Alternatives Journal articles from January 2003

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2003

Talking race.(confronting environmental racism in Canada)(Editorial)
January 1, 2003... EIGHT years ago, I went to the team of professors planning environmental studies curriculum at my university and asked them to include information about environmental racism in our course work. I had heard about protests in African-American...

Fundy whales. (News Desk: Canadian News).(International Maritime Organziation approves diversion of tankers from Bay of Fundy)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The North Atlantic's endangered right whales will find safe passage through the Bay of Fundy after shipping lanes are moved to accommodate migration and feeding patterns. The International Maritime Organization has approved Canada's proposal to...

Privatization. (News Desk: Canadian News).(Halifax, Nova Scotia hires United Water for cleaning of harbor)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The City of Halifax has signed a contract with United Water to clean up the Halifax Harbour. The $315-million deal with the French consortium includes 15 km of new pipe and four sewage treatment plants. Critics have raised concerns about the...

Patenting decision. (News Desk: Canadian News).(higher life forms not to be patented in Canada)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Supreme Court has decided that higher life forms will not be patented in Canada. The court was asked to clarify the legal status of a patent decision on the "oncomouse," a genetically altered mouse developed for cancer research by Harvard...

From weapons to waterfowl. (Alter Notes).(Canadian military to clear bullets from Quebec wetland)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... OVER THE NEXT few years the Canadian military will clear thousands of unexploded bullet shells from a sensitive Quebec wetland. A natural enlargement of the St. Lawrence River between Sorel and Trois-Rivieres, Lake St. Pierre is the most...

Bhopal victims still wait. (Alter Notes).(Dow Chemical, owner of Union Carbide liable for results of poisonous gas leak)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... EIGHTEEN YEARS after poisonous gas leaking from a pesticide factory owned by Union Carbide USA in Bhopal, India, killed more than 8000 people and left tens of thousands more chronically ill, victims are still fighting for compensation and...

Texas rewrites ecotexts. (Alter Notes).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... ENVIRONMENTAL education is the new target of Texan conservatives, writes Dan Oko in Mother Jones (July/August 2002). After focusing on hot-button topics like evolution," says Oko, right-wing activists in Texas are taking on curriculum materials...

Super natural, super commercial. (Alter Notes).(fee to go hiking in British Columbia parks)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... EXPECT A FEE HIKE when you go into the woods in BC. A recreation stewardship panel recommends increasing user fees to access BC parks and Crown land in order to generate revenue for the cash-strapped park system. Non-residents will be expected...

Global ecosystems declining. (Alter Notes).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... HUMANS NOW consume resources at a rate 20 percent above the Earth's biological capacity, according to the 2002 Living Planet Report prepared by the World Wide Fund for Nature. A compilation of global information on biodiversity, forests,...

Food irradiation. (News Desk: Canadian News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Health Canada has proposed regulatory changes to expand the list of irradiated foods sold in Canada. Only a handful of products are currently permitted to be irradiated in Canada, including wheat, potatoes and onions. Irradiation can increase...

Rejected gold. (News Desk: Global News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... An open-pit gold mine that would force the relocation of 8000 residents of Tambogrande, Peru, has been rejected in an unprecedented municipal referendum involving over two-thirds of the population. Nearly 93 percent of voters opposed the...

Ivory trade. (News Desk: Global News).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Ivory from African elephants is again on the market after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) accepted proposals from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to make one-time sales of ivory...

Passing. (News Desk: Global News).(death of ecologist Ivan Illich)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The renowned social critic and ecologist Ivan Illich passed away on December 2, 2002, in Bremen, Germany, at the age of 76. Best known for his books, Deschooling Society, Tools for Conviviality and Energy and Equity, Illich wrote on a wide...

Esso boycott. (News Desk: Campaigns).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Stop Esso! say a growing number of Canadian and international environmental groups, including Greenpeace Canada, the David Suzuki Foundation, and the Sierra Club of Canada. Esso is the retail brand of ExxonMobil and its main Canadian...

Coastal coalition. (News Desk: Campaigns).(Save our Seas and Shores to protest natural gas exploration)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Save our Seas and Shores, a coalition of environmental, first nations, fishing and tourism groups, is continuing to fight the oil and natural gas exploration licenses granted for ecologically sensitive habitat on the coast of Cape Breton by the...

Coffee crisis. (News Desk: Campaigns).(Oxfam to illustrate needs of coffee farmers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Oxfam is roasting the top four global coffee corporations in an online campaign to address the humanitarian crisis affecting 25 million coffee farmers. Prices have fallen by 70 percent in the last five years and many farmers are unable to...

United Nations falls from grace. .(Column)
January 1, 2003... WHEN a childhood hero falls from grace it creates a mixture of sadness and anger. There is a desire to hang on to all that was seen as good but an impulse to reject everything else. These are the feelings I had recently with the United Nations....

Abandoned mines. (News Desk: Research Findings).(toxic chemicals remain in mines)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... The Government of Canada is not doing enough to solve the problems of abandoned mines in the North, says Canada's Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development in her 2002 Report to the House of Commons. These sites contain...

