Alternatives Journal articles from January 2001

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2001

WORKING FOR GREENING AND MEANING.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Boom times, plenty of jobs," proclaims a recent headline, one among many trumpeting the return of economic prosperity to the land. But you could be forgiven for wondering whether the improved job statistics of late are really cause for profound...

Outlaw Bikes Promise Cleaner City Air.(Electric Bike 2000 Project)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Electric bike advocates have a way to improve air quality and decrease traffic congestion, but they have a small legal problem. The bikes are not allowed on Canadian roadways. The Electric Bike 2000 Project, hosted by CEVEQ (Centre...

Tank Up With Algae Gas.(use of algae to produce hydrogen gas)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The smokestacks of coal-burning hydro plants may one day be replaced with large ponds where algae are farmed for clean, renewable fuel. Although this may sound more like science fiction than science, biologists and engineers have been...

Lighting the Way for Worldwide Solar Power.(Alternative Power Systems, Inc. Ajay solar system)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... New solar power systems may be the key to providing light to areas in the world that have no electricity and increasing energy efficiency in areas that do. An Atlanta-based company called Alternative Power Systems, Inc. (APS) has developed...

Big Bucks Equals More Hot Air.(Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance report on Canadian provinces)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... For energy efficiency at least, the Canadian centre of enlightenment is the Yukon. The rest of Canada lags behind, and some provinces are clearly in the slow-learner category. In the second annual national Canadian Energy Efficiency...

SLOW FOOD.(Italian movement against fast food)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... An Italian journalist starts a worldwide movement to link the greens and the gastronomes When the scent of a McDonald's french fry came wafting his way 15 years ago in one of Rome's most revered courtyards, Piazza di Spagna, Carlo Petrini...

VEGGIE CAFE.(University of Toronto lunch spot)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... The food at this U of T eatery is good in ethics as well as taste University cafeteria food is often enough to turn many first-year students vegetarian, and turn the vegetarians into connoisseurs of plain pasta and french fries. The...

The Tar Ponds.(steel industry waste in Sydney, Nova Scotia)
January 1, 2001... Twelve years after the coke ovens of Sydney, Nova Scotia, were closed down, the city's residents are still living with 700,000 tonnes of toxic ooze THE SYDNEY TAR PONDS have been in and out of the news for decades. But they are like a bad...

Good Work, Less Toil.(relationship between work, consumerism and the environment)
January 1, 2001... The job-spend treadmill exhausts us and the planet. It's time to jump off. FEW THINGS GENERATE as much contradictory emotion as "work." It's not only the main source of income for most people; it's a central factor shaping our identities,...

WORKING FOR CHANGE.(Working Centre in Kitchener, Ontario)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... Kitchener's Working Centre helps people become more self-reliant and less dependent on wages Any given day at the Working Centre's light and airy building in downtown Kitchener, Ontario, is a bustle of activity. Job seekers are checking...

BASIC INCOME.(the need for a 'basic income' program)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... With the deepening uncertainties of globalization, the time has finally come for programs that give everyone a secure base for meaningful social participation The twin engines of a globalizing economy and rapidly changing technologies are...

Work in Progress.(Canadian labor unions push for jobs, and for environmental solutions)
January 1, 2001... Major unions in Canada are pushing for a win-win scenario - jobs and environment "NO JOBS on a Dead Planet" proclaims the slogan on a brochure for the Canadian Labour Congress conference Our Environment, Our Jobs, Our Future. The CLC is...

GREEN AND GROWING.
January 1, 2001... Environmental job numbers now rival those for the traditional sectors such as oil, chemicals and steel Virtually non-existent prior to the 196Os, green jobs have grown to become one of the top five employers in North America and Europe. ...

THINKING OUT OF THE BLUE BOX.(recycling projects provide employment and environmental benefits)
January 1, 2001... Community-based enterprises lead the way to meaningful local jobs in an emerging green economy Dale and Marlene Campbell's DC Recycling & Bottle Depot pro vides a one-stop recycling centre for used beverage containers, cardboard,...

The BIG Questions.(four experts comment on employment and the environment)(Interview)
January 1, 2001... Alternatives asked four respected expert whether our society can deliver good work. This is what they said. Eban Goodstein Edan Goodstein is an associate professor of Economics at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, and a...

Just Transition.(the lessening of job loss fars will help environmental programs)
January 1, 2001... Moving to a green economy will be more attractive when programs are designed to remove job loss fears, and focus on transition to a more sustainable future CONSIDER the Canadian government stand on asbestos. Asbestos kills 100,000 workers...

RE-INVENTING WORK.(Review)
January 1, 2001... "Work and Time" segment of Re-inventing the World, Victoria, BC: Asterix, 2000. As we enter the 21st century, an alarming number of individuals are trapped in the hectic world of email, faxes, portable telephones and ever-increasing...

BREAKING THE IRON TRIANGLE.(Review)
January 1, 2001... The Politics of Ecosystem Management, Hanna J. Cortner and Margaret A. Moote, Washington, DC: Island Press, 1999. Once we knew about resources. By applying the right science and economics, maximum yields of fish, trees and other commodities...

SURVIVING IN THE OLD WORLD.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Sami Potatoes: Living with Reindeer and Perestroika, Michael P. Robinson and Karim-Aly S. Kassam, Calgary: Bayeaux Arts Inc., 1998; and Siberian Survival: The Nenets and their Story, Andrei V. Golovnev and Gail Osherenko, Ithaca: Cornell...

BLUE REVOLUTION.(Review)
January 1, 2001... Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?, Sandra Postel, New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1999. In the Biblical stories, Abraham and the Philistine king Avimelech concluded a peace pact after some conflict over rights to wells of...

FACING CAPITALISM.(Review)
January 1, 2001... The Growth Illusion: How Economic Growth has Enriched the Few, Impoverished the Many and Endangered the Planet, Richard Douthwaite, Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1999. First published in 1992, The Growth Illusion is well up...

BUTTON UP.(a personal account of the first, and many other, activist buttons)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2001... My first time was at summer camp, the year after grade 12. I don't know if I was early or late, only that the time was right for me. I guess a lot of growing happens over the summer and that particular post-solstice sojourn saw me sport my...