Hope and Prayers for Our Planet

A place for hope and praying together

Christian Ecology Link

http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/index.htm

http://www.christian-ecology.org.uk/index.htm

We Need Canada to Listen to the People About Energy and Our Future

Canadian Mayors Letter to ObamaPosted: January 23, 2009 Section:
President Barack ObamaThe White House1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NWWashington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama,
On behalf of Canadians living in cities large and small, we write to you today as Canadian municipal leaders. We look forward to working with you and our American municipal counterparts to promote a strong and sustainable low-carbon economy.
We are writing to ask for your leadership in confronting global warming and adopting a low-carbon fuel standard. By providing a stimulus for alternate technologies, this approach will help to create new economic opportunities while at the same time protecting the environment.
Municipalities have been at the forefront of Canadian efforts to combat global warming and build strong and sustainable industries. Municipal initiatives to cut emissions are actively contributing to Canada’s Kyoto Protocol target to cut emissions to six percent below 1990 levels by 2010.
Unfortunately, Canada is failing to meet its Kyoto commitments, in large part due to the development of the tar sands..........continued in url below

http://www.tarsandswatch.org/canadian-mayors-letter-obama

The battle over new nuclear and green energy is heating up. One of those battlegrounds is a tiny village, home to North America's largest coal-fired hydro station.

14/11/2008 3:29:00 PM

by WorkCabin.ca Staff

What the nuclear heck is going on in Ontario? A lot of people are asking that very question. One minute, Bruce Power, a private company which already operates an existing nuclear power plant in the province, announces the first steps in what could lead to a new nuclear power plant being built 90 minutes south of Toronto. The next minute, the provincial government issues a release distances itself from the plan.

So what's really going on? Well, it likely has everything to do with how Ontario plans to replace one of North America's most infamous coal-fired generating stations. Ontario's Liberals have promised to close all coal-fired generating stations in the province by 2014. That includes the Nanticoke Generating Station, long a target of environmentalists fighting dirty emissions. Trouble is, Ontario's government hasn't announced what it will replace the Nanticoke station with. That's key because the Nanticoke hydro plant produces enough electricity to power millions of homes. It's also the starting point for a major power transmission corridor that feeds that electricity to major urban areas. The province simply can't abandon that power transmission corridor and build a new plant and comparable hydro line network elsewhere -- at least, not anywhere near the vast new development-restricted Greenbelt area of southern Ontario.

The future of electricity generation in Ontario is very much under the microscope. The Ontario Energy Board is holding hearings on the province's proposed 20-year hydro plan. The outcome will determine whether Ontario will emphasize nuclear, renewables or a combination of both. The Pembina Institute and a coalition of environmental groups are calling on the province to not replace aging nuclear facilities or build new nuclear plants such as the one proposed in Nanticoke. Instead, they want an emphasis on green energy. The groups point to a recent survey which showed two thirds of Ontarians prefer to see aging nuclear stations replaced with renewable energy sources, including wind and solar, rather than new nuclear reactors. Ontario has said that renewable energy sources will help replace coal-fired generation in Ontario, but a specific plan for Nanticoke has not been made.

Enter Bruce Power and its proposed nuclear reactor for an 800-acre site. The company has begun an environmental assessment – a federally required step – before a licence to build a nuclear plant can be issued. If successful, a nuclear plant could be generating electricity by 2018. The Nanticoke area, a tiny village next to a large industrial park on the shore of Lake Erie, and its two main counties have been growing nervous ever since the Liberals pledged to close the existing hydro generating station. They're worried about the potential to lose hundreds of jobs, taxes and spinoffs if the coal-fired station in their isolated rural area is closed in 2014 and nothing replaces it. Two municipal councils, and Federal Human Resources Minister Diane Finley are backing Bruce Power's bid to build a nuclear station in Nanticoke.

The provincial government quickly countered Bruce Power's recent announcement saying it "has not encouraged or solicited a proposal to build a nuclear generating station in the Haldimand-Norfolk region." The province said Bruce Power's "course of action is speculative."

Bruce Power, also eyeing potential nuclear power startups in Alberta and Saskatchewan, says it will also study building what it calls a 'clean energy hub' involving wind, solar and hydrogen energy in Nanticoke.

Could this be the eventual solution for what the province has in store to replace the coal-fired Nanticoke Generating Station site?

Here is the shocking reality in Ontario: Unless enough new hydro generation – whatever the energy source is -- comes on stream in the near future, hydro demand will surpass supply once the province's coal-fired hydro plants are shut down in 2014. If that happens, Ontario may be forced to do what it has in the past to meet demand: buy power from the United States produced by, you guessed it, coal-fired hydro plants.

So, will Ontario eventually endorse Bruce Power's bid for a new nuclear power plant on the shore of Lake Erie, less than 90 minutes from the major urban areas of Niagara and Toronto? Possibly. The government hasn't exactly said no -- if you read between the lines.

