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Publié par : Corey Robichaud

13 juillet 2016

Affichages : 11637

Press Release

A Bold, Made-in-New Brunswick Plan to Address Climate Change

Conservation Council of New Brunswick releases policy options to spur climate change conversation

July 13, 2016

Fredericton, N.B. –A new report from the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, released today, offers provincial politicians, environmental policy makers, and citizens a bold vision for New Brunswick. The three-part plan covers electricity, provincial investments, and government policies required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while keeping bills low and creating jobs for New Brunswickers.

New Brunswick’s greenhouse gas emissions mostly come from using fossil fuel energy: coal, oil and natural gas to make electricity to heat and cool our homes, and power our appliances and industry, as well as gasoline and diesel to run our vehicles and trucks to move people and goods.

The Conservation Council’s“Climate Action Plan for NewBrunswick”proposes to reduce these emissions through investments to retrofit our buildings, starting with social and low-income housing; expanding efforts to install renewable energy like solar and wind; and accelerating installation of the Energy Internet (Smart Grid telecommunications) to manage a more distributed electricity load. These investments would help NB Power phase coal out of electricity production over the next 15 years. The Conservation Council’s plan also proposes creating incentives to help New Brunswickers buy electric and energy efficient vehicles and trucks as Ontario and Quebec have done, and modernizing industry and manufacturing to cut waste and pollution.

Blue-Green Canada, an alliance of labour and environmental groups calculates that for every $1 million invested in the fossil fuel sector two jobs are created, while 15 jobs are created for the same amount in the clean energy sector. Using those figures, New Brunswick could create up to 7,500 jobs a year by investing its climate action dollars in clean energy and energy efficiency retrofits which, in turn, would keep energy bills low for New Brunswickers.

QUOTES:

“There is strong scientific consensus that the climate is becoming unbalanced mostly because of human activity (95% - 100% certainty).” – Dr. Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Policy.

“Post-tropical storm Arthur opened New Brunswickers’ eyes to the reality of climate change. We now know and accept that climate change is a reality. The Conservation Council wants to start a serious conversation about adapting to, and mitigating, the damage to our communities as a result of a rapidly changing climate.” – Dr. Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Policy.

“We need a comprehensive climate action plan that helps New Brunswick do its fair share so others will too. We need to work together because we can’t protect the people and communities we care about from extreme changes to the climate without partnering to drastically cut greenhouse gas pollution.” - Dr. Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Policy.

“New Brunswick needs to implement policies and programs that are fair and cut waste by making polluters use clean energy and practice more sustainable agriculture and forestry.” – Dr. Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Policy.

“If we act together, we can limit the risks to our health and communities from a more extreme climate.” – Dr. Louise Comeau, Director of Climate Change and Energy Policy.

Key Facts:

• New Brunswick is the second most electricity-dependent economy in Canada behind Québec. As a regional energy hub, New Brunswick is well positioned to become a clean energy leader by investing heavily in NB Power’s Smart Grid technology to give the electricity system the capacity it needs to significantly increase the supply of renewable energy, phase out coal-fired generating stations, and provide load balancing services to Nova Scotia, PEI, and New England.

• Global investments in clean energy are increasing, spurring increased employment in the sector while the costs of clean energy have decreased significantly. Canada hasn’t kept pace, investing only $4 billion CND in 2015 while global investments in clean energy reached $325 billion USD, according to Clean Energy Canada’s Tracking the Energy Revolution 2016 report.

• In 2015, the Atlantic Premiers and New England Governors agreed to cut greenhouse gas emissions 35% to 45% below 1990 levels by 2030. New Brunswick’s contribution to meeting that goal is to eliminate 6.5 million tonnes from our carbon budget. Almost 40% of those reductions can be achieved by phasing out coal to generate electricity, as Ontario has already done and Alberta will do by 2030.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick (conservationcouncil.ca) has been at the forefront of environmental protection in New Brunswick since 1969.We are a non-profit organization that creates awareness of environmental problems and advances practical solutions through research, education and interventions.


