We followed an old-growth detective into the forest to fact-check B.C.’s suspicious claims about the age of trees

This July, reporter Sarah Cox got a bird’s-eye view of some of the reasons why B.C.’s deep-snow caribou populations are dwindling.

A reporting trip — following an old-growth detective into the shrinking bounds of a disappearing inland temperate rainforest — led her down a path that was perhaps crossed earlier by migrating caribou, bears or deer.

After navigating the maze of logging roads in Nagle Creek Valley, 150 kilometres north of Revelstoke, B.C., Sarah and Eddie Petryshen found themselves hiking deeper into the globally rare rainforest to ground-truth the age of trees. https://thenarwhal.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4ccbf5717196773d100e7ecd&id=943e90cd03&e=545de27860

According to BC Timber Sales, the provincial agency responsible for planning and auctioning off logging cutblocks, the cedar and hemlock trees in the forest are between 224 and 336 years old. Forests older than 400 years are automatically off-limits to logging: classified as ancient, they meet B.C.’s criteria for old-growth logging deferrals.

Petryshen, who works with the conservation group Wildsight, wanted to verify the age of the trees himself. Sarah watched him use a diameter measuring tape to gauge the age of ancient cedar trees in one of the planned cutblocks.

His findings? The trees were well over 400 years old — meaning groves of old-growth trees are on the chopping block https://thenarwhal.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=d4ccbf5717196773d100e7ecd&id=106cdf95c6&e=545de27860, despite the province’s promise to protect ancient forests and biodiversity.

“This is a red-listed ecosystem right at imminent threat of ecosystem collapse,” he told Sarah. “The longer we wait to act, the closer we get to that collapse.”

As Sarah’s in-depth feature suggests, sometimes you just have to be on the ground to get the full picture. |Read more https://thenarwhal.ca/bc-rainforest-old-growth-detectives/ | thenarwhal.ca/bc-rainforest-ol…

#bcpoli #environment #OldGrowth #logging #rainforest #cedar #hemlock #ancient #off-limits

Generative AI, deepfakes will ‘pollute’ election campaigns, CSE warns

Canada’s cybersecurity watchdog is warning fake images and videos created by artificial intelligence (AI) will “very likely” be used to try to undermine voters’ faith in democracy in upcoming election campaigns.

In a new report published Wednesday, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) stated AI-created deepfakes – computer-generated images and videos that show events that did not take place – “will almost certainly become more difficult to detect, making it harder for Canadians to trust online information about politicians or elections.”

“Despite the potential creative benefits of generative AI, its ability to pollute the information ecosystem with disinformation threatens democratic processes worldwide,” the agency wrote.

“So to be clear, we assess the cyber threat activity is more likely to happen during Canada’s next federal election than it was in the past,” CSE chief Caroline Xavier said.

“AI-generated deepfakes can create a video of something that never happened and put words into politicians’ mouths that they never said,” Xavier said, speaking at a press conference in Ottawa.

She added that social botnets (networks of accounts that spread items on social media) “enhanced by AI can artificially amplify disinformation that’s already out there to fan the flames of political discord and push people to more extreme positions.”

While the technology isn’t widely used yet, the report states the CSE expects use to increase in the next two years. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10151522/cse-report-artificial-intelligence-election-threats/ | globalnews.ca/news/10151522/cs…

#cdnpoli #election#DeepFake #democracy #disinformation #CSE #extreme #AI

Food prices set to rise in 2024, report says. But more ‘good news’ than year prior

Steve’s Note

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. There is no good news, it just isn’t as bad as they thought it could have been.

Canadians hoping for better food prices going into 2024 may not get their wish immediately, but as inflation cools, a new report suggests people could soon see some savings at the grocery store.

The 2024 Food Price Report released by Canadian researchers Thursday estimates food prices will increase by 2.5 to 4.5 per cent over the next year, which is down from the five to seven per cent forecast a year prior. It comes as the heads of two major grocers in Canada are testifying at the House of Commons agriculture committee about plans to stabilize food costs.

“That doesn’t mean that everything is going to be cheaper than it was before. It absolutely is not,” said Janet Music, one of the authors of the report, in an interview with Global News. “But it’s not going to be as expensive if things were going to keep going as they were.”

The report predicts food costs will go up across most categories, with the highest being among bakery, meat and vegetables — all showing an estimated five to seven per cent increase. However, the report expects dairy and fruits will see the lowest rise, at just one to two per cent. Restaurants are expected to see a modest increase of three to five per cent, while what the report calls “other” foods will rise about two to four.

