Canada's Environmental Voice
WHEN THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICERS from some of Canada’s most influential corporations encourage government intervention to tackle climate change, you know change is in the air. And in this case, the change involves a tax shift, a green tax shift, that is.
A FRIEND OF MINE in Calgary just bought a home. The neighbourhood isn’t fancy – most houses are 50-year-old utilitarian bungalows – but it’s close to the university and not far from downtown. Although my friend’s purchase is one of the more dilapidated specimens on her street, she paid a […]
Richard Gilbert opens Waste is what we have used and have no further use for. Incinerating waste, I believe, is a better environmental solution than landfilling.
IT TOOK A CENTURY, but energy-rich Alberta has finally replaced Ontario as the wealthiest province in Canada. While economic indicators suggest this to be true, social and environmental indicators tell a different story. They prove the old adage may be right: You can’t buy happiness. Alberta’s Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) […]
THE OTHER DAY, a fellow journalist told me that Happiness equals Expectations divided by Reality (H=E/R). In other words, if you expect Prince or Princess Charming, but reality dishes out a frog, you might not end up being that happy.
WITH ALMOST 20 YEARS of negotiations behind us and greenhouse gas emissions rising faster than the federal deficit, perhaps the time has come to look for alternative approaches to tackling climate change. As University of Victoria professor Michael M’Gonigle suggested in The Tyee in December, could it be that Copenhagen’s […]
WE ARE SURROUNDED by a sea of discarded materials that can be reused in building construction. Think of all those political signboards that we see at election time outside private houses and in other prominent locations. Temporary signs are often made of corrugated plastic that could be used as siding […]
FOR BOOK READERS, it’s unimaginable that anyone would not get a rush when they crack open the pages of a new volume, inhale that inky smell and feel the crisp paper. In a small village close to where I live, there’s a publisher who prints on site. Tim Inkster, co-owner […]
Welcome to Living Classics, our new book review column. Upcoming issues of Alternativeswill include a look back on classic environmental books and reports. We’ve dusted off old copies of Silent Spring, the Berger Report, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac, and more to see how they resonate today. We invite you to suggest your […]
“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 […]
