Canada's Environmental Voice
It’s December 6, and we are on the island of Kos in Greece. The stores are closed for the celebration of St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors, but the sun is out and the cafes are doing a brisk trade. A band approaches and then a procession bearing the […]
If you’ve ever dreamt of tearing down your old, energy-inefficient home and building a new, eco-friendly one, you may want to think again. After all, knocking down an existing building wastes materials and energy, and requires even more materials and energy to rebuild.
At first it can be tricky to pin down what Sustainable Waterloo Region does. That’s not to say the volunteer-fuelled non-profit doesn’t share its own success story well. It’s that SWR’s influence is naturally understated, an unseen support beam to the goals and achievements of other businesses trying to cut […]
In 1904, Prince Piero Ginori Conti of Larderello, Italy found himself in charge of a boric acid extraction company. One can only assume his life’s greatest ambition was not boric acid extraction, because he quickly repurposed the firm’s resources to begin producing electricity via a reciprocating steam engine.
During the last 10 years in Canada, as well as elsewhere in North America and other parts of the world, proposed wind energy projects have spawned fierce opposition and intense controversy. It’s not headline news when members of the public react against possible changes to their neighbourhoods.
Warning labels on packs of cigarettes didn’t keep me from smoking as a teenager. When I quit in my 20s, their newly gruesome imagery really didn’t have much to do with it. But the warnings most definitely coloured my leftover cravings with the dark possibilties of charred lungs, festering gums […]
The average Canadian spends 26 minutes getting to work each morning, according to Statistics Canada. Considering that we’re a nation of drivers (82 per cent of commuters travel to work by car), it’s no wonder most metropolitan areas are plagued by traffic congestion and poor air quality. Reduce your commuter […]
Sharing is about maximizing the use of products, services and ideas in order to minimize overall consumption by a community. This principle has a surprising number of applications – people can and do share just about anything. It’s also nothing new; sharing books, movies, equipment and hand-me-downs has been common […]
The last I saw Hermann Scheer, he was walking north up a side street from Unter den Linden in Berlin. It was mid-evening in August 2009 and we’d been talking for well over an hour, seated at a small table on the sidewalk next to the Café Einstein, an establishment […]
FRESH HERBS are a wonderful addition to salads, soups and dishes of all kinds. Growing your favourites at home is inexpensive and convenient, but does require a little TLC. We asked a trio of Canadian gardening experts for their top indoor growing tips.
