Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Bad news for Canadian fish: Fewer people are catching them

By Tom Spears, Ottawa Citizen, March 19, 2019

A prominent Ottawa biologist wants more of us to pick up a fishing rod and reconnect with nature as a way of protecting our lakes and rivers and the wildlife in them.

Steven Cooke of Carleton University says the latest survey from Fisheries and Oceans Canada shows a problem: Fishing is at risk of becoming an old man’s pastime.

Released two weeks ago, the Survey of Recreational Fishing in Canada, 2015 shows that the sport fishing population “continues to age. So we are failing to recruit new anglers,” he said.

Students pushing for OC Transpo to go completely electric by 2035

By Jenn Pritchard, 1310 News, March 13, 2019

The e-Bus Ottawa Campaign is being launched by students from both the University of Ottawa and Carleton University who want to make a change to the environment at the municipal level.

Student organizer Justin Larsen said he got involved in the project because young people are fearful of the future and he wanted to do something to make Ottawa a better place.

"I'm doing this for everybody that is scared to live another 10 years, because I believe that if you start now, you might have a shot," Larsen explained.

The e-Bus Ottawa Campaign is a partnership between the students, the Electric Vehicle Council of Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa and the Healthy Transportation Coalition.

A beginner's guide to zero-waste grocery stores

By Truc Nguyen, CBC News, March 13, 2019

The average Canadian generates roughly 668 kilograms of waste per year, according to recent statistics. These days, many of us are actively working to lower that number by ditching single-use coffee cups for reusable tumblers, packing litterless lunches, bringing cloth bags to the grocery store and forgoing plastic straws altogether.

If you're feeling inspired by the zero-waste movement — championed by Bea Johnson, the bestselling author of Zero Waste Home — and want to drastically lower your individual waste footprint, you may want to re-examine how you shop for groceries and other household items, too.

Beyond farmers markets and traditional bulk food stores, two reliably great destinations for zero-waste enthusiasts, a surprising number of waste-free grocery stores have opened across Canada in the last three years, selling consumables like kombucha, olive oil and tofu without packaging to eco-conscious customers.

On the world stage, Canadian oil majors promote a carbon tax

By Kyle Bakx, CBC News, March 13, 2019

Executives from a pair of Canadian oilsands companies extolled the virtues of a carbon tax on one of the largest stages for the global energy sector.

Climate change is one of the dominant topics of this year's CERAWeek, a conference in Houston sometimes dubbed the Super Bowl of the world's energy sector. This year's conference has gathered together 4,000 delegates from 70 countries, including politicians, investors and oilpatch executives.

The governments of Alberta and Canada are close to getting it right on tackling carbon emissions, said Janet Annesley, a senior vice-president with Husky Energy, during one of Tuesday's panel discussions.

Citizens' groups decry closure of zoning appeal agency Social Sharing

By Giacomo Panico, CBC News Ottawa, March 6, 2019

A coalition of citizen and environmental advocacy groups in Ottawa is calling on the Ford government to reverse its decision to shut down a newly formed agency that helps residents challenge zoning decisions.

The Local Planning Appeal Support Centre (LPASC) was created in April 2018 as part of the previous Liberal government's changes to the former Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), a body long criticized for favouring developers in its decisions on local zoning matters.

Paul Johanis, chair of the Greenspace Alliance of Canada's Capital, said his group is teaming up with Ecology Ottawa and the Federation of Citizens' Associations of Ottawa to demand the province keep the LPASC afloat.

Forget the snowy winters of your childhood

By Nael Shiab, ICI Radio Canada, March 5, 2019

Don’t be fooled by the near-blizzards we’ve endured in recent weeks. The long, snowy winters of your childhood are gone forever. The vast, white fields of snow that blanket Canada are shrinking more every decade, particularly in Quebec.

The repercussions — social, economic and environmental — are everywhere. There is no way to reverse those changes in our lifetime, experts say, but we do have one last chance to mitigate the consequences.

CBC/Radio Canada analyzed snowfall data collected by Environment Canada since the 1950s. That winter, the season that defines this land and our identity, is changing is an undeniable fact.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/info/2019/03/neige-accumulation-hiver-quebec-environnement-meteo-gel-degel/index-en.html

Residents oppose Carp Road concrete plant

By Giacomo Panico, CBC News Ottawa, March 7, 2019

A City of Ottawa committee approved a construction company's request to build a concrete plant on Carp Road, despite opposition from neighbours who say the site was never meant for this kind of industrial use.

