QUEST Canada wants to help local governments help their communities get to net-zero
“I don’t think any community has figured out how to get to net zero,” says Eddie Oldfield, senior lead of projects for Quest Canada, who are now recruiting for their expanded Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program. “Let alone our provincial or federal governments. But it does take all of us working together to get there,” says Oldfield.
With $2 million in funding from ACOA and complementary funding from individual provinces, QUEST Canada will be helping 15 different municipalities in the Atlantic Provinces create plans and undertake initiatives to help them get to net-zero emissions.
The Net Zero Communities Accelerator Program was originally piloted in New Brunswick, and towns like Oromocto, St. Andrews and Riverview have all participated. The new program includes four New Brunswick communities so far, including Salisbury, Riverview, Grand Bay-Westfield and Fredericton.
QUEST’s work with each municipality is a bit different, depending on where they are in the process of planning towards net-zero. In Oromocto, “they had a supportive council and staff that wanted to champion the way forward,” says Oldfield, so QUEST did brainstorming exercises, in-depth action planning, and helped the town come up with a community energy and emissions plan.
“There are other communities that come to us that already have a plan,” says Oldfield, but is not being implemented. “It’s literally a plan that sits on the corner of somebody’s desk,” says Oldfield.… Continue
Online ‘toolkit’ to help communities facing coastal erosion and flooding
A Sackville-based organization has launched a new Internet-based “toolkit” to help people in Atlantic Canada to adapt as the climate crisis results in increasingly erratic weather and rising sea levels.
CLIMAtlantic, a regional hub that provides information to help people deal with the effects of climate change, started operations in 2021 with funding from the federal government.
On Tuesday, the group launched the Coastal Adaptation Toolkit, which is mean to “help Atlantic rural coastal communities and property owners plan for the effects of climate change.”
Users respond to a series of questions about conditions at a specific site, such as as natural or human-made features that may offer some protection from flooding.
The system also queries users about policies that are in place locally, such as an emergency management plan.
The answers to those questions result in an automatically-generated report with a detailed list of possible measures to address the risk of flooding and coastal erosion.
It’s not a substitute for professional advice, but can serve as a first step for people facing extreme weather events like Hurricane Fiona, which hit Atlantic Canada last September.
“This is for educational purposes and information purposes,” said Sabine Dietz, executive director of CLIMAtlantic, in an interview with CHMA.
During the online launch, CLIMAtlantic also screened a new 12-minute documentary highlighting adaptation actions in the region.… Continue
Crucial green energy source or radioactive boondoggle? Legislative committee hears from witnesses on small modular nuclear reactors.
It’s an issue that never fails to generate controversy: nuclear energy. At stake is the future of the planet and billions of dollars.
NB Power says the controversial energy source is key for its strategy to generate low-carbon electricity.
The utility already operates the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, a CANDU reactor located about 50 km southwest of Saint John.
Among other sources, New Brunswick’s power mix also includes electricity from NB Power’s coal-fired Belledune Generating Station on the province’s north shore.
The federal government says that facility, one of the biggest emitters of greenhouse gases in the province, has to stop operations by 2030.
NB Power plans to build what’s called a small modular nuclear reactor, or SMR, at the site of the existing Point Lepreau nuclear site, on the Bay of Fundy.
Government and industry describe SMRs as “considerably smaller in size and power output than conventional nuclear power reactors, with enhanced safety features.”
Supporters say it will be a key component in global efforts to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
But opponents of nuclear energy say SMR technology is untested and risky, both for the environment and government coffers, and that it could even contribute to nuclear weapons proliferation.… Continue
‘Expect the previously unexpected’: Hurricane Fiona, rising sea levels show need to restore salt marshes for natural protection, says prof
With sea levels rising and weather patterns becoming more volatile, the storm that wreaked havoc in Atlantic Canada last month might be a mere sampling of things to come.
In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Prof. Jeff Ollerhead of Mount Allison University says decision-makers can reduce the risks of catastrophic flooding in the Tantramar area by restoring salt marshes.
“Are we seeing storms? Are we seeing impacts? Yes. Fiona has just reminded us of that,” he said. “And do we have the ability or the capacity to do something about this? Yes, we do.”
Ollerhead made those comments during a recent talk with the Bay of Fundy Ecosystem Partnership, described as a “virtual Institute” open to people interested in the well-being of the bay.
CHMA tuned into the talk to bring you highlights. Ollerhead started by talking about the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and how things appear to be changing faster than predicted.
Power failures, uprooted trees and a collapsed warehouse: Hurricane Fiona’s effects on Sackville
In Sackville, Hurricane Fiona caused prolonged power outages as hurricane-force winds knocked down trees and caused at least one building to collapse.
The warehouse on Crescent Street belongs to FRS Flooring Solutions.
“It was still standing Friday night,” said Damon Doncaster, a sales associate with the company. “I went to check on it… I think it was about 11 o’clock on Saturday morning, after I had heard a few rumours that the building had fallen.”
Sure enough, the old storage facility was a wreck.
Listen to Damon Doncaster speaking to CHMA on Tuesday, September 27, 2022:
Firefighters responded to about a dozen calls during the hurricane, according to Craig Bowser, chief of Sackville Fire and Rescue.
