Becoming a Vegetarian

This article from Alternet, posted October 25, 2007, from Vegetarian Times, explains the many reasons why becoming a vegeterian is good for your health:

15 REASONS TO STOP HIDING FROM VEGETARIANISM
Vegetarian Times. Posted October 25, 2007.

Live longer, lower your weight, slash pollution and twelve other good reasons to start cutting meat out of your diet.

People are drawn to vegetarianism by all sorts of motives. Some of us want to live longer, healthier lives or do our part to reduce pollution. Others have made the switch because we want to preserve Earth's natural resources or because we've always loved animals and are ethically opposed to eating them.

Thanks to an abundance of scientific research that demonstrates the health and environmental benefits of a plant-based diet, even the federal government recommends that we consume most of our calories from grain products, vegetables and fruits. And no wonder: An estimated 70 percent of all diseases, including one-third of all cancers, are related to diet. A vegetarian diet reduces the risk for chronic degenerative diseases such as obesity, coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain types of cancer including colon, breast, prostate, stomach, lung and esophageal cancer.

Why go veg? Chew on these reasons:

1. You'll ward off disease. Vegetarian diets are more healthful than the average American diet, particularly in preventing, treating or reversing heart disease and reducing the risk of cancer. A low-fat vegetarian diet is the single most effective way to stop the progression of coronary artery disease or prevent it entirely. Cardiovascular disease kills 1 million Americans annually and is the leading cause of death in the United States. But the mortality rate for cardiovascular disease is lower in vegetarians than in nonvegetarians, says Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss. A vegetarian diet is inherently healthful because vegetarians consume no animal fat and less cholesterol and instead consume more fiber and more antioxidant-rich produce -- another great reason to listen to Mom and eat your veggies!

2. You'll keep your weight down. The standard American diet -- high in saturated fats and processed foods and low in plant-based foods and complex carbohydrates -- is making us fat and killing us slowly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a division of the CDC, the National Center for Health Statistics, 64 percent of adults and 15 percent of children aged 6 to 19 are overweight and are at risk of weight-related ailments including heart disease, stroke and diabetes. A study conducted from 1986 to 1992 by Dean Ornish, MD, president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, found that overweight people who followed a low-fat, vegetarian diet lost an average of 24 pounds in the first year and kept off that weight 5 years later. They lost the weight without counting calories or carbs and without measuring portions or feeling hungry.

3. You'll live longer. If you switch from the standard American diet to a vegetarian diet, you can add about 13 healthy years to your life, says Michael F. Roizen, MD, author of The RealAge Diet: Make Yourself Younger with What You Eat. "People who consume saturated, four-legged fat have a shorter life span and more disability at the end of their lives. Animal products clog your arteries, zap your energy and slow down your immune system. Meat eaters also experience accelerated cognitive and sexual dysfunction at a younger age."

Want more proof of longevity? Residents of Okinawa, Japan, have the longest life expectancy of any Japanese and likely the longest life expectancy of anyone in the world, according to a 30-year study of more than 600 Okinawan centenarians. Their secret: a low-calorie diet of unrefined complex carbohydrates, fiber-rich fruits and vegetables, and soy.

4. You'll build strong bones. When there isn't enough calcium in the bloodstream, our bodies will leach it from existing bone. The metabolic result is that our skeletons will become porous and lose strength over time. Most health care practitioners recommend that we increase our intake of calcium the way nature intended -- through foods. Foods also supply other nutrients such as phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin D that are necessary for the body to absorb and use calcium.

People who are mildly lactose-intolerant can often enjoy small amounts of dairy products such as yogurt, cheese and lactose-free milk. But if you avoid dairy altogether, you can still get a healthful dose of calcium from dry beans, tofu, soymilk and dark green vegetables such as broccoli, kale, collards and turnip greens.

5. You'll reduce your risk of food-borne illnesses. The CDC reports that food-borne illnesses of all kinds account for 76 million illnesses a year, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths in the United States. According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), foods rich in protein such as meat, poultry, fish and seafood are frequently involved in food-borne illness outbreaks.

6. You'll ease the symptoms of menopause. Many foods contain nutrients beneficial to perimenopausal and menopausal women. Certain foods are rich in phytoestrogens, the plant-based chemical compounds that mimic the behavior of estrogen. Since phytoestrogens can increase and decrease estrogen and progesterone levels, maintaining a balance of them in your diet helps ensure a more comfortable passage through menopause. Soy is by far the most abundant natural source of phytoestrogens, but these compounds also can be found in hundreds of other foods such as apples, beets, cherries, dates, garlic, olives, plums, raspberries, squash and yams. Because menopause is also associated with weight gain and a slowed metabolism, a low-fat, high-fiber vegetarian diet can help ward off extra pounds.

7. You'll have more energy. Good nutrition generates more usable energy -- energy to keep pace with the kids, tackle that home improvement project or have better sex more often, Michael F. Roizen, MD, says in The RealAge Diet. Too much fat in your bloodstream means that arteries won't open properly and that your muscles won't get enough oxygen. The result? You feel zapped. Balanced vegetarian diets are naturally free of cholesterol-laden, artery-clogging animal products that physically slow us down and keep us hitting the snooze button morning after morning. And because whole grains, legumes, fruits and vegetables are so high in complex carbohydrates, they supply the body with plenty of energizing fuel.

8. You'll be more "regular." Eating a lot of vegetables necessarily means consuming more fiber, which pushes waste out of the body. Meat contains no fiber. People who eat lower on the food chain tend to have fewer instances of constipation, hemorrhoids and diverticulitis.

9. You'll help reduce pollution. Some people become vegetarians after realizing the devastation that the meat industry is having on the environment. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), chemical and animal waste runoff from factory farms is responsible for more than 173,000 miles of polluted rivers and streams. Runoff from farmlands is one of the greatest threats to water quality today. Agricultural activities that cause pollution include confined animal facilities, plowing, pesticide spraying, irrigation, fertilizing and harvesting.

10. You'll avoid toxic chemicals. The EPA estimates that nearly 95 percent of the pesticide residue in the typical American diet comes from meat, fish and dairy products. Fish, in particular, contain carcinogens (PCBs, DDT) and heavy metals (mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium) that can't be removed through cooking or freezing. Meat and dairy products can also be laced with steroids and hormones, so be sure to read the labels on the dairy products you purchase.

11. You'll help reduce famine. About 70 percent of all grain produced in the United States is fed to animals raised for slaughter. The 7 billion livestock animals in the United States consume five times as much grain as is consumed directly by the American population. "If all the grain currently fed to livestock were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million," says David Pimentel, professor of ecology at Cornell University. If the grain were exported, it would boost the US trade balance by $80 billion a year.

12. You'll spare animals. Many vegetarians give up meat because of their concern for animals. Ten billion animals are slaughtered for human consumption each year. And, unlike the farms of yesteryear where animals roamed freely, today most animals are factory farmed -- crammed into cages where they can barely move and fed a diet tainted with pesticides and antibiotics. These animals spend their entire lives in crates or stalls so small that they can't even turn around. Farmed animals are not protected from cruelty under the law -- in fact, the majority of state anticruelty laws specifically exempt farm animals from basic humane protection.

13. You'll save money. Meat accounts for 10 percent of Americans' food spending. Eating vegetables, grains and fruits in place of the 200 pounds of beef, chicken and fish each nonvegetarian eats annually would cut individual food bills by an average of $4,000 a year.

14. Your dinner plate will be full of color. Disease-fighting phytochemicals give fruits and vegetables their rich, varied hues. They come in two main classes: carotenoids and anthocyanins. All rich yellow and orange fruits and vegetables -- carrots, oranges, sweet potatoes, mangoes, pumpkins, corn -- owe their color to carotenoids. Leafy green vegetables also are rich in carotenoids but get their green color from chlorophyll. Red, blue and purple fruits and vegetables -- plums, cherries, red bell peppers -- contain anthocyanins. Cooking by color is a good way to ensure you're eating a variety of naturally occurring substances that boost immunity and prevent a range of illnesses.

