Canada's Environmental Voice
Did you know that the collective noun for bats is a “cloud”, or that in the first scientific classification of mammals, bats were placed close to humans because, like us, they have two nipples? The book Bat, by Tessa Laird, is full of similar tidbits that you will want to share […]
Alternatives Journal and the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation are hosting a celebration of the possible expansion of the Greenbelt into Waterloo Region and Wellington County. There’s just one problem: earlier this month, Waterloo Regional council voted for revisions to the greenbelt expansion before agreeing to join. In fact, if […]
In 2016, the magazine TakePart reported that 26 billion pounds (11,800,000 tonnes) of textile is tossed into US landfills each year. You might donate clothing in hopes that someone will re-love it, but according to the 2015 film The True Cost, only 10 percent of clothes that people donate get sold. […]
Some of my fondest memories take place during family dinners at the cottages in Wasaga Beach back when my sister and I would stay with my nonna and nonno (grandmother and grandfather) for the summers. Family members and family friends, or as we call them “cumpari,” owned and rented cottages […]
What happens when you give a third grader a power drill? With some wood and a little supervision, she’ll make her own keepsake box. Or, put her in that same space with a soldering iron, copper tape, LEDs and a circuit board, and she’ll learn first-hand how to direct the […]
I was first introduced to the concept of ecological economics 25 years ago in an undergraduate course that looked at the work of Herman Daly and the concept of “steady state economics.” We also looked at Hazel Henderson and her ground-breaking work on valuing what is called “externalities” in our economic […]
Editor’s note: This article is an exploration of a truly complicated topic: food and climate change. We’ve shared perspectives that touch upon the personal aspects, the scientific realities, and the actionable first-steps that can be taken to better plan for future changes in our climate.
While many of us aspire to buy all our food locally sourced and organic, grocery stores trips are a still a common reality, especially in the winter. We’ve put together some tips to help you make the best-possible choices while you’re there. To focus on wholesome foods, individuals are often […]
How can we begin to reconcile our conflicting experience with bugs? No amount of money can compensate for millions of dead insect species. Money can’t buy me love, pollination, honey, food – or complex, dynamic relationships among insects, plants, soil and greenhouse gases. When insect species disappear, the magical […]
There has rarely been a worse time to build pipelines in Canada than now. One wouldn’t surmise this from listening to the business elites of Toronto and Calgary, gung-ho for the newly approved Trans Mountain expansion, Line 3 replacement, and Keystone XL. Yet, economic conditions have changed greatly since the […]
