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ABOUT THIS
ISSUE
In this issue our feature is an update on
forests. Our next issue will either be on the topic of ecological cooking or
will analyse the outcome of the Durban climate talks. As our editorial in this
issue suggests, we're betting on the former but always open to being very
surprised!
There is a fairly big connection between
forests and climate change. One of Canada's showcase forest projects is the
Boreal Forest Initiative but, as our lead forest article relates, all is not
well in the Boreal Forest. Could environmental groups have become signatories to
forest greenwash? Even the government is reporting changes, and a slight
decline, in Canada's forests. Where have all the critics gone?
We review an excellent, informative, and
somewhat amusing book about Canada's forestry movements. Though published in
2009 it is still available from the World's Biggest Book Store and some others
in the same chain! We report on a new study which indicates that losses of
sequestered carbon from forestry will not be offset until the newly planted
trees reach 19 to 40 years of age. If correct, that means that sustainable
forest management practices still have a 19 to 40 year window in which extra
carbon is added to the atmosphere.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada has reported on
the impacts of human activities on forests and the impact of forests on human
activities. We summarize some of their findings, including a quite remarkable
list of pollutants discharged to rivers. Where are those environmental critics
when you need them? A Natural Resources Canada publication, 2011 State of
Canada's Forests, provides more data, much of it not too encouraging. We provide
a brief summary. We also seek to provide a definition of Old Growth Forest, but
find that as complex as most other environmental issues.
GallonLetter's Editor participated in a
fascinating discussion under the heading the Environment Yesterday, Today,
Tomorrow to mark the 40th anniversary of Alternatives Journal. We
present a summary from the sponsor and a link to an edited video of the
proceedings. We welcome your feedback.
We publish a letter from a reader drawing
attention to work on the languague of water and we provide a brief summary of
the Ontario Environment Commissioner's most recent report. Local environmental
groups can now raise funds with rainbarrels - not a bad idea - and we provide an
update on one of our campaigns - the issue of asbestos. We learned a new twist
to an old acronym and we remind you of our daily edition.
That's it for this issue. We hope you
enjoy Gallon Environment Letter and find its content useful for seasonal
conversations and in many other ways throughout the year.
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ENVIRONMENTAL
NEWS SLOW DOWN GIVES FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Environmental news seems to have slowed down
these last couple of weeks as the world focusses on the climate talks in Durban
and the economic crisis in Europe. GallonLetter suggests that there is a greater
connection between the two than many in the media might realize.
The Euro crisis, at least at a macro level, is
about countries that have spent themselves into enormous deficits and bankers
who have lent more than can be repaid for many generations. Our looming climate
crisis is about countries that have burned up much of their energy resources at
an unsustainable rate and about governments that refuse to stop, or even slow,
the flood of waste gases that will be burdening our atmosphere for many
generations.
The difference is that the Euro crisis can
probably be fixed in a relatively short period of time, though many people and
families may be badly hurt in the process. The climate crisis will take
generations to fix and almost every human being will be badly hurt in the
process. In fact, before the end of the century, the climate crisis will
probably have caused a global economic crisis that causes far more harm to
people and families than the Euro crisis could ever do.
It looks as though, by 2100 if not sooner,
people will be looking back and remembering the legacy of those leaders of
countries who might have acted to solve the challenge of climate change but who
chose not to because of their unwavering commitment to fossil fuels. No one will
remember the leaders who acted to solve the Euro crisis and who perhaps will
achieve at least a temporary fix.
Happy Christmas and Compliments of the Season
to All Our Readers
Colin Isaacs
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CANADIAN
BOREAL FOREST AGREEMENT
On May 18, 2010, the Canadian Boreal Forest
Agreement CFBA was signed by 9 environmental groups, 22 forest companies, and
the Forest Products Association of Canada. The Agreement covers 76 million
hectares of Boreal Forest from British Columbia to Newfoundland. It set an
immediate moratorium on logging in 29 million hectares of forest, said to be
virtually all of the critical habitat for the threatened boreal woodland
caribou.
As well as protecting habitat, the agreement
was intended to improve practices of FPAC companies in conservation to position
Canadian forest products more strongly in global markets. As a result of the
agreement Greenpeace, ForestEthics and Canopy suspended their "do not buy" and
divestment campaigns against FPAC companies. The agreement also required
environmental groups (or other signatories) to follow process if they see lack
of compliance with the agreement rather than initiate other such campaigns. For
the forest companies, a priority goal was to gain recognition by the marketplace
(e.g., customers, investors, consumers) of the agreement and its implementation
in ways that demonstrably benefit FPAC Members and their products from the
boreal forest. The agreement had a three year timeframe for completing the
conservation planning for the whole area.
The
Goals
Commitments of the Signatories are
to:
- "Accelerate the completion of the protected
spaces network for the Boreal Forest that represents the diversity of
ecosystems within the Boreal region and serves to provide ecological
benchmarks.
- Develop and accelerate implementation of
plans to protect species at risk in the Boreal Forest, with a priority focus
on Boreal caribou.
- Implement world-leading, on-the-ground
sustainable forest management practices that best reflect the principles of
ecosystem-based management in the Boreal Forest.
- Take action on climate change as it relates
to forest conservation and forest product life cycles.
- Take action to improve the prosperity of the
Canadian forest sector and the communities that depend on it.
- Work to achieve recognition in the
marketplace for the environmental performance of the participating
companies."
Parties to the
Agreement
Environmental organizations:
Greenpeace, Canadian Boreal Initiative,
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Canopy (formerly Markets Initiative), the
David Suzuki Foundation, ForestEthics, the Ivey Foundation, The Nature
Conservancy, and the Pew Environment Group’s International Boreal Conservation
Campaign. The Hewlett Foundation’s support for boreal forest conservation has
been critical to the collective efforts of these groups.
FPAC companies: AbitibiBowater, Alberta
Pacific Forest Industries, AV Group, Canfor, Cariboo Pulp & Paper Company,
Cascades Inc., DMI, F.F. Soucy, Inc., Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, Kruger Inc., LP
Canada, Mercer International, Mill & Timber Products Ltd, NewPage Port
Hawkesbury Ltd, Paper Masson Ltee, SFK Pulp, Tembec Inc., Tolko Industries, West
Fraser Timber Co. Ltd, Weyerhauser Compnay Limited -all represented by the
Forest Products Association of Canada.
Progress on
Milestones
A KPMG assessment of the Canadian Boreal
Forest Agreement released in October 2011 concluded that "Notwithstanding the
progress that has been made, progress-to-date in relation to the milestone
completion timeframes anticipated in the CBFA is lagging. There are 20 project
management milestones set out in the CBFA that were targeted for completion
within a year of signing the Agreement. As illustrated in Exhibit 2, our
assessment shows that five of these milestones have been completed, work is
in-progress on ten, work has not yet started on four
and for one an obstacle has been
encountered."
