Izmet's Dream: Reclaiming Paradise

Ontario to enact toughest pesticide
ban in Canada

Ontario will enact the toughest rules in Canada when its pesticide ban takes effect today, a move that could land the province in the legal crosshairs of an international trade dispute. Ontario is joining Quebec in restricting the use of pesticides, but its rules go further by prohibiting the sale and cosmetic use of more than 80 ingredients and 250 products, with few exceptions, experts say. ~more

Reef boom beats doom

Marine scientists say they are astonished at the spectacular
recovery of certain coral reefs in Australia's Great Barrier Reef
Marine Park from a devastating coral bleaching event in 2006.

That year high sea temperatures caused massive and severe
coral bleaching in the Keppel Islands, in the southern part of
the GBR. The damaged reefs were quickly smothered by a
single species of seaweed — an event that can spell the total
loss of the corals. However, a lucky combination of rare
circumstances meant the reefs were able to achieve a
spectacular recovery, with abundant corals re-established in a single year, says Dr Guillermo Diaz-Pulido,
from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) and the Centre for Marine Studies at The University of Queensland. Dr Diaz-Pulido explains that the rapid recovery is due to an exceptional combination of previously-underestimated ecological mechanisms. ~more

Greenwashing Rampant in
Consumer Marketing

A new report released last week by consulting firm
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing found that just 2% of
the self-proclaimed “green” products on shelves in big box
stores across North America live up to their sustainable claims.

The firm accuses the manufacturers of the other 98% of
so-called “green” consumer items tested to be guilty of
"greenwashing,” that is, misleading consumers about the
environmental benefits of their products and/or practices. ~more