Cornell’s Charles H. Greene, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences, and Bruce C. Monger, senior research associate in the same department, detail this phenomenon in a paper published in the June issue of the journal Oceanography. “Everyone thinks of Arctic climate change as this remote phenomenon that has little effect on our everyday lives,” Greene said. “But what goes on in the Arctic remotely forces our weather patterns here.”
A glaring observation that emerges from this ice storm is the vulnerability of human populations when their electrical service is dependent on complex and capital-intense electricity grids transporting electricity over large distances. This underscores what advocates for science and the humans are increasingly arguing--human society urgently needs to rapidly reduce its energy consumption and waste, end the burning of fossil fuels, switch to renewable energy sources, and localize energy production and distribution to the maximum extent possible.
It’s unlikely the storm could be directly linked to changes in weather patterns caused by global warming. But the social crisis it has prompted does portend the kind of scenario for which populations and emergency planners will need to prepare as the frequency and intensity of weather events increase and as ocean levels rise. So how is Toronto faring?
According to Toronto Star columnist Joe Fiorito, the city’s administration had no emergency meeting and coordination center with an emergency power supply ready to go. It had to scramble to hold its first meeting.
In 2011, the signatories to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees failed to tackle the reality of climate migration, and Canada neglected to sign up for the 2012 Nansen Initiative (launched by Norway and Switzerland), which is set to publish a report in 2015 providing recommendations on the issue.
“There are these countries in the West which aren’t really doing anything in terms of international agreements,’’ Cap U’s Schreader says. ‘‘I don’t see Canada playing a lead role in the status of climate migrants.’’
Vancouver: The Joint Review Panel (the Panel) for the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Project today recommended that the federal government approve the project, subject to 209 required conditions. Based on a scientific and precautionary approach to this complex review, the Panel found that the project, if built and operated in compliance with the conditions set out in its report, would be in the public interest.
What continues to be almost entirely missing from media analysis is Canada’s role in all this, particularly the moral dimensions of the nation’s current economic development policies and those of several provinces (e.g., BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland).
Emergency crews ran for cover when they heard the noise, as they fought blasts of burning oil during the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. The kettle-boil scream meant one thing: Oil vapours were shooting out of a derailed tank car and another fireball was about to rip from the broken train. It wasn’t until four days after the July 6 derailment that the fires finally subsided.
Press Release: VANCOUVER - Although Canadians continue to expect governments to take the lead on climate change, they appear to be losing confidence in their leaders, according to a survey released today by the Environics Institute for Survey Research in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation. It found that a majority of Canadians accept the reality of climate change due to human activity, and that the number who believe in the conclusiveness of the science continues to grow.
There are two ways to look at Canada's oil wealth, found mostly in Alberta's oilsands deposits. One is to be amazed that Alberta has more than 170 billion barrels of oil - an immense resource by any yardstick. The other is to question what it all means. Will it have an effect on the global supply of oil, is Canada going to be able to sell it in the future, and how does the rest of the world view Canada - and its oil? Game changer. Oil is found just about everywhere on the planet.
OTTAWA — The Harper government says it wants Canadian diplomats in foreign countries to re-channel their energies and resources into advancing the country’s commercial interests. Trade Minister Ed Fast has laid out a new strategic direction for Canada’s foreign service called “economic diplomacy,” a plan that’s designed to put commerce at the heart of foreign policy. The objective is to improve Canada’s lacklustre trade and investment performance in emerging markets, which the government and the Bank of Canada have identified as key to the country’s future prosperity.
