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New protections planned for captive marine mammals - but no word on updating zoo licensingThe government plans to move ahead with enhanced standards of care for captive marine mammals. This should ensure greater protection and improved treatment for animals like dolphins, belugas, and walruses. The new standards are expected to cover the size of enclosures, noise and light levels, and social groupings. This government action was seemingly prompted by a Toronto Star investigation into reports of animal suffering at Marineland.
What the government hasn't promised yet, however, is to review and update Ontario's zoo licensing policies. While zoos need a license to keep chipmunks, raccoons, and bullfrogs in captivity, incredibly a license isn't required to keep whales, dolphins, lions, chimps or elephants. Click here to read a blog post from the Environmental Commissioner on the need to update Ontario's zoo licensing. -
How should government plan for population growth?This is a big issue to be addressed during the 2015 review of the plans for the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Check out ECO's last Annual Report on the rocky rollout of the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
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Spring is a great time of year to slim down your home's energy consumption
Start by keeping it simple, like cleaning the condenser coils on your fridge and freezer with your vacuum, and cleaning or replacing your furnace filter. You can also check your window seals for damage from the winter. Little tasks like this can help you make your home more efficient! If you want to see the results of your efforts, you can download your green button data to look at your hourly electricity consumption, which is recorded by your home's smart meter. -
Are you a landowner interested in adding trees to your property?You might qualify for participation in Ontario's 50 Million Tree Program!
In August 2007, The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry announced a plan to plant 50 million trees in Ontario by 2020. Afforestation (planting new forests and stands of trees) in Ontario is so important, that the ECO recommended that the goal should be 1 billion trees. Even though the official goal comes up short, this is an important program and we encourage landowners to consider whether they qualify - you can find out more by visiting the Trees Ontario website. -
#TBT the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Environmental Bill of Rights, we have captured some stories and memories from Ontario's unique environmental history.
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Will you visit a Provincial Park this year?
As Spring starts to creep across the province, many people are starting to think about their plans for the warmer weather - for many, this means planning a trip (or trips) to some of Ontario's provincial parks. Lovers of outdoor adventure might be especially interested in ECO's 2012/2013 article Protected Areas Planning: A Lost Priority, which discusses several recent, troubling changes in Ontario's protected areas policies. -
Are you the competitive type?Social benchmarking allows you to compare how your energy use stacks up against friends, family, and other homes in your area (or further!)
The idea is to encourage you to try and have the lowest consumption in town! Learn more about how behavioural science can lower your energy bill. -
The road to Paris is paved with subnational intentionsLast week was an important milestone on the road to the next United Nations (UN) climate change conference in Paris this December. March 31st was the deadline for countries to submit their greenhouse gas reduction targets for the next round of UN negotiations. Many believe a binding international climate change agreement may finally be reached in Paris.In the Canadian context, it appears subnational governments are taking leadership in making progress on this front. See our blog on this subject here.
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#TBT The birth of the Environmental Bill of Rights, 1993.In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Environmental Bill of Rights, we have captured some stories and memories from Ontario's unique environmental history.
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Lights across Ontario flickered on March 17th, reportedly because of an issue with a transmission line in Etobicoke. The problem travelled across our grid and made its way all the way up to Ottawa (466 km from Etobicoke!) This shows you just how interconnected our electricity system really is. The nature of how different parts of our current electricity grid work together are shown in the our recent Smart Grid Report. Examples in the report demonstrate how our electricity network can be leveraged to work more efficiently in the future. Click here to read our Smart Grid Report.
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Ontario is facing many complex challenges in land use planning: including biodiversity loss, climate change, and food security. The ECO zeroed in on these problems in our last look at what the government is doing about land use planning. Have your say on the Environmental Registry on the government's big review of the plans for the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
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Did you know? Tallgrass Prairies were once common across Southern OntarioHowever, only a fraction - 2 to 3 per cent - remain today. Alvars (limestone plains with thin or no soil) and coastal dunes are also rare, and all three habitats are important for many species at risk. As the chart below shows, while the province has protected most coastal dune habitat, much prairie and alvar habitat is not protected.
