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CANADA CANADA CANADA CANADA
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AWMA AND YORK UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON
AIR QUALITY
The Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA), Ontario
Section, and Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES), York
University will host the AWMA-OS Spring Conference Air
Quality in Ontario and the 1999 Morris Katz Lectures May 5 to 7,
1999, at the Osgoode Hall Law School, at York University, Toronto
Ontario. Speakers include, Dr. Richard Burnett, Health Canada
Controlling Air Pollution on the subject, "Is the Pain Worth the
Gain?" Another issue to be covered is Air Quality Policy and
Regulatory Issues - Approaches to Air Quality Control: Command
and Control vs. Voluntary Initiatives. There will be exhibitions
centrally located tabletop displays will be available for a limited
number of exhibitors. For more information on exhibits, please
e-mail Daryl Keating at darylk@yorku.ca. For more information
contact, Doug Lyons, Jacques Whitford, Conference Chair ph.
(416) 495- 8614 ext. 276, or Tony van der Vooren, HA Simons,
Technical Chair, ph. (416) 445- 9959 ext. 441, Jane Hargraft,
York University, Facilities Chair (416) 736-2100 ext. 33281.
Cost $250 for two days / $150 per day, Students, $50 for two days
/$25 per day. Attendance for the 1999 Morris Katz Memorial
Lecture is Free. Stay for the 1st Annual A&WMA-OS Awards
Banquet, Thursday May 6, Winters College, York University
6:00 Cocktails, 7:00 Dinner and Awards Presentations, Cost :
$40 per person.
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ENVIRONMENT CANADA SUPPORTS COMMUNITY
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAMS
Environment Canada is inviting Green Communities to visit its
Millennium Eco Communities web site, http//www.ec.gc.ca/eco/,
for funding tips, success stories, on-line chat forums with
specialists, networking opportunities, etc. "You may even want
to register your community action on the MEC web site."
Feedback welcome. Also, Environment Canada has launched its
online Sustainable Development Information System (SDInfo) as
a guide to the federal government's sustainable development
initiatives. Website http://www.sdinfo.gc.ca.
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ENVIRONMENT CANADA FUNDING FOR GREEN COMMUNITIES
Environment Canada's EcoAction 2000 funding program has
approved funding to the following Green Communities programs,
* Perth County GREENWORK$ - $24,933, for 500 home energy
conservation visits and audits (energy, water, waste), in the Town
of North Perth, a rural community in southwestern Ontario. The
project will also replace 200 industrial, commercial and institutional
exit lights. The North Perth project is the first phase of a plan to service
all of Perth County and the City of Stratford. For more information
contact Leila Khan, coordinator, ph. (519) 291-9350, email
greenworks@golden.net
* Ottawa - $50,000 for a Green Home Comfort Service in Ottawa and
region. Service to include three offerings, (1) an EnerGuide for Houses,
(2) an installation- based home visit, and (3) an information- based home
visit.
* ÉcoAction - $43,370, for a residential efficiency project in the
Saint-Louis/Mile End district of Montréal, Quebec. Advice and hardware
installation (energy, water), impacting over 2,000 apartments. Service
offered on a geared-to-income basis. Source of information is "GCAnews",
Green Communities Association, Clifford Maynes, Coordinator, GCA,
4 Knox St., Peterborough, Ontario K9H 2A8; ph. (705) 745-7479; fax (705)
745-7294, email cmaynes@web.net , Website http://www.ptbo.igs.net/~gca/
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$100,000 FOR POLLUTION PREVENTION IN MANITOBA
The Government of Manitoba has provided a $100,000 fund to the
Alliance of Manufacturers and Exporters Canada to support the
initiatives of the Technical Assistance for Pollution Prevention
(TAPP). TAPP provides businesses with environmental information,
on site technical assistance and industrial training. The office also
performs waste audits of companies within specific sectors, works
with companies in assessing waste produced and assists in the
development of options for reducing pollution. For more
information contact, John Jonasson, Manitoba Environment,
Ph. (204) 945- 7073, email John_joasson@env.gov.mb.ca
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NORTH SUN 99 RENEWABLE ENERGY CONFERENCE, ALBERTA
AUGUST 11 TO 14, 1999
Alberta is coming out of the shadow of oil and coal energy to
embrace environmentally sound sources of energy such as wind,
solar, and micro hydro. The 25th Annual Conference of the Solar
Energy Society focused on renewable energy in northern climates
will be hosted at the Shaw Conference Centre, Edmonton, Alberta,
August 11 to 14, 1999. Called "NorthSun ‘99", the conference will
hear from Peter Beadle, President of British Petroleum Solar Co.,
about that oil company's move to accept climate change as a serious
issue that requires real action on the part of the fossil fuel industry
sector. You will also hear from Elizabeth Dowdeswell, former Executive
Director of the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP), and
Christopher Flavin, Vice President for Research, Worldwatch Institute.
Cost, C$550.00. To register contact, North Sun '99 Secretariat, c/o Solar
Energy Society of Canada, Inc. (SESCI), 116 Lisgar Street, Suite 702,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 0C2, Ph. 613. 234 4151, fax 613 234 2988,
E-mail NorthSun.99@cyberus.ca , website at http://www.solarenergysociety.ca
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TOBIN TAX PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTION PASSED IN
CANADA'S HOUSE OF COMMONS
Canada has shown world leadership in adopting a motion calling
for an international tax on financial transactions, NDP financial
institutions critic Lorne Nystrom said. Motion M-239 was passed
by Parliament with a vote of 164 to 83. It read, "That in the opinion
of the House, the government should enact a tax on financial
transactions in concert with the international community."
Problems with sinking currencies and global deflation have buoyed
support for increased global re-regulation. The Tobin Tax could
serve as both a means to cool "hot" speculative capital, and it could
also raise funds for cash-strapped social programs -- both at
home and around the world. For more information, please call, Lorne
Nystrom, MP, ph. (306) 359- 6944, cellular, (306) 539-7105.
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ALBERTA HOSTS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
The World Congress on Managing and Measuring Sustainable
Development will be hosted by The Society for World Sustainable
Development the Kananaskis Village, Alberta, August 17-22, 2000.
The theme of the World Congress is "Global Community Action 1,
Ensuring a Sound Future for Earth; and Managing and Measuring
Sustainable Development". The World Congress is about a new, unique
Global Dialogue on the management of global changes with respect to
four levels of concern: environment, people, economic development,
and availability of resources; all interacting with each other and within
themselves. A sound working balance amongst the interactions has to be
found to ensure a sound future for Earth, which will influence the economic
success of your business in the new millennium. The World Congress is
unique because it will establish a permanent new global dialogue on
measuring and assessing sustainable development, and on providing
sound management policy solutions to the Global Community. It brings
forward two local/global indicators to replace the GNP or GDP of a country,
including Gross Environmental Sustainable Development Index (GESDI)
and the Gross Sustainable Development Product (GSDP). For more
information contact Germain Dufour, Chairman and Virginie Dufour,
Secretary General, Organizing Committee, The Society for World
Sustainable Development, #308, 920-9 Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta,
T2P 2T9, ph. 403- 265- 3404 email gdufour@globalcommunitywebnet.com
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CIDA FORESTRY ADVISERS NETWORK (CFAN)
The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has
created the Canadian Forestry Advisers Network (CFAN). Its
purpose is to stimulate thought on international forestry issues
and to provide opportunity for Internet users to discover what
development initiatives CIDA has taken to meet the challenges
facing the world's forests. CFAN is an informal network of
professionals concerned about the future of the forests and
the people who depend on them. The views expressed by CFAN
in its material and in its website are not the official policy of
CIDA nor of the Canadian Government, however, they provide
insight into the issues. Visit its website at
http://www.rcfa-cfan.org/English/index.issues.html
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INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL
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NAFTA ENVIRONMENT COMMISSION HOLDING MEETING ON
SOUND CHEMICALS MANAGEMENT IN ALASKA
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) will
hold a meeting on the Sound Management of Chemicals
(SMOC) May 7 and 8, 1999 in Anchorage, Alaska. The Sound
Management of Chemicals (SMOC) Working Group and the
Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the Commission for
Environmental Cooperation (CEC) invites you to a public meeting
on 7 May and to a JPAC Regular Session on 8 May at the Captain
Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska. The focus of the joint meeting on
7 May with SMOC and JPAC will be to discuss the issue of contaminants
and their impact on human health and how the CEC can best contribute
to the a better understanding of these matters within the NAFTA countries
of Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Another focus will be on
how these issues impact indigenous peoples. The agendas of these meetings
can be found on the CEC Web site at
<http://www.cec.org/jpac/menu_jpac.cfm?format=1varlan=english>.
To confirm your attendance and to receive the appropriate documents related
to these meetings, please send an e-mail to Manon Pepin at
<mpepin@ccemtl.org> or a fax to (514) 350-4314.
CCE / CCA / CEC, 393, rue St-Jacques Ouest, bureau 200
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 1N9, Tel. (514) 350-4366, Fax (514) 350-4314
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ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS ACCOUNTING SUCCESS
STORIES REPORTED TO THE U.S. EPA
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental
Accounting Project has developed a collection of environmental
accounting case studies. Over 40 case studies demonstrate the
financial results of actual environmental accounting applications.