“Most of those calls were related to trees down on power lines, or power lines dangling, and we needed to secure an area for public safety,” he said.
Listen to Craig Bowser speaking to CHMA on Tuesday, September 27, 2022:
The Town of Sackville opened the Civic Centre as a warming centre for residents affected by power outages.
But very few people — perhaps just one or two — ended up using it, according to the municipality.
And one elderly Sackville resident said people on Devon Avenue were without power for more than 48 hours.
‘There’s still so much that we’re not doing’: Divest MTA leads climate protest Friday
This Friday, the students of Divest MTA will lead the Mount Allison community in another Fridays for Future global climate strike protest. Divest MTA is a long standing collective movement that is demanding Mount Allison divest its endowment funds from fossil fuels companies. But Friday’s protest has a broader call, says Divest member Kate DesRoches.
“It’s definitely part of a bigger movement that pushes for comprehensive climate action,” says DesRoches. “Our main ask is still divestment, but the Fridays for Future strikes are part of a global movement that is pushing for climate action in general.”
Divest MTA is starting the academic year on the heels of some successes from last year.
“We have a lot of momentum right now, despite the pandemic,” says DesRoches. “This past year, we’ve received a lot of support from the Mount A community. Even the university president has publicly supported us.”
One feather in the cap of the Divest MtA collective was a university talk featuring David Suzuki in November 2021, when the long-time environmentalist lambasted the University for its continued refusal to divest from fossil fuels.
“I think it’s disgraceful that after seven years Mount Allison hasn’t divested,” said Suzuki.… Continue
Amherst home to Nova Scotia’s first community solar garden
It’s easy to associate our neighbours across the provincial border with wind energy. As you cross into Nova Scotia you can’t miss the slowly spinning blades of about 15 turbines operated by Capstone Infrastructure (and if Capstone’s proposed expansion passes muster with the Nova Scotia government, there could be another dozen on the horizon.)
But head over into the Amherst industrial park and you’ll see another impressive, though much smaller renewable energy sight: about 4500 solar panels installed at a solar farm collecting energy on behalf of about 130 Nova Scotia Power customers, all paying a monthly fee to help run the pilot community solar program.
“Community solar is a way for us to offer solar energy to all Nova Scotians,” says Shawn Connell, the director of customer solutions at Nova Scotia Power, who owns the project. “It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment building, if you live in a condo, if your house can’t support solar panels, or you may have a roof that’s not quite situated in the right way to optimize the sun,” says Connell. “This allows you to get access to solar in increments that you’re able to manage.”
The Amherst community solar garden represents just a small percentage of the generating power of its wind turbine neighbours, but the 10-acre lot will still produce enough energy “to power roughly 240 homes, or if you look at it from an electric vehicle perspective, 700 electric vehicles,” says Connell.… Continue
Amherst beats Sackville to the punch with new electric Zamboni
As cross border neighbours, the towns of Amherst and Sackville like to indulge in some friendly competition, with respective mayors occasionally throwing down the gauntlet to see which community can outperform the other.
Last year Sackville scored a win in the active community department by outperforming our Nova Scotia neighbours in ParticipACTION’s Community Better challenge. But this week Amherst beat Sackville to the punch on another initiative that both towns have declared a priority: the move away from using fossil fuels.
On Tuesday, staff at the Amherst stadium got trained on a new piece of equipment: a battery-powered Zamboni to replace their former natural-gas-powered ice cleaning machine.
According to a news release from the town, the new Zamboni cost $200,000, and is powered by sealed lithium batteries that do not require maintenance, have the same life expectancy as a gas-powered engine, and are emissions-free.
Amherst mayor David Kogon says in the release, “the elimination of emissions will make the Amherst Stadium a much healthier, safer and enjoyable experience for the fans and the athletes.” It also “creates a cleaner space,” for arena employees to work in, says Kogon.
Sackville staff at the Tantramar Civic Centre will need to wait just a little longer for that cleaner air space. Sackville’s Zamboni is due to for replacement next year, and town engineer Dwayne Acton says plans are afoot to make the replacement an electric one.… Continue
Scale up climate adaptation ‘significantly,’ legislators told
Increased risk of flooding in the Sackville area was top-of-mind as a legislative committee on climate change began hearings last week.
Jamie Burke, chief administrative officer for the Town of Sackville, stressed concerns about floods affecting the Chignecto Isthmus, the narrow strip of land linking Nova Scotia to New Brunswick.
“Having this flooded is obviously is going to have a major financial impacts for the rest of the country and beyond,” he said as on Thursday, as the virtual hearings began.
Some $20 billion in goods move through the area along this transportation link annually, he told the standing committee on climate change and environmental stewardship.
“And we just have to look to our friends and on the west coast of British Columbia [to see] what happens when Mother Nature shows how relentless and cruel she can be,” he said, in an apparent reference to heavy rainfall in B.C. which led to disastrous flooding in November.
Burke said municipalities like Sackville don’t have the fiscal capacity to fund massive infrastructure projects necessary for climate change adaptation.
Sabine Dietz, executive director of CLIMAtlantic, a Sackville-based climate information clearinghouse, said government investments in climate change adaptation are inadequate.
“I understand that adaptation is not as sexy as electric cars not as sexy as solar panels,” said Dietz, who is also a member of Sackville town council.… Continue