Canada's Environmental Voice
IN FALL 2011, a recycling depot in Whitehorse partnered with Cold Climate Innovation to test a revolutionary plastic-to-oil processor. P&M Recycling, one of two main facilities that serve the Yukon capital’s 23,000-plus residents, had been losing money for years by shipping plastic waste 2,370 km to Vancouver for processing. But […]
Green Living Online has started an A\J blog! This first post was originally published on the Green Living site.
A note about terminology: Lifecycle approach is a “systematic way of looking at the life of a product, technology, or process” allowing people or companies to measure and reduce costs to our economy and environment (NRTEE). This differs from lifecycle analysis (or assessment), which is “a technique to assess environmental impacts associated wi
OUR OCEANS are in deep, deep trouble. Only ten percent of the large fish are left, food webs are in tatters and pollution and invasive species threaten marine ecosystems. Coastal communities are also in trouble. From Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, to Musgamagw Tsawataineuk, British Columbia, people struggle to make a living from […]
Disposable products take on a life of momentous proportion in Trashed. The documentary’s first scenes feature narrator Jeremy Irons wandering through a heaping, open garbage dump in Beirut that produces 80 tonnes of waste per day, making it clear that this story is yet another harsh reality check. The world is […]
WASTE DISCUSSIONS have traditionally focused on the back-end management of garbage: the significant economic and environmental implications of finding safe disposal sites, for example. But the obvious often escapes us – that garbage is made up of basic materials (metal, wood, plastic, glass, etc.) that require energy to obtain, process and […]
BALANCE IS HELPFUL for bicyclists, knives and the Flying Zambezi Brothers’ high-wire act. For many other purposes it is overrated. For sustainability, it’s a mistake. The idea often sounds good, in a low-expectations way. Balance is preferable to falling down, spilling the beer, or becoming mentally unhinged. Balance of power […]
Energy: Can’t live with it; can’t live without it. In fact, over 80 per cent of our emissions causing climate change are energy-related. From the difficulties in getting Canadians to conserve to carbon trading with a conscience and concerns about nuclear options, this issue of Alternatives provides a fresh and […]
THE MELTDOWN that swept through the world’s financial markets in late 2008 was simply the latest setback to hit the beleaguered Canadian forestry industry.
THE BUSH ERA IS OVER but the stain, including a string of last-minute legal changes, lingers. These “midnight regulations” made some things easier, such as dumping mine waste in streams and building power plants near parks. Other things became harder, such as using science to protect endangered species or to […]
