Archive
Interview with journalist Paul McKay about pipeline economics in Canada
Time and time again, we hear from politicians that we need more pipelines to get Alberta’s oil to new markets. But Paul Mckay, an award-winning journalist who has looked at this issue closely, says this is all a shell game, smoke and mirrors designed to distract us from what’s really going on. McKay says the economics of new oil sands pipelines simply don’t make sense in today’s world, particularly if we have any hope of reducing our carbon emissions.
Paul McKay is an award-winning investigative reporter and author. His reports have been published by the Ottawa Citizen, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, and Vancouver Sun. He recently wrote a series of articles for The Energy Mix about the faulty economic logic of Canadian oil sands exports called ‘Out of the Loop’.
Earthgauge Radio – April 17, 2018
Edition #14 of Earthgauge News for the week of April 16, 2018.
A weekly Canadian environmental news podcast featuring stories from across Canada and around the world.
Join me here every week or subscribe to the podcast.
On the show this week:
- Palm oil is being banned by a major UK supermarket
- The 2 degrees global warming target won’t hold off climate change
- Costa Rica’s new president vows emancipation from dirty transport
- New Zealand bans oil and gas exploration
- The premiers of Alberta and BC meet with PM Trudeau to discuss the Kinder Morgan Transmountain pipeline while the Keystone pipeline in the US bursts and spills
- Oil drilling is approved in a marine protected area in Newfoundland.
Also on the show this week, feature interviews with Clair Brown, a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of the book Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science and Kevin Taft, former politician and author of Oil’s Deep State: how the petroleum industry undermines democracy and stops action on global warming.
EG Radio March 28: Federal Budget 2013, urbanization in Kenya and the tar sands “staples” trap
We love covering local stories on Earthgauge and this week, we get just about as local as we can, focusing on some compelling environmental research taking place at Carleton University in Ottawa. We also take a look at the environmental provisions of last week’s federal Budget 2013. We have 3 interviews on today’s show:
- Glennys Egan on the environmental and human impacts of urbanization in Kenya
- Brendan Haley on the tar sands “staples trap”
- Andrew Van Iterson on the environmental measures in Budget 2013
We also have our usual update from Kathy of Ecology Ottawa on local environmental events and campaigns.
Click the audio player above to stream the show or right click here to download.
Part 1 – Budget 2013
Right click here to download.
To kick off the program this week, I speak with Andrew Van Iterson who is the manager of the Green Budget Coalition. Environmental funding in last week’s 2013 federal budget had very little in the way of environmental provisions. Sustainable Development Technology Canada, a government-funded venture capital firm that invests in environmental technology firms, will get $325 million over eight years and there is some funding for municipal projects, notably the City of Ottawa’s new wastewater holding tanks. But the green measures are pretty slim beyond that. The Green Budget Coalition, founded in 1999, brings together sixteen leading Canadian environmental and conservation organizations, which collectively represent over 600,000 Canadians, through our volunteers, members and supporters. They make an annual set of recommendations to the federal government regarding strategic fiscal and budgetary opportunities.
Part 2 – Glennys Egan
Right click here to download.
Next up Earthgauge contributor Juanita Bawagan speaks with Glennys Egan who is a Masters student in the African Studies program at Carleton whose research is based on issues of urbanization in Kenya. She has recently been in Kenya working with a community organization through Street Kids International based in a Nairobi slum and she tells Juanita about her research and experiences there, and the environmental and human impacts of urbanization in Kenya.
Part 3 – Brendan Haley
Right click here to download.
In the second half hour, I speak with Brendan Haley who is a PhD student at Carleton’s School of Public Policy and Administration and a fellow of the Broadbent Institute. He co-authored a recent study called ‘The Bitumen Cliff’ warning that the poorly regulated bitumen industry is creating a double threat to Canada: a so-called “staples trap,” with an economy over-reliant on bitumen exports, and a “carbon trap,” locking Canada into fossil fuels instead of adapting to climate change. The report was co-authored by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Polaris Institute.
Earthgauge Radio airs every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and online around the world at www.ckcufm.com. Ottawa’s only radio program dedicated exclusively to environmental news and commentary from Ottawa, across the country and around the world. Podcasts on iTunes and right here on earthgauge.ca.
