Home/Posts Tagged ‘Canada’
Posts Tagged ‘Canada’
Animals, Climate & Change, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 26th, 2012,
Due to recent storms in Europe, over 100 baby harp seals have washed up on the northern shores of the Netherlands. The amount of seals found on the country’s beaches has increased within the past two to three years. An animal rescue center in England has also received stranded seals because of the storms and is now caring for 41. The incident is an extreme example among a recent increase in pup strandings, experts say. Overfishing has reduced the seals’ available prey, and the polluted fish the animals do catch often make them sick. –National Geographic For more on…
Tags: baby, beach, Canada, harp seals, ice, pup, storms
Business, Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, Dec 15th, 2011,
According to Yale University’s 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) Canada ranked as the 46th greenest country in the world, a shameful and sudden drop from #12 in 2008. Why? Mostly due to Canadian ‘tar sands’ or ‘oil sands’ in the province of Alberta, where huge petroleum reserves lie in the form of bitumen, a heavy black form of crude that is energy intensive, highly polluting and more greenhouse gas intensive than conventional oil extraction. And now Canada has pulled out of the Kyoto Treaty, citing that it would be too expensive. Canadian environment minister Peter Kent claims that it would…
Tags: Africa, Canada, energy, Germany, Solar
Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 14th, 2011,
An unusual guest visited the residents of one of the streets in Canadian Vancouver. A bear came along to the suburbs of the city on… a garbage truck! City cleaning professionals say that the little black bear got into the truck probably when digging into leftover food inside one of the litter bins. Quite unconsciously, he treated himself with a ride to Vancouver. After opening the hatch of the vehicle, the bear climbed up to the very top, where he was noticed by two pedestrians. The rescuers were trying to get the one-year old animal down for about an hour….
Tags: black bear, Canada, Vancouver
Climate & Change, Wildlife & Flora, Dec 6th, 2011,
‘A million seal pups dead’ – this was the headline (in Swedish) for a brief article in Friday’s Sydsvenskan, a newspaper for the southern Swedish province of Skåne. But it was enough to make me want to know more. The lack of ice cover on Canada’s east coast has contributed to massive die off of seal pups, which are born on ice sheets. If there is not enough sea ice cover or the ice melts before the pups learn how to swim, the pups drown. A study by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada determined that 45% of the…
Tags: Canada, dead, ice, pups, seal
Nature, Videos & Documentaries, Weird & Wonderful, Nov 28th, 2011,
Check out this amazing video from BBC’s Human Planet series. I just had to post this BBC video I came across a few months ago while researching the Inuit settlements of northern Quebec. This dangerous type of under ice mussel harvesting takes place in only two known communities in Arctic Canada, near the Hudson Strait. Since agriculture is nonexistent there, Inuit of communities such as Kangiqsujuaq survive on diets of mostly seal meat. So mussels are a welcome and valued dietary supplement. But the work of gathering mussels is dangerous stuff. Entering these otherworldly caves of sea ice during low…
Tags: Canada, Inuit, Kangiqsujuaq, mussels, Quebec, sea ice
Health, Pollution, Aug 15th, 2011,
Hydraulic fracturing is the controversial practice of extracting natural gas from shale rock by drilling, planting explosives and then pumping vast amounts of water and chemicals into the rock to open up gas deposits. Commonly referred to as ‘fracking’, domestic hydraulic fracturing is being touted by governments and fossil fuel corporations in several countries as being cheaper, safer and more climate-friendly than oil or coal extraction, as well as less dependent on the instability of international markets and political situations than other fossil fuels. But fracking is not without its environmental or human health concerns. From BBC News: Much of…
Tags: Canada, concerns, fracking, gas, hydraulic fracturing, New Brunswick, water
Climate & Change, Science & Technology, Sustainable living, Nov 23rd, 2010,
Maplecroft released a new CO2 Emissions chart from Energy Use Index (CEEI) last week, rating 183 countries on their CO2 emissions from energy use. In the top 10 The Netherlands win the 5th position with Belgium closing the gap in the 9th spot. Top polluters include the United Arab Emirates, Australia, the U.S., Canada and Saudi Arabia. The Index is calculated by evaluating a country’s annual carbon emissions from energy use and per capita. The historical and cumulative CO2 emissions from 1900 to 2006 are then added to the equation to provide a complete picture of a country’s CO2 pollution…
Tags: Arab Emirates, Belgium, Canada, carbon emissions from energy use, CEEI, CO2 emissions, Energy Use Index, Maplecroft, The Netherlands, U.S.
