Chris Turner Video: The Great Leap Sideways

by Chris Hatch | March 6, 2010 | 3 Comments

geography of hope book coverChris Turner let ‘er rip at the TEDx event in Calgary recently and the video is now available. The Geography of Hope author takes us through a tour of the world we need in 15 minutes. From ocean acidification to solar…

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Federal Budget: It’s Gotta Get Better From Here!

by Chris Hatch | March 5, 2010 | No Comments

The federal budget was more disappointing than expected. The federal scene is so depressing that I have to share Tim Weis’ take — he has found a silver lining: “The good news is, we can only improve from here.”

We must be…

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The Case For Feed-In-Tariffs

by Chris Hatch | March 5, 2010 | No Comments

Jeremy Leggett argues that Monbiot has feed-in-tariffs all wrong:

The companies who manufacture solar PV in the UK have shown that putting solar panels on all available building surfaces would generate more electricity in a year, under typical cloudy British…

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The Case Against (Small-Scale) Feed-In-Tariffs

by Chris Hatch | March 1, 2010 | No Comments

Feed-in-tariffs have become the holy grail of clean energy policy in some circles. But if they’re being used to stimulate roof-top solar and other small-scale renewables, then Monbiot thinks they amount to A Great Green Ripoff:

On April 1st the government…

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UPDATED – Ex-Foreign Affairs Minister Defends “Skeptics,” Condemns Climate “Alarmism”

by Chris Hatch | February 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

Update: CBC has obtained an English copy including sections cut by La Presse

Former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier is publicly defending climate change “skepticism” and argues “What is certain is that it would be irresponsible to spend billions of dollars and impose…

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Bill Gates’ Zero Carbon Vision

by Chris Hatch | February 23, 2010 | No Comments

Bill Gates argues for complete decarbonization of energy systems by 2050 at TED

Even among those that grok the necessity of the zero carbon vision, Gates’ emphasis on innovation and next-gen nuclear is not an uncontroversial prescription. The Breakthrough boys like…

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Keep Calm But Don’t Carry On

by Chris Hatch | February 22, 2010 | 1 Comment

Chris Rose argues for a serious post-Copenhagen strategy rethink:

Einstein famously said that to go on doing the same thing and expect a different result, is the definition of insanity. Climate campaigners immersed in rethinking after the 2009 Copenhagen Conference…

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What If It Was An Asteroid?

February 22, 2010 | No Comments

asteroidImagine there’s a big asteroid and NASA projects its most likely trajectory will hit the Earth in 2050. Pembina’s Marlo Raynolds wonders how would we respond to an equal threat that wasn’t called climate change:

No, this is not a flashback…

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Vancouver’s Olympic Village “Greenest Neighbourhood in the World”

by Tzeporah Berman | February 17, 2010 | No Comments

Vancouver’s Athletes’ Village has just been awarded LEED Platinum certification. The only other neighbourhood in North America to receive that honour is Victoria, British Columbia’s Dockside Green.

Mayor Gregor Robertson exults that “the LEED Platinum certification for the 2010 Olympic Village…

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Canada ‘Conniving’ to Undermine Climate Negotiations Says Chinese Government Report

by Chris Hatch | February 12, 2010 | No Comments

The Canadian government was “conniving” at the Copenhagen climate talks in the words of an internal Chinese government report obtained by the Guardian.  And doing so as part of a “conspiracy to divide the developing world” according to the report’s…

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Electrifying Everything

by Tzeporah Berman | February 5, 2010 | No Comments

Olympic Torch Run 066I’m carrying the Olympic torch on an electric scooter today. I figure it’s a good opportunity to get people that aren’t normally dialed into the climate crisis thinking about zero emissions vehicles, electrifying transportation and especially to start talking about…

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Will Canada Match US Budget Spending?

by Tzeporah Berman | February 1, 2010 | No Comments

So, we’ve lowered our climate targets to match the Americans. Not that we have any federal plans in place that would come close to meeting them and in fact we are falling dangerously behind US efforts. Great comment from a recent…

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