|
For current click What's
New
For archives click What's
New Past
.........................................................................................................................................................................................
August 31, 2009 The Honoured Reader (free edition) of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 14, No. 6,
August 18, 2009 posted
click here
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: NO
TRUE GREEN SHOOTS, AT LEAST NOT YET
Theme: ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
WHY FOSSIL FUELS HAVE TO BE
LIMITED: 2 DEG C OR SO GLOBAL TEMPERATURE
EXXON MOBIL: MOSTLY FOSSILS
BUT...
WORLD BANK FUNDS MODERNIZATION
OF THREE COAL PLANTS IN INDIA
CANADA'S NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD:
TRENDS IN GOVERNMENT POLICY
NATIONAL ENERGY BOARD: ENERGY
MIX
NRTEE: CARBON PRICING TO FOSTER
LOW-EMITTING TECHNOLOGIES
CANADA DECLINES TO JOIN NEW
INTERNATIONAL RENEWABLE ENERGY AGENCY
BARRIERS TO RENEWABLE ENERGY
IRENA: CANADA'S GOVERNMENT DOESN'T
WANT TO JOIN
ONTARIO'S GREEN ENERGY ACT:
LOSS OF DEMOCRACY OR JUSTIFIED URGENCY
TIDAL POWER
THE ENERGY-WATER NEXUS
WATER USE IN BIOREFINERIES
THERMOELECTRIC AND WATER
EEA: WIND ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL
& ECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS
BIODIVERSITY
NOISE
ADDING UP SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
PLANS
GREEN ENERGY LABELS FOR PRODUCTS
***************************************************
ABOUT THIS ISSUE
In this issue we have sought to provide an in-depth but high level
overview of the current state of knowledge regarding non-renewable and
renewable fuels. This fall, the Copenhagen conference on climate change,
the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change scheduled for December 7 to 18, is likely
to mean that energy issues dominate the environmental policy agenda. Gallon
Environment Letter is not expecting much in the way of agreement on a
post-Kyoto strategy in Copenhagen but we are somewhat more optimistic
that Copenhagen will set the stage for an accelerated schedule of negotiations
which could lead to an agreement by fall of 2010.
Our high-level overview of energy looks at projections from the National
Energy Board, The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy,
and many other sources. Trends are obvious and Canada's problem is illustrated
by our willingness to join China, Russia, Mexico and Saudia Arabia as
countries not participating in the new International Renewable Energy
Agency. We also provide a brief overview of the new Ontario Green Energy
Act, legislation which removes citizen freedom of information and right
to environmental assessment. It is amazing how ready some governments
and some energy and environmental activists are to remove hard won environmental
assessment and public participation programs. Our review of some of the
issues associated with wind power illustrates why we think the Ontario
government initiative to remove requirements for environmental assessment
from such installations is a bad idea.
Energy is such a comprehensive topic that it can lead to entire books,
and in this issue we briefly review one good one, Sustainable Energy -
without the hot air, by Professor David MacKay. The extent of the topic
also means that it has taken up the entire space of this issue of Gallon
Environment Letter. Next issue we will look again at some of the environmental
aspects of cities and catch up on some of the news that has been happening
over the summer.
........................................................................................................................................................................................................
August 31, 2009
Events Posted click here
Ongoing 2009 Call
for Presentations - Eco Farm Day, February 2010, Cornwall Ontario
Recycling Council of Ontario - Ontario Waste Minimization Awards Application
Deadline
September 2009 Organic
Advocates - Feast of Fields Woodbridge, Ontario
Measuring Nitrogen Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Wastewater Treatment
Plants. Training course. Edmonton Waste Management Centre for Excellence.
Edmonton, Alberta.
October 2009 Recycling
Council of Ontario - Ontario Waste Minimization Awards Gala
April 2010 IAIA10:
Transitioning to the Green Economy Geneva, Switzerland
........................................................................................................................................................................................................
August 18, 2009 Events Posted click here
Ongoing 2009 Canadian
Environmental Assessment Agency 2009 Call for Proposals
September 2009 The
Green Expo Mexico City, Mexico
October 2009 Recycling
Council of Ontario Ontario Waste Minimization Awards Toronto Ontario
March 2010
........................................................................................................................................................................................................
June 24, 2009 The Honoured Reader (free edition) of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 14, No. 5, June 11,
2009
posted
click here
VISIT
WITH US IN DETROIT - AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: PRIORITIES
OR ENVIRONMENTAL PATSIES?
