Canada's Environmental Voice
Oh, and the night, the night, when the wind full of cosmic spaceGnaws at our faces – R. M. Rilke, Duino Elegies (trans. Leslie P. Gartner) IF WE CONSIDER the phenomenon of solar flares, Rilke’s description of how cosmic winds sometimes blow in our faces is surprisingly true. Atmospheric auroras, the […]
THERE’S A NOCTURAL SPECTACLE that I can’t recall seeing in the flesh before I moved to Kitchener, Ontario, a couple of winters ago. I’d take post-work walks to gawk at the bruised sky at dusk, and often as darkness fell I’d stumble across an enormous murder of crows. Thousands of them […]
From the northern lights to light pollution, the Night issue investigates ideas that resonate most deeply in the dark. In this issue, cultural historian Giles Slade looks at the cosmic activity behind the northern lights (which hit the peak of their 11-year cycle this fall) and discovers that North America’s energy […]
Anyone familiar with the pipeline debate in Canadian politics shouldn’t be surprised at the widespread public opposition to Enbridge’s proposed Line 9 project. As Keystone XL, Northern Gateway and now Line 9 struggle to gain acceptance and trust in Canada, oil sands producers are quickly turning to rail as an […]
MUFFLED VOICES, backpacks and headlamps. We arrive at a remote forest location in the dark: 4 a.m. A trail leads us to a lake and a sky-theatre of stars. The water scintillates, an ageless dance of light and reflection. Ancient awe. Sitting in silence on the shore, we wait. Listening. […]
THE FIRST MOTION PICTURES were simple observations. About 125 years ago, when the medium of film was hatching, it captured snippets of basic human and animal behaviour. It allowed us to witness things we hadn’t.
WHETHER CRAFTING OR CONSUMING, Canadians are no strangers to experimenting with alcohol. And while our skills and appetites for beer and wine are renowned, our reputation for making and sharing bottled spirits remains small – or at least haunted by the spectre of being “screeched in” by Newfoundlanders.
On Sunday, I flew back to Kitchener, Ontario, after spending a little more than a week in Calgary. I’m not yet sure of the words I want to use to describe the Great Flood of 2013. I wish I could have stayed longer to assemble a bigger pile, to gather […]
Mouldy food on the cover? It’s the A\J way, says production & graphics coordinator Anežka Gočová: The conventional treatment for the Food & Drink issue would have been to put some “food porn” on the cover [don’t Google that, by the way]. But sticking to our alternative nature, we decided to do the exact […]
The lights change but nothing moves. The truck blocking the intersection is also blocking the crosswalk, so I thread my way around bumpers and continue up Yonge. It’s the afternoon rush in Toronto. At this time of day, the sound of the city isn’t the rush of air from passing […]