EG Radio March 14: food glorious food!
On Earthgauge this week, we discuss food security from the global to the local level, and what we can do to help build a more equitable and sustainable food system. From the geopolitics of global food (in)security to the 
benefits of eating locally, this special program considers how the food choices we make on a daily basis have a real impact both on our environment and on the people who produce what we eat. Click the audio player above to stream the show or right click here to download.
I have two interviews on today’s show:
- Matt Roney, a research associate at the Earth Policy Institute
- Heather Hossie of Just Food Ottawa
We also have our usual update from Kathy of Ecology Ottawa on local environmental events and campaigns.
Part 1 – Global food (in)security with Matt Roney of the Earth Policy Institute
[audio https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/mattroney-earthpolicy-edited.mp3](Right click here to download)
Did you know the world has an additional 219,000 new mouths to feed each and every day? That’s the reality given current rates of global population growth and this is happening at a time when grain stocks around the world are dropping, water shortages are becoming more common and climate change is causing unprecedented droughts, flooding and heat waves, all of which are taking a toll on global food supplies. In his latest book, Full Planet, Empty Plates: the Geopolitics of Global Food Security, the pioneering environmentalist Lester Brown makes the case that food, not energy security, may well be our civilization’s weak link. Brown is the president of the Earth Policy Institute, a research organization based in Washington DC and I recently had the chance to speak about his new book with Matt Roney, a research associate at Earth Policy and in our interview he explained why world food supplies are tightening, the environmental, political and social implications of growing global food insecurity and what we need to do about it.
Part 2: Local food security and sustainability with Heather Hossie of Just Food
[audio https://earthgauge.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/heather-hossie-justfood-03-14-13.mp3](Right click here to download)
We have perhaps no closer connection to the land than through our food. Simply by making better and more informed food choices, we can have a real impact on helping to build a sustainable and equitable food system. For the local perspective, I speak with Heather Hossie of Just Food, an organization working for a sustainable and just food system here in Ottawa. She works on Community Economic Development (CED) initiatives at Just Food, a local grassroots, non-profit organization that is working to ensure that Ottawa is a food secure city and that our system of food production and distribution is environmentally, socially and economically just. Heather has been coordinating the Savour Ottawa initiative since its inception and also presents the Reel Food Film Festival each year. In our interview, she tells me what each of us can do to help support and promote a sustainable food system in our local communities.
Earthgauge Radio airs every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and online around the world at www.ckcufm.com. Ottawa’s only radio program dedicated exclusively to environmental news and commentary from Ottawa, across the country and around the world. Podcasts on iTunes and right here on earthgauge.ca.
EG Radio March 7 2013: Reconnecting with the natural world around us
Ever wondered where your water comes from and where your wastewater goes? How much garbage do we produce in Ottawa and where does it go? What did the city look like a couple hundred years ago? Where does the gas come from that fills up our tanks? How much of our food is produced locally?
On this week’s edition of Earthgauge, we’ll discuss all this and more with Janice Ashworth. She helped put together a handy little booklet called ‘The Ecology of Ottawa‘ and she’ll be joining me for a feature 2-part interview.
Also on the show, hear my interview with Ali Howard and Andrew Eddy about their film ‘Awakening the Skeena‘. The summer of 2009 saw Ali Howard become the first person on the planet to ever swim the entire 610km Skeena River. After 26 days of whitewater, boulder gardens, crazy currents and community celebrations, she did it! Why? Well, it turns out that the Skeena is threatened by various forms of industrial development and she wanted to bring awareness to the the threats to one of Canada’s great salmon rivers.
We also have our weekly update from Graham of Ecology Ottawa on local environmental events and campaigns in the Ottawa area.
Click the audio player above to stream the show or right click here to download.
