SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
Environment commissioner anticipates federal action to improve freshwater monitoring
Environment Commissioner Scott Vaughan says he expects Environment Canada to follow through on implementing the recommendations in his 2010 annual report, and environmental policy analysts are stressing the need for the department to play a leading role in addressing serious threats to the country’s freshwater resources. “The federal government has the authority it needs to […]
Canada should ban oil supertankers in the Dixon Entrance, Hecate Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound off north coast of British Columbia
As Rivers to Ocean Week approaches, Canadians are presented with an opportunity to celebrate and learn about the important role of fresh water and oceans and to discover how inter-connected our planet is with these bodies of water. It also provides us with time to reflect upon the impact human activity has had on these […]
Rising sea levels tip of melting iceberg when it comes to climate change
Evidence is mounting that greenhouse gases are directly and indirectly disrupting ocean ecosystems and economies, and environmental researchers are calling on the federal government to take a leading role in reducing nationwide carbon output in response to changing ocean currents and rising ocean acidity. Last week the International Energy Agency announced that 2010 was a […]
Water export: serious threat or convenient distraction
TORONTO—The media love the topic of bulk water export. It has all the necessary ingredients of a good story—potential conflict, behind-the-scenes maneouvering, and international intrigue. Federal governments have twice introduced legislation to prevent water export, just ahead of the 1988 “free trade” election, and again just ahead of the recent 2011 election. In both cases, […]
Water emerging as a key environmental policy issue
In Canada and around the world, water is emerging as a key environmental policy issue. More and more, experts, the media, and the general public are seeing the connection between water and the headline environmental concern of the last decade—climate change. The floods currently submerging the Richelieu Valley in Quebec, as well the damage done […]
Canada poised to lead the world in water technologies
Social, economic and environmental factors are putting significant pressure on the world’s fresh water supply. This is leading to human health crises, food shortages, and shifts in populations. Conflicts over water resources are likely to become increasingly common in some regions of the world. Access to fresh water resources, and the quality of those resources, […]
Canada needs a comprehensive water policy, now
There will never be enough space, enough words to even scratch the surface of the ways in which water is at risk. In a brief essay, one can merely list the complex issues that face us. We are wasting potable water, polluting natural water, exporting virtual water, losing wetlands and forests that retain and purify […]
New Fisheries minister has opportunity to advance Canada’s leadership in ocean and coastal management
If stretched out as a single contiguous line, Canada’s coastline would circle the globe more than six times. Canada has the longest coastline of any nation on Earth, the second largest continental shelf area, and shares with the United States the largest freshwater coastal system in the world. Canada’s oceans and coasts constitute a rich […]
Feds still lack overarching federal sustainable development strategy that identifies clear, concrete actions supported by coordination among federal departments
Over the past two years, the world’s attention has been largely focused on the turbulence in the global economy. At the same time, evidence of the rapid deterioration of the planet’s environmental quality has continued to mount. Two examples illustrate the worrying global environmental trends. First, in this, the International Year of Biodiversity, several scientific […]
