Alternatives Journal articles from December 2006

Alternatives Journal archives from December 2006

Guess who's coming to dinner.(Editorial)
December 1, 2006... LAUNCHING street festivals. Planting watermelon. Doling out fake traffic tickets. If you're wondering what these have in common, read on. They're ingenious ways of handling issues, prying open the box. That's what Alternatives delivers in...

Carbon omissions.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... It is good to see a serious discussion of carbon taxes. Despite being many economists' favoured policy for cutting GHG emissions, carbon taxes have too long been taboo for politicians who wrongly assumed they could never be acceptable in...

Trade distortion.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... I agree that it is critical for Canada to contribute to the century-long, global effort on climate change, to begin reducing energy demand and non-energy emissions, and to invest in technology that reduces emissions. However, I think they...

Tax addiction.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... Carbon Tax Tango" delivers a concise look at the tangled debate over regulation versus taxes as tools for managing emissions. Congratulations to Alternatives for lining up the dance card. Jack mentions governments' predilection for...

Ridiculous.(Letter to the editor)
December 1, 2006... The "debate" between Jaccard and Mintz founders on their common assumption that whatever gestures each would make toward protecting the environment, nothing must change: "Both regulations and environmental taxes must be carefully designed to...

A climate for love.(Science Desk)(effect of climate change on birds' sexual behavior)
December 1, 2006... WHEN THE MALE spotted bowerbird wants to impress a potential mate, he offers her a collection of white objects--bones, pebbles, bits of plastic--in a specially constructed bower of grass and twigs. The male Arfak Parotia, his plumage resembling...

www.seachoice.org.(Hot Green Websites)(Website overview)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Seeking some sustainable salmon? Got a hankering for healthy halibut? SeaChoice has a website dedicated to all things seafood. It offers consumer information, Canada's Seafood Guide and information on sustainable fishing. The site rates fish to...

www.econet.sk.ca/sk_enviro_champions.(Hot Green Websites)(Website overview)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... What do Grey Owl, Farley Mowat, Courtney Milne, W.O. Mitchell, Jim MacNeill and Elizabeth Dowdeswell have in common? According to Saskatchewan Eco Network's new website, they are some of Saskatchewan's environmental champions. To celebrate the...

New Northern park.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation's Memorandum of Understanding with Canadian government)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... With Stephen Harper's government expected to vote against the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples later this year, the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation might be looking over its collective shoulder. In October, the Dene...

Learning, with pay.(CANADIAN NEWS)
December 1, 2006... To strengthen the effectiveness of people and organizations, the Metcalf Foundation offers Environmental Field Internships. The foundation seeks applications from charitable organizations (community, farm, aboriginal, environmental) by January...

Moving backwards.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Canada's Kyoto commitments)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... For almost 10 years, the Liberal government dithered on climate change, making it virtually impossible for Canada to meet its Kyoto targets. Some argue the Conservative government had to abandon Canada's international commitment. Had Ottawa's...

Green death.(GLOBAL)(British Aerospace Systems' ecofriendly weaponry)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... To the dyslexic, dog is god. To British Aerospace Systems (BAE), a European defence company with more than $30-billion in annual sales, corporate responsibility is ecofriendly weaponry. Intended to "reduce the collateral damage of warfare,"...

Species still at risk.(GLOBAL)(Canada's endangered animal species)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Government inaction has once again prompted organizations to turn to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). A coalition of over 10 Canadian and American environmental groups has filed a formal complaint with the CEC. It alleges...

Asian waste.(GLOBAL)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... A new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) study found that 90 per cent of Asia's sewage is discharged into the marine environment without treatment. The report's release coincides with a conference in Beijing that reviewed UNEP's Global...

Devils in distress.(Tasmanian devil population is on decline due to facial tumour disease)
December 1, 2006... BEST KNOWN as Taz from Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is famous for its aggressive eating habits and disturbingly loud screech. Now, sadly, the largest of the world's carnivorous marsupials is gaining...

Planning for peace.(Afghanistan)
December 1, 2006... AFGHANISTAN is not just a war zone. Despite the media's focus on the military conflict, which is actually limited to less than 20 per cent of the country, there is a large, multinational relief and redevelopment operation now making great...

