David Suzuki's Blog, page 5

SeaChoice transitions to hold seafood supply chain more accountable

VANCOUVER/HALIFAX -- For more than 10 years, SeaChoice has helped retailers and consumers make seafood choices that support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture. Now it's embarking on a new direction: To reform unsustainable seafood production and become Canada's leading sustainable seafood watchdog.

SeaChoice is transitioning from ranking seafood products and operating its in-store retail market presence. New goals include improving seafood-labelling regulations, eco-certification standards, fisheries and aquaculture management, and making information more transparent throughout the supply chain.

"We're proud that our retail partners have made great strides in their commitment to sustainable seafood," Kurtis Hayne of SeaChoice said. "Now we'll be working towards solutions for persistent challenges that keep sustainable fisheries and aquaculture from further improvement in Canada. Our transition will benefit seafood retailers as well."

Ensuring accountability in the seafood supply chain is a critical aspect of SeaChoice's new direction. The program is calling for new Canadian regulations to improve seafood labelling to better align with international best practices and major export markets. It will also work to improve management at individual fishery and farm levels. Based on the success of its retail partners, SeaChoice will provide tools and resources to all retailers on how to better embed and improve sustainable seafood policies and procurement practices within their companies and transparently report their progress.

"We've seen more awareness of sustainable seafood in Canada over the last decade, but we realized that continuing along the path of encouraging point-of-sale promotion only is not going to achieve the improvements to fishing and aquaculture practices still badly needed," Bill Wareham of the David Suzuki Foundation said. "We're excited to dig deeper to realise further improvements and transparency of sustainable seafood in Canada over the next decade."

"It's clear Canada needs an organization focused on ensuring greater transparency of seafood sourcing and holding the seafood supply chain accountable," Susanna Fuller of the Ecology Action Centre said.

SeaChoice will continue to engage the Canadian public through programs like citizen scientist seafood DNA testing, updates on fisheries and aquaculture improvements that help reduce the volume of unsustainable seafood in the marketplace, and communicating annual retailer seafood procurement audit results.

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Media contact:

Sarah Foster

National Coordinator - SeaChoice

c/o David Suzuki Foundation

219-2211 West 4th Ave.

Vancouver, BC, V6K 4S2

Phone: (604) 916 9398

info@seachoice.org

SeaChoice

SeaChoice was started in 2006 and is currently a partnership of the David Suzuki Foundation, the Ecology Action Centre and the Living Oceans Society. SeaChoice continues to work as a member organization of the Conservation Alliance for Seafood Solutions and work with consumers, retailers, suppliers, government and producers to accomplish its objectives.

Further information

SeaChoice website: www.seachoice.org.

Taking Stock: Sustainable seafood in Canadian markets: http://www.seachoice.org/taking-stock/

Download report: http://www.seachoice.org/taking-stock/seachoice-taking-stock-report-june-7/

Download key findings: http://www.seachoice.org/taking-stock/seachoice-taking-stock-2-pager/

Canadians eating in the dark: A report card of international seafood labelling requirements: http://labelmyseafood.ca/

Download report: http://www.seachoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Seafood-Labelling-Report-Online.pdf

Download summary (English): http://labelmyseafood.ca/assets/seafood-labelling---2-pager---online.pdf

Download summary (French): http://labelmyseafood.ca/assets/seafood-labelling---2-pager---french---online.pdf

Putting Canada's seafood labels to the test: http://www.lifescanner.net/SeaChoice

SeaChoice is working with LifeScanner to empower consumers to genetically test the validity of the label and report labelling practices, at major seafood retailers across Canada so that we can better understand the magnitude of poor or incorrect labelling.

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Citizen-led "Butterflyway" established in Richmond

David Suzuki Foundation volunteers celebrate new corridors for bees and butterflies

RICHMOND, B.C. -- Over the past two months, David Suzuki Foundation volunteers have planted a network of close to two dozen new butterfly-friendly gardens in Richmond, B.C., in schoolyards and city and neighbourhood parks. The plantings were established as part of the Butterflyway Project, a national effort to reimagine neighbourhoods as highways of habitat for pollinators, from bumblebees to monarch butterflies.

"Our team of Butterflyway Rangers has created one of Canada's first Butterflyways, in Richmond's Thompson, Steveston, Broadmoor, Shellmont, City Centre, Cambie West, Cambie East and East Richmond neighbourhoods," Butterflyway Project Richmond lead Winnie Hwo said. "With help from teachers, students, city staff, local businesses, farms, garden clubs and citizens, the Richmond Rangers have made remarkable progress creating an official Butterflyway through their community."

