Clover Leaf Kills More Than Just Tuna

Fukushima & Chernobyl: A Candlelight Vigil

Please join Green Party of Ontario Toronto Centre candidate Mark Daye and other Toronto Greens as we remember the victims of Chernobyl and Fukushima on April 26, 2011.

Greenpeace shuts down Darlington nuclear hearing

Courtice, Ontario — Greenpeace activists today shut down environmental assessment hearings on a proposal to build new reactors at Darlington in response to the Joint Review Panel’s refusal to suspend the hearings until lessons are learned from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

Four Greenpeace activists, with a banner reading “No nukes are safe Stop Darlington,”are locked down at the front of the hearing preventing the Panel from continuing. Other activists are in the audience with a similar banner and wearing tape on their lips, symbolically bearing witness to a flawed hearing process.

“These hearings should not be allowed to promote building new reactors while downplaying the nuclear disaster at Fukushima,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Greenpeace nuclear analyst. “The proposal to build new reactors is Dalton McGuinty’s proposal: he needs to take responsibility for the costs, the accident risks and for not suspending the hearings.”

Yesterday, about 40 individuals and groups participating in the three-week hearing called on the Joint Review Panel to suspend them until further analysis of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima is available for consideration. The Panel refused.
The environmental assessment proposal for building new reactors at Darlington has serious flaws, including:

• No reactor technology has been chosen for the environmental assessment,
• The environmental assessment has excluded discussion of a Fukushima-scale disaster, and
• No opportunity is provided to discuss alternatives to nuclear, such as clean
  energy sources,

“The rush forward to build unnecessary and expensive new reactors will expose hundreds of thousands of people and generations of Ontarians to the risks of a
Fukushima-scale nuclear accident,” said Stensil. “The proposal will create more radioactive waste that will be dangerous for millions of years. New reactors at Darlington can’t be permitted to proceed when the impacts and alternatives haven’t been considered.”

Send Environment Minister Peter Kent a Love Note!

Click here to send Peter Kent a love note.

Dear Mark: Be the Earth’s man of the year! | Greenpeace International

Dear Mark: Be the Earth’s man of the year! | Greenpeace International

Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg has been in the news quite a bit in the last few days. Previously portrayed as a reclusive billionaire who shuns the limelight he’s made couple of big gestures recently.

With a reported personal fortune of US$6.9 billion (up 245 percent this year!) he donated US$100 million to Newark schools in the US and just last week he joined a pledge initiated by Bill Gates to give half his personal fortune to charity.

Congratulations to Mark on his charitable donations and on being named today as the Time Person of the Year. To be our person of the year and give what over 500,000 Facebook members are asking for, Mark it’s time to choose renewable energy to power Facebook, not dirty coal.

That would be a big gesture we would all applaud.

Come celebrate the season with Greenpeace!

On Saturday, December 18 from 1:00pm-4:00pm, Greenpeace staff and volunteers will be at Nathan
Phillips Square in Toronto to celebrate Ontario’s very own reindeer – the woodland caribou. 

Come join us for treats, holiday music, and a
visit with Santa and his reindeer. All are welcome!

We will also be asking people to sign a card for Premier McGuinty,
urging him to protect Ontario’s woodland caribou.

What: Holiday celebration of woodland caribou with Santa, treats and music
When: 1:00-4:00, Saturday December 18th
Where: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto

Feel free to join in the festivities and wear a holiday themed costume. Bring skates and take some time to use the ice rink. Above all, please bring your family and friends - Let's urge McGuinty to think GREEN this season.

Hope to see you there!

Hudak & McGuinty: Stop Darlington!

Go green to avoid soaring nuclear costs

Shawn-Patrick Stensil Nuclear analyst, Greenpeace Canada

Ontario needs a frank and public debate on how to protect electricity consumers from the rising costs of the McGuinty government’s nuclear plans.

