Rain and snow didn't stop a couple of thousand people coming out to protest the start of Enbridge hearings in Vancouver Monday. (Photo: Zack Embree)

Thousands join night protest to 'welcome' Enbri…

The environment minister identifies an “activist”

Friday, February 1, 2013

Can workers and their unions lead the struggle to slow global warming? That was the question pondered by environmental and labour a…

I don’t know. Do you? No. And, it seems, we won’t be permitted to determine if the BC Liberal government is lying to us about their future vision of rolling in billions in fresh new LNG tax money because the supporting reports won’t be released. So much for accountability and open government. We also won’t be [...]

During the presidential campaign last fall, a single message was repeated endlessly in Appalachian coal country: President Barack Obama and his Environmental Protection Agency, critics said, had declared a “war on coal” that was shuttering U.S. coal-fired power plants and …

February 25, 2013

The Hanford Site lies on the Columbia River in the state of Washington. It was established in 1943 to manufacture plutonium for the U.S. n…

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada hinted that Canada would need to clean up its environmental act if it wanted to see the Keystone XL Pipeline approved. The ambassador was then followed by newly appointed Secretary of State John Ker…

Today is World Water Day. As the video from water.org states, “If you don’t know about the water crisis, you should.” * * Links: Water.org

Researchers at UBC have studied the recycling behaviour of people who work in green buildings to those who don’t and found that – regardless of their past habits – people in green buildings recycle more. This is really nifty because it proves that design of an interior space alone can impact how people recycle and the efficiency of waste management.

“Design can absolutely influence people,” Susan Gushe, a principal with the firm, told CBC News.

She says there are several things designers take into consideration when integrating recycling and garbage receptacles into buildings, such as:

Locating them in areas where are likely to use them, such as the CIRS’s kitchenettes. Making bins easy to access for patrons and maintenance staff. Clearly labelling bins. It’s also important to make the recycling hubs look good, she said.

“Do you want to see great big bins out in the corridor? No, not really,” . . . → Read More: Things Are Good: People Recycle More in Green Buildings

By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Yet another warning of the disasters Canadians and Americans would be forced to endure regularly if President Obama approves TransCanada Corp’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline. On Friday, the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline, which ships Canadian tar sands oil to Texas, ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas, and spilled more than 80,000 [...]

The post Exxon pipeline breaks, spills 84,000 gallons of Canadian tar sands oil in Arkansas (VIDEO) appeared first on The Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis.

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Thomas Walkom adds another piece to the picture showing the Cons’ efforts to shift both jobs and wealth offshore, pointing out that lax visa rules have only encouraged RBC-style outsourcing schemes. Craig McInnes recognizes that a cheap, low-rights worker strategy is a problem whether labour is imported to Canada or exploited abroad. Haroon Siddiqui, David Doorey, Heather Mallick and Barbara Yaffe express their own outrage about the deliberate elimination of Canadian jobs. And the Alberta Federation of Labour calls attention to the scope of the temporary foreign worker program.

- de Souza offers a detailed look at how the Cons encouraged the oil industry to completely rewrite (and gut) Canada’s environmental laws through omnibus legislation.

- And in case anybody was under the illusion that nobody has noticed the Cons’ ethical abuses beyond the editorial pages, a new poll should put that . . . → Read More: Accidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links

© 2004-2013 Rebecca Bollwitt – Miss604. Earth Day is coming up on Monday, April 22nd and London Drugs is reminding consumers that they host a variety of options for recycling and purchasing eco-friendly goods. Leading by example, more than 74 per cent of the company’s waste is recycled or repurposed, instead of going to landfill. [...]

The post London Drugs Recycling Options and Earth Day Prize Giveaway appeared first on Vancouver Blog Miss604.

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Oil and the climate are at war and you must pick a side

The story about the Yukon Conservative MP Ryan Leef’s letter to a constituent saying that the polar bears of Canada are doing just fine thank you very much is now widely known.
Leef quoted so-called “research” by a marketing expert, an astronome…

How did people come to believe that temperatures were radically warming in recent years? Much of it had to do with a so-called hockey stick chart that showed a history of relatively stable temperatures with a sharp increase at the end. This was thoroug…

A must-watch. Line 9: The tar sands come to Ontario, expanding the Alberta tar sands operations, which are ravaging First Nations communities, resources & treaty rights. Video available on Vimeo RELATED: First Nation: Bill C-45 allows tar sands ind…

(originally written Jan 3, 2012. Part of my Great Upload of 2013.)Come December’s end, the nervy among us like to review what they got right in the past year. The nervier like to predict what’ll happen in the New Year. Ever the blithe contr…

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Common Causes is an assembly of social movements dedicated to defending democracy, social justice, the environment and human right…

I read this article and immediately got sick to my stomach. Most alarmingly, the (plastic bag) industry has highlighted news reports linking reusable shopping bags to the spread of disease. Like this one, from the Los Angeles Times last May: “A reusable grocery bag left in a hotel bathroom caused an outbreak of norovirus-induced diarrhea [...]