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OTTAWA — Canada's first federal carbon offset market kicked off Wednesday as the final piece of the puzzle in the carbon price for big industry takes shape.

OTTAWA — Canada's first federal carbon offset market kicked off Wednesday as the final piece of the puzzle in the carbon price for big industry takes shape.

But the arrival of the new offset system was greeted without applause by climate activists who say it simply makes it cheaper for big industry to keep polluting.

Carbon offset markets allow governments, companies and other organizations that emit greenhouse gases to pay for those emissions through the purchase of credits created when emissions are cut somewhere else.

Voluntary markets have existed for years, as private companies raised capital for emissions-reducing projects like wind farms and tree planting, by selling credits to people looking to pay for their own carbon footprint.

Compliance markets are newer and allow entities that pay a carbon price to lower the amount of emissions they must cover by buying credits from a regulated market. The credits are almost always less than the carbon price — on average about 10 to 20 per cent less in compliance markets that already exist.

British Columbia, Quebec and Alberta have some compliance credit systems already but there was not one at the national level until now.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Wednesday the new federal system is a key piece of Canada's ability to hit both its emissions target for 2030 and getting to net zero emissions by 2050.

"Climate change is the crisis that will persist," he said. "That's why we cannot pause and we must continue to go faster and further."

The new system targets the big industrial emitters that pay the federal carbon price, but any entity in Canada can buy offset credits from the system. The companies in the federal carbon pricing system can only use credits for about 75 per cent of their covered emissions.

For now, only municipalities that install new methane capture systems at landfills will be part of the new compliance market. Over the next year, the government intends to finish the rules to add projects that cut emissions from refrigeration systems, forests and soil management on farms.

The government said it is also now starting to write the rules to add direct air capture technology that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air and traps it underground.

One credit will be created for every tonne of emissions reduced by approved projects. They will only count after being audited to ensure those cuts are not being made to comply with existing regulations or carbon pricing. The cuts also have to be permanent and they will be tracked on a public register.

Louise Comeau, director of climate change and energy solutions at the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said big industry in Canada is already being asked to do very little about their own emissions.

Big emitters covered by the federal carbon price pay that cost — currently $50 a tonne — on only five to 20 per cent of total greenhouse gases produced.

Comeau said cutting the cost by allowing emitters to buy credits for less than the price of the carbon price simply lowers their financial incentive to cut their own emissions.

"The whole thing is ridiculous," said Comeau.

Not to mention, she said, the emissions being cut at landfills and farms and from forests, should be cut in addition to the cuts needed from big industry. It's not an either-or situation, she said.

Shane Moffatt, head of the nature and food campaign at Greenpeace Canada, called it a "massive step back."

"This doesn't get us anywhere," he said. "The carbon market is a shell game."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2022.

Mia Rabson, The Canadian Press

Tickets on-sale Friday, June 10 at 10AM local.

Outback Presents has announced comedian Leanne Morgan's national headlining tour will continue across the United States in September 2022. Today, Morgan revealed the Big Panty Tour will bring her hit stand-up comedy routine to 14 additional cities. Tickets go on-sale this Friday, June 10 at 10:00 a.m. local time.

When asked about the tour Leanne Morgan says, "I'm so tickled to be adding new dates to my Big Panty Tour! I'm having so much fun being with y'all, and can't wait for the fun to continue. Morgan adds, "I feel like I need to clean y'all's house, because everyone has been so sweet on this tour."

After 22 years in comedy, Leanne Morgan has cemented herself as a must watch comedian. Touring across the nation, Morgan's comedy has landed her at the prestigious Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal and has brought her development deals for her own sitcom with ABC and Warner Brothers, writer/producer Matt Williams (Rosanne and Home Improvement), TV Land and now with Sony Television. The comedian has garnered over 1.5 million followers across social media and her popular stand-up special, So Yummy has reached over 50 million views on YouTube.

Her fan base continues to grow with her relatability as she discusses everything from being a housewife, sharing Jell-O recipes to having a new grandbaby. She has appeared on ABC's The View, NBC's The Kelly Clarkson Show, Nick at Nite's Funniest Mom and toured with the Southern Fried Chicks.

