July 2008

These are news articles that we have featured on our home page in the month of July 2008:

Vancouver needs to plan for a post-oil world - now

Jul 31, 2008 - Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER - Vancouver planners recently declared that North American cities had better start adapting to a future characterized by climate change and depleting oil.

5 states threaten to sue EPA to get carbon curbs

Jul 31, 2008 - Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Five states led by California on Thursday gave notice of their intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency if it does not act soon to reduce carbon emissions from ships, aircraft and off-road vehicles.

$187-M Winnipeg rapid transit busway would link U of M, core

Jul 31, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - The city and province are working on a $187-million deal to connect downtown and the University of Manitoba with a dedicated rapid transit busway, sources say.

Arctic ice bigger than 2007, but thawing long-term

Jul 30, 2008 - Reuters

OSLO - Arctic sea ice is unlikely to shrink below a 2007 record low this year in a reprieve from the worst predictions of climate change even though new evidence confirms a long-term thaw is under way, experts said.

Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf

Jul 29, 2008 - MSNBC

OTTAWA - Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday.

For the BC Liberals the last nine million tonnes will be the toughest

Jul 29, 2008 - Vancouver Sun

VICTORIA - Though the carbon tax has drawn most of the fire over the BC government effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is not the biggest item in the recently released climate action plan.

Canada has green concerns over oil goldmine

Jul 28, 2008 - ABC News

FORT McMURRAY, Alta- The earth beneath Fort McMurray's pine and spruce trees holds as much oil as the United States, Russia and the United Arab Emirates combined.

U.S. agency: Voluntary climate action has limits

Jul 28, 2008 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog.

U.S. EPA chief won’t explain climate choices

Jul 25, 2008 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Stephen Johnson has declined to explain before Congress how a conclusion he made last year that global warming put the public in danger could lead to a decision not to regulate greenhouse gases.

Arctic rich in oil, gas resources

Jul 24, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

OTTAWA - Nearly a quarter of the world's undiscovered petroleum resources lie in the Arctic, confirms a U.S. study that should only intensify pressure on countries such as Canada to stake their claims to the Far North.

Report on health and climate change to get 'low-profile' release

Jul 23, 2008 - Globe and Mail

OTTAWA - The Conservative government is planning a quiet release for a major Health Canada report that warns of the harmful impact of climate change on the health of Canadians, particularly the young, elderly and aboriginals.

U.S.-Canada carbon trading group eyes 2012 start

Jul 23, 2008 - Reuters

VANCOUVER - A coalition of U.S. states and Canadian provinces that have banded together to cut greenhouse gases will launch their carbon cap and trade system in 2012, according to a draft plan released on Wednesday.

OPINION: Does 'Great Global Warming Swindle' cause harm?

Jul 22, 2008 - Globe and Mail

GEORGE MONBIOT: As UK's Channel 4 is once again fiercely criticised by the TV watchdog for distorting the views of climate scientists, George Monbiot lays bare the channel's shameful history of misleading its viewers on global warming

Who covets the electric car? Sales surge in Ottawa

Jul 22, 2008 - CBC News

OTTAWA - Ottawa motorists are being driven like never before toward technology that allows them to run a car without gas, say those who help convert cars to electric power.

OPINION: Climate brinkmanship in Alberta, Saskatchewan

Jul 22, 2008 - Globe and Mail

JEFFREY SIMPSON: It is one of Canada's pathetic ironies that the two provincial premiers least concerned about greenhouse gas emissions govern the provinces most at risk from climate change.

The race to own the top of the world

Jul 22, 2008 - Globe and Mail

MOSCOW — "We were there first and we can claim the entire Arctic, but if our neighbours like Canada want some part of it, then maybe we can negotiate with them," says a flamboyant Russian ultranationalist, who happily hands out pictures of a Russian flag sitting on the seabed at the North Pole.

Science, sunshine and strategy power solar racers

Jul 19, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - Strategy more than anything might determine which of 15 entries wins the North American Solar Challenge race this year.

Premiers seize climate-change initiative

Jul 18, 2008 - Globe and Mail

QUEBEC — The Harper government faced new pressure Friday to adopt a more aggressive climate-change plan after Canada's largest province threw its considerable political weight behind a North American initiative to tackle global warming.

20% increase in energy efficiency in 12 years, premiers pledge

Jul 18, 2008 - CBC News

QUEBEC - Canadian premiers said Friday they have committed to achieving a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency in their provinces by 2020.

