Cpaws Manitoba Updates

Blaikie New Conservation Minister

cpawsmb — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:56:26 +0000

As a part of Premier Selinger’s cabinet shuffle today, Bill Blaikie became Manitoba’s latest Conservation Minister.

Bill Blaikie has served the NDP party for the last 10 years. He was elected as Member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly for Elmwood in 2009. Prior to that, he was a Member of Parliament from 1979 to 2008 for Elmwood—Transcona.

CPAWS wishes Mr. Blaikie all the best in his new role and we look forward to working with him to protect Manitoba’s spectacular wild spaces and wildlife.
Mr. Blaikie replaces Stan Struthers who served as Conservation Minister for the last six years. We have enjoyed working with Minister Struthers and wish him well in his new post as Manitoba’s new Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.

Volunteer with CPAWS this holiday season

cpawsmb — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:55:38 +0000

Still not sure what to be for Halloween? Bou gets all Martha Stewart and shows you how to make your own antlers in his new video.

Do you want to help protect Canada's Big Wild? Gain some volunteer experience? Channel your inner caribou?

Then look no further! CPAWS is looking for outgoing individuals in your city with at least a few hours a week to help staff our gift-giving displays in Mountain Equipment Co-op stores and other venues this holiday season.

You'll talk to people about conserving Canada's wilderness, help turn kids into caribou and take photos with them and Bou. We'll provide the training and tools, you provide the enthusiam.

You are the ideal candidate if you're comfortable with:

* talking with lots of people
* working with kids
* using a digital camera

...and interested in conserving Canada's wilderness!

Want to be part of the fun? Please contact Jill Sturdy to sign up.

Thanks!
The CPAWS Team

Re: Pleading for climate control, (Oct. 25.)

cpawsmb — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:25:04 +0000

Ron Thiessen

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

It was heartwarming to see so many citizens gathered at the Legislative Building on Saturday to convince our political leaders to take tough action on climate change. While the Manitoba government is making strong efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, their plan is incomplete. It is critical to include large-scale boreal wilderness conservation as part of Manitoba's climate-change action plan. The boreal forest is Earth's largest land-based storehouse of carbon. Our boreal forest stores more than 186 billion tons of carbon -- 27 years' worth of global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. But when the boreal forest is developed or logged, its ability to absorb and store carbon is lost or reduced, which degrades its ability to help moderate our climate.

Ron Thiessen

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society

Pleading for climate control

cpawsmb — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:08:37 +0000

Winnipeg rally begs leaders to reduce CO2 in atmosphere

Kevin Rollason

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Colin Crolly hopes, for the sake of his two young children, that governments and people around the world can be persuaded to do a 180 to get to 350 on climate change.

"My generation has messed things up," Crolly said Saturday while listening to speakers at a climate-change rally on the Manitoba legislative building grounds.

"We are the ones in control and we need to fix it up for our kids."

Crolly, accompanied by his son Jake, 2, and his daughter Anna and her friend Alexa, both 10, said he hopes people get the message from the rally and start working to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million. Currently, scientists say the amount is 387.

"You can't help but think how history will look at us," he said.

More than 5,000 rallies in more than 180 countries were held to push world leaders to take action on climate change, according to organizer by 350.org. Several rallies were held in Canadian cities including Ottawa, Vancouver and Montreal.

The demonstrations are leading up to December's United Nations summit in Copenhagen, where a deal could be reached on an international climate accord to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012.

In Vancouver, part of the Cambie Street bridge was closed to traffic in preparation for a march that organizers hoped would draw 10,000 demonstrators.

In Winnipeg, about 400 people listened to scientists and politicians in front of the Manitoba legislative building before parading to The Forks.

Dr. Danny Blair, director of the University of Winnipeg's Climate Studies Centre, said climate change has to be dealt with quickly. With carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere at 387 parts per million, the world is seeing the shrinking of Arctic sea ice and the expansion of deserts, he said.

"Unfortunately, that number is transforming our planet," Blair said.

"I'm worried about the world we are leaving for the children... Time is running out for us to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change."

NDP MLA Rob Altemeyer said the provincial government is on track to meet its Kyoto commitments by 2012.

"We are reducing the emissions in Manitoba right now," he said.

Altemeyer said the latest plan to reduce emissions was the government's announcement last week that it would help build a facility to capture methane gas at Brandon's landfill.

Josh Brandon, of Resource Conservation Manitoba, said Alberta's tarsands alone put more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than some entire countries.

"It puts out more than Lithuania. If it goes on, soon it will put out more than Belgium and Austria."

Jacqueline Romanow, the Green Party's candidate in Winnipeg Centre, said "the science of climate change is not in doubt any longer.

"Where we are lacking is the political will."

-- With file from Canwest News Service

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Meditation Lake Camp Proposal Abandoned

cpawsmb — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:03:24 +0000

After initiatives involving the Wilderness Committee, CPAWS, and concerned citizens, the province and Tim Hortons have abandoned plans to develop a kid’s camp on Meditation Lake in Whiteshell provincial park.

CPAWS opposed the location of the proposed Tim Horton’s kid’s camp for the following reasons:

unnecessarily increasing access to an ecologically sensitive park wilderness area, thereby causing potentially irreversible damage.
questionable water quality for swimming as the lake has been known to be covered with toxic algae blooms during summer months
introducing this development proposal before the long overdue Whiteshell Park Management Plan is complete. In other words, a backwards approach of ‘development before planning’
an unwillingness by the province to share all the requested information about the proposed project

In a Manitoba government press release, Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said, "We will look at an alternate location in the Whiteshell to meet the program and wilderness experience needs required by the youth leadership camp proposal while keeping in mind the needs of current and future park visitors.”

In the same release, Tim Horton Children's Foundation vice-president Dave Newnham stated, "We are confident another site will be found that will respect the environmental sustainability needs of the park, and provide a unique experience for children and youth from economically disadvantaged homes."

CPAWS thanks all the Manitoba citizens who expressed their concerns to the Manitoba government about the location of a children’s camp at Meditation Lake.

Meditation Lake kids camp scuttled

cpawsmb — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:59:14 +0000

Tim Hortons, province to seek new Whiteshell site

Friday, 23 October 2009

A plan by Tim Hortons to open a youth camp in the Whiteshell has been scuttled by the province because of water concerns.

Conservation Minister Stan Struthers and the Tim Horton Children's Foundation said Thursday they plan to look for another site in the Whiteshell for the year-round camp for underprivileged kids.

"We appreciate the support of the provincial government in working to find and evaluate alternative sites in the Whiteshell," foundation vice-president Dave Newnham said. "We are confident another site will be found that will respect the environmental sustainability needs of the park and provide a unique experience for children and youth from economically disadvantaged homes."

The Tim Hortons foundation had originally chosen a site adjacent to Meditation Lake for the camp, but a public outcry from campers and environmentalists prompted the province to verify concerns that the lake could not support the kind of intensive development that the camp would bring.

Ron Thiessen, executive director of the Manitoba branch of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said he is very pleased the province and Tim Hortons have ditched the Meditation Lake plan.

"It is not a suitable location for the proposed facility," Thiessen said. "It would be detrimental to the local environment and it is not a good location for the children, either."

Thiessen said the area has a very sensitive ecosystem, and sewage and other pollutants would be harmful to the wilderness area. He also said that historically, the lake has been covered in algae for large parts of the summer and wasn't a suitable place for the children.

"If I were a kid going to camp, I would want nice swimming conditions, not a lake covered in algae," he said. "I hope the new location they choose is wise for the environment and for the children."

Tim Hortons held open houses in the spring to detail its plans.

Struthers said the public input proved invaluable, adding he is confident the suggestions for alternative locations will lead to a new site within the Whiteshell.

Struthers said the province will maintain Mediation Lake as a non-development area, restricted to a walk-in camping experience only.

He said more open houses will be held later this fall as the province and Tim Hortons consider other locations.

The Tim Horton Children's Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization providing opportunities for children to develop into positive, contributing members of their communities. It operates six camps in Canada and the U.S. and has provided unique outdoor experiences to more than 120,000 economically disadvantaged children in the past 35 years at no cost to their families.

Saving Caribou Will Curb Climate Change: New Report

cpawsmb — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:37:36 +0000

Thursday, 22 October 2009

For Immediate Release – October 22, 2009

Today, the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) released its new report entitled Caribou and You report. The report tells the story of the woodland caribou’s decline and how saving the threatened species from extinction will help slow the affects of climate change.

