Course - Environmental Law & Practice

Environmental Law &  Practice will take place on September, 20, 2013 at De Montfort University. This distance learning opportunity increases your skills and furthers your career without interrupting your employment. The course can be tailored to your specific needs, job role and industry by choosing your own unique combination of modules. Suitable for both lawyers and non-legal professionals alike.

Training Program and Courses - Green Roofs

Green Roof Professional Accreditation Training Program will take place on September 19 to September 21, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario. The green roof industry continues to grow by leaps and bounds, with Toronto's Green Roof Bylaw resulting in more than 2 million square feet of new green space planned on buildings throughout the City. Now more than ever, it’s time to get the designation that proves you’re familiar with green roof benefits, design, implementation and technology. Join more than 500 accredited GRPs and distinguish yourself in the marketplace by adding this credential to your professional qualifications. The following 3 day GRP training boot camp will prepare you in writing the GRP exam successfully.

Event - CIANJ’s EBC Fall Environmental Conference

CIANJ’s EBC Fall Environmental Conference will take place on September 16, 2013 from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Pines Manor Edison NJ. Meet the incoming and current leadership at the Department of Environmental Protection. They will discuss the departments programs, including site remediation, water quality, air quality and enforcement, to name a few. Participants will learn about upcoming rules and initiatives impacting the regulated community. This conference will be a must attend for all environmental professionals!

Video - Neil Young Compares Alberta's Tar Sands to Hiroshima

At a Sept. 9, 2013 pro-farm bill press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC., Neil Young talks about how the Renewable Fuel Standard creates jobs, reduces greenhouse gasses, and reduces our dependence on foreign oil. In his remarks he also compares Alberta's tar sands to Hiroshima.

Video - Business Education for Good: The Ghana Project at Bentley University

The Ghana Project is a unique educational partnership between Bentley University and multiple businesses, communities, and NGOs in Ghana. It has grown from a connection to one orphanage to include work with area artisans, Ghanaian women building a local poultry business with micro-financing, and local entrepreneurs working at the crossroads of public health and sustainability.

Video - Ask NASA About Climate Change On Youtube

Do you have questions about the scientific veracity of climate change? Learn how you can get your questions answered by NASA's climate scientists in this public outreach program.

© 2013, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video - The Global Implications of Rapid Climate Change in the Arctic

Paul Beckwith is a part time professor at the University of Ottawa and a post graduate studying and researching abrupt climate change, with a focus on the arctic.

Video - Greenpeace Confronting Russia's Arctic Oil Exploration

Greenpeace ship seeking to expose Arctic drilling is confronted by Russian military while in international waters. Who wins in the struggle to protect the Arctic: state-backed Russian oil giants? Or common sense?

Video - Ice Ride: The Global Bike Ride to Defend the Arctic

As the Arctic sea ice reaches another historic low, thousands of us will take to the streets to challenge big oil.Grab some wheels, hit the streets and join the global movement to defend the Arctic. Ice Ride is a free and fun day of action happening in cities and towns all over the world.

Ice Ride: Critical Mass for the Arctic

On September 15, 2013, people across Canada are going on an Ice Ride for the Arctic. Join us in helping to build a critical mass of support for the protection of the Arctic. Whether you bike, roller blade or skate board, get involved this Sunday September 15th and bring your family and friends in a ride for the Arctic. This is but one of many events taking place for the national event known as "A Day of Arctic Action."

A Day of Arctic Action (September 15, 2013)

The Arctic is a precious and fragile ecosystem that regulates the climate of the entire planet. Sadly it is under siege from melting polar ice caps due to global warming and a growing invasion of companies seeking to exploit its fossil fuel reserves and mineral deposits.

To date there 36 countries participating, 106 events and over 14,000 people all trying to help raise awareness about the need to protect the Arctic from companies like Shell. 

Bentley University Sustainability on Campus and in Ghana

Bentley University has made sustainability a priority, not just on campus but in the developing African nation of Ghana. Located just west of Boston, Bentley is a business university with more than 5,000 full-time students. The university has set aggressive goals to eliminate their carbon footprint by 2030. Bentley is reducing their environmental footprint through energy management, and building environmentally conscious retrofits including the installation of LED lights.

Bentley is also purchasing 25 million kWh/yr of RECs which have helped to halve the school's carbon footprint. Bentley was honored by the EPA as a Green Power Partner and earned recognition as one of the top ten Northeast-10 Conference schools in the EPA’s College & University Green Power Challenge.