Theme: PHARMACEUTICALS AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
INTRODUCTION
NON-POINT
SOURCES OF POLLUTION OF INCREASING IMPORTANCE
OTHER
SOURCES OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS
HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE: US NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCE REPORT
CHALLENGES
EXPOSURE
TO HAAS
IJC: EMERGING
ISSUES FOR THE GREAT LAKES
STATUS
BIRTH
CONTROL FATAL FOR FISH
SWEDISH
PHARMACEUTICAL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION
SAFE COSMETIC
CAMPAIGN
CANADIAN
SCIENCE ON PPCPS: A POTENTIALLY BIG PROBLEM WITH A SOLUTION
TAKE-BACK
EXPIRED PHARMACEUTICALS-COLOMBIA
TAKEBACK
PHARMACEUTICALS - CANADA
MANUFACTURERS
VOLUNTARILY REMOVING PHTHALATES
NEW COSMETIC
LAW FOR EU
US EPA:
ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS TO BE SCREENED
HENKEL:
PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY PROFILE
CITY OF
MONTREAL - OZONATION TO REMOVE PHARMACEUTICALS
LETTER
TO THE EDITOR
GUEST
COLUMN - JAMES LOVELOCK AND THE CLIMATE “PHONY WAR”
by Dianne Saxe
CONSULTATION
ON DRYLAND SCIENCE
PROSPERITY
WITHOUT ECONOMIC GROWTH
****************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
We devote most, but not all, of this issue
to the serious problem of endocrine disrupting substances in our water.
In November 2008, GL's editor and associates attended the Society of Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry SETAC conference in Tampa, Florida. While scientific
research reported is still ongoing on industrial pollution, much scientific
attention was on emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal
care products some of which are also endocrine disrupting chemicals EDCs
which present challenges to scientific research. In this issue, we discuss
a couple of the SETAC presentations, present a historical overview from
the US National Research Council on the issue and touch briefly on some
of the other stories on this vast and growing scientific and commercial
literature.
Our editorial addresses the question of
environmental priorities, or lack thereof, in government and activist
agendas. In our last issue, we suggested that defining the Sins of Greenwashing
might not be the most helpful tool for encouraging greening of the marketplace.
We received a response from TerraChoice which we publish below. Dianne
Saxe has provided a column on James Lovelock’s recent presentation in
Toronto. A reader in Uzbekistan has drawn our attention to ongoing work
on dryland sustainable agriculture in that region and Dr. Peter Victor
has written on “Bigger isn’t Better” in relation to the economy.
Next issue we plan an update on green
energy. Meanwhile, we hope you find this acronym-filled issue (truly,
we do try to reduce the use of acronyms and to explain them before first
use!) to be of interest. We encourage your letters and comments.
........................................................................................................................................................................................................
June 4, 2009 The Honoured Reader (free edition) of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 14, No. 4, May 14, 2009
posted
click here
Theme: GOING GREEN
BIOMASS
BETTER USED AS SOLID FUEL
Alternatives
C. D.
Howe: Going Green for Less
Common
Interests
US BIOENERGY
STUDY
TERRACHOICE:
GL DOES NOT AGREE THAT GREEN PRODUCTS ARE SINFUL
Irreproducible
Results
Inflammatory
Language
Money,
Money, Money
Lesser
of Two Evils
The
Sin of No Proof - a Figment of TerraChoice's Imagination
Conclusions
MANAGING CHAIN OF CUSTODY IN GREEN CLAIMS
LED LIGHTBULBS ARE COMING
GOING GREEN AWARDS
THE MATHEMATICS OF CONSUMER DECISIONS TO BUY GREEN PRODUCTS
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
SUBJECT:
STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY GL V14 N3
NICHOLAS STERN: THE GLOBAL DEAL
Low Carbon Growth / No Growth Economy
CIELAP SEEKING APPLICATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - LIGHT UP THE WORLD GROUP
FRIENDS OF FROGS: PRINCE'S RAINFORESTS PROJECT
GL TAKES A FLYER
***************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
When it comes to green, how do we know
who to believe? In the last few weeks we have seen a number of new challenges
to Going Green that have left us pondering how to provide advice to
industry and educators on sorting the credible from the not credible.
We will be addressing at least one solution later in the year but meanwhile
we take a look at a couple of recent issues, biofuels and green consumer
products, and suggest what’s really going on and how the reports might
best be interpreted.
Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs have
set a new standard in lighting energy efficiency but even before CFLs
have achieved major market share a better lightbulb is already on the
market. In this issue we tell you what it is and where you can find
it. Better boat paint and how to create better consumers are other topics.
We have received a letter from Statistics
Canada providing clarification and more information on the 2007 Households
and the Environment survey results that we published in our last issue.
We had the opportunity to hear Nicholas Stern, economist and author
of the UK government’s Stern Review of Climate Change in 2006. Stern
was promoting his latest book, The Global Deal: Climate Change and the
Creation of a New Era of Progress and Prosperity but brought many in
the audience to their feet with his optimistic analysis of our ability
to address the enormous challenge of climate change.
Two job postings, an update to the classic
tale of a prince and a frog, and a note about possible misuse of the
federal Ecologo by the Conservative Members of Parliament complete this
issue.
Next issue, barring other interventions,
we will present our update on pharmaceuticals and personal care products
in your drinking water. Meanwhile, we hope you enjoy this issue and
encourage you to respond with Letters to the Editor, some of which we
will select for publication.
........................................................................................................................................................................................................
June 4, 2009 Events Posted click here
Ongoing 2009 Ontario
Provincial Consultation on Far North and Protection Act with impact on
the boreal forest.
Export Development Canada consultation on its Environmental Policy.
June 2009 United
Nations Association UNA-Canada's Model IJC
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................
April 12, 2009 The Honoured Reader (free edition) of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 14, No. 3, March 23, 2009
posted
click here
Editorial by Colin Isaacs AMERICANA
2009 CONTINUED A SUCCESSFUL EVENT
Theme: AUDITOR
GENERAL OF CANADA - CESD REPORT
REPORT
OF THE COMMISSIONER OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT—DECEMBER
2008
Climate
Change - Economic Measures
Public
Transit Tax Credit
Clean
Air and Climate Change Trust Fund
Chemicals
Management
Severe
Weather Warnings
Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada
The National Land and Water
Information Service
The APF Environment Chapter
National Agri-Environmental
Health Analysis and Reporting Program
Environmental Farm Planning
Voluntary
Agreements for Air Emissions
Railway
Association of Canada
Canadian
Chemical Producers' Association
Air Transport
Association of Canada
Federal
Sustainable Development Strategies
CCPA:
VOLUNTARY AGREEMENT WITH GOVERNMENT
LETTER
TO EDITOR
ELIZABETH
MAY: GLOBAL WARMING FOR DUMMIES
Bios
STATISTICS
CANADA - Households and the Environment Survey
Energy
Water
Other
DAY4ENERGY:
ECONOMIC DOWNTURN REDUCES DEMAND
ENVIRONMENT
AND 2010 OLYMPICS
PROCUREMENT
FOR THE OLYMPICS
ST. PATRICKS
DAY: HIS COLOUR CANNOT BE SEEN
***************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
Our feature this issue is the report of
the federal Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development,
Office of the Auditor-General of Canada. In replacing the previous Commissioner,
Johanne Gelinas, with the current Commissioner, Scott Vaughan, Auditor
General Sheila Fraser may have intended to have her branch focus more
on audit and less on policy analysis. If so, she has probably succeeded,
but there are so many problems that can be turned up by an audit that
the analysis of whether the policy or program makes any sense at all may
not be a worry for a few years.
Some of the items in the Commissioner’s
report, which we have chosen this year to summarize at length, should
make Canadians absolutely furious at their government: a departments
with an agreement with industry to retroactively reduce emissions of air
toxics (physically impossible!); mandatory implementation of Environmental
Farm Plans for farmers accessing certain funding programs but no verification
as to whether the EFPs are actually achieving anything; blatantly not
adequately enforcing a regulation to reduce emissions of one carcinogenic
substance and another designated toxic substance, and much more. It makes
one wish that citizens had the power to prosecute their government officials
and the elected cabinet of ministers for negligent dereliction of duty.
We have a letter to the editor clarifying
what Canada’s new oil spill response barges might be for; we have a review
of Elizabeth May’s new book that is not really For Dummies; and Statistics
Canada has a new report on the environmental behaviour of Canadian households.
