cola, coffee, tea, and alcoholic beverages than is associated with bottled water. We suggest that, for reasons of health as well as environment, children should be encouraged to drink water rather than cola or other soft drinks. If the soft drink comes in a bottle or can, why should not the water come in a bottle or can? Yes a water fountain or cold water tap is better than bottled water but if neither of these is available then our view is that it is better to buy a bottle of water than a bottle of pop. Yes it is better to bring a refilled bottle of water from home than to buy a single use bottle of water, but if you forget to bring it then surely it is better that you buy a bottle of plain water than a bottle of artificially flavoured and coloured water. GL is not encouraging single use beverage containers whether for water or other drinks but rather putting into perspective that single use water beverage containers are only a small part of a bigger issue.
Even the focus on water as a commodity may be missing the mark. One of the bigger threats to security of water supplies today is not the bottled water industry but the food and consumer products industries that are bringing water thousands of kilometres in a virtual pipeline of other products. Canada imports several million watermelons every year, all of which include several litres of water which most often comes from locations that have much less water to spare than most of Canada. All of our fruits and vegetables come with more water than anything else embedded in their cells. Local production of food in Canada and the northern states would go a long way to reducing water shortages in California and the southern states. Many areas of Central and South America are sending so much water out of the country in their food exports that local residents are being forced to go short or to use bottled water. [See our article on Water Scarcity and Food Energy in this issue for more information on how much water it takes to produce our food.]
Importation of beer and wine currently causes far more environmental harm than importation of bottled water. In fact, most bottled water is produced relatively locally compared to the long distance transportation associated with so much of our alcoholic beverage and food industries. For years European consumers have prepared their own flavoured drinks from concentrated shelf stable orange, lemon and other fruit flavourings. Many European homes have their own soda fountains where they can prepare carbonated beverages from concentrate and tap water. If they can do it, why can't we? More soups are now ready to serve instead of concentrated to be diluted at home with tap water - we should insist that brandowners go back to producing concentrates for the majority of their soup lines. We suggest that it is as important that governments require that soups and similar products be sold in concentrated form as it is to require manufacturer meet average fuel economy standards for cars. Concentrated liquid laundry detergents are now available: why should anyone be allowed to buy more dilute products that contain more water and use more packaging.
We would achieve much more for the environment if we were to push to get water out of our food, beverage, and consumer product distribution systems than we will by focussing on the supposedly evil bottled water. Concentrates of all kinds should be an important element of our strategy to reduce transportation of water. A society that relied mostly on concentrates to be diluted in home with tap water would achieve far more for the environment than a society that is focussed on eliminating bottled water while ignoring consumption of bottled and disposable cupped soft drinks and other flavoured water drinks, like juice from concentrate, sports drinks, tea and coffee.
Colin Isaacs
Editor
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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ECOCOUNCILLOR AWARD: CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS
On Saturday June 2, 2007, two nominees: Councillor Marguerite Ceschi-Smith, City of Brantford, Ontario and Mayor Kevin Edwards, Town of Three Hills, Alberta received the EcoCouncillor of the Year Award for 2006 at a ceremony at the Palliser Hotel, Calgary. The award was presented by former Alberta Environment Minister and former Premier Ralph Klein.
Mayor Edwards was nominated by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) for his outstanding political resolve and environmental consciousness through being a leader in Integrated Sustainability Planning (ISP) in Alberta. Mayor Edwards exerted a great deal of energy and political capital selling the need for ISP to the Province of Alberta in order to get the resources necessary to take on such a task. Although the requirement for ISP exists under the Canada-Alberta gas tax agreement, no model or guidelines existed when the Mayor embarked on the initiative. Subsequently, the AUMA has created a guide in which Mayor Edwards again played a leadership role by providing valued expertise and feedback as the Association began developing its program.
Councillor Ceschi-Smith was nominated by Gerry McIsaac for demonstrating outstanding leadership in several environmental areas, most notably brownfields. As Chair of the Brownfields Taskforce of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario she was instrumental in the Province of Ontario introducing legislative action on Brownfield remediation. She helped to establish the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Brownfields Committee and she served as Ex-Officio member of the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE) Brownfields Committee. Her success has been documented with FCM's acquisition of the first federal monies ($150 million) ever to be allocated to Brownfields redevelopment to the FCM's Green Municipal Funds.
In addition to the two award winners, the following were inducted into the Gallon Environment Letter EcoCouncillor Roll of Honour: Mayor Margaret Black, Township of King (Ontario), Councillor Alex Cullen, City of Ottawa, and Councillor Joe Pantalone, City of Toronto.
The EcoCouncillor of the Year Award was established in 2004 by the Gallon Environment Letter to give recognition to an elected council member who has performed outstanding environmental service in a neighbourhood, municipality, province, or First Nation. The award is the only one of its kind in Canada. It highlights the important role of municipalities in advancing Sustainable Development in Canada and demonstrates to Canadians that individual council members play an important leadership role in determining the overall direction of their community.
Past winners of the award to date have been:
2004 Councillor Clive Doucet, City of Ottawa, Ontario
2005 Councillor David Alexander, City of Welland, Ontario
2005 Councillor Denise Savoie, City of Victoria, British Columbia
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WATER AND OIL CONNECTIONS
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ALL WETT
Oil and water don't mix, they say, but energy and water are closely linked for the future of sustainability. At the US Lawrence Berkeley Lab, a Water Energy Technology Team WETT is researching the "fundamental science, applied technology and economics of the water/energy nexus, focussing on the interaction between human and natural systems." The intent is to develop new technologies, practices and policies to promote water and energy sustainability. Among the research areas are:
Agriculture: Most of the electricity used by the agriculture sector in the US is used to pump groundwater, costing $1.2 billion each year. California uses 20% of all the electricity used by the agricultural sector in the US each year. In the face of water scarcity due to high demand and climate change, farms are shifting to pressurized irrigation and groundwater storage both of which increase electricity use.
