Planet Haliburton

2023 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record with all the consequences that holds for all life on the planet.

With the 28th annual UN-sponsored “Conference of the Parties” or COP28 under the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), delegations from the 197 countries will be descending on Dubai, one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from November 30th – to December 12th.

In the lead up to this year’s climate spectacle, there’s been a veritable avalanche of climate-emergency related studies and messaging in the media all competing for limited air time and attention.

To help listeners get a handle on the state of the climate science and politics on the eve of COP28 as well as the key issues in contention in Dubai, Planet Haliburton invited Mitchell Beer, the publisher of The Energy Mix, Canada’s preeminent source on climate news and opinion, to join us for both pre and post-COP28 conversations.

2023 is on pace to be the hottest year in Earth’s climate record and the list of climate-driven extreme weather events and other disasters is growing by the day. The human toll has been astonishing and promises to only get much worse as warming, driven by the highest concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in at least 4 million years, continues to rise year after year.

The gap between the emissions cuts climate scientists warn must happen versus those our political and economic leaders are prepared to deliver, pushes us ever closer toward climate system tipping points and hostile climate regime changes humans haven’t had to endure since the end of the last ice age, almost 12,000 years ago.

This episode of Planet Haliburton focuses on the climate change risks to human health and the urgent need for emergency climate action, with Dr. Nell Thomas, a family doctor and climate activist resident in Haliburton County, Ontario.

Few issues have galvanized opposition to the Doug Ford government’s climate and environmental policies as his messing with the boundaries of the Greenbelt - despite his repeated promises not to do so.

This episode features a conversation with Dianne Saxe, an environmental lawyer for over 50 years, who became Ontario’s 3rd (and last) independent Environmental Commissioner in 2015 with the unanimous support of all members of the Legislative Assembly.

https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/PH-Resource-List-for-From-Environmental-Commissioner-to-Toronto-City-Councillor-Perspectives-on-the-Climate-Emergency-with-Dianne-Saxe-July-27-2023.pdf

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks.

Bruce McClennan, the vice chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning.

The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn.

To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT

The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough.

The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks.

Ted Spence , the chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning.

The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn.

To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT

The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough.

The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

On this episode of PH we look at the impact of climate change on the Trent Severn Waterway, the risks posed by increased extreme weather events, less predictable water levels and what can be done to minimize the associated risks.

Ted Spence and Bruce McClennan, the chair and vice chair of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, discuss two new videos on these issues produced by the Coalition to raise awareness and encourage active adaptation planning.

The Trent Severn Waterway - TSW for short - is a 386-kilometre-long canal route connecting Lake Ontario at Trenton to Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, at Port Severn.

To maintain navigation and hydro-electric power generation in the lower or navigational portion of the waterway, water is stored and released as needed in the so-called RAFT

The reservoir system is complex to manage with historic seasonal water level changes of up to 10 feet (3.4m) on some lakes combined with severe water flow bottlenecks at high flood risk locations along the way, like in the Village of Minden and City of Peterborough.

The changes in the timing and amount of precipitation, as well as periods of drought that a changing climate brings, adds to the complexity of managing a system that was not primarily built for flood control.

Canadians have been told time and again by government and industry reps that the country’s vast crown-held forests have huge surplus carbon storage capacity for sequestering the country’s ever-growing volumes of extracted, transported, burned and/or exported oil and gas production.

This trend must be reversed if Canada is to succeed in meeting its emission reduction targets under the Paris and subsequent UN Climate Agreements.

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

Big Foreign Oil’s Canadian Political Meddling

The political fallout surrounding China’s alleged interference in Canadian elections has taken up a lot of media airtime recently.

But there is a one very powerful source of foreign political interference that has so far escaped any significant scrutiny – Big Foreign Oil’s efforts to shape Canada’s climate and energy politics.

This episode of PH features a conversation with Gordon Laxer, professor emeritus of political economy and author of a 2021 study entitled “Posing as Canadian: How Big Foreign Oil Captures Canadian Energy and Climate Policy”.

The conversation includes a discussion about how Big Foreign Oil exercises its power and influence but also what needs to be done to curtail it.

https://canoefm.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/PH-Resource-List-for-Big-Foreign-Oils-Canadian-Political-Meddling-Mar-30-2023.pdf

BirdLife's State of the World's Birds 2022 report documents that “nearly half of the world's birds

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm