Alternatives Journal articles from January 2008

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2008

$30-billion tax shift.(Editorial)(green taxes)(Editorial)
January 1, 2008... A FRIEND of mine in Calgary just bought a home. The neighbourhood isn't fancy--most houses are 50-year-old utilitarian bungalows--but it's close to the university and not far from downtown. Although my friend's purchase is one of the more...

Swedes honour the Schmeisers.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Percy and Louise Schmeiser's 2007 Right Livelihood Award )(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Canada's famed underdog in the fight against the use of genetically modified seeds and the multinationals that sell them received the 2007 Right Livelihood Award along with activists from Sri Lanka, Kenya and Bangladesh. Percy Schmeiser, 76, of...

Albertans muzzled.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Shell Canada Ltd.'s case)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... The Alberta Court of Appeal denied Mike Sawyer's request to appear at a hearing for Shell Canada Ltd.'s plans to drill two sour gas wells on Crown land south of Calgary. Sawyer claimed that because he hikes in the vicinity of the proposed...

Serious about water.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2008... Thank you, Alternatives, for your excellent issue on water and the Soft Path [Alternatives, 33:4, 2007]. I live in Saskatchewan. This province, despite progress toward sustainability (the second-largest wind farm in Canada), often lurches...

More popular than pie.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2008... Thank you for providing the opportunity for more engagement (and environmental education). On Wednesday, Oct 15, 2007, over 150 high school students and staff from various Toronto District School Board ecoteams gathered together at the...

York U has more.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2008... While I am always pleased when the latest issue of Alternatives arrives in the mail, and enjoyed reading about the wonderful new environmental initiatives that students are starting at universities across Canada, I was terribly disappointed by...

Get into the game.(hockey and the environmental issues)
January 1, 2008... DURING MUCH of the Ottawa Senators/Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup final series last spring, Canada's Prime Minister was in Afghanistan. But that didn't stop Stephen Harper from using the nation's love of hockey to score some fan support. Amidst the...

Pope sees green.(GLOBAL)(Pope Benedict XVI on environmental protection)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Don't be surprised if the next time you see Pope Benedict XVI on TV, he is disembarking from a hybrid Popemobile as cameras zoom in on solar panels atop St. Peter's Basilica. Earlier this fall, the Pope stated, "Preservation of the environment,...

Naked streets.(GLOBAL)(Canada's new way of managing traffic)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... With traffic jamming Canada's major cities, municipal planners may follow the lead of the Netherlands; Christiansfeld, Denmark; and London, England, and by introducing a new way of reducing traffic accidents. On "naked streets," all traffic...

Off with their heads.(GLOBAL)(coal mining regulation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... "Strip mining on steroids" is the epithet given to the frightening practice of lopping off mountain tops in West Virginia and Kentucky. Already affecting some 500 US mountains, it is practised by companies intent on getting as much coal as they...

Peak decline.(CLIMATE CHANGE)(Ontario's energy reduction)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Peak electricity use in Ontario in 2007 topped out at 4.7 per cent less than a year earlier, and the Ontario Clean Air Alliance is crediting Ontario's energy sector for the reduction. OCAA took some heat over this claim since it did not correct...

Gordon follows arnie.(CLIMATE CHANGE)(Gordon Campbell on emission control)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Some experts wonder how they will do it, but BC Premier Gordon Campbell has announced aggressive climate change initiatives. New measures include a requirement that all public sector organizations become carbon neutral, and all government...

Tax Poll.(CLIMATE CHANGE)(ecotaxes and emission trading)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... There is almost unanimous agreement among policy analysts that tackling climate change requires that a price be placed on greenhouse gas emissions. Canadians have indicated they are concerned about this issue and, with a few caveats, even the...

Burial out of the box.(green and natural way of burial)
January 1, 2008... "OUT OF THE BOX" AND "BURIAL" aren't normally used in the same sentence. When people think about their final resting place, what usually comes to mind are ornate caskets, tombstones and fine-trimmed lawns, or maybe ashes in an elegant urn that...

Hip hopping mad.(Members of Diagnostico, rap musicians' music)
January 1, 2008... IN THEIR COMMUNITY of makeshift homes built into steep hillsides, it's the pop bottles and plastic bags floating in the cloudy brown creek that inspire Trindon, Cranio, Adilson and Sinval. With the requisite hand gestures, these young hip...