Climate Change: When California experienced its 2001 energy crisis, the situation was made worse by drought in the Pacific Northwest affecting hydro electricity production. Low water levels in some municipalities have resulted in voluntary or mandatory water restrictions which require some high water using industries to shut down production. Droughts can reduce water in reservoirs which are the home of endangered fish leading to decisions to stop reservoir releases needed for power generation.
Power plants: Thermoelectric plants use 48 percent of all water withdrawn in the US, 39% of freshwater withdrawn.
Drinking Water: Supplying potable water uses energy; as cities expand, depletion of water supplies, pumping, treating, transporting, the cost of supplying water both piped and bottled consumes energy. Urban water is said to have high embedded energy - between 1,100 to 20,100 kilowatt hours per million gallons.
Wastewater Treatment: Matching water with intended use is the single most important step to saving both water and energy. About 3 percent of electricity in the US is used for the municipal water and wastewater sector and about a quarter to one half of electricity used by most large municipalities in the US is used in municipal water and wastewater treatment facilities. Significant amounts of energy are used to handle, transport and dispose or land apply residual wastewater biosolids, especially because the distance to landfills and treatment facilities is increasing. Water treatment is related to water quality which is harmed by floods, chemicals, mining and other activities.
Urban heat islands: The dark roofs and road surfaces of cities can be as much as 70 deg F higher than the ambient air temperature resulting in the city being hotter by 6-8 deg F than the surrounding non-urban areas. Higher city temperatures increase demand for electricity for air conditioning as well as water for watering lawns and filling pools as water tends to evaporate faster. The WETT modelled the cooling effect for the city of Los Angeles through reflective surfaces and lighter materials which can reduce the temperature on a typical summer day in Los Angeles by 6-degrees (F) by 3 am also reducing smog.
Removing arsenic from drinking water: Arsenic in drinking water in Bangladesh and parts of India and Nepal is poisoning 60 million people in Bangladesh. Removing arsenic requires a lot of energy. WETT has developed a method which uses a waste product and is estimated to cost less than $1 per household per year (2.2 persons per household, 1000 litres of water per day per person, bottom ash is the byproduct, reduce 2.4 litres of water with arsenic concentrations of 2,400 parts per billion to 10 ppb).
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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CANADA: WATER-ENERGY STATISTICS
As we have stated before, both Canada and the
provinces do a terrible job when it comes to collecting and publishing environmental
statistics, but when it comes to the water-energy interface, Natural Resources
Canada is publishing some very interesting statistics. To interpret the following
it might help to explain that one petajoule (PJ) is one thousand trillion joules,
or 1,000,000,000,000,000 joules, or roughly 30 million kilowatt-hours. A 'typical
Canadian home', if such exists, might use about one billion joules, or one millionth
of a petajoule, of energy each year for home heating and electricity. Statistics
Canada states that "One petajoule equals roughly the amount of energy required
to operate the Montreal subway system for one year." In 2005, there was
a slight decline of .4% compared to 2004 due to declining consumption from the
industrial and residential sectors although these were offset somewhat by increases
in transportation such as fuels transported in pipelines and in commercial and
public administration sectors. The industrial sector accounts for just under
31% of Canada's total energy consumption, the highest of any sector.
The following numbers are for 2004:
Residential Sector
Total residential energy use in Canada was 1,420.8 PJ an increase of 10% since 1990.
Residential energy use for heating water was 347.7 PJ, a 12% increase from 1990.
Energy for water heating as a percentage of total residential energy use: 24%
Commercial/Institutional Sector
Total commercial/institutional energy use was 1,171.2 PJ an increase of 35% since 1990.
Commercial/Institution energy use for heating water was 102.7 PJ a growth of 52% since 1990.
Energy for water heating as a percentage of total commercial/institutional sector energy use: 9%
Industrial Sector
Total energy use for the industrial energy use was 3,227.5 PJ or 21% increase since 1990.
However, when GL tried to find out how much energy was used in relation to water in the industrial sector, we couldn't find any data in the NRCAN 2006 Energy Handbook. A check on Statistics Canada found only a 2004 reference to a study done for industrial water use from 1981-1996. In that time period, the seven sectors using 96% of all self-supplied water, e.g. directly from rivers, lakes and aquifers e.g private wells, were: utilities (65.9%), agriculture (10%), paper (7.1%), primary metals (4.7%), chemical (4.5%), mining (1.5%) and refined petroleum (1.2%). These high water-using industries only contributed 23.8% of the gross output from the business sector at the time.
Importance of Industrial Water-energy Connection
According to a paper by Steven Renzetti in Canadian Water Resources Journal, when governments apply economic instruments such as fees or tradeable permits on non-water inputs such as energy, they may affect water takings by industry. For example, energy conservation measures could lead to significant reductions of water use because thermal generation intakes massive amounts of water. Similarly if energy prices rise, firms may use water as a substitute input, for example for cooling instead of running more energy-demanding cooling equipment. Many Canadian companies give little thought to water because water tends to have very low cost both at the intake and at the output.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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WATER SCARCITY AND FOOD ENERGY
A technical paper prepared for the 2007 World Water Day (March 22) explored the theme "Coping with Water Scarcity." The unsustainable use of water and its degradation needs integrated, multidisciplinary approaches for more efficient and more equitable distribution as millions of people are deprived of water and ability to sustain a livelihood. Water scarcity also affects the ecosystem, fish, animals and invertebrates. Although water scarcity is a relative concept as shortages may be defined by "affluence, expectations and customary behaviour", many arid and semi-arid regions have acute water scarcity.
A study, Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management of Agriculture, concluded that one in three people experience water shortage. One in five people in the developing world have less than the minimum clean water required: the World Health Organization sets the minimum at 20 litres per day per person available within one kilometre of the home. Europeans and North Americans use from 200-600 litres per day. About one quarter of the world or 1.6 billion people live with water shortage due to the inability of their country to supply infrastructure to take water from aquifers and rivers. The poor often pay 5-10 times more per unit of water than those supplied with piped water.
Climate change will worsen the extremes of drought and will affect those areas already hit with water scarcity the most. A 2006 UK study projected that severe droughts which now occur only once in 50 years will occur every other year by 2100 if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Many poor people have enough water to drink to survive the drought but go hungry or die of starvation the following year because of lack of food and loss of income due to crop failure from the drought.
Agriculture is the single most water-consuming sector, using about 70% of the total use of water in the world. When a country relies on food imports, the share drops to 40% because water from elsewhere is used to produce their food but rises to 95% for countries where agriculture is the main economic activity. People consume food for energy and each calorie of food uses about 1 litre of water to produce. To produce enough food for a person per day uses about 2,000-3,000 litres of water while most people drink only about 2-3 litres and use 20-300 litres for daily purposes. Cleaner and more productive farming practices and diet (less meat or fish and fewer high-water consuming food) improve both the quality and quantity of water.
UN Water and FAO. Coping with water scarcity: challenge of the twenty-first century. 2007 World Water Day. March 22, 2007. http://www.unwater.org/wwd07/downloads/documents/escarcity.pdf
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TOXICS IN THE GREAT LAKES
According to the 10th anniversary report of the Great Lakes Binational Toxics Strategy, "the Strategy has made significant progress towards the goals established by the Governments to virtually eliminate toxic substances in the Basin." Having provided that optimistic prognostication, which seems to be more the product of government spin doctors than the experts who run the Strategy, the report does go on to point out that it is difficult to understand the exact status of progress because of missing data or data not yet updated.
Notwithstanding its opening commentary, the report is useful because it outlines what steps have been taken and whether it is expected that the two countries have met, nearly met or missed the challenge targets for various toxic chemicals.
Some of the issues are:
The report discusses corporate and government initiatives.
PCB Regulation
About 40,000 tonnes of PCBs were imported into Canada between 1929 and 1977 for use mostly as fluids for cooling and insulating electrical transformers and capacitors but also in consumer products and specialized applications. The sale of PCBs was made illegal in Canada in 1977, the release to the environment beyond a certain limit became illegal in 1985 and other regulations followed but owners of PCBs and PCB in-service equipment which often has a life of 50 years or more could continue to use it. In Canada, the draft PCB regulations were published on November 4, 2006 setting timelines to phase out use of this equipment: if it contains PCBs of 500 mg/kg by December 21, 2009 and between 50 mg and 500 mg/kg a range of dates from the end of 2009 for sensitive locations to the end of 2014 for other locations and to 2025 for specified equipment. Exceptions apply for cables and pipelines for natural gas or petroleum products and liquids used for servicing allowed equipment. The regulation also specifies thresholds for allowed and restricted activities using PCBs. Storage deadlines also apply if the regulation is enacted. The national PCB storage inventory in 2004 was 95,717 tonnes, a reduction of only 27% since 1990. At the current rate of release, about 2,300 kg of PCBs will be released into the Ontario environment, and hence for the most part into the Great Lakes, between the end of 2006 and 2035.
A single cleanup project such as removing PCBs from an electrical utility substation can run into millions of dollars. Environment Canada estimates that its new PCB regulation (when it was published as a draft in November 2006) would cost PCB owners over $200 million for decommissioning, destroying and replacing in-service equipment. PCB owners include not only utility companies but other industries such as steel and auto makers as well as municipalities. The City of Thunder phased out six drums of PCB power capacitors from use at the sewage treatment plant and in 1997 two barrels of power capacitors were removed from the water treatment plant. After sending 85 barrels of PCBs for destruction, the City facilities are virtually PCB free (only light ballasts still contain PCBs).
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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ALCOA IN CHINA: ENERGY-WATER USE
Alcoa recently released its bilingual (English/Chinese) 2006 China Sustainability Report Alcoa entered China in the 1980s through a technology agreement with what is now Sino Metals. The company says it invested US$795 million in China's aluminum industry between 1993 and 2006, making it the largest foreign investor in that industry. China's demand for aluminum is expected to increase by 10% annually for the next three years. By the end of 2006, Alcoa had 18 locations with 2,110 people making products such as foil sheet, fasteners, automobile components, construction products and plastic closures.
Energy and water targets based on year 2000 are to reduce energy intensity by 10% by 2010, to reduce process water by 60% by 2009 and 70% by 2010 and greenhouse gas emissions 25% by 2010 (and if the inert anode technology is successful, 50% by 2010). (GL: Alcoa has been working to commercialize inert anode technology which would replace carbon anode technology. Currently the carbon in the carbon anodes put in the pots containing alumina and electrolytic solutions is eaten away when the mix of molten alumina in the solution is changed to the metal aluminum and carbon dioxide. Instead of releasing carbon dioxide, inert anode technology would release oxygen and would be permanent not having to be replaced. About a half tonne of carbon is required to produce one tonne of aluminum.)
