Canada's Environmental Voice
Canada is a world-class climate dinosaur. We aren’t the leading per capita GHG emitter (that is Qatar), but we may get there yet. We signed and ratified Kyoto, but ignored it for years, radically exceeded our promised emissions target and then just abandoned the agreement. We are the only nation […]
As the creator of Lost Rivers describes it, we’ve practiced a bad habit in our built environment. “We built our cities on the shores of rivers,” narrates the Montreal-based writer, researcher and director. “Over time, we pushed rivers away – out of sight and out of reach.”
In the face of decades of environmental, pollution and development stresses on the shorelines, wetlands, river basins, flora and fauna of the Great Lakes, the government of Ontario realized making a difference in the health of these critical water bodies would require all hands on deck. Provincial dollars would be […]
I imagine the authors of the seminal work “Limits to Growth” are squirming somewhere as they see UK’s greenbelts threatened. The ‘development related’ threats became a hot topic in late 2012, and while the debate appears dormant in the news at the moment, I suspect it will resurface when updates on […]
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 World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) just released State of the Science of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, a disturbing report that takes on the link between endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) and disease in both humans and wildlife. It calls for more research, testing, reporting, and collaboration […]
