Canada's Environmental Voice
IT’S 2060. Your grandchildren are sitting in their classroom. On the wall hangs a photograph of a blue planet. But it isn’t Earth. It’s a planet in a distant star system. And we know that this planet harbours life. Humanity is not alone. Now imagine a different scenario. Suppose our […]
There is no denying that the world could use a helping hand these days. With a shrinking ozone layer, melting ice caps and overfishing, the outlook for the environment isn’t so great. And knowing that all the penguins are moving to Hollywood only serves to remind us of how we’ve […]
“Climate porn.” That’s how the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain depicts the portrayal of the climate crisis by media and governments. In the organization’s report, “Warm Words,” the authors claim the apocalyptic and external framing of global warming convinces the public that climate change is inevitable and therefore […]
WHEN WE CAME UP with “The Greening of Politics” as the theme for this issue of Alternatives, little did we know we’d be competing with headline stories in the mainstream media. At the time, Elizabeth May hadn’t declared her Green Party candidacy and Stéphane Dion’s chances of becoming Liberal leader […]
THIS YEAR MARKED a new rise in concern about the global impacts of climate change, prompted, no doubt, by the release of former US vice president Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth. We’ve compiled a list of mostly Canadian noteworthy climate change reports, legislation and summaries published in 2006. International […]
WITH AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, March of the Penguins and The Day After Tomorrow grossing well over the average for a studio feature film, it seems that Hollywood may be listening. Moviegoers, adamant in their demands to mix pleasure with purpose, seem to no longer be content with films focused on […]
WHEN JONATHAN GLENCROSS arrived at McGill University, he had no intention of changing the institution. Yet four years later, this is precisely what he has helped do. Enrolled in the McGill School of Environment, Glencross has become one of the driving forces behind the university’s dramatically increased commitment to sustainability.
WHEN BJÖRK CRITICIZED Magma Energy Corp. chairman and CEO Ross Beaty in an interview with Maclean’s in November 2010, the Icelandic pop singer couldn’t have struck a deeper chord. Maclean’s subsequently pulled the interview from the internet after Magma threatened the Canadian magazine with a libel suit.
IT WAS LIKE AN ALTAR CALL. I had just finished a conference presentation on organic agriculture when a tall, hale fellow in his late 30s bounded down to the front of the auditorium. He wanted to tell his story about how organic food had saved his life. He recounted how […]
A 20-YEAR VETERAN of BC’s forestry sector, Linda Coady served as vice-president of environmental affairs for both MacMillan Bloedel and Weyerhaeuser before joining WWF and then VANOC, where she led efforts to green the Vancouver Olympic Games. Now a distinguished fellow at the University of British Columbia’s Lui Institute for […]
