Wanted: Government ownership over the common good to achieve climate justice | Corporate Knights: By acknowledging that we cannot rely solely on pollution pricing to
tackle climate change, Canada’s federal political parties have all
signalled their readiness to take ownership over climate mitigation and
adaptation.

But taking responsibility means governments must establish a
comprehensive strategy for change that includes specific and measurable
goals. They must integrate those goals into objectives and leaders’
performance metrics. Of critical importance, they need to allocate
resources commensurate with the scale of the challenge they’re taking
on. And along the way, they must establish mechanisms for transparency
and accountability.

So what is holding governments back? First, let’s recognize that we
are talking about complex change, which is rarely easy. Governments are
often trying to find consensus among stakeholder groups with divergent
interests, and climate change is competing with a breadth of other
priorities that in the past have been seen as more urgent. Also, we are
still influenced by a neoliberal ideology that sees good government as
one that embraces the free market, not shapes it, as well as outdated
cost-benefit calculations that value economy over environment. More
generally, governments seem to be enacting climate mitigation measures
on one hand while investing in greenhouse-gas-emitting systems on the
other. Yes, we have $17.6 billion in new spending, but we continue to
invest in pipelines and subsidies to the oil and gas industry, and we
have failed to really reckon with the fact that we have an economic
system that is focused on driving infinite growth on a planet with
finite resources.

Wanted: Government ownership over the common good to achieve climate justice | Corporate Knights: By acknowledging that we cannot rely solely on pollution pricing to
tackle climate change, Canada’s federal political parties have all
signalled their readiness to take ownership over climate mitigation and
adaptation.But taking responsibility means governments must establish a
comprehensive strategy for change that includes specific and measurable
goals. They must integrate those goals into objectives and leaders’
performance metrics. Of critical importance, they need to allocate
resources commensurate with the scale of the challenge they’re taking
on. And along the way, they must establish mechanisms for transparency
and accountability.So what is holding governments back? First, let’s recognize that we
are talking about complex change, which is rarely easy. Governments are
often trying to find consensus among stakeholder groups with divergent
interests, and climate change is competing with a breadth of other
priorities that in the past have been seen as more urgent. Also, we are
still influenced by a neoliberal ideology that sees good government as
one that embraces the free market, not shapes it, as well as outdated
cost-benefit calculations that value economy over environment. More
generally, governments seem to be enacting climate mitigation measures
on one hand while investing in greenhouse-gas-emitting systems on the
other. Yes, we have $17.6 billion in new spending, but we continue to
invest in pipelines and subsidies to the oil and gas industry, and we
have failed to really reckon with the fact that we have an economic
system that is focused on driving infinite growth on a planet with
finite resources.Read More

Helicopter ‘Sand-Blasts’ Line 3 Opponents, 200 Arrested at Peaceful Protest – The Energy Mix:

In a widely-shared video first posted to Twitter by Minnesota Public
Radio, an AS350 helicopter can be seen using its downwash to
“sand-blast” some 500 Indigenous and allied protestors who had turned
out to blockade an active pump station along Line 3, writes
climate journalist Emily Atkin in her Heated newsletter. While pilot’s
intentions remain unclear, Atkin writes, the Department of Homeland
Security helicopter hovered largely above a group who had chained
themselves to Enbridge’s construction equipment—and thus were unable to
flee.

Helicopter ‘Sand-Blasts’ Line 3 Opponents, 200 Arrested at Peaceful Protest – The Energy Mix: In a widely-shared video first posted to Twitter by Minnesota Public
Radio, an AS350 helicopter can be seen using its downwash to
“sand-blast” some 500 Indigenous and allied protestors who had turned
out to blockade an active pump station along Line 3, writes
climate journalist Emily Atkin in her Heated newsletter. While pilot’s
intentions remain unclear, Atkin writes, the Department of Homeland
Security helicopter hovered largely above a group who had chained
themselves to Enbridge’s construction equipment—and thus were unable to
flee.Read More

Muslim Family Killed in ‘Hate-Motivated’ Attack, Canadian Police Say – VICE: Four
pedestrians are dead after a man allegedly intentionally drove his
truck into a Muslim family he saw waiting at an intersection in London,
Ontario, in what police are calling a hate-motivated attack.