In March, the David Suzuki Foundation began recruiting residents in Victoria, Richmond, Toronto, Markham and Montreal to be part of the program. More than 150 keen volunteers were trained as "Butterflyway Rangers" and supported in their collective mission to create patches of butterfly- and bee-friendly habitat in their neighbourhoods. Neighbourhoods where Ranger troops plant a dozen or more pollinator patches get official David Suzuki Foundation Butterflyway designation, including signs and inclusion in the national Butterflyway Project map.

Victoria Rangers created butterfly-themed costumes and a bike-trailer garden that won second prize in a local parade. Markham and Toronto Rangers filled a dozen retired canoes with pollinator-friendly wildflowers.

The Richmond Garden Club created Butterflyway gardens in Richmond's Cultural Centre Rooftop Garden and the Paulik Park. Richmond Rangers also adopted neighbourhood parks through the city's Adopt-a-Park program. In the next two months, Richmond Butterflyway Rangers will showcase their work in two major events -- The Sharing Farm's Ninth Annual Garlic Festival August 20 and the Richmond HarvestFest September 30.

To date, the Richmond Butterflyway includes the following locations:

Agassiz Neighbourhood Park and nearby cul-de-sac

Bridgeport Industrial Park pollinator pastures

Cambridge Park townhouse and apartment complex

Choice School for Gifted Children

City of Richmond Public Works Yard - Environmental Programs

J. N. Burnett Secondary School

McNair Secondary School

Myron Court roundabout

Paulik Neighbourhood Park

Phoenix Perennials nursery

Richmond City Hall

Richmond Cultural Centre Rooftop Garden

Richmond Jewish Day School

Richmond Nature Park

Richmond Secondary School

With Our Own Two Hands Preschool and Learning Centre, Steveston

The Sharing Farm

Shell Road Recreational Trail

Terra Nova Nature School

Tomekichi Homma Elementary

Plus, three homes in Steveston and one in Delta

The Butterflyway Project is based on the David Suzuki Foundation's award-winning Homegrown National Park Project and is generously supported by Nature's Way and Cascades.

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For further information, please contact:

Brendan Glauser, David Suzuki Foundation, 604-356-8829, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org

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Nelson, B.C. saves money with Canada's first community solar garden

Credit: Dave Borins

"There's more sunshine in southeastern British Columbia than in Germany or Ontario," energy-efficiency expert Carmen Proctor says, referring to European and Canadian solar power leaders.

So the late-June launch of this country's first "community solar garden" in Nelson, B.C. -- a city of 10,000 a seven-hour drive east of Vancouver -- made good economic sense.

Proctor, who works for Nelson Hydro, tells me the solar garden is a 60-kilowatt system whose 248 photovoltaic panels were purchased from the local power utility by its customers. They paid $923 per panel. In exchange, their annual electricity cost reductions begin at $28 and grow to $50. The payback isn't huge, but residents can invest in solar without putting arrays on their roofs. (The utility installed the panels on city-owned land, a 20-minute drive from downtown.)

The initiative is the first in Canada to allow utility customers to invest in solar "on a per panel basis and get a credit on their bill," an approach called "virtual net metering," Proctor explains.

Like other small-scale renewable projects, Nelson's is a product of the community. "It's community owned and the community profits," Dave Borins of Bullfrog Power says. Bullfrog supported the solar garden with $35,000 in grants.

Photo: Dave Borins

Local churches, homeowners, renters and co-ops purchased the solar panels with enthusiasm. "People called City Hall with their credit card in the middle of the night to buy a panel," Proctor recalls with a chuckle. "One co-op took the lead and bought 15 panels. The district school board bought 10." The entire array sold out in four weeks.

Nelson Hydro decided not to ask big business to fund the project. "I didn't want to do that," Proctor explains. "I wanted this only to move forward if that's what the community really wanted."

The solar garden boosts energy self-sufficiency. Nelson is already strong in this department, receiving about 50 per cent of its power from its own hydro generating station, a facility it operates on the Kootenay River. Now it's also learning to make electricity from sunbeams. "The project gave our utility a lot of experience with solar PV," Proctor says. Borins agrees: "It offered Nelson a chance to develop in-house expertise regarding solar energy installation." Being able to provide more of its own power means the municipality is less vulnerable if its private energy supplier raises prices.

