ForestEthics, Greenpeace and Sierra Club of Canada, along with industry leaders and indigenous groups, celebrated success after a decade long campaign to protect the globally unique Great Bear Rainforest. The total area protected from the chainsaw equals 5 million acres, twice the size of Yellowstone Park and equal to 6300 of New York’s Central Park. This total includes new and previous protection areas, plus special no logging zones that require the use of more sustainable logging practices for the remaining area. The agreement also sets a new precedent for decision making for local indigenous groups (First Nations), giving them the right to define what happens on their land.

To date, almost half of a $120 million investment package has been raised by philanthropic donors for conservation and sustainable business ventures in First Nation territories. The BC government has committed $30 million to First Nations for economic development. The coalition is hopeful that the federal government will join in this initiative.

California’s Public Utilities Commission has voted 3 to-1 to create the largest solar program of its kind in any state in the U.S. The ten-year California Solar Initiative will provide US$2.9 billion to accelerate the transition to clean energy and to reduce the consumer costs of solar electricity. The goal is to increase the capacity of installed rooftop PV panels by 3,000 MW by 2017.

The California program is the second largest in the world, after Germany, and the Vote Solar group estimates the initiative will result in a net positive benefit for California of $1.2 to $18.2 billion, depending on the cost of avoided power and timeframe, and would create 39,948 to 61,458 job-years by 2026.

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