Both energy intensity and water consumption increased in 2006 partly due to a newly acquired location in a cold part of the country which used coal to heat boilers for building heat. A plan to replace the coal-fired boilers with more efficient gas-fired boiler systems will save both energy and reduce emissions and water consumption. At Alcoa Bohai, energy savings in boilers were achieved by replacing the furnace brick, repairing and cleaning the piping and improving the heat transfer for reduced emissions. A solar heating system which heats water for the plant's showers eliminated a small coal-fired boiled reducing coal consumption.
Alcoa used to report just process water but now has updated data back to 2000 for water used for all purposes. Both water consumption (165,271 kilolitres) and water consumption intensity (4.42 kilolitres per metric tons of product produced) increased in 2006 compared to 2005.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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VANCOUVER SEYMOUR-CAPILANO WATER PROJECT
Filtration Plant
The new Seymour-Capilano Water Filtration Plant under the jurisdiction of the Greater Vancouver Regional District serving more than two million residents will be the largest water filtration facility in Canada. The water will be conveyed from both the Seymour and Capilano reservoirs filtered and treated including with ultraviolet lights for primary disinfection. The two reservoirs supply about 70% of Greater Vancouver's drinking water supply. The aim is to meet higher public health standards for drinking water in regard to microorganisms and turbidity (cloudiness) while also reducing use of chlorine which is increasingly a cause of concern for health and the environment. Some chlorine will be used at the plant and chlorine will also be used for water as it travels in the distribution system.
UV disinfection has been commonly used in the past for wastewater disinfection. UV was not widely used for drinking water disinfection because it was thought to be inadequate against Cryptosporidium but evidence indicates it is effective. Then it began to be used in small-to-medium sized systems including the City of Edmonton but is now expanding to larger cities. UV uses more energy than chlorinated disinfection. The largest project is the New York City Catskill/Delaware UV disinfection facility where the Canadian-based company Trojan Technologies won the contract in 2005 to supply 56 units to treat 2.2 billion gallons per day.
According to a BC Hydro overview of the project, such facilities are very energy intensive. The five to six megawatt Seymour-Capilano facility will be all-electric with space heating, cooling and hot water heating supplied by a geothermal exchange also known as a heat pump with loops underground totally 42 km. During summer, the heat extracted can be used to heat water. The installation costs are higher but operation and maintenance costs are lower by 25-40% compared to conventional electric systems. Annual savings from the system are expected to be .528 gigawatt hours of electricity. Because no fossil fuels are combusted, the heat pump system is expected to save 325 tonnes of greenhouse gases per year.
Canadian company Stantec, as a member of the SSBV consortium, has provided design, engineering and other services for the filtration plant which is within a park-like setting. The project is going for LEED ® Gold and has features such as clerestory windows below projecting canopies for daylighting without heat buildup.
Other Elements of the Seymour-Capilano Water Utility Projects
In the presentations to the community, Steve Billington, Community Liaison Officer, shows pictures of other elements of the projects which include:
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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OIL SANDS AND WATER IN ALBERTA
High water withdrawals and concerns about water quality may limit oil sand development, according to the National Energy Board which states that "There is now a clearer understanding that large water withdrawals from the Athabasca River for mining operations during the winter could impact the ecological sustainability of the river." The report was produced in 2006 to assess opportunities and challenges for the oil sands.
The NEB had projected in a 2004 a higher potential for cogeneration capacity than has actually resulted. The oil producers build for self-sufficiency but do not add any extra electricity to the grid. As oil sand producers seek to reduce reliance on natural gas and move to syngas produced through coal gasification or use of bitumen, they switch away from using the steam which provides a source of cogeneration.
The oil sands require intensive energy and water use. The steam to oil ratio measures how much energy must be applied to the bitumen to recover it from the oil sands. Even a slightly higher SOR can increase natural gas and water handling needs.
Although new technologies are being developed, the NEB states that 82% of Alberta's remaining established oil sands reserves must be accessed by in situ extraction technologies which entail a large volume of freshwater demand. About 2 - 4.5 cubic metres of water are needed to produce one cubic metre of synthetic crude oil mined from the oil sands. From 2004-2015, the NEB estimates the demand for water for these in-situ projects will double from 5 million (31.5 million barrels) to 13 million cubic metres (82 million barrels) per year. For newer technologies, for example Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD ), 90-95% of the water used for steam can be recovered but every cubic metre of bitumen (6.3 barrels) uses about 0.2 cubic metres (1.3 barrels) of freshwater. SAGD can use saline water mixed with freshwater but then this method produce large amounts of waste which has acids, hydrocarbons, trace metals and other contaminants which would have long term impacts on soil and groundwater when disposed to landfills. Efforts by Alberta Environment to develop a future Water Conservation and Allocation Policy to reduce use of freshwater may be constrained because some license holders have permanent permits which may not be subject to change except on a voluntary basis.
Waste water collected from extraction is stored in large tailings pond. The NEB report expresses concern about whether the tailings ponds can ever be restored to functioning ecosystems.
