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Check out all the latest web content on our site. You'll find links to the most recent blog posts, news releases, commentary and news from around the Club. Maybe you'd be interested in taking a look at our videos or our social media streams to see more of what we've got out on the Web.
Getting to Know Ontario’s Wildlife: Eastern Cottontail Rabbits
2013-06-12  |  Julia Kole



“Common Canadian road-kill.  A gardener’s worst enemy. The reason my dogs won’t stop barking at night. ”

            It sounds like everyone has a love/hate relationship about the Sylvilagus floridanus, the eastern cottontail rabbit. Like them or loathe them, they are a common sight in farmer’s fields, suburban backyards, city parks and unfortunately, on most roadways. Unexpectedly resourceful, they have found numerous ways to adapt to an environment shared with humans.

 



The Fast Facts:

Type: mammal

Size: 39.5 to 47.7 cm

Weight: 800 to 1533 g

Lifespan: about 2-5 years

Diet: herbivore...

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Why Arctic sea ice will vanish in 2013
2013-06-10  |  Paul Beckwith

By Paul Beckwith

On March 23, 2013, I made the following prediction:

“For the record—I do not think that any sea ice will survive this summer. An event unprecedented in human history is today, this very moment, transpiring in the Arctic Ocean.

The cracks in the sea ice that I reported in my Sierra blog and elsewhere have spread. Worse news is at this very moment the entire sea ice sheet (or about 99 percent of it) covering the Arctic Ocean is on the move (clockwise), and the thin, weakened icecap has literally begun to tear apart.

This is abrupt climate change in real-time.

Humans have benefited greatly from a stable climate for the last 11,000 years (roughly...

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Treemuggers - when are our natural areas worth fighting for?
2013-05-31  |  Jeff Alan

It was both surprising and un-surprising to be heckled last week during LEAF's tree-planting demo at Eglinton Park... and not just once. However, the voice that stood out the most was the girl who launched a snarky “TREEHUGGERS!” from the passenger seat as they rumbled west through the intersection at Eglinton & Oriole Parkway. We all shrugged it off as quickly as it happened, but I'm sure everyone felt the same twinge of concern that enhancing a public space was a mockable offense in 2013 Toronto.

In the last session of the Tree Tenders1 course, we learned that our megacity is currently around 20% tree coverage, and the goal is 35%. Good luck - with every development site turning “surplus land” and people's backyards into condos, where's the space for trees going to come from? Oh, it's there in the form of sidewalk trees that live for a decade. Yes.

While...

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Latest outings and volunteer opportunities (spring/summer 2013)
2013-05-31  |  Kristina Jackson

This summer we have put together a few "walks and talks" around Mississauga and Toronto. These walks are free, and are guided by naturalists and professionals that provide a chance to get outdoors and learn something new about the natural areas within our communities. We hope you can join us for some/all of these events. Please feel free to share with those you think might be interested in attending!

Please email <sarahp@sierraclub.ca> if you want to RSVP, or if you have any questions.

** For those of you located in Mississauga South, we are looking for an additional volunteer for a tabling event at the Clarkson Club Day (handing out flyers) on June 6 from 6:30-9pm. If interested, please e-mail me for more details.

Scheduled Events:

June 13 (Thurs, 7-8 pm) --...

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Phase-out Pickering Nuclear Station and save $850 million per year
2013-05-30  |  Kristina Jackson

From Ontario Clean Air Alliance:

Phase-out Pickering Nuclear Station and save $850 million per year
The Pickering A Nuclear Station is the highest cost nuclear plant in North America while the Pickering B Station is the 5th highest cost.
The good news is that the operating licences for the aging Pickering reactors expire in 2014 and 2015. Phasing out these high-cost reactors would reduce our electricity bills by $850 million per year or 5%.
But despite these potential savings, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Premier Wynne to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to extend the operating lives of these aging high-cost reactors for another four to six years. This doesn’t...

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