Alternatives Journal articles from January 2004

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2004

Back to the future.(Editorial)
January 1, 2004... IN THE 1970s the Middle East was in crisis and most Canadians thought and talked about energy use, especially after oil prices quadrupled in 1979. Big station wagons and tail-finned behemoths became yesterday's vehicles. Thirty years later, the...

"Polluter pays" upheld.(Canadian News)
January 1, 2004... The right of governments to order polluters to clean up their contaminated sites has been upheld in a landmark Supreme Court ruling. The decision concerned an appeal by Imperial Oil of an order issued by the Quebec Minister of Environment to...

Albertans fight phosphates.(Canadian News)
January 1, 2004... The North East Strathcona County Residents are fighting a 120-hectare expansion of Agrium's Redwater facility, located near Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta. The facility is the largest phosphate chemical fertilizer plant in North America and the...

Paint recovery a success.(Canadian News)
January 1, 2004... Nova Scotia's Paint Recycling Program kept 162,000 litres out of landfills in its first year of operation. The program, sponsored by the province's Resource Recovery Fund Board, converts leftover latex and oil-based paints to new paints for...

GMO case nears decision.(Canadian News)
January 1, 2004... The Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal of Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser on January 20, 2004. A lower court found Schmeiser guilty of patent infringement after Monsanto's genetically modified canola was found on his property. He...

Land grab discriminatory.(Global News)
January 1, 2004... "Racial discrimination" underlies the illegal dispossession of indigenous peoples from their land, the Constitutional Court of South Africa has ruled. The precedent-setting decision came in a dispute between the Nama people, evicted from the...

Brazil's president under fire.(Global News)
January 1, 2004... Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, once popular because of his commitment to environmental protection, is going back on his word, say Greenpeace and other environmental NGOs. The Brazilian president has received a letter from environmental groups...

Eu to cut illegal timber trade.(Global News)
January 1, 2004... The European Union will soon ensure that timber imports are legal under its upcoming Forest Law Enforcement, Government and Trade Agreement. By establishing a certification system, the agreement aims to curb illegal timber logging practices...

BC forest policy won't work.(Campaigns)
January 1, 2004... The BC government's Working Forest enabling legislation, which zones all of British Columbia's public forest land outside of parks for industrial logging (and for subsequent real estate development), has been passed. The Cabinet is now...

Mail bread to your MP.(Campaigns)
January 1, 2004... As part of its campaign against genetically engineered wheat, the Council of Canadians is calling on citizens to mail their member of parliament a slice of bread. The introduction of GE wheat to Canadian farms poses a threat to traditional...

Blue flag means beaches safe.(Campaigns)(Environmental Defence Canada works with City of Toronto)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Environmental Defence Canada is working with the City of Toronto to recognize the city's beach clean-up with a blue flag. The global, waterfront eco-label program awards blue flags to communities committed to maintaining high standards for...

Save the milk.(Campaigns)(concern grows over a proposed irrigation dam on Alberta's Milk River)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... A proposed irrigation dam on Alberta's Milk River threatens the basin that contains the majority of Alberta's protected grasslands and supports 50 percent of Alberta's bird and mammal species of special concern, says the Milk River Action...

Forget fusion funding.(Campaigns)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... A letter-writing campaign launched by the Sierra Club urges Ottawa not to fund International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactors at home or abroad. Even if the federal government decides against subsidizing the construction of ITER in...

Check pesticide safety.(Research Findings)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... The federal government is too slow in checking older pesticides against current standards, says Environment and Sustainable Development Commissioner Johanne Gelinas. Her latest annual report on the federal government's environmental performance...

Stall sprawl, save money.(Research Findings)(David Suzuki Foundation advises on smart growth for towns and cities)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Cities that choose smart growth instead of sprawling development gain lower municipal infrastructure costs and can reap the savings if development cost charges are set properly, says a new report from the West Coast Environmental Law...

Asthma up on hog farms.(Research Findings)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Children living on farms with hogs have four times the risk of suffering from asthma as children that live elsewhere, says new unpublished research from the University of lowa recently presented at a meeting of the Association of Schools of...

Fore! The birds.(AlterNotes)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... FOR THE FIRST TIME IN CANADA nature lovers and golfers don't have to be at odds. Canada's only organic golf course, located in the marshland and waterways of Blackburn Valley on Salt Spring Island, BC, has won international recognition for its...

Placer Dome under fire.(AlterNotes)
January 1, 2004... INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, provincial authorities and international NGOs are opposing mineral exploration by Vancouver-based gold-mining giant Placer Dome in Indonesia's oldest protected forest. Placer Dome and other foreign mining companies have been...

