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Starting on October 30th, there will be no more plastic shopping bags in Nova Scotia.

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We're banning single-use plastic bags to encourage waste reduction at the source and to help keep plastic out of our environment and landfills.

The law applies to all businesses, not just grocery stores.

Starting 30 October 2020, businesses can't use any plastic bag inventory they have left, except for items that are exempt from the ban.

Businesses can choose how they manage their remaining plastic bags. They can recycle the bags, sell them or ship them to a business location in a province without a plastic bag ban. They can also donate them to a charity, like a food bank, that can use plastic bags when serving their clients. (The bag ban applies to charity-run businesses that sell items, like a thrift store.)

Stores can still sell packaged plastic bags like garbage bags and pet waste bags. Businesses and individuals should check with their municipality for what kinds of bags they can use for garbage and recycling

Plastic bag ban poster

Businesses can use this poster to communicate the single-use plastic bag ban to customers.

Alternative bags

Businesses can offer reusable bags to their customers, or ask them to bring their own. This is the best way to protect our environment.

Businesses can also choose to provide paper bags. We don't have any rules around what type of paper bag to offer, but we encourage you to pick bags that are made from at least 40% post-consumer recycled paper.

Businesses aren't allowed to provide bags made from biodegradable or compostable plastic. These bags contaminate recycling streams and don't decompose properly in compost facilities.
Businesses can decide whether to charge a fee for the bags they provide, and what they do with the money.

When you can still use plastic bags

There are some exceptions to the plastic bag ban. Businesses can still provide plastic bags for:

loose bulk items like fruit, vegetables, nuts, grains or candy

food or baked goods that aren't pre-packaged

small hardware items like nails, nuts and bolts

frozen foods, meat, poultry or seafood, whether it's prepacked or not

prescription drugs from a pharmacy

products that can't fit in a reusable bag

transporting dry cleaning

packaging medical supplies and health services

wrapping flowers or potted plants

protecting tires

transporting live fish

home-delivered newspapers, flyers and mail

packaged items containing liquids, like soup, that could easily leak during transport

Contact

If you need more information about the plastic bag ban, contact SWRM@novascotia.ca

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We're banning single-use plastic bags to encourage waste reduction at the source and to help keep plastic out of our environment and landfills. The law applies to all businesses, not just grocery stores. Starting 30 October 2020, businesses can't use any plastic bag inventory they have left, except for items that are exempt from the ban.

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Lunenburg has banned single-use plastics.

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The small Nova Scotia town taking on single-use plastics

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Indicators of climate change from CBC News in Review (use your NSCC info to log in)

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This resource is licensed for current NSCC students, faculty and staff only.

To login, use your NSCC username (i.e. your "W number") and password.
This is the same username and password you use to access your NSCC email.
You do not need to enter Campus before your username.

For further assistance, please contact the Electronic Services Librarian (
Sorry, you need Javascript on to email me.) or call (902) 719-6049.
If you forgot your password, please see the Password Management section of the NSCC homepage.

Server Build 06122018.

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NSCC Library Services | Off campus login

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This resource is licensed for current NSCC students, faculty and staff only. To login, use your NSCC username (i.e. your "W number") and password. This is the same username and password you use to access your NSCC email. You do not need to enter Campus before your username.

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What's the difference between global warming and climate change?

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Global warming refers only to the Earth's rising surface temperature, while climate change includes warming and the "side effects" of warming-like melting glaciers, heavier rainstorms, or more frequent drought. Said another way, global warming is one symptom of the much larger problem of human-caused climate change.

Another distinction between global warming and climate change is that when scientists or public leaders talk about global warming these days, they almost always mean human-caused warming-warming due to the rapid increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from people burning coal, oil, and gas.

Climate change, on the other hand, can mean human-caused changes or natural ones, such as ice ages. Besides burning fossil fuels, humans can cause climate changes by emitting aerosol pollution-the tiny particles that reflect sunlight and cool the climate- into the atmosphere, or by transforming the Earth's landscape, for instance, from carbon-storing forests to farmland.

A climate change unlike any other

The planet has experienced climate change before: the Earth's average temperature has fluctuated throughout the planet's 4.54 billion-year history. The planet has experienced long cold periods ("ice ages") and warm periods ("interglacials") on 100,000-year cycles for at least the last million years.