15. It's a breeze. It's almost effortless these days to find great-tasting and good-for-you vegetarian foods, whether you're strolling the aisles of your local supermarket or walking down the street at lunchtime. If you need inspiration in the kitchen, look no further than the Internet, your favorite bookseller or your local vegetarian society's newsletter for culinary tips and great recipes. And if you're eating out, almost any ethnic restaurant will offer vegetarian selections. In a hurry? Most fast food and fast casual restaurants now include healthful and inventive salads, sandwiches and entrées on their menus.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/66075/
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/

Step It Up Action for Climate for Americans

I signed myself up for a "green" newsletter from Environmental Defense, but the last one has information on a campaign I can't participate in as a Canadian. So for any Americans out there who are interesting in climate change and want to make it an issue during the U.S. election campaign, here is the body of the newsletter.


You have an important and exciting opportunity to take part in local global warming events across the country this Saturday, November 3.Environmental Defense is partnering with Step It Up 2007 and asking our online activists and supporters across the country to organize and participate in community rallies to demand leadership on global warming.

Please go to www.stepitup2007.org to learn how you can get involved.

November 3 is one year before the 2008 elections. The goal is to keep global warming at the top of the national agenda as the campaign season starts in earnest.

On the Step It Up site, you can join activists from nearly 100 grassroots advocacy organizations. Using the simple tools on the site, you can join a local event or start a new one.

This is a very exciting opportunity to coordinate with thousands of other activists in hundreds of communities across the country to keep political pressure on our national political candidates for real global warming action.

So far, every major party presidential candidate and more than 300 members of Congress have been invited to a Step It Up event.

By coordinating activities with so many other groups, we hope to turn up the heat on all of our political leaders and focus attention on their plans to fight global warming.

Please go to www.stepitup2007.org today to sign up and get involved.

Thanks for all you do,
Environmental Defense Action Network

Real Halloween Scare: Faster Melting Sea Ice and Glaciers

If there is one thing that has continuously undermined any remaining climate skeptics, it is the persistant news reports about ice melting - either sea ice or glaciers, particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic, but also in Greenland.

Here is an article from Alternet, posted October 10, 2007, after journalists and scientists were taken on a helicopter ride over Greenland and saw what alarmed some of them to the point where they were convinced that global warming had already reached its tipping point:

Ice Caps Melting Fast: Say Goodbye to the Big Apple?

By Paul Brown, AlterNet. Posted October 10, 2007.

The talk of sea level rise should not be in centuries, it should be decades or perhaps even single years. And coastal regions like New York and Florida are in the front line for devastation.

It is hard to shock journalists and at the same time leave them in awe of the power of nature. A group returning from a helicopter trip flying over, then landing on, the Greenland ice cap at the time of maximum ice melt last month were shaken. One shrugged and said: "It is too late already."

What they were all talking about was the moulins, not one moulin but hundreds, possibly thousands. "Moulin" is a word I had only just become familiar with. It is the name for a giant hole in a glacier through which millions of gallons of melt water cascade through to the rock below. The water has the effect of lubricating the glaciers so they move at three times the rate that they did previously.

Some of these moulins in Greenland are so big that they run on the scale of Niagra Falls. The scientists who accompanied these journalists on the trip were almost as alarmed. That is pretty significant because they are world experts on ice and Greenland in particular. We were visiting Ilulissat, Greenland, once a stronghold of Innuit hunters but now with so little ice that the dog sleds are in danger of falling through even in the depth of winter. But it is not the lack of sea ice that worries scientists and should be of serious concern to the inhabitants of coastal zones across the world. Cities like New York and states like Florida are in the front line.

Scientists know this already, but just to give you some idea of the problem, the Greenland ice cap is melting at such a fast rate it is triggering earthquakes as pieces of ice several cubic kilometres in size break up.

Scientists say the acceleration of melting and subsequent speeding up of giant glaciers could be catastrophic in terms of sea level rise and make previous predictions published this year by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) far too low. The glacier at Ilulissat, which it is believed spawned the iceberg which sank the Titantic, is now flowing three times faster into the sea than it was 10 years ago.

Robert Correll, chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, from Washington told me: "We have seen a massive acceleration of the speed with which these glaciers are moving into the sea. The ice is moving at 2 metres an hour on a front five kilometres long and 1,500 metres deep. "That means that this one glacier puts enough fresh water into the sea in one day to provide drinking water for a city the size New York or London for a year."

Professor Correll, who is also director of the global change programme at the Heinz Centre in Washington said the estimates of sea level rise in the IPCC report in February had been "conservative" and based on data two years old. The range of rise this century had been predicted to be 20 to 60 centimetres, but would be the upper end of this range at a minimum and some now believed it could be two metres. This would have catastrophic effects for European and US coastlines.