Contact: Mike Girard

Office: 506-458-8747

E-mail: [email protected]

Détails

11 juillet 2016

Affichages : 10840

Jour heureux! Finalement il paraît que le Canada et le Nouveau-Brunswick discutent sérieusement du changement climatique. Très sérieusement. Et ils sont prêts à écouter! Les députés fédéraux organisent des assemblées publiques pour entendre ce que leurs constituants pensent au sujet des changements climatiques. Le gouvernement provincial a lancé un Comité spécial sur le changement climatique qui écoutera des témoins experts et aura des réunions autour de la province afin d’entendre ce que les gens ordinaires ont à dire. Et les groupes de travail fédéral-provincial ont un portail en ligne pour recueillir les opinions de tous.

Alors, c’est quoi l’attente? Pourquoi les environnementalistes ne plongent-ils pas tête première sur cette occasion? Pourquoi personne n’a entamé une grande campagne publique? C’est presque comme si c’était trop gros! Il semble comme si même les activistes environnementaux de longue date se sentent comme s’ils ne sont pas assez connaissants. Après tous, le changement climatique n’est pas l’expertise de la majorité des gens. Cela dit, tout le monde connait un peut ses impacts sur leur domaine de travail – eau, forêts, air, espèces en péril, santé.

Le changement climatique est l’enjeu en arrière-plan qui rôde dans les pensées de tous les environnementalistes. Qu’importe l’enjeu qui vous passionne le changement climatique y joue un rôle. Si vous travaillez pour améliorer l’environnement par l’entremise d’action directe telle que restaurer des rivières ou protéger des habitats précieux, ce beau travail pourrait être jeté aux quatre vents par le changement climatique. Si revendiquer la protection de la santé humaine par rapport à l’exposition chimique ou changer les normes en foresterie est votre truc, les scénarios avec les changements climatiques rendent les situations alarmistes encore plus alarmantes. De plus, si on commence à penser à nos petits enfants c’est difficile de garder même une miette d’optimisme.  

Nous sommes tous invités d’unir nos voix aujourd’hui. Unissons-les ensemble et montrons que lutter contre le changement climatique est aussi important qu’un enjeu peut l’être!

Pour plus d’information…

Détails

Publié par : Terry Wishart

15 juin 2016

Affichages : 11195

Fredericton - When push comes to shove, as it has in the case of pending developments in New Brunswick’s only wilderness park, it’s always good to have allies with deep pockets.

Such allies are being courted by concerned citizens who are taking the Province of New Brunswick to court over its management of Mount Carleton Wilderness Park near Nictau, N.B. 

The proposal entails extending a network of snowmobile trails to the summit, park electrification and a gas bar, things the group opposing the project believes will damage the natural area and its wildlife.

“We’ve turned to Go Fund Me, a crowd-source fundraising website, to gather the $15,000 needed to stop this development in court,” said Jean Louis Deveau, former park manager at Mount Carleton. 

“The plants and animals cannot speak for themselves,” Deveau said. “With everything around the Park being clear cut, we cannot stand by and let this sanctuary be destroyed. We've raised over $13,000 in the past week so this clearly resonates with people.” 

Grand Chief Ron Tremblay of the Traditional Maliseet Government has reached out to media outlets to cover this story. In an interview on CBC radio this week he argued strenuously that snowmobiles should not be allowed to expand their range in the park.

“The commodification of this wild place through snowmobile tourism is not only incompatible with our values, tradition, and culture but will inevitably lead to conflicts between those who, like the Gallant Government, see the park as a place of business and those who, like us, see it as sacred,” said Tremblay. 

A provincial court justice will hear arguments at the end of June in Moncton. Donors are urged to go to GoFundMe.com and search for ‘Plants & Animals Take on NB Gov’t’ to contribute towards the group's court expenses.

Détails

Publié par : Terry Wishart

10 juin 2016

Affichages : 10808

La version française suit la version anglaise.


