| New youth climate change coalition to form
Youth organizations from across Canada will join together in Toronto on September 8 to 10 to form a new nationwide coalition to lobby for action from the federal Conservative government on climate change.
The new coalition will include Arctic Indigenous Alliance, Environment Jeunesse, Global Exchange, Indigenous Environmental Network, Sierra Youth Coalition and the Youth Environmental Network. The coalition does not have an official name yet.
Rosa Kouri, national director of the Sierra Youth Coalition, says the new coalition is important because it will allow youth around the country to create a co-ordinated lobbying effort to push governments to address climate change.
"We’re saying this is an issue that matters to youth," says Kouri. "It is going to directly impact our future. As far as we’re concerned, no one is really paying enough attention to how serious it is. It’s youth who are going to be dealing with it. We have to say this is our future and we need to do something now."
Kouri says the federal Conservative government is not taking any meaningful action on climate change and is instead "moving backwards" on the issue.
"Our government seems to be throwing our future off a cliff," he says. "Since they’re not coming to our defence we need to do it ourselves."
For more information about the coalition you can go to www.globalexchange.org.
Government caps water licences in South Saskatchewan River basin
Alberta Environment has decided to stop allowing any new water licence applications for the Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan rivers.
The government is taking the step because it recognizes that further water withdrawals from the river would damage the aquatic ecosystem.
"Basically we needed to take a hard look at the water supply in the South Saskatchewan Basin and through the data we gathered we basically saw that we needed to stop allocating the rivers because they’re at a point where they could be over allocated," says Sherri-Dawn Annett, spokesperson for Alberta Environment.
She says 80 per cent of people consulted during the government’s creation of the South Saskatchewan River Basin Water Management Plan supported an end to further water withdrawals from the river systems.
Annett says water conservation in southern Alberta will now be "paramount."
"Definitely with the population increasing and climate change it all has an effect. This water management plan is a signal to everyone we really need to look at how we’re using this water to make sure these rivers are still flowing in 20, 50 to 100 years," she says.
A cap on water withdrawals is something Danielle Droitsch, with the Bow Riverkeeper environmental group, has been pushing for. The Bow Riverkeeper is a chapter of the international Waterkeeper Alliance, which has 156 local chapters that fight to protect waterways around the world.
New office for NUTV
NUTV, a community television station that offers campus programming at the University of Calgary, as well as on Shaw, finally has some new digs after years of trying to operate out of a crowded, hard to find space.
"It’s pretty exciting," says Michelle Wong, executive director of NUTV. "It was like we were living in an apartment. Now it’s like we’re living in a home."
NUTV’s new office is 2,500 square feet and features a large new studio, three editing suites and four offices, as well as a members lounge where people can hang out. It is located on the third floor of the old Mac Hall on the same floor as The Gauntlet. There are also plans for CJSW to move into space on the floor so all campus media will be in one space.
Wong says she is hoping the brand new office will attract new members who will take advantage of all NUTV has to offer. For $30 a year for community members and $10 a year for students, members can access training, space and equipment.
"A person can come in off the street, join up and start creating television," says Wong.
Past members have included filmmakers Gary Burns and Michael Dowse.
NUTV is holding an open house to celebrate its new space and its 15th anniversary on September 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. The open house will include screenings and tours of the space. For more information on NUTV go to www.nutv.ca. |
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