Hummingbird604.com » climate change

Kids For Climate Action Upcoming Ride For Our Future (Sep 24th)

Raul — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 16:59:06 +0000

I learned recently about the upcoming Ride For Our Future of the youth organization Kids For Climate Action on September 24th, as part of the 350.org Moving Planet international day of action. The Ride for our Future is a youth ride all the way from the Scott Road Skytrain station to the provincial legislature in Victoria, BC. On September 24th, 350.org’s international day of climate action, the youth of BC will be pedaling to the British Columbian government offices to deliver their petition calling for real action on climate change. What I find most exciting about this project is how all of this is moving forward as a youth movement. As someone who teaches young students, I’m really excited about them taking action.

We’re riding for a future with green jobs. We’re riding for better transit and cleaner energy. We’re riding to say no to coal exports, the Enbridge pipeline and more oil tankers off our coast. But most of all, we’re riding to show the commitment of BC’s youth – that we won’t let our government’s inaction today jeopardize our future and the future of generations to come.

Please follow this wonderful youth group’s actions by signing on to the Facebook page and if you can offer encouragement on the route, that would be most amazing.

The adaptation vs mitigation of climate change debate #bad09

Raul — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:51:03 +0000

photo credit: Brianforbes37

I completed my doctorate under the guidance of one of the best climate change experts in the world. However, as surprising as that may sound to most people, I did not write a PhD thesis on climatic change. Having said that, I am by no means unfamiliar with the research that has been conducted in the field. I used much of the theory and analytical methods around the climate change literature.

I built a framework to study how industrial restructuring happens in cities, and how industries adapt to multiple stressors. The framework itself it’s applicable to other issues. I have been puzzled by the debate around the issue of where the policy focus should be: on adaptation or mitigation. I by no means advocate that we continue with the ridiculous patterns of air pollution generation that our society embarks. But that doesn’t mean that I think that emission reduction is the only way to go.

I have been a firm believer of concentrating climatic policy efforts on adaptation rather than mitigation. However, I have never said NOT to focus on mitigation. But since climatic change is already happening, wouldn’t it be a smarter strategy to learn how to adapt to this ever-changing weather and to extreme climatic events?

Moreover, I like to remind people that climate change is NOT the only environmental problem we face, nor the biggest itself. It’s a political issue, for sure (look at the IPCC/Al Gore Nobel Prize 2007 win). It’s an issue that affects everyone globally. But it’s not the only one.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that I find the debate on adaptation vs. mitigation somewhat futile and irrelevant. We need to do both. We probably need to do more adaptation now simply because extreme climatic events are already happening, but that doesn’t mean that people should continue to have wasteful or polluting consumptive ways. We need a mix of policy instruments that achieve both goals of mitigating impacts and adapting to them.

This is my entry for Blog Action Day ’09, with a theme of Climate Change.

Adaptation to extreme climatic events in Vancouver

Raul — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 18:45:17 +0000

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you should have recently noticed a cold snap in Vancouver that has brought us a White Christmas and a really cold month of December 2008 and now January 2009 starts with more snow. Vancouver is, of course, a mess because “it never snows in Vancouver” (the now infamous phrase that people have been using to tell me why Vancouver is so ill-prepared for snowy and icy conditions)

There are two inherent problems with having this somewhat-delusional view of the world. First, while it may be true that this weather is not common, the mere fact that we are seeing such dramatic fall in temperature should have triggered an “Emergency Preparedness Action Plan”. Which apparently, we don’t have. But don’t get me wrong – we don’t have tools to prepare and adapt to extreme weather events. We do (as I researched it) have Emergency Preparedness workshops that are more targeted towards earthquakes and other kinds of catastrophes.

Second, it’s not really about the drop in temperature itself. A lot of climate skeptics have been laughing “global warming? see.. it is freezing and snowing in Vancouver!” You see, the problem with climatic change is not as much just a question of “global warming” but a question of extreme climatic events. And as you can see (from all the people who have been stuck in the snow, whose travel plans have been delayed by icy road conditions, the homeless people who have been perishing in an effort to try and keep warm), we NEED an adaptation plan towards extreme climatic events.

I’d be more than happy to point my readers out to the literature on adaptation to climate change (I had to read these for my PhD dissertation), but one accessible resource you can access is Natural Resources Canada’s website on Adaptation. Give it a read, you might find it interesting.

The death of environmentalism?

Raul — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:13:27 +0000

A recent post by Rebecca on “is blogging dead” and a comment by Darren on that particular post (echoed by other commentators) made me remember that I once wrote a post about “The Death of Environmentalism”. Since it never made it past the drafts, I am now I’m resurrecting it in an updated form.

Now, to provide additional context, I just found out via Jonathon Colman from The Nature Conservancy that only 18% of survey respondents (I’m assuming all Americans) strongly believe that climate change is human-caused and harmful.

While I do hold my own opinion on the causes of climate change, that’s irrelevant for this discussion. The thing is that there seems to be a very small proportion of the population who believe in climate change (or at least, so would appear from the data shown). Now, the title of this post is associated with a paper by Schellenberger and Nordhaus titled “The Death of Environmentalism: Global Warming Politics in a Post-Environmental World”.

The gist of this paper (and surprisingly, the evidence presented by The Nature Conservancy) seems to suggest that American environmental NGOs have not had much success with galvanizing public opinion on climate change in the United States. If you read the work of Aaron McCright and Riley Dunlap, they find increased support to the hypothesis that Conservatives have influenced public opinion on climate change (as a non-problem or a non-issue).

McCright, Aaron M., and Riley E. Dunlap. 2003. “Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement’s Impact on U.S. Climate Change Policy.” Social Problems 50(3): 348-373.

But the thing is – regardless of whether it’s the ENGOs fault or the public’s fault (I don’t really want to blame anyone) – one of the main reasons why the Schellenberger and Nordhaus paper was so controversial is because it talked about “environmentalism being dead“. And I’m pretty sure that they intended for the paper to spark controversy (and make environmental NGOs try to work harder at educating the public about the need to adapt to climate change). That’s where I’m bringing the connection.

If you think about it (and as accurately said by the commentators on Rebecca’s site), the best way to spark a discussion about a topic is to say that X or Y is dead. Environmentalism is NOT dead. Much less here in Canada, and in Vancouver. For starters, Greenpeace started here! Environmental NGOs have a place and there is a need for them in the global environmental movement. The thing is, the Schellenberger and Nordhaus paper (as the other post mentioned by Rebecca) did serve to galvanize people, make them react to the issue and write about it.

Now, if we all did that about municipal and provincial politics in Vancouver and British Columbia, if we did that about climate change and other environmental issues in our own turf, THEN I think we would see a revival. And I’m hoping I’m contributing to this debate, and look forward to other’s contributions.

Upcoming environmental events in Vancouver – September 2008

Raul — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:00:12 +0000

Two upcoming events are rather relevant to me and both fall on the same day.

Green Drinks Vancouver happens again on the third wednesday of the month (Sep 17th, 2008) at Steamworks.
The Metro Vancouver Sustainability Breakfasts series continues, and this time, they will focus on the discussions we’ve been having on bottled water. I am SO definitely there!

About the Community Sustainability Breakfast [Metro Vancouver's website]:

Sustainability Community Breakfasts – Nature’s Health Drink – Always on Tap
Wednesday, 17 September, 2008
from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM
British Columbia Institute of Technology
555 Seymour Street, Vancouver

About Green Drinks Vancouver Sep 2008 [Green Drinks Website]

WHEN the next regular Green Drinks is: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month (except in Dec and July) Our next event is on Sept 17th, 2008
WHERE: Steamworks pub at 375 Water Street on the edge of Gastown near Waterfront Station.
Please be aware that due to changing space availability we cannot guarantee we’ll be in the same room each month – if you can’t find us just ask Steamworks staff which room we are in.
TIME:5:45pm-until?

It’s lucky that both of these events fall on the same day, and that I’ll be back in Vancouver by then! And again, I’ve got a full week booked (Brew 2.0, Green Drinks, Launch Party AND a special day!). Can someone please clone me? Thanks.

Adaptation and vulnerability to floods and climatic events in Mexico

Raul — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 22:18:32 +0000

This post is worthy of much more in-depth content, but I just wanted to show that the municipality where my parents live is really unprepared for extreme rain. The photos and video shown below show the local river almost entirely flooded (and rather polluted, as you can see).

As you can see, cars are at serious risk of being taken by the river. The local authorities are rather unprepared for these extreme rain events. But the funny thing is, I wonder how prepared are the Metro Vancouver municipalities. I will be doing some research on this topic upon my return to Vancouver.

The Environmental Movement Needs You – Homer Simpson Has Already Joined – Guest post by Lotus Effect

Raul — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 03:00:18 +0000

This post was contributed by L.E. who blogs at The Lotus Effect.

I love the way Raul phrases his environmental passions: “Being a student of the Environment”. I’ve found myself amongst the dozens of people I know that have put their previous career paths aside and pursued environmentally-related position in hopes of making a difference (and I’ve abandoned any inclination to feel the least bit hesitant to say that making a difference bit regardless of how trite it may be perceived by some).

So I’m confronted with it everyday – people wanting to do something, and we constantly hear.. “Just start anywhere.. it doesn’t’ matter where – the first step will introduce you to a plethora of options, and before you know it, you’ll come across something you’re really exited about.” Well, what if you don’t know where to take that first step? This is where this post comes in, I hope to offer some options of first steps that might lead you to your green passions. So here they go.

1) GREEN DRINKS The perfect combination – environmental geekery and sophisticated discussions with all kinds of people working in, or interested in the environment. I’ve only attended the Vancouver version twice, but it’s been a lot of fun – there is always a mix of veterans and solo flyers that show up without knowing a soul (but that is of course changed after the first beer).

2a) STORY OF STUFF This is a great little description of how the world currently works, some of the problems our actions are causing, and how to get involved in changing these patterns. The point with this one is.. simply reach out and learn more about how the world works, and how we can minimize our impact on the environment

2b) CRADLE TO CRADLE Similar to Option 2), this is a monumental piece of work that redefines the way we approach how we go about building stuff and creating the everyday objects we use. This novel concepts presented in cannot be called short of anything but a paradigm shift in the positive direction of what it means to be human. It’s simple, and beautiful…

If you’re interested in learning more without diving into the book, I’d recommend having a look at the TED talk featuring one of the authors (TED has numerous amazing talks on many other subjects including psychology, art, music, and technology. The one other talk that seems to be somewhat related would a brain scientist experiencing life a stroke in her left hemisphere, leaving her exposed to the raw experience of living life through her right – creative, loving, unified hemisphere – the experience’s lesson – if we use both of our brain real estate (Left AND right hemisphere), then we are much more in tune with others, and the environment around us – have a look).

