Alternatives Journal articles from July 1996

Alternatives Journal archives from July 1996

Shell heads ten worst list.('Multinational Monitor' list of corporate misconduct)
July 1, 1996... For operations in Nigeria described as "a deal with the devil," Royal Dutch Shell was awarded top spot in the Multinational Monitor's list of 1995's Ten Worst Corporations. Shell drew criticism for standing by while its business partner,...

Deregulation condemned.(Alberta; Ontario)
July 1, 1996... Alberta and Ontario government moves to cut environmental protection programmes and legal requirements are being attacked by environmentalists who say the changes are economically short-sighted and counter to the wishes of Canadians. Last...

Multinational pulp company SLAPPs suit against activist group.(Daishowa Paper; Friends of the Lubicon boycott)
July 1, 1996... Friends of the Lubicon, a small Toronto-based activist group, has been ordered to terminate their highly successful boycotting campaign against the Japanese pulp and paper multinational Daishowa Paper. In a recent decision, the Ontario...

Banff's last hope?(overdevelopment of the Banff-Bow River region, Alberta)
July 1, 1996... "Water, ice and climate shaped its natural endowment: a complex variety of landscapes, balmy weather and an unusually rich mix of prairie, alpine and northern plants and animals. More and more, human decisions shape it too." -- Kevin Van...

English road opponents turn to direct action.(Newbury, Berkshire, England)
July 1, 1996... English anti-road campaigners took to living in trees and tunnels ten feet under the ground earlier this year in a last ditch effort to block the construction of a new highway outside Newbury in Berkshire. Advocates of the Newbury bypass...

Tories undermine conservation in Ontario.
July 1, 1996... Ontario's s new Conservative government is under attack for undermining the province's conservation authorities. In the late 1940s, an earlier Conservative government created watershed-based conservation authorities to overcome a piecemeal...

Ontario's Environmental Bill of Rights weakened, but still valuable.
July 1, 1996... The new Ontario government has scaled back the province's ground-breaking environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), but the province's environmental commissioner says the law remains a useful tool for government accountability. Ontario...

Hand pumps hit the big screen: 'Heritage Minute' gives Canadians quick development lesson.(public service movie and TV series)
July 1, 1996... The part that Canadian scientists played in designing a simple hand pump for the developing world is the subject of a recent Heritage Minute that has been seen by an estimated 13 million movie-goers and TV watchers across Canada. The...

Beer cans, gas guzzlers and green taxes: how using tax instead of law may affect environmental policy.(includes French language abstract)
July 1, 1996... IN THE SPRING OF 1992 the Ontario government made two contrary decisions. It refused to implement its own Fair Tax Commission's recommendation for an increase in the "gas guzzler tax" to promote motor vehicle fuel efficiency, but it did...

A primer on green taxation.(environmental policy)
July 1, 1996... The concept of using taxation as a policy instrument to achieve environmental protection goals is not new writing in 1920, the renowned economist A.C. Pigou suggested that the problem of externalities could be addressed by imposition of a tax...

New budget begins to renew tax disadvantages for energy efficiency and renewable energy production.(Canadian federal 1996 spending)
July 1, 1996... The federal government's Guide to Green Government says that Natural Resources Canada will reorient energy policy from a traditional focus on supply to an increased emphasis on efficiency, alternative and renewable energy sources, the...

Toward a more radical ecopsychology: therapy for a dysfunctional society.(includes French language abstract)(Cover Story)
July 1, 1996... OF THE MANY ETHICAL DILEMMAS I faced as an environmental engineer, one stands out in particular. A sand and gravel company that had consulted my firm wanted to expand its quarrying into an area that was home to a regionally endangered species...

Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.
July 1, 1996... eds., San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995. Reviewed by Andy Fisher Ecopsychology, having only recently emerged as a formal discipline, has announced itself to a wide audience with the publication of this anthology. Most of the main...

Pathways to Sustainability: Assessing Our Progress.
July 1, 1996... WHAT IS THE GOOD LIFE? eds., Ottawa: National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, 1995. Reviewed by George Francis Defining the good life, measuring progress, and setting values and guidelines for working towards...

Ozone Discourses: Science and Politics in Global Environmental Cooperation.
July 1, 1996... Ozone Discourses: Science and Politics in Global Environmental Cooperation, Karen T. Litfin, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. Reviewed by Doug Macdonald Social scientists studying international regimes -- the codes of conduct,...

Ozone Protection Workshop Kit.
July 1, 1996... Ozone Protection Workshop Kit, Ottawa: Friends of the Earth, 1995, includes one soft-cover guide, one set of loose leaf sheets and one fifteen-minute video, the first 500 kits are free to community groups across Canada, $5.00 for shipping and...

Taxing financial trading.(James Tobin's tax on trading financial currencies)(Letter to the Editor)
July 1, 1996... The impression that nations are too poor to care for their citizens is more a matter of bookkeeping than reality. There is a tell tale contrast between the massive wealth of financial markets and the near bankruptcy of the rest of society....

A kinder, gentler whale.(Florida's Sea World - humor)(Harms' Way)(Column)
July 1, 1996... Earlier this year I attended a week-long software developer's conference in central Florida. The conference was held at the Orlando airport Hyatt, which meant that it was possible to board the plane in my home city, fly in to Orlando, take the...