For more info on her tour go-to: www.Leannemorgan.com

LEANNE MORGAN: BIG PANTY TOUR 2022 DATES

Friday, June 10, 2022 Grand Rapids, MI DeVos Performance Hall *

Saturday, June 11, 2022 Cleveland, OH Connor Palace *

Friday, June 17, 2022 South Bend, IN Morris Performing Arts Center *

Saturday, June 18, 2022 Detroit, MI Fox Theatre *

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 Del Mar, CA San Diego County Fair*

Friday, June 24, 2022 Asheville, NC Thomas Wolfe Auditorium *^

Saturday, June 25, 2022 Birmingham, AL Alabama Theatre *^

Friday, July 29, 2022 Hattiesburg, MS Seanger Theater*

Friday, August 5, 2022 Fort Wayne, IN Embassy Theatre *

Saturday, August 6, 2022 Toledo, OH Stranahan Theatre *

Friday, August 12, 2022 Davenport, IA Adler Theatre *

Saturday, August 13, 2022 Omaha, NE Orpheum Theater *

Friday, August 19, 2022 Little Rock, AR Robinson Performance Hall *^

Saturday August 20, 2022 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Center Mark C Smith Concert Hall *^

Saturday August 21, 2022 Huntsville, AL Von Braun Center Mark C Smith Concert Hall *^

Friday, August 26, 2022 Fort Smith, AR ArcBest Performing Arts Center *

Saturday, August 27, 2022 Kansas City, MO Arvest Bank Theatre At The Midland *

Saturday, September 10, 2022 Bowling Green, KY SKyPAC

Sunday, September 11, 2022 Paducah, KY The Carson Center

Thursday, September 15, 2022 Madison, WI Capitol Theater *

Friday, September 16, 2022 Rockford, IL Coronado PAC *

Saturday, September 17, 2022 Springfield, IL UIS Performing Arts Center *

Friday, September 30, 2022 Tulsa, OK Tulsa Theater

Saturday, October 1, 2022 Dallas, TX Majestic Theatre

Friday, October 7, 2022 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre *

Saturday, October 8, 2022 Sioux City, IA Orpheum Theatre *

Saturday, October 15, 2022 Coral Springs, FL Coral Springs Center For The Arts

Sunday, October 16, 2022 Sarasota, FL Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall

Friday, October 28, 2022 Salt Lake City, UT Eccles Theater *

Saturday, October 29, 2022 Cabazon, CA Morongo Casino

Thursday, November 3, 2022 Baton Rouge, LA River Center Theatre

Friday, November 4, 2022 Mobile, AL Saenger Theatre

Friday, November 11, 2022 Bethlehem, PA Wind Creek Event Center

Thursday, November 17, 2022 Fayetteville, NC Crown Theatre +

Friday, November 18, 2022 Columbia, SC Koger Center For The Arts

Saturday, November 19, 2022 Chattanooga, TN Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Auditorium

Thursday, December 8, 2022 Las Vegas, NV Wynn Las Vegas

*On sale now

^Low tickets remain

+ On sale July 8, 2022

Outback Presents is the leading independent, full-service promoter of live entertainment. From their home base in Nashville, TN, Outback Presents specializes in producing music and comedy shows, tours and festivals across North America and connecting their diverse roster of artists with their fans. For more information, visit www.outbackpresents.com.

by ROBERT J. JESKE, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, UW-Milwaukee; and Adjunct Curator of Anthropology, Milwaukee Public Museum

Editor’s Note from Debra Fitzgerald: During the past nine years, archaeologists have been digging pits at three Crossroads dig sites at Big Creek, Ida Bay and The Cove. The flintknapping residue from tool making, intact arrowheads and clay-pot fragments they’ve found were made and used by people who lived during the Middle Woodland (300 BCE – 400 CE) and Late Woodland (400-1200 CE) eras, between 1,200 and 2,000 years ago.