2c) INCONVENIENT TRUTH If you haven’t seen it yet.. The only thing i gotta say about this one – i think any movie that helps someone win the Nobel Peace Prize might – just might be worth watching.

3) TAKE A HIKE I’m not kidding. Go get outside. Listen to the silence of the air and the stillness of your thoughts. There are many accessible parks in the Metro Vancouver area. Some of my favorites include Lighthouse Park (which is easily accessible by public transit, but surprisingly beautiful and secluded), the Grouse Grind if you’re adventurous, Shannon Falls or Bridal Veil Falls (if you prefer a light walk in the woods), or the Chief if you’re fit and would like a bit of a challenge.

4) LEARN ABOUT WATER Why on earth am i writing about water? An excellent recent film “Flow: For the Love of Water” about water illustrates this resource’s incredible importance. For one second care to entertain the thought of considering how essential water is to our survival, health (as in, the lack of clean water leading to health and survival problems). Climate change is melting glaciers and snowpacks around the world meaning that rivers worldwide are or will be facing water shortages. In 1999, 26 percent of Canadian municipalities reported problems with water availability, including seemingly wet locals such as Vancouver and Victoria (Environment Canada 2001; Boyd 2003). To illustrate the importance of this issue a bit further: 440 of 669 major cities in China face moderate to severe water shortages, and data collected from NASA and the World Health Organization suggest that 4 billion people will face water shortages by 2050 (Lagod 2007).

5) FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE SIDE Learning more about the state of the world can be difficult at times, but one of the most important lessons I’ve learned about environmental issues is the absolute necessity to stay positive, and not let things get to you personally – I’ve just started a blog about this and highlighting the importance of something known as the Lotus Effect (the real definition). Using all the energy generated by anger of learning about humanity breaking environmental laws and transforming it into something positive – action on improving things or leading by example. And last, and most importantly, keeping a sense of humour about it all, and not taking things, and ourselves too seriously.

A great example would be a well-known (and very witty) standup comedian talking about energy and world politics in Robert Newman’s History of Oil (I love it). Another PERFECT example of this would be the words of wisdom by a writer on the Simpsons - Welcoming Homer, the Tree Hugger! I’d like to end on that note, if you don’t visit any other links, visit the last two – I’m particularly fond of always looking at the bright side of things. With Love, L.E.

Environmental groups mobilization and protests: More than meets the eye

Raul — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:29:52 +0000

Ever wonder what drives environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) to undertake campaigns to protect the oceans, protest forests’ clear-cutting and fight to have bis-phenol A banned from all plastic bottles? This is one of the questions that has driven another side research project I have conducted throughout the past decade.

I’ve always been puzzled as to why would numerous individuals of different backgrounds decide to come together and volunteer their time to engage in environmental activism. Putting pressure on government is an activity that has taken place for a long time, and with the recent increase in media exposure to problems such as climate change and pollution, we have witnessed a spiraling growth of ENGO mobilizations.

Global warming protest outside Washington Park (Photo: Pembleton/Flickr)

You may or may not know that one of the most famous environmental groups (Greenpeace International) was initially founded in 1971 here in Vancouver.

In 1971, motivated by their vision of a green and peaceful world, a small team of activists set sail from Vancouver, Canada, in an old fishing boat. These activists, the founders of Greenpeace, believed a few individuals could make a difference.

Their mission was to “bear witness” to US underground nuclear testing at Amchitka, a tiny island off the West Coast of Alaska, which is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone regions.[Greenpeace website]

My research on ENGOs has focused less on understanding the motivations behind environmental groups’ (a topic that, while interesting, provides in my opinion less insight on potential public policy options) and more on the strategies that ENGOs use to put pressure both on industrial polluters and on governments at different scales (local, regional, transnational).

Moreover, I have been interested in gathering empirical evidence of the formation of transnational coalitions of ENGOs and how these coalitions use their collective knowledge to engage in strategic behavior and put pressure on national governments. Interestingly enough, there are many cases where ENGOs have been successful in pressuring polluters and shaming governments.

However, one of the most interesting insights that I have found in my research is that, for an issue to really galvanize public opinion, it has to be notorious and affect the population in a deep way (that is, it must be scary enough to make people put words into action). As I mentioned in my previous post on the governance of wastewater, it irks me to know that other pressing problems, such as dwindling supplies of water and increasing wasteful behavior on the part of urban populations are being overlooked in favor of climate change.

While it appears as though environment (and climate change) are two of the issues that Canadians indicate as public policy priorities, I am still surprised that there are not more environmental group protests on issues of pollution, and still place so much emphasis on climatic change issues.

My hope is that, in the coming years, people will continue to mobilize and try to change how environmental policy is shaped and implemented, but hopefully by then, we’ll have a much more holistic view and not only one shaped by excessive press coverage of environmental issues that, while pressing, are not the only ones we need to look at.

