Alternatives Journal articles from January 2009

Alternatives Journal archives from January 2009

Ask not what the economy can do for the environment.(Editorial)(agriculture and renewable energy)(Editorial)
January 1, 2009... THE Worldwatch Institute's recently released report, Green Jobs: Working for People and the Environment, outlines impressive growth projections for the environment sector. The author notes that "climate proofing" the global economy will create...

Sailing grain.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... At a recent lecture in Waterloo, Ontario, professor Thomas Homer-Dixon told the audience that he believed that the day will come when sailing ships will be the main mode of transporting goods across oceans. Two days later, a fleet of sailboats...

100-mile stores.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Meaford has one. Creemore has one too. Capitalizing on the recent popularity of the 100-mile diet, Jackie Durnford and Sandra Lackie founded the Creemore 100 Mile Store. They explain: "To be sold in the store, a product has to be grown or...

Mining fish.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... It appears that a practice that is growing in popularity in the US Appalachia region isn't winning over consumers who are skeptical about aquaculture. Trout, catfish and salmon are being raised in water that drains from abandoned mines....

Anti-Farm Bill.(Water quality policy)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... To reduce pressure on Manitoba's water quality, the provincial government's tactic was to ban construction and expansion of hog barns in most of the eastern part of the province. Bill 17, the Environmental Amendment Act, isn't popular with the...

Eco heroes.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... The Planet in Focus International Environmental Film & Video Festival handed out its 2008 Eco-Hero Awards in Toronto in October. Slow Food pioneer Carlo Petrini received the International Eco-Hero Award. Longtime sustainable food policy...

Kyoto out of court.(Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act )(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... The Federal Court of Canada says it's not up to it to decide if the government of Canada's alleged failure to live up to the provisions of the Kyoto Protocol Implementation Act is illegal. Justice Robert Barnes wrote, "I have concluded that the...

Take a BIXI.(Montreal's public transportation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Is it a bike? Is it a taxi? In fact, it's both. On Car-Free Day, September 22, Montreal announced its latest public transit service: BIXI. The city-operated, self-serve rental-bicycle network will make over 2400 custom-designed bicycles...

Aged Kleenex.(Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s green toilet paper)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... If you buy toilet paper or tissue products, then Greenpeace wants your help. The Kimberly-Clark Corporation, says Greenpeace, continues to make Kleenex, Cottonelle and other disposable products out of old-growth trees logged from Canada's...

Out of thin air.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... That scientists are racing to come up with new ways of tackling climate change is no surprise. But one method of achieving this elusive goal may raise eyebrows. University of Calgary professor David Keith is chasing air. Or at least he's after...

Annelid activists.(In Brief)(Brief article)
January 1, 2009... Gardeners will tell you that earthworms are good for the soil. Now scientists have found that they are good for our climate too. Much of North America is populated with invasive species of earthworms introduced from Europe. Researchers at...

Praise from Buzz Holling.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I read and enjoyed "Thinking like an Ecosystem" [34:4, 2008], It is well written, engaging and accurate. It usefully contrasts command-and-control types of management with resilience-based ones. And it appropriately urges the need for...

The true test.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... Thank you for reviewing my book Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System [34:4, 2008]. In his review, Petr Cizek highlighted political ecology, of which there is no shortage in the uranium-nuclear controversy....

Whites pointers.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... I read your latest issue [34:4, 2008] that had Don Mullin's article about the Whites Point Quarry entitled "Power to the People." The local environmental group, Partnership for the Sustainable Development of Digby Neck and Islands Society,...

Carbon crash.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... While you were distracted by crashing banks and clashing US senators, you may have missed a small environmental earthquake. The price of carbon has collapsed. In only three months, life has become a lot cheaper for polluters. The financial...

Praising David.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... Just read your piece on David Donnelly [34:6, 2008 ]--congratulations. Terrific profile--gives a real sense of him and his role, and the implications of taking his path. Nice as well that it comes out at a time when some recognition of his...

Correction.(Letters to the Editor)(Correction notice)
January 1, 2009... The photos in Laurie Stone's article "Viva La Revolution Energetica" (35:6, 2008) should be credited to Mario Alberto Arrastia Avila of Cubaenergia.