The municipality hopes cities across Canada will embrace the solar garden concept. "Several have contacted us to replicate the project," Proctor observes. "We've inspired places like New Westminster to consider [doing it themselves]. We're very happy to help other communities."



Borins believes other provinces could replicate this model one day. Ontario, for example, does not yet allow virtual net metering. "Nelson is providing a model for how other jurisdictions can adopt virtual net metering, which is already working in several U.S. states," he argues. "I hope more solar projects get built in Canada by learning from Nelson and using virtual net metering to get communities involved in how their energy is generated."

The payoff, as this small B.C. city learned, is clean power, growth in community spirit and greater self-reliance. On a host of levels, solar power energizes those it touches.

Power up Canada with renewables

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Judge orders a hearing of environmental groups' pesticide case

TORONTO (July 17, 2018) - A Federal Court judge has ruled that a case to protect pollinators from neonicotinoid pesticides must be heard before the courts.

Ecojustice lawyers on behalf of their clients at Ontario Nature, Wilderness Committee, David Suzuki Foundation and Friends of the Earth Canada successfully fended off four motions to dismiss their case about the Pest Management Regulatory Agency's (PMRA) continued registrations of neonicotinoid (neonic) pesticides without the scientific information necessary to determine the pesticides' risks to pollinators.

In her decision, Federal Court Case Management Judge Mandy Aylen said that the case raises issues that must be heard. In rejecting arguments from the federal government and three pesticide companies, she noted that ongoing PMRA science reviews "will not address the lawfulness of the PMRA's conduct" and that "there may be a public interest in the Court's consideration of whether the PMRA has acted in an unlawful manner," regardless of how those reviews play out.

"We're happy that CMJ Aylen so quickly concluded that our clients' challenge to the PMRA's lax practice warrants a full hearing, and that she completely disagreed that there is a fatal flaw in the case," said Julia Croome, Ecojustice lawyer. "We'll be working as quickly as possible to have our arguments heard in full because these are important issues that need to be determined by the court."

"Neonicotinoid pesticides have been repeatedly approved for use in Canada without properly considering the science, and the effects neonics have on pollinators, for too long," said Eric Reder, Manitoba Campaign Director with the Wilderness Committee.

Ecojustice lawyers Julia Croome and Charles Hatt presented their arguments against nine lawyers representing the Attorney General of Canada and Federal Health Minister, as well as pesticide companies Bayer CropScience, Sumitomo Chemical Company / Valent Canada and Syngenta Canada. They argued that the case could set an important precedent about the regulation of pesticides in Canada and deserves to be heard.

"We've had to fight this move by the federal government and pesticide industry to kill our case, but now we've won our day in court. We must ensure that lax regulation of pesticides -- as we've seen with neonics over the last decade -- never happens again," said Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Friends of the Earth Canada.

"Neonicotinoids impair bees' resistance to disease as well as their ability to forage and reproduce. With the emerging science, it is concerning that neonics are still approved for widespread use in Canada," said Dr. Anne Bell of Ontario Nature.

Prior to the hearing, two significant scientific studies were released, detailing the effects of neonics on pollinators. The world's largest study on neonics, published in _Science _ journal showed widespread evidence of population decline and shortened lifespans in domesticated and wild bee populations exposed to neonics. A separate study conducted in Canada discovered that prolonged exposure to neonicotinoids affects honey-bee health in corn-growing regions. In the same week, the science continued to mount -- a new study cropped up showing that neonicotinoids might be responsible for a severe decline in B.C. hummingbirds.

"It's our intention to make sure that the PMRA upholds its legal responsibilities as a regulator. There cannot be a sound decision without sound science," Croome said.

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About neonicotinoid pesticides and the PMRA:



Neonics are synthetic chemical insecticides that are intended to control crop-destroying pests. They pose threats to non-target organisms like native bees, which are responsible for pollinating one third of the world's crops and 90 per cent of all wild plants.



The federal Pest Control Products Act requires the PMRA to be certain that a pesticide will cause no harm to the environment before permitting its use. More than a decade ago, the PMRA granted "conditional" registrations for two neonicotinoid pesticides, delaying its review of important scientific information on the pesticides' risks to pollinators.