An open letter to the weather Powers-That-Be…

Raul — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:45:56 +0000

Dear Weather Powers-That-Be:

It’s been a while since I had to have a heart-to-heart with you. So far these past few weeks, even with the limited down time I have had, I didn’t need to have to wear rain gear whenever I went out. Had the opportunity to roam around Vancouver, Burnaby, North and West Vancouver. I even ventured as far as New Westminster one day! All because of the good weather.

Now, these past couple of days have been really rainy and miserable. My thinking immediately was that you might have forgotten what the Metro Vancouver area looks like with good weather. So I thought I’d offer you a few visual reminders. Please bring back the sun. Ok, thanks. Bye.

Upcoming event – Living Car Free – Climate Cafe

Raul — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:30:47 +0000

I always knew that some day, someone would finally clue in and decide to host more environmentally-oriented events in my neighbourhood. Of course, I am pretty sure that almost 90% of you don’t know that throughout the month, Rhizome Cafe plays host to a LOT of events, many of which are focused on social justice and sustainability. But it’s only one venue. There should be MANY events in other venues. Main Street/Mount Pleasant has LOTS to offer in terms of great spaces for socially responsible happenings.

Well, it turns out that someone realized that the concept of the Philosopher Cafe could be applied now as a Climate Cafe, so via Stephen Rees, I found out about the Climate Cafe that will take place on May 20th at Bean Around the World on Main and almost Broadway. Living Car Free is the theme of this month’s Climate Cafe.

I kind of feel guilty that with all the stuff that has been happening around me, I haven’t been paying much attention to upcoming events and thus might have kept you my dear readers a bit out of the loop. I promise to be more “on the ball” next time Hat tips to Stephen Rees for always reminding me of stuff that I probably should know about but have been insanely busy to remember. His blog is awesome!

Media accreditation and the Projecting Change Film Festival

Raul — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:17:01 +0000

This year has been a year of first-ever’s. It was the first time ever I guest-live-blogged (for Miss604.com, the Michael Geist lecture at SJC). The first time ever I podcasted (as a guest blogger for HappyFrog FrogBlog, covering EPIC ’08). The first time ever I received free admission to sustainability events (the Sustainable Living Show). And now, it’s the first time ever I’ve received a media pass for a film festival, and I’m SUPER EXCITED! I just heard from the Projecting Change Film Festival organizers, and they’ve arranged to have a media pass for me. WOWZA!

In addition to having reviewed lots of “less than awesome” movies on my blog, I’ve also taken the time to write detailed movie reviews for films that have been part of locally-run film festivals. For example, I reviewed “Mount Pleasant”, the 2006 Ross Weber film that depicts my neighborhood as the land of ‘women of the trade’, drug-addicts and derelict streets. This movie premiered in the 2006 Vancouver International Film Festival. I have also reviewed “Super-Amigos” and “The Portrait of Dorian Gray“, two movies that showed unexplored aspects of queer life. Both movies premiered in the 2007 Vancouver Queer Film Festival. In the case of Super-Amigos, a superhero-themed Canada-Mexico co-production, the movie examines the day-to-day life of five real-life masked wrestlers/superheroes, one of which is Super-Gay, a gay man who fights for the rights of the queer community in Mexico City. Of course, there is an environmental superhero, Ecologista Universal.

So, as you can read, I’m also a movie fiend. You may ask yourselves… what movies am I excited about and wanting to see in the upcoming days? Well, if you are a close friend of mine, or have read about my day-job and my research, this is the film that I’m waiting with baited breath (I’m also excited about others, but this one is just… SO appropriate for me): Flow: For Love of Water

Flow: For Love of Water is Irena Salina’s cautionary documentary that is determined to stir things up. Water, the quintessence of life, sustains every creature on Earth. The time has come when we can no longer take this precious resource for granted. Unless we effect global change, impoverished nations could be wiped from the planet.[Projecting Change website preview of the movie]

Water, water everywhere… Photo credit: Raul on Flickr (originally taken by JT)

For those of you who don’t know, I am very interested in water issues and I’ve done extensive research in the field. I have a feeling that the movie will be VERY interesting. For the trailer, click here.

Since I’m hyper busy all week, I guess I won’t be able to make the opening night but I’ll be at the 10am showing on Sunday morning. I also will do my best to check other films. If you notice, in the schedule you can find that theme days (e.g. food and agriculture, sustainability, focus on the family, etc.) … strongly recommended.

If you want to check all my coverage of the Projecting Change Film Festival, my posts will be tagged with the category “Projecting Change Film Festival”.

April 22nd 2008 – Earth Day

Raul — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:13:39 +0000

Photo credit: Raul on Flickr.

Earth Day is celebrated in many countries on April 22nd. Many people offer varied stories, but the most widely accepted is that April 22nd is the anniversary of the modern American environmental movement (although some people would argue that it was the worldwide environmentalism that was born that year). Other milestones, such as the 1972 United Nations Summit on the Human Environment (Stockholm 1972) are so close to the year 1970 mark it as the birth year of environmentalism.

Earth Day Links offers a slight variation of the story with Senator Gaylord Nelson touted as the organizer of Earth Day. I’m not going to debate or dispute this, I just want to point out that environmental awareness increased between the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Although my specialization is environmental issues, and I do celebrate Earth Day, there have been some sombre developments in the lives of very close friends that really prevent me from being overly excited about Earth Day. So, instead I offer some link love for you. Have a good Earth Day!

