change | Canadian National Multilingual Newsgroup

Electric vehicles: part of a global climate change solution

by Priscilla Pajdo December 20, 2021August 25, 2023

Electric vehicles (EV) may not solve the issues associated with climate change; they may play a key role in helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). According to Our World in Data, the energy sector is responsible for 73% of all GHG emissions. That rate includes roughly 16% of emissions associated with transportation, of which 12% is related to road transportation.

In Canada, road transportation accounts for roughly one-fifth of the nation’s total GHG emissions. Eliminating carbon emissions from passenger vehicles is part of the national plan to reach net-zero by 2050. (more…)

Bangladeshi architect Marina’s success in Climate Change

by Muhammad Ali Bukhari November 17, 2021August 25, 2023

As the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 just ended in a compromised deal in Glasgow in the United Kingdom, Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum, who won the 2021 prestigious Soane medal among the first architect from the global south for her design of Khudi Bari, a modular mobile house for the climate victims, appeared as ‘A £300 monsoon-busting home: the Bangladeshi architect fighting extreme weather’ in the Guardian newspaper on November 16.

In her words, Marina says, “As architects we have a responsibility to these people. The construction industry contributes half of all global emissions, but the people being affected by sea-level rise in the coastal areas have zero carbon footprint.”

Founding Marina Tabassum Architects in 2005, she embarked on a project called Bait ur Rouf mosque in northern Dhaka that gave her international prominence 11 years later for winning the Aga Khan award. Currently they are working in the Cox’s Bazar, home to 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims fled from ethnic persecution in neighboring Myanmar. Tabassum and her team have been designing food distribution outlets and women’s centres – for both the camp and its host community – aiming to create a more dignified experience than the usual tents for receiving handouts.

In the pic (from Sir John Soane’s Museum’s Twitter profile – @SoaneMuseum), Marina Tabassum

Conservatives on the run, the debate in Quebec does not change the balance

by Francesco Veronesi September 6, 2021August 25, 2023

TORONTO – The debate in Quebec on September 2 between the leaders did not shift the balance of power between the parties. The confirmation comes from the last 8 polls carried out after the debate in French which highlight how the Conservative Party led by Erin O’Toole continues to enjoy a comforting margin of advantage over the liberals of Justin Trudeau. Jagmeet Singh’s NDP continues to play the role of third inconvenience while the percentage of undecided remains high. The gap that divides the conservatives from the Liberal Party ranges from the 1.5 percent detected by Nanos to 6.4 percent highlighted by Ekos. In general, tories are stabilising at around 35 per cent, while grits range from 28.1 per cent to 33 per cent. (more…)

Will there be a change in the balance of powers in Europe? Will Russia create a buffer zone and if so, when?

by Wojciech Wrona April 23, 2021August 25, 2023

Events such as the expulsion of Russian diplomats from European Union countries – from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the withdrawal of European diplomats from Russia, the sudden call of the US ambassador to Russia for consultations with President Biden, the unexpected and sudden visit of the president – dictator of Belarus yesterday in Moscow, as well as the convening of the Federation Council of Russia – the upper house of the Russian parliament, which, among others convened before approving the change of borders between the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and also before deciding to use the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation abroad – they prove that the situation in Europe is becoming more and more tense. (more…)