They’ve also found the dark stains that are cultural features indicative of past human activity, including a semi-subterranean, keyhole-shaped, wigwam type of construction. Another stain pointed them to a basin-shaped food-storage/garbage pit that they were working on last summer when I joined them while working on a story.

Last week, Coggin Heeringa, the program director and naturalist at Crossroads at Big Creek, forwarded some of the findings that have developed from the The Cove site, discussed below by Robert “Bob” Jeske, who is one of the archaeologists at the dig.

We know that people hunted and gathered wild plants and animals at The Cove site between AD 800 and 1200, but we have only a vague understanding of how they used their tools for tasks such as hunting and processing animals for food, clothing and other tools. However, archaeologists have several ways to get at these questions.

One of these ways is crossover immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) analysis. CIEP works much like the way that medical doctors determine whether a person is allergic to animals. Blood protein can be preserved in microscopic cracks on the surface of stone tools. We can chemically extract that protein from the tools and expose it to antisera from known animals. An immune reaction to the antisera shows that the tool was used on that animal.

We sent 20 artifacts from The Cove site to NWAI in Portland, Oregon, a laboratory that specializes in CIEP. NWAI exposed our 20 tools to antisera for deer, dog, rabbit, beaver, squirrel and human. Two tools had positive hits. One tool tested positive for human blood, and another was positive for beaver.

A 10% rate of successful hits is not unusual. We tested against six kinds of blood types. People used tools on many other mammals, fish and birds, which we did not test for. These tools could be tested against other animals in the future. But even two tools let us say a lot more about the activities at The Cove site than we could previously.

First, we know that people processed beaver at the site. Microwear analysis shows that the artifact was used to pierce hide. So we know that the beaver was used for its hide or fur, not just as food.

Second, we know that the people at The Cove site were engaged in interpersonal violence. How common such violence was is not clear, but this is the first blood-residue evidence of violence in the Late Woodland period in Wisconsin.

Only one other site in Wisconsin has had its tools analyzed using a combination of microwear and blood-residue analyses. The maize farmers at Crescent Bay Hunt Club (ca. AD 1100-1450) used tools to hunt deer, process deer and bison hides, butcher dogs, process plants and shoot people.

Another 20 tools are ready for CIEP analysis. Tools from the Ida Bay site (AD 100-800) are also available for analysis. Combined, the Crossroads tools will provide unique and important information on more than 1,000 years of Native American lifeways in Door County.

A high streamflow advisory has been issued for several British Columbia communities along the Lower Fraser River due to increasing snowmelt and wet weather.

The River Forecast Centre says the advisory applies to areas from Quesnel downstream, including Big Bar, Boston Bar and the Fraser Valley from Hope to the ocean.

It says water flow in the Fraser River's tributaries is expected to make its way to the Lower Fraser at Hope and downstream through the weekend, while rain Thursday is expected to increase river flow which may remain high over the next few weeks or even longer.

Flood watches and warnings around B.C.

The advisory is the latest addition to a series of flood watches and warnings issued by the centre for rivers and their tributaries around the province.

A snow survey released Wednesday by the Ministry of Forests showing data from more than 100 weather stations indicates snow levels are well above normal, an increase from the assessment done in mid-May.

The report says flood risk remains high because of delayed snowmelt, and as of June 1, there was an average snowpack of 165 per cent above normal, up from 128 per cent of normal during the survey done on May 15.

"All regions of the province with snow measurements have snow basin indices greater than 140 per cent of normal, indicating significant risk throughout the B.C. Interior from snowmelt related flooding,'' the report says.

Six stations measured record-high snow, including sites in the Upper Fraser east, Quesnel, North Thompson, South Thompson and Upper Columbia, highlighting areas that are still at increased risk for flooding, the report says.

The report says normally about half the snowpack is melted by June 1, but cooler weather has delayed that by two to four weeks and just 19 per cent of the snowpack at the automated weather stations had melted.

The Stikine-area snowpack in northwest B.C. is 289 per cent of normal, the same area where a flood warning has been posted for the Liard River, flood watches are up for the Skeena and Bulkley rivers, and high streamflow advisories cover the Stikine and Swift rivers.