Funding appeal by the Plants, Swimmers, Flyers, Crawlers, and Four-legged creatures of Mount Carleton Provincial Park

We are the plants, swimmers, flyers, crawlers, and four-legged creatures of the park, whose ancestors have lived in this part of Wolastokuk (Maliseet homeland) for thousands of years.  Our wish for now is to have a New Brunswick court of law designate this part of Wolastokuk—our homeland—as our sanctuary.

Members of our extended families, the Kci-Putuwosultihtit Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet Grand Council), will bring our case before the court later this month. The Wolastoqewiyik (Maliseet people) have been, and always will be, our protectors. The Grand Chief of the Kci-Putuwosultihtit Wolastoqiyik, Ron Tremblay, will be joined by Jean Louis Deveau, a co-founder of the Friends of Mount Carleton and former manager of the park, who will intervene on our behalf. Our lawyer is Gordon Allen from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. 

The struggle to preserve our home for All Our Relations by challenging in court the decision to turn our home into a snowmobile hub will take thousands of dollars of the plastic money used by two-legged creatures. The economy of the land, air, and water where we live, however, is based not on plastic money, but on sunlight. So, we don’t have plastic money used by two-leggeds and will need the help of friends like you to win this court challenge.

So, this a special appeal to those of you compassionate two-legged creatures, who understand that we are all interconnected in the circle of life and who are sympathetic to preserving our way of life, here and/or elsewhere in Wolastokuk homeland, to donate your kind of money to help pay for our legal fees in court.

Détails

Publié par : Nature Moncton

3 juin 2016

Affichages : 8672

Be Happy for Sparrows

Workshop and Field Trip with Roger Leblanc

Saturday June 11, 2016

It’s a fact that when you are starting out in birding there are some groups of birds that are harder than others to wrap you mind or binoculars around. Some beginners don’t even want to talk about flycatchers or gulls. And it’s true that some birds could drive you to get interested in plants! But there is a much easier group of birds that still gives people a lot of problems. The sparrows or LBJs (for “little brown jobs”) are birds that are relatively easy to find, don’t tend to hide that much, show fairly good field marks, and have recognizable songs. But still, identifying them will give most people a hard time at first. Why? Well as the LBJ nickname suggests they don’t have a lot of colors, they are relatively close to each other in size and there are a fair number of species to pick from.

But don’t despair -- help is on the way. Nature Moncton is offering a hands-on workshop on sparrows. Starting with a short one-hour indoor refresher on the sparrows of NB we will then head outdoors to the Riverview Marsh where we will concentrate on sparrows to try to put in practice what you have learned inside. The objective will be to find in the field as many as we can of the 7 or 8 species that can be found fairly easily in the region at this time of the year. Our own Roger Leblanc will lead this workshop / outing and will share with us the tricks of the trade that he has honed over the years for putting names on the pesky LBJ’S. Things like song, habitat, behavior and head pattern will be pointed out and studied in the hope that the LBJs will become ETCs (easy to call).

And in addition to sparrows, there are always many more other birds, including lots of waterfowl, on the marsh – so we may be surprised by other interesting species!

Saturday June 11, 8:00 to 9:00 (workshop); 9:30 to 12:00 (field)

**Workshop will be held in Community room at the Riverview Sobey’s, 1160 Findlay Blvd., Riverview

Registration with Louise Nichols at [email protected]. 

Phone: 939-9054.

Cost of workshop/field trip is $8 payable at the door . All are welcome, Nature Moncton member or not.

Détails

2 juin 2016

Affichages : 9587

La commissaire à l’environnement et au développement durable a déposé cette semaine ses rapports du printemps. Dans le rapport, elle traite des sujets suivants :

• Le soutien fédéral à l’appui de l’infrastructure municipale durable
• L’atténuation des effets du temps violent
• Les substances chimiques dans les produits cosmétiques et de consommation

Lisez le rapport en complet ici.