At least one Canadian photovoltaics manufacturer is being hit hard by
the recession, and, unlike some parts of the federal government, the Vancouver
Olympics Organizing Committee is working at measuring and reporting on
its sustainability performance - good for them. Our issue concludes, as
do most issues of GL, with a strange story about the premier of a new
movie called Age of Stupid to which Northern Ireland's Environment Minister
was invited. GL hopes that all of Canada’s federal Cabinet will get to
see the movie - we will review it as soon as we can get our eyes on a
copy.
Next issue we will review some of the
rapidly emerging data about PPCPs in your drinking water. If you want
to know what that’s all about you’ll have to wait until the next issue.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this one.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................
April 12, 2009 Events Posted click here
April 2009 9th
Annual Ontario's Environment Industry Day, Toronto, Ontario
May 2009 Dr. James
Lovelock, Toronto, Ontario
February 2010
13th Annual Energy & Environment Conference & Expo, Phoenix,
Arizona
.................................................................................................................................................................................................
March 11, 2009 The Honoured Reader (free edition) of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 14 No. 2 February 23, 2009
posted
click here
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: A
NORTH AMERICAN CAP AND TRADE?
Theme: CANADA’S
FEDERAL BUDGET
A SLIGHT
GREEN TINGE BUT DEFINITELY NOT A GREEN BUDGET
Contaminated
Sites
Bringing
Northern Natural Gas to Market
Youth
Internships
Regulatory
Efficiency and Reducing Environmental Assessment?
Infrastructure
Funding
Green
Infrastructure Fund
Municipal
Sewer and Water Infrastructure
Energy
Efficiency in Social Housing
Home Renovations:
Energy Efficiency not Mandatory
Carbon
Capture and Storage
Transport
Canada
Throwing
Away More Computers
Funding
to Industry
Funding
for Environmental Sustainability in Agriculture
Forestry
Arctic
Research
Barging
In
LETTER
TO EDITOR
SUBJECT:
ST. LAWRENCE CEMENT GL V13 NO.12
30 SECOND
SUMMARY
Restoration Economy, City of Delhi India Plastic Bags Notification,
Waste Diversion Ontario Blue Box Program
Plan Review
SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY CANADA
SLUMDOG
MILLIONAIRE: AN SD MOVIE?
WHERE’S
PETA WHEN YOU NEED THEM
****************************************************
ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
This issue of Gallon Environment Letter
is about the Federal Budget 2009. There is a lot about energy and the
environment in this Budget, not all of it clear and not all of it good.
But it is there and we hope our analysis helps your interpretation.
President Obama has come and gone. Environment
Minister Jim Prentice had expressed a hope for an agreement on a greenhouse
gas cap-and-trade program. It was not to be, at least not yet, but may
come in the future. Our editorial explores whether this would be a good
thing for Canada.
Will Amos has written to us about our
St. Lawrence Cement coverage and Treena Hein has written to draw our attention
to Storm Cunningham's book: The Restoration Economy. Also in our 30 Second
Summary feature we report on the leading edge Delhi, India, initiative
on plastic bags and draw your attention to the fact that Waste Diversion
Ontario has issued a draft report for consultation on the Blue Box Program
Plan Review.
Sustainable Development Technology Canada
will be looking for applications for those who could effectively use some
money for new biofuel technologies and their twice annual application
period for funding for other types of environmental technologies also
will be announced this week. Our associate editor reviews Slumdog Millionaire
as a movie about Sustainable Development. As we conclude our Groundhog
Month issue we ask a question we never thought we would ask: Where’s PETA
when you need them?
Next issue we will take an in-depth look
at the recent report of Canada’s Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable
Development. The report sets a higher bar for federal government environmental
performance that could have an impact on many future programs, possibly
including some of those announced in the budget.
.................................................................................................................................................................................................
New additions are:
March 2009
Ontario Headwaters Institute's PRESERVING ONTARIO'S FRESHWATER, Toronto,
Ontario
May 2009
Spring 2009 Canadian Co-investment Summit, Toronto, Ontario
8th Annual Ontario Power Summit Toronto, Ontario
August 2009
2009 Annual General Meeting and Conference: Canadian Land Reclamation
Association Québec City, Québec
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
Please note: Except for occasional issues, the Honoured
Reader edition of the Gallon Environment Letter does not contain most
of the links of the paid subscription. However, any urls listed, checked
at the time of publication of each issue, may no longer be current.
|
