International Chemicals Management meeting
In 2002, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the international community adopted an ambitious target for world wide sound management of chemicals and hazardous wastes by 2020: [T]hat chemicals are used and produced in ways that lead to the minimization of significant adverse effe…
View the post titled International Chemicals Management meetingInnovative illustration of the climate change consensus
In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded: “It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.” Skeptical Science, a website dedicating to explaining “wha…
View the post titled Innovative illustration of the climate change consensusKudos to Environmental Commissioner
Our congratulations to Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner for three more excellent reports: 2012/2013 Annual Report: Serving the Public A Review of Ontario’s Weakened Protections for Species at Risk (Special Report, Nov. 2013) Building Momentum:Annual Energy Conservation Progre…
View the post titled Kudos to Environmental CommissionerMerchants of Doubt
Ever wondered why good science has lost so much traction in public policy, especially in the US? (Though Canada is far from exempt: Consider the Experimental Lakes Area.) Or why so many Americans just won’t seem to accept obvious facts about evolution, climate change, even second hand tobacc…
View the post titled Merchants of DoubtCitizen science: Home spectrometer and Big Data
Do it yourself spectrometer? Cell phone spectrometer add ons? Do it yourself aerial mapping with balloons and kites? Environmental data collection with citizen science devices could fill in some of the gaps created by government cutbacks, especially if combined with the NEON Big Data project.
View the post titled Citizen science: Home spectrometer and Big DataScience, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagree
Bad science should be thrown out of court. When alleged scientific data fails to meet relevant, objective quality standards specifically developed for that kind of data, no one knows whether the claimed result is either reliable or correct. It is fundamentally unfair to punish anyone base…
View the post titled Science, proof and causation: when courts and scientists disagreeThe Limits to Growth: looking good at 40?
Forty years ago, The Limits to Growth explored what would happen if we allowed the world’s population and industry to continue to grow rapidly. They compared humanity’s use of energy and materials to the globe’s long-term, sustainable capacity, and concluded that urgent ac…
View the post titled The Limits to Growth: looking good at 40?Environment Canada: more cuts, less science?
Sometimes, it feels like the 1990s again. In both Canada and the US, budget shortfalls and political preferences are resulting in significant cuts to environmental scientists and regulators. For example, Environment Canada has announced that its current round of cuts will eliminate approxima…
View the post titled Environment Canada: more cuts, less science?Ozone: health or money?
Despite strong scientific evidence that current permitted ozone levels cause harm to human health, President Obama has decided not to cut them. This will likely lead to lawsuits, as the Clean Air Act requires EPA to set air levels that protect human health. And Canada, as usual, will probabl…
View the post titled Ozone: health or money?How reliable are odour units?
345 Given that there are many steps in the process of attempting to calculate odour units which are problematic, and which contain so many points of bias and subjectivity, the Panel finds that the ultimate number or value coming out of an odour unit measurement cannot be relied upon as me…
View the post titled How reliable are odour units?Receive Blog Posts
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