Part 1 – Awakening the Skeena with Ali Howard and Andrew Eddy
Interview with Ali Howard and Andrew Eddy (right click here to download):
Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis has called the headwater region of the Skeena River in northwestern B.C. “the Serengeti of Canada” because of its abundance of wildlife. He says it is “a landscape that is as beautiful as anything I’ve ever seen, in my experience as an explorer in residence for the Geographic, going to as many as 30 countries a year.” This valley in a rugged corner of the province is the birthplace of three of Canada’s most important salmon rivers: the Stikine, the Skeena and the Nass. Known as the sacred headwaters to First Nations living in the region, it has tremendous economic, cultural and spiritual importance. The rivers support a $100-million wild salmon economy that sustains communities along the Skeena and includes First Nations fisheries, commercial fishing, and recreational angling.
Three proposals for mining in the region have drawn fierce opposition from local residents, particularly Shell Oil’s plans to mine for coal bed methane near the headwaters. Ali Howard was one of those concerned residents when in 2009 she decided to do something to to raise awareness about the importance of the Skeena and the threats to it. What did she do? Protest and organize? No sir. She decided to swim the entire length of the 610km river in 26 days.
I know we often have our fair share of grim environmental news on Earthgauge but I am pleased to tell you that this story has a happy ending! Thanks to Ali’s efforts and those of many others such as the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, in December 2012 coalbed methane development was permanently banned from the headwaters and Shell withdrew its plans to develop. Further evidence that with hard work and determination positive change can and does take place. A film was made about Ali’s heroic swim called Awakening the Skeena and she came to Ottawa last week for a screening. So I caught up with her and the film’s director Andrew Eddy.
Part 2 – The Ecology of Ottawa
Part 1 of Janice Ashworth interview (right click here to download):
Part 2 of Janice Ashworth interview (right click here to download):
Now as you well know, we have an impact on and we are impacted by our local, natural environment and that’s why on today’s show we’re talking about regaining the connection between ourselves and the places in which we live whether it be in the remote, far-flung reaches of northern BC or right here in the Ottawa valley. It’s easy for us to lose sight of the natural world around us and how we impact it, and we sometimes lose the connection between ourselves and the Earth and water that keep us alive. Many of us don’t know where our wastewater goes once it’s flushed down the drain or where our electricity and heat come from. What about the gas that fills up our tanks? How much garbage do we produce and where does it go? How much of our food is locally produced?
I myself didn’t know the answer to many of these important questions and I thought it was about time I found out. It turns out our friends at Ecology Ottawa have produced a handy little booklet called The Ecology of Ottawa that answers all of these questions and many more. I caught up with Janice Ashworth, one of the people who helped produce the book, to discuss some issues that all of us living in Ottawa should really know. I am pleased to present a feature 2-part interview with Janice on today’s program.
Our show today is all about regaining the connection between ourselves and the places in which we live. Of course, the best way to connect with the local bioregion that we call home is to get out there and explore it for ourselves. We are truly blessed here in Ottawa to have such spectacular recreational opportunities at our door step year round. As the intro to ‘The Ecology of Ottawa’ booklet says,
it’s easy for us to lose sight of the natural world. We lose the connection between ourselves and the Earth and water that keep us alive. We flick on a light switch without thinking about where the energy comes from or what it does to the earth. We flush the toilet without knowing where the wastewater goes and our garbage is whisked off to some distant place called “away.” But we are deeply connected to the water, land, and air. It affects us and we affect it, every single day through the water, energy and other resources that flow through our homes.
Earthgauge Radio airs every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM on CKCU 93.1 FM in Ottawa and online around the world at www.ckcufm.com. Ottawa’s only radio program dedicated exclusively to environmental news and commentary from Ottawa, across the country and around the world. Podcasts on iTunes and right here on earthgauge.ca.
Check out my interview on last week’s Green Majority show on CIUT!
Last week I was interviewed by Daryn Caister of The Green Majority, which is a weekly environmental news program produced live at CIUT in Toronto and broadcast on campus and community stations across the country. During the interview we talked about my visit to Washington, DC for the most recent massive Keystone XL pipeline protest on February 17, 2013 and some larger issues around Keystone and climate change more generally.