The government’s decision to restrict public consultation on revisions to its long-term electricity plan to a web-based survey simply dodges any meaningful public debate. This will end up costing the ratepayer and the environment.

We were told in 2007 it would cost $26 billion to keep nuclear at 50 per cent of electricity supply. That would repair 12 operating reactors and build two new ones. Since then, we’ve learned that building just two new reactors would cost $26 billion — sucking up the entire 20-year nuclear spending plan.

It takes 10 years to build new reactors and up to five to repair old ones, so the full cost of the government’s nuclear plan hasn’t hit our bills yet. But painful price hikes are coming unless the Ontario government reins in its nuclear plans.

Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington | Greenpeace Canada

Don’t Nuke Green Energy: Stop Darlington | Greenpeace Canada

The Ontario government is planning to spend $36 billion repairing reactors and building risky new reactors at the Darlington site east of Toronto, in part to replace the aging reactors at the Pickering station, which will close by 2020. This plan will divert billions of dollars that should be invested in cheaper and cleaner green energy sources and will drive up electricity prices.

A new report by Greenpeace and the Pembina Institute shows that replacing the Pickering reactors with green energy would be cheaper and would protect Ontarians from the high-cost and risks of new reactors.

Please tell Ontario’s Energy Minister Brad Duguid not to nuke green energy! Tell him you want affordable green energy instead of expensive and risky new reactors.

Click Here to send your letter to Energy Min. Duguid

"The nuke industry still can't guarantee the safety of our ground water. Green energy anybody?"

Northern communities being courted as the site for a radioactive waste dump should be wary of the safety claims being made by the waste management agency controlled by the nuclear industry, says a new analysis of the scientific studies on underground waste disposal commissioned by Greenpeace.

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) began looking in May for a community willing to have the nuclear industry’s harmful and dangerous waste buried in its area. The NWMO is offering large economic benefits to any community willing to take large quantities of the nuclear industry's radioactive waste. The agency has claimed such a proposal would be safe for the environment and community.

The End of the Line Trailer

 

Olivia Chow presents THE END OF THE LINE tonight at the Bloor Cinema.
Imagine an ocean without fish. Imagine the global consequences. Join MP Olivia Chow on Wednesday, September 15 at 6:30 for THE END OF THE LINE, a powerful film about one of the world's most disturbing problems – overfishing. Stick around after the film for a discussion with Greenpeace Executive Director Bruce Cox. For more information visit http://oliviachow.ca/endoftheline. FREE!

Tar Wars (Greenpeace spoofs Star Wars)

Montreal Rally For A Clean Energy Future

Greenpeace and more than a dozen other groups are organizing a rally in Montreal to send a m

ssage to the world’s energy leaders during the World Energy Congress; September 12 to 16.

Corrie Crazy

Update: The show has now aired and is available online here.

Tonight we had a very fun time participating in the documentary currently being filmed by the CBC. Corrie Crazy will air on CBC on December 9, 2010 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the British soap opera Coronation Street.  

SPOILER: The above icon links to the ITV Coronation Street Site.

 The CBC crew setting up. Me on the right in the black t-shirt.

My good friend "Muffin" set this all up so myself, David, Andrew and Darren had pizza, beer and watched Coronation Street in the climate controlled comfort of our living room in downtown Toronto with a great CBC crew. We talked Corrie, discussed our favourite characters and storylines and ranted about the characters we love to hate (Sally Webster).

Of course as true Corrie fans we also bitched about the:

totally

unnecessary and ridiculous

   9 month delay

from the original ITV air dates!

   DO YOU HEAR ME CBC?

 I SAY,

DO YOU HEAR ME?

 (Fred Elliot reference)

Okay, I've said my piece about that.... So, I did a Google search for "Corrie Crazy" and found this post from the Coronation Street Blog (SPOILER SITE, BE CAREFUL!)

(Side note to Coronation Street Blog: you could make it clear that you are a spoiler site... bad karma is now headed your way, and deservedly so now that I know something I didn't want to know about Fiona Brown!)

