Feeling Buried in Plastic? ~ December 31, 2018
Every day, Ontario generates more than 33,000 tonnes of waste – more than 900 kilograms per person each year. Much of this waste is in the form of single-use plastic packaging which clogs up our landfill sites, rivers, lakes and oceans with trash that doesn’t break down for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The increased volume of plastic packaging is not only unnecessary, leaving most of us feeling buried in unwanted garbage, it is also dangerous to aquatic species and has been found to accumulate throughout the food chain.
What can be done to reverse this trend?
Join us on the next Planet Haliburton for two conversations about what people can and are doing to eliminate as much plastic as possible from their personal waste streams: the first with Adria Vasil, AKA “The Ecoholic” and the second with the owners of a new zero waste grocery store in Ottawa, called “Nugrocery”.
- Link to Planet Haliburton December 31, 2018
- Background Resource List “Feeling Buried In Plastic ”for Planet Haliburton December 31, 2018
"The Science and Politics of Climate Policy" with Dianne Saxe, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario ~ December 10, 2018
A lot has happened, since we last spoke with Dianne Saxe: internationally, nationally and right here in Ontario.
In mid-November, the Ford government tabled legislation eviscerating the Office of the Environmental Commissioner via a massive Bill changing 66 pieces of legislation just before releasing its new climate change framework entitled “A Made in Ontario Environment Plan”. Additional amendments to this Bill tabled on the eve of the Legislature adjourning for Christmas stripped the Environmental Commissioner of her right to report directly to the Legislative Assembly and broke the government’s previous promise that all former ECO employees would be offered employment within the Office of the Auditor General.
To help us catch-up and make sense of these actions against her Office, join us for an update with Ontario’s ECO, Dianne Saxe.
- Link to Planet Haliburton December 10, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton December 10, 2018
Climate Change and Road Salt~November 26, 2018
The more variable weather that comes with a warming climate increases that likelihood of winter freeze/thaw events and the risk that melting snow and rain on roads will turn into ice.
To keep people safe in these changing conditions, municipalities, public and private contractors and individual property owners are going to be tempted to use more salt on driving and walking surfaces.
But is road salt the best way to keep us safe on slippery surfaces? What are the environmental impacts associated with the use of road salt and are there things we can do to minimize or eliminate those impacts?
To look at these and related questions about the impact of road salt on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, we’re joined by Dr. Norman Yan, an aquatic biologist, retired professor from York University and Dorest Environmental Science Centre and current Chair of the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed.
- Link to Planet Haliburton November 26, 2018
- Background Resource List Planet Haliburton November 26, 2018
Ford Nation and Climate Change: Just Carbon Tax Deniers?~November 12, 2018
Dianne Saxe, The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, issued her 2018 Greenhouse Gas Progress Report, entitled “Climate Action in Ontario: What’s Next?” in late September.
While her 2017 Report was cautiously optimistic that Ontario had finally moved from “Plans to Progress”, she characterizes 2018 as the year climate change action came to a “Wrenching Halt”.
Join us on the next episode of Planet Haliburton for a conversation with Commissioner Saxe about her latest climate change report card and what Doug Ford can to do to regain momentum on reducing GHG emissions.
That’s “Ford Nation and Climate Change” with Dianne Saxe on Planet Haliburton, Monday November 12th, 7 - 8pm.
- Link to Planet Haliburton November 12, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton November 12, 2018
The Politics of Climate Change:Part 2~October 29, 2018
While greenhouse gas concentrations rise to unprecedented levels, climate scientists are becoming more and more vocal about the urgent need for action to avoid triggering runaway climate disruption.
At the same time, partisan political polarization surrounding what to do about climate change has never been greater.
With 40 percent of the vote in the June 7th Ontario election but 100 percent of the political power, Doug Ford wasted no time fulfilling his campaign promise to gut Ontario’s cap and trade system for lowering greenhouse gas emissions and putting a rising price on carbon pollution. But does Ford have an alternative to the plans he’s just cancelled?
To help us make some sense of the climate change political minefield we find ourselves in, our Monday October 29th episode of Planet Haliburton features a conversation with Stephen Hill, a professor and the Associate Director of Trent University’s School of the Environment in Peterborough.
That’s “The Politics of Climate Change, Part 2” on the Monday October 29th episode of Planet Haliburton
- Link to Planet Haliburton October 29, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton October 29, 2018
The Politics of Climate Change ~ October 8, 2018
The June 7th Ontario Provincial election not only put Doug Ford in the Premier’s Office, it also put the first Green Party MPP in Ontario’s history in the Legislative Assembly.
