Creative sentencing- brilliant or cheap?
The same debate recurs every few years: Are “creative” alternatives to conventional fines a brilliant innovation? Or just another way for corporate polluters to get off cheaply?
Continue reading the post titled Creative sentencing- brilliant or cheap?Bike Lanes and the DCA
Why don’t our municipalities have better environmental infrastructure? One answer is: the Development Charges Act (DCA)! While cycling recently with one Ontario mayor, I asked why his fast-growing municipality did so little to encourage bicycle commuting. He knows that cycling is a great way to reduce emissions and gridlock while improving human and environmental health....
Continue reading the post titled Bike Lanes and the DCAOstrander Point, wind and birds: is it different?
There definitely are places where renewable energy projects should not go. The Prince Edward County Field Naturalists wants me, and you, to know why they think Ostrander Point is one of them, and why wind turbines should not be built there, of all places. This is not about the nocebo effect, it’s about birds. As...
Continue reading the post titled Ostrander Point, wind and birds: is it different?Can the precautionary principle be used to block wind energy?
A Big Island resident, Ian Hanna, launched judicial review today to block renewable energy approvals under the regulations recently adopted to implement Bill 150, the Green Energy Act. Mr. Hanna argues that it is contrary to the precautionary principle to allow wind energy development in Ontario without further study of its alleged health effects. He...
Continue reading the post titled Can the precautionary principle be used to block wind energy?Can municipal councillors be personally liable for drinking water?
Municipal councillors are generally protected from personal liability, for any decisions they make in good faith in the course of their duties. This protection is incorporated into Municipal Acts of each province. For example, the Municipal Government Act of Alberta states:
Continue reading the post titled Can municipal councillors be personally liable for drinking water?Surging climate change: Record low ice and crop failure, who cares?
What will it take for climate change to become an election issue? Ok, lots of people don’t understand why the rapid disappearance of Arctic ice to its record low (and still melting) matters to them. (For a quick summary, try Why Arctic Ice Matters and the Arctic Ice Death Spiral. According to the Economist, there...
Continue reading the post titled Surging climate change: Record low ice and crop failure, who cares?Orange trees in Ontario?
Is the Ontario Ministry of the Environment really worried about soil toxicity in Ontario adversely affecting orange trees?
Continue reading the post titled Orange trees in Ontario?Pipeline safety: regulators spar, but public gets no enforcement data
The National Energy Board has responded strongly to recommendations on pipeline safety by the Alberta Pipeline Safety Review. The National Energy Board argues, defensively, that it is already ahead of the game, even as environmental groups savage the Alberta report as a whitewash. According to the National Energy Board, “the NEB, as the regulator responsible for pipeline...
Continue reading the post titled Pipeline safety: regulators spar, but public gets no enforcement dataClass action certified for highway noise
"Collective action.. creates a just balance between the people who suffer the consequences of a violation and the offender, who often has much greater resources..."
Continue reading the post titled Class action certified for highway noiseWhat are climate thinkers thinking?
There are many issues at stake in Copenhagen, but the basic science is not.
Continue reading the post titled What are climate thinkers thinking?Receive Blog Posts
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