He said newly invented ice penetrating radar showed that the melt water was pouring through to the bottom of the glacier creating a melt water lake 500 metres deep causing the glacier "to float on land. "These melt water rivers are lubricating the glacier, like applying oil to a surface and causing it to slide into the sea. It is causing a massive acceleration which could be catastrophic."

The glacier is now moving at 15 kilometres a year into the sea although in periodic surges it moves even faster. He has seen a surge, which he had measured as moving five kilometres in 90 minutes - an extraordinary event.

If all of Greenland melts, something we were previously assured would take thousands of years, but now could be hundreds, then sea level round the world would rise seven metres. That is without any contribution from the Antarctic, the glaciers of Alaska, the Rockies, the Himalayas, or the ocean water expanding as it warms.

So the talk of sea level rise should not be in centuries, it should be decades or perhaps even single years. For 10,000 years, during all of human civilisation sea level remained stable leading us to believe that coastlines remained roughly in the same place. A century ago the sea began to rise one millimetre a year, 20 years ago it had reached two millimetres and this century it has risen to 3 millimetres. This annual rise may not seem much but add hurricane storm surges and high tides and we are soon saying good bye to a lot of coastal settlements -- like the Big Apple.

Switch forward a week from the helicopter ride to George W. Bush's meeting of 16 of the biggest greenhouse gas emitters in Washington last month and what do we hear. We hear lots of rhetoric about how, along with terrorism, climate change is the biggest threat to the earth -- although the catastrophic sea level rise facing our major coastal cities does not rate a mention.

But instead of decisive political action (as with terrorism) we get suggestions from the President of voluntary cuts in emissions, down to the government of each country, and then next summer another conference to discuss where we have got to -- which on past form will be nowhere at all. It did not sound like the much needed change of heart from the President, but just another delaying tactic to tide him over until his term of office ends.

Although it may sound like it, the commentators in Europe are not singling out America for criticism, although it has to be said as often as possible that the US is the world's most profligate nation when it comes to fossil fuel consumption, AND has rejected the only legally binding international agreement that could do something about it. But Europeans are not doing enough either. We need convincing that our own leaders have enough political will to reach the tiny Kyoto targets that are the minimum first step to tackling this problem. The public hears the latest scientists' warnings that an 80% cut in greenhouse gas emissions is needed if we are to stave off catastrophic climate change, yet wait in vain for the policies needed to achieve them.

In my book, protestors wearing George Bush masks are pictured "fiddling while the earth burns." Maybe he is just the lead violinist of the orchestra.

Paul Brown was the environment correspondent for The Guardian newspaper for 16 years and has worked in newspaper journalism for more than 40 years. He has written extensively about climate change, population, biodiversity, pollution, energy, desertification, and ocean management, and is the author of several books on the environment. www.globalwarningbook.com

What You Can Do To Help Save Forests

The National Resources Defence Council (NRDC) website has some general tips on how you can help save forests by choosing paper products (paper towel, toilet paper, napkins and tissues), which you can find below. The website then has charts which list brand named paper products and which are the best and worse choices for the environment. I can't seem to add the charts without everything getting scrambled, so you'll need to have a look yourself:

http://www.nrdc.org/land/forests/gtissue.asp#facial


Tips: Three Things You Can Do To Help Save Forests

1. Buy paper products with recycled content--especially post-consumer fibers.
Look for products that have a high recycled content, including high post-consumer content. Post-consumer fibers are recovered from paper that was previously used by consumers and would otherwise have been dumped into a landfill or an incinerator.

2. Buy paper products made with clean, safe processes.
Paper products are bleached to make them whiter and brighter, but chlorine used in many bleaching processes contributes to the formation of harmful chemicals that wind up in our air and water and are highly toxic to people and fish. Look for products labeled totally chlorine-free (TCF) or processed chlorine-free (PCF). In some cases, elemental chlorine-free (ECF) may be acceptable.

3. Tell tissue manufacturers to stop using virgin wood for throwaway products.
If a brand you buy for your home doesn't have any recycled content, contact the manufacturer (click here to send a message to paper giant Kimberly-Clark). Tell the company to use more recycled fibers, to avoid sourcing from ecologically valuable forests such as those in the Cumberland Plateau and Canadian boreal, and to ensure any virgin fibers used are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. Saving forests also helps reduce global warming pollution.