You can learn more about the importance of tallgrass prairies, alvars and coastal dunes, in this article from the ECO's 2012/2013 Annual Report. -
ECO celebrates Earth Hour this weekend (and all year round!)This Saturday, March 27th, at 8:30pm, people around the world will be uniting to celebrate Earth Hour by turning off their lights. Earth Hour raises awareness about the need to protect our planet and ensure its sustainability for future generations. The ECO supports these goals all year round by producing independent annual reports to Ontario's Legislative Assembly on the province's progress in meeting its environmental protection responsibilities. You can view our annual reports, Greenhouse Gas Reports, and Energy Conservation Progress Reports here.
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Considering new ways to keep you warm next winter?Increasing numbers of Ontarians are using ground-source heating and cooling systems (i.e., "geothermal") to control the temperature in their homes. As the figure below shows, there are a number of different systems, which are sometimes subject to different rules, risks and benefits.If you are considering such an installation in your home, you'll be interested in the ECO's discussion of geothermal systems from our 2012/2013 Annual Report.
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The siting of aggregate operations is always a big issue in land use planning. It's also a topic that the ECO has reported on many times. The government has just launched its review of the plans for the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Have your say on the Environmental Registry!
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ECO Climate Data Roundtable:The ECO hosted a roundtable on the state of climate data in Ontario in early January 2015. You can see videos from the roundtable here, including one from Ontario's foremost climate data scientists, Professor Richard Peltier. For more information on climate data in Ontario, read our blog here.
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"Imperfect" does not mean "inedible"!You may have read in the news that a large Canadian grocery chain is starting to sell "imperfect" produce - perfectly edible but misshapen, blemished or undersized vegetables and fruits - at a discount in some of its stores in Ontario and Quebec. The move, which will start with apples and potatoes, is an effort to reduce food waste - a problem that is now estimated to cost Canadians $31 billion per year.
You can read what the ECO had to say about the environmental consequences of letting food go to waste in our 2011/2012 Annual Report. -
The plans for the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe are up for review - submit your comments! The ECO has reported on issues affecting the Oak Ridges Moraine for more than a decade. Now it's your turn to tell the government what your thoughts are!
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Help shape Ontario's Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan!
Be a part of Ontario's Climate Change Strategy & Action Plan consultations happening online through the EBR until the end of the month, and in person in Ottawa (March 11th), London (March 12th), Kingston (March 12th), Hamilton (March 16th), Guelph (March 18th), Aurora (March 18th), Windsor (March 19th), Kitchener-Waterloo (March 19th), and potentially more locations TBA.Want some inspiration? Have a look at what the Environmental Commissioner has had to say about Ontario's action on climate change and greenhouse gas reduction in our Annual GHG Progress Reports. -
Ontarians using the Environmental Bill of Rights to push for more recyclingUnder the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) you can ask the government for a new environmental policy, act or regulation, or changes to existing ones.A few years ago, two Ontarians used this tool to request that businesses (like retailers and office buildings) of all sizes (not just those in buildings greater than 10,000 m2) be required to implement source separation programs. These sorts of programs give people the opportunity to throw away different materials (like glass, paper, and plastics) in different containers, resulting in improved and more efficient recycling.The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change agreed to conduct a review, and the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) wrote about this in Section 2.1.6 of the Supplement to our 2013/2014 Annual Report.What will be the result of the review? Stay tuned! The ECO will cover this story in an upcoming Annual Report.
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The Government has launched its review of the plans for the Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine, Niagara Escarpment, and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Have your say on the Environmental Registry! Check out what the ECO first had to say about the Greenbelt Plan many years ago. Still true?
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Register now for a workshop on tips for exercising your environmental rights!On March 2nd and 6th, staff of the Environmental Commissioner's office will be giving an interactive workshop in Toronto that introduces attendees to Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), a powerful toolkit for environmental change.Whether your issue is wildlife or water taking permits, alvars or air quality, greenhouse gases or gravel pits, you want to ensure you understand the full range of tools at your disposal. This is your chance to ask questions and learn about:
- The Environmental Registry;
- How to bring environmental concerns to the government's attention;
- The Environmental Commissioner's reports; and
- Other EBR rights
Space fills up fast, so register by clicking here! -
Ontarians asked for - and got - action on environmental issues at Windsor Electroplating facilityTwo Ontarians recently used the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) to ask the government to investigate soil and groundwater contamination at an electroplating facility in Windsor. After reviewing their request, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change agreed to investigate, and as a result, the ministry initiated actions to bring the site into compliance. To learn more about how these two people were able to use the EBR to get ministry action, see pages 137-139 of the Supplement to the Environmental Commissioner's 2013/2014 Annual Report. And click here to learn more about how you too can request an investigation under the EBR.