Thomas Cavanagh Construction Limited said the site at 2596 Carp Rd. makes sense since it's in an industrial area and close to the 417, meaning concrete trucks can more easily deliver their loads to projects in downtown Ottawa.

More than a dozen residents showed up Thursday at the city's Agricultural and Rural Affairs Committee to speak out against the development. They said a concrete plant does not respect the community design plan for the Carp Road corridor.

(...)"My concern is primarily for the water and the air. It's going to mean additional pollution and dust," said Prior.

'It's Vanier's time': Ottawa neighbourhood set for $50M renewal project

By Vito Pilieci, Ottawa Citizen, March 9, 2019

The owner of Bobby’s Table, a small family restaurant located on Montreal Road, always seems to be busy.

On a recent Tuesday, his place is packed before 9 am. The only seats left are next to the cash register on raised bar stools.

The diner was born in 2009 from the ashes of the famed Nate’s Deli on Rideau Street, and has since become somewhat of a fixture in Vanier. It attracts customers from across the city and plays host to a group of regulars daily.

(...)New water mains and sewers will be installed, electrical lines are expected to be buried in order to expand sidewalks. The road is being resurfaced. New community spaces and parks are to be added. Bike lanes, in the form of elevated cycling paths, will be constructed, creating a link between Vanier and Rideau Street to encourage commuters to bike downtown. As much as $400,000 has also been set aside for public art installations along the roadway.

NCC to develop LeBreton Flats in stages

By Kate Porter, CBC News Ottawa, March 7, 2019

The National Capital Commission is taking a new approach to LeBreton Flats by offering up pieces of the 21-hectare property for development in stages, but says the do-over might not include an NHL arena.

"It's not essential. It's possible. We're not conditioning the development of this project on an arena or a major event centre," said Tobi Nussbaum, the NCC's new chief executive, during a teleconference Tuesday.

Unlike the previous strategy to redevelop the prime land west of Ottawa's downtown core, this one isn't focused on any single anchor tenant or landmark.

Ottawa Is The Coldest Capital City In The World Right Now

By Narcity, March 7, 2019

Yes, we know it's cold.  And yes, we're sick of hearing it. But, no matter how many times we learn a crazy fact about how brutal Canada's winter really is, it never gets any less shocking, does it? On the morning of March 7th, as Ontario continues to hover 10 to 15°C below seasonal, Ottawa has it the worst once again. As of 5:00 AM Thursday morning, Ottawa is the coldest of the world's capital cities, beating out competitors like Reykjavik and Moscow.

CTV Ottawa's Josh Pringle reported it this morning. At 5:00 AM, it was an arctic -19°C in Ottawa. The Weather Network now tells us it has dipped to -20°C, feeling like -21°C.  That's not just a few, but many degrees colder than other capital cities in the world right now,  according to Time and Date's World Temperatures List.

Why Kingston has declared a climate emergency — and what that really means

By David Rockne Corrigan, TVO, March 7, 2019

KINGSTON — Following in the footsteps of Vancouver, Halifax, and more than 300 municipalities in Quebec, Kingston city council unanimously passed a motion on Tuesday night to declare a climate emergency.

“Therefore be it resolved, that the City of Kingston, officially declare a climate emergency for the purposes of naming, framing, and deepening our commitment to protecting our economy, our eco systems, and our community from climate change,” read the motion brought forward by councillor Robert Kiley.

Kingston has called itself “Canada’s most sustainable city” since 2009; its climate action plan, released in 2014, was ranked number one in a November 2018 survey of municipal climate action plans from across the country. Now it’s the first Ontario city to declare such an emergency.

Rideau Valley Conservation Authority warns of potential for above average spring flooding

By InsideOttawaValley.com, March 7, 2019 Lots of snow means lots of melt. The Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) reports that over 250 cm of snow has fallen in the region to date, with no significant thaw events in between — meaning the snow pack throughout the Rideau Valley watershed is well above average.

Current conditions at several RVCA snow course sites are indicating near-record water content amounts in the snow for this time of year, generally not seen since the late 1970s.

(...)The RVCA reported that the two other key factors influencing actual flood conditions are precipitation and temperatures in March and April.