P.S. If you live in Canada, go to the Greenpeace.ca website, where they have similar information on best and worst choices of paper products for Canadians: http://tissue.greenpeace.ca/

Health Concerns Caused by Climate Change

Health Canada lists eight "significant" health concerns related to climate change, including:

1. Health affects from increased smog episodes;
2. Illnesses and deaths caused by heat and cold waves;
3. Water- and food-borne contamination;
4. Diseases transmitted by insects;
5. Health affects of stratospheric ozone depletion;
6. Extreme weather events.

Here is the article, followed by the web address for the article, which includes a chart with more detail on the health concerns and examples of health vulnerabilities.

Canada's Health Concerns from Climate Change and Variability

Canada's climate is being affected by increased levels of greenhouse gases caused by human activity.

Scientists, governments, international health and environmental organizations agree that climate change will affect the environment and human health and well-being.

Health Canada has identified eight significant health concerns related to climate change that cover a broad range. They include health effects from increased smog episodes, illnesses and deaths caused by heat and cold waves, water- and food-borne contamination, diseases transmitted by insects, health effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, and extreme weather events.

Some segments of our population will be affected to a greater degree: children, the elderly, the poor, disabled people, immigrant populations and Aboriginal people. We can also expect that the environmental changes brought by climate change will affect our communities' economy and quality of life. For example, severe weather events like a tornado or a flood can result in loss of income, productivity, increased stress for families, costs to health care and social services.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/climat/health_table-tableau_sante_e.html

Americans Are Liberals.Who Knew?

PUBLIC OPINION
Americans are Liberals. Who knew?

by Catherine Bailey

On a series of key domestic issues, Americans are much more progressive than one might think given today's political debates. Here are some of the polling results compiled by the Campaign for America's Future and Media Matters:

• In 2006, even before the release of Sicko, 69% of Americans said the federal government should provide health care for its citizens, up from 59% in 2000.
• When asked in February 2007 if they would pay an extra $500 a year so that all Americans could have health care, 82% said yes.
• Of those surveyed early this year, 79% want caps on carbon emissions, 84% favor higher environmental standards for business,and 86% would like more investment in solar and wind power.
• Support for energy conservation rose to 64% in 2007, up from 56% in 2001, while only 26% favor expanded energy production, down from 33%.
• Since 1972, belief that women should be equal to men in the workplace has risen from 47% to 78%.
• The belief that homosexuals should have equal job rights has risen from 55% to 89% since 1977.

The report covers a wide range of issues, including national defense, unions, immigration, and criminal justice. On issue after issue, the study shows that a majority of Americans are liberals.

Interested? Download the report at http://www.yesmagazine.orgcafmm/

Climate Change: Article on Increase in Solar Power

I bought the Fall 2007 issue of Yes! magazine recently. It is subtitled, Building a Just and Sustainable World. From the "Signs of Life: Small Stories About Big Change" section of the magazine, here is an article on solar power:

CLIMATE CHANGE
Solar Power Surge

The solar industry is poised for rapid growth and cost reductions that will make it a mainstream power option in the next few years, according to a new assessment by the WorldWatch Institute in Washington, DC, and the Prometheus Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

People around the world are installing solar cells on the roofs of their homes and businesses. Communities and companies are creating solar parks -- connected arrays of solar panels, sometimes installed along parking lots or in polluted "brown fields" that cannot otherwise be used.

Solar cell manufacturers are now able to produce enough photovoltaic (PV) cells each year to generate 5,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. That's 10 times the manufacturing capacity of 2002. Some analysts say this number will triple by 2010. A typical coal or nuclear power plant has a capacity of about 1,000-2,000 MW.

After growing at 20-25% per year in the 1980s and '90s the solar PV industry has grown 40-45% per year over the last six years, says Mark Farber, founder of Evergreen Solar, a Marlboro, Massachusetts, company.

With the new generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles, this new abundance could mean solar will spread its reach to include the transportation as well as the electricity sector.

"At these growth rates, solar will hit a home run for addressing the climate crisis," said Todd Larsen, Co-op America's climate action director in Washington, DC.