The case studies demonstrate how the application of the
environmental accounting principles can have a direct, positive,
bottom line effect on business operations. Companies are encouraged
to contribute additional success stories. See the case studies on U.S.
EPA's website at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/acctg/casestudy.thm
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USING WETLANDS FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND
A Conference on "Wetlands for Wastewater Recycling, Practical
Applications in Agriculture, Sanitary and Stormwater Treatment",
will be held on November 3 to 5, 1999, at the BWI Airport Mariott
Hotel, in Baltimore, Maryland. This is the first call for abstracts for
the conference. All submitted abstracts will be reviewed for
applicability, technical content, and format. Contact, Environmental
Concern Inc., a non-profit dedicated to wetlands consulting, research,
and education, P.O. Box P, St. Michaels, Maryland 21663,
ph. (410) 745- 9620, fax (410) 745- 4066, email educate@wetland.org,
website http://www.wetland.org/conference.htm
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FORBES MAGAZINE HOLDS ENVIRONMENT BUSINESS
CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
Forbes Magazine and Business Publishers, Inc., are holding the
1999 Environmental Super Conference, April 28-30, 1999 in
Washington, D.C. The conference is aimed primarily at suppliers
of environmental goods and services who want to explore opportunities
for business with government and industry, and develop business/
growth strategies. Keynote speakers include John W. Douglass, President
& CEO, Aerospace Industries Association of America, Washington, D.C.
Topics will include strategies and procurement opportunities in federal
outsourcing and privatization; turning brownfields into green opportunities;
mergers and acquisitions in the Environmental Industry; Privatizing
Pollution Control Systems at Federal Facilities; and How Regulators
and Industry Officials View Compliance/Enforcement of Environmental
Requirements in the Future. Register by calling 1.(800) 274-6737,
faxing (301) 587- 4530, email bpiconferences@bpinews.com,
website http://www.bpinews.com/super.html
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EDISON SPENDS AUS. $1.0 MILLION ON AUSTRALIA GREEN
PROGRAMME, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
Edison Mission Energy Australia Ltd. plans to spend
Aus. $1.0 million on a five-year landcare programme
in the Gippsland region of Victoria. Edison managing
director Greg Hoppe said in a statement the landcare
programme would help reverse land degradation, facilitate
greenhouse- related research and expand carbon sink capacity.
Edison Mission, a unit of Edison International Inc , owns the
1,000 megawatt brown-coal fired Loy Yang B power station
in the La Trobe Valley. The Wellington Greenprint project in
which the company is investing is the first revegetation project
under a Federal government scheme which brings together land
restoration and carbon sink initiatives. It was also expected to
help provide data for use in calculating carbon sequested through
revegetation. "This will be enormously important to Australia as
we get closer to the deadline for meeting our greenhouse gas emissions
target under the Kyoto Protocol and for participating in the carbon
trading system that seems to be emerging," Hoppe said. Under its
Kyoto obligations Australia must limit emissions growth to 108%
1990 levels by 2010. (C) Reuters Limited 1999.
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EU GREENS CALL FOR AIRLINE TAXES TO CURB
POLLUTION, BRUSSELS
European environmental groups called for new taxes on airlines to
force them to curb pollution after a report forecast that growing air
traffic will boost emissions of greenhouse gases. Aviation emissions
currently contribute just 3.5 percent of the gases blamed for causing
global warming, but this could grow to as much as 17 percent by 2050,
according to a report prepared for international talks on climate change
to be held in Costa Rica this month. Environmentalists said the report,
written for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, justified their
call for taxes on "dirty" aircraft. Airline companies said higher charges
would irreparably damage a growth industry. "We will need to reduce the
demand for air travel in order to reduce aircraft emissions, which are
predicted to grow by five percent per year over the next 20 years," claimed
Paul de Clerck, of Friends of the Earth Europe, on behalf of the "Right
Price for Air Travel" campaign. He called for the introduction of an
"emissions charge", a tax based on how much harmful gases individual
aircraft produce. De Clerck claimed that efforts to curb global warming
could fall foul of lobbying by the airline industry. Source, By Michael Mann\
Brussels, (C) Reuters Limited 1999.