The house.(SEASON'S GREENINGS)(energy conservation in houses)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Is your home cold and drafty? High energy bills? Hire a licensed energy advisor to conduct an energy evaluation of your home and learn how to save wasted energy. Advisors show you how to improve the comfort of your home while cutting heating...

The electronics.(SEASON'S GREENINGS)(consumer electronics and energy conservation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Standby power is electricity used by features such as clocks, timers and remote controls when electronic products are turned off. While these features are important, they waste electricity. By plugging your office equipment (computers, fax...

The re-tree.(SEASON'S GREENINGS)(Christmas tree management)(Brief article)
January 1, 2008... Once it's time to relieve your Christmas tree of its ENERGY STAR-qualified LED lights, which last up to seven times longer and use up to 90 per cent less electricity than traditional incanden-scent lights, you will be pleased to know (if you...

Eating insects: waiter, there's no fly in my soup.(entomophagy)
January 1, 2008... THERE ARE SO MANY good and tasty reasons to eat insects that the 20-per-cent minority of Earthlings who don't practice entomophagy--insect eating--should listen up. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Ants, termites, locusts, grasshoppers,...

Tax shifting: even corporate executives are geared up for a green levy.
January 1, 2008... WHEN THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE officers from some of Canada's most influential corporations encourage government intervention to tackle climate change, you know change is in the air. And in this case, the change involves a tax shift, a green tax...

Friend, foe, wonder, peril: invasive species are all of these.
January 1, 2008... A FEW YEARS AGO, I interviewed a 92-year-old Haida elder about the effects of introduced Sitka black-tailed deer on the ecosystems of Haida Gwaii. Something he said struck me: "I look at deer the same way as white man and what they've done to...

Taboo of the sacred: scientists need not fear "reverence" for the natural world.
January 1, 2008... FIVE YEARS AGO, my wife, son and I left the world of snow blowers and leaf blowers, Skidoos and Seadoos, two-car garages and 100-kilometre commutes, for a simpler, more sustainable life. In the mountains of central Mexico, we discovered the...

The Buddhist and the tomato: why sustainable choices are often so difficult.(consumer choice)
January 1, 2008... THE GLARING FLUORESCENCE of Atlantic Superstore lights must have blinded me. How could I buy a shiny, temptingly red--and cheap--Mexican tomato when I knew I could purchase local, organic ones at the Halifax Farmers' Market? [ILLUSTRATION...

Faulty towers: contrary to popular belief, highrises are not the answer for higher density living.
January 1, 2008... THINKING OUTSIDE the box is a metaphor that refers to mental boxes such as preconceptions and unexamined assumptions. However, most cultures have tangible physical boxes as well as mental ones. These boxes take the form of settlements and...

We have ways to make you green ... five secrets of successful social marketing.(green marketing and environmental awareness)
January 1, 2008... REFERRED TO AS a "mass persuasion exercise," Al Gore's Live Earth was by far the biggest, boldest and loudest environmental public education event ever created. Over 100 musical acts, performed on seven continents, attracted two-billion viewers...

Harry Potter and the nature of death: maturity, mystique and most of all mortality dominate this wildly popular septet.
January 1, 2008... UNLESS YOU HID under a rock this summer, you were aware that the seventh and final Harry Potter book hit the bookstores. It was infectious or annoying, depending on your sentiments, watching the Potter-heads nose deep in the Deathly Hallows on...

An enduring legacy: our Common Future is as salient today as it was 20 years ago.(Living Classics)(report on sustainable development)
January 1, 2008... IT HAS BEEN 20 years since the World Commission on Environment and Development issued its ground-breaking report on sustainable development. Convened by the United Nations in 1983 and chaired by the former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem...

Run for prevention.(Book review)
January 1, 2008... Cancer: 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic, Liz Armstrong, Guy Dauncey and Anne Wordsworth, Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2007, 318 pages. When I first started to research and write about chemicals in Canada's food...

Completely undifferent gift ideas.(environmentally friendly products)(Buyers guide)
January 1, 2008... Leaf-O-Matic Do you suffer from STAD (Seasonal Two-stroke Annoyance Disorder)? Does your neighbour shatter your tranquil Sunday mornings by thoughtlessly unleashing the leaf-blower? This holiday season, gift your way to sanctimonious peace...