[All] Gren News

[Louisette Lanteigne]

Local News: 

LRT construction begins this fall starting with areas in Uptown Waterloo. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/lrt-construction-will-close-uptown-waterloo-roads-starting-september-1.2738176


Segregated bike lanes have been given the green light along Manitou Drive in Kitchener
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4757626-segregated-bike-lanes-ok-d-for-manitou-drive/


City of Kitchener has a bike survey to see where more barriers should be installed. Visit here to have a say:
http://kitchener.ca/en/livinginkitchener/Cycling_Survey.asp


City of Waterloo already has a plan that calls for protected bicycle lanes to be installed along a stretch of King Street.

http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4751891-lack-of-barriers-a-barrier-to-downtown-cyclists-advocate-says/


University of Waterloo makes public most complete Antarctic map for climate research.
http://phys.org/news/2014-08-waterloo-antarctic-climate.html 


Provincial 

Urgent Action is needed as toxic algae plagues Great Lakes says a new report by Environmental Defence and Freshwater Futures. The report can be viewed online here: 
http://environmentaldefence.ca/reports/clean-not-green-tackling-algal-blooms-in-great-lakes


Mount Polly spill resulted in an order by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Council demading integrity checks for Uranium Tailings Ponds in Ontario and Sask. 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/mount-polley-spill-spurs-cnsc-order-to-check-uranium-ponds-1.2740589


University of Toronto Danny Harvey is suing the NEB in a charter challenge for ignoring the climate impacts of the Kinder Morgan oil pipeline. Details here;
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/news/university-professor-sues-neb-ignoring-kinder-morgan-pipeline-expansions-climate-impact


Gord Miller blogs about the frustration of not having reasonable climate change info to work with to help safely plan Ontario's infrastructure.
http://www.eco.on.ca/blog/2014/08/19/climate-data-baselines-trend-lines-bottom-line/


National

Idle No More is raising awareness that there is a "First Nation's termination plan" happening. Right now the Harper Government is trying to secure the elimination of First Nation's reserves, the abolishment of tax breaks and basically force the assimilation of First Nation's into the broader Canadian society by way of treaty settlements. These negotiations tend to bypass both Charter rights and Treaty rights and often excludes the voices of the larger impacted community. The system may benefit those living in close proximity to cities like Toronto etc. where the lands have already been developed without consent where bands could sublease properties for use but for remote communities, this could be devastating. Many see this as a ploy to break apart First Nation's territories in order to access lands for natural resource extractions. To view the Government of Canada's website about this visit here:
  https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1346782327802/1346782485058

To view Idle No More's concerns regarding this issues visit here: http://www.idlenomore.ca/turn_the_tables and the Webonair here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FopgKvr3RG8&feature=youtu.be

North West Territories wild fires destroyed 3,328,528.09 hectares of land so far.

http://up.nwtfire.com/sites/default/files/2014-08-18_currentfiresituation.html


Chineese investors regretting investments in Tar Sands: Lots of construction delays, funding delays, low prices and economic scandals slowing things down. 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/china-faces-oil-patch-buyers-remorse/article20090355/


Handy Info:
Seeing that we are often dealing with areas like Hidden Valley where rare critters are a concern, here is the link to the Province of Ontario's guide book for Categorizing and Protecting Habitats under the Species at Risk Act. It is online here: 
http://docs.ontario.ca/documents/3331-categorizing-and-protecting-habitat-under-the.html#document/pdf


Have a good one everybody.

Lulu 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://gren.ca/pipermail/all_gren.ca/attachments/20140819/d2e9ca0e/attachment.html>