Woodland caribou require immense, unbroken Boreal wilderness to find enough food and avoid predators. As the Boreal is the world’s largest land-based storehouse of carbon, these vast intact spaces also help to curb climate change.

“By protecting the caribou’s home in our Boreal wilderness, we slow the accelerator pedal on climate change,” says Ron Thiessen, CPAWS Manitoba Executive Director. “Humans need big protected Boreal spaces as much as caribou do.”

Canada’s Boreal stores more than 186 billion tons of carbon – 27 years' worth of global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. When the Boreal is developed or logged, its ability to absorb and store carbon is lost or reduced, which degrades its ability to help moderate our climate.

Woodland caribou populations are declining across Canada and they have already disappeared from three provinces largely due to habitat loss from industrial developments such as clear-cut logging. Both the federal and Manitoba governments have listed woodland caribou as a threatened species in need of habitat protection but are not taking the actions required to ensure their wellbeing.

“CPAWS is calling for an immediate halt to logging, logging road construction, and other industrial developments in intact caribou habitat until the government can demonstrate that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure long-term caribou survival,” says Thiessen.

CPAWS is proposing that the Manitoba government announces a plan to work with all involved to protect more than 50% of Manitoba’s Boreal Region from industrial developments. According to a letter from more than 1,500 highly respected scientists* from across the globe, this is the minimum amount of protection required to ensure the area remains fully functioning as an integral part of earth’s life support system.

According to Pascal Badiou, Ph.D and adjunct professor in the University of Manitoba's Department of Environment and Geography, and signatory to the scientists letter to Canadian governments, “the Boreal forest is one of the world’s most precious water resources and is dotted with millions of small wetlands and lakes that are important habitat for wildlife,” says Badiou.

“Additionally, it is one of, if not the most, important terrestrial carbon stores on the planet and therefore plays a key role in the global climate cycle.”

Read the Caribou and You report.

For more information, please contact Ron Thiessen (Executive Director, CPAWS Manitoba) at (204 794 4971) or (204 453 6346)

* 1,500 Scientists Worldwide Call For Protection of Canada's Boreal Forest

-30-

Send a letter to Premier Selinger to express your opinion about protecting large Boreal caribou habitats and slowing climate change

Is green business good business?

cpawsmb — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:11:39 +0000

You wouldn't think accounting would have an environmental angle

TERRENCE BELFORD

Tuesday, 20 October 2009

Number crunching and tree hugging ... two images not normally associated with each other. But a Ryerson professor's research using accounting methods appears to have proven that new green technology enhances profit margins, which may affect everything from how investors value companies to carbon trading.

Dr. Vanessa Magness's research is now being hailed as "very important" by industry leaders like Doug Baker, chairman of the board at the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants and himself managing director of an oil and gas company - Thoroughbred Energy Ltd. of Calgary.

The business case

"One of the things we have always needed is hard evidence to support policy change," he says. "I think Dr. Magness is helping provide that."

Her research could also lead to greater transparency for shareholders seeking to compare value among corporations, adds Dr. Kate Bewley, associate professor of accounting and auditing at Toronto's York University.

"It is going to help shareholders determine whether companies are accurately reporting progress made in embracing green technology and their approach to environmental preservation. We can finally accurately measure it," she says.

The carbon angle

There is yet another major plus arising from her work, says Christine Schuh, Canadian climate change leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Calgary. Now that industrial emissions are being regulated and carbon credits can be swapped around the globe, industry, government and indeed all stakeholders need ways to accurately measure and audit those emissions.

Ms. Schuh is part of an International Federation of Accountants committee trying to create global standards through which the accounting profession can measure and monitor CO2 emissions.

"Our work runs in tandem with what she has been doing," says Ms. Schuh. "In the end we will be able to do things like ensure environmental regulatory compliance, increase transparency for shareholders and then audit and verify when it comes to trading in carbon credits."

The first steps

So called "green accounting" has been Dr. Magness's consuming passion since writing her master's thesis on it at the University of Toronto in 1993. But in days well in advance of the current concern for environmental preservation few universities were willing to accept a PhD candidate whose research was crunching numbers to prove green business was good business.

