Noise Pollution Fall Finale
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Noise Pollution Fall Finale

We had our last show of the semester today. To kick off the show we interviewed Daniel, a Laurier student who started a petition as part of a project to get a weekly environmental radio show on the Kitchener Waterloo CBC. Daniel and some other Laurier students in the Psychology, Action and the Environment class partnered with Sustainable Societies Consulting Group to lobby the CBC for environmental radio programming to help more people be aware of environmental topics. You can find their petition online and the group also has a Facebook and Twitter

We took a look at the Laurier Brantford EcoHawks video about how to be more sustainable this holiday season.

We finished off with some #COP21 updates, David Suzuki does a great top 5 things you need to know about the climate summit so far video. Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change shocked Paris with her statement that we should aim to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius instead of 2. Read more about her statement from the National Observer. Finally we covered the issues of Indigenous rights being thrown out of the Paris Climate summit and the implications of this. Nothing is set yet but there is a chance Indigenous rights will not be recognized in the Paris Accord. More on that story here.

We are looking for a new DJ to join Shannon and myself to host the show next semester as Mallaika is graduating. If you are interested and have a passion for environmental issues contact us through any of our social media.

Happy Holidays Golden Hawks and thanks for listening!

Forget Living Green – We Need a Revolution

COP21 Climate March in Paris

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Forget Living Green – We Need a Revolution

This week we had some #COP21 Paris Climate Summit updates for you, and we took a look at some of the climate marches happening around the world. There was a successful climate march right here in Waterloo and internationally despite the ban, people in Paris left thousands of pairs of shoes to stand in for them in the demonstrations.

Forget Living Green – We Need a Revolution – We debated this article (called Forget Shorter Showers: Why Personal Change Does Not Equal Political Change) which is all about how individual actions are not equivalent to political change. So you can take shorter showers if you please (or no showers at all) but it wont matter because our actions need to be focused on challenging industrial economy. It’s a rather provocative article and worth the read. Personally I have some issues with it such as how individual actions accumulate to equal supply and demand but you should read it yourself and let us know what you think.

Finally we took a look at eco villages, small communities of which there are several where people live together as sustainably as possible. Small apartments, community gardens, rain water collection, and car and tool sharing all within a small village of people. We looked at the Kaliash Ecovillage in Portland Oregon and you can check out their website here if you’ve ever wanted to run off and live off the grid.

We’ll be back next week with an all new show,

We’re on Facebook and Twitter follow for updates

Climate Change Week, News and More
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Climate Change Week, News and More

This week Laurier ended up being very environmentally involved. The Enactus food waste awareness events, Laurier Environmental Week by the Ecological citizenship class and the Ecohawks Swap Sale all landed on the same week. They’ve all got event pages up on Facebook so if you didn’t already know about it all go to the concourse over the next few days and check it out.

We took a look at some health fads that have proven be harmful to the environment so next time you about to reach for your greek yogurt, avocado and almond snack before going to your hot yoga class because you are trying to bulk up you might want to reconsider.

In the news over the last few days Alberta announced its climate action plan, leading the way for the other provinces to set their goals. You can check out Macleans analysis of Alberta’s proposal here.

Check out Laurier’s Climate Change Week here https://www.facebook.com/events/1511884432460179/
and maybe go to the climate march this Sunday.

Canada’s New Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
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Canada’s New Minister of the Environment and Climate Change

This week we took a look at what’s on Catherine Mckenna’s agenda as she steps into the role of Trudeau’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. You can check out the National Observer article, it outlines many of the tasks Mckenna has to take on over the next 4 years.

We also took a look at the Paris attacks and what that will mean for the COP21 Climate Summit. The summit will continue however, sadly, many of the events, parades, and demonstrations scheduled to happen around the event have been cancelled due to safety concerns. You can find more details here.

Finally we took a look at hydro damns, supposedly a clean method of producing energy however it seems they are actually not as clean as we think. You can read more about the green washing of hydro damn in this article.

Remember to check out the Waterloo Climate March happening Nov 29 in Waterloo Square

#COP21Paris

Photo by Rob Potvin from Upsplash images

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#COP21Paris

In today’s show we covered a local news story about a study on how climate change will affect the region of Waterloo done by the University of Waterloo’s Interdisciplinary Center on Climate Change. According to the report Waterloo could be looking at some dramatic changes such as 40% more freezing rain and 32 days a year of extreme heat by the year 2050 (currently we experience about 10 days a year with a average high above 30).  Check out the Record’s Article or you can find the actual report here.

We also took a look at what the COP21Paris (Conference of Parties 21st session in Paris) climate summit was all about and why this conference is causing so many headlines. This conference will be crucial, many people agree that all countries need to collaborate and come with their plans to keep global temperatures from rising above 2 degrees Celsius  this year or it will be too late. If you want to know more the official website is a good place to start. 

Finally in international news Scotland will soon be the home to the worlds largest floating wind farm. The wind farm could be able to power up to 20,0000 homes and since Scotland is so windy we think its a good call! You can read the article for yourself here.

We will be back next week with info on the green washing of hydro dams and we will be talking about Canada’s new Minister of the Environment and Climate Change and her plans for Canada’s future and the Paris Climate Summit.

The Coal Retirement Plan

Photo courtesy of The Atlantic

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The Coal Retirement Plan

How billionaires could pay to keep coal in the ground.

This week we came across a brilliant article, crazy…but brilliant. A man named Robert Frost came up with the idea that instead of limiting the fossil fuels burned we (or rather people with more money than they know what to do with) could buy the land with the fossil fuels in it and own the mining right and well… just never let the mining companies own those rights. This article does a great job of explaining the whole plan Buy Coal Now! and a document of Frosts plan can be found here The Coal Retirement Plan

We also talked about El Nino, a weather phenomenon happening this year which can cause milder winters. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact its 20 Celsius today and its November!

Lastly the Paris Climate Summit is happening at the end of the month so we plan to be following that keeping you posted over the next few shows.

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