Environment

Coming Up Roses

You can eat organic. Now you can smell organic, too. The world's first commercial crop of certified organic roses has recently hit stores. Organic Bouquet Inc. sells 20 rose varieties for $16.99 per dozen at Whole Foods Markets in southern California. Garden lovers and connoisseurs of edible flowers can find the organic flower industry also blossoming in Canada. Look for them in your favourite whole-foods market. Also go to the Canadian Organic Associations of BC database at certifiedorganic.bc.ca and type "flowers" in the search tool.

Getting Wet in Ontario

"Spring showers bring May flowers." In a season when many Canadians attempt to escape the rain, several Ontario groups rejoice in wetness. Preservation is underway in Wainfleet Bog, where only 4,000 acres remain of a water network that once stretched between the Grand and Niagara Rivers.

Human activity in the form of canals and ditches, as well as non-native tree species, have negatively impacted the Wainfleet Bog. Groups involved in conservation efforts to return the bog to its natural state include the Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority.

Wetlands are an important part of native Ontario habitat. Marshes, bogs, swamps and fens are home to hundreds of bird, fish and animal species, and also provide important functions such as maintaining water quality and flood control, and providing economic benefits and recreation spots for humans.

To learn more about wetland conservation projects, visit the Ontario Wetland Habitat Fund at wetlandfund.com or Wildlife Habitat Canada at whc.org.

Canada Signs Kyoto Protocol

Canada became the 99th country to sign the Kyoto Protocol last December. The move, intended to combat global warming, requires Canada to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. Presently, emissions are about one-fifth above 1990 levels, which means we've got quite a way to go before we reach our goal. Prime Minister Jean Chretien acknowledged that this could mean a shake-up in terms of how we produce and export energy. "Things will have to change, but climate change is an extremely important problem, and the Canadian people wanted us to do the right thing. That's what we are doing today," he said.

Air Pollution Felt for Generations

Air pollution knows no boundaries-crossing provinces, countries and continents. Now Canadian researchers have found it also crosses time barriers.

Air pollution from steel mills can cause genetic damage across generations, according to scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. Mice allowed to breathe air from a nearby smoky steel mill had fewer offspring and more genetic mutations than their cleaner air-breathing counterparts.

"Our findings suggest that there is urgent need to investigate the genetic consequences associated with exposure to chemical pollution through the inhalation of urban and industrial air," Christopher Somers, James Quinn and colleagues wrote in their report, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.