Previous warming episodes were triggered by small increases in how much sunlight reached Earth's surface and then amplified by large releases of carbon dioxide from the oceans as they warmed (like the fizz escaping from a warm soda).

Today's global warming is overwhelmingly due to the increase in heat-trapping gases that humans are adding to the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels. In fact, over the last five decades, natural factors (solar forcing and volcanoes) would actually have led to a slight cooling of Earth's surface temperature.

Global warming is also different from past warming in its rate. The current increase in global average temperature appears to be occurring much faster than at any point since modern civilization and agriculture developed in the past 11,000 years or so-and probably faster than any interglacial warm periods over the last million years.

New understanding required new terms

Regardless of whether you say that climate change is all the side effects of global warming, or that global warming is one symptom of human-caused climate change, you're essentially talking about the same basic phenomenon: the build up of excess heat energy in the Earth system. So why do we have two ways of describing what is basically the same thing?

According to historian Spencer Weart, the use of more than one term to describe different aspects of the same phenomenon tracks the progress of scientists' understanding of the problem.

As far back as the late 1800s, scientists were hypothesizing that industrialization, driven by the burning of fossil fuels for energy, had the potential to modify the climate. For many decades, though, they weren't sure whether cooling (due to reflection of sunlight from pollution) or warming (due to greenhouse gases) would dominate.

By the mid-1970s, however, more and more evidence suggested warming would dominate and that it would be unlike any previous, naturally triggered warming episode. The phrase "global warming" emerged to describe that scientific consensus.

But over subsequent decades, scientists became more aware that global warming was not the only impact of excess heat absorbed by greenhouse gases. Other changes-sea level rise, intensification of the water cycle, stress on plants and animals-were likely to be far more important to our daily lives and economies. By the 1990s, scientists increasingly used "human-caused climate change" to describe the challenge facing the planet.

The bottom line

Today's global warming is an unprecedented type of climate change, and it is driving a cascade of side effects in our climate system. It's these side effects, such as changes in sea level along heavily populated coastlines and the worldwide retreat of mountain glaciers that millions of people depend on for drinking water and agriculture, that are likely to have a much greater impact on society than temperature change alone.

References

Broecker, W. S. (1975). Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming? Science, 189(4201), 460-463. http://doi.org/10.1126/science.189.4201.460

Climate Data Primer. Climate.gov.

Gillett, N. P., V. K. Arora, G. M. Flato, J. F. Scinocca, and K. von Salzen, 2012: Improved constraints on 21st-century warming derived using 160 years of temperature observations. Geophysical Research Letters, 39, 5, doi:10.1029/2011GL050226. [Available online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2011GL050226/pdf]

Global Warming FAQ. Climate.gov.

How do we know the world has warmed? by J. J. Kennedy, P. W. Thorne, T. C. Peterson, R. A. Ruedy, P. A. Stott, D. E. Parker, S. A. Good, H. A. Titchner, and K. M. Willett, 2010: [in " State of the Climate in 2009"]. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91 (7), S79-106.

Huber, M., and R. Knutti, 2012: Anthropogenic and natural warming inferred from changes in Earth's energy balance. Nature Geoscience, 5, 31-36, doi:10.1038/ngeo1327. [Available online at http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n1/pdf/ngeo1327.pdf]

Jouzel, J., et al. 2007. EPICA Dome C Ice Core 800KYr Deuterium Data and Temperature Estimates. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series # 2007-091. NOAA/NCDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA.

Mann, M. E., Zhang, Z., Hughes, M. K., Bradley, R. S., Miller, S. K., Rutherford, S., & Ni, F., 2008: Proxy-based reconstructions of hemispheric and global surface temperature variations over the past two millennia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(36), 13252-13257. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0805721105.

Melillo, Jerry M., Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and Gary W. Yohe, Eds., 2014: Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment. U.S. Global Change Research Program, 841 pp. doi:10.7930/J0Z31WJ2. Online at: nca2014.globalchange.gov

National Academy of Sciences, Climate Research Board, Carbon Dioxide and Climate: A Scientific Assessment (Jules Charney, Chair). (1979). Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. [Online (pdf)] http://web.atmos.ucla.edu/~brianpm/download/charney_report.pdf

Walsh, J., D. Wuebbles, K. Hayhoe, J. Kossin, K. Kunkel, G. Stephens, P. Thorne, R. Vose, M. Wehner, J. Willis, D. Anderson, V. Kharin, T. Knutson, F. Landerer, T. Lenton, J. Kennedy, and R. Somerville, 2014: Appendix 4: Frequently Asked Questions. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 790-820. doi:10.7930/J0G15XS3

Weart, S. (2008). Timeline (Milestones). In The Discovery of Global Warming. [Online] American Institute of Physics website.

