This page is a subpage of www.nsforestmatters.ca/In the News
See In the News for other subpages.
New page Aug 23, 2024.
Selected news, articles etc. most not about NS but relevant
Adding older items bit by bit
Dec 5, 2024:
– This Low-Cost EV Battery (Kind of) Runs on Salt, and It’s Having a Moment
By Dan Gearin for Indside Climate News. ““The reason we’re pursuing this is very simple,” said Venkat Srinivasan, a battery scientist at Argonne and the director of the new collaboration. “It’s because the huge demand in lithium-ion batteries has meant that we have a supply-chain constraint. “We have a problem with cobalt. We have a problem with nickel,” he said, naming two of the metals often used in lithium-ion batteries.”
– Nova Scotia, still dependent on fossil fuels, drops in rankings for energy efficiency
The Canadian Press on CTV A new national study says Nova Scotia’s leadership position in energy efficiency has been overtaken by other provinces, including its closest neighbours. The “Canadian Energy Efficiency Scorecard” has the East Coast province tumbling from second place in in 2022 to fifth this year, while Prince Edward Island is now tied with Quebec for second place, and New Brunswick has moved ahead to fourth spot… Nova Scotia’s programs have been emulated by other jurisdictions, but P.E.I. and New Brunswick now have higher levels of efficiency and supports for low-to-moderate income households, while other provinces are moving more quickly on retrofitting buildings for improved energy efficiency. The report says Nova Scotia “reliance on coal for electricity production is increasing costs and putting pressure on electricity bills.”
– Quebec’s electric challenges and Nova Scotia’s opportunities
by L Hughes and M Godwin in the Halifax Examiner. “Given Canada’s abundance of hydroelectric power, most of the electricity we export to the United States is from hydroelectricity generated in British Columbia, Manitoba, Quebec, and Ontario (Ontario also exports electricity from its nuclear generating facilities). However, drought in much of Canada in 2023 reduced our electricity exports by over a quarter below the 2013-2022 10-year average… The province hardest hit by the drought is also Canada’s largest exporter of electricity: Quebec…To meet this new demand, Hydro-Québec must add an estimated eight to nine gigawatts of generating capacity to its grid by 2035…Hydro-Québec is also looking for additional sources of electricity outside the province… In September 2022, Premier Tim Houston announced that Nova Scotia is to have five gigawatts of offshore renewable wind by 2030.According to the premier, the electricity produced from the offshore is intended to signal that “Nova Scotia is open for business and becoming an international leader in offshore wind and green hydrogen development.”…the planned five gigawatts of offshore wind would produce enough electricity in a year to meet at least twice what Nova Scotia uses in a year…Since it is unlikely that Nova Scotia’s electricity demand will double between now and 2030, there will clearly be a considerable excess available for other uses. The premier’s plan is to use this electricity for green hydrogen. But the intended customer for this hydrogen, Germany, is in the midst of a political crisis, with many of the government’s existing policies unlikely to survive the expected election in February 2025, including Germany’s current green hydrogen policy…If the hydrogen market fails to materialize as envisaged by the premier or Nova Scotia’s demand for offshore wind is not as great as the premier hopes, there will need to be other reasons for offshore wind developers to come to Nova Scotia… Nova Scotia’s offshore wind resource was developed, it could help Hydro-Québec meet its 2035 and 2050 emissions targets. The question is, how could the electricity be made available to Quebec?” The authors propose underwater cables, discuss uncertainties etc. They conclude: Nova Scotia has had three previous offshore energy opportunities promising a brighter future for the province: oil since the 1950s, natural gas in the early 2000s, and tidal energy in the 2010s, none of which have lived up to their proponents’ expectations. Fourth time lucky?”.
Dec 4, 2024:
The Quest to Make Clean Energy Even Cleaner
S Chen et al in Bloomberg “As solar and wind power have taken off around the world, so has the backlash against the waste they generate when the equipment has to be retired…Solar panels and wind turbines are state-of-the-art equipment built to survive in open fields, the ocean and on rooftops for decades. That resiliency also makes them harder to break down when it comes time to dispose of them.”
Dec 3, 2024:
Scientists Behind ‘Net Zero’ Concept Say Nations Are Getting It Wrong
By Eric Roston BNN Bloomberg “Diplomats from 197 countries agreed earlier this month to new rules governing how they can buy and sell credits to neutralize carbon emissions. But while they were deliberating, some of the biggest names in climate science, who defined “net zero” in 2009, found something wrong with the math underlying those debates. “Achieving ‘net zero’ no longer means what we meant by it,” said Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science at University of Oxford, one of the authors of a new paper published last month in the journal Nature. Their new analysis skewers an assumption at the heart of how countries and companies track emissions — that a ton of CO2 is the same everywhere, whether it’s dispersed in the atmosphere, embedded in forest wood or pulled from the air and pumped deep underground forever. That fungibility is the foundation of carbon markets. It lets a ton of CO2 in a forest stand as a fair trade for a ton put in the atmosphere. That rule-of-thumb turns out to be a vast oversimplification that could render many well-meaning net-zero efforts meaningless…”
View:- Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks
Allen et al., 2024 in Nature (Published: 11 November 2024)
Also: Durability of carbon dioxide removal is critical for Paris climate goals
Brunner et al., 2024 in Nature Communications Earth & Environment (Published: 11 November 2024) [The connection – or not – between these two papers is not clear.]
