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For archive click What's
New -Archive
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Current What's New
June 23, 2008 The Honoured Reader (free) edition of the Gallon Environment
Letter Vol. 13, No. 5 June 9, 2008 has been posted
click here.
Editorial by Colin Isaacs: THE
FOOD VERSUS BIOFUEL CONTROVERSY
Theme: ASBESTOS
PART 2 (See GL V13 N1 for Part
1)
ROTTERDAM:
RESPONSIBLE INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ASBESTOS
CHRYSOTILE
ASBESTOS AGAIN RECOMMENDED FOR PRIOR CONSENT LISTING
CANADA'S
ASBESTOS LEGACY
Awards
for Environmental Health Work
HEALTH
CANADA SHOULD MAKE ASBESTOS REPORT PUBLIC
Stayner Wins Award for
Work on Chrysotile Asbestos Research
SCHMIDHEINY:
CHANGING COURSE
Phasing
out Asbestos at Eternit
Charges
of Injustice about Eternit's Asbestos Legacy
BRAZILIAN
WORKERS SEEK COMPENSATION FOR ASBESTOS
Fernanda
Giannasi: the Erin Brockovich of Brazil
EMERGENCIES:
REDUCING ASBESTOS RISK
CARBON
NANOTUBES ACT SIMILARLY TO ASBESTOS
CIELAP
Releases 2nd Nanotechnology Policy Document
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
Subject: Degrowth Conference GL V13 N4
Subject: CANSEE Conference 2009
BIOFUELS
NOT ONLY CAUSE OF FOOD SHORTAGE
CANADIAN
CORPORATE SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING - BEST PRACTICES 2008
GUEST
COLUMN - Note
on Degrowth: "De-growth" Debate in France Originally Sent to Sylvia Lorek
by Emmanuel Prinet (see also Letter to
the Editor):
STEADY
STATE ECONOMY
GLEN DAVIS
UPDATE: PUBLIC ASSISTANCE REQUESTED
by Monte Hummel, O.C. President Emeritus
WWF-Canada
WASTE
- THE SOCIAL CONTEXT '08
BOOK:
SOME LIKE IT COOL
ANOTHER
KICK AT THE GALLON CAN
...Bisphenol
A
...National
GHG Emissions
CSR AT
EDC
CSR Advisors
Performance
Measures
The Enviroexport
Program
Review
WATER
HYACINTH: FROM WEED TO CASH CROP
A New
Profitable Use
BEEKEEPERS'
OUTRAGE LEADS TO TEMPORARY GERMAN BAN ON CHEMICAL
Canadian Approval
of Poncho
REDEFINITION
AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO ACTION
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ABOUT
THIS ISSUE
Our two part update of asbestos issues
concludes in this issue with a special focus on asbestos and international
relationships. Even as conservative a group as the Canadian Cancer Society
has called for “the eventual phasing out of use and export of asbestos”
and for Canada to support the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos on the
Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent list for 2008, yet both
past Liberal and the current Conservative governments have consistently
declared that chrysotile asbestos can be handled safely. As our articles
indicate, support for asbestos has trademarked Canada as a country that
has insufficient concern for the health of workers and citizens in many
developing countries. See GL V13 N1 for Part 1 of this series. Even
if you are not directly involved with asbestos, our stories illustrate
how international organizations, companies, governments, and individuals
are teaming up to defeat the Canadian government’s position on asbestos.
Recently the media, spurred on by some
of the silliness at the Rome Food Summit, have been full of the biofuel
versus food debate. The Food Summit was attended by national leaders
from around the world, including President Sarkozy of France, President
Lula of Brazil, President Mubarak of Egypt, Prime Minister Fukuda of
Japan, and more including the most senior of Canadian representatives,
our Ambassador to Rome. GL’s editorial explains where this periodical
comes out on the food versus fuel debate.
Are you an Ecological Economist yet,
or are you into Degrowth? Our letter writers in this issue would encourage
you to be. Our guest column also focusses on the Degrowth issue - GL
is inclined to think that, while the term is unattractive, the concept
is well worth contemplating. If Degrowth is not for you then try the
Steady State Economy, a similar concept which we also address in this
issue. We review a conference, Waste: the Social Context '08, and an
excellent new book by Robert Paehlke: Some Like it Cold, The Politics
of Climate Change.
Stratos has published its Canadian Corporate
Sustainability Reporting - Best Practices 2008 report - we give you
its highlights and tell you where to find it. Stratos did not review
the corporate social responsibility report of the government’s export
agency, EDC, so we will do it for you. We also look at a chemical that
is widely used in Canada but which has been put on temporary ban in
Germany because it may be implicated in the death of bees, something
that was of great concern to Charles Caccia and is still of concern
to many beekeepers and orchardists. Water hyacinth was for many years
regarded as the worst of weeds but now some local entrepreneurs in Africa
have worked out how it can be used as a for-profit resource. Isn’t that
what Sustainable Development is really all about? Almost finally, in
this issue we are introducing a new feature, Another Kick at the Gallon
Can, in which we will provide updates on issues previously covered.
Finally, it is unusual, in fact never
before done, that GL publishes a request for assistance from the police.
In this instance, however, the victim was such a strong environmentalist
and the circumstances so tragic that we have decided to publish the
appeal on the extremely unlikely off-chance that one of our readers
was in the area of Yonge and Eglinton in Toronto on May 18, 2007. If
you think you may be able to help please follow the link given in our
article.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently
spoke to Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity
which held its ninth meeting in Bonn May 19-30, 2008. Given no Canadian
Minister participated in the 2008 World Food Summit and the enthusiasm
from Ottawa for the Bonn Climate negotiations is similar to the enthusiasm
with which a pike swallows a hook, GL has decided that the Biodiversity
Convention must be part of a really big deal. We’ll be looking at some
of the business aspects associated with this Convention (target sectors
include agriculture, animal breeding industry, energy, fisheries, financial
institutions, forestry, infrastructure, mining, shipping and tourism)
in our next issue. That is if we survive the kamikaze attacks of the
red-wing blackbirds protecting their nests in our yard not just by fluttering
overhead and squawking but also by diving to make actual human body
contact.
Excellent reporting on the High-Level
Conference on World Food Security is available through IISD’s Earth
Negotiations Bulletin Linkages reporting service at http://www.iisd.ca/ymb/wfs/
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June 23, 2008 Events Posted click here
New additions are:
September 2008 Green
Party National Convention, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia
October 2008 Canadian
Environment Network AGM, Toronto, Ontario
January 2009 28th
Annual Organic Conference Guelph, Ontario.
March 2009 Americana:
Environmental Technology Trade Show. Montreal, Quebec.
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Please note: The Honoured Reader edition of the Gallon Environment
Letter does not contain most of the links of the paid subscription. However,
any urls listed, checked at the time of publication of each issue, may
no longer be current.
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