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Register now for a workshop on tips for exercising your environmental rights!On March 2nd and 6th, staff of the Environmental Commissioner's office will be giving an interactive workshop in Toronto that introduces attendees to Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), a powerful toolkit for environmental change.Whether your issue is wildlife or water taking permits, alvars or air quality, greenhouse gases or gravel pits, you want to ensure you understand the full range of tools at your disposal. This is your chance to ask questions and learn about:
- The Environmental Registry;
- How to bring environmental concerns to the government's attention;
- The Environmental Commissioner's reports; and
- Other EBR rights
Space fills up fast, so register by clicking here! -
Last day to enter! For your chance to win a copy of Naomi Klein's book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, send us an email at resource.centre@eco.on.ca with the subject line "This Changes Everything" by 5pm today. We will hold a random draw and the winner will be announced on February 17th. Good luck!
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Protecting Ontario's drinking water at the sourceAt the end of January, the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change announced that it had approved Source Protection Plans for Ausable Bayfield and Maitland Valley and South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe.
Protecting water at its source, whether it is a lake, river or underground aquifer, is a key part of Ontario's strategy to safeguard the province's drinking water. Source Protection Plans identify and characterize the watersheds within source protection areas, create water budgets and identify vulnerable areas and drinking water threats. They also establish a strategy for reducing or eliminating drinking water threats. You can learn all about Ontario's framework for source protection planning in this article from our 2010/2011 Annual Report. -
Did you know sound travels faster through water than air?It travels 343 metres per second through the air, but four times faster through the water!No matter the speed, we all have our limits when it comes to volume, and the province uses the Environmental Noise Guideline NPC-300 to regulate just how loud you can be in different areas, at different times. You can learn about this guideline, and what the ECO thinks about the issue of noise pollution in our 2013/2014 Annual Report.
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For every $100 Government dollars spent, Environment gets just $0.27That works out to just $24.07 per Ontarian (based on Statistics Canada's most recent estimate of Ontario's population), to cover almost all of the province's programs to safeguard Ontario's air, land and water, and ensure healthy communities!
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Let's Talk Planning to ConserveThis week I hosted a live web chat about my latest annual report on energy conservation in Ontario, Planning to Conserve. We had a great turn-out with lots of insightful questions asked; I even had a few opportunities to show off some of my favourite geeky graphs from the report!If you missed it, you can still see the web chat here. Or scroll through the best of the geeky graphs below. I’ll also be hosting another live chat on March 3rd at 2 p.m., to talk about our Smart Grid primer released in 2014.
I started the chat with peak and off-peak prices for electricity. The greater the difference between off-peak and on-peak prices, the more likely that people will change when and how they use electricity. This can reduce the need to build more power plants, help the system be more efficient, and reduce costs for customers over the longer term. I also answered questions on ways electricity could be priced differently, particularly during times of surplus supply.by ECO
This shows the results of 42 international studies looking at various ratios of on-peak to off-peak pricing. The vertical axis shows the reduction of the peak demand as a result of these price ratios. Note that the higher the ratio between peak and off-peak on the x axis, generally the greater the reduction in peak consumption.
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This graph shows the results from 2011, 2012 and 2013 province-wide electricity conservation programs offered by electricity utilities. The white part is what we've got left to achieve in 2014 to meet the provincial goal of 6,000 GWh. The data is not confirmed yet, but we just might make it.
I also discussed the need for all Ontarian’s to stay focussed on driving down peak energy demand. Particularly in the absence of peak demand targets, I hope that peak-reducing conservation programs such as peaksaver continue to be offered under the next conservation framework.
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This chart shows just how big a piece of the pie conservation will provide in servicing our electrical needs of 2032. We would have to build or find 30 terawatt-hours of other generation if we did not pursue this conservation. That's a lot of gas plants!