The PMRA is still waiting on studies that are sufficient to justify "full" registration of the pesticides.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Brendan Glauser, David Suzuki Foundation, 604-356-8829, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org

Julia Croome, Ecojustice, 1-800-926-7744 ext. 530, jcroome@ecojustice.ca

Leyla Top, Ontario Nature, 416-444-8419 ext. 236, leylat@ontarionature.org

Beatrice Olivastri, Friends of the Earth Canada, 613-724-8690, beatrice@foecanada.org

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Butterflyways blooming throughout the land

(Credit: Suzanne Schroeter via Flickr)

Pollinator pathway. Bumblebee highway. River of Flowers. Bee Line. These have all described habitat corridors created to help pollinators like bees and butterflies. We can add Butterflyways to the list.

Residents of Toronto and Richmond, B.C., recently celebrated official designation of neighbourhood Butterflyways. The David Suzuki Foundation began its Butterflyway Project earlier this year, recruiting more than 150 residents in five Canadian cities as the first Butterflyway Rangers. These volunteers learned how to help local pollinators flourish. They returned to their neighbourhoods with a mission: create a local Butterflyway by planting at least a dozen pollinator patches filled with native wildflowers that support these essential critters.

What happened next is inspiring. Rangers in each city connected with local gardening and horticulture groups, businesses, municipal councillors and parks staff, teachers and daycares. They attended community events and hatched plans to establish new butterfly gardens in parks, schools and yards. Once they began seeding these ideas, it took little time for the Butterflyways to begin blooming.

In May and June, activities ranged from creating butterfly-themed costumes and a bike-trailer garden that won second prize in a Victoria parad to adopting city parks in Richmond. In Markham and Toronto, Rangers built on a project started through the Foundation's Homegrown National Park Project, installing a dozen wildflower-filled canoes in parks, schools and daycares. In Toronto's west end, a pair of Rangers led the Butterflyway Lane ar project, painting butterfly-themed murals on two dozen garage doors, walls and fences in a laneway facing Garrison Creek Park.

In late June, Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood and Richmond, B.C., surpassed the target of a dozen Ranger-led plantings, earning kudos from the Foundation for creating Canada's first Butterflyways. The project is spreading, with neighbouring city councillors and groups clamouring to get their own Butterflyways.

Parading around as Rangers and planting wildflowers can be a fun way to engage communities and celebrate nature, but the project's conservation potential is equally intriguing.

Reproduction for about 90 per cent of flowering plant species depends on pollinators, from bees and butterflies to hummingbirds and bats. We have pollinators to thank for one of every three bites of food we eat. Sadly, threats like development, pesticides and climate change are dramatically reducing pollinator diversity and numbers. A 2016 UN report found 40 per cent of all insect pollinators worldwide are under threat. More than 50 butterfly and moth species and a quarter of all bumblebee species in North America are threatened, and six species of native bees await protection under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

Although Canada's more than 300 butterfly species aren't as diligent pollinators as other species, they play other essential ecological roles, like becoming bird food. The plight of perhaps the most iconic butterfly in North America, the monarch, is well documented. Its numbers have dropped by more than 90 per cent over the past two decades.

Dwindling bee and butterfly numbers should be a compelling enough reason for action, but the story of Canada's pollinators is complicated by the European honeybee. It's an introduced species, managed like livestock. They're good pollinators, but many of Canada's native bees are more effective -- yet they fly largely under the radar.

A recent poll revealed about two-thirds of Canadians couldn't identify a single native bee, even though Canada has more than 800 species, dozens of which are found in most backyards -- including carpenter, mining, sweat and mason bees. They don't produce honey or live in hives and are unlikely to sting humans, but they're essential pollinators.

We can help these beneficial critters by providing habitat throughout the places we live, work and play. Like the Butterflyway Rangers, reimagine your neighbourhood as a habitat highway for butterflies and bees. Encourage neighbours to add pollinator patches to yards and gardens. Create butterfly gardens at schools and daycares. Add pollinator patches to local parks and naturalize areas that park staff find difficult to maintain, like steep slopes or wet areas. Businesses can replace exotic flowers and shrubs with native equivalents. Thread these patches together and you have the beginnings of your own Butterflyway.

In the meantime, join me in celebrating the efforts of the Rangers, and the start of what I hope will be an inspiring national project to bring butterflies and bees to neighbourhoods throughout the country.

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Grassy Narrows stands up for Mother Earth

I was honoured to be a part of the David Suzuki Foundation team that attended Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek Grassy Narrows First Nation territory on June 28, 2017, the day after the provincial government committed $85 million to clean up mercury contamination in Grassy's Wabigoon River.

As we drove into the community, I was humbled and awed by its majestic beauty. The trees stood tall and proud all around, like ancient, powerful ancestors welcoming us into their territory. I felt small and insignificant, convinced that the fight at Grassy Narrows is a spiritual mission, not an environmental undertaking.

