All three of these things presented themselves almost simultaneously on my laptop screen this morning.

1) The Tyee has a piece on a rumored energy plan for B.C. that raises the hopes--not the eyebrows (hard to believe, I know)--of environmentalists:

Climate change campaigners say they've been hearing rumours out of Victoria that the Campbell government intends to announce action on greenhouse gas emissions soon.

Their hopes were raised by a year-end interview with Jeff Rud of the Times-Colonist in which Campbell said B.C. needs to be a leader on climate change. A forthcoming update of the government's energy plan will "deal directly" with the issue, Campbell said.

"I think there's probably a lot of people who are hoping it's going to [contain] some greenhouse gas targets," says Lisa Matthaus, campaigns director for the Sierra Club of B.C. "As good as, if not better than, California has."

Environmental groups see the California standards, signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last fall, as the standard for other jurisdictions to meet. The California Global Warming Solutions Act aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2020 through market-based mechanisms.

2) Then this from an informative if enviro-ranting newsletter to which I subscribe:

It appears Compliance Power's plans are not limited to the Princeton/Tulameen/ Similkameen Valley Coal Power Plant financed by BC Hydro, but they appear to have similar plans for the area between Courtenay and Campbell River--see corporate presentation below. Slide 19-20 show maps of the 40,000 hectare coal titles immediately west of the Island Highway at Courtenay and slide 22 "timeline" suggests a Vancouver Island Coal Power Plant development begins in 2007!

I went to the Powerpoint presentation and found this interesting flow charty thing. I think what they're going for is more accurately "sort-of-clean-seeming energy, if you get the spin just right." Maybe should have dropped the flow chart. Maybe should have hired an editor.



3) Then this, which I think is totally awesome, from Norway: wooden snowmen protesting global warming in front of the Parliament building.


From Morgenutgaven. View the entire photoset.