You can hear the interview at the following link:
http://greenmajoritymedia.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/tgm-022213/
Earthgauge Radio January 24: Richard Heinberg on energy, climate change and the fragile world economy
This week on Earthgauge Radio, we launch a new series in which we will feature 
leading, influential thinkers who can provide some big picture context to the issues that we discuss on this program such as climate change, energy, economics, ethics, sustainability and development. We will kick off this ‘Big Picture, Big Thinkers’ series with a speech today by the influential author Richard Heinberg from the Bioneers Conference back in November 2012. Heinberg is a senior Fellow-in-Residence at Post Carbon Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building more resilient, sustainable, and equitable communities. He is perhaps best known as a leading educator on Peak Oil—the point at which we reach maximum global oil production—and the resulting impact it will have on our economic, food, and transportation systems.
Heinberg has spent his career thinking about critical issues including the current economic crisis, food and agriculture, community resilience, and global climate change. Now he’s contributed to a new book on the topic called Energy: Overdevelopment and the Delusion of Endless Growth. He is also the influential author of The End of Growth, Peak Everything and The Party’s Over, among other books. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s most effective communicators on our global energy future and the urgent need to transition away from fossil fuels.
This speech was recorded by Kelly Pearce of the Chicago Independent Media Center for Radio EcoShock. The talk is called Life after Growth: why the economy is shrinking and what to do about it.
Also on the program we have our usual update on local environmental events and campaigns from Ecology Ottawa.
Earthgauge Radio airs Thursday mornings from 7-8 AM on CKCU 93.1 in Ottawa. Podcasts on iTunes and earthgauge.ca. Stream live on www.ckcufm.com. Check out our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/EarthgaugeRadio where we post environmental news stories from around the world.
Right click here to download today’s show. For more information on building resilient communities around the world (as discussed in Heinberg’s speech), check out resilience.org
December 20, 2012: Buy Nothing Christmas and the shark fin import ban in Canada
This week on Earthgauge Radio, I have a feature interview with Aiden Enns of BuyNothingChristmas.org. We discuss some ideas about how you can have a “greener” and less stressful holiday season. I also have an update from NDP MP Fin Donnelly on his private member’s Bill C-380 to ban the import of shark fins to Canada.
Click the audio player above to stream the show or right click here to download.
Part 1 – Fin Donnelly on his efforts to ban the import of shark fins to Canada
One year ago Fin Donnelly, the NDP MP for New Westminster – Coquitlam in BC, introduced legislation to prohibit the import of shark fins to Canada. Bill C-380 is a private member’s bill that is now slated to go forward to parliamentary committees in February, after which it will go to a vote in the House of Commons. It is estimated that up to 73 million sharks are killed annually for their fins, often by a practice called shark finning, where the fins are cut off the shark and the body is dumped back into the ocean to die. In 2009, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature revealed that over one-third of all shark species are threatened with extinction as a result of the inhumane practice of shark finning.
A Canadian ban on the import of shark fins would follow similar legislation in various jurisdictions around the world. Most recently, the European Parliament voted to close loopholes in the European Union ban on shark finning. I attended a screening of the film Sharkwater recently on Parliament Hill. Fin Donnelly spoke prior to the screening and I was able to catch up with him to talk about his Bill, why he feels its so important, and the likelihood of it passing in a Conservative-dominated government.
Right click here to download the interview.
Part 2 – Buy Nothing Christmas
Huge amounts of waste are produced during the holiday season – more than any other time of year. In addition, the pressure to buy gifts, social commitments, entertaining and family expectations can make many people dread the holidays. Is there a better way to celebrate the holidays? Many people seem to think so. We’re increasingly seeing people buying fewer gifts, making their own presents, making donations to charity in lieu of gifts, or giving non-material gifts such as art lessons, theatre tickets, food and so on.
On today’s show we talk with Aiden Enns who is the co-founder of BuyNothingChristmas.org and the publisher and co-editor of Geez magazine. Buy Nothing Christmas is a national initiative dedicated to reviving the original meaning of the holiday season. They are inviting all of us to join a movement to de-commercialize Christmas and re-design a lifestyle that is richer in meaning, smaller in impact upon the earth, and greater in giving to people who are less privileged.
Earthgauge Radio airs Thursday mornings from 7-8 AM on CKCU 93.1 in Ottawa. Podcasts on iTunes and earthgauge.ca. Stream live on www.ckcufm.com. Check us out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EarthgaugeRadio.
Tomorrow on Earthgauge Radio: Canadian shark fin import ban and dreaming of a green Christmas
Tomorrow on Earthgauge Radio, it’s our second annual holiday special program. As you probably know, huge amounts of waste are produced during the holiday season – more than any other time of year. In addition, a lot of people find the holidays incredibly stressful. The pressure to buy gifts, social commitments, preparing meals and family expectations can make many people dread the holidays. So we’re going to talk with Aiden Enns tomorrow who is part of a national initiative called Buy Nothing Christmas, which is dedicated to reviving the original meaning of Christmas. These folks are saying no to overconsumption and they invite everyone with a thirst for change and a desire for action to join in. We’ll also have have some ideas for you about how you can be more “green” this holiday season with less waste and less stress too.
Also on the program we’ll hear an update from NDP MP Fin Donnelly on his private member’s Bill C-380 to ban the import of shark fins to Canada. The bill is expected to go forward to Parliament this coming February so we’ll find out why this issue is so important to him and how likely the bill is to pass in a Conservative-dominated House of Commons.
Tune in every Thursday morning at 7:00 AM to Ottawa’s only radio program dedicated exclusively to environmental news and commentary from here in Ottawa and around the world. Earthgauge Radio on CKCU 93.1 in Ottawa and online at www.ckcufm.com. Podcasts on iTunes and http://earthgauge.ca.
Earthgauge Radio December 6 2012: Over the climate cliff! Special program on the Doha Climate Change Conference
This week on Earthgauge Radio, it’s our Doha Climate Change Conference special broadcast. We have several features on the program today:
- On the ground reporting and news from the Doha summit courtesy of Deutsche Welle Living Planet
- An interview from Doha with Beatrice Yeung who is attending the conference on behalf of the Students on Ice Alumni Delegation
- An interview with Jeff Orlowski, director of ‘Chasing Ice‘, a new film that chronicles the astonishing changes currently taking place in the Arctic as a result of human-caused climate change
We also have our usual update from Ecology Ottawa on local environmental events and campaigns. Click the audio player above to stream the whole show or right click here to download. Individual interviews will be posted shortly.
I’m feeling a little rough today and you’ll hear it in my raspy voice (apologies!) but the show must go on and today it’s our Doha Climate Change Conference special. To kick things off, we hear three reports from correspondents on the ground in Qatar reporting for Deutsche Welle Living Planet who give us some context on the lead up to the Doha conference, what is happening on the ground at the summit, and what is at stake.
Next I speak with Beatrice Yeung who is in Qatar representing the Students on Ice Alumni Delegation. Students on Ice is an organization based in Gatineau, Quebec that offers unique educational expeditions to the Antarctic and the Arctic. The alumni delegation is composed of students such as Beatrice who have visited the polar regions and are now advocating on behalf of polar conservation. Given the rapid changes taking place in these parts of the world, this entails taking serious and immediate action on climate change.
In the second half hour today, we hear a feature interview with the director of the remarkable new documentary film ‘Chasing Ice‘. With all this talk about climate change and what the international community should be doing about it in Doha, sometimes it’s good to get a reality check from those out in the field. Dubbed by some as the new “Inconvenient Truth,” Chasing Ice chronicles the work of National Geographic photographer James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey, which is a visual legacy of how climate change and other human activity is impacting the planet. Using time-lapse cameras, his videos compress years into seconds and capture ancient mountains of ice in motion as they disappear at a breathtaking rate. To find out more about the film, I caught up with the director Jeff Orlowski on the phone from Boulder, Colorado. The film is being screened at the Bytowne Theatre in Ottawa from December 7 – 11 and Geoff tells us more about the filmmakers’ incredible journey to provide incontrovertible proof that our planet is in crisis and what we do to it matters.
We’ll also have our usual update from Ecology Ottawa on local environmental events and campaigns.
Earthgauge Radio airs Thursday mornings from 7-8 AM on CKCU 93.1 in Ottawa. Podcasts on iTunes and earthgauge.ca. Stream live on www.ckcufm.com. Check us out on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/EarthgaugeRadio.
