More Green Articles in Newspapers These Days?

I would have to say, yes, there are more green articles in newspapers these days, but also that it is about time.

Reporters were lazy in the past about learning enough on their own about global warming that they could distinguish between the hack scientists who were funded by oil companies or whose think tanks were funded by oil companies, and the research scientists who published peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals.

So was the media part of the problem in the past in getting the news about climate change to people over the last decade or so? Absolutely, yes.

The following articles are from today's Toronto Star newspaper:



UN Report predicted extreme weather

Tornado in New York, floods in South Asia fit climate change warning

Geneva - Floods in Asia, a cyclone in the Middle East, and extreme temperatures around the globe this year have borne out warnings in a key climate change report, a UN expert says.

"The start of the year 2007 was a very active year in terms of extreme climatic and meteorological events," Omar Baddour, a climatologist with with the UN's World Meteorological Organization, said in an interview earlier this week.

In May, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a report warning that global warming would increase the number of extreme weather events and more natural disasters that will hit the poor hardest.

"When we observe such extremes in individual years, it means this fits well with current knowledge from the IPCC report on global trends," Baddour said.

Few in New York City would have disagreed yesterday when a series of storms packed high winds, torrential rains and a tornado that touched down several times in Brooklyn and Staten Island.

The tornado, with winds raging up to 217 km/h, ripped off roofs and damaged dozens of buildings as it hopscotched through neighbourhoods at around 6:30 a.m.

The storm, which flooded subway tunnels and underpasses, caused commuter chaos and was blamed for the death of a woman whose car got stuck in an underpass and was hit by another car.

Across the world this year, more serious weather catastrophes have killed many people.

Record storms, floods and heat waves have occurred in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

Hundreds have died and thousands have lost their livelihoods in floods since the start of the year in South Asia, China, Mozambique, Sudan and Uruguay. May to July was the wettest such period in England and Wales since records began in 1766, the UN meteorological organization said. It said two heat waves in southeast Europe in June and July broke records, with temperatures in Bulgaria hitting 45C.

Global surface temperatures in January were the highest since records began. According to UN data, temperatures were 1.89C above the 127-year average. /Associated Press



'Green' cars to get green licences

Eco-friendly car drivers will be eligible to win free parking, other perks

Climate-conscious motorists who pilot a Prius or scoot around in a Smart car would find themselves parking for free or passing in the carpool lane under an aggressive new incentive program unveiled yesterday in Ontario.

By this time next year, Ontarians who buy environmentally friendly, low-emission cars and trucks would get a green-hued licence plate that entitles them to such possible perks as free parking and access to high-capacity commuter lanes.

The so-called "eco-licence" plate is one of three green transportation policies the province is hoping will encourage commuters and businesses to factor the environment into their spending decisions.

"Now we're saying we're going to also put some more factors on that table to help you make a decision that's good for your family and good for the environment," Environment Minister Laurel Broten told a news conference.

Broten said the government will consult with vehicle manufacturers and environmental groups to design a rating system that identifies the cleanest cars, light trucks and commercial vehicles.

Drivers of those vehicles would get the special licence plate, which would entitle them to added rewards. Those incentives will be chosen during the consultation process, said Transportation Minister Donna Cansfield.

The licence plates are expected to be launched by spring 2008.

The transportation plan also includes a $15 million pilot project to help businesses convert to more environmentally friendly technology, like hybrid power.

The province also plans to install two new ethanol-fuelling stations in London and Peterborough.

The new facilities could also be made available to municipal fleets once they're operational.

New Democrat critic Peter Tabuns said he was unimpressed by the announcement, which he called "small potatoes given the scope of the problem before us."

"My guess is it would be a very minor impact in terms of people's decision-making in these matters."

