Deadly Hot

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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Howard.sunriseBy Steve Howard

It’s not just polar bears that need to worry about global warming according to Health Canada.  While increases in extreme weather conditions, melting icecaps and infectious diseases are well documented, an increase in temperature may be having effects closer to home.

Peter Berry, Health Canada’s senior policy analyst for climate change and health, delivered a speech on October 19th as part of the EcoCare 2009 conference, during which he outlined the dangers facing Canadians due to climate change. Berry, who spoke first at the conference put on by the London Health Sciences Center, suggested the number and severity of heat waves will be increasing worldwide.  And with those heat waves comes an increase in mortality rates.

“A number of studies have documented the relationship between these events and mortality,” said Berry. “As it gets hotter, mortality does increase.”

Berry also debunked myths that increased temperature may actually improve the overall health of Canadians in cold climates.  Berry suggested most Canadians in the country’s northern extremes have adapted to the …

Getting it: One student’s journey

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Joel Tiller

Waste Reduction Week is less than two weeks away and I am left wondering how I can get involved. You see, I am already a conscious recycler – thanks to my overbearing mother – and I have even jumped on the re-usable-bag bandwagon for those weekly trips to the supermarket. Yet, I still don’t feel like I am doing enough. Admittedly, I have brought on this added pressure myself, but when you take into consideration that we, as Ontarians, left close to one million tonnes of refuse along our curbsides in 2008 alone, I feel this newfound obligation for wanting to make a difference is nothing short of warranted.

So, where do I begin? Well, first off, I thought it be wise to fill my head with as much information as I could about Waste Reduction Week: What is it? Who’s responsible for implementing such an initiative? And, why get involved in the first place? After only a little digging, it turns out the Recycling Council of Ontario – a Toronto-based NGO spearheaded the nation-wide Waste Reduction Week campaign …

Anticipating climate change

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Colin Schultz

It’s hard to go through the day without hearing someone mention climate change, how you should be reducing your carbon footprint, or noticing the cute sustainability slogans on t-shirts at the mall.

What’s even harder is trying to wrap your mind around what climate change could really mean for us. The ice caps are deteriorating, and the annual average temperature is on the rise, but it’s hard to gather what that means for regular people.

The way it’s usually framed is by saying there will be more hurricanes, flooding, and mass hysteria.

These predictions are made using climate models.

Dr. Peter Berry studies the human health impacts of climate change for Health Canada. He said, “because climate change is very complex, and climate scientists are trying to project decades into the future, there is a certain amount of uncertainty about what to expect.”

Berry said increases in severe storms, hurricanes and other natural disasters are …

Bat tracker uses acoustics

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Alana Power

Wind turbines in Ontario have the potential to kill thousands of bats every spring and fall.

Bat biologist Juliet Nagal is studying the migration patterns of bats along Ontario’s shores so that she can suggest locations for turbines that would be less harmful to the nocturnal creatures.Nagal watching the radar in her trailer

Nagal, 28, works for EchoTrack Inc., a company that tracks migrating birds and bats using radar which detects height, speed and direction. Microphones allow for species identification. The focus of Nagal’s research is to find out if bats are migrating in the same pattern as birds along Ontario’s shores.

Birds will follow the shoreline, and only cross it when it is totally dark, said Rhonda Millikin, president of EchoTrack. “We don’t know if the bats are doing the same thing, but that’s one of the questions we want to find out,” she said. If the province allows wind farms off the shores of Lake Erie, EchoTrack’s research will provide insight into how far off the …

If it’s got feathers …

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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Power.walkBy Alana Power

“If it’s got feathers, ask me,” said Cathy McCrae, as she gathered a group to go on a nature walk at the Fanshawe Park Conservation Area on Sunday.

The walk was organised by the McIlwraith Field Naturalists of London, a group dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of nature. McCrae works full time as an elementary school teacher, but has been an avid birder and McIlwraith member for the past 15 years.

Around 15 people gathered to go on the stroll around the conservation area. Janet Stevenson was among the group. Stevenson came to London to go to university, and it has been her home base ever since.

Stevenson feels very passionately about nature. She lives at her cottage on Georgian Bay from May to September, where she spends most of her time outside. Wildflowers are her real passion, but she joined the McIlwraith field naturalists to learn more about birds and get outdoors.

