Several interesting articles reveal how climate change adaptation and mitigation is really a super wicked problem in terms of the scale of the challenges and the nature of some of the innovations. This article by the Guardian argues that the logic of economic growth at all costs must be addressed with an interesting analysis of the main driver of growth is debt.
“We love positive environment stories. But sometimes the gravity of bad news forces us to bear witness." - The Guardian
A new research project led by Carleton University will allow scientists to measure the emissions from flare stacks, which are used by production sites to burn off unusable natural gas. Flaring releases black carbon and is a major contributor to pollution, but since there was no way of measuring the emissions – until now – we could neither regulate nor work to reduce their impact.
Last year, for the first time, renewable energy accounted for more than half of new power generation worldwide.
Text Mi-n-ing (noun)
Deborah Irvine, Vice President of the Vancouver Foundation, broke down some statistics last week for a student audience in Victoria, BC about the state of charities in Canada.
A fossil fuel-free Scotland is not only technically achievable but could prove a cheaper and safer option than pursuing fossil fuel-based development, according to a new WWF-backed report. The target is separate to the goal of providing 100% of electricity demand from renewables by 2020, which still allows for coal and gas to remain on the grid. While electricity production accounts for around a third of Scotland’s emissions, renewables are already the country’s biggest
The European Union hits energy reduction targets six years early. Several EU directives maligned by critics and industry groups played a key role in reaching the non-binding efficiency target of reducing final energy use 20% by 2020 compared with projected use that year, according to the report published by the EU’s Joint Research Centre. These included laws on energy efficiency, eco-design, buildings performance and fuel economy.
By: Jaime Clifton, Research Curator
In this blog post, Alex Himelfarb, former clerk of the Privy Council Office, supports the Ontario Government in testing the idea of a basic income.