Don't flush the fish.(AlterNotes)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... ANIMAL LIBERATION HAS PLUNGED to new depths, suggests a new campaign by the United Nations Environment Program and the Marine Aquarium Council of the UK. Apparently hundreds of children in North America flushed their pet fishes down the toilet...

Spud light.(AlterNotes)
January 1, 2004... RESEARCHERS FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, England, have developed a cross-species hybrid they claim will help conserve water. By taking a gene from the luminous jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which naturally glows green, and splicing it into a...

Let the kids do it.(AlterNotes)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... IT'S TIME TO THROW AWAY the lawn mower. From country clubs to private yards, a new market is developing for goats as bio-control agents to eliminate weeds. Just ask Jim Guggenhime. A 27-year-old sociology graduate of the University of Colorado,...

A whale of a legacy.(Science Desk)
January 1, 2004... THE COLLAPSE OF THE SEA LION, seal and sea otter populations in the North Pacific is one of the world's best-known--and least-understood--conservation problems. Many blame starvation, shooting and fishnet deaths. But these explanations are...

Wingbeat mathematics.(Science Desk)
January 1, 2004... A BUTTERFLY FLAPPING ITS WINGS in China beats to the same mathematical co-efficient as a whale swimming in the Bay of Fundy. "We've described the geometry of the wingbeat," says Graham Taylor of Oxford University, UK. His team's research,...

Not in anyone's backyard.(Letter from Newfoundland)
January 1, 2004... ACOLLEAGUE in New Brunswick recently contacted me about a project by Bennett Environmental to burn contaminated soil from New Jersey in Belledune, home of the Noranda lead smelter. Here in Newfoundland and Labrador we faced a number of such...

Wish you were here: utopias, dystopias and other environmental fantasies test your imagination.(Quiz)
January 1, 2004... 1. Written by Sir Thomas More, Utopia is speculative fiction about a land where communism prevails, different religions are tolerated and a national education program includes men and women. Translated from Greek, the word "utopia" means ...

Portrait of an activist.
January 1, 2004... NAME > HELEN SPIEGELMAN PLACE > VANCOUVER ISSUE > SOLID WASTE I believe that cities and towns are unwitting enablers of our society's addiction to waste. By providing consumers with unlimited access to publicly subsidized waste...

The soft path holds up: efficient technologies and renewable sources will bring a cheaper, more reliable energy future.
January 1, 2004... ON COMPLETION of the Niagara Falls hydro project in 1905, a journalist enthused that "a source of energy as vast as the entire soft coal deposits of Pennsylvania had by some miraculous process been transferred to Canadian soil and by another...

Waste energy is Truro's treasure.(district-heating systems are becoming more widespread)
January 1, 2004... FOSSIL-FUELLED power plants produce twice as much heat as electricity. In most cases this heat is wasted, sent to the atmosphere or the local lake. City planners in Truro, Nova Scotia, have realized it doesn't have to be this way. In...

Bright ideas: twelve steps to break our energy addiction--with technologies and policy options that are available today.
January 1, 2004... FEW PEOPLE get a high from being stuck in a car in bumper-to-bumper commuter traffic. Nor is there much pleasure in spending eight hours a day in an over-heated or frigidly air-conditioned office. Nevertheless, as with real addictions, it's...

Why we need renewables: low-impact, renewable sources of energy are our only long-term hope.
January 1, 2004... WITH THE Kyoto Protocol's target dates lying between 2008 and 2012, most climate change discussions focus on the coming decade. The preferred solutions are those, such as energy efficiency, that can deliver the targeted greenhouse gas emission...

Money talks, standards rock: federal and provincial regulations are needed to get our homes to the highest levels of efficiency.(includes related article: Home Energy Success Story)
January 1, 2004... THE AVERAGE Canadian household could cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 2.5 tonnes per year. More may now choose to do so. Under an incentive program announced by the federal government in October 2003, an increase in an average home's energy...

NYPV blue: from highrises to brownstones, solar power finds a home in New York City.(even Vancouver is making use of solar power)
January 1, 2004... THERE'S NOTHING LIKE a massive blackout to spur a little energy introspection. When the lights went down across eastern Canada and the US on August 14, 2003, everyone with a theory and a voice began offering up explanations, remedies and...

Blowing in the wind: the Danes have shown that wind energy thrives when there is consistent government support and community ownership.
January 1, 2004... POLITICIANS in Denmark don't need to be reminded of the importance of wind power. All it takes is a simple look out the window, since the Danish parliament buildings in Copenhagen overlook the striking Middelgrunden wind farm, a graceful array...