The community heard of the $85 million commitment prior to our arrival. But they were guarded. They'd heard empty promises before.

I chatted with locals gathered to see David Suzuki. They told of the community's aspiration to open a birthing centre, and how the project faced insurmountable barriers -- the ongoing water issues and concerns for the health of the women and infants who would use the service. They said their traditional language is alive and well in the community. Any First Nations person, myself included, would interpret that to mean that the Grassy Narrows people have a strong foundation to support their community for whatever perils lie ahead. Their resilience, hope and love for their people, their community and the land was evident in every conversation.

In his brief speech, David Suzuki recognized the Ontario Liberals' announcement of $85 million to clean up mercury contamination that's been a serious environmental issue for this small community since the 1960s. He praised the people for their commitment to a respectful relationship with the land and acknowledged the interconnectedness of all life on Mother Earth.

It's hard to fathom what can be done with that much money. Grassy Narrows members want a centre dedicated to healing their people. They want information on the science - how the waters will be cleaned has never been shared with them. English is not many locals' first language, so communications can't be in technical jargon. They want information that everyone can understand.

When community members spoke of the impact environmental degradation has had on their entire way of life, my heart ached. Those who faced neurological disturbances from mercury poisoning seemed to accept their fate -- that disability and an early death may be pending. Yet they did not focus on themselves. Their concerns focused on how losing their traditional lifestyle of hunting and fishing erodes the fabric of their Anishinabek society. They worry not only that humans, the river and the fish are sick, but that wildlife are also sick and disappearing at alarming rates. The $85 million might clean up the river, but they wonder what will heal wildlife suffering habitat loss from persistent logging and the ongoing issue of contamination. They asked David Suzuki if mercury could poison the plants and trees.

These questions and comments instilled both utter sadness and tremendous Indigenous pride in me. These are good Anishinabek people, who worry equally about the lives of bears, moose and caribou as they do for their children and grandchildren. That's what connection to the land looks like. That's what sets Indigenous people apart from the mainstream notion of economic prosperity as a tantamount concern. To understand the interconnectedness that exists within nature requires caring as much about the lives of our furry, four-legged and feathered relatives as we do for people.

After the school's graduation dinner, our night ended with traditional teachings around a sacred fire. We laughed and told stories. During his Grassy Narrows fishing excursion, David Suzuki caught a 90-pound sturgeon, which thrilled some of the locals. The sturgeon is a clan for the Grassy Narrow Anishinabek people, one said to embody leadership skills. Some elders and other locals believed that the sturgeon, seldom seen in local waters anymore, showed itself to David Suzuki for a reason. They saw this as a spiritual message that the fight was not futile and that prayers for the water were being answered. Overall, it was a great day.

It was Canada Day weekend, so everywhere in Kenora, I saw Canada 150 birthday advertising. One sign in particular caught my eye: "#Stand Up for Canada." What does that mean in 2017? What is Canada without moose, caribou, plentiful forests, ducks, wolves, bears, bees, butterflies, fish, lakes and oceans? We celebrate and protect Canada's multiculturalism through policy and law, but maybe it's time to start celebrating and protecting our biodiversity in a much more meaningful capacity. The fight at Grassy Narrows illustrates a need for a paradigm shift, one that sees all people living in Canada learning to value all life on Mother Earth as much as we value human life. The living things that collectively constitute the environment must be given proper weight in all our considerations.

I'm grateful for Premier Wynne's commitment to support Grassy Narrows. But I want to respectfully urge all Canadians to force their provincial and federal governments to act responsibly when making decisions that will impact the environment. This includes provinces issuing licenses to companies, creating short-term employment and knowingly causing long-term devastation to the geographic regions and resources they're exploiting. There is no economic value added to our society when corporations are allowed to devastate the environment in an effort to make profit, when in the long run, we all end up paying for the clean-up - in this case, to the tune of $85 million.

We all pay for this short-sightedness. The people at Grassy Narrows are paying for it with their lives. And still, they stand up for Canada, in a way the rest of us can only hope to emulate.

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Orca survival depends on protecting chinook salmon

(Credit: VIUDeepBay via Flickr)

Two of British Columbia's most iconic species, chinook salmon and southern resident killer whales, are in trouble. The whale depends on the salmon for survival. Is it time to manage chinook fisheries with killer whales in mind?