Immigrant insects.(Science Desk)
January 1, 2009... IN THE DITCH next to a canola field in Switzerland, I'm squatting over a plastic tray of picked-over seed pods. My colleague Mike arrives with a sweep net brimming with angry bugs. At my nod, he empties it into the tray. [ILLUSTRATION...

On Sandy Pond.(Letter From Newfoundland and Labrador)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2009... MAGINE a pristine lake--a pond, as they say in Newfoundland. Visualize it teeming with brook trout, rainbow smelt, even eels. Think about crystal clear water, high hills and boreal forest. Covering 38 hectares, the lake is large and plunges to...

Mining dilemma: although small-scale and artisanal mining have potential, they require government regulation to avoid environmental and safety abuses.
January 1, 2009... NATURAL RESOURCES are often the most elemental means of livelihood for the world's poorest populations. When all else fails, people look to the land to either grow their subsistence or to find whatever wealth it can offer. Small-scale miners...

Panama hats: a weavers' association in Ecuador scaled back to discover security and stability.
January 1, 2009... AN ORDER for Panama hats can trigger a weaving frenzy among the 54 members of Ecuador's Chordeleg Agricultural Craft Centre (CACH). If the request is large enough, every member's mother, sister, daughter and neighbour starts weaving the...

Growing right: small-scale farming is an answer, but not the solution.
January 1, 2009... WHILE 100-MILE DIETERS provide a ray of hope, small-scale farmers the world over continue to face intense pressures, and many are still forced out of farming each year. In response, we need to think carefully about our aspirations for the 21st...

Urban harvest: Gail and Wally's SPIN farming and Carmie's soup service are yielding profits.
January 1, 2009... WHAT HAPPENS when food production moves to the city and downsizes in the process? Wally Satzewich and Gail Vandersteen of Wally's Urban Market Garden, a Saskatoon farming operation, are showing that some 30 backyard plots totalling less than...

BC's rush for hydro power: water privatization in a small-scale suit.(British Columbia)
January 1, 2009... THE NUMBER of water licences illustrated on the map on the opposite page may make you wonder what is going on in British Columbia. To date, BC Hydro has signed over $28-billion worth of agreements to purchase power from private companies, and,...

Renewable Ontario: the province's new scheme tests how big small-scale energy can become.
January 1, 2009... "ONTARIO'S Renewable Energy Standard Offer Program," according to the Ontario Power Authority, the Crown corporation that administers it, "has exceeded all expectations--achieving an excess of 1 000 megawatts of contracted projects -surpassing...

Pedal power: the Indian villages of Kinchlingi and Tumba are proving that small-scale biodiesel generation can create self-sufficient, sustainable communities.
January 1, 2009... WE ARE often asked if our pedal-driven biodiesel reactor could be mechanized. "Automation is possible," we answer," but when it takes only about three hours of pedalling to produce a month's supply of biodiesel for the village of Kinchlingi's...

Horse power: at the right scale, horse logging is both environmentally preferable and economically viable.
January 1, 2009... FEW IMAGES conjure up visions of the good old pioneering days than a team of muscle-bound draft horses straining against their traces as they haul a skid of trees through a hardwood forest after a fresh snowfall. And though the realities of...

The cost of carbon: get used to uncertainty, and allow government, not traders, to set the price of carbon.(The Carbon Dialogues)
January 1, 2009... COMMUNICATING the need to put a price on greenhouse gas emission reductions is ridden with pitfalls, as Stephane Dion recently found out and the BC government is discovering. It is a complex and confusing idea, and most Canadians have little...

Doomed island: Nauru's short-sightedness and resulting decline are an urgent warning to the rest of the planet.
January 1, 2009... THEY SIT BEMUSED under the equatorial sun, like the victims of natural catastrophe, an earthquake perhaps, the second shock imminent and inescapable. The young men and women of Nauru. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Theirs is the first nation...

Water Woes.(Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America)(Book review)
January 1, 2009... Dry Spring: The Coming Water Crisis of North America, Chris Wood, Vancouver, BC: Raincoast Books, 2008,376 pages. Chris Wood's Dry Spring is a politically astute and journalistically refined look at the upcoming water woes of the new...

Peace on Earth.(Brain Mulch)
January 1, 2009... Across 1. It is celebrated on April 22 (two words) 5. Senator who founded 1 across, Gaylord-- 10. Way out 11. Long live in Italian 13. Spring growths 15. One thing we can all do to make a better planet (goes with 47...