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Friday, January 10, 2014

Environmental Defense Canada 2013 Achievements

Environmental Defense is one of Canada's leading green advocacy groups. They work with government, industry and individuals to create a greener economy and a more sustainable future for all Canadians for generations to come. With the help of their supporters they have spearheaded a number of noble causes in 2013 including issues related to energy, toxics, water, and grooming future leaders. Here is a summary of some of their achievements last year.

WWF works to achieve positive change for species, communities and diverse habitats. In 2013 they had many international successes. Their diverse success stories run the gamut from salmon farming to gillnets. They have been very active in advancing environmental issues in developing countries and they continue their work in support of a wide range of species including elephants, saola—one, snow leopards, Nepalese tigers and previously unknown species of flora and fauna. Here is their summary of international achievements in 2013.

On Thursday January 9, Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and other Democratic senators, announced a new effort to get Congress to act on climate change in 2014. To help with this with this effort they are planning to enlist the support of civic groups, private industry, religious organizations and others. The new initiative entitled “Climate Action Task Force,” has a wide variety of goals, including the holy grail of environmental action, putting a price on carbon. To achieve this they will need to secure 60 votes in the chamber, however, this is no easy task as they can expect considerable opposition from Republicans as well as Democrats in coal states.

Environmental degradation and climate change are the most serious threats we face, yet there are a number of individuals who continue to use their positions of power to promote arguments which are both inaccurate and destructive. These anti-science Luddites are enemies of environmentalism and arguably some of the worst misanthropes on the planet. Here is a top ten list of the worst perpetrators of climate misinformation in 2013.

1. Tony Abbot

The new Prime Minister of Australia will be remembered by history as a climate denier of the first order. His legacy will be the dismantling of Australia's green dream. Record breaking temperatures and record breaking forest fires in Australia did not deter Abbot and his government from continuing their diabolical mission to undo the nation's world leading effort to reduce emissions. As the final environmental insult of 2013, Abbot did not attend UN sponsored climate talks at the end of the year.

2. Steven Harper

This Canadian Prime Minister will go down in history as the most environmentally destructive leader the nation has ever seen. He has not only systematically dismantled Canada's environmental protections, he has sidelined science, stymied public input and done all within his power to increase Canada's role as a dirty energy superpower. This includes Alberta's tar sands, the world's dirtiest source of oil, which not only contributes to global warming, it poisons the air and water. Thanks to Harper Canada will not meet its emissions targets and the nation, once known for its bucolic splendor is not a Pariah at the UN and in many places around the world.

Sustainable Numerical Factoids

Lindsay Abrams is an assistant editor at Salon, she focuses on all things sustainable. Here are some sustainable numerical factoids she published as part of her year end review.

7: Where 2013 ranks among the warmest years in history, according to the World Meteorological Association. Tied with 2003, the ranking is based on the year’s first nine months, during which average temperatures were 0.86°F above the 1960-1991 global average.

395.5: The average concentration levels of CO2, in parts per million (ppm), observed in the atmosphere through November.

Over the last several years there has been a fairly steady decline in the amount of energy being consumed in the US. According to the latest information from the Energy Information Administration (EIA), total US electricity sales have declined in four of the past five years and that trend continued into 2013. Since the great recession of 2007 only 2010 saw an increase in US energy consumption.

From protecting whales and forests to their Detox Fashion Campaign, Greenpeace and their supporters did a lot of good for the planet and its inhabitants last year. Here is a summary of their top stories for 2013.

Well, what are you waiting for?

“How much of human life is lost in waiting.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another year passes and the wheel of time turns. Inexorably, inevitably and impersonally. For many of us it is a time when we reflect on the past year and gird our loins for the next. There is no natural reason for this reference to a spurious calendar embedded into our western consciousness and organisation by some medieval monk. For centuries we organised our years by the cycles of nature; by equinox and solstice, by season, growth and harvest. Still, it allows us the structure that we need in our ‘modern’ world for planning and organisation. Our frontal lobe is satisfied by this and our software applications are pure and blank, waiting to be filled with exciting and stimulating appointments and activities.

On Tuesday, January 7, 2014 at 7 p.m. yet another train carrying oil derailed and exploded. The train carrying propane and crude oil derailed in in Wapske, a remote community five or six kilometres east of Plaster Rock, in northwestern New Brunswick. The regularly scheduled freight train was headed to Moncton from Central Canada when it came off the tracks about 150 kilometres northwest of Fredericton near the US border.