Unnecessary flights killing the poor says Tutu

Jul 18, 2008 - Reuters

LONDON - Businessmen who take flights rather than use video conferencing are adding to global warming that is condemning millions of the world's poorest people to death, according to Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.

Gore: Make all U.S. electricity from renewable sources

Jul 17, 2008 - Reuters

WASHINGTON - Al Gore, the Nobel Prize-winning crusader on climate change, challenged the United States on Thursday to commit to producing all U.S. electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind power in 10 years.

Electric cars allowed on some Quebec roads

Jul 16, 2008 - Canadian Press

ST-JEROME, Que. - They're arriving in a trickle, not a flood, but low-speed electric cars are allowed on some Quebec roads as of Thursday. Two companies - Nemo and Zenn - can operate their vehicles on roads in Quebec with speed limits under 50 km/h. They must also be outfitted with an orange triangle denoting a slower vehicle.

Solar cooling becomes a new air-conditioning system

Jul 15, 2008 - Physorg.com

MADRID - Spanish scientists have developed an environmentally friendly cooling technology that does not harm the ozone layer. This is achieved by using solar energy and therefore reducing the use of greenhouse gases.

World on the verge of the last great land grab

Jul 14, 2008 - New Scientist

Forests will be hard hit to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding world population, experts warn. In two reports, they say that booming demand for food, fuel and wood as the world's population surges from 6 to 9 billion will put unprecedented and unsustainable demand on the world's remaining wooded ecosystems.

U.S. EPA says greenhouse emissions endanger health

Jul 14, 2008 - Reuters

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Monday that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, a critical finding that has languished in bureaucratic limbo since last December.

Chrysler aims to have electric cars in three to five years

Jul 14, 2008 - Reuters

DETROIT - Chrysler LLC is planning to launch all-electric vehicles in the next three to five years, the latest automaker to join the race to produce cars with fuel-saving technologies.

Abandon ice floe! Scientists cite warming

Jul 14, 2008 - MSNBC

MOSCOW - Russian scientists are evacuating a research station built on an Arctic ice floe because the ice has melted to a fraction of its original size, a spokesman said.

China's sneak preview on carbon emissions cuts

Jul 10, 2008 - Yahoo News

BEIJING - The world's rich nations agreed on a "vision" Tuesday to cut carbon emissions by half within 42 years. But half of what? Some cite 1990 as the start year. Others say from now. Either way, the world need not wait to see the kind of dramatic change that a sky-cleaning vision can bring. An example started this week.

G8 talks on climate a success - or failure?

Jul 10, 2008 - Reuters

RUSUTSU, Japan - President Bush and the U.N.'s top climate official on Wednesday had polar-opposite views on what exactly transpired at the Group of Eight summit.

Gas plant worst-case Hydro scenario

Jul 8, 2008 - Winnipeg Free Press

WINNIPEG - If two massive northern generating stations don't get built in time to make good on export deals to the United States, Manitoba Hydro will build a natural gas-fired power plant - a move that could compromise the province's Kyoto goal.

G8 papers over differences on climate change

Jul 8, 2008 - Reuters

TOYAKO, Japan - G8 nations, papering over deep differences on how to set goals to combat global warming, said on Tuesday they would work toward a target of at least halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with other participants in U.N. talks.

EU moves to cut back target on biofuel use

Jul 7, 2008 - International Herald Tribune

BRUSSELS - Signaling a major retrenchment, European Union legislators on Monday proposed ratcheting back an ambitious target to raise Europe's use of biofuels.

Climate-change goals fall short at G8

Jul 6, 2008 - Globe & Mail

TOYAKO, JAPAN — Hopes have dimmed for stronger action on climate change – a central goal of this week's G8 summit in Japan – with countries such as the United States and Canada resisting calls for the group to set hard midterm targets for reducing emissions.

Canada is the best haven from climate change

Jul 4, 2008 - The Independent

LONDON - Canada is the best place to move to if you want to be a climate change survivor in the decades ahead.

Canada ranked 2nd last on WWF G8 Climate Scorecard

Jul 3, 2008 - Associated Press

BERLIN - A new study suggests Canada ranks second to last among G8 countries when it comes to addressing global warming.

UK government says CO2 emissions understated

Jul 2, 2008 - Reuters

LONDON - On the eve of a G8 summit due to address climate change, Britain admitted on Wednesday that it, and by implication others, has been drastically understating its true carbon emissions.

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