The areas affect the communities of Fort Nelson, Watson Lake, Telkwa, Smithers, Hazelton, Kispiox, Terrace, Dease Lake and Telegraph Creek.

Communities vulnerable over next few weeks

The River Forecast Centre says that the Lower Fraser River will remain vulnerable to extreme weather events, especially heavy rainfall or extreme heat over the next few weeks.

However, it says that while forecasts are not indicating extreme heat, unsettled weather with rain in the Interior is anticipated to continue.

"The public is advised to stay clear of the fast-flowing rivers and potentially unstable riverbanks during the high streamflow period,'' says the advisory.

The B.C. government is telling residents of flood-prone areas to be prepared for flooding, advising people to store valuable and important documents in watertight containers or on a tall shelf or upper floor.

It's also asking people to understand that while no major flooding is expected, as rivers start to rise, minor flooding in low-lying areas is possible.

The high streamflow advisory is the lowest of the three levels issued by the River Forecast Centre.

A flood watch follows an advisory and indicates river levels may exceed the bank, and flooding could occur.

A flood warning suggests an evacuation alert may be issued, followed by an evacuation order, meaning people must immediately leave their property.

The flourishing piano player and songwriter Regina Spector released a new single this week, “Loveology,” ahead of the artist’s forthcoming new LP, Home, before and after, which itself is set to drop on June 24.

Check out the new single below, along with two more songs Spektor recently shared, “Becoming All Alone” and “Up The Mountain.”

Spektor is also set to head out on a headlining tour this fall, with dates beginning in October. Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 10 HERE.

“With ‘Loveology,’ I wrote it and then played it once or twice live,” Spektor says. “Sometimes I’ll have a song that I’m really glad exists, but I can’t record it because every time I try, it just doesn’t feel right coming out of my mouth. But for whatever reason, both ‘Loveology’ and ‘Raindrops’ felt so right this time and I’m so glad I was finally able to put them on a record.”

The Russian-born American artist, who was honored with “Regina Spektor Day” on June 11, 2019, is a Grammy-nominated songwriter. Her latest album, 2016 Remember Us To Life, was critically acclaimed and stands as a seminal work for its nuanced writing and elaborate musicianship.

And on her upcoming tour, Spektor is also set to play some dates with big names like Norah Jones and the Avett Brothers. Check the full itinerary here below.

TOUR DATES

June 25—Oxbow RiverStage—Napa, CA*June 26—Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harvey’s—Stateline, NV*June 28—The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park—San Diego, CA*July 5—Sandy Amphitheater—Salt Lake City, UTJuly 6—Sandy Amphitheater—Salt Lake City, UTJuly 8—Villar PAC—Beaver Creek, COJuly 9—Paramount Theater—Denver, COJuly 10—Red Rocks Amphitheatre—Morrison, CO†July 19—Carnegie Hall—New York, NYJuly 24—The Mann Center—Philadelphia, PA*July 26—The Pines Theater—Northampton, MAJuly 30—Bethel Woods Center For The Arts—Bethel, NY*August 1—Saratoga Performing Arts Center—Saratoga Springs, NY*August 2—Leader Bank Pavilion—Boston, MA*August 4—Forest Hills Stadium—Forest Hills, NY*October 9—Chicago Theater—Chicago, ILOctober 11—Michigan Theater—Ann Arbor, MIOctober 12—Massey Hall—Toronto, ONOctober 14—State Theater—Ithaca, NYOctober 15—Wellmont Theater—Montclair, NJOctober 16—Warner Theatre—Washington DCOctober 18—Tabernacle—Atlanta, GAOctober 19—Belk Theatre—Charlotte, NCOctober 20—Ryman Auditorium—Nashville, TNOctober 25—The Warfield—San Francisco, CAOctober 27—Walt Disney Concert Hall—Los Angeles, CA

*w/ Norah Jones

†w/ The Avett Brothers

Photo by Shervin Lainez / Sacks Co.