The auditor Gordon Gunn used tables, graphics
and colour to show which of the milestones for this period have been completed,
which are underway and which have had nothing done. The most difficult to
understand are the "under way" because it isn't easy to understand how far
toward completion the actions are although there are descriptions. For example,
often when the milestone is "in-progress", the gap is due to "Taking longer than
anticipated." Because some of the milestones in the next assessment period
depend on the foundation of earlier milestones in this assessment period, it is
likely other milestones will not be met later. Some of the lags include species
at risk recovery plans such as for Boreal Woodland Caribou.
The report evaluates progress only to the end
of May 2011 so it doesn't discuss other milestones for which the dates have
already passed. Among the comments are:
- Most of the work done so far has been Goals 1
to 3 including engaging a Forest Practices Experts Panel which has expertise
on boreal ecosystem management and forest practices auditing. Work has started
on developing boreal sustainable forest management practices based on
ecosystem management, adaptive management and third party verification.
Because the agreement fosters science-based decision-making, Independent
Science Advisory Teams have been formed with work outlines developed. Work is
underway for the proposed network of protected areas and recovery of species
at risk.
- Goal 4 is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
along the life cycle of forest products but while it is underway is in early
stages.
- Goal 6 has resulted in the formation of the
Boreal Business Forum. Both of the Goal 6 milestones due in the first year of
implementation have been completed.
Greenpeace
Blog on Audit Release
Blogger Mélissa Filion posting on the
Greenpeace Canada blog seemed to gloss over the "lagging" part of the auditor's
report. She wrote that the independent audits are for informing forest product
customers, primarily the Boreal Business Forum (originally called “Customer and
Investor Update Group” in the agreement) including Rona, Kimberly-Clark and
Office Depot as well as other interested stakeholders.
GallonLetter notes that some of the other
environmental groups haven't alerted the public about the release of the audit
report. For example, we searched the David Suzuki Foundation for the term KPMG
and found a news release of the first anniversary issued May 18, 2011 but
nothing about this assessment report.
Corporate
Response to CBFA Audit
GallonLetter reviewed what the forest
companies and FPAC were saying about this milestone report about a landmark
agreement. Some of the companies seem to be missing in action. AbitibiBowater*
has closed mills and gone through bankruptcy, now renamed Resolute Forest
Products. If the companies that had been signatory to the agreement had press
releases on the audit report, those press releases were not readily found by us.
This would have been reasonable if the FPAC were the signatory on behalf of the
companies but in this case the individual companies were signatories. Anyway, in
GallonLetter's experience, industry associations don't really have or exercise
much power over their members.
One could find information on the release of
the audit report on The Forest Products Association of Canada's web site but
only by following "Media Kit" on the boreal forest initiatives. This redirects
to the Canada Boreal Forest website which says very little except providing a
link to the report and "The CBFA signatories are prioritizing our work in
response to the assessment." Although FPAC had quite a few news releases on
Canada Newswire where press releases seem to be posted for the most press impact
and in September a forum on the "inside story" of the landmark boreal forest
initiative, none of its newswire releases since alert the press to the audit
report. Recent news releases on Canada Newswire include: Forest Industry
Applauds Government for Promoting Canadian Wood in Asia; Forest Industry
Welcomes Facilitator as Step Forward in Addressing Rail Market Power; Forest
Industry To Government: Deal With Debt, Foster Transformation; Forest industry
on Jenkins Report: Focussed investments in innovation key to Canadian
competitiveness; Forest Industry applauds government for forward-looking
investments; Forest biomass • Helping fuel Canada's renewable energy future;
Forest Sector Backs City of Ottawa Commitment on Green
Construction.
GallonLetter is unable to determine whether
this audit report indicates that the signatories bit off more than they can chew
for the timeframe they set so things are less than perfect but will move along
to successful implementation or if this audit report indicates that the
agreement is landmark only because it was mostly a clever strategy on the part
of the forest industry's association leadership to reduce the global and
domestic pressure on sales of products the boreal old growth forest. However, at
this stage the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement is looking suspiciously like it
is achieving silence in the environmental community more than it is achieving
progress for sustainable management of Canada's forests.
---
*The Supreme Court of Canada heard and
reserved decision on November 16, 2011 on a lower court decision appealled in
the case of Province of Newfoundland and Labrador vs AbitibiBowater, which
was found to be not liable for pollution from its mills due to bankruptcy. The
case is complicated by the fact that the province took possession of the mills
but the main issue is whether Canada’s Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act
exempts the bankrupt company from legal orders under the province's
Environmental Protection Act. The Superior Court dismissed the province's
position that its order to remediate contaminated lands could not be considered
a “claim” under the CCAA and the Court of Appeal denied leave to appeal. The
Supreme Court of Canada receives over 400 leaves to appeal each year of which it
hears only about 65 or so. The fact that the Supreme Court chose to hear this
case is a recognition of its significance. If the court decides in favour of the
company, then we would certainly support a change in the bankruptcy law because
as Will Amos representing Friends of the Earth said in his submission,
"The environment is not a creditor." Otherwise the taxpayer pays the cost of
pollution instead of the polluter paying. On the other hand, if the province
wins, the federal government is just as likely to change the bankruptcy
legislation to protect corporations so again the polluter doesn't
pay.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
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THE GREEN
CHAIN
In his 2009 book, The Green Chain: Nothing is
Ever Clear Cut, Vancouver-based journalist, humourist/satirist,
performer-playwright and author, Mark Leiren-Young, interviewed 22 people
involved in forests including environmentalists, union leaders and corporate
executives. The book also includes the screen play Green Chain.
Leiren-Young won the Stephen Leacock for
humour in 2009 for a memoir called Never Shoot a Stampede Queen. Whether or not
the reader sees humour in The Green Chain book will depend on one's views of
both the forests and the trees. GallonDaily enjoyed lots of bits of wit
including the "professional" designations of the interviewees: Patrick Moore who
wrote his own book on the benefits of clearcut and claims environmental
credentials due to being a "founder of Greenpeace" gets the label "Eco-heretic."
Despite the role some of the interviewees had in cutting and pulping the
forests, each and every one responded to the question Leiren-Young asked about
how they feel about trees: they all love trees.
