The Municipal Election Period is Monday, October 17 to
Monday, October 24, 2022
What are the municipal candidates’ ideas, opinions and positions around
climate action? We asked them.
The youth lawsuit against the Ontario government’s climate plan wrapped up Wednesday after three days of submissions. Now we wait for the judgement.
Here’s a Mom’s viewpoint from Bryanne Whyte of For Our Kids, one of several intervenor groups which had status at the court hearing. From the National Observer. Read the article.
#GenClimateAction: Story Update
Open Submission to Hidden Valley Gas Expansion Project
Muskoka – Enbridge Gas Inc is preparing a major gas pipeline expansion in the Hidden Valley area of Huntsville. As one of the ‘interested and potentially affected parties” and as a “stakeholder” in the future, Climate Action Muskoka (CAM) is compelled to respond to this expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in Muskoka.
“Since the climate impacts of this gas expansion are not being considered, Enbridge Gas’ statement that it is ‘protecting the health and safety of all individuals affected by our activities’ comes across as hollow greenwashing,” says CAM spokesperson, Sue McKenzie.
– the price of clean energy just keeps plummeting
by Bill McKibben
July 11, 2022 – Every two years the UK government conducts an auction for new clean energy providers—and the numbers that they revealed last week were truly remarkable. To put it in headline terms: suppliers are lining up to provide power from the wind and sun for about one quarter the current price of generating electricity with gas.
What One Person Can Do!
Bravo, Al Bottomley!
If you have attended—or driven past—climate strikes in Muskoka or Sundridge you might well recognize the gentleman in the Extinction Rebellion sweatshirt above. Al Bottomley is a dedicated environmental activist and CAM supporter. (Beside him here is his grandson Angus.)
- Create YOUR Personal Action Plan to reduce your carbon footprint!
- Visit the Challenge page for ideas to get you started.
- Let’s take action together.
Warning: This is not the good news department
World on brink of five ‘disastrous’ climate tipping points, study finds – Giant ice sheets, ocean currents and permafrost regions may already have passed point of irreversible change.
U.N. Secretary−General António Guterres warns of a “dangerous disconnect” between what scientists and citizens are demanding to curb climate change, and what governments are actually doing about it.
Atmospheric CO2 Hits Another All-Time High – Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels measured at Hawai’i’s Mauna Loa Observatory breached 420 parts per million (ppm) in April for the first time in human history.
The Great Scientist Rebellion Dr. Peter Kalmus didn’t make it to his job at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab on Wednesday. The astrophysicist turned Earth scientist locked himself to the doors of a J.P. Morgan bank branch in Los Angeles instead.
A contingency plan for the death of American democracy – Read CAM member Gordon Laxer’s opinion piece in the Toronto Star
Trust this expert when she says we can’t adapt our way out of the climate crisis
June 7th 2022 – National Observer – Fiona Harvey
originally published by The Guardian
The world cannot adapt its way out of the climate crisis, and counting on adaptation to limit damage is no substitute for urgently cutting greenhouse gases, leading climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe has warned.
“People do not understand the magnitude of what is going on,” she said. “This will be greater than anything we have ever seen in the past. This will be unprecedented. Every living thing will be affected.”
Pakistan’s Floods Beggar the Imagination
Aug 28, 2022 – Bill McKibben
I could—and probably I should—write a column every single day about the effects of the climate crisis now playing out daily around the world. But there’s some balance that must be stuck between chronicling the ongoing horror, and becoming inured to it. Most of the time, it’s more important to figure out how the hell we’re going to slow the train down.
This is the good news department
Hammond Bus To Purchase Electric School Buses – August 26, 2022 – Muskoka – announcing the purchase order for 10 all-electric LionC school buses from Lion Electric.
Georgian Bay Forever chooses electric — for its boat – 2022 – Georgian Bay Forever, whose mandate is to support public education and scientific research to protect Georgian Bay, has purchased an electric outboard motor for its summer utility boat.
The buried pipes that will help U of T turn carbon positive. – April 19, 2022 – Toronto – A geothermal exchange system that in conjunction with major building retrofits and other measures will help the St. George campus become carbon positive by 2050, meaning it will collect more carbon than it emits.
Sophie Howe has a uniquely forward-looking job. – April 5, 2022 –Since 2016, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales has been tasked with ensuring her country’s public institutions are taking into consideration how their actions affect Welsh citizens who haven’t been born yet.
Government Pays to Repair Your Stuff. – Mar 22, 2022 – Austria – Taking the “right to repair” one step further, a Viennese repair bonus is going national — and keeping thousands of items out of the junkyard.
Halton Region votes against developing 5,000 acres of farmland. – Feb 17, 2022 – Ontario – The decision flies in the face of the Ford government, which has pushed to open up more land for development.
The City has banned natural gas in new buildings, – Dec 24, 2021 – New York City –a move that could help the country’s largest city slash carbon emissions and toxic air pollution.
Canada Infrastructure Bank to fund 4,000 electric school buses – Nov 24, 2021 – Quebec – “It’s a loan that’s based on the expected savings that the buses are going to generate over their life”
Hamilton Votes to End Sprawl – Nov 26, 2021 -Hamilton -Stop Sprawl HamOnt, Environment Hamilton, and Environmental Defence Supporters, worked tirelessly to take their city’s future back from the hands of sprawl developers and rich landowners.
The City Where All the Buses Are Free – June 27, 2022 – Ever since Canek Aguirre got elected to the Alexandria City Council, in Virginia, he wanted to make the city’s bus transit service, known as DASH, free.
Class is in session: Mathur et. al. youth climate case
From Danielle Gallant: a lawyer for Ecojustice:
“The run-up to September always has me craving fresh notebooks and pens. There’s just something so hopeful about the start of a new school year.
But this September will look a little different for our clients Sophia, Zoe, Shaelyn, Shelby, Alex, Madison, and Beze.
That’s because they’ve taken the Ontario government to court over its weakened climate target. Their case, Mathur et. al. v. Her Majesty in Right of Ontario, has not been without its twists and turns so I’m glad to say that the hearing is finally taking place in Toronto on September 12–14.
Ontario Regulator Refuses New Pipeline, Tells Enbridge to Plan for Lower Gas Demand
May 29, 2022 – The Energy Mix
The Ontario Energy Board sent minor shock waves through the province’s energy regulatory and municipal energy communities earlier this month with its refusal to approve the final phases of a $123.7-million pipeline replacement project in Ottawa proposed by Enbridge Gas.
… laying bare an operating model in which the companies’ revenue is based primarily on the kilometres of pipe they can install, rather than the volume of gas their customers actually need.
Canada Post unveils plan to convert half its 14,000 last-mile vehicle fleet to zero-emission by 2030, the rest by 2040
The Crown corporation’s CEO was on hand in Ottawa today to unveil Canada Post’s fleet electrification plan, part of a $1-billion effort to reach net zero emissions across the entire organization by 2050