“It’s a real learning experience,” she said. “When I come home to London I can’t stand to stay in,” …

London hospitals say progress being made

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Joel Tiller

(full PDF)

Despite what was written a couple of weeks ago in the London Free Press, London-area hospitals are making progress in reducing their ecological footprint.
In an Oct., 20th article titled Hospitals deemed high polluters, the Free Press took a critical approach to the recent revelation that London’s hospitals are the biggest polluters in the city.
“Healthcare, outside of the tar sands, is the most polluting industry in Canada,” said Dr. John Howard, a pediatrician with London Health Sciences.
“Although the London Health Sciences Centre is a big polluter they are very worried about that … and the reality is that we have to balance the good things we do in hospitals with the effect that we have on the environment.”
A consideration the Free Press neglected to incorporate in their story.
Since the implementation of the London Health Sciences Centre’s Ecological Stewardship program in 2002 – a holistic approach to understanding, managing and reducing the impact it has on the planet – it is one of only a few healthcare facilities in Canada that are actively trying to improve their ecological …

Book series features children and environment

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Maria Ionova

Marghanita Hughes can still clearly remember the day that started it all.

She was resting in the backyard of her suburban home in British Columbia, observing her three children weaving around a group of tall-standing pine trees. She couldn’t help but notice the vibrant butterflies and enormous dragonflies circling the heads of her little ones.

Hughes wondered to herself, ‘what would happen if her children were to magically merge with the surrounding insects?’ She imagined they would take on the form of butterfly girls and dragonfly boys. She picked up her pencil and sketched an image of a girl with butterfly wings. These were to become the main characters of her new fantasy book series – The Little Humbugs.

Hughes is an award-winning Canadian author and illustrator of The Little Humbugs series, a set of books designed to educate children about critical modern-day environmental issues and encourage them to develop into environmentally-conscious adults in the future.

Hughes began writing environmental children books in 2005 because she saw a major disconnect between children and nature in today’s society.

“I tried to get kids back …

Port Hope poised for cleanup

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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After More than 70 Years of Nuclear Contamination, Port Hope is Poised for a Cleanup

By: James Jackson

“Those people should be moved, (all) sixteen-thousand of them,
from Port Hope and another town built for them.”
– Helen Caldicott, Speaking at The University of Western Ontario
October 16th, 2009

The nuclear accidents of the past are well documented, and are headlined by the 1986 nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl and the 1979 near-meltdown of the reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. The coverage of nuclear accidents in Canada is sparse, but that does not mean they haven’t happened.

Port Hope’s nuclear legacy goes back almost eighty years.  Radium was extracted from uranium ore in Port Hope starting in 1932. Radium was historically used as a luminous paint for watches, nuclear panels, aircraft switches, clocks, and instrument dials, and it was also used to produce Radon, ironically, for use as a cancer treatment. The Port Hope refinery was closed in 1940, but its legacy continues today.

Radium is incredibly radioactive, and Caldicott says that a large volume of this radioactive waste was dumped into the Port Hope harbour, ravines, …

Turning out the lights for Earth Hour

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By James Jackson

(Jackson.Earth.Hour – pdf)

The night sky has become a bright, empty space. Humans have long feared the darkness that night brings, partially due to genetics and our poor night vision, and culturally through our collective conscious of fairy tales and horror stories about the dangers of the night.

So, what have we done?

We’ve engineered the night to be almost completely devoid of darkness.

Streetlights and fully illuminated buildings guide our way home. The effects of this light obsession is most visible from outer space.

As night passes over the Earth, the various continents are awash in the glow of each major city.

As the number of cities with over a million inhabitants grows, so does the amount of light.

Climate Action Day in London ON

November 6, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Laura Schober

The Sisters of St. Joseph’s are passionate about living sustainably. That’s why they organized this year’s International Day of Climate Action, inviting Londoners to take part in a panel discussion with Jay Stanford, chief of environmental and engineering services for the City of London, Maryanne MacDonald, organizer for the non-governmental organization, Waste Free World, and Sara Sek, a professor from the University of Western Ontario’s faculty of law. 350_London_Oct2409-115

The discussion took place at Central Library on October 24, as a part of 350.org, a day where people in 181 countries come together to raise awareness about climate change. An international grassroots movement, 350.org is named after the work of NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, who said the only way our quality of life can be maintained is if the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have a cap of no more than 350 parts per million globally.

The event was held as a lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. The Conference will …

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