Oil sand operators are taking steps to conserve water and reduce the total amount of fresh water taken including:
In March, Alberta Environment released an Athabasca River Water Management Framework, part of Premier Ed Stelmach's plan to manage growth pressures. Critics say that the framework doesn't require industry to stop water withdrawal when water withdrawals threaten the river. The province has also just completed the second phase of the Alberta Oil Sands Consultation which drew responses expressing concerns about water use, water quality, and effects on watersheds and ecosystems. The objectives of the consultations were to ensure "Development of Alberta's oil sands must take place in a coordinated, balanced and environmentally sound manner, in order that future generations benefit from both the oil sands and clean air, land and water." The 2nd phase of Oil Sands Consultations is over and the final report is to go to the Ministers of Energy, Environment and Sustainable Resource Development in June.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Subject: Lighting Re: GL V12 N5
Dear Sir/ Madam:
A short comment about a comment regarding your article on 3rd world lighting, in regard to the article LIGHT UP THE WORLD FOUNDATION FUNDRAISING and the reduced cost of solid state lighting systems. "Reduced cost" is only part of the issue. One could argue that an equally important issue - goal - of better (cheaper, more efficient, etc) lighting is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Such a goal is, as far as I am aware, much more important in 1st world countries which consume, by far, most resources & produce, by far, most greenhouse gases. Besides which there are (far too) many poor people in Canada & the rest of the 1st world all of whom could benefit from lower cost lighting solutions as indeed we all could.
Bryan G. Hawley
Ottawa
PS: I greatly appreciate the GL & look forward to each issue especially as it covers issues & provides perspectives that I don't always get through other sources. Keep up the good work.
PPS: I suggest that you consider making all back issues of the GL available online - a very useful resource. [Ed note: we are considering that suggestion, initially as a benefit to our organizational subscribers. Watch for an announcement as part of a restructuring of GL subscription packages towards the end of the summer.]
Subject: Growing at the Margins Conference re: GL V12 N5
Issue 12:5 of THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER carried a number of important articles, but none more so than the review of the conference on energy conservation and generation for farms and food processors. Regrettably, the exclusive focus on energy seems to have obliterated the related need for water conservation and, well, not water generation but re-use. Commonly enough, energy and water are complementary inputs, but, in many cases there are trade-offs. With climate change and higher prices for energy and (soon enough) water, as well as growing demands for ecological conservation, we will be well advised to look at the energy and water together, and nowhere do they come closer together than in farming. A good first step would be to start measuring water use on farms (including that drawn from wells) with the same precision already applied to energy use.
David B. Brooks, PhD,
Director of Research, Friends of the Earth Canada, 300 - 260 St. Patrick Street Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N 5K5 Tel: 1-613-241-0085 X27 dbrooks@foecanada.org Web: www.foecanada.org
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CORRECTION: CANADA'S FIRST ENVIRONMENT MINISTER
Last issue, GL stated that George Kerr, appointed Ontario Environment Minister on July 23, 1971 was the first environment minister in Canada. We based our statement on an obit published in many major newspapers. When one of the GL's readers in the Alberta government pointed out the James Henderson was appointed Alberta Environment Minister on April 1, 1971, GL decided to check some more sources.
According to Library and Archives Canada, the Government Reorganization Act of 1970 established the Department of Environment and received Royal Assent on June 11, 1971. The Honourable Jack Davis, previously responsible for Fisheries and Forestry, was appointed the first federal Minister of the Environment, predating George Kerr. That great source of knowledge Wikipedia lists John (Jack) Davis, PC , from British Columbia as "a cabinet minister in the government of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, he was Minister without Portfolio, Minister of Fisheries, Minister of Fisheries and Forestry, and the first Minister of the Environment in the English-speaking world." But it appears that even Wikipedia is wrong.
Heather Close, Collections Librarian at the Alberta Legislature Library, already knew the answer because they get lots of questions of this type and keep a computerized list of answers but she was good enough to go back to the source herself and wrote,
"This is to confirm that, according to K. L. Powell, A History of Name Changes of Alberta Government Departments & Agencies, 1905-1973, (Edmonton: Alberta Legislature Library, 1977), p. 157, the Dept. of the Environment was established in 1971, incorporating Water Resources Division of the Department of Agriculture and also Environmental Health Division of the Dept. of Health & Social Development. James D. Henderson was sworn in on April 1, 1971."
So pending evidence to the contrary: the order of early environment ministers in Canada is:
first (April, 1971) James D. Henderson, Alberta
second (June 1971) Jack Davis, Canada and
third (July 1971) George Kerr, Ontario
Which just goes to show that we should not believe everything we read in the newspapers or in Wikipedia.
Library and Archives Canada. Department of the Environment. http://mikan3.archives.ca/pam/public_mikan/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=358&&print_version=yes
Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Davis_(Canadian_politician) Checked June 15, 2007
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ON GL'S READERS' BOOKSHELVES
Do you have a favourite or inspirational environment book (fiction or non-fiction) or magazine or have you written a book, report or article you would like to draw attention to? Let us know what it is and in 50 words or less why it appeals to you from an environmental point of view and a few words on who you are. We'll select one for printing over time in the next year or so. Send email to editor@gallonletter.ca with subject line: Fav Env Book.
This issue's book recommended by:
G. Bradley Moore, CFA
Portfolio Manager
McLean & Partners Wealth Management Ltd.
Calgary Alberta, http://www.mcleanpartners.com
Massive Change by Bruce Mau and the Institute without Boundaries.
London, UK: Phaidon Press Limited, 2004 Reprinted 2005
Most environmental books are quite depressing but this book is provocative, exciting and positive. It shows how many challenges are a function of design in an age where humans could decide to seek to improve the welfare of the whole human race and even of all life on earth. Many of the thought leaders give their views on such issues as creating shelter for the entire world population through manufactured housing, a worldwide grid of local and distributed energy, and shift from the service of war to the service of life.
