Don’t bottle 13-year-old’s water wisdom | FP Comment | Financial Post

Robyn Hamlyn believes Canada’s fresh water is a shrinking resource. As she stated in a March speech to the Council of Canadians, “We have to act now, instead of later. I get frustrated with people getting hung up on small details and when they should be looking at the bigger, more scarier picture.” What some Ontarians find scariest in this picture is the realization that municipalities take their advice from a 13-year-old.

Should plastic bottles be elevated to the top of anyone’s environmental agenda? Stewardship Ontario estimates that plastic water bottles make up less than one-fifth of 1% of the municipal solid-waste stream in Canada. In addition, 96% of Canadians say they recycle their plastic water bottles. If water is banned from municipal events, those present won’t go thirsty — they’ll purchase other, often less-healthy alternatives, such as pop, which is, incidentally, composed almost completely of water. Diet Coke is 99% water — privately owned water.

As Climate Changes, Urban Planners Help Cities Adapt | WBUR

A recent survey finds that “79 percent of cities worldwide report that in the past five years they perceived changes in temperature, precipitation, sea level, or natural hazards that they attribute to climate change.”

A 'Legitimate' Dog The Santa Barbara Independent

Buried in the Climate Action Plan is an amazing report exploring the effect of sea level rise on Santa Barbara, prepared ​— ​utterly free of charge ​— ​by Gary Griggs, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruz. In the world of ocean and coastal issues, Griggs is a certified hotshot, and he knows Santa Barbara. He attended UCSB, and his daughter ​— ​who until recently worked for The Independent ​— ​also lives here. In the past 100 years, California’s sea level rose about 8 inches. In the next 18 years, Griggs projected it would rise by 7 more inches, and by 2050, by 38 inches.