Lectures are finally over, but I know that many of you are still going to be around school for at least the next few weeks, so I'll keep sending these out. Matt 1) Volunteer workshop April 13th 2) Work opportunity 3) Manley Committee stonewalls OCAA 4) CBC radio interview with Stephen Scharper April 12th 5) Council Watch volume 3 number 1 6) INI440Y oral presentations April 12th 7) UTERN elections open until Monday April 12th - details below ******************************************************************** 1) VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Hosted by: Evergreen andUniversityofToronto Environmental Resource Network (UTERN) All are welcome to join us Where: St. George Campus, Earth Science Building - Rm 1042 When: Tuesday, April 13th from11 a.m.4 p.m. Geared towards stewardship and greening initiatives, but can be adapted to all projects. ? Great knowledge to take to the workplace and add to your resume. ? Learn and share ways to develop a committed volunteer team. ? Get tips for: getting started, recruiting volunteers, preventing burnout, retaining, supporting and recognizing volunteers. Cost: $10.00 Refreshments and handout materials will be provided. To register please contact: Jessika Corkum at (416) 596-1495 x40 or jessika@xxxxxxxxxxxx ************************************************************************ 2) > > AutoShare, Toronto's Smart Alternative to Owning a > Car, is looking for > responsible, outgoing people to work as community > marketers this spring and > summer. > > Starting as early as the weekend of April 9th - > 11th, AutoShare will be > looking for a number of people to help staff trade > shows, street teams, > community display contact and other types of > marketing activites. We will be > hiring some "full time" summer employees, although > the work will mostly be > concentrated around weekends (eg Fri - Mon), with > lots of flexibility in the > schedule. > > Pay starts at $11 per hour, and increases over time > to over $12. > > If you are interested, please send an email and > resume (including when you > would like to start) to: > > jobs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (att: Kevin) with a relevant > subject > > Please do not call the office. Thank you. ************************************************************************** 3) Manley Committee stonewalls OCAA Despite repeated requests, the OPG Review Committee (the Manley Committee) has refused to provide the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) with electronic copies of the economic spreadsheet models that it claims show that re-starting the Pickering A Unit #1 nuclear reactor is a lower-cost option for phasing-out coal and keeping the lights on in Ontario than building a high-efficiency natural gas power plant. Despite admitting in its report that its conclusions are only as good as the data they are based on and that it did not have sufficient time to fully review data provided by Ontario Power Generation (OPG), the Manley Committee has refused to make its data or economic models public. This means that the citizens of Ontario and energy experts have no way of properly reviewing the Manley Committee's conclusions. For example, the Manley Committee states that the restarted Pickering Unit would operate at an 85% capacity factor despite the fact that that the average capacity factor of Ontario's nuclear reactors in 2002 was 54%. It also assumes a natural gas price significantly higher than what has been forecast by the U.S. Department of Energy. Why? Because the Manley Committee is treating its data as secret (unlike the OCAA, which has posted all of the economic models it has developed for a coal phase-out on its website) we cannot tell what kind of cost overrun scenarios would make a nuclear re-start uneconomic. (Construction of the Darlington Nuclear Station was 260% over budget. The Pickering A Unit #4 re-start was more than 175% over budget.) Given the repeated failures of OPG to complete its nuclear projects on time and on budget, the Ontario Clean Air Alliance believes that the Manley Committee's economic spreadsheet models and input assumptions need to be made public before Premier McGuinty makes a decision with respect to the re-start of the Pickering A Unit #1 nuclear reactor. Please immediately contact John Manley, at Manley.J@xxxxxxxxxx, and ask him to make his committee's economic spreadsheet models available to the Ontario Clean Air Alliance and any other interested members of the public. Also, please copy me on your emails. The OCAA believes that best answer for phasing-out coal and reducing the air-quality impacts of electricity generation is to invest in aggressive energy conservation and efficiency programmes, ecologically sustainable renewable electricity sources (e.g., biomass, water power, wind power) and high-efficiency natural gas power plants as part of a distributed energy system. For more on our vision, see the New Energy Directions report on our website. Please pass this message on to your friends ASAP. Raví Mark Singh Communications & Membership Co-ordinator Ontario Clean Air Alliance Ph: (416)926-1907 ext. 245 NOTE OUR NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The Ontario Clean Air Alliance is a coalition of health, environmental and consumer organizations, faith communities, unions, utilities, municipalities and individuals working for cleaner air through strict emission limits and a phase-out of coal in the electricity sector. Our partner organizations represent more than six million Ontarians. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this list please visit www.cleanair.web.ca/getin. For more on how you can contribute to clearing Ontario's air through your electricity purchases, please see our consumer-advice website: www.electricitychoices.org. ********************************************************************* 4) Stephen Scharper, Assistant Professor with the department for the Study of Religion and Associate of the Institute for Environmental Studies will be interviewed on CBC Radio's Tapestry Program, on Religion, Ecology, and Gardening. The broadcast will air Easter Monday, April 12, from 12 - 2 p.m. on CBC Radio One 99.1 FM. ******************************************************************** 5) Dear Friend of TEA, Welcom to CouncilWatch Volume 3 Number 1 To minimize the space taken up in your email we send only a simple link to the Council Watch page on TEA's website. Follow this link: http://www.torontoenvironment.org/1.htm In this Edition Our Top Story:The City budget is almost complete. Find out what the top environmental issues are this year. Greening Toronto: Tooker Gomberg's Passing Council Watch comes out once each month . Enquiries can be emailed to cwatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Don't forget to forward this to a friend. Toronto Environmental Alliance 30 Duncan Street Suite 201 Toronto Ontario M5V 2C3 416 596-0660 cwatch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ********************************************************************* 6) Oral presentations > > Four of the students in the INI 440Y course are giving oral presentations > on their work placements on Monday April 12 from 1 - 3 in room 209 at > Innis. Anyone who would like to attend is welcome. > > David powell > > Program Counsellor & Placement Coordinator > Innis Environmental Studies Program ********************************************************************** 7) Dear UTERN, We had a very successful general meeting and elections last night in the Innis Cafe. Our new constitution was passed by the members. Thank you to all those that attended. This is a reminder that you can still vote for next years UTERN board on Monday, between 3:30 and 6:00pm, in David Powell's office (third floor at Innis College). Please not the only members of UTERN's listserv before Thursday's meeting will be eligible to vote. The following people have run for UTERN positions next year (the number indicates their preference): President (Dan Ludwin 1, Bryan Purcell 1, Veronica Lo 2) Treasurer (Simon Chan 1, Bryan Purcell 2) Secretary (work study) (Arthur Zastepa 2, Olivia Wong 2) Executive liaison (Carlene Thatcher 2, Dan Ludwin 3) Public Relations Officer (Jenny Greenop 1) Project Manager (Dan Ludwin 2,Veronica Lo 1, Arthur Zastepa 1) Advertising Coordinator (Carlene Thatcher 1, Gillian Cerbu 2) Inkjet Coordinator (Olivia Wong 1) Volunteer Coordinator (Gillian Cerbu 1) Environment Week Coordinator (Jenny Greenop 2, Quentin Stossel 1) Webmaster (work study) (Soledad Ronco 1) Thanks! Jake Irwin Communication Director University of Toronto Environmental Resource Network Room 1047 EAS utern.admin@xxxxxxxxxxx http://utern.sa.utoronto.ca jake.irwin@xxxxxxxxxxx 416.260.4845 ********************************************************************** -end-