"I finally found a professor at the University of Manitoba willing to take me on for my doctorate," says Dr. Magness, associate professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Business in Toronto. "Of course in those days there was neither the technology available nor the widespread interest in environmental preservation.

"Now everything has changed and there are quite a number of people engaged in similar research," she says.

What that translates into is an end to the excuse not to embrace green technology because the cost would make oil and gas exploration and production unprofitable, Dr. Magness says.

The research

"My research clearly shows that much of new technology does not reduce profitability but increases it," she says.

Dr. Magness started with data from Environment Canada that tracked the level of emissions of pollutants, such as carbon dioxide, arsenic and lead, involved in producing a barrel of oil between 1993 and 2006.

What she found was that emissions had dropped significantly.

"The conclusion I reached was it had to be the new technology that made the difference," she says.

At the same time profitability of the oil industry increased in ways that could not be attributed to increased oil prices or simply selling more oil and oil-based products.

"What I started to find was the new technology allowed the industry to create new and profitable businesses," she says.

For example, when the electricity market was deregulated in Ontario in 2000, refineries began to use excess heat created by their processes to co-generate electricity and both use it for their own purposes and sell the surplus back into the provincial grid, she says.

Other companies used technology designed to remove pollutants from smokestack emissions to collect compounds like benzene and profitably sell them to existing markets.

"Having to spend the money on environmental protection technology caused companies in the industry to become more innovative," Dr. Magness says.

The next challenge

Dr. Magness's next move - if she can find the financial support - is to extend her research into the U.S. oil industry.

Perhaps the greatest challenge, however, is how to spread the news of her research to a much wider audience.

"There is little awareness of how important this research is and the implications it has for industry," says Dr. Bewley. "The problem is the academic publications she has written for just don't have that wide an audience.

Gary Doer asks Manitobans to Keep East Side Dream Alive

cpawsmb — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:05:49 +0000

At a farewell dinner for Gary Doer on October 17th, the outgoing Premier stated “Do not ever give up on the dream of protecting the east side of Lake Winnipeg.” – CBC news

Other comments from Gary Doer about the east side of Lake Winnipeg during his last month of Premier:

“I commend our First Nations partners for their vision and leadership toward securing UNESCO World Heritage status for the unique place they call home east of Lake Winnipeg. Today’s commitment (10 million dollar trust fund) will help ensure their efforts will result in a sustainable international attraction that benefits the people who live there.”- MB government press release
“Let's have a world UNESCO site in Manitoba with that beautiful, beautiful boreal forest." – CBC news
"The value of this is $120 million a year to the people living in the area if properly stewarded into the future, and we believe the various benefits of the environmental stewardship will be extremely important to all generations.” – CBC news
"Your kids are going to be happy we did this," Premier Gary Doer said. "It won't win us an election, but it's good we did this." – Winnipeg Free Press
"Preserving this area provides more pure water into Lake Winnipeg, it reduces greenhouse gases by storing considerable tons of emissions, it provides food and medicine for people living in the area and, of course, it sustains the wildlife that is so very, very important." – Winnipeg Free Press
"This investment is important to continue to build the public awareness of the beauty of the east side, continue to build the support for this vision and to also invest in the preservation and enhancement of the local economy." – Winnipeg Free Press

Pembina Valley park gets facelift

cpawsmb — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:04:20 +0000

Monday, 19 October 2009

The Pembina Valley Provincial Park has received a considerable facelift to make it more accessible and interesting to visitors.

Opened in 2001, the 180-hectare natural park now has a 24-metre, single-span steel bridge to provide access to the trail system and a new nine-metre observation tower.

The park, located in southern Manitoba in the rural municipalities of Stanley and Pembina, features three trails of increasing challenge so that there is something available for everyone. It also boasts a creek, steep valley slopes and 16 identified rare plant species.

"The new bridge and tower will enhance the park visitor’s experience," said Manitoba Conservation Minister Stan Struthers. "The extensive trail system will provide visitors more opportunity to explore the many features of the park."

Manitoba Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said Friday the park improvements make it easier and fun to be healthy in the province.

"(It’s now) even more enjoyable for Manitobans to be active as they explore our natural treasures," said Irvin-Ross. "The trails offer everyone an opportunity to be healthy by nature, whether you’re planning a family trip or a more experienced hiker looking for a challenge."