Many of the interviewees continue to play a
role in environment and forest issues:
- Betty Krawczyk, who likes to call herself a
"fanatic", became an activist in Clayoquot Sound after clearcutting released a
landslide of mud into a cove near where she lived in an A-frame one of her
sons built for her. She said, the "fish bearing streams were just being
destroyed by the greed of the logging companies." So she tried to get action
from various government agencies but there was no response. In 1993, she
joined a group she had been giving money to, Friends of Clayoquot Sound. She
was the oldest person (She turned 80 in 2008) , on the blockade against
logging in the old growth forest, and was sent to jail. GallonLetter notes she
has attended court cases recently for the Occupy movement and expresses doubts
that courts will ever side with activists: companies seek and get injunctions
routinely and once there is an injunction, protesters who refuse to go away
are found guilty of contempt of court and go to jail no matter how much the
companies despoil the environment and how just the cause in the public
interest of the protesters.
- Avrim Lazar, CEO of Forest Products
Association of Canada, labelled as Company Man, in his interview said they saw
coming a "demand for products that have the highest possible environmental
credentials. So the idea is pretty simple - make as rapid progress as we can
on our environmental performance and then market that progress as a market
differentiation plan. " Lazar has been a vegetarian since the age of 16 and
occasionally takes pot shots at the beef industry for their role in
deforestation due to grazing and for soybean crop production for animal
feed.
- Kalle Lasn, labelled as Adbuster-in-Chief,
filed a lawsuit when networks in Canada refused to air his claymation
anti-forestry ad showing an ancient tree explaining to a sapling that "a tree
farm is not a forest" Lasn created the journal Adbusters calling itself
a culturejammer which promotes "Buy Nothing Day". Although he won his forestry
ad case in 2009, he finds it difficult to get his buy nothing ads aired.
GallonLetter notes that on the 20th anniversary, the Buy Nothing campaign has
been extended to reflect the Occupy movement to Occupy Xmas.
Here in one book is a range of opinion of
experiences and views on what should be done in the future for Canada's forests.
Mill worker, union leader, tree sprite, tree guru, beachcomber, tree planter,
hot scientist, forest steward, old growth tree hugger, second generation
activist and others all provide an insight into forest issues which would
otherwise be difficult to convey on just 200 pages of paper. GallonLetter thinks
we need more of this type of writing to cross the divide which seems to be
growing between the "right" and "left".
"Hot scientist" Richard Hebda, who as curator
at the Royal British Columbia Museum set up a "Climate Rules" exhibit, expressed
what GallonLetter took away as a key message: "People have a legitimate need to
use and be part of forest ecosystems. In some cases, very lightly so; in other
cases, very intensely so." Humans need to look at forests as ecosystems and to
take into account the effects of climate change and human impacts and
disturbance. Ecologically based approaches may vary including preservation,
restoration and "in other cases, replanting as fast as we can, but always
honouring the forests as ecosystems and the processes and the species that are
there and all of the values they provide, not only for us as humans but all the
species that live here."
Leiren-Young is the co-author with Tzeporah
Berman, Greenpeace International's co-head of the climate and energy campaign,
of a book which is about her. This Crazy Time (Random House) was released in
September 2011.
Leiren-Young, Mark. The Green Chain:
Nothing is Ever Clear Cut. Surrey, British Columbia: Heritage House Publishing
Company Ltd, 2009.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
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FORESTS:
RELEASE OF CO2 TO THE ATMOSPHERE
Forests in different geographic areas and with
different tree species store carbon in different amounts. A report by Fluxnet on
carbon in Canadian forests describes the effects of cutting down the forest.
About 70% of the carbon is stored in the soil and the litter, the branches and
other cuttings not taken out with the logs. As the litter rots, it releases
carbon. Annual carbon emissions due to the trees no longer processing CO2
through photosynthesis results in annual emissions of 1.4 tonnes/hectare for
boreal black spruce, 6.0 t/ha for Douglas fir and 1.9 t/ha for jack pine stands.
The area continues to lose carbon until the uptake of carbon by the new growth
is equal to the new trees' respiration rate which is about 10 years for black
spruce and jack pine stands and 17 years for Douglas-fir. The losses from
the time of cutting will not be offset until the trees reach 19 to 40 years of
age. Carbon will then accumulate until the trees are cut again.
Cutting of the trees increases the flow of
water draining into streams and ground water because the trees aren't
"breathing." Other water-related impacts relate to snow accumulation and timing
of snow melt, and streamflow within the watershed.
Roads and skid machinery can compact soil and
increase water runoff and soil erosion. The changes in soil organic material and
water flow change emissions of other greenhouse gases such as methane. Overall,
harvesting of forests increases global warming. However, removal of the canopy
may lead to more snow cover reflecting light (and hence heat) which can
neutralize global warming.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
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FORESTS:
CANADA's REPORT TO THE UN CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY
The total forest area in Canada is 4.02
million km2, including forests and woodlands, according to the fourth report
submitted by Canada to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
Between 1990 and 2007 annual deforestation ranged from 482 km2 to 838 km2 which
is less than 0.02% of the total forest area in Canada.
About half of the deforestation area is due to
conversion to cropland, the other half includes building of roads for resource
extraction, power lines, and oil and gas and other development. For example, in
the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, urban development has impacted forests.
The Garry oak ecosystem, one of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems, has been
reduced by urban expansion in Greater Victoria. Between 1995 and 2006, a large
portion of deforestation was due to building of hydro reservoirs. The annual
area of forests newly planted increased from 69 to 110 km2 between 1990 and
2005.
Although annual loss of forest area isn't
large compared to the total forest area, the forests are changing in composition
more than expected. GallonLetter has read a complaint that the new 2 dollar coin
(Toonie) and the ad celebrating 2011 as the Year of the Forest by depicting the
boreal forest, show the wrong species. We don't know if that complaint is
well-founded but maybe that is just a reflection of the changes as the report to
the CBD says that the boreal forest of Ontario and northwest Quebec is
converting to deciduous broad-leaved trees from conifers. In Atlantic Canada,
the forests are shifting from late succession to early succession species. For
example in Nova Scotia, clearcutting favours species which don't like shade such
as poplar and white birch which have replaced mid- and late-successional forests
of red spruce, yellow birch, sugar maple, and white pine. Unless subject to
catastrophic events such as clearcutting, late succession forests tend to be
more stable over a long period of time.
Forest
Birds
While there have been gradual declines of
birds in the forest over the last few years, the decline of 10% since the 1970s
is the smallest of the five categories reported: forest, shrub, grassland, open
and urban. Because forest habitat varies, different bird species have different
trends. About 60% of the land-based birds in Canada breed in the boreal forest
with many having a large portion of their world-wide population in Canada. Birds
in shrub and early succession forests have declined about 17% since the 1970s
with the decline varying widely throughout Canada.
