Canada's Environmental Voice
WE LIVE in turbulent times, characterized by “wicked” problems. What makes our environment and modern problems so wicked? They are beyond the capacity of any one sector or discipline to research, understand and resolve. Their solutions must emerge from diverse social actors that are convened in forums deliberately designed to […]
EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE PAY attention to images of oil-soaked birds in the aftermath of oil spills, researchers know that another, less perceptible, issue is the death of algae from the use of chemical dispersants after these disasters. Although people focus on shifting to hybrid cars to reduce their carbon footprint, […]
Aristotle nailed it when he said, “What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care.” He elaborated that people “pay most attention to what is their own; they care less for what is common.”1 One wonders whether the ancient teacher could have foreseen the day when […]
Originally published at House of Friendship. MY FAMILY MOVED onto a small-ish farm in Southern Ontario the year I entered kindergarten. We are now certified Organic, and mainly produce spelt and grass-fed beef. At different points we’ve had pigs, chickens, sheep, and a small army of barn cats.
Imagine a morning when the lights and coffee machine don’t work, your home has no heat and your car doesn’t start. We generally don’t give much thought to where our energy comes from – we just flip the switch. But energy is an integral part of our economy, society and […]
The Neptis Foundation has studied Canadian city regions for more than 15 years and its research has helped shape planning policy. In this analysis, researchers used 20 years of data to ask the question: Are Canadian cities sprawling? The maps and graphics form part of Neptis’ ongoing research into understanding […]
THE STORM THAT HIT Toronto on July 8, 2013 dumped 126 millimetres of rainfall in a two-hour period, which is more rainfall than the city typically gets in the entire month of July. Severe flash floods paralyzed public transit and stranded thousands of commuters. Power outages affected at least 300,000 […]
What do these forests make you feel? They are profoundly solemn yet upliftingly joyous… How absolutely full of truth they are, how full of reality. The juice and essence of life are in them; they teem with life, growth and expansion. They are a refuge for myriads of living things…– […]
IF CANADA’S population were spread evenly across our country, each Canadian would enjoy almost two football fields of farmland. This number is second only to Australia, and is five times more than France, 13 times more than Haiti and 26 times more than Costa Rica. An abundance of farmland means […]