Climate scientists estimate that we need to reduce carbon emissions globally by at least 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

"If we want to do this without coal or nuclear power," Larsen says,"this means that after implementing all available energy efficiency measures, and installing win and geothermal generation, the world will still need an additional 17 terawatts of low-carbon energy by 2050." A terawatt is 1 million megawatts. "Growing at just 25% per year, solar can do this by 2042."

In addition to solar PV, other types of solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar power are also growing rapidly. These include solar thermal for hot water and industrial applications, and concentrating solar power (CSP), for utility scale applications. In China, an estimated 30 million households now use solar power to heat their water. And California alone may have more than 8,000 MW of CSP by 2020.

Small and large companies alike are getting into the business. First Solar of Phoenix, Arizona, plans to provide 685 MW of solar power to five big projects over the next few years. PPM Energy, a Portland, Oregon, company specializing in win power, announced plans to invest over $1 billion in solar in coming years.

"The conventional energy industry will be surprised by how quickly solar becomes mainstream -- cheap enough to provide carbon-free electricity on rooftops while also meeting the energy needs of hundreds of millions of people in poverty who currently lack electricity," said Janet Sawin, senior researcher at Worldwide Institute.

Alisa Gravitz is executive director of Co-op America, www.coopamerica.org

Green Links & Books From David Suzuki Foundation

I support the David Suzuki Foundation as a member. The Foundation's website: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/ has excellent material on climate change, protecting human health, conserving our ocean, promoting global conservation and building a sustainable economy.

BOOKS

The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth Tim Flannery has written what Dr. David Suzuki calls ". . . one of the most important books of this young century . . . An urgent call to action that we cannot afford to ignore."

The Heat Is On: The Climate Crisis, the Cover-Up, the Prescription
The New York Times notes that Ross Gelbspan's first book "remains the best, and virtually only, study of how the coal and oil industry has provided financing to a small group of contrarian scientists."

Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists Are Fueling the Climate Crisis--and What We Can Do to Avert Disaster
Ross Gelbpan's most recent book communicates his sincere belief that human civilization is in mortal peril from global warming.

The Party's Over: Oil, War and the Fate of Industrial Societies
Richard Heinberg's book is a riveting wake-up call for human-kind as the oil era winds down, and a critical tool for understanding and influencing current U.S. foreign policy.

LINKS

Business

The Climate Group
The Climate Group is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing business and government leadership on climate change.

United Nations & Kyoto Protocol
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate ChangeThe IPCC assesses the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of the risk of human-induced climate change.

United Nations
Official United Nations (UN) site pertaining to climate change and international agreements and conferences.

Convention on biological diversity (UN)
An overview of the connections between biological diversity and climate change, by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Kyoto Protocol - Full Text
Current list of countries that have ratified the Kyoto Protocol (PDF)

Energy Efficiency

Office of Energy
EfficiencyCanada's Office of Energy Efficiency has helpful tools and information to increase the energy efficiency of homes, vehicles, businesses, institutions and governments.

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network
The EREN is a program of the US Department of Energy.

Toronto Atmospheric Fund
The Toronto Atmospheric Fund was established by Toronto City Council to finance local initiatives to combat global warming and improve air quality.

Rocky Mountain Institute
The Rocky Mountain Institute promotes energy efficiency and conservation.

Green CommunitiesGreen Communities delivers home energy assessments in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia.

Government

Government of Canada
The official Government of Canada web site pertaining to climate change.

Environment Canada
Environment Canada's climate change web site.

B.C. Ministry of Water and Air
The B.C. government's climate change home page contains information on climate change impacts and solutions for British Columbia.

City of Vancouver
One Day is a new Vancouver-based approach to change the way people consume energy in their homes and on the road.

Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.)
The EPA strives to present accurate information on the very broad issue of climate change and global warming.

European UnionThis is the official climate change web site of the European Union, outlining Europe's approach to this issue.

Green Buildings

Sustainable Building Centre
The SBC is an information and education centre, exhibition space and forum for sharing ideas on green building technologies.

Health

Health Canada
Health Canada's web site on Climate Change, health and air quality.

Climate Change and Human Health - Risks and Responses
This book describes the context and process of global climate change, with a particular focus on the health sector.