Caribou
Boreal woodland caribou are found only in
Canada, listed as ‘threatened’ by the Committee on the Status of Endangered
Wildlife in Canada COSEWIC. Of their total population (at the time of the
report) of about 39,000, from the Northwest Territory to East Labrador and as
far south as Lake Superior, 5% of the 57 local populations are increasing, 30%
declining, 28% stable and 37% have unknown status. The major factors in their
decline are loss, degradation or fragmentation of their habitat, mature conifer
forests.
Fire
Fire is beneficial as a natural process
especially as many boreal species depend on the ecological effects of fire such
as reduction of insects and diseases, regeneration by seed, age structure
and nutrient cycling. However, predictions are that climate change, fire
suppression techniques and increased human settlement will increase the area
burned by fire by 75% to 120% by 2100. Fires in the last 50 years have been
larger: large fires account for only 3% of the number of fires but 97% of the
area burned.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
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FORESTS BOTH
IMPACTED BY AND IMPACTING HUMAN ACTIVITIES
Forests are impacted by industrial activities
and in turn forestry and pulp and paper activities have impacts of their own. As
an example, a report by Fisheries and Oceans Canada about the region in Quebec
which can be considered marine-connected, Lower Saint Lawrence, the North-Shore
and the Gaspésie–Magdalen Island, explores the economic activities which impact
on fisheries and the marine environment including forestry. The reason for the
report is said to be because of the Ocean Act which requires "economic planning
for the management of human activities, so that they do not enter into conflict
with each other and so that all factors are considered for the conservation and
sustainable use of maritime resources and the shared use of the
ocean."
The businesses of large forest companies in
the region generate other economic activities including reforestation
businesses, silvicultural work, forest roads, carriers, engineering and
equipment manufacturers. Most of the forests are on public land with contracts
for developing the forest. Recently the high Canadian dollar, the duties charged
by the US since 2001 and reduced wood supply from the forests has led to both
permanent and temporary layoffs of over 2,300 workers in this region and
shutdown of wood processing and pulp and paper mills. In 2007, about 126,700
workers were employed in all of Quebec in both direct and indirect employments
in the forestry, wood transformation and pulp and paper sector with 17% (or
21,600 workers) of the Quebec's total forest employment being in the region
discussed here. The decline in the US housing market is expected to affect
demand for a long time but intensification of forest management is expected to
increase the demand for workers.
An alternative economic activity has been
harvesting of 4,500,000 kilograms of spruce branches and the manufacturing of
Christmas wreaths (2003) for revenues of $10 million, 500 to 600 harvesting
jobs for five to six weeks and 470 production jobs.
Pulp and Paper
Pollution to Water
The pulp and paper mills have reduced their
discharge of particulates and dissolved substances by 90% and 97% respectively
from 1981 to 2006. However, contaminants diluted in large amounts of water
(estimated to be 534.8 million cubic metres in 2006) are discharged to streams,
the effluent containing
- " Suspended matter, such as fibers, fine
wooden particles, biological mud, ashes and additives (clay, calcium
carbonate, etc.)
- Organic matter, mostly dissolved, that
creates a BOD resulting from wood or, in lesser amounts, from
additives;
- Inorganic compounds (metals and salts
resulting from wood or additives);
- Traces of PCBs, which one finds in the
effluents of certain factories using recycled fibers (resulting from coloring
agents and certain chemicals);
- Hydrocarbons which result especially from
loss of lubricants;
- Phenolic compounds, fatty acids and resins
resulting from wood;
- Organic chloride compounds, such as dioxins
and chlorinated furans, which one finds in the effluents of the factories
using a chlorinated product for bleaching;
- Nutrients, composed of nitrogen and
phosphorus, that are added to the biological treatment to preserve bacterial
activity;
- Other substances, such as volatile or
semi-volatile organic compounds, formaldehyde, polycyclics and the
acetaldehyde aromatic hydrocarbons."
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
2011 STATE OF
CANADA'S FORESTS
The 2011 State of Canada's Forests uses
various indicators and commentary with some emphasis on economics. Some of the
statistics are:
- 348 species related to forest are listed as
at risk. Of 40 species assessed or reassessed by COSEWIC (the committee
responsible for determining the scientific status of species at risk) in May
2011, 16 are forest related: 9 are newly at risk, six species reassessed had
no change in their risk and 1 species reassessed was at a higher level of
risk. Threats include recreation and tourism development, climate change,
pollution and over-harvesting.
- Harvesting even if clearcut is not accounted
as deforestation if tree seedlings are planted eventually or the forest is
expected to regenerate naturally. GallonLetter notes that we recently
lost a shade tree with more than a metre diameter base. Although it is often
claimed that Canada has sustainable forestry because two seedlings are planted
for every one tree cut, tree seedlings only gain the volume of wood after many
years. For example, it will likely be 50 -100 years before the value of our
shade tree is again realized. Deforestation is counted only if the land is
converted to agriculture, industrial or residential development, or resource
extraction. Afforestation is new tree planting on previously non-forest land.
In 2009 about 45,000 hectares were deforested. Very limited afforestation
occurs in Canada.
- replanting. There is typically a two year gap
between tree cutting and planting of tree seedling. In 2009 43.5% of the 2007
harvested area was expected to regenerate naturally* and 56.5% by artificial
means ie planting (or a small amount 2.4% by seeding).
- While provinces regulate provincial harvest
by annual allowable cuts, the actual volume of wood may be somewhat different.
Cuts on private, territorial and federal lands are unregulated. The report
concludes that it is "therefore difficult to determine the sustainable level
of harvest on these lands." Estimates are that for 2009 the annual softwood
supply was 188 million cubic metres mm3 with 95 mm3 cut that year while the
annual hardwood supply was 58 mm3 with 20 mm3 cut that year.
- As of Dec 2010, Canada has 149.8 million
hectares of forest certified to one or more of three certification systems,
the largest area of certified forest in the world representing 42% of
the total certified forests worldwide.
GallonLetter thinks that the State of Canada's
Forest has the potential to be seen to have too much emphasis on the economics
of the forest industry. It is a quandary for governments to find the right path
between promoting the competitiveness of the industry while at the same time
maintaining a proper role as regulator to protect the environment.
---
* As trees are living organisms, whether
planting directly or allowing natural regeneration which happens by itself (no
cost to the forest companies), reforesting has its challenges. Just because
seedlings are planted or the cut areas are expected to regenerate naturally
doesn't mean the seedlings grow. Canadian Forest Service scientist David Paré
said in a Natural Resources Canada newsletter, "Every tree species requires
certain conditions to regenerate naturally. Some species prefer to grow under
the forest canopy, while others prefer large openings to regenerate. Some
species require particular soil conditions, such as exposed mineral soil or
decomposing woody debris."