Infographic - One Day in the Life of Big Oil

Here is a review of some pop ecobusiness stories that include a widely diverging summary of products and novel applications of cleantech. This list ranges from responsible products like affordable solar lights, to Raw Food's kale chips. Other stories covered include electric cars powering buildings, a Stanford Professor talking about renewable energy on Letterman, and a climate change activists recording the fastest ever trip to the south pole. There is even a story about a fair trade shoemaker and another about a wind energy company that was fined for causing bird deaths. Without further ado here is Ecowatch's Brandon Baker's list of seven EcoBusiness stories for 2013.

A new report from Henry Waxman (D-CA), shows that the Republican controlled House of Representatives voted for anti-environment positions 109 times. The 113th Congress is almost as bad as the 112th Congress which was called "the most anti-environment House of Representatives in history" by Waxman and Ed Markey (D-MA).

The Waxman report shows that House members:

Voted 51 times to to protect the interests of the oil and gas industry at the expense of the environment and human health
Voted 20 times to weaken the Clean Air Act
Voted 20 times to block or hinder federal carbon emissions regulations
Voted 27 times to cut clean energy and energy efficiency funding and block clean energy policies,
Voted 37 times to weaken the Clean Water Act and other regulatory efforts to improve water quality

In the last ten years sustainability has emerged out of virtual obscurity to become a central theme of business. This is being backed up by sophisticated metrics and reporting that documents things like carbon assessments, lifecycle analysis, and ecosystem services valuation in support of better decision making and business innovation. Despite major advances in sustainability, we still have a long way to go. The business community still needs to do far more to combat climate change, ecosystems loss and water related issues.

A 2013 Accenture study on sustainability, polled 1,000 CEOs of large companies in 27 industries across 103 countries, while 84 percent of those surveyed believed business should lead the way in addressing sustainability challenges, less than one third (32%) said that they believed that the global economy was on track to address sustainability needs.

Andrew Winston's Sustainable Business Questions for 2014 and Beyond

Andrew Winston has been providing a top ten list of sustainable business stories for the last four years. He is the co-author of the best-seller Green to Gold and the author of Green Recovery. His forthcoming book, The Big Pivot, will be released in April. He advises some of the world’s biggest companies on environmental strategy. Here are eight questions for sustainable business in 2014 and beyond.

1. Will the divestment movement continue to gather steam and put significant pressure, either financial (unlikely) or moral (much more intriguing), on fossil fuel companies?

2. Will all the talk about building a circular economy gain mainstream acceptance?

3. Will we get better at valuing natural capital (and will companies and markets care)? It certainly garnered lots of attention this year, with new estimates of the damage the global economy does to natural assets (trillions), new tools to measure natural capital, and an important new book from former Goldman partner and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, Mark Tercek.

Andrew Winston has been providing a top ten list of sustainable business stories for the last four years. He is the co-author of the best-seller Green to Gold and the author of Green Recovery. His forthcoming book, The Big Pivot, will be released in April. He advises some of the world’s biggest companies on environmental strategy. Here is his list of the top ten sustainable business stories for 2013.

This year, like recent years, saw some continuation of big trends: with a few exceptions, the international policy community keeps failing to come to a meaningful agreement on climate change; carbon emissions just keep rising; transparency is increasingly unavoidable and keeps gaining technology-enabled traction; pressure from big companies on their suppliers keeps going up.

So what’s really new this year? Let’s dive in.

Source: Alliance to Save Energy

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Congressional Inaction on Climate and Energy Legislation in 2013 and Forecasts for 2014

While President Obama has been using his executive powers to move forward on efforts to address climate change, his legislative agenda was stymied by Republicans last year. In 2013 Congress set a record for doing nothing and the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the GOP. The Republican's ongoing campaign of obstructionism extends far beyond energy and climate legislation and puts political posturing ahead of the national interest. Congress passed a total of 64 bills in 2013, that is less legislation than any Congress in modern American history.

The extreme cold temperatures that are being recorded across much of North America are attributable to stratospheric warming which is pushing the polar vortex southward. While the Climate skeptics, love to use cold weather to question the veracity of global warming, it should come as no surprise that they are confused.

Just as one extreme weather event does not prove global warming, a cold snap does not disprove it. Further, there is evidence that this extreme cold may actually be a corollary of climate change.

Green Economy and Trade Opportunties (2013 - 2014)

Trade has the potential to help the transition to the green economy and the transition to the green economy has the potential of enhancing international trade. This ongoing study from the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), ITC and ITCSD is exploring trade opportunities in five key areas:

Agriculture
Fisheries
Forests
Renewable Energy
Manufacturing

While the overall outlook is good, there is a mixed bag of trends, predictions and problems that will directly impact sustainability, renewable energy, greenbuilding and cleantech in 2014.

