Canada's Environmental Voice
Oh, and the night, the night, when the wind full of cosmic spaceGnaws at our faces – R. M. Rilke, Duino Elegies (trans. Leslie P. Gartner) IF WE CONSIDER the phenomenon of solar flares, Rilke’s description of how cosmic winds sometimes blow in our faces is surprisingly true. Atmospheric auroras, the […]
The romantic allure of the scented aromatherapy candle has seduced many of us. But unless you’re lighting the right candle, you may actually be polluting the air in your home.
IN FALL 2011, a recycling depot in Whitehorse partnered with Cold Climate Innovation to test a revolutionary plastic-to-oil processor. P&M Recycling, one of two main facilities that serve the Yukon capital’s 23,000-plus residents, had been losing money for years by shipping plastic waste 2,370 km to Vancouver for processing. But […]
THEY SIT BEMUSED under the equatorial sun, like the victims of natural catastrophe, an earthquake perhaps, the second shock imminent and inescapable. The young men and women of Nauru. Theirs is the first nation in a hundred years to plummet from “First World” to “Third World” status in a single […]
You’ve heard it before – small is beautiful. Whether it’s farming, mining or producing energy, the size of the operation is important. Despite the welcome trend toward smaller scale production, however, it isn’t always the best solution. In this edition of Alternatives Journal , we look at the issue of […]
IN A RUGGED KNOT of mountains in the remote reaches of Northern British Columbia lies a stunningly beautiful valley known to the First Nations as the Sacred Headwaters. There, on the southern edge of the Spatsizi Wilderness, the Serengeti of Canada, are born in remarkably close proximity three of Canada’s […]
IN RECENT YEARS, Canada has pumped billions of dollars into its biofuel industry. Most notable have been incentives paid to farmers to grow corn for ethanol production. While Canada now has a nascent biofuel industry with more and more plants opening across the country, little thought has been given to […]
NOT LONG AFTER ARRIVING in North Carolina, I became enamored with that exotic Southern delicacy: deep-fried turkey. Each time I fried a bird, however, I was left with gallons of used cooking oil. The recycler in me found it hard to throw such waste in the woods, so in 2002 […]
WE'RE VERY PLEASED to announce that Alternatives has become the media sponsor for Earth Day Canada’s Hometown Heroes. The annual award goes to an individual or group who has made an outstanding contribution to the environment by working within their community. It’s work that often goes unnoticed, so we are […]