Climate & Change, Politics, Pollution, Oct 7th, 2010,
Members of the Cree Nation have come to London in order to draw attention to the plight of their native lands in Canada. Alberta, Canada’s oil sands or ‘tar sands’ are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil, previously considered too costly and difficult to extract. Yet with pressure to get off ‘foreign’ oil and the high fuel prices of the last decade, extracting bitumen via surface mining has become more economically viable, despite its high environmental and human costs. What’s happening in Alberta is shocking when witnessed: dirty stretches of smoking wasteland, dotted…
Tags: Alberta, bitumen, Canada, Cree, oil, oil sands, tar sands
Conservation, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Aug 21st, 2010,
To Canadian disappointment, a ban on the importation of seal products into the European Union was enacted yesterday. However, the European Commission stated that the ban does not apply to groups that have already filed court appeals, including 16 Inuit groups from Canada. According to a report by the Associated Press, indigenous peoples of Greenland and Canada have argued that the European Union seal import ban disproportionately affects their traditional way of life, yet the same reports cite EU data stating that only one percent of Canadian seal imports into the EU were from Inuit sources. Canadian hunters killed an…
Tags: ban, Canada, Canadian, EU, European, exceptions, harp, hunt, ice, import, indigenous, Inuit, products, seal, seals, Union
Politics, Pollution, Jun 28th, 2010,
The long dark and gooey shadow of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is shining a gruesome light on offshore drilling, its toll on the environment and the true cost of oil. Yet the Gulf spill is also getting all the attention, while other environmental issues or injustices suffer from neglect or overshadowing. Bhopal activists have juxtaposed the attention being given to the spill against their unfortunate plight, for instance. Ironically, new remote – and potentially catastrophic – frontiers are being explored for oil at this very moment, yet this is receiving little attention from the mainstream…
Tags: arctic, Cairn, Canada, coast, Deepwater Horizon, drilling, energy, greenland, Gulf, ice, oil, spill
Health, Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Jun 23rd, 2010,
An earthquake hit eastern Canada today. Yes, Canada. The 5.0 magnitude quake struck along the Ontario-Quebec border region around 1:41 PM EST, at a depth of approximately 12 miles (19.2). Tremors lasted about 30 seconds, shaking homes and businesses, but there are no reports of injuries or damages. A number of businesses in the Ottawa area were also evacuated. Apparently, the tremors could also be felt in several US states, including: Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virginia. I can’t speak for the other states, but I felt nothing of the sort in Pennsylvania….
Tags: 5.0, breaking news, Canada, earthquake, eastern Canada, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Quebec, tremors, US, Vermont, West Virginia
Nature, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 16th, 2010,
This week’s Creature Feature takes us to the boreal forests of Canada and Alaska to find a species that is one of the most endangered in the world. The Boreal Felt Lichen (so named for its appearance) is a foliose cyanolichen and one of the most endangered lichen species in the world. When dry, the lichen appears to be gray-brown in color and when wet, the lichen turns to a nice shade of slate-blue. Underneath, you’ll find white coloring and the top of the Boreal Felt Lichen is pocked with reddish-brown spots. This fuzzy plant has lobes that can grow…
Tags: Alaska, Boreal Felt Lichen, boreal forests, Canada, Creature Feature, critically endangered species, damp places, fir, moss, Newfoundland, Norway, plant, Sweden
Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 14th, 2010,
If you did a search for birds on Wikipedia, you may stumble across their List of National Birds (“most official, but some unofficial”). From this list, you’ll learn that Denmark’s bird is the Mute Swan, Singapore’s bird is the Crimson Sunbird, and the UK claims the European Robin as their own. However, if you take a closer look at this list you’ll notice there is one glaring omission: Canada. Yes, the country that hosted this year’s Winter Olympics does not have a national bird. The good news is, one group is trying to change that—and you can help! The Canadian…
Tags: birds, Canada, Canadian Raptor Conservancy, national bird, petition, suggestion
Climate & Change, climate change, Nature, May 10th, 2010,
According to Greenpeace, petrol stations in the European Union sell fuel derived from the oil sands of Northeastern Alberta, Canada. A Greenpeace report entitled ‘Tar Sands in Your Tank: Exposing Europe’s role in Canada’s dirty oil trade’ claims that petroleum products from the tar sands are regularly entering EU markets. Canada’s tar sands oil extraction project is considered by many to be one of the worst ‘ecocides‘ perpetrated against the environment. BP, in an effort to draw attention away from the Deepwater Horizon oil leak disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, has been talking up oil sand extraction as a…
