Alternatives Journal articles from January 2000

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2000

FROM PARIS TO HANNOVER.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Imagine standing in the Gallery of Machines at the Great Exposition in Paris, a mighty celebration of technological wonders and industrial advance. The year is 1900 and you are looking up at the giant wheels of a 40-foot-high dynamo, spinning...

Medicinal Herb Research Gets Golden Seal of Approval.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Medicinal herbs are catching on not only with consumers, but also with farmers, who see in them opportunities for the commercial production of plants once thought of as weeds. Rick Reeleder, a plant pathologist with Agriculture and...

Those Also Serve Who Merely Stand and Watch.(People's Action For Threatened Habitat and the Squamish Nation protest logging)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... In a unique environmental education project, nearly 2000 people have gone to the Elaho Valley near Squamish, BC, to be witnesses as workers and machinery build logging roads through an old-growth forest. The site is in the area of Tree Farm...

David Countersues Goliath.(Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser sues Monsanto Co.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser is suing biochemical giant Monsanto for crop contamination, trespassing and defamation. The $10-million countersuit was filed last summer after Monsanto charged him with growing their patented RoundupReady...

Female Whelks Need Sex Change Protection.(seeking natural antifouling agents)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... Chemicals in boat paints have caused female whelks to grow penises and oysters to develop unusually thick shells. The hulls of many large boats are given a coat of antifouling paint to prevent organisms from attaching and slowing boats...

DOING LESS WITH LESS.(Niagra Escarpment Commission survives on low funding)
January 1, 2000... The Ontario provincial government's environmental streamlining has weakened the Niagara Escarpment Commission's ability to protect one of Canada's natural treasures. To the surprise of some environmentalists, the Niagara Escarpment...

LET THE PEOPLE SPEAK.
January 1, 2000... International coalitions aim to break into global trade negotiations Zapatistas, raging grannies, street punks and postal workers are rare allies. But they are among the unlikely partnerships that have formed as coalitions across the...

THE GREEN HOUSING EFFECT.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... McGill's Macdonald Campus experiments with ecological living in a heavily renovated student residence For many people, the words "university residence" conjure up images of a cereal-box sized room with cinderblock walls and particleboard...

FIRST NATIONS AND LAST SPECIES.(including the input of aboriginal people in policy decisions)
January 1, 2000... The federal government's proposals for a Species At Risk Act continue to ignore Native people and their ecological knowledge I was invited along with numerous other Aboriginal people to participate on June 10th and 11th, 1999, in an ongoing...

Pushing the Revolution.
January 1, 2000... Leading companies are seeking new competitive advantage through eco-efficiency and broader sustainability initiatives MANY CORPORATIONS are recognizing that better environmental performance is a proven route to enhanced competitive...

It's Not Waste Until It's Wasted.
January 1, 2000... Industrial Ecology is promising to turn industrial parks into loops of production, reuse and recycling SOME READERS will almost certainly view the term "industrial ecology" as an oxymoron. After all, industrialism is often seen as...

Listen to Your Mother.(environment friendly construction techniques)
January 1, 2000... Applying insights from nature is one way to green the construction industry FAR MORE than any other single activity, the construction and operation of the built environment devastates natural systems. In the US, construction consumes...

GUARDING THE HENHOUSE.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Voluntary Initiatives: The New Politics of Corporate Greening, Robert B. Gibson, ed., Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press, 1999. We live in strange times. Although federal and provincial governments' regulatory capacity has been...

THE GOOD FIGHT.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Eco-Wars: Political Campaigns and Social Movements, Ronald T. Libby, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Public interest groups are important counter balances to the power of economic-based interest groups, effectively competing with...

WHALING AND WELL-BEING.(Review)
January 1, 2000... Inuit Whaling and Sustainability, Milton Freeman, et al., eds., Walnut Creek, California, AltaMira Press, 1998. Clashes between anti-whaling activists and aboriginal whale hunters have become all too common recently. The strong emotions and...

THE EDIBLE MILLENNIUM.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... If you receive this magazine by mail, you're probably reading it sometime in the brand spankin' new millennium. Possibly - what with the end of civilization as we know it and all - this issue had to be delivered by horse-drawn minivan. Or,...