Hydro hype, dam delusions: the proposal to dam the Deh Cho for hydroelectricity is a classic case of short-sighted energy planning.
January 1, 2004... THERE'S SOMETHING about the power of a giant and untamed river rushing to spill itself into the ocean that must drive engineers and politicians crazy about all that "wasted" energy. The Government of the Northwest Territories caught...

It takes two to tango: non-profits can gain by pooling their resources, funding efforts and advocacy work.(Reality Cheque)
January 1, 2004... THE CHARITABLE and non-profit sector faces many challenges today--finding funding, keeping charitable status, preventing staff burnout and feeling like the funders are setting the priorities. Competition for scarce resources, the pressure to be...

Bush league science: an unprecedented pattern of distortion and manipulation marks the Bush administration's approach to science.(Political Science)
January 1, 2004... AL FRANKEN cut to the chase, calling his recent book on American politics, Lies and the Lying Liars that Tell Them. It's a better commentary than any managed by pundits seeking fairness and balance. Over the last two years we've watched...

Under the magnifying glass: nanotechnology needs open deliberation not boosterism if it is to serve the public good.(Science Essay)
January 1, 2004... The potential implications of nanotechnology, the science of manipulating matter at the atomic and molecular level, have been compared to the Industrial Revolution. It is one of the fastest growing fields of research today across various...

Within limits: Canada's record on environmental protection is a patchwork of weak laws and even weaker enforcement.
January 1, 2004... ENVIRONMENTAL law is a relatively new field. Thirty years ago, concepts such as "biological diversity," "ozone depletion," "climate change" and "endocrine disruptors" did not exist. As recently as 1970, Canada had no federal environment...

Alternatives directory: Canadian graduate environmental studies programs.
January 1, 2004... CHOOSING a grad school is a difficult task. Not only do you have to find a school that meets all of your practical considerations, such as location, but you also need to find a place where you can grow and develop your interests. You are...

Microchips and monsters.(Reviews)(The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy, David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, New York: New York University Press, 2003. For much of the past three decades,...

Theory matters.(Reviews)(Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought)(Political Nature: Environmentalism and the Interpretation of Western Thought)(Democracy and the Claims of Nature: Critical Perspectives for a New Century)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Main Currents in Western Environmental Thought, Peter Hay, Sydney, Australia: UNSW Press, 2002. Political Nature: Environmentalism and the Interpretation of Western Thought, John M. Meyer, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001. Democracy...

Parks in perspective.(Protected Areas and the Regional Planning Imperative in North America: Integrating Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Protected Areas and the Regional Planning Imperative in North America: Integrating Nature Conservation and Sustainable Development, J.G. Nelson, et al., eds., Calgary and East Lansing: University of Calgary Press and Michigan State University...

Get up, stand up.(Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising)(Global Uprising: Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century: Stories from a New Generation of Activists)(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... Webs of Power: Notes from the Global Uprising, Starhawk, Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2002. Global Uprising: Confronting the Tyrannies of the 21st Century: Stories from a New Generation of Activists, Neva Welton and Linda Wolf,...

Consumer crunch: the Christmas marketing blitz seems to begin earlier and earlier each year. Avoid the commercialism blues by checking out some of these information-packed, fun-filled Web sites. Even better, join the discussions for change.(Hot Green Web Sites)
January 1, 2004... Buy Nothing Christmas www.buynothingchristmas.org Consider this a gift from the Canadian Mennonites--no more crazy lineups, last-second purchases or mountains of wrapping paper. Read about others who have dared cross the sacred tradition of...

Don't forget Saskatoon.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2004... In Wayne Robert's Fall 2003 [29.4] article, "Digest This", he fails to mention that Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, also has a Food Charter. Good article, though. --Aaron Chubb Saskatoon

Going whole hog.(Letters)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2004... I'm sure lots of others will have thought of the connection and you may be way ahead of me on this, but this is about your Fall 2003 [29.4] issue. Do you think the people who wrote that article "Something Smells" also read the very interesting...

Web reviews.(Bibliography)
January 1, 2004... Reviews of the following books were published on the Alternatives Web site in Winter 2004: Decolonizing Nature: Strategies for Conservation in a Post-colonial Era, William M. Adams and Martin Mulligan, eds. London: Earthscan Publications...

Pretty City Kitty.(Brain Mulch)(being the mascot for the Mississauga Clean City Campaign)
January 1, 2004... I DIDN'T TELL anyone it was me. Would you? Would you admit to your teenage friends that in your spare time you volunteered as a giant cat that ran around city streets picking up garbage and appearing for photo ops? What would they say?...