Canadians can help contribute to the growing success of the ethical, sustainable chocolate trade. Advice from local farmers in Peru’s booming region of San Martin enlightens us on how best to indulge.
SUSTAINABLE LIFE
How Chocolate Works: The Science of Cacao Production in Peru
The basics of cacao production are fairly straightforward, but a healthy crop requires specific conditions to flourish and balancing all of the contributing factors can get pretty complex. High-quality, rich, aromatic chocolate is produced from proper cultivation techniques that farmers have been sharing for centuries. With 90 per cent of Peru’s cacao production being […]
Toronto Needs a Public Referendum on The Big Move
I spent last summer researching the issue of rapid transit in Toronto, Ontario, and spoke with 10 locals who work in the transit field about ‘The Big Move,’ the proposal from provincial planning agency Metrolinx for improving transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Metrolinx is an agency […]
Why Hire a Sustainability Graduate?
As a third-year Environment and Business student at the University of Waterloo, I am often asked what I plan to pursue as a career after graduation.
Agricultural Institutes Are Driving Sustainable Chocolate Production in Peru
To help satisfy chocolate cravings all over the world, many Peruvian farmers have chosen to dedicate their lives to organic cacao cultivation. But they need more support from agricultural research institutes for local sustainable economic development to thrive.
Hudbay Minerals: Confronting a Corporate Criminal
The scene was absurd: four activists, each with a bundle of 75 black and gold helium-filled balloons, riding an escalator. As we reached the top, we clipped our banner to the bundles and let go, watching our work rise slowly toward the hundred-foot ceiling of the lobby of a downtown […]
New Ontario Organization is Advancing the Role of Women in Renewable Energy
At the 2013 Canadian Wind Energy Association’s (CanWEA) conference a new group launched to encourage greater inclusivity in the energy field, Women in Renewable Energy (WiRE). Founded and co-chaired by Rebecca Black and Joanna Szarek Osawe, this non-profit organization is dedicated to “furthering education and awareness surrounding renewable energy development and […]
Saving Energy in the Bathroom
Replacing working fixtures for the sake of getting energy efficient ones is rarely the most sustainable option, because it ignores the energy and resources that go into making them in the first place. But if you’re renovating anyway, it makes sense to purchase energy-saving fixtures over conventional ones.
Reclaiming Food Waste
Many of us would cringe at the idea of eating food from the dumpster. Yet dumpster-diving is happening, sometimes for survival, sometimes for ethical reasons. But no matter what the case, it is always environmental, because the fact that it’s possible, the fact that edible food is being thrown out […]
Water and Agriculture in Canada: Towards Sustainable Management of Water Resources
Whiskey’s for drinking and water’s for fighting, or so the old saying goes. There’s no way of conveying the importance of water to agriculture more concisely. Water management is highly divisive and fraught with winners and losers. Given the contentiousness of managing this critical resource, the Hon. Gerry Ritz, federal […]
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