Nov 28, 2024:
– The view from space ‑ Dalhousie University researchers use satellite data, AI to identify trends in cows’ methane emissions and develop tools to tackle climate change in the Canadian dairy industry
Dalhousie University. View Research Paper pre-preprint. COMMENT: They tracked individual farms, likely the same techniques could be applied to forests, forestry operations.
Nov 27, 2024:
This drone just won a $10 million race to survey 100 hectares of rainforest in a single day
By Warren Cornwall for anthropocenemagazine.org “…Last week, the winners were announced in a $10 million competition put on by XPrize Rainforest to build devices that could survey 100 hectares of rainforest in a single day. The results are a testament to the growing conservation power of tools such as drones, DNA samplers, audio and video recorders and artificial intelligence, especially when paired with old-fashioned human ingenuity and the pressure to save these forests before it’s too late…The $5 million top prize went to a team whose drone-delivered tree-top labs identified 700 different types of animals and plants, including 250 distinct species over a 24-hour period (plus two days to analyze the data) while exploring a section of rainforest in the Brazilian Amazon. Developed by the U.S.-based nonprofit Limelight Rainforest under the leadership of Colorado Mesa University tropical ecologist Thomas Walla, the devices combine insect traps, audio recorders and cameras into a constellation of gadgets suspended in a lightweight lattice of rods. A drone uses a robotic hand to gently set one of these little laboratories into the top of a tree. Illuminated at night to attract insects, the constellation of devices resemble small lanterns floating in an ocean of trees…Second place and $2 million went to a Yale University-based team that developed a fleet of semi-autonomous flying drones that could explore the jungle, gathering images, sounds and environmental DNA. The approach relies partly on sophisticated AI programs that can use satellite images to predict what species will be in a place before the drones are deployed, as well as to scan audio and images collected by the drones to automatically identify species or flag unusual ones for a person to check. During the final competition, the team was able to identify 225 different species during a 24-hour survey.”
Nov 25, 2024:
Canadian tidal power is swimming hard against the current
By Cloe Logan for the National Observer “While there isn’t one huge ticket item over the past year that shows the viability of tidal, the combination of smaller wins combined with support from both the provincial and federal governments and continued industry enthusiasm bode well for the industry, Bennett said.”
Nov 22, 2024:
– CTV Leaders’ Roundtable was feisty, but ignored climate change
Jennifer Henderson in Halifax Examiner. Intro in Morning File
– Is there enough land on Earth to feed the world and store carbon?
By Emma Bryce for anthropocenemagazine.org “The surprising answer from a new modeling study is yes—if we line up all the pieces” References Land-use competition in 1.5°C climate stabilization: is there enough land for all potential needs? by A. Gurgel et al., in Frontiers in Environmental Science, Nov 2024
Nov 17, 2024:
– Does the road to clean energy run through dirty mines?
By Mark Harris for Anthropocene Magazine “You can’t scale green power without scaling gray industry.”
Nov 15, 2024:
– The carbon tax is dead; long live the carbon removal charge
By Jamie Stephen, PhD, managing director for TorchLight Bioresources in Canadian Biomass. “The likely impending doom of the carbon tax opens the door for better policy, BECCS”
Nov 23, 2024:
Trump Is Already Helping Revive the College Climate Movement
By Ethan M Steinberg for bloomberg.com “Since the election on Nov. 5, young activist leaders have traveled the US holding mass meetings, organizing school protests and hosting online calls that have drawn thousands of people. The idea is to turn up the volume on environmental concerns and convince policymakers to block legislation that will worsen climate change.”
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COP 29: UN Climate Change Conference Baku Nov 24, 2024: Nov 13, 2024: Nov 12, 2024: Nov 11, 2024: Nov 10, 2024: |
Nov 13, 2024:
– Halifax climate plan HalifACT ‘at risk’ of failing
By Matt Stickland for The Coast. “Halifax’s new city council had their first regular meeting of Halifax Regional Council on Tuesday, Nov 12,..In the public portions of the meeting, the bulk of the interesting debate was around the climate, specifically the yearly update on Halifax’s climate action plan, HalifACT AKA Halif-Acting on Climate Together…The annual report says that Halifax is doing okay but really needs to start implementing the plans it comes up with. City staff gave a presentation summarizing the report.
Nov 12, 2024:
– – Canadian activist Tzeporah Berman named among TIME’s top climate leaders
By Rochelle Baker for the National Observer “One of Canada’s most prominent environmental crusaders is being named among TIME’s Top 100 most influential climate leaders worldwide. Tzeporah Berman, a Vancouver-based activist and policy advocate, is at the forefront of climate action nationally and internationally. Her latest brainchild, the Fossil fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, aims to check the expansion and end fossil fuels use and transition equitably away from coal, oil and gas in favour of clean energy to save the planet and people. The treaty’s network is growing and enjoys the backing of 14 nations, more than 100 cities or regional governments, thousands of civil and environmental groups, Indigenous communities and international bodies such as the World Health Organization and the Vatican — and nearly a million individual global citizens, including Nobel Peace Prize winners and most recently former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.”
Nov 7, 2024:
– Audit shows Canada falling far behind emission reduction targets
By Stefan Labbé for www.vancouverisawesome.com “Canada’s plan to reduce planet warming emissions is “overoptimistic” and is moving “too slowly” to meet its targets, the country’s environment commissioner has warned in a new report. Of the 20 carbon reduction measures audited by Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry DeMarco, only nine were found to be on track. Another nine faced challenges, while two faced “significant barriers.” The report comes with only six years left to meet federal targets aimed at reducing carbon pollution 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030…A March 2023 audit from the commissioner found the federal government had failed to properly account for emissions from the country’s forestry sector. Among several recommendations, DeMarco said the federal government “did not provide a clear and complete picture” of greenhouse gases from forestry and called for an independent expert review to assess any gaps.
Nov 6, 2024:
– Trump plans to dismantle some of the most effective U.S. climate policies
By By Jennifer Mcdermott & Matthew Daly for the National Observer. “The election of Donald Trump as president for a second time and the Republican takeback of the U.S. Senate could undo many of the national climate policies that are most reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to climate solutions experts. When they list measures that are making the most difference, it lines up with policies Trump has said he’ll target.”
Nov 4., 2024:
– Drax will keep raising carbon emission levels until 2050s, study says
Jillian Ambrose in The Guardian/ “Drax will keep raising the levels of carbon emissions in the atmosphere until the 2050s despite using carbon capture technology, according to scientific research.”
– With campaign in full swing, N.S. party leaders weigh in on exporting wind energy
Luke Ettinger · CBC News “EverWind, Bear Head Energy, have plans to build hundreds of turbines to produce hydrogen with intent to export”. Also view: How Nova Scotia wind turbines could become an election issue (CBC news Video) “Hundreds of wind turbines are proposed for rural communities in Nova Scotia. But the energy is slated to produce green hydrogen for export and one group is attempting to make that a provincial issue. Luke Ettinger has the story.”
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COP 16 United Nations Biodiversity Conference Nov 2, 2024: Oct 31, 2024: Oct 24, 2024: |
Oct 24, 2024:
– Survey puts human face on pollution caused by U.S. wood pellet mills
By Justin Catanoso for Mongabay.com Forest biomass companies working in the U.S. Southeast in 2023 produced 9.54 million metric tons of wood pellets for export at their 28 mills. …While the pellets are an environmentally controversial substitute for coal burned in overseas power plants, awareness is also growing that biomass manufacture poses a public health threat in the rural U.S. communities where the mills operate within a 10-state arc stretching from southern Virginia to Louisiana.
Oct 23, 2024:
– Will a Liberal win in New Brunswick prompt a sea change on climate?
By Cloe Logan for the National Observer “After six years of leadership under the Progressive Conservatives, New Brunswick now has a Liberal premier who is an outlier in a region that has consistently pushed back against federal climate policy. On Monday night, Liberal leader Susan Holt was elected with a majority at 31 seats, while incumbent premier Blaine Higgs lost his seat, leaving his party with 16 total.Holt won’t be as combative as Higgs, who constantly railed against the carbon tax and clean energy transition deadlines, says Mario Levesque, a professor at Mount Allison University..Holt has long criticized Higgs for his stance on climate. In 2023, when Higgs threatened to lift the moratorium on fracking in the province, Holt said he was looking in the “rearview mirror” when it comes to the province’s energy future…The province has a slew of climate-related issues which will continue to be important to voters during Holt’s term, notes Moe Qureshi, director of climate research and policy with the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, a non-partisan organization. The province is a hot spot for energy: it is home to Canada’s largest oil refinery owned by Irving Oil, a company that has long been supported by Higgs, once an executive of the company. The province also harnesses nuclear power, which has been backed by both the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals. Glyphosate is sprayed over Crown land to benefit the forestry industry, which both the Liberals and Greens vowed to stop during the 2020 election.”
– Clean50 brings Canada’s key climate innovators together for outstanding results
By Darius Snieckus for the National Observer “The event, now in its fourteenth year, is “doing things more than a little differently,” executive director Gavin Pitchford said in his opening remarks..Instead of a standard programme of Powerpoint presentations, panel sessions and fireside chats, the summit is built around a day of open-table discussions and idea-generation on green transition topics that ran the gamut from clean finance to sustainable construction, renewable energy to climate action education.”
Oct 18, 2024:
– The Finnish Environment Institute Forest says carbon sinks have been overestimated, logging must be reduced
YLE News “The Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) says that tree felling should be decreased by about one quarter from a previous government estimate. Previous estimates of the capacity of Finland’s forests to absorb planet-warming emissions have been overly optimistic, the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) said on Thursday.”
– COP16: From forests to oceans, nature in a dire state
By Jake Spring for Reuters. Cites the 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment: Forests under fire. That includes links to
– (i) 2024 Forest Declaration Assessment: Forests under fire
– (ii) Summary for Policymakers
– (iii) Technical Annexes: A and B
A search for “Canada” in document (i) reveals many issues related to compliance for Canada at large.
Oct 14, 2024:
Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
Patrick Greenfield The Guardian. Subscription may be required. “The sudden collapse of carbon sinks was not factored into climate models – and could rapidly accelerate global heating…In 2023, the hottest year ever recorded, preliminary findings by an international team of researchers show the amount of carbon absorbed by land has temporarily collapsed. The final result was that forest, plants and soil – as a net category – absorbed almost no carbon…“We shouldn’t rely on natural forests to do the job. We really, really have to tackle the big issue: fossil fuel emissions across all sectors,” says Prof Pierre Friedlingstein of Exeter University, who oversees the annual Global Carbon Budget calculations. “We can’t just assume that we have forests and the forest will remove some CO2, because it’s not going to work in the long term.”
Oct 11, 2024:
– Fortescue pauses B.C. hydrogen project as Canada worries about missing export rush
By David Reevely for The Logic, subscription required. “Australian resources company Fortescue suspended plans for a green hydrogen plant in Prince George, B.C., last month, dealing a blow to Canada’s hydrogen hopes. It may be an omen of more trouble.”
– Pumped up: how ‘high density hydro’ could supercharge global energy storage
By Darius Snieckus in the National Observer. Subscription may be required for full access. “…Batteries, however, are limited by a four-hour charging cycle, unlike a growing number of so-called “long duration energy storage” (LDES) technologies that have already been shown to often be a cheaper storage solution than Li-ion, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), an industry research house. BNEF analyzed 20 LDES technologies — including thermal, chemical and gravitational designs — with energy storage lasting for weeks rather than hours. It found the least expensive design would require an average capital spend of $232 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to build, much lower than the average of $304/kWh for the latest Li-ion facilities. Among this wave of next-generation LDES technologies is the “high density” pumped hydro system that RheEnergise successfully piloted in Quebec in 2022.”
Oct 10, 2024:
– ‘Alarming’ decline of seed-dispersing animals threatens Europe’s plants
By Erik Stokstad in science.org news. “Today in Science, a team reports that at least one-third of European plant species could be in trouble because most of the animals that move their seeds are threatened or declining. The study is “brilliant and compelling” but also “alarming,” says Pedro Jordano, an ecologist at the University of Seville. The decline in seed dispersers—not just birds, but also mammals, reptiles, and ants—could jeopardize the ability of plants to expand their range to cope with climate change or recover after wildfire, he adds, especially in Europe’s highly fragmented landscape.”
– El Niño fingered as likely culprit in record 2023 temperatures
Paul Voosen in science.org news. “For the past year, alarm bells have been going off in climate science: Last year’s average global temperature was so high, shooting up nearly 0.3°C above the previous year to set a new record, that human-driven global warming and natural short-term climate swings seemingly couldn’t explain it. Some, like famed climate scientist James Hansen, suggested Earth is entering an ominous new phase of accelerated warming, driven by a rapid decline in sunlight-dimming air pollution. Others, like Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the rise might represent a “knowledge gap,” some new climate feedback that might tip the planet toward a future even warmer than models predict. Now, a new series of studies suggests most of the 2023 jump can be explained instead by a familiar climate driver: the shifting waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean.”
Oct 9, 2024:
–Anger at UK’s ‘bonkers’ plan to reach net zero by importing fuel from North Korea
Isabella Kaminski in The Guardian. “About a third of the biomass used in the UK is imported. In 2021, 9.1m tonnes of wood pellets for use in energy production came from abroad – about 76% from North America and 18% from the EU. But there is not enough wood in these regions to supply the large expansion in bioenergy that the government is banking on…Scientists and environmental campaigners have long disputed claims that burning wood for energy is climate neutral, saying forests are unlikely to be replaced quickly enough to absorb the carbon emissions required to slow the climate crisis. A recent report showed that Drax, the UK’s largest power station, was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the country’s last remaining coal-fired plant which closed last month.”