Physicians for Social Responsibility
This non-profit advocacy organization is the medical and public health voice for policies to stop nuclear war and proliferation and to slow, stop and reverse global warming and toxic degradation of the environment.

Kids, Youth & Teachers

Government of Canada
The Government of Canada has produced a series of seven classroom posters on the regional impacts of climate change in Canada.

Destination Conservation
Destination Conservation is a practical, activity-based program that brings environmental education alive in our schools.

Environmental Protection Agency
A global warming site for kids produced by the EPA.

Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute has developed high-quality educational resources for use in Canadian schools.

Youth Climate Change Conference
The Youth Climate Change Conference (?YC3?) is a youth-lead initiative, focused on action, alternatives, and solutions for a changing world.

Re-Energy
Re-Energy.ca explores wind energy, water energy, solar energy, biomass energy and more. Teaching materials are included that make it easy for teachers to introduce renewable energy content into the classroom.

Bullfrog Films
Bullfrog Films is the oldest and largest publisher of videos and films about the environment in the United States.

News

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Comprehensive background information on climate change from the CBC.
British Broadcasting CorporationThe climate change information site of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Climate Wire
ClimateWire.org, updated daily, is a leading multi-sectoral, international news service specifically focussing on the issue of climate change.

Yahoo News -> Climate Change
Yahoo news updates on global climate change.

Non-Governmental Organizations

International Institute for Sustainable Development
IISD has been actively engaged in defining the framework in which global action on climate change may take place since the signing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992.

Pembina Institute
The Pembina Institute works in the areas of sustainable energy, climate change, environmental governance, ecological fiscal reform, sustainability indicators, and the environmental impacts of the energy industry.

Natural Resources Defence Council
The Natural Resources Defence Council's web page on global warming and its consequences.

Canadian Climate Action Network
The Canadian Climate Action Network (CANet) is made up of more than 100 organizations across Canada working to protect the environment from harmful human interference of the atmosphere resulting in climate change.

International Climate Action Network
The Climate Action Network (CAN) is a worldwide network of over 340 NGOs working to promote government and individual action to limit human-induced climate change.

Climate Action Network Europe
Climate Action Network Europe is a coordinating office, based in Brussels, for environmental groups in Western Europe working on climate change issues.

Climate Ark
The Climate Ark is a climate change and renewable energy portal dedicated to promoting public policy that addresses global climate change.

Climate Institute
The Climate Institute serves as a bridge between policymakers and scientists around the world and is dedicated to being the world's foremost authority on climate change information, science and responses.

Environmental Defence
Both domestically and internationally, Environmental Defense works to stabilize Earth's climate by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases.

Greenpeace
Greenpeace International's climate change campaign.

National Wildlife Federation
The National Wildlife Federation explains the link between climate change and wildlife.

Pew Center on Global Climate Change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is a non-profit, non-partisan and independent organization dedicated to providing credible information and innovative solutions in the effort to address global climate change.

Stopglobalwarming.org

World Wildlife Fund
The climate change site of the WWF.

Sierra Club of Canada
The climate change campaign of the Sierra Club.

Smart Growth BC
Smart Growth BC is a non-governmental organization devoted to fiscally, socially and environmentally responsible land use and development.

Union of Concerned Scientists
The Union of Concerned Scientists promotes scientifically sound solutions to major environmental problems.

World Resources Institute
The World Resources Institute provides information, ideas, and solutions to global environmental problems such as climate change.

Envirolink Network
The EnviroLink Network is a non-profit organization that maintains a database of thousands of environmental resources and provides Internet services to non-profit organizations.

Climate Solutions
Climate Solutions offers practical solutions to climate change in the Northwest and BC.

Renewable Energy

National Renewable Energy Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy's premier laboratory for renewable energy research & development and a lead lab for energy efficiency R&D.

Alternative Energy Institute
Alternative Energy Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes renewable energy technologies.

American Wind Energy Association
The American Wind Energy Association advocates the development of wind energy as a reliable energy alternative in the United States and around the world.

Canadian Wind Energy Association
The Canadian Wind Energy Association promotes "a robust Canadian wind energy community that makes a significant contribution to safe, reliable, economically and environmentally sustainable energy supply in Canada."

