Carbon_Emissions – Transition Cornwall +

Four things Kingston can teach other cities about climate-change plans

March 18, 2019 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

The municipality that has billed itself as “Canada’s most sustainable city“ since 2009 now has some solid evidence to back up the claim. The November issue of the journal Climatic Change contains a ranking of the climate-change plans of 63 Canadian municipalities — and Kingston comes out on top. Plans were evaluated based on eight criteria, including how a community sets its climate goals, how effective those goals are, and how it measures and achieves progress. Municipalities are the “most…

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What Can We Do?

December 19, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

At the University of Minnesota Dr. Nate Hagens teaches an honours course called “Reality 101: A Survey of the Human Predicament.” Hagens operated his own hedge fund on Wall Street until he glimpsed, “a serious disconnect between capitalism, growth, and the natural world. Money did not appear to bring wealthy clients more well being. ”Reality 101 addresses humanity’s toughest challenges: economic decline, inequality, pollution, biodiversity loss, and war. Students learn about systems ecology, neuroscience, and economics. “We ask hard questions,” says Hagens….

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Reducing Your Carbon Footprint Still Matters

October 29, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

We don’t recommend taking personal actions like limiting plane rides, eating less meat, or investing in solar energy because all of these small tweaks will build up to enough carbon savings (though it could help). We do so because people taking action in their personal lives is actually one of the best ways to get to a society that implements the policy-level change that is truly needed. Research on social behavior suggests lifestyle change can build momentum for systemic change….

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4 big takeaways from the UN’s alarming climate change report

October 10, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

The new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, is out. Its prognosis for the planet is grim: We may have as little as 12 years to act on climate change — to slash global emissions 45 percent — to reach this target. The report was commissioned by the United Nations to see what would happen if global average temperatures rose by 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, and…

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New Study Shows that Returning Carbon Revenues Directly to Households Would be Net Financially Positive for the Vast Majority of Households

September 24, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

A study commissioned by Canadians for Clean Prosperity shows that the vast majority of households, regardless of income level, would receive more money in the form of carbon dividend cheques than they would pay in carbon taxes, should the federal government introduce carbon dividends in those provinces in which it brings in its carbon tax “backstop” starting in 2019. This study demonstrates that the objection that carbon pricing will cost average households large amounts of money is ill-founded – or…

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Have your say on climate change, cancellation of Cap and Trade

September 17, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

Bill 4, Cap and Trade Cancellation This Act repeals the Climate Change Mitigation and Low-carbon Economy Act, 2016 and provides for various matters related to the wind down of the Cap and Trade Program. It also establishes a requirement for the Minister to prepare a climate change plan and to prepare progress reports in respect of the plan The government’s Environment Ministry has OPENED an online comment portal to seek public feedback about what it should do about climate change,…

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Acre for acre, urban trees can store as much carbon as tropical forest

August 27, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

Trees lining city streets, in public and private gardens, in parks, and in patches of urban woodland do a lot for cities. They help mitigate air pollution, lessen the urban heat island effect, provide flood control, and contribute a host of other benefits. Some studies have valued these ecosystem services at almost USD $1 million per square kilometer per year. And it turns out that these trees, collectively known as the urban forest, also contribute more than you might imagine…

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World is finally waking up to climate change, says ‘hothouse Earth’ author

August 20, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

The scorching temperatures and forest fires of this summer’s heatwave have finally stirred the world to face the onrushing threat of global warming, claims the climate scientist behind the recent “hothouse Earth” report. Following an unprecedented 270,000 downloads of his study, Johan Rockström, executive director of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, said he had not seen such a surge of interest since 2007, the year the Nobel prize was awarded to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “I…

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Breaking it down: how carbon pricing addresses climate change

August 15, 2018 TCWordpress Comments 0 comment

Pollution isn’t free. There is a real cost to the environment and our health when someone — an individual or a business — pollutes, leaving the air, water, or land less clean for everyone. Economists tell us that putting a price on pollution will reduce emissions; but there is often a misunderstanding or lack of clarity on exactly how it achieves this. As illustrated in our recent infographic series, it’s helpful to think of solutions in the near-term, mid-term,…

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