In marine ecosystems, cause and effect is a challenge. It's almost impossible to claim with certainty that depletion of one species is caused by abundance or lack of another. The general rule is that big things eat smaller things, so any given species will eat dozens of others, even their smaller kin. The southern resident killer whales, also known as orcas, are an exception. Despite their immense intelligence, or perhaps because of it, their diet consists almost entirely of chinook salmon, with only traces of other salmon, and virtually no other fish species.

Every killer whale population has its own unique culture, which includes language, social behaviours and dietary preferences. A large male weighs nearly as much as two Ford 150 pickup trucks. Sustaining this mass of warm-blooded flesh in a cold ocean requires using echolocation to find and capture fish in blackness. Understanding the patterns of their chinook prey is a highly specialized activity passed on through generations of learned behaviour.



After each capture, an orca normally shares the fish with the pod. That's remarkable considering the whale could practically swallow the prey whole. If the 78 southern resident killer whales are to survive, this cultural feeding ritual needs to occur about 1,400 times a day. That's become difficult, as chinook salmon populations that migrate through waters where the southern resident killer whale feed are severely depleted, and the fish are smaller on average than they once were.



Fisheries and Oceans Canada's assessments show most chinook populations in southern B.C. are well below historical levels and continue to decline. In November 2018, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada will determine the status of several populations, and will likely declare many endangered.



Fishing is not the only threat chinook face, but it has a major impact. Fishing tends to target salmon as they return to spawn -- after they've survived, against all odds, through 99 per cent of their expected lives. Those that spawn hold the genetic blueprint to help their offspring withstand current environmental conditions. With far fewer chinook making it to spawning grounds, each survivor is a critical contributor to the next generation. Estimates show commercial and sport fisheries in British Columbia took more than half a million chinook in 2016. For some chinook populations, people harvest well over half the returning fish.



Noise from shipping also hinders the whales' ability to communicate with each other, find prey and avoid danger -- by up to 97 per cent in the noisiest areas. Commercial shipping has increased dramatically in recent years. One large ship transits the Salish Sea, on average, every hour of every day of every year.



Federal whale biologists have identified a priority recovery strategy: refuges where orcas can feed without competition from fisheries and that are quiet enough that echolocation is not masked and social behaviours aren't disrupted. These areas are currently being identified and could be established within killer whale critical habitat areas. Many other issues, including pollution, must also be addressed.



Rebuilding chinook populations is critical to rebuilding whale populations, yet there are no recovery plans to increase chinook populations to upper benchmarks, as required by Canada's Wild Salmon Policy. More than 300,000 recreational fishing licences are issued annually in B.C., which creates a formidable competitor to killer whales. Like whales, humans have also learned over generations about the behaviour of their prey.



The federal government is undertaking a scientific review to prioritize killer whale recovery actions. Part of this process involves public consultation. Anyone concerned about orcas should contribute.



Understanding the importance of chinook to killer whales makes it difficult to justify catching them without considering the whales' needs. The complexity of marine ecosystems makes it easy for individuals to point fingers to the myriad other threats such as climate change and habitat destruction. But we must recognize that, collectively, our habits have become destructive to the environment and other species.



The fate of two of British Columbia's most iconic animals and the ecosystems and economies that depend on them rests in our hands.

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Environmental groups back in court over pollinator-killing pesticides

Groups ready to fight off federal government's attempt to dismiss lawsuit

TORONTO (July 5, 2017) - Ecojustice lawyers are in court this week to tell the federal government to buzz off.

"Our clients - and the bees and other wild pollinators - deserve their day in court," said Julia Croome, Ecojustice lawyer. "The federal government has for years allowed widespread and growing use of neonicotinoid pesticides without doing its homework on the environmental risks. Our case aims to change that."

Ecojustice - acting on behalf of David Suzuki Foundation, Friends of the Earth Canada, Ontario Nature and Wilderness Committee - filed a lawsuit last year to protect pollinators from two widely-used neonicotinoid pesticides: Clothianidin and Thiamethoxam. The government and several multinational pesticide companies are now attempting to persuade the court to dismiss the case before it is heard.

This comes on the heels of the world's largest study, published in Science journal. The study showed widespread evidence of population decline and shortened lifespans in domesticated and wild bees populations exposed to neonics. A separate study conducted in Canada discovered that prolonged exposure to neonicotinoids affects honey-bee health in corn-growing regions.

"We are deeply concerned to see the government being so laissez-faire about neonicotinoids' risks to pollinators," said Caroline Schulz, executive director at Ontario Nature. "In approving these deadly pesticides, the government is not properly determining the risks in the first place."