But Broten said each little action can have a significant, cumulative effect. "All of those steps add up, all of those steps count - they give all Ontarians the opportunity to make choices that contribute to a healthier environment." /Canadian Press



'Greening' of data centres tech firms' new challenge

Even after reductions in environmental footprints, super-cooled farms are the gas-guzzlers of IT world

Brian Bergstein/Associated Press

The extremely air-conditioned computer farms known as data centres are the gas-guzzling jalopies of the technology world. Some require 40 or 50 times more power than comparably sized office space.

Now, with energy costs so high and environmental friendliness making for good public relations, more tech companies are touting ways they are "greening" data centres, which serve up Web pages, swap Internet traffic, and process and store business information.

But it's not easy to build a data centre with a significantly smaller environmental footprint. Even with efficiency improvements, the industry's overall electricity consumption could double from 2006 to 2011 as demand grows.

"It's somewhat analogous to someone who decides to purchase an energy-efficient automobile and says, 'Gee, I'm using 30 per cent less gasoline with this, that means I can drive 30 per cent more miles . . . and still do something for the environment,' " said analyst Charles King of Pund-IT Research. "It's an interesting philosophical question."

A report from the Environmental Protection Agency estimates the easiest, least expensive changes to data centre operations - involving tweaks to software, layout and air conditioning - could boost efficiency by 20 per cent. Actually reducing information-technology's strain on the grid will require a more aggressive commitment.

Why are data centres so power hungry? Depending on the configuration and equipment involved, as little as 30 per cent to 40 per cent of the juice flowing in to a data centre actually runs computers. Most of the rest goes to keeping hardware cool, since heat saps performance. So, the A/C cranks year-round to overcome the 40C-plus temperatures computers throw off. This is why big data centres can devour several megawatts of power, enough for a small city.

Neil Rasmussen, chief technical officer of American Power Conversion Corp., calculates that even a one-megawatt data centre will ring up $17 million (U.S.) in electric bills over its 10-year lifetime.

But the A/C doesn't have to be so cold if the layout of server rooms is better designed to improve air flow. And in many places, the outside air is plenty cold enough much of the year, for free. Yet only recently have data centres adopted systems that can take filtered outside air for cooling the computer rooms.

And only recently have industry concerns crystallized. Chip manufacturers Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. have ratcheted up the electrical efficiency of their microprocessors. IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co. have invested in better-managed cooling systems.

Some small providers have gone solar, including California's Affordable Internet Services Online (AI-SO) Inc., which ran Web infrastructure for the Live Earth concerts and uses just four machines to mimic the function of 120 servers.

"We view green as destination, in which case we focus on what we have left to do," said Dave Douglas, vice-president for eco-responsibility at Sun Microsystems Inc., which is cutting energy usage. "We're greener - but not green."


Pollution Debate

Premiers feud over emissions

Other leaders pressure McGuinty to mandate cleaner vehicles with California-style standards

Robert Benzie and Sean Gordon/Staff Reporters

Moncton - N.B. - The Ontario government is willing to consider touch California tailpipe emission standards, but only if they are imposed nationwide, Premier Dalton McGuinty says.

As Canada's premiers gather here for three days of meetings on climate change, McGuinty, who has been worried about auto industry jobs, moved to defuse tensions over competing agendas on both vehicle emissions and a proposed carbon trading system.

"Ideally, what we're looking for is a strong continental standard. The next best would be a strong national standard," he said yesterday.

"What we can't live with are a variety of standards sprinkled across North America."

But B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said McGinty risks undermining Ontario's prosperity by not mandating the cleaner vehicles that vast markets like California demand. "I think what's going to convince him (McGinty) is the economy," said Campbell.

"If they want to have a strong and a vital automobile sector in Ontario, they're going to have to meet California tailpipe emission standards."

"Rather than turning our back on those and pretending they're not important - they're important. It's what the customers want, it's want we're going to demand," he said.

California, the continental leader to slashing vehicle carbon emissions, will require car manufacturers to cut emissions 30 per cent on new vehicles by 2016.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer bemoaned that "Ontario doesn't want to buy into" the California standard.

"We have a bus manufacturing plant in Manitoba and we can't sell buses into California unless we go to the low-emission standard that is in California," he said.