When all was said and done we had a great evening and are eagerly awaiting the airing of Corrie Crazy in December. I also strategically wore my Greenpeace Tar Sands t-shirt, which I'm hoping will make the cut and be seen by tens of people across the country.  

Editors Note: The preceding sentence make this entire post relevant to this blog.

And I'd like to end this post with a great big THANK YOU to Corrie Canuck for their dedication, non-spoilerism and filling in of the blanks when it comes to obscure Corrie references and truly heavy northern accents, yes I mean you Sophie Webster!

Corrie Canuck, your hard work is appreciated and enjoyed by hundreds, if not thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Canadian Coronation Street fans!

  Here's a couple of pictures from tonight;

 Terry & the CBC Crew. Oh, and Muffin in the foreground and of course Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II in the background (inspired by Jack and Vera).

Muffin writing on the Bhudda Board

Activists stop Cairn Energy rig drilling in the Arctic

 

Greenpeace campaigners have evaded a huge security operation and have scaled Cairn Energy's controversial oil rig in the Arctic seas off Greenland, shutting it down.

Edinburgh-based company Cairn Energy is actively drilling in the Arctic and holds eight oil exploration licenses off western and southwestern Greenland right in the middle of the Davis Straits - better known as 'iceberg alley'. Companies like Cairn and BP are desperate to pursue the last drops of oil on Earth, even if that means risking our environment and climate in the process.

Arctic drilling has got to stop! Tell Cairn's boss, Bill Gammell to stop drilling now.

Toxins Increase In Athabasca River

The Globe & Mail is reporting today that elevated levels of toxins have been found in the Athabasca River. A study, to be published today has found elevated levels of lead, mercury and 11 other toxins. The Athabasca River is the main fresh water source in the region of the Alberta Oil Tar Sands.

Go Beyond Oil. Greenpeace International

 

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill has shone a light on the far reaching consequences that our addiction to oil is having on the natural world and on the climate. Instead of chasing the last drops of dirty oil, we need to kick-start the clean energy age. We have one planet, and if we’re going to protect it, everyone - from local communities, to businesses and governments - will need to come together to go beyond oil.

ScamWow!

Stop Darlington: Ride For Renewables!

Greenpeace’s Don’t Nuke Green Energy Campaign presents the…

Stop Darlington: Ride For Renewables!

What:  A bike trip from the Pickering to Darlington nuclear stations.
When: Tuesday August 24th, starting at 11 am ending at 4 pm.
Where: Cyclists will gather at the windmill (Beachfront Park) at the Pickering nuclear station at 11am.  We’ll then ride the waterfront trail to the Darlington nuclear station (approximately 45 km from Pickering).
Who: Greenpeace volunteers, cyclists and friends of green energy.
How:  Please RSVP to steve.cornwell@greenpeace.org or on our Facebook page here. Those who RSVP should meet at Greenpeace’s office at 9:30 am to take a bus to Pickering.  The Go-Train can also get you to Pickering, click here for schedules.  Details will follow after you RSVP.
Why: We need your help.
Premier McGuinty wants to nuke Ontario’s green future.  He wants to spend $26 billion to build new, dangerous and untested reactors at Darlington to replace the aging Pickering reactors, which are set to shut down in 2020.
Spending billions on new nuclear reactors will lock Ontario into a nuclear future and limit the growth of green energy.  Premier McGuinty can and should instead use affordable green energy to replace Pickering.
On August 24th, please join us on the Ride for Renewables.  Green energy advocates will ride from the Pickering nuclear station to Darlington to tell Premier McGuinty don’t nuke green energy.
Learn More :
Renewable is Doable, an alliance including Greenpeace, the Canadian Environmental Law Association and the Pembina Institute, released a report last week showing how it’s cheaper to replace Pickering with green energy.
Read the report here.
Please come out to support a green energy future by Riding for Renewables with Greenpeace!

People First! We Deserve Better!