News Feed

2022-12-02
Canadian Environmental Groups Call for Ambitious Global and National Action to Save Nature before It’s Too Late
December 2, 2022 In the leadup to the UN’s COP15 (NatureCOP) in Montreal, 17 Canadian environmental organizations are calling on Canadian and world leaders to deliver a win for the future of people and the planet by landing a new global deal to save nature, and committing to a national action plan to achieve this at home. Nature is in crisis because of the on-going rampant destruction of land and ocean ecosystems, as well as the catastrophic effects of climate change. Nature loss is an environmental and social issue that threatens the health of people and the planet alike. Global wildlife populations have plummeted by nearly 70% in the last 50 years due primarily to habitat loss while communities continue to lose access to life-sustaining resources including food, clean air to breathe, and drinkable water. On the heels of COP27 (ClimateCOP) in Egypt, the connection between climate change and biodiversity loss – two of the biggest crises we currently face – is finally being recognized. Climate change is one of the top three drivers of biodiversity loss, while biodiversity loss makes ecosystems increasingly vulnerable to climate change. With each crisis exacerbating the other, solutions are needed to address both simultaneously…
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Blog

2022-12-12
Tribute and Celebration: Moving Forward with Meinhard's Fire
This blog post by Tricia Barry, founding Board member and current Board Secretary, is the fourth and final instalment in a Tribute and Celebration series that reflects on 15 years of East Coast Environmental Law and pays tribute to our friend and colleague Meinhard Doelle, who was instrumental in establishing the organization and encouraging advocacy for a more just and sustainable world. December 12, 2022 My first experience in environmental law came during my undergrad at the University of Victoria, where I was pursuing a degree in environmental studies. In the early 2000s, British Columbia was the incubator for environmental law non-profits, and I learned alot about the important work they did while at UVic. When I came to Dalhousie for my law degree, hoping to focus on environmental law, I was surprised to find there were no non-profits focusing on public-interest environmental law in Atlantic Canada. Meinhard was my environmental law professor, and I asked him about this. I remember his face lighting up explaining why there wasn’t such a non-profit, why there should be, and his vision for getting there. That conversation we had in my first year of law school fueled the fire. Through my time in law school, Meinhard’s plan for building East Coast…
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