– Sylvain Charlebois is Canada’s ‘Food Professor.’ His take on food prices is helping shape our climate policy debate
Marc Fawcett-Atkinson in the National Observer. “…Since early 2023, the Food Professor has criticized the government and the Bank of Canada over Canada’s carbon tax, arguing the tax is “very difficult to assess” and could be contributing to higher food prices by making the country’s food supply chain less competitive. He believes it should be paused until its full impact has been assessed…His argument has been amplified by the federal Conservative party…Charlebois eventually moved to Dalhousie University, where he now leads his own agri-food research lab at the university. The lab surveys food consumer priorities and behaviour and is best known for an annual Canada Food Price Report, which is not formally peer-reviewed in an academic journal, detailing predicted food trends and prices for the year ahead that regularly makes it into national news…An August 2024 paper by researchers at the University of Guelph that examined 14 Canada Food Price Reports and 39 Statistics Canada reports on food pricing concluded that “most claims made in these reports are scientifically incomplete.” They noted the reports from both organizations lack “comprehensiveness” in the claims they make and their analysis, particularly on climate change and the influence of corporations on food prices.”
– Climate and Construction: New study spotlights logging industry carbon emissions
John Bleasby in Canada Construction Connect. “Questioning the benefits of incorporating wood into ever-larger construction can feel like swimming against the tide…However, a report released last month titled 2024 Logging Emissions Update questions one of the foundational arguments surrounding the carbon reduction benefits of wood.
Oct 8, 2024:
– Timber trail blazers see new growth in green building drive
By Darius Snieckus| Part 5 of Big Green Build in the National Observer. “Lumber was once a go-to building material before concrete and steel took over. Now, reborn as mass timber, it may be on the cusp of a comeback as the construction sector steps up its green transition.” The article covers pros and cons of Mass Timber in Canada, from a green perspective.
– Nova Scotia is getting a massive wind farm — but barely any of its green energy
CBC Video “Nova Scotia is getting a massive wind farm — but barely any of its green energy. Nova Scotia is building what could be the largest onshore wind farm in the Western Hemisphere, but the power is being shipped overseas. CBC’s Tom Murphy breaks down the divide over hosting a massive project but not greening the local power grid.
Oct 7, 2024:
Diverse forests better at capturing planet-warming carbon dioxide, study finds
By University of Birmingham on Phys.Org “Forests with a greater diversity of trees are more productive—potentially leading to greater efficiency in capturing planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a new study reveals.”
Oct 3, 2024:
– Europe’s Global Green Ambitions Push Too Hard Once Again
John Ainger et al. for Bloomberg.”EU deforestation law delayed by a year amid widespread protest”
Sep 25, 2024:
– Higgins Mountain Wind Project in Nova Scotia moves forward
On www.newswire.ca, News provided by Canada Infrastructure Bank “17 wind turbines to provide 100 megawatts of clean electricity to the grid./Project to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 200,000 tonnes annually/100 workers at peak of construction and new, full time jobs during operations. – The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) and Elemental Energy have reached financial close on a $118 million loan to support the Higgins Mountain Wind Project, located within the municipalities of Colchester and Cumberland in Nova Scotia.”
– Logging’s climate threat: Emissions now rival transportation
By Michael Polanyi, Nature Canada x The National Observer .“… A new report, 2024 Logging Emissions Update, release by Nature Canada, Nature Quebec, and Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC), found that logging in Canada released 147 megatonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide in 2022 – one-fifth of Canada’s total reported emissions.
Sep 24, 2024:
– Planet Releases AI-powered Forest Carbon Monitoring Product — at 3-Meter Resolution
By Planet Labs for Business Wire TreeFrog Summary: “Planet Labs PBC, a provider of daily Earth data and insights, released its Forest Carbon Monitoring product, consisting of quarterly, 3-meter resolution measurements of forests globally. It offers an unprecedented dataset to support voluntary carbon markets, regulatory compliance, and deforestation mitigation. …This quarterly dataset estimates aboveground carbon, canopy height, and canopy cover over the entire Earth dating back to 2021, setting a new standard for monitoring forest growth and change. Forest Carbon Monitoring equips stakeholders with a cost-effective way to monitor forested areas — scaling from a single tree to the entirety of the Amazon rainforest. …But by leveraging Forest Carbon Monitoring data — built using Planet’s extensive archive of PlanetScope imagery and a global library of airborne and spaceborne LiDAR data, with processing by AI — users can derive precise, scalable, and affordable measurements without sacrificing scientific rigor.”