Amid the noise surrounding Ford’s attack on the previous Liberal government’s cap and trade program and green energy generally, Mike Schreiner, the Leader of the Ontario Green Party, cruised to a comfortable victory in Guelph.
To help assess the early impact of Doug Ford’s election on carbon pricing, renewable energy and the politics of climate change, Mike Schneiner joins us on the next episode of Planet Haliburton.
That’s the “Politics of Climate Change” with Ontario Green Party Leader, Mike Schreiner, on Monday October 8th, 7 - 8pm and again on Saturday October 13th, 7 - 8 am.
- Link to Planet Haliburton October 8, 2018
- Background Resource List for Planet Haliburton October 8, 2018
All the Poop on Septic Re-inspection Programs:Part 2 ~September 24, 2018
On the September 24th episode of Planet Haliburton we examine the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly aspects of the septic inspection programs being rolled out across the county.
The re-inspection programs are a response to wide-spread and growing concern about the water quality of Haliburton lakes and streams and the impact aging, malfunctioning or simply inadequate septic systems are having on the water quality that Haliburton’s economy floats on.
That’s “All the Poop on Septic Re-inspection”, with Mike Rhame, the owner of HomePro Inspections, and Rob Davis, with EcoEthic, a company specializing in residential and commercial waste water system trouble shooting, airing Monday September 24th, 7-8pm and re-airing on Saturday September 29th, 7 - 8am.
- Link to Planet Haliburton September 24, 2018
- Background Resources for Planet Haliburton Sepember 24, 2018
Passive Buildings and Climate Change:Part 2~September 10, 2018
With 40 percent of Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions coming from the construction, heating and cooling of the buildings we live and work in, decreasing the energy budgets of our built infrastructure seems like a no-brainer.
Passive Building proponents claim that their super-efficient designs can make residential and commercial buildings essentially energy self-reliant at a very modest 5 - 10% increase in upfront capital costs.
On the September 10th episode of Planet Haliburton we continue our discussion about how passive building methods achieve such dramatic energy savings for such a small increase in construction costs with local passive builder Graham Borgdorff of “Above Board Carpentry”, and passive building engineer, Rob Blakeney, of the Guelph- based company “Local Impact Design Consultants”.
- Link to Planet Haliburton September 10, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton September 10,2018 Rev 1
Passive Buildings and Climate Change~August 27, 2018
40 percent of GHG emissions in Ontario are generated by the construction, operation, and maintenance of our buildings.
Passive Building Construction Methods can dramatically lower GHG emissions as well as building operating and maintenance costs for a relatively minor 5 - 10 % increased upfront price tag. While passive building methods have been embraced in Europe, builders in North America have been much slower to jump on the bandwagon.
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton we examine the promise and slow adoption of passive building methods in Ontario and Haliburton County with local passive builder, Graham Borgdorff, and Passive Building Engineer and Consultant, Rob Blakeney.
That’s Passive Buildings and Climate Change on the August 27th episode of Planet Haliburton.
- Link to Planet Haliburton August 27, 2018
- Background Resources for Planet Haliburton August 27, 2018
Lyme Disease: The First Epidemic of Climate Change~August 13, 2018
Lyme Disease has been diagnosed in Haliburton County and the risk it poses to human health will only increase as the climate warms and tick populations grow.
To get the latest on what Lyme disease is, how it spreads and what can be done about it, join us on August 13th, 7 - 8pm for a conversation with by Mary Beth Pfeiffer, investigative reporter and author of the hard-hitting book “Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change”.
That’s Lyme Disease and what we can do about it on the next episode of Planet Haliburton, August 13th from 7 - 8pm.
- Link to Planet Haliburton August 13, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton August 13, 2018
Local Climate Change Planning Under FordNation~July 30, 2018
For a chance to win your own copy of “Lyme: The first epidemic of climate change”, send an email to Terry and Greg at planethaliburton@canoefm.com.Put the words ”Lyme Disease” in the subject line and provide your contact information.We’ll draw the winning email from those received before the next PH episode on August 30th and announce the winner on that program.”
With Doug Ford’s election as Ontario’s new Premier on June 7th, public policy on climate change has been thrown into disarray. While Ford claims to be a carbon tax denier and not a climate change denier, the first official act of his new cabinet was to kill the previous government’s entire cap and trade system for putting both limits and a price on carbon pollution.
What are the implications of these changes at the provincial level for climate change planning by municipal governments in Ontario?
To discuss why local climate change planning is more urgent than ever and how municipalities can share information and expertise, we’re joined by Brian Kelly, the Manager of Sustainability for the Regional Municipality of Durham.