Photo credit: Raul on Flickr.

- Earth Day Canada offers 10 small steps you can take to reduce your impact on the environment. Check their suggestions here.

- Evergreen’s Earth Day Vancouver celebration will take place on Saturday April 26th at Jericho Beach from 11 am to 5 pm. Most likely, I’ll be there. More info can be found here.

- To celebrate Earth Day, make sure to check the recently completed Vancouver Sun Sustainable Living EPIC Expo 2008, and look for the HappyFrog FrogBlog coverage (I got a few posts there too!).

- If you are located elsewhere on the Lower Mainland you can look here for various listings of events. It does include some Vancouver-based events!.

Upcoming environmental events in Vancouver (March/April)

Raul — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:38:05 +0000

I usually advertise numerous environmental events, but I rarely have the time to attend all of them (not because I don’t want to, but recently I haven’t attended because I have been sick). Anyhow, there are a number of events you might want to check out in the next few weeks.

(WordPress question – how do I create a bulleted list?)

Green Drinks Vancouver March 2008 is happening tomorrow night (March 19th, 2008 – after 5.45pm @ Steamworks). I am almost betting that they’ll have the Green Drink tomorrow. Meet environmentally-minded folks in a relaxed environment. Brought to you by Green Drinks and Connecting Environmental Professionals. I *might* attend this one, but just for about an hour and very early (e.g. around 6 pm) because I am still sick and I am not really in the mood to socialize.

Metro Vancouver wants your input on their Solid and Liquid Waste Strategy. As those are two areas of specialty of mine, this is one meeting I will not be missing (I shouldn’t have missed those Eco-Density ones nor the Regional Planning Breakfasts and stuff, but hey my dance card is extremely full!). Brought to you by MetroVancouver, who seemingly still use the GVRD server. Don’t ask ME why, go and ask THEM!

Next month’s Sustainability Breakfast will be on Living Buildings (aka Green Buildings taken to the extreme), April 10th, 2008. Even though these events have free food and are organized by someone who is an actual real life friend of mine, for the life of me I’m almost *never* able to make it to these. I will really try to show up to this one, though.

Once I find out how to create the “bulleted list” I might update this post. If you know of any environmentally-related events coming up and you want them advertised, let me know.

Review of "Two decades of failed climate change policy" by Mark Jaccard

Raul — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:25:00 +0000

First, I want to apologize because while I heard the second half of the lecture, I couldn’t take notes as my battery died half way through (actually, exactly half way through). So, the notes you’re going to read are pretty much only from the first half. Since Mark is an academic (and so am I), I think I would be making him a disservice if I wrote what I recall. The rest of my notes are pretty verbatim (I type really really fast) so I think I captured what he said.

Second, my overall assessment. I think Mark’s lecture was excellent. I know that a lot of people are going to complain about certain points that he made, or about his particular viewpoints on a number of issues (for example, on why he opposes Gateway). And quite honestly, I do disagree with some of his points as well (particularly in regards to carbon offsets). But the truth is, he really made it easy for a general audience to understand the rather conceptually complex theory behind environmental policy instruments. I think that there is a place for academics like Mark who are able to connect to general audiences and explain these concepts to them in an easy and accessible way. I know three other experts in the field of climate change in Canada who have the same ability, although they are based at UBC (not SFU).

He first started by explaining four broad categories of environmental policy tools to reduce GHG emissions from fossil fuels, based on four methods of reduction:

Energy efficiency
Switch to renewable energy sources or nuclear energy
Pollution control (carbon sequestration)
Catch-all

In Mark’s words, politicians don’t do the above. Consumers, households and industry do it. So, governments only have policy tools to lead us to change actions. The four categories of policies he suggested are:

Information programs
Subsidies
Regulation
Financial charges

Mark made a point that I found interesting – he is NOT an advocate of a carbon tax, as often portrayed in the media, but he said he was an advocate of compulsory policy because research has shown him that’s the way to do it. That’s not surprising to hear (that his research is often misinterpreted and portrayed in the wrong way on the media – that’s happened to a number of other researchers – just ask Robert Putnam and his latest research on social capital, diverse communities and ‘hunkering’)

Mark also made a point that all previous policies that had been implemented in Canada had failed to meet the target. According to Jaccard, energy efficiency is more costly than we think (what he called the second inconvenient truth), but that doesn’t mean that we ought not to do it, we still should do it.

While I have a smattering of other notes, I think that the best I can do is to just give you what were his main points. He suggests that non-compulsory policies (like subsidies, information programs, etc.) are NOT a substitute for compulsory policies.

I was a little surprised (and taken aback) that he apparently doesn’t advocate or even like the idea of offsets (as noted below)

With apologies to people who have worked very hard to establish offsets emissions. It can give us a sense that “we don’t need to put in the compulsory policy”. An offset is a subsidy from an individual to another individual. Still has the same problems with subsidy – we have to try to make sure that the money will indeed make people behave differently – how can you be sure of that?

I do like the idea of offsets because (a) at least they’re at least a first step in reducing emissions and (b) there are systems that can be third-party audited. But then again, each one of us is entitled to our own opinion.

