We tend to think of the cost of a house as only the price of the mortgage. But in reality, adding more houses to a community requires a lot more than the buildings. Sidewalks, water and wastewater pipes, schools and libraries, police and fire protection, and of course, roads. And whether the costs are paid by the homeowner, the local government, or businesses, the lower density in the suburbs leads to higher costs to operate, maintain and replace all these services.

 

These examples are taken from a recent study in Halifax Regional Municipality.

Imagine it’s the year 2050. The 9 billionth person has already been born, and not in poverty. Rates of poverty are decreasing as emerging economic development works its magic. The way we use energy has changed drastically, and because of this CO2 rates are finally on the down slope. But despite the gains in energy efficiency, pressures on the finite resources of a shrinking planet are stronger than ever, and energy demands have grown by 80%. Humanity has not avoided a two degree temperature rise and many of the once imaginary climate impacts are now creating havoc.

A hedge fund billionaire, the mayor of New York City, and a former US Treasury Secretary walk into a bar…

The ex-President of Mexico, a Lord economist, and a management consultant are at the Pearly Gates talking to St. Peter…

The President of the World Bank and the Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund are in a lifeboat…

This week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its highly anticipated final draft report, Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. The report is the first of a three part series that will complete the Fifth Assessment report to be completed in 2014. This chapter follows on the heels of the Summary for Policy Makers which was released last Friday.

The World Energy Council (a UN-accredited organization of over 3000 public, private, government, academic and NGO members from over 90 countries that seeks to facilitate the world’s energy policy dialogue) recently released the fifth edition of its “World Energy Trilemma” report.

Please join Sustainable Prosperity and the International Institute for Sustainable Development for a panel discussion on fossil fuel subsidy reform on October 2, 2013. This free, public seminar will explore potential paths to achieving both environmental and economic benefits from phasing out existing subsidies to fossil fuel production. It will draw on both international and Canadian perspectives.

We’re going to hear a lot about climate change in the next few months. The International Panel on Climate Change, the UN-sanctioned body of climate scientists, is due to issue its fifth “Assessment Report” on the science of climate change this fall. The report, based on the scientific consensus the IPCC represents will show two things. First, that the human (“anthropogenic”) role in causing climate change is indisputable, and second, that the scale and imminence of climate impacts will be greater than has been expected up to now.

The recent political victory of Australia’s new Prime Minister, Tony Abbot, may be the last straw to determine the fate of the country’s carbon tax. As a pre-election statement, Abbot promised to repeal the short-lived carbon-pricing legislation. Last Saturday, Abbot’s Liberal-National coalition ousted the long-running Labor government under Julia Gillard who instituted the carbon tax in 2012.

Due to the diversity of our country’s geography, it’s a general social custom for Canadians to discuss the weather. If this spring was any indication of what’s to come in the future, Canadians will not only be a lot more talkative, but they might have to add another term to their daily chit-chat: extreme events.

While weather is something we experience on a daily basis, extreme events-defined as unusual and severe weather that occur only 5% of the time-seem increasingly common.