That’s Local Climate Change Planning under FordNation on the next episode of Planet Haliburton.
- Link to Planet Haliburton July 30 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton July 30, 2018
Climate Change Policy Vacuum: A Post Election Conversation with Dianne Saxe, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner~July 9, 2018
While the dust is just beginning to settle from Doug Ford’s election as Ontario Premier on June 7th, it’s clear that the new Conservative government is moving quickly to dismantle the previous government’s “cap and trade” system for putting a price on carbon pollution.
Ford claimed during the campaign that he was not a “climate change denier” just a “carbon tax denier” and his “Plan for the People” does contain one vague reference to “fighting climate change”.
Is a carbon tax essential to fight climate change or are there alternative means to wean Ontario off its fossil fuel dependency?
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton we discuss Ontario’s Climate Change policy vacuum and alternative ways of tackling the climate crisis with Dianne Saxe, the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario.
- Link to Planet Haliburton July 9 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton July 9, 2018
The Trans Mountain Pipeline: The Politics of Climate Change and the Economics of Dirty Oil~June 25, 2018
The proposed purchase of the Kinder Morgan pipeline (AKA Trans Mountain) by the Federal Government, turns Canadians into potential shareholders in a project that compromises Canada’s international greenhouse gas emissions reduction commitments. But what about the economics of extracting and shipping tar sands bitumen to tidewater and foreign markets?
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton, we investigate the financial viability of the Trans Mountain Pipeline with award winning investigative business reporter, Paul McKay.
That’s the Politics and Economics of Dirty Oil on the next episode of Planet Haliburton
- Link to Planet Haliburton June 25, 2018
- Background Resource List For Planet Haliburton June 25, 2018
Doubling Down on Bitumen: Pipeline Politics and Civil Disobedience~ June 11, 2018
With the Trudeau government’s recent nationalization of the Trans Mountain Pipeline Project, the confrontation between pro and anti pipeline forces in B.C. and across the country has been taken to a whole new level.
Opponents claim that the project is not only doomed on economic grounds but that it’s another assault on First Nation sovereignty and an environmental disaster making Canada’s Paris Climate Change Agreement GHG emission reduction commitments impossible to achieve.
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton, we speak with Ian Angus, a former Simon Fraser University Professor, who was recently convicted of criminal contempt for intentionally violating the terms of a court injunction against obstructing access to Kinder Morgan property.
That’s Pipeline Politics and Civil Disobedience on the next Planet Haliburton.
- Link to Planet Haliburton June 11, 2018
- Background Resource List for Planet Haliburton June 11, 2018
Local Climate Change Planning and Safe/Effective Bug Sprays ~ May 28, 2018
(Tracy Roxborough (left) and Victoria Ervick (right)
With the County of Haliburton taking the first tentative steps toward the creation of a Local Climate Change Action Plan for the Haliburton Highlands, the experience of other small rural municipalities can provide some helpful suggestions for making the effort as successful as possible.
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton, Sustainable Severn Sound’s Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan Co-ordinators, Tracy Roxborough and Victoria Ervick, share their experience with Local Climate Change Action Planning to date, with a particular emphasis on the need for active broad-based community involvement from the outset.
We also check in with Adria Vasil, AKA “The Ecoholic” and Now Magazine columnist, for a discussion about safe bug sprays that actually work.
- Link to Planet Haliburton May 28, 2018
- Background Resource List for Planet Haliburton May 28, 2018
Reusable Revolution~May 14, 2018
In an era of climate change, ever-escalating levels of consumption, increasing single-use products and packaging and the proliferation of plastic waste, there's a group in Muskoka, our neighbour immediately to the west, calling for a "Reusable Revolution".
Join us on the next episode of PH as we chat with Christina Hunter and Desarae Doolittle co- founders of the Reusable Revolution. Hear what they are up to and learn what we can do as individuals, and as a community, here in Haliburton County , to help save our environment and the future .
- Link to Planet Haliburton May 14, 2018
- Background Resource List for Planet HaliburtonMay 14, 2018
Climate Change, Pipelines and The Politics of Carbon~April 9, 2018
British Columbia and Alberta fighting over pipelines, coastlines and the future of our climate; Ontario Progressive Conservatives throwing out carbon taxes along with their former leader, Patrick Brown; Doug Ford, Jason Kenney, and Andrew Scheer promising an all out war on Justin Trudeau’s Federal Carbon Tax after the next Ontario, Alberta, and Federal Elections.
Garden variety climate change denial or honest differences over carbon taxes as an effective means to get our greenhouse emissions under control? Can we really have more pipelines and a liveable climate at the same time?