Massive Change is not about the world of design; it is about the design of the world. This book moved me to redesign my world to include owning a Segway and getting involved with the Light Up The World Foundation http://www.lutw.org . I now see challenges with a whole new perspective. Things can be fixed.
Massive Change has been created in a wide range of media including a travelling exhibition, a book, a series of events, radio, online forum and a blog. http://www.massivechange.com/about
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WANTED: INNOVATION IN CANADA
The Conference Board of Canada report "How Canada Performs" benchmarks Canada's performance in six areas: Economy, Innovation, Environment, Education and Skills, Health and Society. When one of Canada's key business organizations suggests Canada needs to pull up its socks on environment, innovation and social inclusion, business may find is difficult to blame "environmentalists" for their too-liberal, economy-destroying ideas.
The report proposes measuring outputs rather than inputs, a concept which GL also advocates. Money, time, effort, etc are necessary for success of initiatives but just throwing money at problems is not enough for long term effectiveness. Canada needs not more spending but smarter spending.
The overall conclusion of the report is that Canada is falling behind its peers within the 17 country comparator group of industrialized countries. Failure to act while the economy is booming is seen as squandering an opportunity and is predicted to lead to reduced quality of life for future generations of Canadians. This is the 11th report from the Conference Board measuring Canada's performance.
Canada ranks 14th out of 17 for a grade of D in innovation. There is also a D for Environment, near the bottom of the pack although Canada does well in some areas but poorly on climate change and waste management. The score for all six indicators is
A for Education and Skills
B Economy
D Innovation
D Environment
B Health
B Society
Nordic countries which are smaller and with less diverse population than Canada are seen has generally having better scores across measures such as social inclusion and high standards for environmental protection.
The A is for education of those age 5-25 but two areas are weak: basic skills and literacy, an area for which GL notes the "New Government of Canada" cut funding and adult postgraduate education in disciplines important to innovation.
The "stunningly poor" score for Innovation is seen as critical for economy, for environment, for education, health, and an inclusive society, "Without innovation, all these systems stagnate and Canada's performance deteriorates in comparison with that of its peers. Our competitors are not standing still." Switzerland gets an A for Innovation while a B is given to Sweden, Finland, United States, and Germany.
Measures for innovation include scientific articles published per million population, investors in knowledge, patents, diffusion of knowledge. Canada gets an A for the transformation of knowledge and just behind the top score of the US in venture capital as a percentage of gross domestic product. However, Canada spends most of its investments in early stages of ventures while in many of the other countries investment is at later and expansion stages, "A competitive advantage based solely on low cost or local natural resources is not sustainable." The measure of revenue from new or significantly improved goods is considered the best measure of innovation. In Europe, more companies make more than a quarter of their revenue from such products while Canadian firms derive much less a percentage of revenue for such products. Ditto for revenues from new knowledge products such as technology products and business services such as telecommunications, finance and insurance. Reasons for Canada being held back include:
For environment, Canada scores well on air quality (despite some high urban air pollution spots), water quality, and biodiversity including threatened bird, mammals and plant species as a percentage of total known species and forest cover. However, there is too much garbage even though Canada makes good effort on recycling and too high per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the overall acceptable air quality, some urban air pollution areas are serious and Canada has the second highest level after Australia of VOC emissions. The report recommends policies on energy efficiency, development and use of lower emitting technologies and programs such as cap and trade systems: "Canada has the potential to become a clean energy superpower."
Canada gets tenth place for Society due to child and adult poverty, voter disenchantment, crimes such as assaults, burglaries and homicides. Major success in reducing poverty of the elderly through universal programs such as Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplement could serve as a model but generally spending on social programs means Canada trails the pack on social spending.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE AND LIABILITY
A common industry position is that a company should not be liable for environmental damage if the government has given it a certificate of approval or other permit with which the company is in compliance. GL disagrees as government never can know as much as an individual company about technological and other changes in so many industry sectors so compliance alone should not absolve companies of responsibility for environmental and health harm.
The Supreme Court of Canada has given leave to appeal for two companies, Domfer Metal Powders and St. Lawrence Cement at their specific facilities in Quebec, found liable for multi-million dollar compensations to the neighbours who claimed they caused "annoyances" emitting noise, dust and odour. Each of the two cases had somewhat different reasonings and conclusions by each level of court, The Supreme Court of Quebec and the Appeal Court of Quebec but the lower court decisions cut off access to the citizens using Article 976 of the Civil Code of Quebec on neighbourhood annoyances but allowed class action under Article 1476 C.C.Q which is a broad civil liability rule which states that the duty of a person is to abide by rules of conduct not only due by law but also circumstances and usage so as not to cause injury to another. Failure in this duty makes the person responsible for the injury and liable for reparations. The class action suit has to prove failure of duty and injury. The decisions ruled that the companies had committed a fault under Article 1476.
In addition to the compensation, another aspect of the Appeal Court decisions on anti-pollution equipment should make industry operating in Quebec take notice. Optimum performance of equipment is required during all hours of operation even if this would result in emissions lower than required by the standards of their permit or law. If pollution control equipment malfunctions, the company would have to shut down some or all of the facility in order to avoid the discharge of harmful emissions until the equipment is repaired. The decisions were rendered despite the fact that both companies were in regulatory compliance. Domfer had spent several million dollars installing better pollution control equipment and tried to communicate with the residents, who chose to walk away from community liaison activities.