A
girl, 15, woman, 74, man, 46, and a woman, 44, were killed when a man
ran them down in a black pickup truck Sunday night, local police said.  A
9-year-old boy sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Police said those killed were all members of the same family, and that
family members have requested their names not be released.

At a press release Monday afternoon, police said that they believe the crimes to be hate-motivated.

Muslim Family Killed in ‘Hate-Motivated’ Attack, Canadian Police Say – VICE: Four
pedestrians are dead after a man allegedly intentionally drove his
truck into a Muslim family he saw waiting at an intersection in London,
Ontario, in what police are calling a hate-motivated attack. A
girl, 15, woman, 74, man, 46, and a woman, 44, were killed when a man
ran them down in a black pickup truck Sunday night, local police said.  A
9-year-old boy sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.
Police said those killed were all members of the same family, and that
family members have requested their names not be released. At a press release Monday afternoon, police said that they believe the crimes to be hate-motivated.Read More

Pipeline foes gear up for large northern Minnesota protests: Organizers say they expect hundreds of people to participate in the
“Treaty People Gathering,” which they are billing as the largest show of
resistance yet to the project. They plan to march to the headwaters of
the Mississippi River, one of the water crossings for the pipeline,
where they will deliver speeches and participate in organized civil
disobedience.

Opponents of the project have said they will do whatever it takes to
block completion of the project, including risk being arrested. Among
those they say will be on hand Monday will be actors Jane Fonda,
Catherine Keener, Rosanna Arquette and Taylor Schilling, as well as
environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.

Pipeline foes gear up for large northern Minnesota protests: Organizers say they expect hundreds of people to participate in the
“Treaty People Gathering,” which they are billing as the largest show of
resistance yet to the project. They plan to march to the headwaters of
the Mississippi River, one of the water crossings for the pipeline,
where they will deliver speeches and participate in organized civil
disobedience.Opponents of the project have said they will do whatever it takes to
block completion of the project, including risk being arrested. Among
those they say will be on hand Monday will be actors Jane Fonda,
Catherine Keener, Rosanna Arquette and Taylor Schilling, as well as
environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.Read More

The health costs of climate change | Canadian Institute for Climate Choices: “Climate change is not just an
environmental and economic threat. It’s also a threat to public
health—and policy isn’t keeping up.” Such are the opening words of

a new report

from the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, which explores the impact of climate change on the health of Canadians.

As the institute’s director of adaptation told CTV News,
Canada is facing a climate-change-induced public health crisis, “the
consequences of which will disproportionately be borne by those who are
already grappling with an outsized share of health inequities.” From
more food-borne illnesses to increasing cases of tick-borne Lyme
disease, the impacts are far-reaching.

The report was joined the same week by a new study that found that more than a third of heat-related deaths in many parts of the world can be attributed to climate change. And with early summer heatwaves already breaking temperature records and a hot, dry summer predicted
for much of Canada, it’s clear that urgent action to mitigate, adapt,
and prepare for the effects of climate change is essential.

The health costs of climate change | Canadian Institute for Climate Choices: “Climate change is not just an
environmental and economic threat. It’s also a threat to public
health—and policy isn’t keeping up.” Such are the opening words of a new report from the Canadian Institute for Climate Choices, which explores the impact of climate change on the health of Canadians.

As the institute’s director of adaptation told CTV News,
Canada is facing a climate-change-induced public health crisis, “the
consequences of which will disproportionately be borne by those who are
already grappling with an outsized share of health inequities.” From
more food-borne illnesses to increasing cases of tick-borne Lyme
disease, the impacts are far-reaching.The report was joined the same week by a new study that found that more than a third of heat-related deaths in many parts of the world can be attributed to climate change. And with early summer heatwaves already breaking temperature records and a hot, dry summer predicted
for much of Canada, it’s clear that urgent action to mitigate, adapt,
and prepare for the effects of climate change is essential.Read More