Sustainability

The year to come may prove a challenging one for sustainability. According to an Ecova report, the growth of sustainability in 2014 will be complicated by increased energy and resource prices. The report titled 2014 Energy and Sustainability Predictions is based on a survey of 500 energy and sustainability professionals.

Event - International Conference on Water, Informatics, Sustainability and Environment: iWISE 2014

The “International Conference on Water, Informatics, Sustainability and Environment: iWISE 2014” will be held on August 26 - 28, 2014 at Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau-Ottawa Canada.

The main aim of iWISE 2014 is to integrate research, technology and expertise in fields of water, informatics, sustainability and environment. This will be complemented through focused workshops and panel discussions on important and timely topics to allow for a lively exchange of ideas as well as contributions from highly selective keynote speakers from well-known leaders in the field.

The 3rd International Conference on Earth Science & Climate Change (Earth Science-2014) will take place on July 28-30, 2014 San Francisco, USA. This conference will focus on a number of disciplines and areas of research, and will provide a forum for scientists, postgraduate & graduate students, and representatives from the private sector to discuss recent research and developments in Earth Science and Climate Change Research.

Earth Science-2014 is comprised of 10 tracks and 73 sessions designed to offer comprehensive sessions that address current issues in Earth Science & Climate Change.

7th World Future Energy Summit will take place on January 20 - 22, 2014, in the National Exhibition Centre, in Abu Dahabi.
There will be more than 25,000 attendees from 155 countries, 650 exhibitors and 163 high level speakers.

Building on the high profile successes of WFES 2013, the 7^th annual gathering of future energy’s world leaders will be home to brilliant minds and inspiring thinkers for three days of expert debate and world class innovation in the heart of Abu Dhabi.

Video - Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson Talks about Renewables on the David Letterman Show (Part 2)

On the David Letterman Show, Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson states that to combat climate change all new electricity must be derived from renewable energy. This is already largely the case in both the US (50 percent) and Europe (70 percent). David Letterman indicates that he has invested in wind, solar and geothermal in his home. While Jacobson acknowledges that there is a great deal that individual citizens can do in terms of installing renewable energy, he also clearly states that we need government policy and mandates. Jacobson also explains that we need to educate the public to help expedite the transition to clean energy. He concludes by saying "everything will be ok if we put our mind to it....it is a social and political problem primarily."

Video - Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson Talks about Renewables on the David Letterman Show (Part 1)

On the David Letterman Show, Stanford Professor Mark Jacobson talks about a science based plan to combat climate change and air pollution. He emphasizes that we need to transition away from fossil fuels and incorporate renewable sources of energy like wind and solar which can meet all our energy demands. However, to do so, government policies need to be shifted away from fossil fuels and towards renewables and electric vehicles. Jacobson has developed plans both nationally and by state for clean electricity, transportation, heating and cooling.

Video - Hope for 2014: What Obama is Doing to Combat Climate Change

President Obama's Climate Change Strategy announced in the summer of 2013, gives us reason to hope that the world's wealthiest and most influential nation will assume a leadership role in efforts to combat climate change.

Video - Green Star Awards 2013 Message from Valerie Amos

Through the Green Star Awards, Valerie Amos addresses the importance of those who work to deal with environmental and climate issues. The Green Star Awards recognize a select group of outstanding individuals and organisations from around the world, who have confronted environmental emergencies. Valerie Ann Amos, Baroness Amos, PC is the eighth and current UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. Before her appointment to the UN, she had been British High Commissioner to Australia. She was made a Labour life peer in 1997 and served as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council.

Video - Corporate Sustainability Report 2013: The Way to Long Term Success

The Global Corporate Sustainability Report 2013 looks at the state of corporate sustainability today -- providing an in-depth review of the actions taken by companies around the world to embed responsible practices into their strategies, operations and culture. Based on responses to the Global Compact Annual Implementation Survey, the report provides a robust view on how businesses everywhere -- and of all sizes -- are adjusting their policies and practices to address today's sustainability agenda. The purpose of this report is to assess corporate action against the steps of the Global Compact Management Model -- and look specifically at the range of elements considered critical to a comprehensive sustainability approach: management practices to embed sustainability throughout the organization and into the supply chain, and actions on the Global Compact principles. Companies' efforts to contribute to global priorities through core business practices, philanthropy, advocacy and partnerships are also reviewed.

