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COP18march

A COP18 Wrap-up: The Doha Gateway to a Warmer World

The UNFCCC COP18 climate change conference has been hailed, by some, as a success. The ‘Doha Gateway’ was celebrated in particular for its success at ensuring a second term of the Kyoto Protocol. After the negotiations went more than twenty-four hours overtime, the president of the conference quickly gaveled through […]

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Exercises in Urban Imagination

Enthused members of the A\J team went to a panel discussion hosted by the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery last week. Featured on stage were Justin Langlois, artist and co-founder of Broken City Lab, Scott Sorli, architect and co-founder of Toronto’s convenience window gallery  and Steven Logan, urban researcher and member of the […]

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Lifecycle Analysis Answers the Christmas Tree Debate: Real or Fake?

It’s a simple concept that is rarely utilized in Canada today: incorporating lifecycle analysis (LCA) into planning and design. Evaluating the full impacts of a project or product throughout construction, operational use and eventual decommissioning/disposal would go a long way to promoting sustainable development in Canada. Unfortunately, many planning decisions […]

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Community-Owned Energy

  Solar panels, wind turbines and hydroelectric dams are not cheap. Countries can afford them, but national ownership does not tend to foster local pride. Individuals, organizations or corporations can purchase smaller systems, but they need a bunch of money up front. Communities, on the other hand, may be just […]

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Shopping for a Lighter Foodprint

This spring, in a personal challenge to eat local and reduce my carbon footprint, I planted my first vegetable garden. I spent $50 on seeds and planted all my favourite vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, peas, radishes, carrots, beets, onions and spinach. I was quite excited, but since growing these vegetables […]

Bear 71 film review A\J AlternativesJournal.ca

Bear 71

The title character of this 20-minute, interactive National Film Board documentary is a grizzly that was caught and tagged as Bear 71 in Banff National Park in 2001 at the age of three, then monitored until her death eight years later. Filmmakers Jeremy Mendes and Leanne Allison use a navigable […]

Waking the Green Tiger film review A\J AlternativesJournal.ca

Waking the Green Tiger

In the Southwestern province of Yunnan, the headwaters of China’s three major rivers glide side by side, carving deep, beautiful gorges through the country’s most culturally and biologically diverse regions. The Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers are also the subjects of dozens of proposed dams. The largest is the Tiger […]