Speak for Our Rivers

I'm posting tomorrow's post a little early because this is action you should take right away:

More than a million MEC members use Canada's lakes, rivers, and streams to pursue their passion for canoeing and kayaking. For over 100 years, access to and protection of Canada's waterways has been upheld by the federal Navigable Waters Protection Act.

Now our waterways are under threat from proposed amendments to the Act, which are included within the budget bill that's before the House of Commons. If enacted, the changes will limit Canadians' right to navigate and access our waterways and subject many of them to development without review or public consultation.

MEC has voiced our concerns to federal MPs. We encourage you to do the same.
Time is short though. MPs will vote on the budget bill early next week.

A Smile for Monday

Thing are super busy with my thesis work this week, so the posts will be short and snappy. I am hoping to carve out an afternoon to finally build the second Pop Can Furnace. Stay tuned.

Penguins Threatened by Climate Change

A report on the Discovery Channel website points to some dire news, or good evidence if you still need convincing, about climate change and the plight of penguins.It appears that as the ocean and surrounding environment change, the penguins are forced to move further and further to find food.

Here's an excerpt that I found most illuminating:

It's as if the penguins had bought homes in suburban Chicago, only to have their jobs moved from the city to Des Moines, Boersma explained. A longer commute requires extra energy that they need to recoup with extra food. "The cost of living has gone up," she said.

Big Solar Plans for California

In a deal announced last week, California's energy utility, Southern California Edison, has made arrangements with BrightSource, a privately-held company, to provide over a gigawatt of power to the electricity market.

These seven projects, the first of which will come online in 2013, represent a major move toward meeting California's target of having 20% renewable energy.

Happy Valentine's Day!

You can put a little green in with all those red hearts today. Send a David Suzuki e-Card!

Home Electricity Monitoring... by Google?

I just read an interesting note on Forbes.com. It appears as though Google is testing a home-electricity monitoring system, with 20 employees currently using the system and plans to take it bigger as the year rolls on.

The product is purportedly called "PowerMeter" and is part of the Google.org set of energy conservation projects. More info to follow in the weeks to come!

Some Serious Recycling

The decommissioned French aircraft carrier, known simply as Q790, has finally found a home - in a recycling operation in the northeast of England.

This "toxic ship" created a lot of controversy over the past few years as it highlighted some of the issues of the West offloading it's toxic waste to the rest of the world. After high levels of asbestos were found, it was rejected in both Greece and Turkey and later rejected in India when Greenpeace got involved.

This new recycling project, in Europe, will create about 200 jobs and, provided proper protocols are followed, should meet with much higher safety and disposal criteria than had it been done on the cheap.

Full story at CNN.