Forest
Products: The below 2% Solution
After hearing Canada's Environment Minister
Kent say yet again that Canada's greenhouse gas emissions were "barely 2%" of
the global emissions as if that meant Canada's emissions were too small to act
on even though Canada is among the top ten of global emitters, GallonLetter was
taken aback to read that even below 2% can be "significant" indeed and a .1%
change is a "turnaround".
One of the indicators is Contribution of
Forest Products to Gross Domestic Product. The sector includes forestry and
logging, wood product manufacturing and pulp and paper
manufacturing.
From 2006 to 2009, the share of the forest
product sector of Canada's GDP is said to have dropped significantly. Until
2006, the share was over 2.5% but less than 3% which it has been for more than a
decade. Beginning in 2006, the share of the forest product sector began to
decline falling to 1.7% in 2009 a record low, and rising slightly in 2010 to
1.8% at $22.6 billion. Of course, in some cases but not this one, declining
share of GDP doesn't mean the sector itself is declining but could just mean
that other sectors of the economy are growing at a greater rate.
The report calls a one-year difference of .1%
from 2009 to 2010 a "turnaround" which is credited to federal programmes such as
Pulp and Paper Green Transformation.
The 1.8% share of GDP of the forest product
sector in 2010 is described in other parts of the report as "Canada's forest
industry contributes significantly to the nation's economy", "The Canadian
forest industry is a major employer nationwide..." and "Canada's forest industry
contributes substantially to the Canadian economy..."
Of course, one of the issues as the report
points out is that a few communities (about 200 of them) are forest dependent.
Maybe next time Minister Kent talks of the, in his view, negligible level of
Canada's share of global greenhouse gas emissions, he'll apply the same
significance to Canada's GHG emissions and remember the island and other
communities around the world dependent on current sea levels.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
WHAT IS AN OLD
GROWTH FOREST?
Due to public concern about old growth
forests, the Canadian Forest Service organized a science symposium on old growth
forest in 2001. Even defining old growth forests turned out to be not any easier
than defining other biological phenomenon such as "species" or "life". In a
presentation to the 2003 World Forest Congress, scientists Mosseler, Thompson
and Pendrel drew on the information from the CFS Symposium to try to get at the
concept of "old-growthness" by listing the features of an old-growth forest in
the temperate zone:
"Structural features:
1. uneven or multi-aged stand structure, or
several identifiable age cohorts
2. average age of dominant species approaching
half the maximum longevity for species (approximately 150+ years for most
shade-tolerant trees)
3. some old trees at close to their maximum
longevity (ages of 300+ years)
4. presence of standing dead and dying trees
in various stages of decay
5. fallen, coarse woody debris
6. natural regeneration of dominant tree
species within canopy gaps or on decaying logs
Compositional features:
7. long-lived, shade-tolerant tree species
associations (e.g., sugar maple, American beech, yellow birch, red spruce,
eastern hemlock, white pine)
Ca
Process features:
8. characterized by small-scale disturbances
creating gaps in forest canopy
9. a long natural rotation for catastrophic or
stand-replacing disturbance (e.g., a period greater than the maximum longevity
of the dominant tree species)
10. minimal evidence of human
disturbance
11. final stages of stand development before a
relatively steady state is reached."
While old-growth forests provide a number of
services such as habitat, an undervalued feature is the role of old-growth
forests as reservoirs of genetic diversity and reproductive fitness. Loss of old
growth forests is a loss of the gene pool which could help to make the forest
more resilient under changing conditions. The paper says old growth forests are
too important to leave to environmentalists, "It is an important issue with
implications for ecological science, the long-term health of our forest economy,
and our quality-of-life. It is time for the wider forestry community - the
forest sector as a whole - to embrace this issue in a more serious way and to
take up the cause of old-growth conservation."
Age
Distribution of Canada's Forests
GallonLetter notes that the paper didn't
discuss what portion of Canada's forest is old growth but somewhat dated data
from Canada's National Forest Inventory which is supposed to be updated soon has
several tables with relative age of forests by ecozone and forest types:
coniferous, deciduous and mixed. The data could be from 2001 or 2006. There are
397.3 million hectares of forest, other wooded land and other land with tree
cover in Canada. Canada has 10% of the world's forest area and 30% of the
world's boreal forest. Other wooded land, which is 12.5% of this area, includes
treed wetlands (swamps) and areas with scattered trees. Coniferous forests
represent 67% of the total forest land (234.7 million hectares), mixedwoods make
up 16% (55 million hectares) and broadleaf 11% (37.7 million
hectares).
The dominant age class of Canada's coniferous
forests is 81-120 years. Of the coniferous forests 8.8% are over 161 years of
age, 10.1% of these forests are 121-160 years old and 49.9% are 81-120 years of
age. The oldest age-class category (161+) covers 20.6 million hectares. The
dominant age class of Canada’s broadleaf and mixedwood forests are 41-80 years.
For broadleaf forests, .3% are over 161 years old, 2.2% are 121-160 years old,
24.4% are 81-120 years old. For mixed forests, .6% are 161 years or older, 2.9%
are 121-160 years old, 36.2% are 81-120 years old.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
BC WOOD
FIRST
In 2009, British Columbia enacted a Wood First
Act which requires that all provincially funded building projects to use wood as
the primary construction material. The procurement standard is intended to help
BC forest workers, help to deal with climate change* and showcase wood products
in non-residential buildings. Only 19% of commercial and institutional buildings
use wood in construction. .
In November, Mary Tracey, executive director
of Wood WORKS! BC and executive member of the BC Wood Enterprise Coalition
announced that 40 communities had used wood in local projects or developed
policies of wood procurement to promote a "wood culture". The first municipal
building built under the Act's requirements was the Emergency Services Centre in
Nakusp, BC. which includes a fire hall, search and rescue centre, ambulance
station and regional training centre. Construction material was secured and
milled through a local community forest company.
---
* The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change recommends sustainable forest management with harvests
which extend "carbon retention in harvested wood products, product substitution,
and producing biomass for bio-energy. This carbon is removed from the atmosphere
and is available to meet society’s needs for timber, fibre, and
energy."
Nabuurs, G.J., O. Masera, K. Andrasko, P.
Benitez-Ponce, R. Boer, M. Dutschke, E. Elsiddig, J. Ford-Robertson, P.
Frumhoff, T. Karjalainen, O. Krankina, W.A. Kurz, M. Matsumoto, W. Oyhantcabal,
N.H. Ravindranath, M.J. Sanz Sanchez, X. Zhang, 2007: Forestry. In Climate
Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz,
O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg3/ar4-wg3-chapter9.pdf
----
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
WOOD PERHAPS
NOT SO GOOD FOR HOUSING IN NORTHERN NATIVE COMMUNITIES?