The cases relates specifically to class actions under Quebec environment legislation but the Supreme Court decision is likely to have significance across Canada. The hearing is scheduled for early 2008.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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MATHSEMANTICS
Except for the most precise among us, many of us make errors in math: missing or incorrect units, getting the order of magnitude wrong, mistakes in rounding or percentages, typos and other carelessness, failing to understand that what is being counted is activities not number of people e.g. passengers often means passenger trips. Once when GL's editor bought two oranges, the cashier rang up the sale and asked for $23.95. The cashier could not be convinced by the fact the oranges were $1.99 a pound, that this total could not be correct --- the cash register said $23.95 after all.
A book entitled Mathsemantics, by Edward MacNeal and written in 1994, suggests that understanding numbers such as statistics, percentages, etc may be difficult but is vital if we are to meet some of the challenges we face. Global warming, destruction of the rain forest, demands for energy and population growth are challenges which require "the ability to comprehend large numbers, to know what they count or measure; to understand rates, rates of change, and accelerated rates of change; to estimate, to gauge time, to forecast and to preview how the changes may affect our lives." MacNeal says the reason we have so much trouble with math is that the numbers are divorced from meaning. When he hires potential employees for an airline marketing research agency he advertises for people who identify themselves as good at numbers and then gives them a math quiz. The book is a discussion of the type and number of errors people make on this quiz, and a discussion of why the correct answer is the right one.
The chapter on percentages, something that our federal Environment Minister may be having difficulty with [see subsequent article] makes the following points:
Here are some questions from the employee quiz to test your own number sense (answers at bottom of this issue):
Solve the following problems in addition:
1)
2 apples
5 oranges
__________
2)
2.0
0.30
0.9
106
___
3) Round the following number to the nearest hundred thousand:
0.098 _____
Express the following items as percentages to the nearest whole number:
4) 7/10 _________ 5) .814 ________ 6) 12/3________ 7) 3/5_________ 8) .9___________
[answers at the end of this issue]
MacNeal, Edward. Mathsemantics: Making Numbers Talk Sense. New York, NY: Viking, 1994.
Edward MacNeal. Welcome to Mathsemantics Web Site.. http://www.mathsemantics.com/index.html?MS-General.html&2
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JOHN BAIRD FLUNKS PERCENTAGES 101 ON CBC NEWSWORLD
Don Newman interviewed federal Environment Minister John Baird about criticism of Canada's climate change plan by the Pembina Institute on the show Politics on CBC's Newsworld channel on May 28. Newman asked Canada's federal environment minister to speak to the criticism that the math was wrong in the plan, e.g. Pembina states that some greenhouse gas emission reductions are counted twice and that when converted from the base of 2006, Canada's targets for the short-to medium term lead to emissions well above the Kyoto targets based on 1990 emissions for many years after the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.
Newman, who is just as likely to express sympathy for the position of Conservatives as any other party, prefaced his remarks that at least they could discuss math such as the reduction targets as these figures were non-partisan but he was much too optimistic. Baird started talking numbers and percentages. For example, the Minister said Canada had a 70% reduction target for greenhouse gases and Newman had to clarify that this target was a 70% reduction of Canada's total 2006 greenhouse emissions by 2050. Then Baird tried to compare this 70% to 50% of the Europeans, again without any reference to what the percent was relating to. Newman tried to give him a fairly strong hint that percentages were useless without reference to the base number and that comparing percentages with different bases e.g. Canada's reduction base is the greenhouse emissions in 2006 while the European base is 1990, was meaningless (at least not without some other calculations). However, the Minister wasn't listening. Baird insisted "our" 70% was comparable to "their" 50%. There was even a point where Baird said that since Britain had already reduced emissions and had only 6% left, that Canada was reducing 3 times as fast because it had a target of 20%. Accuracy in the form of dates for different targets, what the percentages were based on, or doing the necessary math for comparing percentages were overwhelmed by gusto. If one of Canada's satirical comedy shows such as The Rick Mercer Report or This Hour Has 22 Minutes created a take-off, it couldn't have been funnier than this small piece of reality. However, it makes one wonder whether the federal Environment Minister was obscuring the truth by guise or innumeracy; either is unamusing.
Pembina Institute Analysis of the Canada's Climate Change Plan
The Pembina Institute based in Alberta reports that Canada's greenhouse gas targets bypass the commitment Canada made under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce average greenhouse gas emissions GHG in the period 2008-2012 to 6% below 1990 GHG emissions.
By 2020, the target of GHG emissions is to be 20% below 2006 GHG emissions. Canada's plan would put the annual emissions 39% higher that the Kyoto target by the end of 2012 and almost ten years afterwards in 2020 it would still be 8% higher. By 2050, the target is 60-70% below 2006 GHG emissions which Pembina has calculated to be about 49-62% below 1990 GHG emissions. They say that 1990 is the base year agreed to by the international community of which Canada is a part not 2003 or 2006 or some other base. The emissions in 2006 are 758 Mt compared to 1990 when they were 599 Mt.
The Pembina report takes Baird to task for saying his short-term target is compatible with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which suggests the global GHG emissions must peak by 2015 to avoid increasing the average global temperature by more than 2 deg C. The Kyoto protocol is an agreement in which the industrial countries take responsibility to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions first while the developing countries do some development. It was the wealthy countries' economic growth that led to the rapid rise of greenhouse gas emission in the first place. Countries such as China and India have not had the chance to give their people a fraction of the share of resources and are doing what those who signed the Kyoto Protocol hoped they would do: develop to relieve the poverty of so many of their people.