"This is not just environmental policy, this is market policy."

Sources close to Albert Premier Ed Stelmach say he is prepared to support the low-emission standard and use it as "a bargaining chip" to get McGuinty to back off Ontario's demand for a national cap for industrial carbon emitters and a credit -trading system.

"Let's be very clear, cap and trade hurts all of Canada. This isn't just Alberta boom, it's Canada's boom," said Stelmach.

"To me, to send a cheque to any province - especially Ontario - just to be able to pollute at the same level makes no sense."

Quebec delegation sources said the province is onside with the California emission standard, and will table its own regulations to that effect this fall.

Indeed, Quebec officials said they were pleasantly surprised by the reaction of auto industry leaders concerning their plan.

Quebec Premier Jean Charest said he is firmly in the camp of the "cap and trade" provinces, and whiled he insisted that his province will not dictate terms to Alberta, he hopes this week's conference will create a critical mass of support that will force Alberta, the federal government and other detractors to get with the consensus.



Activism

Make money or save the world

Entrepreneurs help turn good intentions into constructive change.

Adrian Ma/Toronto Star

I care about climate change, poverty, and a host of other issues. I donate money to charity, sign petitions, and attend fundraisers. But I also like Addidas sneakers, IPods and the pay cheques that allow me to buy them.

And I sadly admit, if I were forced to choose between financial security and being a crusader living off idealism, I would choose the former because there are aspect of my lifestyle I'm hard-pressed to give up.

'Many (people) thought I was playing roulette with my future. Zahira Ebrahim'

But a new generation of Canadian entrepreneurs is combining activist passion with business acumen, and these young people have shown me they can push the social and environmental agenda without sacrificing the lifestyle they enjoy.

"You don't have to compromise between making money or saving the world," said Dev Aujla, 23, the man behind DreamNow, a project management company that oversees socially minded events and campaigns around the world. "I've done the activist thing and it's phenomenal. But if you need people working on the outside to bring down the system and you need people working in the system to change it from within."

Since launching the company in 003, Aujla and his team have been hired by individuals and organizations to spearhead projects ranging from the construction of orphanages in India to "Lights Out Canada," an annual environmental awareness event where schools spend one day without artificial lighting.

DreamNow began like any other business venture - by identifying a need and creating a service to fill it. In high school, Aujla was an avid children's rights activist and attended numerous conferences. He saw how people would be inspired to start new development and education projects, but had little idea how to get started. "They get pumped up and then they go home and nothing happens," said Aujla.

By providing project planning, marketing and networking resources, Aujla's business has launched hundreds of campaigns. He's also making the money he wants to make, more than many of his friends who are fresh out of school and working in the corporate world, he said.

Toronto resident Zahra Ebrahim, 23, is an entrepreneur who grew up as a passionate environmentalist. After finishing her studies in urban systems and architecture at McGill University, Ebrahim felt the pressure to pursue wealth over her activist work. She managed to gain the best of both worlds by founding ArchiText, a design company that provides green, alternative engineering solutions in an effort to make buildings more eco-friendly and energy efficient.

"Many (people) thought I was playing roulette with my future," she said.

The gamble paid off because Ebrahim has created the job of her dreams. She dictates her own salary, travels the world and participates in projects she truly cards about, like filming a documentary about green architecture. And as Toronto aims to slash building emissions, Ebrahim and her team of designers appear to be in high demand.

As social and environmental issues continue to gain more public attention, the potential for social entrepreneurs increases. Dev Aujla recognizes this, which is why DreamNow is initiating a campaign to provide resources for aspiring businesspeople to get set up and connected with like minded individuals. Even a guilt ridden consumer like me has the potential to make something happen, said Aujla.

"From the person who just reads the Vanity Fair green issue, to the person who's travelled abroad and worked . . . people are starting to ask the question 'how do we make money and change the world?' "he said. "We're starting to see the answers."

For more, see dreamnow.org