– Concrete innovation: a deep dive into the long-term impacts of cement
Macenzie Rebelo in Canadian Contractor “Concrete has been the most relied upon and used building material not only in Canada but the entire world…However, the cement industry is responsible for eight per cent of global greenhouse gases and Canada produces approximately 60 million tonnes of concrete each year… “One ton of cement used to produce one ton of CO2,” he says. “But, now they’ve gotten it down to produce half a ton.” According to the CAGBC, a way to reduce embodied carbon in concrete is to add supplementary cementitious materials…The only downside of using alternatives is that they are often twice the amount of cement and only sometimes as effective…Timber is also a common substitute for concrete entirely and in the last decade, there has been a push across the nation to build with mass timber. A benefit to timber, according to the CAGBC is more predictable construction times and lower embodied-carbon production. However, timber can only go so far, as it is considered for builds less than 12 storeys..There is no clear-cut solution to the cement dilemma “ Comment There is a PR battle going on between Concrete and Mass Timber interests… both claiming to reduce emissions with new products etc. Good to know the strengths and weaknesses of both and make the best combinations pf products accordingly.
Sep 23, 2024:
– Nova Scotia’s climate action plan falls short: report
Taryn Grant · CBC News “A new report published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says Nova Scotia’s plan to curb greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change is falling short. The report, released Monday, considers a 2022 plan from the PC government that details how it intends to reach its legislated climate goals. It says the government’s goals are ambitious and “paint a rosy picture of Nova Scotia’s future,” but cannot realistically be met if the province stays on its current path. “Our analysis shows that the changes envisioned by the plan are too shallow to achieve these goals and are at odds with the principles that are claimed to be its foundation,” the authors wrote. Read the full report…”
– New Study Suggests California Should Start Counting Timber Industry’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions
by R.V. Scheide in www.anewscafe.com. “A new study on the impacts of the logging and wood products industry in Shasta and Siskiyou Counties has found such economic activities emit an average of 4 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year, equal to the annual emissions of 883,000 gas-powered passenger vehicles. The estimated climate damages caused by the greenhouse gas emissions are $487 million to $1.4 billion per year, which far exceeds the revenue generated by logging and wood products. The kicker? According to the study, California does not currently report or regulate GHG emissions from industrial logging activities because they are erroneously considered carbon neutral…Natural forests that have not been developed or logged are indeed remarkable carbon sinks thanks to their ability to capture CO2 from the atmosphere and store it both above and below the ground, for centuries if left undisturbed. Talberth calls this “catch and store.” In contrast, he labels modern industrial logging and wood products industry “catch and release” because it emits far more greenhouse gasses than it captures.“Trees are half carbon by weight, and when they are cut down and processed into two by fours, paper products, or wood pellets, the majority of this biogenic carbon is released into the atmosphere over time, most of it during the first few years after logging,” Talberth writes.”
Sep 19, 2024:
– Experts estimate modest drop in 2023 emissions, with big differences across sectors
By Canadian Climate Institute Cision Newswire “The independent estimate finds Canada’s emissions now sit at 8 per cent below 2005 levels, the baseline year for Canada’s 2030 emissions target of a 40 to 45% reduction.”
– ‘Concrete revolution’ takes aim at construction’s worst polluter
By Darius Snieckus in the National Observer. Subscription may be required. Cited as ‘Part 0 of Big Green Build‘ “Concrete has weighed down the building industry’s efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, but a low-carbon revolution in the world’s most-used construction material is starting to gather momentum, writes Darius Snieckus.” [It’s NOT about Mass Timber]
– Backlash Erupts Over Europe’s Anti-Deforestation Law
By Patricia Cohen on The New York Times. Subscription may be required. From summary by TreeFrog: “The European Union has been a world leader on climate change, passing groundbreaking legislation to reduce noxious GHGs. Now the world is pushing back. Government officials and business groups have jacked up their lobbying to persuade EU officials to suspend a landmark environmental law aimed at protecting the planet’s endangered forests by tracing supply chains. The rules, scheduled to take effect at the end of the year, would affect billions of dollars in traded goods. They have been denounced by countries in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. In the US, the Biden administration petitioned for a delay as American paper companies warned that the law could result in shortages. In July, China said it would not comply because of “security concerns”. Brazil… and even Germany asked the EU to postpone the regulations. Delaying the rule’s onset is not easy. The legislature would have to approve any amendments.”