Bentley's sustainability efforts have gone far beyond the college campus and  now extend all the way to Africa.  Diane M. Kellogg is an associate professor of management at Bentley University and the driving force behind the university's sustainability program in Ghana.

Diane's work in Ghana began when she took over for her friend Carol Gray. Carol was raising money to build an orphanage in the country when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. “I want to die knowing the orphanage can support itself, without always needing donations." Carol said to Diane, "You’re a management consultant. You teach at a business school. Could Bentley help?” she asked.

Republican Controlled Subcommittee on Energy to Hold Hearings on Climate Change

The likelihood of House Republicans exploring the science of climate change is right up there with hell freezing over. However, this is precisely what is scheduled to take place, (no not hell freezing over Republicans investigating the science of climate change). Believe it or not House Republicans have summoned the leaders of 13 federal agencies to a hearing set to take place on September 18, 2013. These hearings will examine the sweeping climate change agenda proposed by US President Barack Obama in June.

Cornell University Installing a Solar Array with the Help of NY State

Cornell University is one of several projects that will receive funding for solar installations as part of NY-Sun initiative, launched by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The state has awarded a total of $54 million to Cornell. The state's award will be added to $120 million in private investment designated for infrastructure projects.

Cornell University will instal 6,766 solar photovoltaic panels on a 10-acre Cornell property site adjacent to the Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport. This is Cornell’s first large-scale solar project and it is expected to produce about 2.5 million kWh annually, or about 1 percent of Cornell’s total electricity use.

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Canadian Conservatives Cut Research Funding but Spend on Fossil Fuel Pipeline

The ruling Canadian Conservative party has cut $148 million for research while spending roughly the same amount of tax dollars to support the Northern Gateway Pipeline project.

Under President Barack Obama the US has invested billions in scientific research and education while Harper's Conservative government has slashed research funding. The Canadian government has cut funding to the three agencies that support basic research at Canadian universities.

Federal Green MP Elizabeth May has said that her party has gained access to documents showing that the federal government is using $120 million in Canadian tax dollars to support the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

According to May the pipeline research is being carried out off the north coast, where Enbridge hopes to run oil tankers as part of its proposed Northern Gateway project.

Neil Young Compares Canada's Tar Sands to Hiroshima

Canadian music legend Neil Young recently compared the tar sands in Fort McMurray, Alberta to Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bomb drop in August 1945. According to the Globe and Mail report, Young shared his concerns about the environmental impacts of the tar sands with those in attendance at an event for the National Farmers Union in Washington, D.C.

"The fact is, Fort McMurray looks like Hiroshima, Fort McMurray is a wasteland. The Indians up there and the native peoples are dying. The fuels all over -- the fumes everywhere -- you can smell it when you get to town. The closest place to Fort McMurray that is doing the tarsands work is 25 to 30 miles out of town and you can taste it when you get to Fort McMurray. People are sick. People are dying of cancer because of this. All the First Nations people up there are threatened by this."

Innovative Approaches to Environmental Education: Taking School Outside

Schools are adopting increasingly innovative approaches to education that help to show children the value of the environment. Some schools are teaching children by bringing them out into nature and enabling them to do things like canoe down a river, hold a bird of prey, and rappel down a cliff wall. These types of activities are of immense value and offer far more than can be achieved in a classroom setting alone.

This is the unique pedagogical approach of WOLF (Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility) program. This novel education is the byproduct of a public-private partnership between the Springfield, Missouri public school system, Bass Pro Shops, and the Wonders of Wildlife Museum.

Worldwatch is Helping the Philippines to Go 100 Percent Renewable

The Worldwatch Institute is helping the Philippines to develop a Sustainable Energy Roadmap with the goal of sourcing all of the nation's electricity systems entirely from renewable energy within a decade. Climate Change Commissioner and former Senator Heherson Alvarez invited The Worldwatch Institute’s Climate and Energy Director, Alexander Ochs to present an integrated methodology to achieve this ambitious goal.

Worldwatch's Sustainable Energy Roadmap is not just about energy efficiency and renewable sources of power, it is an integrated approach to examining the technical, socioeconomic, financial and policy changes necessary for transitioning to a an intelligent grid energy system.

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A World Bank Action Plan to Combat Climate Change

The World Bank has been an advocate of environmental action for many years now. Recently the Bank's president Jim Yong Kim called for a plan to address climate change. Rachel Kyte, vice-president for sustainable development, explained that fighting climate change has become a guiding principle for the bank.

The World Bank has introduced a wide array of projects to mitigate and adapt to climate change: from promoting partnerships for climate action in urban areas across the globe to funding clean technology in developing countries.

Environmental Action in a New Agreement Between the US and Nordic Countries

A recent statement from the US and Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) reaffirms their "deep partnership based on shared fundamental values" and pledged to "deepen their collaboration on important shared global priorities, including climate change, clean energy, [and] the Arctic." They further agreed to take concrete steps to achieve those goals.

One of the most important undertakings concerns these governments shared commitment to end fossil fuel subsidies and specifically the public finance of new coal-fired power plants overseas. Another serious initiative involves reducing short lived climate pollutants (SLCP). They also pledged to address impediments to sustainable economic growth and agreed to engage in concerted efforts to improve transparency.

According to the statement:

The Obama Administration's Climate Action (Spring - Summer 2013)

In the spring and summer of 2013, President Obama and his administration showed bold leadership on climate change. These actions, both domestic and international, are positioning the US as global leader on efforts to combat climate change.

The Obama Administration's initiatives are consistent with the President's climate action plan which was announced in June. This plan reigns in coal emissions, and signals an end to the US coal industry.

On April 14, 2013, the US has also agreed to work with China, Japan, the EU, Brazil, India and South Africa to reduce climate change causing greenhouse gases (GHGs). In a joint statement these countries announced that they would accelerate action by advancing cooperation on technology, research, conservation, and alternative and renewable energy. 

MBA Specialisation in Carbon Management at the London School of Business & Finance (LSBF)

London School of Business and Finance (LSBF) has unveiled a new MBA with a specialization in carbon management. The degree is designed to give students all the knowledge needed to pursue careers in the rapidly growing renewable energy sector. The MBA specialization will teach students about the principles of carbon management, it will highlight current and emerging issues from the sector at both national and international level. Students will also study project management and leadership, helping them to implement carbon management policies in businesses worldwide. These practical and academic skills will give students the opportunity to build their future in the rapidly growing and forward-thinking sustainability sector.

The World Bank: Declining Climate Change Funding

The World Bank is a strong supporter of efforts to counter climate change. However, funding for climate-related projects has been declining sharply since peaking in 2010. The World Bank acknowledges that climate change represents a fundamental threat to economic development and the fight against poverty. The Turn Down the Heat reports explained the consequences of 4°C warming by 2100. The costs of a 4°C temperature increase will have adverse global impacts including reduced crop yields and flooding.

Infographic - The Future of Electric Vehicles

Why Greens are Seeing Red in the 2013 Australian Elections

Hopes for a government serious about combating climate change in Australia were crushed by Labor party infighting. The election of a right of center coalition led by Tony Abbot spells the end of Australia's hope to play a leading role combating climate change. Kevin Rudd wrestled the leadership from Labor Prime Minister Julia Eileen Gillard after she demonstrated strong green leadership. Rudd ended Gillard's political career in a savage act of overt betrayal that may have cost labor the election and ended Australia's hopes for government leadership on climate change.

Energime University: Changing the World with Sustainable Education

Energime University is the world's first scientist driven entity dedicated entirely to teaching sustainable global resource management (Energy, food, water, waste). This school is composed of a dedicated and passionate group of some of the world’s foremost scientists and educators. Energime University is embarking on an ambitious quest to educate the world and provide the essential skills to forge a more sustainable world.

Classes and courses will be offered and taught live and over the internet by the visionary scientists, inventors, integrators, and business experts. These forums will cover the newest and most innovative transformative technologies, operational protocols, and ground breaking projects now in development.

Event - Waste Conversion Technology Conference & Trade Show

This event will take place on September 15-17, 2013 in San Diego, USA. Waste Conversion Technology Conference & Trade Show (formerly the Waste-to-Fuels Conference &  Trade Show) will review the newest advances in alternative fuel production products and services. This event provides a forum for informing the public and private sectors of the economic and environmental significance of converting waste materials to alternative fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol as well as renewable electric energy.