Steve Marshall of Morris Group of Companies in
Sudbury sees the potential of steel containers used to supply mining camps for
providing shelter on native reserves. One set of retrofitted containers used for
an Ontario Power Generation work camp for 800 workers will become First Nations
housing later. Work camps used to be based on wood trailers but Marshall says
steel containers have advantages including:
- greater rigidity means they can be stacked
and moved.
- prefabrication installs bedrooms and
washrooms.
- They don't have to be built on site just
connected together.
- the lifespan is five times longer than wood
and they are 100% recyclable. There is less problem for mould as insulation is
moisture resistant.
GallonLetter notes the issues of housing in
native communities are more complex than material types; as we have commented on
certified green buildings, the operation of the home is also crucial. Celebrity
renovator Mike Holmes has suggested that housing in native communities could
provide local employment to build energy efficient and environmentally
preferable housing.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
TREES: JUST
LIKE LETTUCE
TAPPI which describes itself as "The Leading
Technical Association for the Worldwide Pulp, Paper and Converting Industry"
gets this issue's out-on-a-limb-award for the mindset which ignores all the
lifecycle impacts of forestry and manufacturing including equipment, roads and
transport, pollution from production of paper, energy use and loss of
biodiversity even if paper in the US were really 100% sourced from "tree farms".
In addition, paper comes in many products from all around the world and some of
it is sourced from old growth, rainforests and threatened habitat.
.
TAPPI says, "Where do trees for making paper
come from?
Most trees used for paper come from forests
called managed timberlands. Even though the trees in these timberlands may look
like “woods,” they are an agricultural crop - like vegetables on a farm. The
trees are grown to be made into products for human use. Not using paper in order
to save trees is like not eating salad in order to “save”
vegetables."
GallonLetter notes that the conversion of
forests to plantations of trees is one which environmentalists criticize all
over the world encompassing not only paper but also other plantations such as
palms for palm oil. It is certainly true that the US has more of what can be
considered tree farms due to such conversion. Certainly most of the public would
agree that trees grown by nurseries, Christmas tree farms, orchards and perhaps
other crop trees such as olives and nut trees are not forests. These along the
lines of what TAPPI suggests could be considered tree farms.
However, that doesn't mean the paper is like
eating a salad. We don't recommend wasting salad either but the lifecycle of
paper is different from lettuce. Depending on the paper, forestry operations may
include use of soil sterilants and broad spectrum herbicides which in general
are more hazardous to health and the environment than those used on food crops
(although this may not be universally true) . Paper processing includes various
chemicals for treatment and bleaching and associated industrial activities such
as mining for pigments. While some paper is labelled as to its source, other
paper is sourced from old growth, tropical and sensitive or threatened habitats.
Saving paper has the potential to save those trees and the lifecycle impacts of
the paper chain. Paper is found in a wide range of products not just those
envelopes labelled with the forest certification logos. Besides trees, unlike
lettuce, form a landscape: many municipalities have had tree conservation bylaws
for 50 or more years. Although the US has federal rules to protect leafy greens
from food contamination, we have not yet heard of a Lettuce Conservation By-Law
to constrain rampant harvesting of salad rows.
Paid subscribers see link to
original documents and references
here.
****************************************************
LETTER TO THE
EDITOR
Subject:
Deep Words, Shallow Words: an Initial Analysis of Water Discourse in Four
Decades of UN Declarations
We've recently released the above-captioned
report which is getting some excellent and supportive feedback from a variety of
quarters. The report examines the changing language of water in high-level
declarations from eleven UN conferences on water and the environment over the
past forty years and constitutes a contribution by the Institute to the Rio+20
process. Multiple themes are addressed and a four page ‘Summary for Decision
Makers’ distills lessons learned.
We hope the study will facilitate the efforts
of Ministers and Policy Makers to both build on and avoid unnecessary overlap
with work done at previous meetings. The findings of the report should assist
drafters of future UN Declarations in ensuring their outputs are effective,
robust and reflect mindful and cumulative deepening of work undertaken at
previous high-level meetings.
Kind regards,
Alex Bielak
Dr. Alex T. Bielak, Senior Research Fellow and
Knowledge Broker
Freshwater Ecosystems Programme, United
Nations University - Institute for Water, Environment & Health (UNU-INWEH)
and Senior Advisor to the Chair - UN-Water
UNU-INWEH - The UN Think Tank on
Water
****************************************************~
ENVIRONMENTAL
COMMISSIONER OF ONTARIO: ANNUAL REPORT
The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
(ECO) (Gord Miller) Annual Report says the government is pretty good at defining
environmental problems and even has some good approaches to solutions but "too
often they don't get on with implementing solutions." Waste management,
endangered species and the regulatory framework for dealing with environmental
protection before promotion of industrial development are amongst the key issues
on which the government has not acted. Budgets for the Ministry of Natural
Resources and the Environment have been reduced over time: combined the budgets
used to be 2.15% of government operations in 1992/93 and now is just .76% of the
2010/11 operational expenditures. Millers says, "We don't even pay one percent
of our operational dollar to protect our natural environment."
Planning for
Natural Heritage
The Ministry of Natural Resources published
the second edition of the Natural Heritage Reference Manual for Natural Heritage
Policies of the Provincial Policy Statement PPS, 2005. The manual outlines how
planning jurisdictions such as municipalities should approach planning using
criteria to identify significant woodlands and other lands (previously there
were no criteria) and adding buffer land so development land doesn't infringe on
the ecological workings of the natural heritage area. More guidance is provided
on how planners should determine the "no negative impacts" and what should be
included in an environmental impact study and how to update municipal official
plans and zoning to reflect the changes in criteria with more emphasis on
connectivity between natural heritage features. ECO commends the Ministry on its
updates but says the PPS hasn't been amended and still is putting development
ahead of environment for land use planning. The province, through MNR, needs to
be the one to take the big picture approach and plan a provincial scale natural
heritage system for Ontario to connect the finer-scale preservation of local
municipalities.
Conservation
Land Tax Incentive Program (Cltip)
Many natural areas are on private property. In
2010, MNR finalized a document to revise the program begun in 1998 to encourage
private landowners to protect natural heritage. The portion of land under the
CLTIP provides 100% property tax relief. The regulation O. Reg 282/98
covering this program previously didn't tell the landowner what activities must
be avoided on approved lands and the revision provided that information. ECO
commends the MNR with finally setting a policy for the program (after more
than 10 years of the programme) but is less happy that new owners of
property are ineligible if the property has been used for activities such as
commercial harvesting in the last ten years. ECO says this policy penalizes new
owners whose land would be eligible after they complete restoration work.