– Climate change means we may have to learn to live with invasive species
Heather Kharouba (Univ. of Ottawa) in www.theconversation.com /. “Invasive species are often looked upon with suspicion. From non-native “weeds” to insects and aquatic invaders, introduced (or non-native) species continue to be misunderstood — and consequently often mismanaged. Stated plainly, the vast majority of intentionally or unintentionally introduced species are not a threat to native ecosystems…”
Sep 13, 2024:
How scientists debunked one of conservation’s most influential statistics
Tim Fischer in The Guardian “The factoid about biodiversity and Indigenous peoples spread around the world, but scientists say bad data can undermine the very causes it claims to support”
Sep 12, 2024:
Nature Conservancy Releases Innovative Emerald Edge Carbon Map
The Nature C0nservancy/ ” The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and our Canadian affiliate Nature United are excited to announce the launch of the Emerald Edge Carbon Map, an innovative, interactive map to help identify the most impactful and actionable opportunities for natural climate solutions projects that also support Indigenous and community priorities. Natural climate solutions are actions to protect, manage and restore ecosystems that help sequester carbon and fight climate change. The Emerald Edge is the world’s largest coastal temperate rainforest and is a globally important carbon storage and sequestration heavyweight. The region spans 125 million acres across Oregon, Washington state, British Columbia and Alaska, and comprises the territories of more than 50 Indigenous Nations who continue to care for the land to support their cultures, food security, ecotourism services and other economic uses.”
Sep 9, 2024:
Why ‘the UK’s biggest carbon emitter’ receives billions in green subsidies
By Jillian Ambrose The Guardian UK
Sep 7, 2024
–‘Sustainable’ logging operations are clear-cutting Canada’s climate-fighting forests
C. Kirkham et al for a Reuters Special Report. “Nonprofit environment watchdogs put their stamps of approval on countless wood products that get touted as responsibly produced. But Reuters found that the timber firms these groups certify are harvesting large swaths of Canada’s older forests, which are critical to containing global warming.” Examines issue of Certification, “The rapid loss of older Canadian forests highlights the flaws of certification programs that have come under heavy influence of the logging and forest-products industries, a Reuters investigation has found.”
Sep 4, 2024:
– Logging is the 3rd highest emitter in Canada. It should be measured that way, a new report says
Inayat Singh, Benjamin Shingler · CBC News “UN experts and environmental groups continue to call on Canada to report true climate cost of logging” Comment, I cant locate the ‘Report’ referred to in the article, apparently published very recently. The article cites this scientific paper: High emissions or carbon neutral? Inclusion of “anthropogenic” forest sinks leads to underreporting of forestry emissions by Bysouth et al., 2024 in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change (AR Taylor, one of the authors, is in the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick Fredericton, Fredericton, NB, Canada and is often consulted by NS NRR).
– Sep 4, 2024:
FPAC’s Derek Nighbor says Canada’s passive approach fuelling wildfires
By Derek Nighbor in Canadian Biomass “…Even some of our national parks, those enduring icons of conservation, are turning into net carbon emitters due to drought and wildfires, according to recent findings from the Parks Canada Carbon Atlas Series…What does proactive management mean? It means hands-on intervention into our forest ecosystems. For example, making deliberate efforts to remove flammable materials in high fire risk zones, particularly forests that are older, denser and drying out. These forests are prime for combustion from a lightning strike or a spark from an off-road vehicle.”
Comment (DP): Big Forestry has the solutions to it all. Carbon capture, stopping the fires; no recognition of Bif Forestry’s high emissions and practices that contribute to bigger fires (herbicides etc), and even start them (sparks from machinery operatng during very dry periods). The comments by Nighbor expose the real objective… continued access to Old Growth, and they want access to Parks and Protected Areas, all to feed thethirst for biomass. For the Nova Scotia version, see Forest NS on wildfires, and some comments on versicolor.ca/nstriad. Also available as a PDF
Sep 3, 2024
Contrary to industry claims, forests left alone are best able to combat climate change
Joan Baxter in the Halifax Examiner. Subscription required. Cites this scientific paper: Carbon sequestration and storage implications of three forest management regimes in the Wabanaki-Acadian Forest: A review of the evidence by Emma Cox et al., 27 November 2023 in Environmental Reviews. Baxter discusses also how forest industry is “trying to convince the public that industrial forestry is a force for good in our forests and for the climate”. Says Baxter, ” The Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) has been running a massive PR campaign called “Forestry For The Future” that makes over-the-top boasts such as “Canadian Forestry Can Save The World.” The Examiner delved into the Forestry For The Future propaganda campaign in March 2024.”
Aug 29, 2024:
– Can dumping seaweed on the sea floor cool the planet? Some scientists are skeptical
Warren Caldwell in Science. “An ambitious strategy aims to cool the planet by dumping farmed seaweed on the sea floor. Will it work? “I think it’s nonsense,” one expert says”
Aug 28, 2024
– How low can we go? To cut the carbon that goes into buildings to net zero, we need radical change
By Philip Oldfield et al., in The Conversation AU. ‘Our new research shows while we can greatly reduce embodied carbon in Australia, it will require radical changes in how we design, construct, use and reuse buildings…Of all the changes we made, the one that reduced embodied carbon the most was simply replacing carpet with hardwood floors.”
– Surging Methane Emissions Could Be a Sign of a Major Climate Shift
By Bob Berwyn for Inside Climate News “New studies suggest global warming boosts natural methane releases, which could undermine efforts to cut emissions of the greenhouse gas from fossil fuels and agriculture…A new trouble spot is in the Arctic, where scientists recently found unexpectedly large methane emissions in winter. ”
– Why biodiversity urgently needs more financing options
By Saijel Kishan for Bloomberg “…The question is how do you get profit-loving capitalists to plow money into a niche market that focuses on the well-being of insects, the health of marine species and the preservation of mangroves?””
– MSU researchers contribute to study revealing salamanders are surprisingly abundant in eastern North American forests
By Emilie Lorditch in MSU Today. References Range-wide salamander densities reveal a key component of terrestrial vertebrate biomass in eastern North American forests ny Grant et al., 2024 in Biology Letters.”…We demonstrate that overall the biomass of P. cinereus, a secondary consumer, is of similar or greater magnitude to widespread primary consumers such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and Peromyscus mice, and two to three orders of magnitude greater than common secondary consumer species. Our results add empirical evidence that P. cinereus, and amphibians in general, are an outsized component of terrestrial vertebrate communities in temperate ecosystems.”
Aug 22, 2024
Climate policies that achieved major emission reductions: Global evidence from two decades
Annika Stechemesser et al., in Science, 22 Aug 2024 Vol 385, Issue 6711 pp. 884-892 Description from Inside Climate News: “A new study analyzed 1,500 policies around the world aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and found that only 4 percent resulted in significant carbon cuts. There are a few ingredients in the secret sauce of successful projects in that slim margin, including making polluters pay for their emissions. “Other policies help, but nibble around the edges,” Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University who was not involved in the study, told The Associated Press. “Carbon pricing puts the onus on the owners and products causing the climate crisis.”
Aug 14, 2024:
Will regulators OK controversial effort to supercharge ocean’s ability to absorb carbon?
Warren Cornwall in www.science.org “Geoengineering study that would disperse alkaline chemicals off Cape Cod draws environmental opposition…Some other alkalinity experiments have fared better. With the blessing of local regulators, the Canadian company Planetary Technologies last summer poured 280 tons of a mineral form of magnesium hydroxide—a common ingredient in antacid tablets—into the harbor in Halifax, Novia Scotia, and dyed parts of the water near the busy downtown pink with a tracer for several days. The experiment generated local news stories, but little opposition, says Katja Fennel, an ocean modeling expert at Dalhousie University who is collaborating with the company, which began a second round of tests there this year. In contrast, the company’s plan to pour magnesium hydroxide into the U.K.’s scenic St. Ives Bay has been met with suspicion and protests by some local officials and residents. The company postponed the experiment, originally scheduled for 2023, but is still seeking a permit. Fennel suspects the receptions have differed partly because Halifax Harbor is industrialized whereas St. Ives Bay seems unspoiled. “Doing an experiment or field trial in an environment that people value as pristine or people perceive as undisturbed is probably not a good idea,” she says.”
Aug 9, 2024:
The risky business of private climate modeling
By Eric Roston et al. for Bloomberg. Subscription may be required. “…Computer models can now gauge the likelihood of fire, flooding or other perils at the scale of a single building lot and looking decades into the future. Startups that develop these models have proliferated, buoyed by venture capital and private equity…But there’s a big catch. Most private risk modelers closely guard their intellectual property, which means their models are essentially black boxes. They’re often not transparent enough to allow for rigorous independent vetting. A White House scientific advisers’ report warned last year that climate risk predictions from a “burgeoning” new industry were sometimes “of questionable quality.” And the research nonprofit CarbonPlan puts it even more starkly: Decisions informed by models that can’t be inspected “are likely to affect billions of lives and trillions of dollars…A Bloomberg Green analysis of two flood-risk models, based on new academic research, finds they clash with each other more than they agree. When compared only on a single, relatively simple metric, the models match just 21% of the time.”
June 18, 2024:
Healthy Rivers, Healthy Planet Naturally (Video)
Presentation by Eddie Halfyard & Shannon Sterling to the Halifax Field Naturalists Recorded on Zoom & archived by HFN.
“The Nova Scotia Salmon Association’s Ecologist Edmund Halfyard, PhD, along with Dalhousie environmental scientist Shannon Sterling, PhD, co-founded Carbon Run, a company whose mission is to ‘restore the health of rivers and their natural ability to draw carbon from land — to sea’. The presentation details the situation we are currently in, the steps needed to rectify this, and Carbon Run’s approach to doing so. Through their research, they have found that when water quality is restored, rivers regain their natural ability to markedly increase biodiversity while drawing down carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.” View more about Carbon Run/Liming of Forest Soils
March 14, 2024:
The global energy transition offers new options for mitigation of coastal hypoxia: Do we know enough?
Patricia Handmann, Douglas Wallace in Global Change Biology