Neonics are synthetic chemical insecticides that are intended to control crop-destroying pests. However, they pose threats to non-target organisms like native bees, which are responsible for pollinating one third of the world's crops and 90 per cent of all wild plants.

"The broad reaching effects of neonicotinoids are deeply concerning. They're decimating bee populations and while other jurisdictions like the EU and France are sounding the alarm, we're still waiting for our government to assess all the science," said Beatrice Olivastri, chief executive officer of Friends of the Earth Canada.

"Evidence-based decision-making is a core tenet of our democracy. It demands that we use the best available information when making decisions that affect human health and the environment," said Faisal Moola, director-general of the David Suzuki foundation. "Disappointingly, the federal government has taken a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil approach when it comes to regulating these pesticides, which is why we are taking it to court."

The groups' lawsuit argues that the Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) failed to live up to its legal responsibilities as a regulator, and continues to unlawfully register a number of pesticides containing Clothianidin and Thiamethoxam for use and sale in Canada.

The federal Pest Control Products Act requires the PMRA to have "reasonable certainty" that a pesticide will cause no harm to the environment before registering it for use and sale in Canada. More than a decade ago, the PMRA granted "conditional" registrations for two neonicotinoid pesticides, putting off for a later day its review of scientific information on the pesticides' risks to pollinators. Years later the PMRA is still waiting for studies sufficient to justify "full" registration of the pesticides.

"Other jurisdictions have already moved to ban these pesticides over concerns about their impact on pollinators, the environment and human health," said Beth Clarke, Wilderness Committee development and program director. "It's time for the federal government to do its part to protect pollinators."

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For more information or to arrange an interview:

Julia Croome, Ecojustice, 1-800-926-7744 ext. 530, jcroome@ecojustice.ca

John Hassell, Ontario Nature, 416-444-8419 ext. 269, johnh@ontarionature.org

Brendan Glauser, David Suzuki Foundation, 604-356-8829, bglauser@davidsuzuki.org

Beatrice Olivastri, Friends of the Earth Canada, 613-724-8690, beatrice@foecanada.org

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Road safety more important than speed, new poll suggests

Bells on Bloor (Credit: Daragh Sankey)

A new Angus Reid Forum poll of 802 Torontonians shows 80 per cent support a "safe network of bicycle lanes" across the city.

That's a hugely encouraging statistic, especially because strong majority support runs throughout the metropolis. In the old City of Toronto, approval is at 84 per cent, but even in the inner suburbs of Etobicoke and Scarborough -- where car use is more widespread -- it's at 71 and 76 per cent, respectively. Uptown or downtown, it seems, people see the value of bike lanes even if they aren't cyclists themselves.

Support is also strong across age groups and gender. It's super high among people 18 to 34 -- 91 per cent -- perhaps because many of these folks ride bicycles and see the lanes as improving their personal security. Or they may like the idea of bike lanes -- quite apart from whether they use them -- believing the lanes mark the city as progressive and forward-looking, a hip place to live. But approval is high even among residents 55 and older, standing at 65 per cent. Support among men reaches 78 per cent; among women it's 81.

The media sometimes portray bike lanes as controversial, divisive. The polling suggests that's not true. Clearly, there's some variation between old and young, inner-city dwellers and those living in the 'burbs. But the lanes enjoy strong majority backing across all ages and neighbourhoods.

The pollsters also posed a query specifically about the bike lane on Bloor Street, asking residents if they would like to remove or keep it. Nearly seven out of 10 (69 per cent) opted for the latter. Unlike the earlier question, which asked about something abstract and future-oriented (a bike-lane network built over the next 10 years), the question on Bloor referenced infrastructure that already exists. The Bloor lane has been operating since last August, and some in the community have criticized it for impeding access to local businesses. Despite this complaint, a strong majority want it to remain in place. Among downtown residents, support is at 75 per cent. Even in Scarborough it has the backing of 63 per cent.

The poll asked Torontonians if they support reduced speed limits on local streets. Eighty-one per cent said they do. If decision-makers heed this call, it bodes well for increased bicycle use: lower traffic speeds are crucial if cycling is to attract new riders.

This question was positioned as a trade-off. It told survey responders, "lower speed limits reduce the severity of traffic collisions but may increase travel time." Notwithstanding this reference to the "downside" of lower speeds, the vast majority of respondents embrace them. Some of these folks must be drivers, so they're saying, in effect, "I don't mind additional restrictions on how fast I can travel." It seems motorists themselves are recognizing that cars move too quickly and, for the sake of safety, need to slow down. I'd call this realization progress. Earlier ages saw acceleration as essentially positive: Why constrain the car if you don't have to? Fortunately, this view is changing.