One thing is for certain: Ontario needs a significant power generation strategy for Nanticoke, purely because of the vast hydro transmission corridor. And Bruce Power thinks it has the power and now the plan to address it – even if the Ontario government isn't quite ready to acknowledge it.

WorkCabin.ca is Canada's green outpost for green jobs

Read more on Alternative Channel TV
PHOTO SOURCE: Nanticoke Generating Station, Ontario Power Generation


KYOTOplus Petition for Concerned Canadians


https://secure.greenpeace.ca/petition/index.php?language=e

Act Now for the Future!

Canada's Environmental Crimes

http://www.canada.com/Life/Church+leaders+judge+oilsands+morality/1599947/story.html

Green Purchasing

Great list how to qualify for green label, buy green, products from: energy cells to office supplies, even green hotels. Too many sources to list. Check out what products are available that have gone green.

http://www.summitconnects.com/Online_Procurement_Links/Green_Purchasing.htm

Bamboo product

http://www.greenleafbamboo.ca/Why-Bamboo.page

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200805/1210794401.html

Ways You Can Be Greener

Creating a green Ontario through a united conservation movement

http://www.greenontario.org/

HGTV Goes Green

http://www.hgtv.ca/green/quizzes_greencanada.aspx?quizid=963

Eco Kids fun activities

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/index.cfm

ReGeneration Site

http://www.regeneration.org/2009/01/14/fun-nature-games-with-kids/

David Suzuki
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/

what to do for the environment in canada

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/take-action

Great site! Should be read and sent to everyone you know!
Climate Friendly Banking: Calculate Your Bank Account's Carbon Footprint

Local Environmental Heroes

Canada's Hemp Industry
Hemp has a long history. The world's premier renewable resource, hemp has been a source of food and fibre for thousands of years. Popular in Canada in the 18th and 19th centuries, the crop became illegal in 1938. Today, however, hemp is enjoying a renaissance and the 15-year-old global hemp market is a thriving commercial success

I am so pleased to announce that my community is taking the lead in helping to save the planet with innovative green intitatives and firsts for our Country. Just in the past month Northumberland has announced a Hemp Refinery and a Solar Panel Farm that will be going up here.

Solar panel farm proposed for land east of Cobourg
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1411669


NorthUmberland Community Is Leading the Way in the Hemp Industry in North America!

Hemp refiner expected to provide new income for 200 farmersPosted By JOYCE CASSINPosted 13 hours agoAfter nearly 10 years of research and development in industrial hemp, Stonehedge Bio- Resources Inc. of Sterling is ready to lead the way in commercializing hemp in North America.Building on a business case developed through the Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovation Network (ELORIN), Stonehedge is now set to establish a bioprocessing facility in Eastern Ontario to serve North American markets. Some of the products and co-products are aimed at the automotive, energy, agriculture, construction material, and pulp and paper markets. This fibre separation facility (decortication plant) is expected to provide new farm income for about 200 farmers, putting more than 12,000 acres into cultivation, said John Baker, president and founder of Stonehedge.They secured $2 million in funding from Great Britain and met with the British Consulate on Wednesday, Northumberland County chief administrative officer Bill Pyatt told County council Wednesday afternoon."Hopefully they'll be able to obtain provincial and federal dollars as well," Mr. Pyatt said. "This industry will supply all of North America."Starting this spring, Stonehedge expects to build a new bio-refining facility in Eastern Ontario that will employ up to 27 people by 2011. The company expects to produce more than $17 million per year in renewable hemp fibre, wood-like chips, and pellets, as well as matting and seed products."Ontario is proud to support innovative companies that are turning good ideas into good jobs," Research and Innovation Minister John Wilkinson said. "Today's investment is a clear sign that our entrepreneurs and researchers are on the right track to developing and marketing globally competitive green technologies that will create good jobs for Ontario families."Eastern Ontario has carved out a new economic sector that will support our communities in the 21st century," Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi said. "From research to high-technology bioprocessing to farming, we're very excited at the possibilities this project has to offer."

Hemp Agricultre Canada
http://www.ats.agr.gc.ca/supply/3307_e.htm

Greenpeace
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/

Best Planet Defenders

Germany Strives to be Green Frontrunner
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/07/454413.aspx


Learning about wind power from Denmark

Bill Haymin my favorite environmental watchdog

http://www.americanchronicle.com/viewByAuthor?authorID=547

David Suzuki along with Ontarions demanding have 250 pesticides banned!
http://www.davidsuzuki.org/latestnews/dsfnews03040901.asp

The Worst Pollution Offenders

Oilsands development could lead to 166 million fewer songbirds: new study
By Bob Weber, THE CANADIAN PRESS

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/2008/12/02/7602516-cp.html


Asia Brown Cloud
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0210_030210_TVdust.html


Canada Oil Crime Shame
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/environmentscience/crude_awakening.html

Worlds worst polluters compilation

http://saveourplanet.blog.ca/2007/12/19/world_s_worst_polluters_website_tells_it~3467151

Worst offenders in Canada
http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/article.aspx?cp-documentid=740007

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