Overall, I liked his delivery style, and it was an interesting lecture. I think that what VTACC is doing is rather important (educating people on climate change issues). I also think that they can’t stop with three lectures and they need to keep this going. You’d be surprised. I got to the Canadian Memorial Church to see a room pretty much full with people who wanted to learn more about climate change. I don’t think that VTACC should stop, they should continue the lecture series (and bring lots of other perspectives, even within the academic realm).

VTACC will make his PowerPoint slides available freely on their website (he didn’t want us to ‘read the slides’ so he only showed one or two throughout the conference). If you want to learn more about what Dr. Mark Jaccard does, you can look here.

Upcoming climate-change and environmental events in Vancouver

Raul — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:33:00 +0000

Well, hello sunshine! Today was a beautiful day and thus I had a chance to enjoy the sun for a bit. Worked from home for most of the day, although felt really sleepy at times. Anyhow, for those of you enviro-folks in town, here are some events you can hit.

Via one of my close friends, here is a link to a lecture that will be given tomorrow by Sheila Watt-Cloutier, sponsored by the Terry Project at UBC, on The Right to be Cold: The Global Significance of Arctic Climate Change. This will be at the(Life Science Institute, West Atrium, Friday Feb 29th, 12noon. If you don’t know who Ms. Watt-Cloutier is, she was one of the top nominees for the 2007 Nobel Prize (which ultimately went to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

Via Keira-Anne’s blog, I found out about the Green Living Show (February 29th to March 2nd, 2008). She is going to head there on Friday with Rebecca (aka Miss604) so if you want to check the show AND hang out with two beautiful women, I’d suggest you head there on Friday. I plan to go on Saturday morning as I have a pretty packed social weekend, and most likely I’ll go with Phaedra and probably my friend HZ. I wish I could go on Friday but I’m totally booked (so blog updates unlikely until Saturday afternoon).

Via VTACC (Vancouver’s Taxpayers Against Climate Change), I found out about a lecture by Dr. Marc Jaccard on “Lessons for the Future from Canada’s Climate Policy Failures“, Tuesday March 4th, at 7pm at the Canadian Memorial Church (15th and Burrard). From VTACC website, here’s the abstract:

Decades of climate policy under different governments have failed to reduce or substantially slow the growth in greenhouse gas emissions in this country. How has this happened? How can we get out of this muddle so that Canada can do its share in the fight against global warming?
Go here for more information

And, from a colleague of mine, here are the details for a special lecture at SFU Harbour Centre by Professor Michael Grubb: ‘Cutting carbon in Europe to 2020: competitiveness, emissions trading and beyond’, Room 2200 (RBC Dominion Securities Executive Meeting Room), Monday March 3rd, 2008 – 9:00am to 10:30am (yes this is a morning seminar).

I am probably going to attend all four. Hope you can make it to at least one of them!

Upcoming event – Climate change talks organized by VTACC (Vancouver)

Raul — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Voters Taking Action Against Climate Change (VTACC) is a non-partisan group that is organizing a series of talks on climate change that will take place within the next few weeks. I don’t know the first couple of speakers, but I do know Dr. Mark Jaccard and he’s a brilliant speaker. Many people may disagree with his views, but he is certainly a rigorous scholar who does good social science and that should not be discounted.

From the VTACC website (all talks take place at the Canadian Memorial United Church at 7 pm, on Burrard and 15th Avenue):

Global Warming: More than Hot Air?
Dr. David Chapman, Professor of Geophysics, Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Utah
Tuesday, February 5th, 7 pm.

Global Warming as Spiritual Crisis and Opportunity
Bruce Sanguin, Minister, Canadian Memorial United Church
Tuesday February 19th, 7 pm.

Lessons for the Future from Canada’s Climate Policy Failures
Dr. Mark Jaccard, Professor at the School of Resources and Environmental Management at SFU
Tuesday March 4th, 7 pm.

I am a bit surprised about the fact that very little has been talked about the politics of Canadian climate change policy (that is, about the political climate in Canada and how that is impacting implementation of post-Kyoto commitments). Would be worth examining, I think. And let me know if you attend any of the talks. You’re even welcome to guest-blog!

For more information about VTACC:

VTACC is a group of Kitsilano neighbours who are deeply concerned about global warming and want to mobilize people to get engaged politically to call for immediate and deep reductions in emissions.[VTACC website]

It’s all about the equipment – Winter edition

Raul — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 05:22:00 +0000

Since I’m traveling soon, I had to come into my office and ensure that I would not be forgetting some important document (which, luckily, I discovered I was about to forget – MY PASSPORT!… phew, that was close!). As I’m sure you all know, it’s snowing in Vancouver right now, so I had to gear up and head out in the middle of snow showers.

When I first moved to Vancouver, I had no idea about the climate and weather here. I had no idea of the natural beauty. I was completely and entirely clueless. So I packed leather jackets and a couple of light sweaters. And then it snowed… in November… and I was FREEZING!!!

I’ve learned a few things about myself and temperatures/weather throughout my 12 years in this city.

I don’t tolerate rain well.
I don’t tolerate snow very well either.
I am always cold.
I like fashionable winter clothing.
There is no sense of fashion in Vancouver – hence, 4 does not apply.
Corollary: I should get myself winter and rain gear that will allow me to feel comfortable while traveling in the snow and rain, regardless of the fact that it isn’t fashionable.

Knowing how much I hate falling, my brother S kindly bought me a pair of winter boots (with increased traction, almost completely waterproof, great and sturdy support for my ankles). Furthermore, I have learned how many layers I need to wear in order to avoid feeling cold.

So, for example, right now I am wearing winter socks (thermal), thermal underwear (only the pants), a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, a wool sweater on top of the sweatshirt, a rain jacket that has another jacket attached (layered), toque, Thinsulate gloves, scarf, winter boots, umbrella and my iPod. And I think this is as prepared as I’ve ever been to walk out in the snow. For someone who loves warm climates, I think I’m doing fine for myself here.

Now, admittedly, I went out last night and dressed quite fashionably and quite warmly, but normally, I won’t care much about how I look (unless I’m coming to the office or going out with friends). Now, I am headed back to the cold…brrrr…

Are environmental issues a fad?

Raul — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 09:26:00 +0000

This year has witnessed the publication of an environment-focus full edition of The Vancouver Sun, the bestowing of a Nobel Prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and more recently, the publication of a West Ender with the theme: Green. I am sure I am missing on other environmentally-focused publications and events, but just wanted to provide a small sample.

Despite the fact that I do not live in the West End, I religiously read The West Ender because it has lots of interesting articles. Furthermore, I don’t think that there is a Mount-Pleasant-focused newspaper just yet (although admittedly, The Republic of East Vancouver does have some degree of overlap).

Now, the question that lingers in my mind is… are we witnessing a fad or are people really starting to care more for their environment? In a previous post, I indicated that there had been a steady increase in public opinion support for environmental causes and a growing interest in green issues (at some point, environmental issues overtook health as the top concern of Canadians in 2006, if I recall correctly).

So the question is – are we only witnessing a fad or is really environment our top priority? The jury is still out.

Theatre review – 2o of Fear and Desire

Raul — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:58:00 +0000

You might have read my earlier post on the upcoming event of 2o of Fear and Desire. I have composed this theatre review previous to the last performance, so I didn’t want to publish it until the three plays were over.

I went to the second day (November 8th) with a close friend of mine (J), with the excuse of his upcoming birthday. I love Rhizome and embrace all of what it is. Therefore, I always jump at the opportunity to participate in events that are hosted at this cafe.

My experience with the play was good, but there are several reasons for that.

I went to the play with one of my closest friends. Hard to beat a chance to spend time with good friends.
I am a specialist in environmental issues. I know the issues at stake and I am well read and well informed.
I am a former stage actor, and I’ve done experiential theatre before.
I am very analytical in my personality. I am used to over-analyzing issues and deconstructing my thoughts.

It is an interesting experiment and I would encourage people to go to the main performance, 2 Degrees of Adaptation. Right now these are explorations through the language of theatre, so they’re not exactly the final product.

People are asked to share a story and then de-construct the inner motivations behind the interactions amongst characters. As I am a trained actor, I knew what the director wanted from me and from every participant. However, hardly anyone in the audience knew what was expected of them, and thus it took a long time to build the rapport and create the atmosphere that the director wanted.

All this being said, I really enjoyed it because it provided a very different perspective on how to examine the thorny issue of climate change and how to change our own behavioral patterns. These explorations as the director called them are the foundation for a larger ensemble piece called “2 Degrees of Adaptation”. I would sincerely support this project and hopefully they will be able to find the funding that will enable them to bring it to fruition.

Beautiful day in Vancouver

Raul — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 06:35:00 +0000

As usual, the Powers That Be are playing games with our hearts and cleared the rain today for A FULL DAY, so the skies were beautifully blue and without almost any clouds, it was bright, shiny, sunny and warm (15 oC). After complaining about the bad weather and how it has affected my mood, I couldn’t help but think about recent events and their linkages with climate change.

I (half-jokingly, half-seriously) suggested on Keira-Anne’s blog (see her post for Tuesday October 23rd) that Mexico and Vancouver trade a couple of months of rain for sunshine (see my comments on her post). Another commenter said that the weather in California had been so dry that it smelled like smoke everywhere. Well, with the fires in the California region, I can’t help but wonder – what can be done to avoid catastrophes like these? How can we decrease our vulnerability to such climatic extreme events?

Post on the comments and discuss [and in the mean-time, my thoughts go to the families that have been evacuated in California].

Carbon taxes in British Columbia – Make your voice heard!

Raul — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 09:53:00 +0000

The Kitsilano-based organization Voters Taking Action on Climate Change is encouraging citizens of Vancouver (and British Columbia in general) to provide feedback to the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services in the form of a suggested carbon tax. For the online submission click on the previous link. Questions can be directed to VTACC (here is their Contact Us page).

Al Gore, the IPCC and the Nobel Prize 2007

Raul — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:51:00 +0000

After hearing the announcement that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and environmental activist/politician Al Gore were co-recipients of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace, I couldn’t help but recall Marshall McLuhan’s famous phrase “the medium is the message”. While, in the eyes of the world, the bestowing of a Nobel undeniably ramps up the legitimacy factor, McLuhan’s axiom that the medium used to convey a message becomes more important than the content of the message itself deserves a refresher.

