Greens News and Blog

Scientist didn’t fake data, report says

Mike De Souza
Canwest News Service

An academic inquiry into the so-called “climategate” e-mail scandal has concluded that a well-known U.S. scientist did not directly or indirectly falsify data in his research.

Report:
http://www.research.psu.edu/orp/Findings_Mann_Inquiry.pdf

The review, by a panel of senior administrators at Pennsylvania State University, found no evidence that climatologist Michael Mann had manipulated research that indicates humans are causing global warming.

However, the panel has recommended further review on questions about whether his conduct had undermined public confidence in his findings as a scientist.

http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=b940becf-3434-4391-9f80-ec3a19485b4f

For Immediate Release

LUMBY — Effective today, Huguette Allen resigns as Okanagan-Shuswap Green Party candidate. Allen was nominated candidate in March 2007 and ran federally in 2008 and again provincially in 2009, both times increasing the Green vote by 400%. Read the rest of this entry »

THE COST OF GROWTH

Recent water pollution problems in Coldstream are but one of the most visible costs society pays for allowing the privatization of our resources, and for allowing more growth than our resources can support.

While the exact problems that caused the most recent water pollution have not yet been admitted, we can safely point to many causes. These causes are well known and have been brought to the attention of all levels of government over the last 20 years or more. During the last 4 years, ordinary people from just about every community east, west, and north of Vernon have urged local government, MoE, as well as Environment Canada to take action. One would hope that water basin boards must have also warned elected officials about upcoming disasters. Read the rest of this entry »

The economics of sequestration are expensive on a per-tonne basis. A tax would catch producers and consumers, a long-standing demand of producers in the oil and gas industry. It would give price certainty to companies. It would be much easier to keep the revenues in Alberta and other fossil-fuel provinces. It would be so much simpler to administer.

Jeffrey Simpson
Globe and Mail

Quebec is expected to receive somewhat more than $8.5-billion in equalization payments next year, up from about $8.3-billion this year. The payments will represent about 11 per cent of the government’s total revenues.

A big chunk of those payments come from the richest province, Alberta. So one would have thought that gratitude, if nothing else, might be extended from Quebec (and other equalization-receiving provinces, including Ontario) to Alberta.

No, a little Alberta-bashing apparently sells in la belle province, especially over the environment. Alberta has an environmental challenge, all right, because its greenhouse emissions are the highest in Canada, and Canada’s overall record is among the very worst in the world.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/albertans-agree-a-carbon-tax-was-the-best-solution/article1441309/

Ontario farmer not guilty of selling raw milk

The Canadian Press

An Ontario farmer who operates a raw milk co-op was found not guilty Thursday of 19 charges related to selling unpasteurized milk. Michael Schmidt, from Durham, Ont., defended himself in 2009 against the charges for dispensing milk straight from the cow.

While raw milk is legal to drink, it’s illegal to sell in Canada.

Schmidt’s legal battles sparked a heated debate over the safety of raw milk. Advocates have extolled its flavour and health benefits, while health officials and the province’s milk marketing board, the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, have argued raw milk isn’t fit for widespread distribution.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/01/21/raw-milk-trial.html?ref=rss

Vanessa Farquharson,
National Post

Film Review: Petropolis (3 stars)

While the debate over Alberta’s tar sands continues to rage, Toronto filmmaker Peter Mettler offers us a silent, 43-minute montage of aerial shots, taken from a helicopter flying over the Athabasca river, which together make one of the most profound statements on this issue to date.

A complete departure from his previous documentary, Gambling, Gods and LSD, Petropolis is at once a quiet meditation on the transformation of serene forest into industrial nightmare and an unabashedly-presented-by-Greenpeace political statement, soaked in a subtext of shame.

http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=2469703

and

http://www.petropolis-film.com