Canada's Submission to the UNFCCC
Canada's report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change used a base of 2003, It is listed by the UNFCCC as having been submitted on March 3, 2007 not long before the April 26 announcement resetting the base to 2006 and it says, "The Government will establish a long-term target to reduce GHG emissions by between 45 and 65% from 2003 levels by 2050."
If Canada's government is going to change its plan on the fly like this by constantly changing bases, it will be very difficult to achieve any credibility either at home or abroad.
Some numbers from the report are:
1990 emissions (baseline) 599 Mt
6% below 1990 baseline Kyoto target in the period 2008 to 2012 563 Mt
1990-2004 annual average growth in emission 1.7%
2003 emissions 754 Mt (set as base in UNFCCC submission March 2007)
2004 emissions 758 Mt (27% above 1990 baseline, 35% above Kyoto target)
2050 target 45-65% below 2003 baseline - 263 and 415 Mt
projected emissions in absence of reductions implemented by Canada's "New Government"
2010 total GHG 828 Mt
2020 total GHG 897 Mt
CBC Newsworld. Politics. May 28, 2007. http://www.cbc.ca/politics [each show is only posted for a week]
Environment Canada. Canada's New Government announces targets to tackle climate change and reduce air pollution. April 26, 2007. http://ecoaction.gc.ca/index-eng.cfm [Find new targets and Click on More. Contains links to various backgrounders]
Bramley, Matthew. Analysis of the Government of Canada's April 2007 Greenhouse Gas Policy Announcement. Calgary, Alberta: Pembina Institute, May 28, 2007. http://pubs.pembina.org/reports/Reg_framework_comments.pdf
Canada. 2006. Canada's Fourth National Report on Climate Change. Actions to Meet Commitment Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. due January 1, 2006. Submitted March 3, 2007. http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/cannc4.pdf
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PASSPORT CHANGES
The delays in the passport office has led the federal government to propose changes to the passport rules as of October 1 so as not to require a "professional" guarantor just any passport-holding-citizen to vouch they have known the applicant and as of August 15 renewal can be done with a shorter form, no guarantor, and no citizenship or supplementary identification papers required if the applicant has a current passport. (GL: Will the US approve?) It seems to GL, however, that the government has missed one of the key changes it could have made. Like Britain and the US, Canada could make passports valid for ten instead of five years.
A ten year passport would save measurable amounts of paper and energy, especially as a five year passport is actually good for a shorter time period than five years. Border officials often balk if the expiry date is closer than 6 months, sometimes longer, so a five year passport really only lasts for a maximum of 4.5 years. Renewing a passport takes considerable travel (read energy and greenhouse gas emissions): getting a photo taken, filling out the forms, meeting with someone to get the guarantor signature, going to the passport office (better than sending valuable documents in the mail), return transport by Canada Post, and going to the post office to sign for registered mail. And that's if the application is straight forward. Many people experience snags which require more trips. And that is in addition to the paper forms, photos, instruction, and mailing.
Paid subscribers see links to original documents and references here.
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THE GIFT OF NOTHING
A small book entitled The Gift of Nothing is intended "For the person who has everything". GL bought a copy for a young child [get them started early!] and we think it could be one of the best things to encourage people to do with less.
The book is by Patrick McDonnell, cartoonist for the comic strip Mutts. McDonnell takes an earth- and animal-friendly approach. The Gift of Nothing was his first children's book and was published in 2005. It is "printed on recycled paper", although it doesn't say what percentage and how much is post-consumer.
In the book, Mooch, a small black cat, wants to buy his best friend Earl, an equally small black and white dog, a gift for a special day. But what to get him is a puzzle as Earl has a bowl, a bed and a chewy toy: "He had it ALL."
Mooch wonders, "What do you get someone who has everything" and decides to give his friend a gift of nothing. When Mooch tries to get nothing he finds it difficult as there are lots of somethings but "nothing was not for sale." Eventually Mooch solves his problem in a way which those who know cats and kids will find appealing.
For those who want to follow the author, McDonnell's fourth children's book, Hug Time, released in 2007, is about a kitten hugging endangered species
McDonnell, Patrick. The Gift of Nothing. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company, 2005.
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell. About the Cartoonist. http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/mutts/bioMaina.htm
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ANSWERS TO MATHSEMANTICS QUIZ SAMPLE QUESTIONS
1) 7 fruit; also 7 pieces of fruit or similar (many people say one can't add different things which is true but different things can be grouped e.g. expenses and revenues are added as a category of dollars.)
2) 109.2 also 109.20 (most job applicants didn't bother to rewrite the problem to line up the decimal so made mistakes)
3) 0 (this was a very troublesome question because people seemed to think zero was not a number)
4) 70% (half off if no percent sign)
5) 81% (half off if no percent sign)
6) 400% (half off if no percent sign)
7) 60% (half off if no percent sign)
8) 90% (half off if no percent sign)
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All rights reserved. Readers are advised to check all facts for themselves before taking any action. The Gallon Environment Letter (GL for short) presents information for general interest and does not endorse products, companies or practices. Advertising or sponsorship of one or more issues consistent with sustainable development goals is welcome and identified as separate from editorial content. Subscriptions for organizations $184 + GST = $195.04 includes monthly Sustainable Technologies and Services Supplement STSS ; for individuals (non-organizational emails and paid with non-org funds please-does not include monthly STSS): $30 includes GST. Issues about fifteen times a year with supplements. http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription
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