American Solar Energy Society
The American Solar Energy Society promotes the use of all forms of solar energy.
Solar Energy Society of CanadaSolar Energy Society of Canada is a voice for solar and renewable energy in Canada.

Canadian Association for Renewable Energy
The Canadian Association for Renewable Energy is a non-profit association that promotes the feasible applications of renewable energy.

Canadian Solar Association
For more than 25 years, CanSIA members from all segments of the solar industry have joined together to support, promote and advance all forms of solar energy for the benefit of Canadians and the environment.

The Renewable Planet
The Renewable Planet is a free and accessible resource that highlights the number and variety of renewable energy projects from around the world.

Science

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by WMO and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.

Interactive Climate Change Map
Background information on climate change from the CBC, including aninteractive map of Canada featuring climate change impacts.

Woods Hole Research Center
A beginner's guide to understanding the issue of global warming by The Woods Hole Research Center.

New Scientist
Recent articles on Climate Change from the New Scientist.

International Climate and Environmental Research
The Center for International Climate and Environmental Research ? Oslo.

Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network
The Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Research Network is a good source of climate change research from the Canadian government.

Goddard Institute for Space Studies
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies is a NASA research institute engaged in studies of global climate change.

Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
The Tyndall Centre brings together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists, who together are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change.

The Hadley Centre for Climate Change Prediction and Research
The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research, which is part of the Met Office, provides a focus in the United Kingdom for the scientific issues associated with climate change.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
An international and independent research institute working on questions of climate change, climate impact and sustainable development.

Real Climate
Real Climate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. We aim to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary.

DeSmogBlog
The mission of this blog is to debunk the climate change deniers, who use suspect science and deceptive public relations techniques to confuse and mislead the public on climate change issues.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography is one of the oldest, largest, and most important centers for marine science research, graduate training, and public service in the world.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research
The National Center for Atmospheric Research in the U.S. provide research, facilities, and services for the atmospheric and Earth sciences community.

Solutions

Pembina Climate Solutions
The Pembina Institute has created hands-on tools that help individuals and businesses reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Cool Companies
Cool Companies is a project of the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, and helps businesses, government and individuals reduce greenhouse gas emissions with practical advice, tools and technologies.

Northern Climate Exchange
An independent source of information on climate change in northern Canada.

Sustainable Communities

Cities for Climate Protection
This program of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives offers a framework for local governments to develop a strategic agenda to reduce global warming and air pollution emissions.

Federation of Canadian Municipalities ? Partners for Climate Protection
PCP is a national program of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that brings municipal governments together to reduce the local production of greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable Transportation

Carpool Tool
CarpoolTool is a free service that facilitates carpooling anywhere in Canada.

Detour Publication
This non-profit enterprise specializes in sustainable transportation books and multi-media resources. There is a special 10% discount for David Suzuki Foundation supporters.

Personal Vehicle Program
The Personal Vehicle Program of Natural Resources Canada provides motorists with helpful tips on buying, driving and maintaining their vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

Trax
TRAX works to promote cycling, walking, carpooling and transit in Nova Scotia through trip reduction programs, public education and outreach.

U.S Environmental Protection Agency
EPA's Green Vehicle Guide gives information about the environmental performance of vehicles. Larger numbers, whether scores or fuel economy, are more environmentally friendly than smaller numbers.

Idle Free Zone
This is Canada's first Web site dedicated to helping Canadians stop unnecessary engine idling in their communities.

Global Warming and Energy: SUV's and Global Warming
When it comes to wasting energy, SUVs are unrivaled. Built with outdated, gas-guzzling technology, many SUVs get just 13 miles per gallon. And the higher gas prices are, the more money they waste.

The SUV Info Link
The SUV Info Link is here to give you more information, so that you can decide what type of vehicle matches your needs.

Diesel Passenger Vehicles and the Environment
A growing interest in diesels for passenger vehicles has increased concern over the public health implications of expanding diesel's market share.

Livable Region Coalition
The Livable Region Coalition (LRC) is a group of British Columbian citizens and sustainable transportation advocates concerned about a proposal to widen the region's primary freeway.

Weather

Meteorological Service of Canada
The Meteorological Service of Canada offers information on extreme weather and climate change.

Canadian Hurricane Centre
Environment Canada's hurricane centre specializes in providing information to Canadians on storms of tropical origin that affect Canada.