The Toronto Star Opponents to wind farms in Ontario, at the best of times a local thorn in the side of wind-energy developers, have suddenly realized the benefit of getting organized.

Earlier this week a new anti-wind group called Wind Concerns Ontario, a coalition of 22 small rural groups each fighting their own community battles, announced its creation as a “strong, unified voice of opposition” to provincial plans that would see thousands of industrial wind turbines “tearing apart the very fabric of rural Ontario.”

A report by Deloitte & Touche LLP and commissioned by the Ontario Environment Ministry outlines recommendations for improving Ontario’s hazardous waste management plan. It states that the province needs to “spend about $100-million over a 10-year period on a new system that would allow its enforcement officials to better monitor waste movements.”

The Globe and Mail

New energy-efficiency standards are set to kick in for new homes in Ontario.

Effective Thursday, the province’s building code will require near full-height insulation on foundation walls in all new-home construction.

The province estimates that such homes will be typically about 28 per cent more energy efficient than a decade ago.

The new requirement is the second step in a three-phase approach to energy efficiency brought in with the introduction of the 2006 Building Code.

The Toronto Star

If you’re a fan of rapper Eminem those words might sound familiar. They’re the opening line to his hit single Lose Yourself. And it might as well be the same message coming out of a coalition of environmental, farming, community and native groups that are urging the Ontario government to create a green energy act for the province.

The Toronto Star

It was one ecological disaster we thought we’d largely licked.

But in an “insidious” echo of the 1980s acid rain crisis, lakes in parts of North America and Europe are now experiencing severe calcium depletions that scientists are terming an “osteoporosis” of the water, a new study in the journal Science suggests.

A proposed plan is looking to add recycling fees of $10 for TVs and up to $13 for computers to encourage Ontario residents to keep electronics out of landfills.

Toronto Star

As first announced in the spring budget, the Ontario government is extending the provincial sales tax exemption on energy-efficient appliances and most bicycles.

Toronto Star

Ontario has made the largest conservation commitment in Canadian history, setting aside at least half the Northern Boreal region – 225,000 square kilometres – for permanent protection from development, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday.

Toronto Star

The Ontario government is pouring another $7.5 million into research for biofuels that can be made from agricultural waste such as corn husks and manure instead of food crops.

The Ontario budget is calling for a $48 million fund to be spent on environmental issues. This includes hiring “inspectors, equipment upgrades, support to develop toxin-reducing legislation and public education campaigns.”