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ASIA DEVELOPMENT BANKS WARNS ASIA NEEDS TO
FIX ITS ENVIRONMENT IN ORDER TO FIX ITS ECONOMY
Asia's long-term economic prosperity hinges on how Asian countries
like Indonesia, China, Malaysia, overcomes environmental and social
problems that rank among the worst in history, the Asian Development
Bank (ADB) said. Asia is the world's most polluted and environmentally
degraded region, said Kazi Jalal, chief of the ADB's office of environment
and social development. "You can see how population pressure in Asia is
causing poverty, and poverty is causing environmental degradation, and
environmental degradation is retarding the economic growth rate because
the resources of the environment are also resources of development," Jalal
told Reuters in an interview. "It is a vicious cycle and unless you consider
these social, economic and environmental problems in one context, you are
not serious about meeting the challenges," he said.
The air in Asian cities was three times dirtier than elsewhere else in
the world, and the ambient level of sulphur dioxide 50 percent higher
than in Africa or Latin America. Asia's rivers were far more polluted
than those in other regions, its forest cover was shrinking by 1% a year,
and Asian countries, excepting Bhutan and Malaysia, had lost between
70 and 90% of their original wildlife habitats. Jalal said that inappropriate
technology, poverty, ill-defined property rights, a lack of employment
alternatives, or failed government and market policies were essential
contributors to the environmental mismanagement. Source, by Marie
McInerney, (C) Reuters Limited 1999.
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INTERNATIONAL POWER CONFERENCE IN AUSTRALIA
The International Power and Energy Conference (INT-PEC), will
be held 30 November to 2 December 1999, at Gippsland Region
of Victoria, Australia. The conference will focus on global,
environmental, and competitive aspects of power and energy for
common benefit through the sharing of information and fostering of
partnerships between the disciplines of Engineering, Business and
Economics, Applied Science, Humanities and Environmental Science,
Computing and IT. Contact Ms Sally Nugent, INT-PEC Executive
Assistant, General Manager, CPC, PO Box 2340, Mount Waverley,
Victoria, Australia 3149, Phone +61 3 98 095266, Fax +61 3 98 095344,
email corrprev@internex.net.au,
Website http://www-mugc.cc.monash.edu.au/gse/intpec.html
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AMAZON FOREST LOSS MORE THAN TWICE THAT REPORTED
The Amazon forests of Brazil are vanishing at more than twice
the rate reported by Brazilian authorities, according to a new
study by Woods Hole Research Center scientist Dr. Daniel
Nepstad. The official reports do not include forests lost to fires
and logging, which account for more than half the total forest area
destroyed each year, Dr. Nepstad said. One- third of the world's moist
tropical forests are found in Brazilian Amazonia. Dr. Daniel Nepstad
surveys fire damage in the Brazilian Amazon.
"The situation is bad, much worse than official data would have
us believe," Dr. Nepstad told ENS in an interview. In an article
published in the current issue of "Nature," the research team
led by Dr. Nepstad wrote, "Our field studies of wood mills and forest
burning across Brazilian Amazonia show that logging crews severely
damage 10,000 to 15,000 square kilometres a year of forest that are not
included in deforestation mapping programs, while surface fires burn
additional large areas of standing forest." The official reports do cover
forested lands converted for agricultural use, but ignore areas of forest
alterations that reduce tree cover, but do not eliminate it, such as logging
and surface fires in standing forests. Get the whole story at
website http://ens.lycos.com/ens/apr99/1999L-04-09-04.html
© Environment News Service (ENS) 1999. All Rights Reserved.
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BASEL CONVENTION REVIEW MEETINGS IN BRUSSELS
A series of three UN meetings are being held in April 1999 in
in Geneva. The first series will negotiate add- ons and clarifications
to the Basel Convention on hazardous wastes, which governs the
transboundary movement of hazardous wastes. The Basel treaty was
adopted in March 1989 and has been ratified by 123 countries.
A 1995 amendment banned all exports of hazardous wastes from
developed to developing countries. A group of technical experts will
review the lists of substances created under the 1995 amendment. The
experts will also draft technical guidelines to help governments improve
their domestic management of various types of hazardous wastes. The
second meeting, from 14 to 16 April, will address the problem of illegal
trade, including compliance monitoring, dispute settlement, and right of
refusal of hazardous waste imports. The third and most important meeting,
from 19 to 23 April, will try to finalize a draft amendment on liability and
compensation. The results of these meetings will be considered at the next
Conference of Parties to the Convention in Basel, Switzerland, from 6 to 10
December 1999. For more information on these meetings and the Basel
Convention itself, visit the UNEP Website
http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/unwire.cfm#13?ID=46131
Also, see document UNEP/CHW.1/WG.1/8/5 at website http://www.unep.ch/basel/
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GO TO THE U.S. EPA CLIMATE CHANGE RESOURCE SITE
Do you want the latest detailed information on climate change
in the United States. You can access the State Climate Change
Impacts Information Sheets. The Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Global Warming site has placed all 50 state-
specific global warming sheets online in HTML and .pdf format.