To examine these and related questions, please join us on the next episode of Planet Haliburton for a conversation with University of Alberta Professor, Gordon Laxer, author of the recent book “After the Sands: Economic and Ecological Security for Canadians”.
- Link to Planet Haliburton April 9, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton April 9 2018
Planning for Climate Change in Haliburton: Building Capacity and Community Participation ~ March 26, 2018
Haliburton County Council is taking the first tentative steps toward producing a plan to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions in Haliburton as well as building our capacity to deal with consequences of global warming and climate change, such as increased incidence of extreme weather, flood damage and insect-borne disease like Lyme’s Disease.
What resources are available to support climate change planning in small rural communities? What are the steps involved in developing climate change plans? What role can and should the broader community play in raising the awareness of the need for climate change planning and establishing goals and targets?
To answer these and related questions Ian McVey, a facilitator with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities “Partners for Climate Protection Program” and Program Manager with the Ontario Climate Consortium, joins us on the next episode of Planet Haliburton.
- Link to Planet Haliburton March 26, 2018
- Background Resources for Planet Haliburton March 26, 2018
Warden Partridge on the Climate Crisis and Other Environmental Challenges Facing Haliburton County ~March 12, 2018
On the next episode of Planet Haliburton we are joined by recently elected County Warden Suzanne Partridge to get her take on the key environmental issues facing the County. We cover a lot of territory from climate change mitigation and adaptation to healthy shorelines and septic systems to the field spreading of septage.
We also do our monthly check in with Adria Vasil, AKA “The Ecoholic”, to discuss her predictions for the key environmental stories of 2018: political flip flops on carbon taxes; the crisis in waste recycling markets; bee-killing pesticides; and plastic, plastic everywhere.
- Link to Planet Haliburton March 12, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton March 12, 2018
Climate Change: Plan Now or Suffer Later~February 28, 2018
Originally aired on January 30, 2017
Join hosts Terry Moore and Greg Roe for a conversation with Peter Sale, marine ecologist, coral expert and author of “Planning for Climate Change In Muskoka."
Click on the links below to listen to the program or for background resources:
- Link to Planet Haliburton Part1 February 28, 2018
- Link to Planet Haliburton Part 2 February 28, 2018
- Link to Planet Haliburton Part 3 February 28, 2018
- Background Resources For Planet Haliburton February 28, 2018
Ontario’s Latest Carbon Emissions Report Card and Chalk River Nuclear Licence Renewal~ February 12, 2018
The most recent audit of Ontario’s climate change policies and progress, entitled “Ontario’s Climate Act: From Plans to Progress”, was issued by on January 30, 2018. To discuss the good, the bad and the just plain ugly findings contained in her 284-page report, we’re joined for a feature interview by Dianne Saxe, Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner.
In addition, Carolyn Coburn, the President of Environment Haliburton, shares her experience of testifying recently before the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on the licence renewal application for the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratory.
If you’re wondering about whether or not Ontario is making any progress to address the climate crisis or the science and politics of surrounding nuclear reactors and waste, you won’t want to miss the next episode of Planet Haliburton.
Extreme Weather, Citizen Science, Climate Change and Renewable Energy Policy ~ January 29, 2018
The January 29, 2018 episode of Planet Haliburton will feature an interview with Geoff Coulson, Weather Preparedness Meteorologist with Environment Canada, focusing on extreme weather notifications and other information available to individuals and communities trying to adapt to the increased incidence of extreme weather associated with climate change.
In addition, Brian Nash, owner of Haliburton Solar and Wind, the main sponsor of Planet Haliburton and our Renewable Energy Correspondent, joins us for a discussion of the renewable energy and climate change policy issues at stake as Ontario prepares for a provincial election on June 7th of this year.
Feeling Buried in Plastic? ~ January 8, 2018
Every day, Ontario generates more than 33,000 tonnes of waste – more than 900 kilograms per person each year. Much of this waste is in the form of single-use plastic packaging which clogs up our landfill sites, rivers, lakes and oceans with trash that doesn’t break down for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The increased volume of plastic packaging is not only unnecessary, leaving most of us feeling buried in unwanted garbage, it is also dangerous to aquatic species and has been found to accumulate throughout the food chain.
What can be done to reverse this trend?
Join us on the next Planet Haliburton for two conversations about what people can and are doing to eliminate as much plastic as possible from their personal waste streams: the first with Adria Vasil, AKA “The Ecoholic” and the second with the owners of a new zero waste grocery store in Ottawa, called “Nugrocery”.