Canada's Environmental Voice
The “age of ecology” dawned at the end of the 1960s. Cold-war fears of nuclear fallout, warnings of a pesticide-laden silent spring and rivers so polluted they caught fire drove new attention to the environment. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. The US created its Environmental Protection Agency […]
Constructing unique world-class competition facilities for multisport events often leaves behind overbuilt, expensive and underused relics. With this harsh reality in mind, organizers for this summer’s Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto are taking lessons from other host cities to develop best practices for infrastructure design and construction […]
Look down at the clothes you have on right now. I’ll give you 10 points if you can tell me where each item was manufactured – and don’t forget your socks and undergarments. Ten more points if you know the type of material each piece of clothing is made from […]
Most folks know why cycling is awesome. We understand the good it does for the planet as a sustainable form of transportation. We’re fully aware that it’s a great way to stay healthy. And we sure as heck don’t need to be reminded of the hit our wallets take at […]
For the 100,000 daily commuters who travel on the Don Valley Parkway in to Toronto’s East end, the landscape is likely viewed as a picturesque transportation corridor, if it is noticed at all. Do Torontonians truly understand the valley for all that it has been in the past – a […]
Despite the obvious need to act, moving Canada toward sustainability sometimes seems a hopeless task. One way to combat a sustainability funk is to write a blues song. Another is to think about the environmental ideas that have already changed the way we live.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