Browseable via a clickable map or alphabetically, the sheets
summarize expected climate change in each state and explain the
projected consequences from global warming on factors such as
human health, agriculture, water resources, ecosystems, forests,
and coastal areas. Brief countrywide overviews of these factors are
also available, as well as short discussions of climate change and
fisheries, birds, and national parks. Additional resources include a
bibliography, glossary, and internal search engine.
Website at http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/impacts/stateimp/index.html
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JOIN THE ASSOCIATION OF GREEN" HOTELS
"Green" Hotels are properties whose management is committed to
instituting programs to reduce their impact on the environment.
Member hotels do such things as providing drinking water on request
only in restaurants; installing new heating and ventilating systems
that don't use CFC's and that are energy efficient; install water
saving devices in bathrooms; and, which offer their residents to
keep their clean towels after the first day. The "Green" Hotels
Association® provides a catalog of environmental products for
hotels. The catalog contains such water-saving devices as a toilet-tank
fill diverter, which saves about 3/4 gallon of water per flush; it provides
hair and skin care dispensers replacing individual bottles and packaged
soaps. Contact the Green Hotels Association at P. O. Box 420212,
Houston, Texas 77242-0212, ph. 713/789-8889, Fax 713/789-9786
Website http://www.greenhotels.com/
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ECO TOURISM PROMOTED IN MEXICO
The environmental department (PUMA) within Mexico's
Autonomous National University (UNAM) will host a two-
week conference on ecotourism (ecoturismo) beginning at
the end of May 1999. The course will be taught (in Spanish)
by Jorge Chavez de la Pena, editor of the magazine "Kuanum".
For information about the course, contact the PUMA offices
ph. (5) 606.1043, 622- 4170; Fax 550- 8834; or email
puma@servidor.unam.mx Website
http://serpiente.dgsca.unam.mx/puma/cursos.html
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CZECH ENVIRONMENT MINISTER STOPS GOLD PROSPECTORS
Czech Environment Minister Milos Kuzvart has cancelled the TVX
Bohemia company's licence for gold prospecting in Kasperske
Hory, South Bohemia, according to a March 12 report from Radio
Prague. The environment ministry charged that the mining
company violated its environmental laws while prospecting for gold
near the Sumava National Park, and did not respect the rights of
land owners, the report said. Contact, Czech Environment Minister
Milos Kuzvart, tel(420-2) 6712-2719 or (420-2) 6712-1111.
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FINLAND CONCERNED ABOUT TRANSBOUNDARY
POLLUTION FROM RUSSIA
A report has been released by the Finnish environment ministry
which details serious environmental problems in the Karelian
Republic, the region of Russia bordering the whole of Finland's
eastern frontier. The ecology of much of the area has been disturbed
by the clear-cutting of forests, peatland drainage schemes and
pollution from industrial waste water and sewage. Drinking water
in Karelia is normally drawn from lakes and rivers, many
contaminated by effluent from large metallurgical, pulp and paper
plants. Raw sewage is also regularly released into lakes and rivers
near unprotected drinking water intakes, causing repeated serious
outbreaks of dysentery, hepatitis-A and other gastrointestinal complaints.
Even where water is heavily chlorinated, high rates of cancer result,
since chlorine combines with the increasingly high levels of humic
(organic oils) matter in drinking water to form carcinogenic substances.
An estimated 100 extra cases of cancer per year result from this
problem in the city of Petrozavodsk alone, the authors of the report
estimate. The report is highly critical of the Soviet era, but claims
that today's authorities have continued to neglect old problems like
toxic wastes and serious levels of industrial air pollution. Around
the Nadvoitsy aluminium plant 85 percent of the local children suffer
from fluorosis, the Finnish report says. Source, ENDS Environment
Daily, website http://www.ends.co.uk Email envdaily@ends.co.uk
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$180.90 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION TO
THE GALLON ENVIRONMENT LETTER
Subscribe to "The Gallon Environment Letter". The 8 to 10 page newsletter is
loaded with up to date business and policy information that your company,
government agency, or organization can use immediately. It is provided twice
a month. It is also accompanied by the "Green Jobs Available Report" that is
sent to you once a month. Subscribe now. Send a cheque for $180.90 a year
($169.00+ $11.90 GST) and help finance the research that delivers inside
information and breaking news on environment business in Canada and the world.
Make your cheque out to, "Gallon Letter", 506 Victoria Ave., Montreal, Quebec,
H3Y 2R5.
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Copyright (c) 1999 Canadian Institute for
Business and the Environment, Montreal
All rights reserved.
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