New Brunswick

Snow Cone death 'all but certain,' researchers say about entangled right whale

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One of only about 100 reproducing females, the North Atlantic right whale is 'in extremely poor health'

Hadeel Ibrahim · CBC News · Posted: Sep 23, 2022 

A photo of Snow Cone taken by the New England Aquarium aerial team, approximately 15 nautical miles south of Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts. (Submitted by New England Aquarium)

Scientists say there is no hope of survival for an endangered North Atlantic right whale sighted with more fishing gear wrapped around its body.

In a news release, the New England Aquarium said Snow Cone, the whale featured in a recent documentary about the endangered species, was spotted south of Massachusetts on Wednesday.

The whale, a 17-year-old female, appears to be "in extremely poor health," and "her death is all but certain." 

Snow Cone was first seen entangled in March 2021. In July of this year, researchers spotted the whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence still entangled. This week, the whale appeared to be carrying rope from a new entanglement on top of the old gear.

"Eighteen months ago, there was hope that disentanglement efforts could remove enough of the gear and that would allow her to survive," research assistant Sharon Hsu said in the release.

"Now, she's covered in orange cyamids [whale lice]. She was moving so slowly, she couldn't dive, she just sunk. She's suffering. There is no longer hope for her survival."

A photo of Snow Cone and her calf taken on Jan. 6, 2022, approximately 12 nautical miles off Fernandina Beach in Florida. The calf has not been seen since April. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)

This is Snow Cone's fifth known entanglement, according to Heather Pettis, research scientist at the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life. The right whale is also one of the last 100 reproducing females.

"Losing her is devastating," Pettis said.

Snow Cone's death means the likely loss of her lineage. Pettis said the whale's first calf was killed by a boat and her second calf, born while Snow Cone was entangled, has not been seen since April.

Pettis said some calves can survive without their mothers after eight months, but knowing Snow Cone was entangled while nursing her calf means it's not likely the young whale is still alive.

"We've never seen a calf fully weaned that early to a mom who's in this poor condition," she said.

The disentanglement team at the Center for Coastal Studies was alerted, but has not been able to immediately approach and help the whale because of the time of day, the whale's distance from the shore and weather conditions.

Pettis said considering Snow Cone's condition, even successful disentanglement might not keep her alive.

"It may provide some relief for sure ... But I don't think that we're looking at a case where she has much of a chance."

According to researchers, there are between 330 and 350 right whales remaining in the world. In 2015, their population was estimated to be 520.

Since 2017, 54 right whales have either been confirmed dead or seriously injured.

• Entangled whale Snow Cone spotted off New Brunswick

• Rescuers hope to resume efforts to disentangle right whale found near N.B.

Premature or unusual right whale deaths have been blamed on ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

The Government of Canada has been implementing new speed and fishing restrictions to mitigate the harm, and the fishing industry has been working on developing fishing technology that does not require the use of rope.

But the measures have not gone far enough to protect this particular whale.

"The case magnifies the urgent need for dramatic changes to fixed gear fisheries, including accelerating the transition to ropeless or 'on-demand' gear,' the release said.

Pettis said it's not too late for the whales to rebound. It will just take quick and decisive action from humans.

"If we allow them a buffer, stop killing them, stop seriously injuring them, we have no doubt that they'll be able to recover," she said. 

"If we continue on this track, then we are looking at the potential extinction of a large whale species in our lifetime, and that thought, that, that possibility … should be absolutely horrific to people."

Suffering 'inexcusable'

The most dramatic health decline was seen in the last two months. 

Pettis said more than 86 per cent of right whales have experienced at least one entanglement, and some individuals have experienced as many as eight.

"We are watching one of the few remaining reproductive North Atlantic right whale females slowly die, and the deterioration and suffering that she has experienced is inexcusable," she said.

Air pollution can amplify negative effects of climate change, new study finds

by University of Texas at Austin

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

The impacts of air pollution on human health, economies, and agriculture differ drastically depending on where on the planet the pollutants are emitted, according to a new study that could potentially incentivize certain countries to cut climate-changing emissions.

Led by the University of Texas at Austin and the University of California San Diego, the study, which was published Sept. 23 in Science Advances, is the first to simulate how aerosol pollution affects both climate and air quality for locations around the globe.

Aerosols are tiny solid particles and liquid droplets that contribute to smog and are emitted from industrial factories, power plants and vehicle tailpipes. They impact human health, agricultural and economic productivity in unique global patterns when compared with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which are the focus of efforts to mitigate climate change.

Although CO2 and aerosols are often emitted at the same time during the combustion of fuel, the two substances behave differently in Earth's atmosphere, said co-lead author Geeta Persad, an assistant professor at the UT Austin Jackson School of Geosciences.

"Carbon dioxide has the same impact on climate no matter who emits it," said Persad. "But for these aerosol pollutants, they tend to stay concentrated near where they're emitted, so the effect that they have on the climate system is very patchy and very dependent on where they're coming from."

The researchers found that, depending on where they are emitted, aerosols can worsen the social costs of carbon—an estimate of the economic costs greenhouse gasses have on society—by as much as 66%. The scientists looked at eight key regions: Brazil, China, East Africa, Western Europe, India, Indonesia, United States and South Africa.

"This research highlights how the harmful effects of our emissions are generally underestimated," said Jennifer Burney, co-lead author and the Marshall Saunders Chancellor's Endowed Chair in Global Climate Policy and Research at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy. "CO2 is making the planet warmer, but it also gets emitted with a bunch of other compounds that impact people and plants directly and cause climate changes in their own right."

The work, which was supported by the National Science Foundation, represents a collaboration between Persad and Burney, who are physical scientists, and a group of economists and public health experts. Co-authors include Marshall Burke, Eran Bendavid, and Sam Heft-Neal at Stanford University and Jonathan Proctor at Harvard University.

Aerosols can directly affect human health and the climate independently of CO2. They are associated with negative health impacts when inhaled, and can affect the climate by influencing temperature, precipitation patterns and how much sunlight reaches the Earth's surface.

To study aerosols' influence in comparison to CO2, the team created a set of climate simulations using the Community Earth System Model version 1 developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research. They ran simulations in which each of the eight regions produced identical aerosol emissions and mapped how temperature, precipitation, and surface air quality were affected across the globe. Then they connected this data with known relationships between climate and air quality and infant mortality, crop productivity, and gross domestic product across the eight regions.

In a final step, they compared the total societal costs of these aerosol-driven impacts against the societal costs of co-emitted CO2 in each of the eight regions, and produced global maps of the combined effects of aerosols and CO2. The researchers said the study is a big step forward from previous work, which either only estimated the air quality impacts of aerosols or didn't consider their diverse global climate effects.

The outcome paints a varied and complicated picture. Emissions from some regions produce climate and air quality effects that range from two to more than 10 times as strong as others and social costs that sometimes affect neighboring regions more than the region that produced the aerosol emissions. For example, in Europe local emissions result in four times as many infant deaths outside Europe as within.

But the researchers note that aerosol emissions are always bad for both the emitter and the planet overall.

"While we might think about aerosols, which cool the climate, as having the silver lining of counteracting CO2-driven warming, when we look at all these effects in combination, we find that no region experiences overall local benefits or generates overall global benefits by emitting aerosols," said Persad.

Researchers also said the findings create potentially new motivations for countries to cut emissions—and to care about other countries cutting emissions. For example, the study found that adding aerosol costs to CO2 costs could double China's incentive to mitigate emissions. And it switches the impact of local emissions in Europe from a net local benefit to a net cost. The study also shows that some emerging economies, like East African nations and India, might be motivated to collaborate on emission cuts since they are strongly impacted by each other's emissions.

The framework developed in this study can also be applied to maximize societal benefits from current mitigation strategies being considered by policy makers. For example, the researchers applied it to the "fair-share" approach laid out in the Paris Climate Agreement in which all countries target the same per-capita CO2 emissions. They found the approach, while beneficial for climate stability, does not improve the mortality and crop impacts from combined aerosol and CO2 emissions because it focuses mitigation in regions that already have fairly low aerosol impacts, like the U.S. and Europe.

"By expanding societal cost calculations to include the geographically-resolved societal impacts of co-emitted aerosols, we're showing that the incentive for individual countries to mitigate and collaborate on mitigation is much higher than if we only think about greenhouse gases," Burney said.


Explore further

Particulate pollution's impact varies greatly depending on where it originated
More information: Jennifer Burney et al, Geographically resolved social cost of anthropogenic emissions accounting for both direct and climate-mediated effects, 

Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn7307. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn7307

Journal information: Science Advances

Provided by University of Texas at Austin

Canada won’t come close to goal of eliminating plastic waste by 2030, report finds — and recycling is not the answer

Canada will miss its 2030 target by 2,092,994 metric tonnes if action isn’t taken to prevent plastics from becoming waste in the first place, environmental organization’s report says.

By Ghada Alsharif

TOR STAR Staff Reporter
Wed., Sept. 21, 2022

Canada will fail to achieve its goal to eliminate plastic packaging waste by 2030 without substantial new action by all levels of government, according to a report released Wednesday by NGO Environmental Defence.

If no changes are made to the management of plastic packaging and products to prevent them from becoming waste, Canada will miss its 2030 target by 2,092,994 metric tonnes.

This means that 88 per cent of plastics packaging generated “will continue to be disposed in landfills, incinerated or discarded as pollution,” the report said.

The plastic packaging report, which includes a report card assessing the current performance of Canada’s provinces and territories, gives Ontario a failing grade on plastics policy. In fact, the report found that all provincial policies across the country are largely failing, with only two provinces receiving a passing grade — British Columbia (C) and Prince Edward Island (D+).

In June, the federal government announced it was banning companies from importing or manufacturing plastic bags and takeout containers by the end of this year, from selling them by the end of next year, and from exporting them by the end of 2025.

But Karen Wirsig, the plastics program manager at NGO Environmental Defence, said as long as recycling is seen as the main solution and if plastic is not eliminated at the source, the problem of plastic waste will remain the same.

“We are in a plastic pollution crisis and we’re not going to solve that crisis without new measures, notably from the federal government, to reduce reliance on plastic,” Wirsig said. “All levels of government are too focused on recycling as a silver bullet.”

The vast majority of plastic packaging produced and sold in Ontario and across Canada never gets recycled and most end up in landfills, burned for fuel or in the environment. In 2019, Canada produced around 1.9 million tonnes of plastic packaging and of that, only 12 per cent was sent for recycling, according to a recent report commissioned by the Canada Plastics Pact.

Provincially, the Ford government recently approved a complete overhaul of Ontario’s curbside recycling regime. Between 2023 and 2026, Ontario will transition to a system where stewards — companies such as Loblaw and Unilever — are responsible for both running and paying for a more centralized blue box program. Toronto is scheduled to be one of the first municipalities to move to the new system, in the summer of 2023.

Wirsig said Ontario’s main weakness regarding plastic waste disposal is the lack of a deposit-return system for beverage containers, which she calls “low-hanging fruit when it comes to ensuring that plastic stays out of the environment, landfills and incinerators.”

“Fewer containers are collected and recycled in Ontario than almost any other province and we’re the biggest province, which means we generate more plastic waste than any other province,” Wirsig said.

Despite the reported shortcomings of the province, the Environmental Defence report notes that Ontario’s 60 per cent recycling target for rigid plastic — shampoo bottles, berry containers, juice jugs — is the most ambitious goal among all provinces.

But even the most ambitious action may not be enough according to the report.

“Even if all of Canada’s provinces and territories were to level up to the most ambitious waste management systems in Canada, and even if we generously assume that the targets for higher rigid plastic were to be achieved for all plastic packaging … Canada will miss its target by 933,489 (metric tonnes).

This means that 39 per cent of the plastic packaging generated will continue to be disposed in landfill, incinerated, or discarded as pollution.”

If all provinces adopted Ontario’s target by 2030, “we’d still have nearly a million tonnes of plastic waste because 60 per cent isn’t 100 per cent,” Wirsig said. “We need to start imposing real requirements on reused and refilled packaging and containers. And we need to get away from the sense that recycling is going to save us.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Rod Muir, a former waste campaigner for Sierra Club Canada and the founder of Waste Diversion Toronto, said the government’s efforts so far have been nothing more than “virtue signalling.”

“I don’t see how it’s going to be any different or change anything on the ground,” Muir said of Ontario’s new blue box system.

Muir added that crucial steps to improve plastic waste management include limiting the amount of plastic used in packaging and the elimination of certain types of plastic such as polyvinyl chloride, a nonrecyclable material.

“There needs to be more direction at the federal level,” Muir said.

 New Brunswick

Miramichi fish-eradication project paused for 2nd year

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Next phase will not go ahead this year after opponent asks judge to put stop to project

Hadeel Ibrahim · CBC News · Posted: Sep 20, 2022 4:33 PM AT | Last Updated: September 20

Smallmouth bass was introduced illegally in Miramichi Lake in 2008, according to Neville Crabbe, who has spoken at times for proponents of the pesticide project. (Nova Scotia Fisheries and Aquaculture)

A group trying to kill smallmouth bass in Miramichi Lake has agreed to stop more applications of a rotenone-bearing  pesticide and pause the eradication project until next year.

This marks the second year the project has been delayed after opposition from Indigenous women and local cottage owners.

A consent order filed in Woodstock Court of King's Bench says the North Shore Micmac District Council has agreed not to apply any more Noxfish II, a pesticide containing rotenone, this year.

The eradication project is led by the council and a coalition of six other salmon conservation and wildlife protection organizations, including the Atlantic Salmon Federation. Together, they're called the Working Group on Smallmouth Bass Eradication.

Want smallmouth bass eliminated

Their goal is to eliminate the invasive smallmouth bass population from the lake, which they say is threatening native species such as trout and salmon.

The consent agreement comes after Andrea Polchies, a traditional Wolastoqey leader as well as a band councillor in Wotstak First Nation, formerly Woodstock First Nation, filed a motion requesting a judge to force the group to stop the project.

The agreement says the group will not apply any more rotenone and Polchies will withdraw her motion.

A judge still needs to sign off on the consent order for the motion to officially end.

In an interview, Polchies said this is good news but not the end of the fight. She is still challenging the pesticide project in court through a separate request for a judicial review.

"Somebody's got to defend the water. If not me, who?" she said.

Indigenous residents paddled on the Miramichi Lake to prevent the application of rotenone, a fish-killing pesticide deemed necessary to eradicate the invasive smallmouth bass. (Shane Fowler/CBC)

Charles Bryant, Polchies's lawyer, said he can't speak to why proponents of the eradication project agreed to pause it.

"It just so happens that we were able to reach an agreement on the remedy that we were seeking."

Neville Crabbe, who has spoken for the proponents in the past, declined requests for an interview or comment.

Polchies and other Indigenous mothers and grandmothers have been camping on the lake shore since early August. She said they disbanded the camp on Monday.

"To get home was one of the best feelings in the world," she said.

Bryant said because it's possible the project will go ahead next year, he will try to have a judge review and rule on the project this year, despite the agreement.

"I'm hoping to convince the court that we can just argue it now, since we already have the parties at the table," he said.

Bass threatening ecosystem, group says

The pesticide would kill all the fish in the area, not just smallmouth bass, and kill some insects and other invertebrates. The plan, which has been approved by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, says the "do nothing" approach would do more damage than the fish kills caused by rotenone. 

"The risk of doing nothing is too high," the plan says.

The group is responsible for monitoring the lake system and adding back non-migratory fish that do not return to the lake naturally within two years.

"We do not expect or aim for the resulting fish community to be the same as the pre-treatment state, but we do expect overall rapid recovery of the ecosystem," the plan says.

• Fish-eradication project in Miramichi has begun, opponents say

• Salmon officials confirm first application of rotenone in Miramichi watershed

The group received federal and provincial approval to apply the chemical to the area in multiple phases between Aug. 8 and Sept. 30 of this year.

On Sept. 8 the group released Noxfish in Lake Brook and along about 15 kilometres of the Southwest Miramichi River. It said this was the first phase, and the second phase "calls for a simultaneous treatment of Miramichi Lake, Lake Brook, and the 15-km stretch of the Southwest Miramichi River."

The group did not commit to a timeline for the second phase. But according to the licence it received, the second application must be at least two weeks after the first.

Now, the second application will not happen.

Polchies said the agreement is bittersweet because many fish have already died from the first application.

"It was kind of mixed emotions. I was happy that they decided not to, but then again, I was still pretty pissed off that they got Lake Brook and the southwest branch of the Miramichi."

She said opponents are not saying the lake should be left alone and the smallmouth bass should be allowed to invade the area.

Polchies said they believe there are better, safer ways to control the bass population without killing every fish in the lake, and want to work with ecologists and other Indigenous groups to make that a reality.

"They can be speared, or netted. ... You don't need to poison every fish," she said. "Nobody ever said 'do nothing.'"

• Pesticide will be used to kill smallmouth bass in N.S. lake this weekend

• Judge bars pesticide spraying in Miramichi Lake until hearing

What this agreement means for the project, whether both phases will have to be repeated, and whether the group will have to re-apply for federal and provincial approval is not known.

One judge had already ordered the group to temporarily stop spraying this year. Several cottage owners filed a lawsuit alleging the project will irreparably harm them and their property, and they asked for the ban until their lawsuit is heard.

That injunction expired after the cottage owners agreed to abandon it. In that consent order, the North Shore Micmac District Council agreed to not seek any damages from the losses caused by the ban.

ANALYSIS: Curing Canada’s energy paralysis may mean new climate targets, renewed political will

By David Akin Global News
 September 23, 2022


If there’s been one constant tension in Confederation in the last 20 years, it has been the struggle between those who believe Canadian federal and provincial governments should do all they can to exploit Canada’s vast energy resources and those who insist fossil fuels must stay in the ground so that Canada can lead the world in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

It’s a tension that has led to an economic and policy paralysis. Through the years of the Harper government and now the Trudeau government, some big energy projects struggled to find their footing even as Canada missed one international commitment after another when it comes to fighting climate change.

Is that tension and the resulting paralysis a permanent feature of the Canadian condition? Or could Canada really be an energy superpower and be a global leader on climate change?

The answer to some is: Yes.

 

READ MORE: Ukraine war, energy crisis has Canadians more supportive of oil and gas: poll

“So I think it’s true that Canada is an energy superpower, and it’s true that I think Canada needs to do more on climate change. And I think it’s also true that we can do both,” said Christopher Ragan, an economist and director of the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University in Montreal.

“I think we should actually have more aggressive climate policy than we currently have. And I think it’s also possible that we can continue to produce fossil fuels. And I think we should, because the world will continue to use fossil fuels for a long time.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent disruption to global energy markets have moved this seemingly conflicting objective — producing more energy while cutting emissions — to the top of Canada’s national agenda.

As many of Canada’s Western European allies, notably Germany, are starved of gas and oil, Canada, despite its fossil fuel wealth, can do almost nothing. Those years of economic and policy paralysis left it without the infrastructure to move, for example, liquified natural gas from eastern Canadian ports to German homes and businesses.

But Russia’s invasion may have cured Canada of that paralysis.

“I sense that there is a greater sort of pragmatism being brought to bear on the issue,” said Brad Wall, the former Saskatchewan premier who now serves as a special advisor at the law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP when he’s not riding his horse through the grasslands of southwest Saskatchewan

“I think Canadians are looking through the lens of a bit more common sense. Not that they weren’t before, but I just think that there’s a greater focus.”

Wall, like Ragan, believes there is a way for Canada to achieve that dual objective of boosting energy exports while reducing emissions.

“I think it’s absolutely possible. I think what we need in Canada today is a leader. I don’t care what party the person leads, but we need a national leader that says we are all of the above,” said Wall.

“Canada is an energy superpower and not just on the fossil fuel side, but right across the spectrum. And so let’s start acting like it because a country that aspires to leadership and follows it up with action, I think, is going to find this intersection of very good policies that’s good for the economy, good for communities and can be sustainable in terms of the environmental impact.”

Still, solving the problem of moving gas or oil out of an Atlantic port could be the challenge of the century. First, if it is to be the private sector that builds the pipeline and refines infrastructure for European exports, it’s not clear that a solid business case can be made under the current conditions for a return on the billions of investment required.

That’s partly a result of the immense political challenges involved given that subsequent governments in Quebec have all but prohibited new pipelines transiting through the province. And finally, a federal government would almost certainly need to build the political will to convince Canadians that meeting its international commitment of becoming net-zero by 2050 is not only against the national interest but may, in fact, work against the more important goal of getting the planet’s climate change ledger to net-zero by 2050.

“I think Quebec is a tough problem to solve,” said Wall. “I think Quebec would bristle — and most provinces would — at the notion of a federal government saying, all right, this pipeline is happening and we’re going to put the full weight of the federal government behind it.

“I think the answer’s got to be the premiers, the goodwill they’ve built up sitting down saying, … let’s just find an answer here. We can do this.”

From 2014 to 2019, while Wall was participating in annual meetings of premiers trying to find political solutions to energy and climate problems, Ragan was chairing Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission, a group of independent economists which tried to provide advice to governments on energy and climate policy.

The commission explicitly recognized the challenge politicians face to find progress on both files by sticking with mostly practical recommendations.
“We live in a democratic society. So it’s not just about policy making. It’s about selling and communicating those policies,” Ragan said. “And I think the [federal] government has not done a good enough job in communicating that. And it’s a tough argument to make.”

And a major energy infrastructure project, he said, will almost certainly need strong federal backing.

“A pipeline is a federal issue. It’s crossing provincial boundaries and we need our provinces to not be so damn provincial, frankly,” Ragan said. “They need to recognize that they’re part of a bigger country that is part of a bigger world.”

READ MORE: Europe’s energy crisis has Canada weighing future of oil and gas industry

Realigning expectations on Canada’s climate change targets would also likely be a requirement if Canada was to boost its energy exports.

The targets Canada has agreed to, be it in Paris or Copenhagen or Kyoto, occurred in a world where there was no imperative to remove Russia as a reliable source of supply. Energy security was rarely, if ever, a variable that was plugged into the calculus of achieving net-zero in the Canadian context.

Now that energy security is a global and Canadian imperative, targets may need to be adjusted.

“Energy security is not just an issue in Europe. It’s an issue for us in Canada,” Wall said. “We still import oil. [We have] a third of the world’s reserves, and we still important because we can’t get it across the country. So it’s an issue for the entire world. But it’s even more important now with what’s happened in Europe.

“And does that mean — and maybe this won’t be very popular with some folks — but does that mean we re-look at our own targets? I think we need to. So we can achieve that balance and answer both questions that the world is asking right now.”

Ragan suggests that Canadian policymakers and the broader Canadian public ought to consider Canada’s targets in a global setting where relatively cleaner Canadian natural gas can displace ‘dirtier’ forms of energy such as coal so that the planet gets to net-zero by 2050 — even if Canada cannot do so.

“I mean, in the big picture, you’re doing a very good thing. You’re taking natural gas from a country that has a pile of it. You’re liquefying it. You’re shipping it to a part of the world that needs it,” Ragan said.

“They can use that natural gas there rather than oil or rather than burning coal. So in a global sense, this will reduce emissions. This is a good idea. But in Canada it will increase emissions because we will burn a pile of natural gas to run the compressors for liquefied natural gas. And so we may blow past our targets. And then you say, maybe we don’t have the right domestic target for a world that has these ambitions and has these energy security issues.”

Wall, in his advisory work at Osler’s, hears something similar.

“We should approach this issue of doing our share of the emissions question and the target question the same way the balance on the other side of that equation is energy security,” Wall said. ” You have emissions reduction and targets and you have energy security. And right now we see Europe has a real energy security concern

“This dependence on Russia is not existential maybe, but the next door neighbour to it, if you ask Ukraine, they might say it is.”

2:01 Industry, government optimistic about Alberta’s Industrial Heartland future – Sep 15, 2022

“Energy security has obviously risen its head,” Ragan said. “So it hadn’t before that. So this is why I say it’s completely changing this discussion. And I wonder how long it will be before a Canadian government — maybe this one, maybe the next one — says, you know what, we need to sell more of our stuff to Europe because of energy security issues and Russia. And therefore, we need to adjust our domestic targets.

“Will they say that? Will they say that out loud?”

David Akin is the chief political correspondent for Global News.