What's in a Name? Global Warming vs. Climate Change. NASA.

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What's the difference between global warming and climate change? | NOAA Climate.gov

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Global warming refers only to the Earth's rising surface temperature, while climate change includes warming and the "side effects" of warming-like melting glaciers, heavier rainstorms, or more frequent drought. Said another way, global warming is one symptom of the much larger problem of human-caused climate change.

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impact of meat-rich diet on climate change

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10 things we can do about climate change

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What can we help you find?

Climate change is affecting everyone everywhere. Extreme weather events are more frequent and intense, sea levels are rising and many species are being driven to extinction. The good news is, you are not alone! People, communities, cities, businesses, schools, faith groups and organizations are taking action to help fight climate change. What changes will you make? Here are the top 10 things you can do about climate change. Choose just one to start.

2. Use energy wisely - and save money

Canada is the top per-capita energy consumer in the world! By becoming more energy-efficient, you pollute less and save money.

Consider making some or all of these small changes. Together, they really add up.

A house with a furnace is like a car that idles all day. Reduce or eliminate fossil fuels from your home by swapping your furnace for a heat pump.

Replace your gas water heater with a heat pump water heater.

Install a programmable or smart thermostat.

Swap your gas stove for an induction stove, which will also lower indoor air pollution.

Replace your gas fireplace with an electric one.

Unplug computers, TVs and other electronics when you're not using them.

Wash clothes in cold water. Hang your clothes to dry when you can and use  wool dryer balls to shrink drying time when you can't

Look for the ENERGY STAR label when buying new appliances.

Repair improperly sealed doors and windows and upgrade your insulation. Winterize your home  to prevent heat from escaping. Try to keep it cool in the summer  without an air conditioner.

Change to ENERGY STAR-certified LED light bulbs.

Get a home or workplace energy audit to identify where you can save the most.

Get tips and resources to live sustainably

6. Invest in renewables and divest from fossil fuels

Even if you can't install solar panels or a wind turbine, you can still be a part of the clean-energy economy. Search online for local renewable energy co-ops to join. As a member, you'll own part of the co-op's renewable energy projects and receive a return on your investment. You can also speak to your financial adviser about clean energy and/or technology investments.

Let industry know you care about climate change by meeting with your bank or investment adviser to make sure your investments do not include fossil fuels. And make sure your workplace, pension fund, university or bank doesn't invest in fossil fuels. If they do, join or start a divestment campaign.

Learn more about why it's important to divest from damage and invest in a healthier future.

9. Mobilize for local climate action

"What our cities do individually and in unison to address climate change can set the agenda for communities and governments everywhere." C40 Cities

In Canada, municipalities have influence over about 50 per cent of our emissions. And with about 80 per cent of people living in Canada living in cities, it's important - even crucial - that we focus on their potential to help stop climate change.

Citizens like you, willing to work with progressive local government leaders, stand to make a huge difference. Your role as a citizen with your local government is powerful.

We have created a comprehensive online resource to help you work with your local government on climate action.
Explore the guide

10. Get politically active and vote

It's important to take action to reduce individual carbon footprints, but changing the larger system is the greatest opportunity to reduce emissions.

Vote for leaders at all levels of government who take climate change seriously. They should commit to set science-based targets to reduce harmful carbon emissions, implement clear plans to reach those targets, adapt to climate change and shift to a clean-energy economy.

Your vote matters. Make sure you are registered to vote and then get informed for all elections - not just the ones that get the most media attention. Candidates' positions on climate change vary widely, so research the parties, ask questions about climate change at town halls or debates and let all candidates know you are voting for the climate.

If you're too young to vote, encourage your class or school to join a Student Vote program, which provides opportunities to experience participation in the election process. Talk to people in your life who are eligible to vote about the importance of voting for climate action.

The first step is registering to vote.

Join us on social!

Learn more about climate change and discover ways to take action

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Top 10 things you can do about climate change

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People, communities, cities, businesses, schools and other organizations are taking action to help fight climate change.

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coral bleaching

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Rising Ocean Temperatures are "Cooking" Coral Reefs | National Geographic

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melting of polar ice

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Photographer Camille Seaman shoots icebergs, showing the world the complex beauty of these massive, ancient chunks of ice. Dive in to her photo slideshow, "The Last Iceberg."

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"What is Global Warming?"

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Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are dying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace. It has become clear that humans have caused most of the past century's warming by releasing heat-trapping gases as we power our modern lives. Called greenhouse gases, their levels are higher now than at any time in the last 800,000 years.

We often call the result global warming, but it is causing a set of changes to the Earth's climate, or long-term weather patterns, that varies from place to place. While many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, scientists use "climate change" when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet's weather and climate systems-in part because some areas actually get cooler in the short term.

Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts. All of those changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, changing the rhythms of climate that all living things have come to rely on.

What will we do-what can we do-to slow this human-caused warming? How will we cope with the changes we've already set into motion? While we struggle to figure it all out, the fate of the Earth as we know it-coasts, forests, farms, and snow-capped mountains-hangs in the balance.

Understanding the greenhouse effect

The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse, hence the name.

Sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where the energy is absorbed and then radiate back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, greenhouse gas molecules trap some of the heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases concentrate in the atmosphere, the more heat gets locked up in the molecules.

Scientists have known about the greenhouse effect since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it had no atmosphere. This natural greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate livable. Without it, the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) cooler.

In 1895, the Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius discovered that humans could enhance the greenhouse effect by making carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. He kicked off 100 years of climate research that has given us a sophisticated understanding of global warming.

Levels of greenhouse gases have gone up and down over the Earth's history, but they had been fairly constant for the past few thousand years. Global average temperatures had also stayed fairly constant over that time- until the past 150 years. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities that have emitted large amounts of greenhouse gases, particularly over the past few decades, humans are now enhancing the greenhouse effect and warming Earth significantly, and in ways that promise many effects, scientists warn.

Aren't temperature changes natural?

Human activity isn't the only factor that affects Earth's climate. Volcanic eruptions and variations in solar radiation from sunspots, solar wind, and the Earth's position relative to the sun also play a role. So do large-scale weather patterns such as El Niño.

But climate models that scientists use to monitor Earth's temperatures take those factors into account. Changes in solar radiation levels as well as minute particles suspended in the atmosphere from volcanic eruptions, for example, have contributed only about two percent to the recent warming effect. The balance comes from greenhouse gases and other human-caused factors, such as land use change.

The short timescale of this recent warming is singular as well. Volcanic eruptions, for example, emit particles that temporarily cool the Earth's surface. But their effect lasts just a few years. Events like El Niño also work on fairly short and predictable cycles. On the other hand, the types of global temperature fluctuations that have contributed to ice ages occur on a cycle of hundreds of thousands of years.

For thousands of years now, emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere have been balanced out by greenhouse gases that are naturally absorbed. As a result, greenhouse gas concentrations and temperatures have been fairly stable, which has allowed human civilization to flourish within a consistent climate.

Now, humans have increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by more than a third since the Industrial Revolution. Changes that have historically taken thousands of years are now happening over the course of decades.

Why does this matter?

The rapid rise in greenhouse gases is a problem because it's changing the climate faster than some living things can adapt to. Also, a new and more unpredictable climate poses unique challenges to all life.

Historically, Earth's climate has regularly shifted between temperatures like those we see today and temperatures cold enough to cover much of North America and Europe with ice. The difference between average global temperatures today and during those ice ages is only about 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius), and the swings have tended to happen slowly, over hundreds of thousands of years.

But with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets such as Greenland and Antarctica are starting to melt too. That extra water could raise sea levels significantly, and quickly. By 2050, sea levels are predicted to rise between one and 2.3 feet as glaciers melt.

As the mercury rises, the climate can change in unexpected ways. In addition to sea levels rising, weather can become more extreme. This means more intense major storms, more rain followed by longer and drier droughts-a challenge for growing crops-changes in the ranges in which plants and animals can live, and loss of water supplies that have historically come from glaciers.