Johnson said with input costs decreasing it has meant a drop in grain prices, while the declining oil prices has resulted in a drop in transportation costs for food as well. He said these factors, as well as other drops in costs like packaging, will likely help ease some of the shocking prices seen earlier this year.

“I think the good news for the consumer is that we’ll continue to see a deceleration of food prices in 2024, probably in the range of around three per cent throughout the year,” Johnson said. |Read more https://globalnews.ca/news/10150504/canada-food-price-report-2024/ | globalnews.ca/news/10150504/ca…

#cdnpoli #inflation #FoodPrices #money #politics #meat #dairy

ALBERTA FIRST! Province Wins Fossil of the Day Award at UN Climate Conference

Alberta took home a coveted Fossil of the Day award, Quebec became co-president of the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance, and the Saskatchewan government faced a blistering hometown parody of its $764,000 COP28 pavilion as the first week of make-or-break climate negotiations in Dubai drew to a close.

Since 1999, civil society groups attending the annual United Nations climate conference have issued the daily fossil award to the country or negotiating bloc that has done the most to obstruct meaningful progress on emission reductions and climate adaptation. It’s rarely bestowed on anyone who isn’t a party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), so provincial and state governments aren’t usually eligible.

But “today’s winner managed to outshine their peers and earn the rare honour, or should we say dishonour, of being a subnational government getting a fossil of the day,” organizers said in a release. “The province of Alberta, Canada has come to COP with one mission, to sabotage the negotiations.”

“I don’t think we could have won this award without being the deadliest death economy in all of the world, in all of Canada,” said Dr. Angele Alook of York University, Nehiyaw Iskwew and member of Bigstone Cree Nation in Treaty 8 territory, who accepted the award on Alberta’s behalf. “We like to poison the water, kill the forests, and violate Indigenous Peoples’ rights.”

The release cites Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who arrived at the COP last Friday in the company of a reported [pdf] 100 fossil industry delegates, as a politician whose “previous work as a fossil fuel lobbyist was good experience for disrupting Canada’s stance on the fossil fuel phaseout debate at COP. But she can’t take all the credit, she had the support of an extensive delegation of oil and gas representatives.”

CBC adds that the award was partly a response to Alberta’s decision to slap a seven-month moratorium on new solar and wind development earlier this year. The announcement sidestepped the concerns of some rural municipalities and cost the province an estimated C$33 billion in economic activity and 24,000 jobs, at a moment when Alberta was leading the country in renewable energy deployment.

“Alberta, we don’t want you to end up like your namesake, the long-extinct Albertosaurus,” Climate Action Network-International says in the release. “Listen to what people in your own province want—a plan to transition from dependency on volatile fossil fuels to the opportunities of clean energy, in a way that protects workers—or you’ll get left behind.” |Read more https://www.theenergymix.com/alberta-first-province-wins-fossil-of-the-day-award-at-un-climate-conference/ | theenergymix.com/alberta-first…

#COP28 #cdnpoli #abpoli #laughingstock #dishonour #DanielleSmith #obstruction #ClimateChange #lobbyist #poison #kill #emissions

Indigenous Nations and Environmental Advocates Denounce Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s Greenwashing at COP28

Indigenous nations impacted by pollution in the tar sands counter the Government of Alberta’s COP28 narrative of being a “clean energy leader”

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Today, members from Indigenous communities downstream of the tar sands and environmental advocates held a demonstration in response to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s presence at COP28.

“Time and time again we have been told to trust that the Alberta Government and that government and industry have our best interests in mind,” shares Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action and member of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. “Not only do they continually fail to protect our lands and honour our rights, but they actively put all of the people of Alberta at risk by undermining a just and equitable transition within our province. It’s always profits before people in the tar sands and it’s our communities that pay the ultimate price.”

This year in the tar sands region, a major toxic tailings leak, which was covered up for nine months, made international headlines. However, the Alberta Energy Regulator absolved itself of any responsibility and conducted an ‘independent’ inquiry which reduced the concerns being raised to a communications issue rather than a failure to uphold their duty to Indigenous peoples.

“The Government of Alberta is on a greenwashing tour at COP28. Premier Smith is attending COP28 to sing the praises of the fossil fuel industry. Yet she continues to turn a blind eye to the active seepage of toxic tailings into Indigenous communities’ lands and waters, including the recent Imperial Oil spill and cover-up,” said Aliénor Rougeot, Climate and Energy Program Manager at Environmental Defence. |Read more https://environmentaldefence.ca/2023/12/05/indigenous-nations-and-environmental-advocates-denounce-alberta-premier-danielle-smiths-greenwashing-at-cop28/ | environmentaldefence.ca/2023/1…

#cdnpoli #Indigenous #FirstNations #UCP #greenwashing #abpoli #AER #toxic