The flower industry has a thorny environmental problem — and plastic is just part of it

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CBC News · Posted: Sep 23, 2022 

(Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the past few weeks, as a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth, mourners laid hundreds of thousands of bouquets at royal residences and parks across the U.K.

As moving as some found it to see Buckingham Palace, Balmoral, Sandringham and Windsor Castle awash in a sea of floral tributes, others saw something else: plastic. 

In central London's Green Park last Monday — one of many locations where people left flowers — workers bundled bags of discarded plastic wrappers and cellophane from bouquets left in honour of the Queen. In images posted in the Daily Mail, volunteers were seen cutting wrappers from bouquets, and a large flat-bed truck was stuffed with dozens of bags of the plastic waste. 

Becky Feasby, a sustainable florist and owner of Prairie Girl Flowers in Calgary, said she had two thoughts when she saw the royal tributes. First, that the bulk of those flowers was likely imported. Second, she was struck by the "sheer volume of plastic wrapping." 

"The amount of single-use plastic waste is truly staggering," said Feasby, who is also working on her master's degree in sustainability at Harvard University.

When thinking about harmful environmental practices, it might not seem obvious to consider the flower industry — which, after all, celebrates beautiful blooms grown of this earth.

"We think of them as gestures of kindness or empathy or affection," Feasby said. "But the reality of the global flower industry is that the bulk of our flowers are grown in the Global South and transported worldwide in refrigerated cargo jets and trucks, wrapped in plastic and arranged in toxic floral foam."

Depending on where the flowers come from, there's industrial farming and the effects of pesticides, fertilizers or water-hungry greenhouses to consider, said Kai Chan, a professor at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia, and a Canada Research Chair in rewilding and social-ecological transformation. 

"When people come to learn about just how damaging the industrial farming of flowers is, it doesn't feel like such a good gift," Chan said. 

There's also the carbon footprint of importing exotic or out-of-season blooms — and quickly — to keep them fresh. Canada imported $137.8 million in cut flowers and buds for ornamental purposes in 2020, largely from Colombia, Ecuador, the U.S. and the Netherlands, according to Agriculture Canada's Statistical Overview of the Canadian Ornamental Industry.

Then there's the packaging, which often includes the green floral foam that flowers are arranged in, and which has been shown to contribute to the world's microplastic pollution. Finally, wrap it all up in a plastic or cellophane sleeve. 

Vancouver's MonteCristo magazine reports traditional floristry produces up to 100,000 tonnes of plastic waste each year.

Only nine per cent of plastic waste worldwide is actually recycled, with the bulk winding up in landfills, according to a 2022 OECD report. But the kind of wrapping used to package flowers is also light and flimsy, Chan noted, and thus likely to blow out of a landfill and into a nearby river, lake or ocean.

If you love fresh flowers — as a gift, a tribute or for yourself — there are plenty of ways to make environmentally friendly choices. Support for increased sustainability in the floral industry is increasing thanks to organizations such as the Sustainable Floristry Network and Slow Flowers, Feasby noted.

You can support locally grown, seasonal flower farmers, many of whom may use regenerative and organic growing practices. Look for florists who sell their bouquets in recycled paper or reusable glass vases. 

This may mean buying your blooms from a local farmers' market or directly from a sustainable florist, and it may mean spending a little more money than you would at the grocery store checkout line, Chan said.

"It can still look beautiful, and it will be more meaningful. And arguably, that's the point."

As for the flowers that adorned the Queen's coffin during her funeral on Monday, they were local and meaningful: cut from the gardens of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House, they included myrtle grown from a sprig saved from the monarch's 1947 wedding bouquet. 

— Natalie Stechyson

Why Indigenous-led projects could be key to combating Canada’s energy dilemma

By Neetu Garcha 

 Global News
September 23, 2022 

 How Indigenous ownership can be part of Canada's energy solution

Canada’s energy dilemma can be dealt with in-part through Indigenous-led clean energy projects, according to some First Nations leaders in B.C. who say they’re too often left out of the conversation.

The path forward, they say, would involve their communities having an equity stake in major projects, while placing this country on the map as a leading exporter of some of the natural resources the world relies on.

“We have so much energy in this country and Indigenous people need to be part of the decision-making process as it relates to resource development. They need to have loan guarantees to buy an equity stake in these projects. Those are key factors that will help Canadians in this country keep oil and gas within the country and export it to other countries,” Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Theresa Tait-Day told 

Tait-Day says with centuries-old ancestral knowledge of protecting lands and natural resources, Indigenous people in Canada can play a major role in helping the world reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

“It’s important that industry talk to the (First Nation) and understand the nation, understand the history, understand how we’re governed, understand the Indian Act, understand how it’s impacting us,” Tait-Day said.

“And I think that’s a real call-out from me to the government to not just go in blindly, but there’s a whole parameter around engagement and we have failed to figure that out.”

The matriarch from a nation at the centre of Canada’s pipeline fight says many First Nations see energy projects as a way to help their members, in part by generating revenue to help reduce their reliance on government funding – something she says is only possible if it’s done right.

“We’ve never owned a pipeline. We’ve never owned a mine. We have never had an equity stake in this. So the dialog and the conversation hasn’t been at the community level,” she said.

In her own community, blockades and marches in 2019 led by other hereditary chiefs brought construction of the contentious Coastal Gaslink pipeline to a standstill, threatening Canada’s new LNG terminal on the west coast.

READ MORE: First Nations leaders renew call to stop B.C. pipeline projects as UN raps Canada

“It is Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination and to be self-determining according to our laws, our traditional governance systems,” Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), spokesperson for the Gidimt’en Checkpoint said on May 11, 2022.

Many of those opposed to the project say the pipeline doesn’t have consent to cross through their territory but others within the nation disagree, instead signing an agreement with the company along with 19 other nations along the nearly 670-kilometre route. Those nations now have the option of equity ownership of ten per cent of the project.

With Russia’s war in Ukraine shining another light on the danger of our allies’ dependence on foreign energy sources, Tait-Day says governments and industry need to do a better job of setting the stage for meaningful dialogue.

“We have to have global security. We have to have control of our energy projects as Canadians, as Indigenous people, and to play a part in a global market, be the distributors to help our nations, Canadians and Indigenous people across the country to be sustainable. We’ve seen what happens when we rely on Russia,” Tait-Day said.

To help move the process along, she co-founded the First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC). She says together, they’re supporting 90 Indigenous communities who have ideas about their future and green energy.

“We are able to do the legwork for the nations, find the funding, help deal with the hurdles that we have to go through with the government. Government does not want to engage with us because it’s not in their interest. Their interest is to continue to perpetuate the internalized racism and their internalized oppression of our people by making decisions for us,” Tait-Day said.

READ MORE: Indigenous communities ink Coastal GasLink option deals with TC Energy

Among the communities working with the FNMPC is Fort Nelson First Nation in northeastern B.C. Chief Sharleen Gale, also chair of the FNMPC board, says her community’s first-in-Canada $100-million geothermal project could heat up to 14,000 homes and eventually sell energy to the province’s power grid.

“This is 100 per cent Indigenous-owned,” Gale told Global News.

Gale says the project is inspiring remote communities across the country who historically haven’t seen themselves as major players in this market, adding, it’s critical they’re involved in the planning of resource projects from the beginning.

Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharlene Gale at geothermal project site. Supplied

“We are the keepers of the land, we’ve lived here for thousands of years, we know where things can and cannot go … companies whether they go bankrupt or whatever, they leave our territory and then as Indigenous people we are left to clean up the mess and I think if we’re involved at the forefront, we could ensure best practices on the ground to really reduce the impacts,” she said.
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She believes Canada’s energy transition needs to find a balance between economic prosperity and environmental stewardship.

Tait-Day says it’s also important to address those who may believe signing agreements with industry partners means giving up inherent rights and title to their land.

“Actually that’s not the case. The case is they’re renting the land,” Tait-Day said.

 Alberta energy industry undergoing green transition – 

That’s where the ground-breaking Delgamuukw v. British Columbia case is paramount. A landmark decision that started in the small community of Kispiox. Earl Muldoe was a claimant in that historic lawsuit, which in 1997 recognized Wet’suwet’en has a system of laws and ownership of the land that predates colonialism.

Muldoe died in January. Now, his nephew Jordan Muldoe, an elected Kispiox councillor, says the case continues to loom large in his life.

“The Delgamuukw decision is huge … consultation is what they were trying to achieve, but it starts years ahead of time,” he said.

Kispiox councillor Stu Barnes says having equity stakes in major resource projects could also help communities like theirs remove reliance on Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).

“The goal is to become self-sustainable and not have to rely on the formulas that ISC imposed on us and have limited our ability to live off the land and at the same time created dependence on the Indian Act,” Barnes said.

Kixpiox band councillors speaking to Global News about Canadas energy crisis. Global News

A major challenge preventing this participation is a lack of funds to invest in the projects, according to Kispiox Chief Councillor Cameron Stevens.

“I think it would be good to be partners of this clean energy movement and I think we have, you know, a lot of resources on our territory that can be used for clean energy, whether it’s the run of the river or geothermal and even biomass,” Stevens said.

“But most of the time, it’s it’s money. That is one of the hurdles from moving the project forward, at least in our area.”

Regardless of the path, Tait-Day says the partnerships are key because Canada can’t deal with its energy dilemma without the support of Indigenous people whose land, in many cases, remains unceded.

 British Columbia

Coastal GasLink warned more than 50 times over environmental violations during pipeline construction

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Many warnings relate to failure to protect sensitive waterways from sediment, erosion on 670-km pipeline route

Betsy Trumpener · CBC News · Posted: Sep 21, 2022 

A photo taken by a B.C. government inspector at a Coastal GasLink pipeline right of way in April 2022 shows soil erosion that violates the conditions of the company's environmental permit. An EAO white stamp in the top left corner indicates the location and time the photo was taken. (Contributed/Ministry of Environment and Climate Change)

Coastal GasLink has now been warned more than 50 times about environmental violations during construction of its natural gas pipeline across northern British Columbia, according to the province. 