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Glaciers are melting, sea levels are rising, cloud forests are drying, and wildlife is scrambling to keep pace.

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Website: Environment and Climate Change Canada

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Website: Environment and Climate Change Canada

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Environment and Climate Change Canada - Canada.ca

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Environment Canada is committed to protecting the environment, conserving the country's natural heritage, and providing weather and meteorological information to keep Canadians informed and safe.

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Article: The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism

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Article: The Scientific Guide to Global Warming Skepticism

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How do scientists predict climate?

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How Climate Scientists Predict the Future

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Cold...climate change?

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Record Cold Winter Could Be Thanks To Global Warming

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History of Earth's Climate

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All of Earth's Climate Changes Since the Beginning

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Hank discusses 5 effects of climate change

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the impact of single use plastics

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Not What You Think It Is | The Swim

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Impact of 'fast fashion' on climate change.

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Marketplace investigates clothing recycling programs at fast fashion chains, and reveals the marketing may not live up to what it promises consumers and the planet. While you feel good about dropping off all those used clothes, you might not be doing as much good as you think. Watch Charlsie Agro's journey as she follows the trail of your old T-shirts around the world

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Clothing Waste: Fashion's dirty secret - Episodes - Marketplace

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Marketplace investigates clothing recycling programs at fast fashion chains, and reveals the marketing may not live up to what it promises consumers and the planet. While you feel good about dropping off all those used clothes, you might not be doing as much good as you think.

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"How will we fix climate change?"

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How will we fix climate change? | CBC Radio

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"If we know what the problem is and we know that it's bad ... then we must be doing everything we can to stop it, right?"

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very short video with just the basics...narrated by Bill Nye!

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic

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slightly longer video with some basic info about climate change

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from 2016- great discussion about the successes in the fight against climate change

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Al Gore: The case for optimism on climate change

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Why is Al Gore optimistic about climate change? In this spirited talk, Gore asks three powerful questions about the man-made forces threatening to destroy our planet -- and the solutions we're designing to combat them. (Featuring Q&A with TED curator Chris Anderson)

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published by Government of Canada 2019. Lots of great factual information!!

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This report is about how and why Canada's climate has changed and what changes are projected for the future. Led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it is the first report to be released as part of Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action.

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This report is about how and why Canada's climate has changed and what changes are projected for the future. Led by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it is the first report to be released as part of Canada in a Changing Climate: Advancing our Knowledge for Action.

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Interview about Canada's Changing Climate Report

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Canada warming at twice the global rate, climate report says

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more good information about climate change in Canada and about this group which works with government to encourage action.

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Climate change is widely recognized as the most urgent problem facing humanity. We know that human activity is warming the Earth. And we know we have the knowledge, technologies, and resources to solve the problem, in ways that support the most vulnerable nations and communities.

Earth's atmosphere is part of a global system that keeps the temperature of the planet within a habitable range. Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, humans have been altering the composition of the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and gas. The resulting carbon dioxide (CO2) builds up in the atmosphere, creating the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect traps energy from the sun and raises the temperature of the Earth, and this rising temperature is what most people mean when they refer to global warming or climate change. Other important greenhouse gases include methane produced mainly by natural gas production and livestock, nitrous oxide from nitrogen-based fertilizers, and hydrofluorocarbons.

The wide-ranging impacts of climate change are already being felt: economically, environmentally, and socially. All of these impacts are connected, so that worsening one problem can contribute to another. That also means that tackling greenhouse gas emissions can create cascading benefits in different areas.

We still have time to choose a future that prevents the worst impacts of climate change, by making a rapid transition to (incredibly affordable) renewable energy sources and phasing out fossil fuels. But time is short.

Entire ecosystems are already changing, and many species are going extinct because their habitats are changing faster than they can adapt.

Our civilization will have to go through rapid, profound changes to mitigate the worst of climate change and adapt to climate impacts that have already started to occur.

But if we get this right, the climate crisis also points to the massive opportunity to create jobs in a more just, green economy.

Love Bill Nye? Check out his helpful explanation of climate change in this video from the The Climate Reality Project:

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Climate change is widely recognized as the most urgent problem facing humanity. We know that human activity is warming the Earth. And we know we have the knowledge, technologies, and resources to solve the problem, in ways that support the most vulnerable nations and communities.