Event - MENA Solid Waste Management Forum

MENA Solid Waste Management Forum will take place on September, 15-17, 2013 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

This event will provide participants with the perfect platform for knowledge sharing on sustainable solutions in developing best-in-class waste management strategies that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Event - Ecobuild Southeast Asia

Ecobuild Southeast Asia will take place on September 17-19, 2013 in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. This is the largest sustainable building community event in Southeast Asia, enabling you to meet the most influential decision-makers and government bodies in the region.

For more information click here.

Event - Sustainability Chemistry Summit

The Sustainability Chemistry Summit - Europe 2013 (SI Europe) will take place September, 18-20, 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. This event will bring together the various members of the sustainability research and analytics community and the corporate practitioners responsible for measuring, evaluating and reporting sustainability information and those leading successful strategies that have helped companies head towards more sustainable processes.

Event - 15th Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Europe

The 15th Renewable Energy Finance Forum will take place 18-19 of September, 2013 in London, UK at Jumeirah Carlton Tower. The Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Europe is the region's largest and most established event for renewable energy finance and investment. The two-day event will unite investors with project developers and senior executives from across the renewable energy and technology sectors, to provide delegates with cutting-edge insight as well as unparalleled networking opportunities.

This is the region's largest and most established event for renewable energy finance and investment.

Event - Emergency Planning in a New Age of Uncertainty

The event, Emergency Planning in a New Age of Uncertainty will take place on 18-September-2013. The event is subtitled Building the Nation's Resilience to Flooding Public Policy Exchange.

With the spectre of flooding hanging over more and more local communities, this special symposium provides an invaluable platform for local authorities, emergency planning stakeholders and emergency services to discuss how the latest measures can be implemented effectively to improve not only local resilience to flooding, but also to develop a more robust general contingency and emergency planning framework.

For more information click here.

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Course - Sustainability in Project Management Practices (SiPMP)

Sustainability in Project Management Practices (SiPMP)will take place on Tuesday September 17, 2013, in Toronto, Ontario. Risks are always a concern if they could impact the successful operation and deployment of a project. Project Managers are expected to proactively identify these risks, and plan solutions which have little or no impact on the projects success.

Event - 2013 Sustainable Transportation Week Ottawa

The third edition of Sustainable Transportation Week will take place from Monday, September 16 to Sunday, September 22 in Ottawa, Ontario.

Frustrated about congestion in Ottawa? Feel like you’re wasting time and money sitting in traffic every day? It’s time to make your commute faster and more fun!

Course - Utility Connected Photovoltaic Installation (UPVI)

Utility Connected Photovoltaic Installation (UPVI)will take place on Sun Sep 15, 2013, at the Living City Campus, Kortright Centre, 9550 Pine Valley Drive, Woodbridge, Ontario. Building on the Photovoltaic Generation (PVG) course, the Utility PV Installation course offers participants a hands-on opportunity to assemble and install a grid-tied PV system. The course begins with the theory of site assessment, installation and system sizing. Participants are then broken into small groups and are able to assemble a complete grid-tied system. The equipment used in this workshop is representative of systems currently being installed under the FIT program throughout Ontario. The majority of the course will be spent outdoors; participants should dress appropriately for the weather. Lunch is provided.

Event - Green Gala 2013

The annual Green Gala event will take place on Sat Sep 14, 2013, in Ottawa (Rockland), Ontario from 7-10 pm at Tucker House. The Green Gala is the annual fundraising event in support of Tucker House Renewal Centre, a charitable retreat and environmental learning organization which operates throughout the Ottawa community as well as at our beautiful 30-acre property in Rockland.

The Green Gala is a unique, ecologically-oriented event that features local and sustainable food and beverages, organic beer, a silent & live eco-auction and other fun activities. Guests are invited to dress in 'vintage masquerade' attire to suit the atmosphere of Tucker House. Tickets are limited to the first 100 people. Our goal is to raise funds for our programs and activities while celebrating our work and having a great time with like-minded people.

Course - Photovoltaic Generation (PVG)

Photovoltaic Generation (PVG)will take place on Saturday September 14, 2013, at Living City Campus, Kortright Centre 9550 Pine Valley Drive, Woodbridge, Ontario. This course is an introduction to the fundamentals of photovoltaics (PV). Whether you would like to become an educated consumer, or are considering a career in the industry, PVG will provide you with the basic theory of photovoltaics including practical applications and installation. The course discussions will include PV generation in grid tied and off-grid applications and the Feed in Tariff ( FIT ) program as it relates to the Green Energy Act of Ontario. Lunch is provided.