Canada's Environmental Voice
At first it can be tricky to pin down what Sustainable Waterloo Region does. That’s not to say the volunteer-fuelled non-profit doesn’t share its own success story well. It’s that SWR’s influence is naturally understated, an unseen support beam to the goals and achievements of other businesses trying to cut […]
Until this assignment, I had never thought about the environmental impact of the film industry. But of course, there is an environmental impact from most everything we do, and the making of a film is no exception.
Several years ago a prominent environmentalist spoke at my university. Soon, he told us, he would stop flying. We were impressed. A few years later I saw him hurrying out of the Air Canada frequent flyer lounge at Toronto airport. Even with the best of intentions it’s hard to separate […]
For most people, a camping weekend involves loading up the car with gear and making a grueling trek on the 400-series highways. But the cumulative impact of all those vehicles actually degrades the wild lands in our conservation areas, provincial and national parks that we’re trying to protect. Air pollution […]
Like the beaver, maple syrup, politeness and hockey, the canoe has sadly descended from valued cultural icon to pure kitsch for those who peddle Canadiana kitsch. So it was refreshing to see the canoe in its proper light in Peterborough, Ontario at the Canadian Canoe Museum. The museum’s diverse collection […]
Screen time and sustainability don’t have to be mutually exclusive. A recent US Public Interest Research Group study found that hand-held technology advancements are leading smartphone users to choose multi-modal transportation over privately owned vehicles, especially among 16- to 34-year-olds. Beyond making car sharing, bike sharing, cab hailing and public […]
A “cool” and affordable high performance electric vehicle has been as elusive as sighting a snow leopard in the Himalayas. We have seen so many hybrids and hybrid versions of the same old auto models in the marketplace of late that we have all but lost interest entirely in the […]
The average Canadian spends 26 minutes getting to work each morning, according to Statistics Canada. Considering that we’re a nation of drivers (82 per cent of commuters travel to work by car), it’s no wonder most metropolitan areas are plagued by traffic congestion and poor air quality. Reduce your commuter […]
The cutting edge in solar cars is a vehicle that looks like something your dad might drive every day on his way to the paperwork bureaucracy factory. In the early days solar cars stretched the definition of the term. They were more like flying saucers than earth-bound vehicles. Drivers lay […]
Sharing is about maximizing the use of products, services and ideas in order to minimize overall consumption by a community. This principle has a surprising number of applications – people can and do share just about anything. It’s also nothing new; sharing books, movies, equipment and hand-me-downs has been common […]