In an email to CBC News, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change said it had issued a total of 51 warnings, 16 orders, and levied two fines — penalties of more than $240,000 "for repeated non-compliance" — since construction on the pipeline started in 2019. 

Many of the warnings relate to the failure to protect sensitive waterways and wetlands from sediment and erosion that can harm fish habitat and water quality, a violation of the project's environmental assessment certificate.

When complete, the 670-kilometre pipeline will cross about 625 streams, creeks, rivers and lakes, many of them fish bearing, according to Coastal GasLink. 

• A pipeline runs through it: Coastal GasLink is crossing hundreds of waterways in northern B.C.

The most recent inspection report by the Environmental Assessment Office (EAO), published in August, flagged "multiple infractions" — some of them repeat violations — on sensitive waterways, including the release of pollution into Fraser Lake, around 120 kilometres west of Prince George. 

A plume of brown sediment in Fraser Lake in April 2022 is visible in this aerial photo from an environmental assessment officer's inspection report of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. An EAO white stamp in the top left corner indicates the location and time the photo was taken. (BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change)

The EAO said the release of turbid water flows toward Fraser Lake resulted in a plume of sediment in the water that could be seen from the air.

An EAO inspection photo taken from a helicopter on April 27 shows a large swath of brown water off the north shore of the lake, which is a critical habitat for endangered white sturgeon and trumpeter swans. 

The lake's south shore is home to about 1,000 people in the village of Fraser Lake, and the site of a popular provincial park. 

Visitors enjoy the water at Beaumont Provincial Park on Fraser Lake. The lake is a critical habitat for endangered white sturgeon and a globally significant overwintering site for trumpeter swans. (Contributed/David Luggi )

A ministry spokesperson told CBC News in an email that sediment and turbidity can damage water quality and fish habitat, reduce sunlight in the water, and settle on wildlife and vegetation. 

But Coastal GasLink denies responsibility for the environmental violation at Fraser Lake.

In an email to CBC News, Coastal GasLink said the company's own investigation, which included aerial and ground studies and water quality monitoring, determined that the "sediment plume was not a result of project activities" but rather from public roads. 

An earlier EAO inspection report from 2020 also documented turbid water entering Fraser Lake.

A photograph from an Environmental Assessment Office inspection report shows a submerged sediment fence along the Coastal GasLink pipeline route in April 2022. An EAO white stamp in the top left corner indicates the location and time the photo was taken. (BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy)

The most recent inspection report, published last month, lists "multiple" instances of environmental non-compliance in other locations on the pipeline construction route, citing sediment fences that ripped or collapsed and erosion control measures that didn't work.

The company said most of the recently identified problems have already been resolved, while others require "longer term solutions."

"Given the scale of the project, the terrain the project crosses, as well as temperature and ever changing weather conditions, the dynamics of erosion and sediment control remain a challenge," said Coastal GasLink in an email to CBC News. 

• Coastal GasLink fined a second time this year for repeated environmental violations

• Coastal GasLink failed to fix nearly 2 dozen environmental violations along pipeline route, B.C. officials say

In July, the EAO and Coastal GasLink signed a compliance agreement requiring the company to follow "more proactive measures" to control erosion and sedimentation for all new construction along the pipeline route, according to the government.

A ministry news release said failure to comply could "result in escalating enforcement action, up to and including stop-work orders."

The agreement only applies to a 100-kilometre stretch of the pipeline where ground hasn't yet been broken.

In an email to CBC News last week, the ministry said the EAO has "no information at this time on any further enforcement actions" against Coastal GasLink.

Coastal GasLink's natural gas pipeline crosses about 625 rivers, creeks, waters, streams and lakes on its 670-kilometre route across northern B.C. (CBC News)

The project has faced strong opposition from some Indigenous groups. 

Several Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and their supporters want to stop the construction of the pipeline, whose path runs through their traditional territories. 

This year, 19 pipeline opponents were charged with criminal contempt for defying a court order to stay away from construction sites.

• Wet'suwet'en leader charged with criminal contempt over Coastal GasLink pipeline blockade

• Wet'suwet'en members sue RCMP and Coastal GasLink for alleged harassment and intimidation

On Sunday, opponents said despite two years of blockades, Coastal GasLink was set to drill beneath the Wedzin Kwa River, also known as the Morice River.

A written release from the Gidimt'en Camp said the river provided drinking water for Wet'suwet'en villages and was a key salmon spawning area.

"Wet'suwet'en resistance to drilling beneath Wedzin Kwa has delayed the destruction of Wet'suwet'en waters for approximately two years," stated the release.

"Wet'suwet'en territory is unceded, unsurrendered, and sovereign.... The pipeline will never be put into service." 

Coastal GasLink says the $11.2-billion project is now 70 per cent complete and that the pipeline is scheduled to be in the ground by 2023.