Archive for April 2019

Alberta Premiere to Fight for the Fossil Fuel Industry and the Federal Conservatives

April 30, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The newly elected premiere of Alberta Jason Kenney has threatened the Federal Liberals, the province of BC, environmentalists and anyone who opposes fossil fuels. The fossil fuel industry was a central campaign issue for the new premier. Kenney uttered a bizarre warning for environmentalists who he...

The Ongoing Prodigious Growth of Renewables

April 29, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Clean energy is responsible for two-thirds of the new power added in 2018 and one third of the world's power is now being generated by renewable energy. These are some of the conclusions contained in a recent International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) report. Last year saw the largest annual increase...

Event - Solar Canada Annual Conference & Exposition

April 28, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Solar Canada Conference and Exhibition will take place May 8-9, 2019 at the BMO Centre, in Calgary, Alberta. This event is Canada's largest and most important solar energy conference and a must-attend event for solar energy professionals, stakeholders and advocates.Calgary provides an excellent backdrop...

The Shift to the Right and Hope on the Road to Ruin

April 27, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Prioritizing economic growth at the expense of the environment is a defining feature of modern day conservatives. In many parts of the world the right are untied in their contempt for science, resistance to climate action and disregard for environmental protections. Under the guise of being pro-business...

Trees Really Are as Close to a Panacea as it gets

April 26, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Forests offer a wide range of benefits. It is hard to overestimate the power of trees to improve our world. They are an important part of the solution to the climate crisis and they are one of the most powerful tools we have to combat air pollution. The 3 trillion trees in the world today combat...

Another Conservative Win? Think Again - Think Green

April 25, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The electoral outcome in PEI on April 23rd demonstrates that conservative political leaderships can win with a positive message that prioritizes the environment and climate action. By virtue of the Green Party's very close second place finish it is fair to say that PEI may be the greenest provincial...

Energy Jobs and the Economy: Kenney's Plans for Alberta

April 24, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Alberta's new premiere Jason Kenney claims that by prioritizing the fossil fuel industry he can increase jobs and grow the economy. This was the central plank in Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP) election platform. It is also an oft repeated refrain from conservative politicians. However,...

The Nature Champions Summit and Canada's Biodiversity Conservation Efforts

April 23, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The Nature Champions Summit (NCS) will take place on April 24-25, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The goal of the NCS is to build a high-ambition coalition to advance global nature protection. This event explores nature conservation efforts and focuses on strategies for mitigating biodiversity loss...

Easter and the Environment: The Call for Spiritual and Cultural Transformation

April 21, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The symbolism of Easter offers an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the natural world and the shift of consciousness required for the survival of life on this planet. If we are to find a way forward we urgently need to address climate change and environmental degradation. To alter our...

Earth Day Everyday: Sierra's Efforts and Reasons for Hope

April 20, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Earth Day takes place on Monday April 22. Over the years this event has grown from a consciousness raising exercise to a day of action. Now it is a day for people to commit themselves to environmental actions throughout the year. There are thousands of events taking place on this day and team Sierra...

Kenney to Kill Progress on Climate Action in Alberta

April 18, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The election of Jason Kenney's United Conservative Party (UCP) means the end of the line for the most climate friendly government Albertans have ever known. On April 16th Rachel Notley's NDP was defeated by Kenney's UCP. The end of Notley's tenure as premiere spells certain death for the province's...

The History of "Progress" and the Dawn of the Anthropocene

April 17, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The story of human progress is closely tied to transportation technologies and the sources of energy we use to power them. Energy is critical to life on earth and for better and for worse our species is defined by it. More than a million years ago our ancestors learned how to wield fire....

The International Rebellion's Moment of Truth

April 15, 2019 Add Comment Edit

An International Rebellion is scheduled to start on Monday April 15th. People are coming together in cities all around the world to stage non-violent acts of civil disobedience. Armed with the facts about the climate crisis they are boldly challenging the existing order and demanding action. They are...

Event - Lawyers and Climate Change Conference

April 14, 2019 Add Comment Edit

The third National Conference of Lawyers Committed to Addressing the Climate Emergency will take place on April 18, 2019. This multi-site online conference will include a group of leading lawyers and law professors. They will convene in person to discuss the problem of climate change and the role of...

Trees are Key to Combating the Climate Crisis

April 13, 2019 Add Comment Edit

No problem is more pressing than climate change. To combat climate change we need to reduce emissions and trees are ideally suited to do this as they remove about a quarter of the carbon emissions we produce each year. In the urgent bid to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, countries around...

The World is Planting Trees and We are Seeing Results

April 12, 2019 Add Comment Edit

All around the world countries are planting trees in an effort to combat climate change, fight air pollution, reduce flood damage and address a host of other problems.Cities are also playing a leadership role. Melbourne, Australia, doubling its tree canopy to reduce carbon pollution by 40 percent....

April 11, 2019 Add Comment Edit

Trump has abdicated his role as leader of the free world and taken the presidency to lows never before thought possible. Trump is at war with reality, anyone with even a casual interest in the facts can easily find themselves in his cross hairs.This man has revoked more the 40 regulations designed...

Declining Battery Storage Costs are Helping Renewables

April 10, 2019 Add Comment Edit

BNEF Graph from a March 26, 2019 report titled:Battery Power’s Latest Plunge in Costs Threatens Coal, GasEnergy storage solves the intermittency problem of renewable forms of energy like wind and solar. Only a few years ago battery technologies were too immature to support widespread, large-scale deployment...