Tax-exempt lands put an additional burden on smaller municipalities; although
the Ministry of Finance does not compensate municipalities, it says that it
takes the CLTIP into account in transfer payments.
Farming
Practices to Get Rid of Trees: Precursor to Development
In theory, there are limits to the cutting of
forests as some municipalities have tree conservation bylaws and the province
has restrictions on provincially significant woods and wetlands. The report
discusses the on-the-ground practices which allow farmers to cut trees as part
of normal farming practice. On first glance, this is justified as merely
expanding the fields and the yields but once wetlands and woods are gone, it is
easier to get approvals for other land uses such as aggregates because there
aren't any ecological features such as woods or wetlands left to cause
conflicts.
and
and
****************************************************
DEEP ROOTS,
NEW SHOOTS: THE ENVIRONMENT YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW
On Nov. 16, 2011, a panel of environmental
experts explored Canada's environmental past and the challenges for the future.
Bob Gibson, Robert Paehlke, Karen Kraft Sloan and Colin Isaacs were panelists in
"Deep Roots, New Shoots" with Nicola Ross as moderator.
-----
Recap: "Deep Roots, New Shoots" Recap. 21
November, 2011
Co-presented by CIGI and Alternatives Journal
- Environmental Ideas + Action November 16, 2011
by Tenille Bonoguore, publisher of
Alternatives Journal
The global environmental outlook is dire,
governments are failing, and individuals are losing faith in the entire process
of democracy, but the panel at “Deep Roots, New Shoots” still found much cause
for optimism for the future.
Jointly hosted by CIGI and Alternatives
Journal to celebrate the national environmental magazine’s 40th
anniversary, the wide-ranging discussion addressed the fallacy of unlimited
economic growth, the role of science in public policy, the breakdown of
democracy and the dire need for leadership.
Through it all, the expert panel remained
adamant that we can create a more sustainable future. The last 40 years have
produced great environmental advances, like the Blue Box program, control of
acid rain-causing gases, and even the drastic reduction in cigarette
smoking.
“It’s important to recognize the change for
the better is indeed possible,” said panellist Colin Isaacs, a journalist,
sustainability consultant, former politician and previous Pollution Probe
executive director. “We need leadership to move us in the right direction, and
maybe, just maybe, we’ll beat the catastrophe that is coming.”
The chances of that happening right now are
slim, though. Recent progress on international issues, Isaacs said, “has been
abysmal.”
Canada in particular has failed on numerous
levels in recent years by cutting funding to researchers and ENGOs, limiting the
ability of these groups to access the halls of power, and failing to embrace
global environmental efforts, the panel said. Karen Kraft Sloan, a former
federal politician and Ambassador for the Environment, said this failure has
greatly damaged Canada’s international reputation. “It’s not just your
reputation on the environment file. It’s your reputation on the other files as
well that is impacted,” she said. “If you’re not trusted and you don’t want to
play [on environmental matters], you’re not going to get invited, and that’s
what I think the government of the day has missed the boat on.”
And that isn’t going unnoticed. Alternatives
Journal founder and Trent University professor emeritus Bob Paehlke told the
audience that on a recent UN-related trip, he found “most Europeans and some
Africans are very aware that Canada has changed.”
But government alone can’t be expected to
produce the vast change needed. Nor can technology be the saviour it appeared to
be in the 1950s (and continues to be today in many circles). Meanwhile, simply
mitigating the worst effects of climate change by making cleaner cars and more
energy-efficient televisions isn’t enough.
“We’re sliding even more deeply into
unsustainability,” said University of Waterloo professor and Alternatives
columnist Bob Gibson. “Every one of our undertakings should be making a positive
contribution to sustainability.”
Creating a sustainable society will require
massive societal change, which will take time. The reality of climate change,
however, is brutally urgent. Caught between those competing demands are
individuals who are losing faith in the future and in the governing bodies
tasked with shaping it, the panel said. So who needs to take responsibility for
the environment?
Global governments are essential in shaping an
agreed path, despite the fact those efforts are often hamstrung by competing
national interests. Environmental groups play a significant role in pressing for
change. Business is a powerful force for good and bad. And universities have the
potential to encourage cross-disciplinary and policy-driven research, thereby
raising the quality of public policy.
Ultimately, however, “no one group has sole
responsibility. It’s shared,” said Isaacs.
That makes it incumbent upon policy makers in
government to work with scientists and environmentalists, and for all of those
groups to work with communities.
“If you’re searching for a new way, the public
themselves has to take responsibility, and there has to be infrastructure that
allows that voice to come through,” said Kraft Sloan. “You’re not going to make
the shift to sustainability unless the public is involved.”
Gibson agreed, saying the world needs “tens of
thousands of leaders”, not a single saviour.
With the right leadership, the audience was
told, things can change. And, as Gibson pointed out to wrap up the event, given
humanity’s track record on environmental matters, the bar for success is pretty
low. “Because we’ve been so unbelievably stupid,” he said, “it’s not very hard
to be completely bloody brilliant.”
Visit CIGI Online for their recap of the event
and to watch a video of the full panel discussion.
"Deep Roots, New Shoots" Recap | Alternatives
Journal - Environmental Ideas + Action
****************************************************
WATER LANGUAGE
IN UN CONFERENCES
Eleven high-level United Nations conferences
over 40 years have addressed water and the environment. The report Deep Words,
Shallow Words by Alex Bielak and PhD student Dana Mount of the UN University
(see letter to editor) explores how some conferences have failed to take into
account previous agreements. Over time, the language has also changed due to
emerging issues, understanding and concepts. The Rio+20 UN Conference on
Sustainable Development will also result in various resolutions related to
water. This report is intended to help the Conference consider the historic
treatment of key water-related themes.
Some of the issues include:
- water scarcity tends to be discussed in the
context of safe drinking water. Scientists are reporting on water scarcity
beyond its availability for drinking but scarcity has disappeared from
declaration in the last ten year.
- the language of desertification which is
related to water scarcity is sparsely mentioned but strong language is used
where desertification affects agriculture..
- water quality appears in most declarations
but with inconsistent language. More recently the issue has focussed more on
global inequality deepening to include safety and focus on threats to clean
water such as pollution.
- sanitation is a complex topic because people
don't want to talk about urination and defecation and. not all sanitation
problems are linked to local water quality.
- the term technology is more often used than
science. Science can build capacity, transfer knowledge and tools for
transferring appropriate technology.
- the language of climate change in more recent
declarations expresses a more serious concern than the more vague future-worry
it used to have in older declarations.