Green roofs. (News Desk: Research Findings).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Green roofs can save millions of dollars in energy consumption, improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, says a new study by the National Research Council and Environment Canada. A two-year, one-million-dollar research project...

Come hell or high water: rising sea levels and extreme flooding threaten to make the South Pacific's Tuvalu the first victim of global warming.
January 1, 2003... "For the people of low-lying island states of the world... and certainly of my small island country of Tuvalu in the Pacific, this is no longer a debatable argument. The impacts of global warming on our islands are real, and are already...

Grants. (News Desk: Research Findings).(online environmental grants at www.cegn.org)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... An online database on environmental grants in Canada has been created by the Canadian Environmental Grantmakers' Network. Environmental organizations can access an interactive search feature that helps them identify potential grant sources for...

[CO.sub.2] trap. (News Desk: Research Findings).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... A six-year experiment in carbon sequestration has been highly successful, according to scientists working with Statoil, Norway's state oil company. Since 1996, Statoil has recaptured about a million tonnes of [CO.sub.2] per year and saved $86...

Green sector. (News Desk: Research Findings).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... Environmental businesses make up the fourth or fifth largest sector in Canadian industry, according to a recent Statistics Canada report. Composed primarily of small to medium sized enterprises, the environmental goods, services and...

Myths of diversity: Canadian environmentalists don't want to talk about racism--but too often that means the uncritical acceptance of popular diversity myths.
January 1, 2003... I AM IN THE AUDIENCE at a panel talk on how Canada's environmental sector communicates its messages "in a diverse society." This event, hosted by the Sustainability Network in Toronto, is just one of a small but growing number of initiatives...

Les Verts Reinvent egalite.(France's Green Party)
January 1, 2003... WHAT does a green future look like? For France's Green Party, Les Verts, it's a place where natural environments are valued and sustainable lifestyles are promoted -- but also where gays and lesbians have the same rights as heterosexuals,...

Ghosts of Africville: former residents of Africville are still fighting municipal planning decisions in Nova Scotia.
January 1, 2003... MORE than 150 years after Black Loyalists brought hopes for better lives to Nova Scotia, their descendants are still struggling against social and economic marginalization, including environmental racism. In Halifax's North End, residents...

Introducing equity: The multidimensional environmental justice movement is transforming mainstream environmentalism in the US.
January 1, 2003... SINCE 1980, an alternative to the traditional environmental movement has been slowly forming in the US, though so far it has gained little national visibility. It is called the "environmental justice" movement, and though it has some problems...

Rich harvest: The cultural and agricultural diversity of Canada's largest city is reflected in the bounty produced each year by community gardeners.
January 1, 2003... SARAS NADARASA grows her own callaloo, also known as amaranth (Amaranthus viridis), in a small garden plot at Riverside Apartments in northwest Toronto. Her neighbour, Merline Myles, grows a different variety of callaloo (Amaranthus tricolor),...

Growing a second language.(using gardening to learn English)
January 1, 2003... Many immigrants come to Canada with extensive agricultural and gardening knowledge from their countries of origin--and they are keen to continue growing fruits and vegetables here. Others, like Rwandan-Canadian Jane Kankindi, find gardening is...

Seven lessons: Greenest City shares experiences from a project to improve immigrant communities' access to environmental programs.(www.greenestcity.org)
January 1, 2003... AS ONE of its very first initiatives, Toronto non-profit Greenest City developed a Chinese Community Outreach Project that sought to make environmental programming more accessible to Toronto's large Chinese community-approximately 300,000...

Whiteness in Seattle: anti-globalization activists examine racism within the movement.
January 1, 2003... THE ANTI-GLOBALIZATION movement has gained international recognition and momentum since November 1999 when over 50,000 demonstrators blocked delegates from attending World Trade Organization (WTO) meetings in Seattle. The Seattle talks...

Colonialism by any other name.(The Original Summit: Journey to the Sacred Uprising)(Video Recording Review)
January 1, 2003... The Original Summit: Journey to the Sacred Uprising, Rebeka Tabobondung and Adrian Kahgee, directors, Toronto: Maaiingan Productions, 2002, 45 minutes. Order at (416) 926-0880 or . A RESISTANCE video documentary, The Original Summit digs...

No Seat, No Fare: Los Angeles bus riders fight transit fare hikes and service reductions by going on strike and going to court.
January 1, 2003... IN MARCH 2002 the US Supreme Court refused to review an agreement that mandates improved service for users of Los Angeles' public bus system. It was the fifth time that the city's Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) had appealed a civil rights...

Transit equity: union seeks reform of tax that favours car commuters over bus and metro riders.(business expense deductions for transit passes)
January 1, 2003... A TORONTO workers' union is trying to get a better deal for public transit commuters--and putting to rest the idea that lower-income people do not have strong environmental interests. The Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees...

Water rights and wrongs: safe drinking water remains a distant hope for residents of Black Tickle and many other Indigenous people in Canada.
January 1, 2003... "People know the water is not fit. But there is nothing else to get. It doesn't taste proper. Sometimes it leaves a brown scum.... That's where you get your sickness... from the water. There's a lot of stomach sickness, stomach flus, vomiting...

Toxic comedy: alternatives talks to director Judith Helfand about environmental justice in her award-winning film Blue Vinyl.(Interview)
January 1, 2003... BLUE VINYL, Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold, directors, New York: Toxic Comedy Pictures, 2001. 95 min. WHAT could be more banal than the vinyl siding on the suburban home? Co-directors Judith Helfand and Daniel B. Gold expose the toxic...

Living with the forest: sustainable use proves more democratic than a forestry ban in Angkor, Cambodia.
January 1, 2003... CALLING OUT A CHEERFUL "sok sabay", Mr. Chrouk San welcomes me back to Cambodia with hot tea and a cool porch to sit and escape the tropical heat. San's small wooden home is located within the World Heritage Site of Angkor Wat, an ancient city...

Betting on the future. (Political Science).(costs and benefits of climate action)
January 1, 2003... IT HAPPENED so fast. One day the climate debate was all about the science: How convincing is the evidence of a warmer world? Very, said most scientists; not quite, countered a few contrarians. But suddenly we live in a time when even...

Kyoto backlash. (Commentary).(Alberta)
January 1, 2003... OUT HERE in Alberta, you'd think it was the end of the world. Provincial officials have loudly decried the Kyoto protocol as Satan's work. According to Energy Minister Murray Smith, meeting our Kyoto commitments would destroy Alberta's...

Lost words: we do not know what Chief Seathl actually said in his famous speech, but we can try to understand what he meant. (Commentary).(Native American theology and the environment)
January 1, 2003... "The most we can hope for is that we are paraphrased correctly." That is the opinion of Lenore Keeshig-Tobias, Anishnabe storyteller, poet and educator from the Chippewas of Nawash. It's the conclusion she draws from a stormy debate among...

Alternatives directory: Canadian graduate environmental studies programs.(Directory)
January 1, 2003... We ARE pleased to present Alternatives Journal's fifth annual directory of Canaian graduate programs in environmental studies. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of environmental studies, many of the programs listed are combined degrees or...

Ecology of Empire.(Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945)(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Imperial Ecology: Environmental Order in the British Empire, 1895-1945, Peder Anker, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2001. Peder Anker has written a fascinating account of how ecology emerged from botany as a discipline in...

Alaskan Claim. (Reviews).(Take My Land Take My Life: The Story of Congress's Historic Settlement of the Alaska Native Land Claims 1960-1971)(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... Take My Land Take My Life: The Story of Congress's Historic Settlement of the Alaska Native Land Claims 1960-1971, Donald Craig Mitchell, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 2001. At nearly 700 pages, this spirited combination of...

Women in Place.(PUTTING WOMEN IN PLACE: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World)(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... PUTTING WOMEN IN PLACE: Feminist Geographers Make Sense of the World, Mona Domosh and Joni Seager, New York: The Guilford Press, 2001. Putting Women in Place is a terrific desk manual and introduction to the theme of gender and geography....

Watershed Voices. (Reviews).(Voices for the Watershed)(Book Review)
January 1, 2003... VOICES FOR THE WATERSHED, Gregor Beck and Bruce Litteljohn, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2000. This handsome volume, sponsored by the Wildlands League, is a notable contribution to informing the public about environmental...

Clean Air Consumer Guide. (Hot Green Web Sites).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... www.cleanairconsumerguide.org. "Save money, save the air," is the motto behind the Clean Air Consumer Guide, a project of the Toronto Atmospheric Fund. The guide is intended as a resource for consumers wanting to make the most energy...

School grounds transformation. (Hot Green Web Sites).(Web site offers information on creating an ecologically sound schoolyard)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... www.schoolgrounds.ca This playful Web site by the Canadian Biodiversity Institute sets the groundwork for improving your schoolyard. The site is comprehensive, including sample surveys to get input from members of the school and community,...

OneWorld. (Hot Green Web Sites).(Web site for social justice organizations worldwide)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... www.oneworld.net A community of over 1250 organizations working for social justice, oneworld.net is a non-profit source of news. Current campaigns include climate change, debt, trade, education and making information technologies...

Carpool Tool. (Hot Green Web Sites).(CarpoolTool.com)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2003... carpooltool.com Get onto the right track, or rather into the carpooling lane with CarpoolTool.com, the only Web site to offer ride-matching to every region in Canada. Drivers and passengers can register for free and receive email...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2003... Salty Remarks Any toxicologist will tell you that "toxicity" of any substance is determined by dosage--a combination of the properties of any substance, the length and type of exposure and the sensitivity of the exposed organism. Thus,...

Peachy ethics. (Brain Mulch).(gift that will satisfy everyone)
January 1, 2003... IT'S HARD to give the right gift these days. A gift needs to be something the person will like but also be consistent with your own convictions and priorities. As an environmentalist I know the challenge this balance represents. Family...