Monthly Archives: January 2011

Unions Can Address Jobs Crisis with Bold Action to Protect the Climate

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By Sean SweeneyLabor NotesJanuary 28, 2011Also read Climate Protection Strategy: Beyond Business-­as-­UsualBy the Labor Network for SustainabilityUnions can use the promise of a Green New Deal to turn climate negotiations into a rallying point. Some U.S. unions could start by breaking ties with polluting employers and joining the movement for a global climate deal with binding targets to reduce carbon ... [click title to continue]

Canada’s Climate Challenge

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How to trim greenhouse gas weight while piling on the tonnes in the oil sands? By Fred WilsonRabble.caJanuary 19, 2011 Third in a series on oil politics and climate changeThere is one overriding question that hangs over the Harper government's adamant refusal to face up to climate change and to regulate a reduction in Canada's greenhouse gases. How is it possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ... [click title to continue]

Species-at-risk defenders walk away from NAFTA review process

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Citizen’s complaint process a ‘sham,’ groups sayEcoJusticeJan 17, 2011 VANCOUVER — An international coalition of environmental groups, represented by Ecojustice, has withdrawn in protest a complaint against Canada, a first in the history of NAFTA’s environmental watchdog. The complaint, made to the Commission on Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in 2006, alleged that the Canadian government ... [click title to continue]

Climate Change Fix Threatens Indigenous Peoples

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Posted By Ruth Thompson SlawJanuary 17, 2011 Here at the University of Saskatchewan I have the pleasure of supervising graduate students working in the areas of Canadian Aboriginal law and international Indigenous rights. Last year Nkasi Adams, the first Indigenous woman to graduate from law school in Guyana, joined us at the University of Saskatchewan to pursue an LL.M. focussing on the tensions ... [click title to continue]

Environment Minister Kent ‘won’t get far’ in the U.S. if he accuses groups against oil sands expansion of being slanderers, say environmentalists

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'He seems more interested in smearing Americans as slanderers than addressing the concerns that we have with the environmental impacts of tar sands oil,' says Friends of the Earth.By Tim NaumetzThe Hill TimesJan 12, 2011 PARLIAMENT HILL – U.S. environmental groups Environment Minister Peter Kent accused of slander and “outright lies” about petroleum extraction from Alberta’s oil sands are reacting ... [click title to continue]

Another pipe dream

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By Marc Lee Progressive Economics ForumJanuary 13th, 2011The Weyburn, Saskatchewan carbon capture and storage (CCS) project has sprung big leaks, and with it the argument that CCS can make dirty fossil fuels clean. The core idea behind CCS is taking CO2 emissions and piping them back underground where they are supposed to stay, forever. In the case of Weyburn, the CO2 comes from a coal plant across ... [click title to continue]

From NAFTA to CETA: Canada-EU Deep Economic Integration

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By Dana GabrielBe Your Own LeaderCanada and the European Union (EU) have already held five rounds of negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) which will go beyond NAFTA. With the sixth round of talks scheduled to take place in Brussels, Belgium from January 17-21, Canadian and EU officials remain optimistic that a deal could be finalized by the end of 2011. Thus far, ... [click title to continue]

From Henry Ford to Rob Ford: Auto-destruction and possibilities of a car-free future

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Dr. JYour Hearts on the Left From car assembly-line pioneer Henry Ford, to Toronto's new pro-car mayor Rob Ford, we are living in an auto-dependent and auto-destructive society that is harming our health and our environment. But a healthy and green, car-free world is still possible.KILLING US SOFTLYDuring every hospital shift I see people who have been directly injured by cars—from whiplash and bruising, ... [click title to continue]

Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change

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Isuma TV  A scene from - Qapirangajuq: Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world’s first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the ... [click title to continue]