Many detractors (primarily but not necessarily all of them right-wingers) have consistently focused on Al Gore as the Harbinger of Doom by portraying his apocalyptic “we’re going to hell in a hand basket” message as unnecessarily alarming. Positioning Gore as the Chicken Little of the environmental movement allowed the naysayers to deflect attention from the issue at hand – that global warming is not only coming, it’s here – and instead critique Gore for his approach, ergo, the media of McLuhan’s axiom. I think we might be in for a sea-change (rather apt metaphor, don’t you think?) in the acknowledgment of global warming/climate change as a threat we better start dealing with, for the Nobel just might be enough to shift the focus, much to the dismay of the naysayers and their privately-funded scientists, from media to message, and the new reality is that if the media – meaning Gore and the IPCC – has been officially blessed by the Nobel Foundation, then the message is one we had better start taking seriously.

Although Gore and the IPCC have two different missions, their underlying objective is identical: to raise awareness of the climate change debate by bringing it to the forefront of global discussion. As an intergovernmental institution, the IPCC coordinates the findings and research of hundreds of scientists worldwide in an effort to increase our understanding of the patterns of climatic change, and their Summary for Policy Makers, a document that translates their findings into terminology the rest of us can understand, has been their media of choice. After An Inconvenient Truth rightfully raised Gore’s profile, he further spread the message of his documentary not only by relentlessly making the rounds of the lecture circuit, but by forming a coalition of groups and individuals dedicated to further disseminating his Power Point presentations.

Yet if I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Gore’s message has had more reach than the IPCC’s Summary. He’s a face, he’s got a powerful, Oscar winning documentary, and – let’s face it – aside from anomalies like Steven Hawking and Einstein, scientists and their statistics tend to lack for great PR. In recent years, naysayers and resource-extraction pals have consistently clung to the tactic of painting Gore and the IPCC as the proverbial messengers whose news are so inconceivable the messengers are obviously making this stuff up; denial and derision have become the default options. Ergo, as a resolution to unpleasant realities, shooting the messenger not only eliminates threats to the status quo, the media can be positioned as tragically misinformed. Bombs away!

Which sort of brings me back to McLuhan. Could the IPCC, in view of a profile now permanently affixed to a Big Cool Friend courtesy of a shared Nobel, attain the same level of Gore’s reach? I think so. But I see their roles as complementary, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons why the Nobel Prize Adjudication committee thought they should both share the 2007 Nobel Prize: because in their separate but convergent ways, both Gore and the IPCC are sending the same message: climatic change is here. That munitions maker Alfred Nobel’s legacy might yet provide the ultimate bullet-proof shield that allows Gore, the IPCC and countless others to focus on getting the message out instead of dodging fire is an irony that leaves me undeniably optimistic.

And if the message benefits, as I hope it does, from the renewed focus only a Nobel can bestow, we just might witness an irony I suspect even McLuhan might appreciate because, if ever there was a time when the message deserved to transcend the media, this is it.

Disclaimer.- Thanks to my good friend Debra Mc for editing this entry. The ideas, initial writing and analysis are mine, but her superb editing job made this post so much better!

So long, good weather

Raul — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 03:34:00 +0000

So this is what the rest of the year is going to look like, huh? I had to wear a sweater AND a jacket on top of my t shirt today. The weather was horrible. Despite what my friend J says (yesterday he was wearing shorts and t shirt), I can’t cope with less than 15 oC or I feel like I am freezing. And if this is the kind of weather that we are going to have in Vancouver for the rest of the year, I am toast. Darn it!

Al Gore, UBC and climate change

Raul — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 09:14:00 +0000

I had the amazing opportunity today to go and listen to Mr. Al Gore, former Vice-President of the United States of America, speak about climate change, the future of Earth and the challenges ahead. It was a great talk. Mr. Gore is a very articulate speaker and he can galvanize the hell out of you. By the time his speech was over, I felt recharged and empowered to effect change. Yes, we can succeed in facing the sustainability challenge (at least that’s the message Mr. Gore is trying to get across). He was unbelievable, and even though I’m very stressed and overwhelmed with work, I wouldn’t have traded this opportunity ever. He talked at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at The University of British Columbia. Dr. Martha Piper, the (out-going) President of UBC was there to deliver her last official speech and present Mr. Gore. It was an awesome evening altogether. Now, back to the grind

Climate change in Canada and Mexico

Raul — Fri, 05 May 2006 20:52:00 +0000

This topic seems to occupying a substantial amount of space and time in the mainstream media and environmentally-related academic discussions in Canada. Everything seems to be associated with climatic change and the need for adaptation. I wonder to how smart this is and to what extent all these discussions and money spent on climate change-related research will be well spent.

On a related note, this year’s ‘Fondos Sectoriales de Investigacion’ SEMARNAT-CONACYT (Mexico) seem to be strongly focussed on climate change and vulnerability/adaptation. So much that many proposals seem to have thrown the keywords “climate change” and “vulnerability” and “adaptation” in an effort to get funded. Is this how environmentally-focused research is supposed to be carried out?

It seems to me as though Mexico is following the climate change fad. This is not to say that climate change isn’t a priority or that it is not occurring. I just worry that this is just one of many environmental priorities and that it should not be THE main one.