The polling illuminates something beyond attitudes to road infrastructure. It suggests Toronto is witnessing a new social consensus: extra restraints on auto use are widely endorsed if they foster injury-prevention. In the public mind, speed takes a backseat to well-being.

[The poll was prepared by Maru/Matchbox for the David Suzuki Foundation. Its margin of error is +/- 3.5%, 19 times out of 20.]

Protect the Bloor Bike Lane

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Nature offers the best defence against flooding

(Credit: Kurt Bauschardt via Flickr)

Spring flooding in Canada this year upended lives, inundated city streets and swamped houses, prompting calls for sandbags, seawalls and dikes to save communities. Ontario and Quebec's April rainfall was double the 30-year average. Thousands of homes in 130 Quebec municipalities stretching from the Ontario border to the Gaspé Peninsula flooded in May. Montreal residents raced to protect their homes and families as three dikes gave way and the city declared a state of emergency. The Ontario government had to boost its resources for an emergency flood response.

In Atlantic Canada, some parts of New Brunswick recorded more than 150 millimetres of rain during a nearly 36-hour, non-stop downpour. In B.C.'s Okanagan, rapidly melting snowpack and swelling creeks caused lake levels to rise to record heights. The City of West Kelowna declared a state of emergency and evacuated homes.

Floods have become one of the most visible signs of the effects of climate change in cities, towns and rural areas throughout Canada.

Spring floods aren't unusual, but the intensity and frequency of recent rains are breaking records. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the leading international body for climate change assessment, anticipates a significant increase in heavy precipitation events and flooding in many parts of the world, including Canada. When temperatures rise, the atmosphere carries more moisture so when it rains, it dumps. The Insurance Bureau of Canada found one in five Canadians faces some level of flood risk, and 1.8 million households are at very high risk.

Climate change-related events -- including floods, drought and fires -- are a drain on personal finances and the economy. With more than 80 significant floods in Canada since 2000, insurance costs are skyrocketing. The 2013 Alberta floods alone cost more than $6 billion. Canadians personally shoulder about $600 million each year in losses related to flooding. Around the world, insurers have paid out more than $200 billion over the past decade in claims for damages caused by coastal floods.

Deforestation, wetland destruction and artificial shoreline projects worsen the problem. Insurance agencies recognize that, compared to expensive infrastructure, keeping ecosystems healthy prevents climate disasters, saves money and improves resiliency. Lloyd's of London encourages insurers to consider the value of natural coastal habitats when pricing flood risk. One study found ecosystems such as wetlands are more effective than seawalls in protecting against coastal storms. Insurers say conserving nature is about 30 times cheaper than building seawalls.

Still, many jurisdictions focus on engineered structures such as rock walls or even giant sea gates for coastal flooding, dams and levees to hold back rivers, and draining to prevent wetlands from overflowing. But built infrastructure costs cash-strapped municipalities money, requires more maintenance and is less flexible than keeping natural areas intact.

Urban concrete and asphalt surfaces prevent water from infiltrating into the ground and increase storm-water runoff. Rain gardens, bioswales and permeable pavements better manage flooding by reducing runoff and protecting flood plains and foreshore areas. Nature absorbs rainfall and prevents excess water from overwhelming pipe networks, backing up sewers and pooling in streets and basements. Restored river channels, parkways and beaches reduce costs, add valued amenities, increase access to nature and improve community health.

Many local governments are trying to keep up by limiting development in flood zones, better managing flood plains and updating flood-management systems. Some, such as Gibsons, B.C., are using a new approach that considers nature as a vital part of the town's infrastructure and puts "natural capital" assets on equal footing with built assets. The Municipal Natural Assets Initiative helps local governments across Canada test this approach by giving them tools to identify and account for community natural assets and improve management.

The federal government has set aside $2 billion to help local governments defend against natural disasters like fire and flooding. It should allocate a significant portion to natural infrastructure solutions. This would create the foundation for a national study of how much natural infrastructure contributes to biodiversity conservation, economic productivity and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Despite recent investments, Canada lags behind other G7 nations in flood preparation and climate change adaptation. It's time we recognized the importance of intact nature and built green infrastructure as central to flood-prevention efforts. Nature can help us -- if we let it.

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