GPIAtlantic Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada / Indice de progrès véritable – Atlantique
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Media Clippings 2005

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2005

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Power rate hike OK with conditions: group
Nov. 24, 2005, CBC News
“ A non-profit research group wants the province's regulator to grant Nova Scotia Power a rate hike only if it comes with strict conditions. The power company is before the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board asking for an average rate increase of 13 per cent. ”

Heating with hot air
Nov. 3, 2005, Rabble News ~ Silver Donald Cameron
“ Was Nova Scotia's Energy Minister Cecil Clarke embarrassed to release Nova Scotia's fatuous Green Energy Framework just one day after GPI Atlantic (Genuine Progress Index) released its careful analysis of the province's energy situation? If not, he should have been. ”

Clarke should be embarrassed
Oct. 30, 2005, The Chronicle Herald

Activist says climate change a threat to civilization in this generation
Oct. 27, 2005, Nova News Net, Halifax, Nova Scotia ~ Zoe Morawetz
“ Elizabeth May, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said nations need to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere and drastically change the way they use energy, in an address she gave as part of Dalhousie University's annual Killam Lecture Series Tuesday night. Carbon emissions must drop by 30 per cent below 1990 levels by the year 2020 ”

Report Urges Nova Scotia to Ramp Up Energy Efficiency Efforts
Oct. 26, 2005, EIN Publishing, USA (32K PDF)
“ According to GPI Atlantic, Nova Scotians are among the highest energy users in the world, with total demand up by 12 percent since 1991. Additionally, the province's heavy reliance on imported coal produces per capita sulfur dioxide emissions that are seven times the Canadian average. ”

Saturday October 22, 2005, The Halifax Herald ~ Ralph Surette

GPI and the need for a better energy policy

“ GPI (which stands for “genuine progress index”) is part of a broad international effort, to which Canada subscribes and which was given its major boost at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janiero in 1992, to give a true accounting of economic activity – mostly, to include the costs of pollution. For example, the report proposes that Nova Scotia change from coal to natural gas as a transition to a future of sustainable alternatives and conservation. Off the top, natural gas costs more than coal. But if you count the cost of the pollution that coal causes – on human health, forest, agriculture and water productivity – natural gas is cheaper in the long run. According to the report, Nova Scotians are high energy users and high polluters, and indirectly pay from $900 to $6,000 a year per person in air pollution and greenhouse gas costs. ”

Thursday October 20, 2005, The Cape Breton Post

N.S. needs to stop wasting energy and boost renewables: study

“ The non-profit group says the province's reliance on imported coal to generate electricity is producing per capita sulphur-dioxide emissions seven times the Canadian average. ¶ The study also says the province is producing increasing amounts of nitrogen oxides from sources such as fossil fuels and the burning of wood; and volatile organic compounds are rising, along with ground-level ozone and smog. ”

GPI Atlantic says N.S. energy system unsustainable
Thursday October 20, 2005, Nova News Net, Halifax ~ Erin O'Halloran
“ A group that calculates the social and environmental costs of economic activity delivered some bad news to the province Wednesday concering its energy stategy. ¶ GPI Atlantic said the province needs to better account for the full cost of its energy. ”

Thursday October 20, 2005, The Chronicle Herald, Halifax

“Unsustainable” energy plan

“ The 400-page study, which took two years to compile and cost about $60,000 with funding from the Nova Scotia Energy Department and federal government, is part of the genuine progress index. The index is a project by GPI Atlantic designed to provide a more complete picture of economic well-being than gross domestic product figures, which tend to measure job growth without looking at its costs. ”

We are inefficient energy users Province too reliant on non-renewable sources
Thursday October 20, 2005, Daily News, Halifax ~ Stephane Massinon (72K PDF)
“ Saying the province is too reliant on non-renewable energy sources, think-tank GPIAtlantic released a report yesterday urging investment in wind, biomass and other more environmentally friendly energy sources. ¶ The report measures 30 economic, social, health, environmental and institutional indicators and finds the province is falling behind in most. ”

