Canada's Environmental Voice
DESPITE THE DIAGNOSES of spin doctors, an activist is not anti-government, anti-corporate, anti-Canadian or the antichrist. In fact, any citizen who tries to address important social and political issues is pro-democratic, patriotic and downright responsible. Get started with these tips:
From the magazine THE EFFORT TO HALT plans for a nuclear reactor in Saskatchewan that could help power tar sands extraction is heating up. Public opposition has kept large reactors off the table in the uranium-rich province, but the provincial government signed a $10-million deal with Hitachi Ltd. in August […]
IN THE MAGAZINE we printed a quote from Little Black Lies, the forthcoming book by Jeff Gailus, on using the terms tar sands or oil sands. Here is a full excerpt from the book that expands on the complicated history of the seemingly interchangeable terms.
The Canadian environmental sector has been repeatedly attacked in 2012, and we’re calling bullsh!t on the flawed logic and soft science behind these allegations. In this issue we look at the impact of cuts to the environmental assessment processes and facilities like the Experimental Lakes Area, and we share the […]
BACK IN 2005, Princeton University Press published an engaging essay by Harry G. Frankfurt, an emeritus professor of moral philosophy. The title of the little book, which spent many weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, was On Bullshit. Frankfurt began his essay by observing that although bullshit is […]
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 […]
FROM VANCOUVER ISLAND’S southern Seymour mountain range to its dry eastern coast, the Cowichan River drains a 930-square-kilometre landscape – an area a little smaller than Ontario’s Prince Edward County. With its rural charm and boast as Canada’s warmest locale (its name means “warm land” in the local Hul’qumi’num language), […]
WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER, I subscribed to Car and Driver magazine for several years. I still have my collection in a box in the attic. Back then it was European and Japanese sports cars (and a disdain for muscle cars) that fueled my dreams. In reality, I learned to […]
I RECENTLY ATTENDED Bullfrog Power’s fifth anniversary bash. At it, Rick Smith, Environmental Defence’s impressive executive director, stated, “You can’t call yourself an environmentalist and object to wind turbines.” His position drew scattered applause from the packed meeting room; my jaw dropped.
ACROSS ONTARIO, farms, organizations and businesses are working to transform the food system from the ground up. Entrepreneurial, collaborative and co-operative, these enterprises are building on the public’s interest in healthy, local, sustainable food; sharing their models, experiences and technologies; and becoming a network that links issues, sectors and regions. […]
