March 9, 2010
Stop Everything #19: Three ways Ignatieff could green the Harper budget
Michael Ignatieff greeting listeners at a speech on the environment at Laval University, November 26, 2009. Creative Commons Photo by Robert J. Galbraith Holy déjà vu, Iggy. Is it just me, or is this whole post-prorogue budget announcement that the NDP and Bloc aren’t supporting feeling eerily familiar? Rewind to November 2008. Stephen Harper prorogued the government to avoid a non-confidence motion... [More >>]
March 3, 2010
Weed killing toxin makes mothers out of male frogs
Atrazine, a controversial herbicide ubiquitous in Canadian cornfields has been found to chemically castrate male frogs, turning them into egg laying females. The Globe and Mail reported yesterday that when scientists at the University of California Berkley exposed male African clawed frogs to minute amounts of the toxin, just 2.5 parts per billion,the mutation occurred. Of the 40 exposed male frogs,... [More >>]
March 2, 2010
Stop Everything #18: Maxime Bernier’s climate-denialism is a political warning
All the papers last week were abuzz about an op-ed written by now-backbench Conservative MP Maxime Bernier. Writing how climate change is an unsure thing indeed, he said his party was on the right track by playing it cool in Copenhagen. He was roundly criticized by Canadian media and bloggers. Globe contributor Robert Silver called him Canada’s Sarah Palin. The National Post’s article on the... [More >>]
February 25, 2010
Watch Naomi Klein’s inaugural David Lewis Lecture on “Climate Debt” right here
Tonight’s inaugural David Lewis Lecture featuring internationally acclaimed author (and former This Magazine editor!) Naomi Klein is graciously being livestreamed by our friends at Rabble.ca. You can tune in on their website at RabbleTV, or on their Livestream channel. Or you can watch it right here starting at 8:45 PM EST: [More >>]
February 23, 2010
Stop Everything #17: Weapons of mass distraction create a climate of silence
Well played, Mr. Harper, well played. While you’re probably sitting comfortably at 24 Sussex, sipping Chianti and learning how to play “Hey Jude” for Laureen’s next fundraiser, I’m sitting in bed at 11pm Monday night trying to rack my brain for what to say this week about the state of climate change in Canada. How did we get here? Just two months ago I could have made a full time job keeping... [More >>]
February 16, 2010
Stop Everything #16: Industry seldom changes itself. It’s up to us.
A charging station concept by Better Place, a private company attempting to develop a business model for electric cars. We’re not getting the job done with the Harper government, so where do we go next? Rebecca’s option of industry leadership in last week’s column may have raised some eyebrows for those of us working on policy like pricing carbon or regulation to get industries to do the right... [More >>]
February 10, 2010
Stop Everything #15: If government won’t cut carbon, will industry?
Welcome to the new age of the environmental movement. We don’t chain ourselves to trees and sing protest songs—we use blackberries to notify the press about the latest report findings. With the exception of a few spirited protestors who scaled the parliament building or occupied a minister’s office, most of the effort from organizations in the fall leading up to Copenhagen concentrated on studies... [More >>]
February 2, 2010
Stop Everything #14: Renewing our own energy after Copenhagen
We’ve marched, oh how we have marched. The “get back to work” signs now find their place in the closet where dust has begun to flirt with the climate-themed “350” signs of October and December. The proroguing of Parliament has left the country with no ability to act on any sort of climate legislation (though that’s not so different than when it’s in session). We also now have... [More >>]
January 11, 2010
Review: Robert Muggah’s No Refuge: The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa
No Refuge: The Crisis of Refugee Militarization in Africa, edited by Robert Muggah. Among Africa’s considerable problems is the pressing issue of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Armed conflicts and violence on the continent has effectively made it the foremost home of forced migrants, with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimating that 3.5 million of the... [More >>]
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 >>]
