The earth’s climate has changed over the last century. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Evolving computer models are predicting that, because of greenhouse gas emissions, temperatures should continue to rise over the 21st century, impacting nature and mankind both positively and negatively. The impacts should vary among regions, but they can not yet be predicted accurately, especially for small-scale areas. However, it is expected that: the more the greenhouse gases are emitted, the higher the tendency for the earth to warm, the greater and faster the warming, the more the adverse effects will dominate, and the higher the possibility, although probably remote, of large-scale and possibly irreversible impacts. Therefore, although an acceptable level for greenhouse gases has not yet been determined, reducing emissions should reduce the risk of adverse effects. Many options for emission reductions are available; their costs need to be balanced with the risks left for future generations.
weblink: Facts on climate change • from: GreenFacts • in detail • see also: Climate Change XlnkS6F1 XlnkC1946

Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems faster and more extensively than in any period in human history. This has been due largely to rapidly growing demands for food, freshwater, timber, fiber, and fuel. The result has been a substantial and largely irreversible loss in the diversity of life on Earth. The changes made to ecosystems have contributed to substantial gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs. These costs include the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of abrupt changes, and increased poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially reduce the benefits that future generations get from ecosystems. This degradation of ecosystem services could get significantly worse during the next 50 years. It is a barrier to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Reversing the degradation of ecosystems while meeting increasing demands for their services is a challenge. This challenge can be partially met in the future under scenarios involving significant changes to policies, institutions, and practices. However, these required actions will have to be substantial when compared to the actions currently taken. These are the result of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a comprehensive study launched by Kofi Annan.
weblink: Ecosystem study on greenfacts • from: GreenFacts • in detail XlnkS6EF XlnkC1946

The following statement was released on December 7, 2001, by 100 Nobel Prize winners to coincide with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first Nobel prizes. Although the statement began circulating among the laureates last summer, most of them signed it after September 11. THE MOST profound danger to world peace in the coming years will stem not from the irrational acts of states or individuals but from the legitimate demands of the world’s dispossessed. Of these poor and disenfranchised, the majority live a marginal existence in equatorial climates. Global warming, not of their making but originating with the wealthy few will affect their fragile ecologies most. Their situation will be desperate and manifestly unjust. It cannot be expected, therefore, that in all cases they will be content to await the beneficence of the rich. If then we permit the devastating power of modern Weaponry to spread through this combustible human landscape, we invite a conflagration that can engulf both rich and poor. The only hope for the future lies in cooperative international action, legitimized by democracy. It is time to turn our backs on the unilateral search for security in which we seek to shelter behind walls. Instead, we must persist in the quest for united action to counter both global warming and a weaponized World. These twin goals will constitute vital components of stability as we move toward the wider degree of social justice that alone gives hope of peace. Some of the needed legal instrument, are already at hand, such as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. the Convention on Climate Change, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty As concerned citizens, I we urge all governments to commit to these goals that constitute steps on the way to replacement of War by law. To survive in the world we have transformed, we must learn to think in a new Way. As never before, the future of each depends on the good of all.
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The National Building Museum commissioned Kiss + Cathcart to design a speculative building for “Big + Green”. In collaboration with Arup Engineers, they created a design that targets new ecological standards for tall buildings. While technologically advanced, the design is not a utopian vision but a building that has been carefully engineered to be practical and economical by the year 2020.
weblink: Kiss + CathCart Web Site • from: Kiss + Cathcart • in detail XlnkS6ED XlnkC1945

Dockside is a 11.6 acre brownfield site located in the heart of the City of Victoria, BC. Windmills development, Vancity and the architect Busby Perkins Will are committed to make it an outstanding example of carbon neutral neighbourhood and the first LEED Platinum compound in Canada.
weblink: Dockside web site • from: Windmills Development • in detail XlnkS6EC XlnkC1944

The Ontario government has decided to replace coal-fired generation with cleaner sources of energy and conservation and to clean up Ontario’s air. The plan will improve the health of citizens and contribute to the sustainability of our environment while ensuring a reliable supply of electricity. Ontario will be the first jurisdiction in North America to phase-out coal fired power plants. The government’s plan comes a day after a report released by the Ontario Medical Association predicted that premature deaths associated with air pollution will hit a staggering 10,000 lives by the year 2026 if the province does not take action to further improve the quality of air in Ontario. A cost benefit analysis released in April 2005 uncovered massive health and environmental costs from coal-fired generation. The study found emissions from all coal-fired stations were responsible for up to 668 premature deaths, 928 hospital admissions and 1,100 emergency room visits in Ontario per year. It also found that with an annual cost of $4.4 billion, coal-fired generation is significantly more expensive than other sources of electricity.
weblink: Ontario Energy Web page • in detail XlnkS6EB