More issues and details such as on poverty,
health and gender are provided in the report.
Mount, Dana C. and Alex .T Bielak. Deep Words,
Shallow Words: An Initial Analysis of
****************************************************
RAIN BARRELS:
A SMALL BUSINESS FROM FUNDRAISING
A small company Rain Barrels in Hamilton is
offering community and other groups fundraising opportunities by selling
rainbarrels by the truckload. Groups wishing to hold a sale are asked to
complete a "Partnership Request" form which explores the feasibility of the
event based on answers to questions on:
- cost comfort level for homeowners buying the
barrels
- number of board members, staff, and active
volunteers
- role of the group in the community
- history of past events held by the group and
how these are communicated
- extent of the email contact list for the
event
- location description and date
The company helps to promote the event on the
website through a link to "Find a truckload rain barrel sale near
you"
One of the features communicated to
GallonLetter by outreach coordinator David Hart Dyke, who was also a Green Party
Candidate for Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, Chair of the Waste Reduction Task
Force in Hamilton and local environmental activist is that the barrels are food
grade. They formerly contained fruit, vegetable or other food items.
The barrels are ready to assemble with a top
filter basket, side overflow, barrel to barrel connector, overflow hose and a
bottom-side spigot with a garden host thread. There are different colors
(terracotta, grey and slate) and different sizes (180-223 litres). There are
also tanks 100-275 gallons. These are also available at the facility.
Prices are lower for each unit if delivered for sale by the truckload. The
tanks are about $100 and the barrels $50.
Maintenance includes clearing debris and
indoor storage is recommended but if kept outdoors the barrels must be free of
liquids otherwise the 2 year warranty is void. Replacement parts are available
from the company or at any local hardware store.
The company has had a special event where
local artists painted the barrels turning a utility into a rather attractive
garden art. They deliver all over Ontario and have a few locations in
Quebec.
****************************************************
ASBESTOS:
OPPOSITION MOTION
On October 31, 2011 in the House of Commons,
the New Democratic Party, Canada's Official Opposition, introduced a
ban-asbestos motion. Mr. Claude Gravelle (Nickel Belt, NDP) moved:
"That, in the opinion of the House, the
government should:
(a) ban the use and export of
asbestos;
(b) support international efforts to add
chrysotile asbestos to the list of hazardous chemical products under the
Rotterdam Convention;
(c) assist affected workers by developing a
Just Transition Plan with measures to
accommodate their re-entry into the workforce;
(d) introduce measures dedicated to affected
older workers, through the employment insurance program, to assure them of a decent standard of
living until retirement; and
(e) support communities and municipalities in
asbestos producing regions through an investment fund for regional economic
diversification.
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to introduce this
New Democratic Party motion calling for a ban on the use and export of all forms
of asbestos and a just transition plan for asbestos-producing workers and
communities.
I am especially honoured to share my time with
my colleague from Winnipeg Centre. Like me, he was exposed early to asbestos and
he became a tenacious labour leader for health and safety rights for workers.
Since his election 14 years ago, in 1997, he has championed in this House the
ban on asbestos.
Today we are closer to that than ever before.
I am grateful for my colleague, for my New Democratic Party and for a broad
coalition of national and international health care, trade union and human
rights advocates that have fought this fight.
Let us not mince words: asbestos is extremely
harmful. Asbestos kills. This is a substance so noxious that is has been banned
from manufacturing processes in Canada, yet we export it to countries such as
India, where our government has accepted the absurd claim that it is safe to
use. For a government that purports to be friendly to immigrants, this is real
hypocrisy.
The medical community has been clear and
unanimous in refuting the industry argument that although asbestos is dangerous,
chrysotile is just fine. There may be different forms of asbestos; they may have
varying chemical makeups and different lengths of shapes and fibres, but they
all produce disease, some worse than others.
As Canadians and as a country with
international responsibilities, we know that the right thing to do is to ban the
extraction and exporting of asbestos."
The motion was defeated by the governing
Conservatives but Canadians who care should take the time to read the transcript
of this parliamentary debate. If the issue weren't so serious, the read may even
make you laugh as opposition members keep asking the Acting Speaker to bring
David Anderson, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Natural Resources, to
order in his 20 minute speech because he is talking about forestry when the
topic is asbestos. The Acting Speaker says that it is the habit of the Chair to
let the members of Parliament make their own way to the topic and eventually
says, "I trust that the parliamentary secretary will do that. There is one
minute remaining in his speech."
****************************************************
ROI OF A
DIFFERENT KIND
GallonLetter was in communication with Suren
Erkman, Professor and Director at ICAST (Institute for Communication and
Analysis of Science and Technology) in Switzerland. He mentioned that he was in
India in regard to ROI. It turns out ROI is Resource Optimization Initiative, a
public charitable trust in India, which is using "tools of industrial ecology to
recommend and promote strategies for sustainable management of critical
resources. Our main activities are research and outreach for industrial ecology
in developing countries." On November 28, ICAST and partners held a symposium on
the critical role and challenges of energy for emerging countries such as India.
Depleting resources, energy subsidies, poverty reduction and pressure to switch
to cleaner energy are amongst the challenges which require new strategies and
new policies.
The ROI website has a number of case studies
including one on how industrial ecology has been used for diversifying the
corporate structure. A paper company Seshasayee Paper and Boards Ltd (SPB), in
Tamil Nadu which began production in 1962 set up a sugar mill to ensure a source
of material because forest are being rapidly deforested in India. The sugar
waste called bagasse was used for paper and molasses from the sugar mill went to
a distillery nearby. The company engaged with the farmers to ensure a steady
supply of sugarcane and also supplied them with water, treated wastewater from
paper making. The waste after paper making and other biomass from agriculture
was used as bioenergy for their own power plant.
****************************************************
IISD:
PREPARING FOR RIO +20
IISD announced the launch of Sustainable
Development Policy & Practice A Knowledgebase of International Activities
Preparing for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio +20)
http://uncsd.iisd.org/
****************************************************
READING
GALLONDAILY
If you enjoy Gallon Environment Letter or find
it useful for your work or interests, may we recommend the GallonDaily report.
Found at http://www.gallondaily.com, GallonDaily provides short articles and reports on
topics of particular interest to green businesses. One article appears almost
every day Monday to Friday - we recommend visiting at least once a week. Our
real enthusiasts can also sign up for email notification as new articles are
posted.
Recent topics include:
LEED
Platinum car factory excels in many areas
Zero waste batteries by mail
Arsenic found in some US apple and grape
juice
New UK green energy bond
announced
Endocrine disruption back on the
agenda
Brazil sets new high in oil spill
fine
Canada and the Kyoto Protocol
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