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As impressive as the green slice of the pie is, it represents a conservative estimate of the amount of conservation that is actually available. This figure shows that the achievable potential is only a small portion of the economic potential, which in turn is only a small portion of the technical potential to conserve electricity.
by ECO
A Conservation Achievable Potential Study – the first in several years – was released in early 2014. It identified how much electricity Ontario could conserve over the next 20 years. Technical potential was estimated to be 40 TWh in 2032. If we wanted to be aggressive, we could pursue much greater conservation.
During the chat I noted some of the conservation opportunities I’m excited to see over the next few years – namely increasing energy conservation in existing buildings. This is where much of the untapped conservation potential lies. I’d like to see the government uphold its commitment to home energy labelling in the residential sector, and extend this to commercial buildings too.
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It was a pleasure to engage with some of our readers and to discuss several of the topics highlighted in my 2014 Annual Energy Conservation Report.I look forward to our Smart Grid chat on March 3rd at 2pm.Check out the ECO's Smart Grid report ahead of time and send us your questions on Twitter using #OntECOLive or via email to conservation_report@eco.on.ca. Sign up to join our live chat here: live.eco.on.ca/Event/Smart_from_Sunrise_to_Sunset_QA_with_the_Commissioner
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Would you like to know how well your local electricity utility is delivering electricity conservation programs?Then take a look at Appendix B of our report. Overall, electricity utilities are about 86% of the way towards meeting their 2014 conservation target, but there has been quite a lot of variation in conservation performance across the different utility companies. To highlight a few front runners, we have:
- PowerStream - the only utility to introduce a unique conservation program – a refrigeration
efficiency program for small businesses. - Welland Hydro - the only electric utility to date to meet both of its targets.
- Toronto Hydro, Guelph Hydro, and Kingston Hydro are some other strong performers.
Even more detail on utility performance can be found on the Ontario Energy Board's website, under the new Electricity Distributor Scorecards section. Check it out! -
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New Funding for Local Food ProjectsOn December 12th, Ontario announced 31 new recipients of funding from the province's Local Food Fund to support innovative local food projects (you can also learn about the projects by region of Ontario: Central, Eastern, Western, Northeastern, Northwestern.)The Local Food Fund was created in 2013, as a complement to the Local Food Act, 2013, which the ECO discussed in our most recent Annual Report.
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Hope for the Great LakesRecently, we've seen many news reports noting this year's rise in Great Lakes water levels. After years of troublingly low levels, this is welcome news, but it's important to remember that this rebound only brings the water up to historic average levels. And, water levels are just one of the problems facing the Great Lakes.In 2011, the ECO discussed a wide variety of policy tools to help protect and recover the Great Lakes ecosystem in Engaging Solutions on the Great Lakes.If you're interested in the Great Lakes, you might also be interested in checking out the newly updated website of the Canada-United Stated Collaboration for Great Lakes Water Quality, Binational.net
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Live chat starting now! Tune in here: live.eco.on.ca/Event/Live_chat_with_Commissioner_Miller_2
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Would you love to see changes to environmental laws or policies? You could make them happen by using the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) applications tool. And right now, early December, is the smartest time of year to submit your EBR application, with a chance of your story showing up in the Commissioner’s next Annual Report. If you delay till January 2015, all your EBR rights still apply, but your request will fall into a future reporting year.
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Unburnable carbon - the carbon that cannot be burned if we want to keep climate change to 2 degrees Celsius. See our 2014 GHG Report for details.
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Many of Ontario's floodplain maps date from the 1970s and 1980s. They do not reflect today's rapidly urbanizing landscapes and extreme weather events. See the excerpt from our 2014 GHG report: bit.ly
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Strong Reliance on Soft ComplianceThe Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change relies heavily on voluntary abatement, such as having the proponent voluntarily agree to a timeline to fix the problem.
Read more here. -
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Did you know? Every Ontarian has the right to receive notice of and comment on the Ontario government’s environmentally significant proposals through the Environmental Registry.
To learn more about your environmental rights, check out Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights and
You: a Guide to Exercising your Right to Participate in Environmental Decision Making
in Ontario.
