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Researcher Ben Parfitt from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives compiled expert opinions showing that clearcutting, improper logging roads and wildfires cause instability and landslides like the ones last fall that killed 5 on the Duffy Lake Highway.
Selkirk College pre-med student Kaitlyn Taburiaux surveyed students to find out about the impact of the climate crisis on student mental health. It sure does, she reports.
Last Stand West Kootenay activist Fox gives us an update on more arrests and blockading against clearcutting along Kootenay Lake near Argenta.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Canada’s five biggest banks increased their fossil fuel financing by 70 per cent, or around $61 billion, last year, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, put together by several environmental organizations.
Since Canada signed the Paris Agreement in 2016, where it pledged to keep global warming below 1.5 C, Canadian banks have invested $911 billion in fossil fuel expansion.
The report is put together by Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Oil Change International, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club and urgewald.
In 2021, RBC, Scotiabank, CIBC, TD and the Bank of Montreal all increased their fossil fuel financing and provided a combined $165 billion to fossil fuel clients, the report said. At the same time, all of the banks pledged to be “net-zero” by 2050.
Over the same period, financing for Canada’s tarsands increased by 51 per cent to $23.3 billion, with RBC and TD facilitating the biggest increases.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/03/31/Canadian-Banks-Billions-Fossil-Fuel-Financing/
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The National Observer is reporting that Canada’s six largest banks had no problem coming up with the extra $10-billion loan to the Trans Mountain pipeline project, AFTER the federal government promised to guarantee it.
Finance Canada has repeatedly refused to disclose who is behind the massive loan to the contentious, publicly owned oilsands pipeline. Canada’s National Observer research shows TD, RBC, CIBC, BMO, Scotiabank and the National Bank of Canada are all listed as lenders.
Because the federal government has committed to cover any losses, even if the shaky business case for the pipeline leads to failure, the banks will make money.
The banks have done everything to keep their financial support for the pipeline private. The National Observer had to use “proprietary financial terminals: to get just the most basic information about who is funding the pipeline project.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/05/31/news/canada-biggest-banks-quietly-prop-tmx
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Kootenay School District 8 has purchased two electric buses that will begin service this fall in Nelson amd Creston.
Chris Kerr, acting director of operations for SD8, said the district is going to test the vehicles in a variety of situations with the eventual goal of replacing its 54-fleet of diesel buses with the electric models.
The buses cost approximately $350,000 to $440,000 each, depending on the model and options, according to SD8 manager of operations Lisa Phillips.
That’s more than double the price of a conventional diesel bus, which costs between $130,000 to $145,000.
But Phillips said there are long-term savings to be made by making the switch. The district will save approximately $5,000 annually in maintenance costs and $10,000 in fuel with the new buses compared to diesel.
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Small modular reactors, (SMRs), now being promoted by the federal governm,ent and several provinces in Canada may create for more radioactive waste than the old large scale nuclear plants. A new study finds that mini-nuclear power stations produce higher volumes of radioactive waste per unit of generation.
In Ontario, the Ford government selected GE Hitachi to build an SMR at the Darlington nuclear plant site, with a projected in-service date of 2028.
But an independent assessment of radioactive waste from SMRs has modelled the waste from three different SMR designs, Toshiba, NuScale, and Terrestrial Energy. They report “SMRs could increase the volume of short-lived low and intermediate level wastes… by up to 35 times compared to a large conventional reactor,” New Scientist magazine reports.
“For the long-lived equivalent waste, SMRs would produce up to 30 times more,” the story adds. For spent nuclear fuel, up to five times more.
Long term storage of hot radioactive waste continues to be a major challenge for all nuclear power facilities.
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Despite many politicians promises to wind down open pen salmon farming on BC’s coast, hard decisions are now pendingh. 79 salmon farm licences in B.C. are set to expire this month, and federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray and MP from Vancouver is under the gun. Murray is expected to decide in the coming days or weeks whether or not she will renew all, any or none of the 79 federal licences for salmon farms in B.C.
Last week she met with the Union of BC Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) who are pushing not to renew them, and to do a better job of protecting First Nation rights to fish.
Meanwhile, a provincial process is also in the works to phase out some salmon farms in the Broughton Archipelago.
Minister Murray told the Union of BC Indian chiefs said her job is to come up with a plan to transition the salmon farming industry in B.C.
One complication of that assignment is that some First Nations support and participate in the salmon farming industry.
https://biv.com/article/2022/06/first-nations-chiefs-pressure-murray-fish-farms
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Staff in Alberta’s oil capital, Calgary, have put out an $87-billion climate plan to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, deliver $80 billion in energy savings, and generate $60 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) by the target date.
The 99-page Pathways to 2050 comes seven months after Calgary declared a climate emergency. It outlines the guiding principles and direction to reach net-zero, along with adaptation plans to make Calgary more resilient to climate impacts, reports Global News.
If every action item in the ambitious plan is completed, a report shows the city require a cumulative investment of $87 billion by 2050, or $3.1 billion annually.
Calgary’s climate change and environment manager Dick Ebersohn said the City could pursue several different sources to fund the extensive plan.
He also pointed out that costs of inaction would be even higher.
“The impacts of climate change could result in an average of $2.6 billion in climate risk per year by the 2050s,” he said. “If we stand by and do nothing, the cost of inaction could ramp up to an average of $7.8 billion per year by the 2080s.”
The Calgary climate strategy predicts that 40% of the community’s electricity will be generated within city boundaries from renewable sources, and third of home power needs will be from rooftop solar installations.
The famous car city must change that as well moving to 60% of trips within the city on foot, on two wheels, or on mass transit. More than 95% of residents will live less than two kilometres from a transit facility, the strategy projects.
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More than a hundred anti-war campaigners traveled to Ottawa last Wednesday to protest outside of the E.Y. Center, where they obstructed access to the opening of CANSEC, North America’s largest weapons and “defense industry” convention.
“The weapons companies sponsoring and exhibiting in CANSEC are raking in record billions in profits. They are the only people who win these wars.” One of the protestors said.
Carrying 40-foot banners with messages such as “Blood On Your Hands,” “Stop Profiting From War,” and “Arms Dealers Not Welcome,” peace activists blocked multiple driveways and pedestrian entrances as attendees attempted to register for and enter the meeting just before Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand’s scheduled opening keynote address.
“The same conflicts around the world which have brought misery to millions have brought record profits to arms manufacturers this year,” Rachel Small, an organizer with World Beyond War, said in a statement.
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