Video - Corporate Leaders on Sustainability

In 2013, a group of panelists including the leaders of some major corporations indicated that sustainability is "absolutely" part of their agendas. This view was expressed by ODCA Chairman, Mario Mueller of BMW, Harish Rao Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Infrastructure Services, Capgemini, Denis Curran Head of Technology Strategy & Innovation, Enterprise Services & Transformation, National Bank of Australia, and Tate Cantrell, CTO,Verne Global.

Graph of Fossil Fuel's GHG Contributions

The year that was provided a host of interesting scientific findings about the Earth and other planets. In addition to discovering hundreds of exoplanets, in 2013 we learned that Mars once had abundant water. The new data appears to indicate that the Earth is not the only planet to suffer the ravages of climate change. In the context of a review of climate change the new Maven Mars space probe may offer unsettling insights into our future if we continue with business as usual.

Here is a list of things we learned about our changing climate in 2013 as published by Smithsonian.

[I]n terms of the long-term survival of both our species and all others on the planet, 2013 is remarkable for a much darker reason. It’s a year in which we’ve pushed the climate further than ever away from its natural state, learned more than ever about the dire consequences of doing so, and done as little as ever to stop it.

Earth is not the only planet to suffer the impacts of climate change. A new space probe is currently en-route to study how the Martian climate underwent a drastic change from a planet with water and an atmophere to a cold, dry, dead rock.

On November 18th, 2013, NASA launched the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41. The 5,400-pound, $671 Million MAVEN spacecraft separated from the Atlas Centaur upper stage some 52 minutes after liftoff, unfurled its solar panels and began a 10 month interplanetary voyage to the Red Planet. Maven is scheduled to begin orbiting Mars on September 22, 2014.

New research focusing on clouds reveals that temperatures will get even hotter than predicted by climate models.

Climate deniers who disguise themselves as skeptics like to say that climate models exaggerate the effects of global warming. This new research appears to indicate that climate models predict significantly lower temperatures than will likely materialize.

According to the new research temperatures will rise at least 3 degrees by the end of the century which is twice the commonly accepted lower boundary predicted by climate models. The research by a team led by the University of NSW studied 43 climate models and was published in the Journal Nature at the start of 2014.

Top Canadian Environmental Defense Issues in 2013

This report from Environmental Defense reviews some of the top Canadian environmental stories of 2013.

Environmental Defence has been working since 1984 to protect Canadians' environment and human health. They have accomplished a great deal in the last 30 years.

They are Canada's most effective environmental action organization. They seek to create a world Canadians are proud to pass on to their children. To bring this about they challenge and inspire change in government, business and people to ensure a greener, healthier and prosperous life for all.

Here are some excerpts from the report including the section on Highlights and the section on Energy.

The outlook for solar in 2014 continues to be bright. According to a new report we will see 43 gigawatts (GW) of new installations around the world this year. China, Japan and the US are expected to lead solar installations. The report was conducted by Mercom Capital Group, an Austin, TX-based clean energy communications and consulting firm, it is titled solar industry outlook for 2014.

The solar industry has been performing well in the last few years. In February of 2013, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association said the world surpassed the 100-GW mark of solar capacity.

The End of Incandescent Light Bulbs and the Dawn of Lighting Efficiency Mandates

The era of the incandescent light bulb is coming to an end. The governments of the United States, Canada, Mexico, Malaysia and South Korea introduced measures to phase out most incandescent light bulbs. The measures came into effect on January 1, 2014. These countries joined the EU, Russia, Brazil and other nations that have already banned most incandescent lights.

Phase-out regulations effectively prohibit the manufacture, importation or sale of current incandescent light bulbs for general lighting. The regulations would allow sale of future versions of incandescents if they are sufficiently energy efficient.

It does not take much more than a basic understanding of climate science to appreciate that global warming will continue to have far reaching impacts in 2014 and beyond. Here is a review of some of the well known impacts predicted by climate models. This includes higher atmospheric levels of CO2, warmer temperatures, melting ice, flooding, the spread of infectious diseases, diminished water quality, decreased food production, excessive heat and other extreme weather events.

More Emissions

The planet currently absorbs half our CO2 emissions. However, the level of CO2 absorption is expected reach a saturation point where the oceans and other carbon sinks will no longer be able to naturally sequester CO2.

Dear readers, supporters, friends and followers,

Thank you for visiting The Green Market Oracle in 2013. We have come a long way in the last seven years. During this time sustainability has emerged out of virtual obscurity to become one of the leading trends in the world today.

This site was born out of the desire to share information about sustainability and help to grow the green economy.

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