Halifax; Stop wasting energy and boost newables, study suggests
Thursday October 20, 2005, The Guardian, Charlottetown, PEI
“ Saying the province is too reliant on non-renewable energy sources, think-tank GPIAtlantic released a report yesterday urging investment in wind, biomass and other more environmentally friendly energy sources. ¶ The report measures 30 economic, social, health, environmental and institutional indicators and finds the province is falling behind in most. ”

N.S. needs to stop wasting energy and boost renewables - study
Thursday October 20, 2005, CP Atlantic Regional News
“ A study by a Nova Scotia-based think-tank is arguing the province needs to radically change its energy-wasting ways and rapidly increase use of wind energy. ¶ GPI Atlantic, a non-profit group that uses environmental costs in its economic models, said Wednesday that in 30 measurements of energy progress, Nova Scotia is falling behind other provinces in almost all areas. ”

The GPIAtlantic Energy Report also received media coverage on Global TV, ATV, CBC Information Morning (Nova Scotia), and CBC Cape Breton.

D-day for smokers; N.S. aims to ban smoking in all indoor public spaces by Dec. 2006
Friday October 14, 2005, The Chronicle Herald
“ Smoking would be banned in almost all indoor public places across the province in December 2006, under a bill tabled Thursday at Province House. ”

July 15, 2005, Library of Parliment ~ Sheena Starky, Economics Division

THE OBESITY EPIDEMIC IN CANADA

“ In 2004, approximately 6.8 million Canadian adults ages 20 to 64 were overweight, and an additional 4.5 million were obese. Roughly speaking, an adult male is considered overweight when his body weight exceeds the maximum desirable weight for his height, and obese when his body weight is 20% or more over this desirable weight. A similar guideline holds true for women, but at a threshold of 25% rather than 20%. Dramatic increases in overweight and obesity among Canadians over the past 30 years have been deemed to constitute an “epidemic.” ”

May 29, 2005, The Halifax Herald ~ Silver Donald Cameron

Forget GDP, let's measure Gross National Happiness

“ Can't we find a better measurement? ¶ Since 1997, a small organization based in St. Margarets Bay has been using Nova Scotia as its laboratory in developing a genuine progress index based not just on economics, but also on sustainability, well-being and quality of life. GPI Atlantic (www.gpiatlantic.org) has issued numerous carefully researched and thought-provoking reports on aspects of Nova Scotians' well-being, including recent reports on air quality, solid waste and working time. ¶ And now the work is going national. ”

Mar. 1, 2005, National Post ~ Bill Mah

Tim Hortons contest a litterbug, critics say: Roll up the rim begins

“ In Nova Scotia, Mr. Colman said a government-sponsored study showed Tim Hortons and fast-food rival McDonald's alone account for one-third of all litter in that province. Tim Hortons packaging accounted for 22% and McDonald's for 10.1% of all identifiable litter. ¶ "Worst of all, there's no longer any reason for Tim Hortons to use coffee cups that can't be composted or recycled," Mr. Colman said. ”

VLTs blasted right and left. Province feasting on problem gamblers, think-tanks agree
Jan. 11, 2005, The Chronicle Herald

Jan. 10, 2005, CBC News

Profits must drop to fight problem gambling: researchers

“ The province expects to pocket about $180 million in gambling profits this year, with more than half of that coming from video lottery terminals. ¶ Colman says VLTs create the biggest problem for addicts, so he's suggesting that the province consider banning the machines or limit access to them. ¶ But Premier John Hamm won't consider a VLT ban, claiming that would open the door to a flood of black market machines. He seems ready to accept less revenue from VLTs, though. ”

GPIAtlantic
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ReThinking
Development
The Second International Conference on Gross National Happiness
Antigonish, June, 2005
Conference Proceedings
Conference Outcomes

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