Canada's Environmental Voice
Energy production is as much a political issue as a technical one, as evidenced by current controversies over sustainable loan guarantees in the United States, proposed pipelines from Alberta’s oil sands and nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi disaster. After all, energy is pursued as a strategic […]
In 2008, the esteemed Al Gore told Obama he should demand that the US move to 100 per cent renewables within ten years. We’re five years on now, but let’s pretend that Obama is just getting around to this memo on his list of things to do. “Oh darn,” he says to […]
The fashion industry is a symbol of our times—innovative, ever-changing and certainly big business. When you learn that it generates over US$300 billion a year in revenue worldwide, you have to wonder what the cost is. The situation isn’t pretty: the health of our air, water, land and people is […]
This month’s Greenbelts issue was still hot off the press when A\J was once again reminded of the need to actively protect our green spaces. While we were assembling the issue in late January, the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB), the provincial adjudicative tribunal for municipal and planning issues, ruled in favour […]
Canada has some very successful greenbelts. They promote urban density, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and offer a host of recreation possibilities, among other benefits.
The Canada of 2035 will be a very different place. We’ll be a nation of 43 million people; the GTA alone will balloon to more than nine million residents. It is hard to fathom the changes society will undergo in the next 22 years. Just think back to 1991 (if […]
It’s hard to imagine life without plastic. It has insidiously found its way into the eyeglasses we peer through, the keyboard at our fingertips and the bottles of water we drink. It can extend our lives as medical devices and makes possible many modern conveniences. But when you add it […]
In September 2012, the Leadership Council of the Network for Business Sustainability (NBS) identified innovation as one of the top sustainability challenges for businesses. Luckily, NBS, a Canadian non-profit established in 2005, has been exploring what innovation activities firms engage in to become sustainable.
ON A CRISP SATURDAY AFTERNOON, Lorrie Rand savours a lunch of baked arctic char and roasted carrots while she chats with friends and neighbours. Not far away, a father and son test steaming rice-stuffed squash and decide that it’s done to perfection. Dave Courtney, meanwhile, nudges glowing coals into a […]
THE SCALE OF GLOBAL CRISES IS TRULY DAUNTING, making us feel helpless and incapable of affecting the course of global events. Yet the experience, knowledge and wisdom of Indigenous peoples and local communities unequivocally demonstrate that a different way of living on the planet is not only possible, but practical […]
