Brockville Climate Action Group

Mother Earth News / Matthew Stein / 26 August 2010

The following is an excerpt from When Technology Fails by Matthew Stein (Chelsea Green, 2008). This comprehensive primer on sustainable living skills — from food and water to first-aid and crisis management skills — will prepare you to live in the face of potential disasters coming in the form of social upheaval, economic meltdown or environmental catastrophe. This excerpt is from Chapter 4, “Emergency Measures for Survival.”

Post Carbon Institute / Richard Heinberg / 23 August 2010

As America adjusts to the New Reality of tight credit, chronically less-affordable energy, high unemployment rates, rising levels of homelessness, and steeply declining tax revenues, new strategies will be needed to help swelling ranks of low-income people adjust and adapt. National policies designed to ease credit, lower mortgage rates, or provide basic financial assistance (including extended unemployment benefits) may help over the short term, but over the longer term many needs will be better met locally by largely volunteer-driven non-profit organizations, co-ops, and hybrid public-private agencies and programs.

One strategy worth exploring is the seeding of a loosely coordinated national network of locally-based Community Economic Laboratories (CELs).

The term “laboratory” is suggested because the sorts of efforts and enterprises that will best serve communities under rapidly evolving economic circumstances may not be apparent or even knowable at the outset—we will have to experiment. However, it is by no means essential or even important that the entities envisioned adopt this suggested title. Some communities may prefer slightly different names for political reasons: a Local Enterprise Laboratory, for example, might fare better in red states.

In any case, the mission of each CEL would be to increase personal and community resilience.

An interview with Richard Heinberg about how to conquer gracefully with post-Peak Oil declines in climate stability, economic growth, food security, fresh water and energy resources while preserving the best of our collective achievements.

Recorder and Times / Ann Craig / 30 August 2010

The mean temperature in this area has increased just over 1 C in those 40 years, typical with the rest of the world. What isn't typical, he explained, is the maximum temperature increase of over 1.5 C.

"It's very different from most places. Globally, it's the minimum temperature that's rising."

The winter is where Dr. Fenech noted the biggest increase in maximum temperature, a jump of 3.2 C.

In terms of other findings, Dr. Fenech noted "there isn't a lot of increase in precipitation but the number of days with precipitation are increasing."

Also of note is the increase of extreme hot days, which records the number of days with a maximum temperature over 30 C. The hottest years were 1983, 1988 and 2005.

[ FULL ARTICLE HERE ]

Share the Road Coalition / Press Release / 18 August 2010

Creating Bicycle Friendly Communities just got easier thanks to a U.S.-based program that is now available for the first time in Canada. The Share the Road Cycling Coalition, (SRCC) an Ontario-based non-profit organization which promotes bicycling as a mode of transportation, recreation and fitness through provincial advocacy, announced today that the Bicycle Friendly Communities Program is coming to Ontario.

The announcement was made at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual conference in Windsor, Ontario.

On August 6th Mike Brown, MPP, Algoma-Manitoulin announced that improvements to Highway 6 on Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula will "enhance safety for all users including cyclists, and decrease maintenance costs."

Crews will resurface and pave highway shoulders up to one metre wide, including:

· 23 km on Manitoulin Island from 10.5 km north of Highway 542 and
· 66 km on the Bruce Peninsula from Mar to Tobermory.

Work is expected to be completed in late-fall 2010. Construction of an additional 23 km section from South Baymouth to the north is planned for 2011.