Green Apple[TM].(RESEARCH)(Greenpeace campain to demand environmental friendly products from Apple Inc.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Apple products are known for being sleek, sexy and ubiquitously available in a rainbow of colours. But Greenpeace is campaigning for Apple to take on a new hue, and it's green, all green. Given their short lifespan, Apple electronics are piling...

SolarChill.(RESEARCH)(new technology in refrigeration)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... World Health Organization approval is all that stands between off-grid communities and access to solar-powered refrigeration. SolarChill, the name given to this new technology, would replace kerosene or propane-operated refrigerators that emit...

Fish-free by 2048.(RESEARCH)(ocean ecology)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... Mark these down: Orange Roughy, Chilean Sea Bass, Swordfish and caviar. If you do nothing else to combat depleted stocks, according to the Endangered Fish Alliance, don't consume these fish or fish products. But this is not enough, according to...

Gas up.(CAMPAIGNS)(World Wildlife Fund's campaign against climate change)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... A black "cloud" of 3000 balloons filled Toronto's Metro Hall Square last November. The biodegradable balloons, representing carbon dioxide, the main gas causing global warming, were part of a joint effort between the World Wildlife Fund's Save...

Right whales wronged.(CAMPAIGNS)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... With testes "the size of Volkswagens," right whales, according to the New England Aquarium's Scott Kraus, are incredibly ugly. Despite their endowment, North Atlantic right whales are in trouble. Huge ships passing through their feeding ground...

Cursed Copper.(CAMPAIGNS)(MiningWatch Canada's campaign against Ascendant Copper Corp.)(Brief article)
December 1, 2006... A documentary entitled The Curse of Copper explains how Ascendant Copper Corporation's plans to construct a copper mine in Ecuador could destroy its cloud forests. In the film, Gary Davis, Ascendant's CEO, admits that a front group created and...

Your climate change library.(Bibliography)
December 1, 2006... THIS YEAR MARKED a new rise in concern about the global impacts of climate change, prompted, no doubt, by the release of former US vice president Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. We've compiled a list of mostly Canadian noteworthy...

Guerrilla gardening: neglected, uncared for parts of the city are targets for creative trowels.(political gardening)
December 1, 2006... THERE WAS A CONCEPTUAL contradiction at the heart of the commission: "We'd like you to do a guerrilla garden at Harbourfront," said Patrick. As head of visual arts, he was responsible for the Artists' Gardens, and he was asking me to...

Acting inside out: Headlines Theatre sets the stage for community expression.
December 1, 2006... "ACOMMUNITY needs to express itself or it will get sick," says David Diamond, artistic director of Headlines Theatre. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BC Grand Chief Dr. Rose Charlie adds, "That is a big part of why you see social problems in...

Agitating art: Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable creates ecoactivists in an afternoon.(Pierre Allard and Annie Roy)
December 1, 2006... THE STILL IMAGE of an exploding SUV bathed our faces in orange light, but no sound came through the speakers. While Pierre shook his head, Annie stood in front of the audience, hands on hips, as if she could will the video equipment to work....

Party tricks: People's Republic of East Van protests with flair and innovation.
December 1, 2006... THERE ARE a few hard-and-fast rules for holding a protest on Canada's West Coast. First, stock up on green tea, tarps and lawyers. Second, ensure you have a healthy supply of head wax for dreadlocks and media muckrakers on autodial standby. By...

Beautiful cities: cultural renewal and a creative economy bring wealth to our cities.
December 1, 2006... WINNIPEG STARTED as a city that had a huge sense of the possibilities. The first people that arrived there were trying to attract the railroad, so they built grand railroad stations. They built beautiful Carnegie libraries and splendid...

On Gottingen Street: love and art take on poverty and racism.
December 1, 2006... MYSTERIOUSLY, one typically grey and cool Halifax spring night, on a vacant lot at the corner of Gottingen and Cunard streets in the city's troubled north end, there appeared a 2.5-metre tall triangular structure of painted wood. In candy pink...

Paint your passion: mural making transforms citizen energy into food security.(FoodShare's community development program)
December 1, 2006... Its legs gripped the sides of the opening as it struggled against the waxy surface. Then, two antennae appeared and a small head pushed out. Compound eyes and miniscule bits of fuzz emerged from the small cell in the honeycomb. "Hey come have a...

Two rivers run through it: Mexican mural tradition illustrates the inseparable nature of culture and environment.
December 1, 2006... THOUGHTS of murals in Mexico likely conjure up images of generously endowed women clasping bunches of Calla lilies. Such is the power of Diego Rivera, an artist who popularized mural painting in North America's most southerly nation. ...

Art, sweet art: adaptive, hybrid and flexible, EcoART moves hearts, changes minds and ultimately alters behaviour.
December 1, 2006... "WHAT THE WARMING world needs now," writes author Bill McKibben in Grist magazine, "is art, sweet art." Precisely because environmental problems are rooted in cultural practices and ideologies, it is artists, immersed in world and cultural...

Epocalypse now: the time for eco-flicks has arrived.(environmental movies)
December 1, 2006... WITH An Inconvenient Truth, March of the Penguins and The Day After Tomorrow grossing well over the average for a studio feature film, it seems that Hollywood may be listening. Moviegoers, adamant in their demands to mix pleasure with purpose,...

Behind the green screen: Planet in Focus film festival provokes audiences and creates space for discussion.(Planet in Focus International Environmental Film and Video Festival)
December 1, 2006... THE AROMA of roasting fair-trade coffee counters November's early morning chill, while devoted volunteers put finishing touches to their information booths. A happy hum mingles with an air of expectancy as patrons line up for the film...

Once upon a land-use conflict: Huron County uses storytelling to mend fences.
December 1, 2006... AFTER A WEEK caught up in Southern Ontario's hustle and bustle, cottagers relish the peace and quiet of Lake Huron's shoreline. So it's understandable if they get upset when the aroma of livestock manure shatters their retreat. Soon they find...

Solastalgia: environmental damage has made it possible to be homesick without leaving home.
December 1, 2006... WE HAVE ONE WORD in the English language that very closely connects human distress to the place we live, our home. The word, "nostalgia," was once associated with melancholia, and experienced by people who were distant from home and wanted to...

Crisis in Cochabamba: a highly inclusive process draws out community solutions to a decades long water conflict.(Law overview)
December 1, 2006... MOST INDIGENOUS PEOPLE and campesinos who make their livelihoods coaxing crops from South America's arid Altiplano will tell you that water is life. They believe it's a precious resource, a gift from Mother Earth. In Bolivia, however, water has...

A question of trust: the public trust doctrine holds hope for protecting Canada's ecosystems.(Green Law)
December 1, 2006... "By the law of nature these things are common to all mankind; the air, running water, the sea, and consequently the shores of the sea." --Institutes of Justinian (sixth century AD) IN THE MOVIE Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts gives toxic...

Activism Sparks Wildfire.(Wild Fire: Art As Activism)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Wild Fire: Art as Activism, Deborah Barndt, ed., Toronto: Sumach Press, 2006. The collection of essays in Wild Fire: Art as Activism highlights collaborative, art-based practices used to stimulate a wide range of social and environmental...

Greening Galleries.(Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art, curated by Stephanie Smith, Chicago and New York: Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, and Independent Curators International, 2005. Eco- or earth-art of the last half of the 20th century often...

Awesome questions.(A Private History of Awe)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... A Private History of Awe, Scott Russell Sanders, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, North Point Press, 2006 At the age of four, a thunder and lightning storm became a defining moment for Scott Russell Sanders. He felt "the tingle of a...

Fuelling the debate.(Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy)(Book review)
December 1, 2006... Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy, Mark Jaccard, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Mark Jaccard's book is important. He argues that government policy should focus on...

Welcoming homer the tree-hugger.(Reprint)
December 1, 2006... ARE YOU A HYPOCRITE? Because I certainly am. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I'm an animal lover who wears leather shoes; a vegetarian who can't resist smoked salmon. I badger my friends to see the Al Gore movie, but I also fly on fuel-gulping...