By Matthew Chisholm

The importance of the world’s forests and the role that environmental activism surrounding forests have helped to shape a public perception that being an environmentalist means that you’re a “tree hugger.” While my “first word” as a child was in fact “tree,” I organize around climate justice because I hug people – or at least care about them.

By Chris Bisson

At the international climate negotiation level there seems to be a failure to address the gap between the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and the adaptation of vulnerable communities to the effects of climate change.  In this article I will show that permaculture – a design art aimed at fostering resilient and socially just human living spaces, may just be what is needed to do this.

There is a problem with separating adaptation and mitigation, and that is that is some ways they cancel each other out.  Adaptation strategies may involve highly emitting solutions, and mitigation programmes may render significant population vulnerable to environmental changes.  One example is the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) programme devised and agreed to by parties of the UNFCCC.  REDD would set strictly managed forest conservation areas in financially poor states as an offset for industries emitting in industrialized ones.  Though questionable as to whether this is an effective mitigation strategy, the worst aspect of this programme is the significant barriers for certain populations to adapt to climate change.  Many of the World’s peoples most vulnerable to the effects of climate change are reliant on forests for safe and appropriate sources of food, water, materials and energy, to restrict access to these forests would force reliance on commercial supply chains for their basic needs.  It would also displace many people to urban areas or places prone to human-made or natural hazards. (more…)

By Karen Rooney

When people hear the term “tar sands”, the province of Saskatchewan is not usually what comes to mind. And while as a province we have been able to slip under the radar, both the impacts of Alberta’s tar sands on our province and our own potential tar sands development are very tangible.

Each year, more than 150,000 tonnes of acid-producing emissions are generated by the Alberta tar sands. It can take anywhere from 2-14 days before these toxic emissions are re-introduced into land or water, in the form of acid-rain. Because of this time lapse between the production of emissions and the deposit of acid rain, land and water up to 1,000 kilometres away from the original source can be drastically affected by tar sands emissions.

What does this mean for Saskatchewan? (more…)