Tags: BP, Canada, crude, ecocide, Europe, Greenpeace, Gulf, oil sands, tar sands
Climate & Change, Weird & Wonderful, Wildlife & Flora, May 5th, 2010,
A massive beaver dam discovered in the forests of Northern Alberta, Canada is the world’s largest. So big that it is visible from space, the dam – located in Alberta’s Wood Buffalo National Park – measures 2,790 feet (850 meters) long. Known as ‘nature’s builders’, beavers construct dams out of mud, stone and timber in order to give themselves still, deep water for access to food and protection from predators. Beavers also build lodges within the calm waters created by the dams. The lodges have two rooms: one for drying off and one for living. Since beavers are nocturnal, they…
Tags: Alberta, beaver, beavers, Canada, dam, dams, lodges, space, visible
Climate & Change, Politics, Apr 23rd, 2010,
The Gates Foundation is a philanthropic organization founded by Bill and Melinda Gates with the principal aims of improving healthcare, fighting poverty and improving education. It has an endowment of over $30 billion (€22.5bn/₤19.5bn). On Thursday the foundation announced that it would contribute $30 million (€22.5m/₤19.5m) to the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program, an international fund set up to aid for farmers in the developing world. From an AFP report: The fund was first discussed at the G8 meeting in L’Aquila, Italy last year, where 14 wealthy nations committed to contributing some 22 billion dollars to invest in agriculture…
Tags: agriculture, bill, Canada, countries, farmers, foundation, fund, funding, G8, Gates, Korea, Melinda, philanthropists, poor
Nature, Politics, Wildlife & Flora, Apr 15th, 2010,
The annual seal hunt is currently winding down in northern Newfoundland, Canada. Clubbing and hooking baby seals while they squeal helplessly on the ice is a disturbing image – even for some hunters. It’s a plainly brutal practice that draws lots of sympathy, especially in societies that categorize animals into sometimes-arbitrary roles. Cats and dogs are ‘companion animals’ and cannot be killed for food, while pigs and cows are slaughtered routinely, often in shockingly industrialized conditions. From an article in the Telegraph: The hunt is always deeply controversial and highly emotive. Critics argue that baby seals, alone on the ice…
Tags: baby, Canada, EU, Europe, farm, fur, humane, hunt, industry, Newfoundland, seal, seals
Business, Climate & Change, Politics, Science & Technology, Apr 3rd, 2010,
Residents of Canada and the US can expect some changes in future vehicles and their emissions. What kind of changes? Well, check this out: All cars and trucks are required to have an average of 35.5 miles per gallon (15 km per liter) by 2016. Average vehicle emissions will be limited to 295 grams of CO2 per mile by 2012 and then down to 250 grams by 2016. The US will save 1.8 billion barrels of oil and 960 million tons of CO2 emissions over the life of the vehicles—that would be like taking 58 million cars off the road…
Tags: Canada, carbon dioxide, co2, driving, greenhouse gases, new emissions standards, US, vehicles
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 5th, 2010,
Over the last few weeks, Vancouver was home to the 2010 Winter Olympics. Polar Bear campaigns, LEED certified venues, and e-waste medals were reported in the news, along with quite the number of victories and tragedies that happened this year. Even though the Olympics have finally come to an end, it does not mean that Vancouver’s environmental troubles are over. One particular tree is a prime example of this. If you’ve ever been to Vancouver Island, you may have been lucky enough to visit the famous Red Creek Fir Tree. Located in Port Renfrew, this tree is the world’s largest…
Tags: Ancient Forest Alliance, ancient trees, British Columbia, Canada, Douglas fir, old-growth forests, Red Creek Fir, trees, Vancouver Island
climate change, Politics, Mar 1st, 2010,
British companies with financial ties to Canada’s controversial tar sands oil operations will face considerable pressure this week from UK environmental lobbies and investors with ethical concerns. The tar sands of Alberta, Canada are the world’s largest deposits of bitumen, a heavy, black form of crude oil extracted via surface mining. Generally considered to be of more harm to the environment than conventional oil drilling, tar sand mining has taken a heavy toll on Alberta’s air, land, water, wildlife and people. According to an article in the Guardian, ethical and environmental groups opposed to British investment in the tar sands…
Tags: Alberta, British, Canada, Co-operative, environmental, ethical, Fair Pensions, Guardian, mining, oil, tar sands, UK
