December 18, 2009
EcoChamber in Copenhagen: The emerging “climate dictatorship”
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — It is our lives being decided here in Copenhagen, and we are being shut out or brutally silenced from the negotiations. This is not an international negotiation, but a climate dictatorship in the making. Wednesday, thousands of activists who attempted to hold a “people’s assembly” in front of the conference centre were beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed in the eyes, and... [More >>]
December 14, 2009
EcoChamber in Copenhagen: “This conference will probably be wrecked.”
Naomi Klein giving the opening keynote at KlimaForum09, the alternative climate change conference underway in Copenhagen. Photo courtesy KlimaForum. COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — The thread is being pulled on the climate talks here in Copenhagen, and the whole show is beginning to unravel. There are really several different conferences happening, and the cracks are showing. The developing world has been... [More >>]
December 9, 2009
EcoChamber in Copenhagen: Are we signing a global suicide pact?
[Editor's note: Emily Hunter is in Copenhagen, Denmark for the next two weeks covering the Copenhagen Climate Summit, and will be sending us updates about what's going on. Check back daily for her updates.] A member of an environmentalist group pretends to be dead during a protest demanding a real climate deal during the first day of United Nations Climate Change Conference on December 7, 2009 in Copenhagen,... [More >>]
November 9, 2009
EcoChamber #19: World War Three is already here. It’s called climate change
We can read the signs, but can we stop from falling off the edge? Photo by Panoramio user jk1812. It’s as if we’re in a car that is blazing along. We are on cruise control as we hit a crossroads. We desperately need to make a turn. But instead of slowing down or making shifts in the wheel, we’re full-speed ahead. It’s a diverse group of us in the car but all we’re doing is talking, arguing... [More >>]
October 28, 2009
EcoChamber #18: Canada’s crumbling Copenhagen climate countdown
Thousands of protesters convened on Parliament hill last Sunday as part of the 350.org International Day of Action on climate change. Photo via Paul Dewar's Flickr feed. It was the largest lobbying event on climate change in Canadian history: thousands of Canadians from across the country united on Parliament Hill last Saturday as part of the 350 International Day of Climate Action to demand leadership... [More >>]
September 28, 2009
EcoChamber #17: Stephen Harper’s donut diplomacy
Make way, Homer Simpson—there’s a new Donut King in town: Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Choosing donuts over climate change deserves the title of King. King not only of donuts (as one critic called Harper) but the King of climate deniers. Last week, our Prime Minister skipped a day at the UN Climate Summit in New York for a photo-op at a donut shop in Oakville. Outraged by his obvious sense... [More >>]
September 21, 2009
EcoChamber #16: Save the environment — shut down TIFF
"Celebrities have power, and with it comes responsibility": EcoSanity founder Glenn MacIntosh. Photo courtesy EcoSanity. [Editor's note: EcoChamber is back after a short break while Emily Hunter was on assignment in the Alberta Tar Sands to see the devastation first hand. Her observations will appear at This.org and in the print edition soon.] The show must not go on. That is what activists... [More >>]
August 5, 2009
EcoChamber #15: Meet the woman at Ground Zero of the tar-sands fight (UPDATED YET AGAIN)
[Editor's note: Every month, EcoChamber profiles an environmental activist from Canada or abroad in a series called "Eco-Warriors." These profiles are part of a collection of stories Emily is working on for a book called The Next Eco-Warriors.] Eriel Tchekwie Deranger climbs the flagpole in front of RBC on July 28, 2009. Photos courtesy Rainforest Action Network. [This post has been updated yet again,... [More >>]
July 20, 2009
EcoChamber #14: Science Fiction and Fact collide in Alberta’s tar sands
Diagram of how Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) works. Image courtesy Pembina Institute and Alberta Geological Survey. [This is part two of a three-part series of posts Emily is writing on the tar sands. Last week's post is here.] It’s scary sometimes how science fiction can parallel with reality. The Tar Sands dilemma has come to do just that. As we seek to find a solution to our intensive emissions,... [More >>]
July 13, 2009
EcoChamber #13: Stephen Harper’s climate math doesn’t add up
Syncrude's Mildred Lake mine site near Fort MacMurray. [This is the first in a three-part series on the Alberta tar sands. Also note: EcoChamber will be moving to Mondays starting today.] There is a sense of progress in the air. For the first time in over a decade, G8 countries and developing nations, including China and India, have agreed to reduce their emissions in absolute numbers. But as this... [More >>]
