Tag: government programs

Prime Minister Renews Support for Kyoto

Environmentalists are praising Canada’s new prime minister for his promise to meet the goals laid out by the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly reports:

Transcript

Environmentalists are praising Canada’s new prime minister for his promise to meet the goals laid
out by the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Karen Kelly
reports:


In his first week in office, Canadian prime minister Paul Martin promised that Canada would meet
its Kyoto target. The country has pledged to reduce greenhouse gases by 30-percent in the next 8
years. Martin’s plan includes new spending on environmental innovations that will conserve energy.


John Bennett of the Climate Change Action Network says it’s a commitment that will reap large
rewards.


“If we now were to turn our investment dollars into conservation and efficiency, we could not only
make a profit, but we could reach the Kyoto targets at the same time.”


The Kyoto treaty will not become legally binding unless Russia signs on as well. Russian officials
have yet to make a decision. But both Canada and the EU have pledged to meet the Kyoto targets
regardless.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Karen Kelly in Ottawa.

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State Falls Short on Federal Cleanup Money

Most of the Great Lakes states are taking advantage of a federal program to get money to help make creeks, rivers, and lakes cleaner. But one state has not found a way to get the federal dollars. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

Most of the Great Lakes states are taking advantage of a federal program to get money to help
make creeks, rivers, and lakes cleaner. But one state has not found a way to get the federal
dollars. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:


The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is making
hundreds of millions of federal dollars available to states if they come up with matching funds of
about 20-percent. The money would go to private landowners to take measures to reduce soil
erosion and pesticide and fertilizer runoff. Seven of the eight Great Lakes states have signed
agreements with the federal government, each earmarking tens of millions of dollars to leverage
much more from the federal government. The state of Indiana has a proposal before the USDA,
but instead of tens of millions of dollars set aside as the other states have done, according to a
report in the Star Press newspaper, Indiana so far only has set aside 120-thousand dollars.
Conservationists in that state are calling on the legislature to tax bottled water and bagged ice as a
way to come up with the matching funds to leverage the federal money.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.

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Big City Recycling Faces Challenges

The recycling programs in big cities often are not as successful as
their suburban neighbors. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester
Graham reports… some recycling advocates believe big cities can have
better recycling programs if they make recycling a higher priority: