Alternatives Journal articles from November 2004

Alternatives Journal archives from November 2004

Green at home.(Editorial)
November 1, 2004... GREEN buildings are in vogue--also maybe in Vogue, though I haven't looked. Green buildings are suddenly the stuff of Architectural Digest and Better Homes and Gardens. This is a wonderful trend with great potential, but building green...

Quebec invests in wind.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Quebec is putting approximately one billion dollars into the construction of wind farms expected to produce about 1000 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Canada currently produces in total only about 450 MW from wind power. Quebec's efforts will be...

Draining the moraine.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Over 50 billion litres of water will be pumped out of Ontario's Oak Ridges Moraine to support the extension of sewage services for the growing suburban populations around York, according to Environmental Defence. Provincial Environment Minister...

PEI scores "A" for effort.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Prince Edward Island)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... In its 12th Annual Report on International Obligations, The Sierra Club of Canada gave Prince Edward Island an "A" for its efforts to address climate change. PEI received the top grade in Canada for excellence in developing its provincial...

Most liveable small town.(CANADIAN NEWS)(Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, has been named the most liveable small town in the world. The award, given by the International Awards for Liveable Communities and endorsed by the United Nations Environment Programme, focuses upon best practices...

McCourt v. Ecojustice.(GLOBAL NEWS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Two Greenpeace activists convicted of defaming McDonald's in 1997 are bringing their case before the European Court of Human Rights. They contend that, because the courts denied their request for legal aid, their hearing (the longest in English...

Russia makes Kyoto binding.(GLOBAL NEWS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The battle against climate change gained a valuable ally when all levels of the Russian Parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol in October. The multilateral agreement will enter into force as international law 90 days from the date of Russian...

EU protects marine life.(GLOBAL NEWS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The European Commission has unanimously voted for a moratorium on the naval use of sonar devices in the Canary Islands until an environmental impact assessment can determine the effects of the sound waves on marine mammals and fish. It is...

Protecting woodland caribou.(CAMPAIGNS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Development projects in boreal forests are pushing woodland caribou out of their habitat and possibly onto the list of species at risk of extinction, according to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). CPAWS has launched a...

Deep sea trawler moratorium.(CAMPAIGNS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Deep sea trawling has been identified as one of the greatest threats to fragile marine ecosystems and the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition has called upon the UN General Assembly to place an immediate moratorium on it. Behind this coalition are...

Surf the net, spare the earth.(CAMPAIGNS)(Wind Power Certificates)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... As part of the Pembina Institute's promotion of wind-powered energy, the institute is offering PC users the opportunity to buy Wind Power Certificates to help offset the ecological costs of powering their computers each year. The aim of this...

Volunteers valued.(RESEARCH FINDINGS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Non-profit and voluntary organizations are a considerable presence in the economy, states a landmark study by StatsCan and the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy. In 2003, Canadians gave two billion volunteer hours and more than eight billion...

Ontario's greenlands vulnerable.(RESEARCH FINDINGS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A report by Toronto-based Neptis Foundation entitled The State of Greenlands Protection in South-Central Ontario has found that only 19 percent of greenland areas in the region are "fully protected." The remaining 81 percent of areas are...

Toxic Twin Towers.(RESEARCH FINDINGS)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... As many as 400,000 Americans were exposed to the most toxic air ever recorded after the Twin Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001. But according to a report recently released by the US Government Accountability Office (the investigative arm...

Smart energy.(RESEARCH FINDINGS)(Report released by the Suzuki Foundation )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A new report, released by the Suzuki Foundation in October, demonstrates the economic potential of the renewable energy industry. The report, Smart Generation: Powering Ontario with Renewable Energy, shows how Ontario can create 77,000 jobs in...

Alternatives looks ahead.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... THE PAST YEAR has been an exciting one for Alternatives. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] On October 1, staff and volunteers from Waterloo piled into buses and headed to Peterborough to celebrate 33 years of environmental journalism. It was our...

Rainforest Action Network.(Hot Green Websites)(www.rainforestheroes.com)
November 1, 2004... The Rainforest Action Network's website is for "kids the earth can count on." It provides students and teachers with resources for environmental action, and a place where they can post innovative projects on the web: www.rainforestheroes.com

Canadian Council for Human Resources.(Hot Green Websites)(www.cchrei.ca)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... The updated website of the Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry provides information for job seekers looking to enter the field or to develop their skills. Search the job bank or find information on careers and...

Oxfam.(Hot Green Websites)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Oxfam has a website for people who wish to extend their Christmas spirit overseas this season. Send a mosquito net, a school desk, or a brood of chickens to families in need, and friends or family will get a voucher for the gift bought on their...

Gypsy moth secrets revealed.(Science Desk)
November 1, 2004... DEVASTATION OF FORESTS caused by gypsy moths (Lymantria dispar) has been a growing concern over the past three decades. These insects undergo seemingly unpredictable population booms and can defoliate whole forests. But a new mathematical...

Canine sniffers always get their mould.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... FOR MANY YEARS dogs have been trained for arson, bomb and drug detection. Now they are sniffing out hidden hazards in your own home. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As much as 80 percent of indoor toxic moulds do not produce odours or are...

Canadian cities heavy on their feet.(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... A RECENT REPORT conducted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) calculated the nations average ecological footprint based on statistics from the 20 largest municipalities. This footprint concept measures the area of land and sea...

Climate change is a daily reality for Inuit.(Letter from Reykjavik)
November 1, 2004... REPORTS on climate change in the popular press may seem abstract to many of us. Yes, the polar ice cap is shrinking and average temperatures continue to rise. But for Inuit, climate change is a day-to-day reality. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

LEEDing the way: the "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" rating system will inevitably foster greener buildings and more sustainable communities.
November 1, 2004... OUR BUILDINGS are changing, but scarcely anyone's noticing. Don't worry; you will soon. When you notice your neighbours talking about grass roofs and ground-source heating, and berating the carpenter if he or she doesn't use a low-VOC glue,...

Greenville: applying green principles to buildings and urban planning is a sound long-term investment of public dollars.
November 1, 2004... TO SOME, A GREEN HOME means a home that is free of toxins. To others it means a home made of natural materials. To yet others, it could mean just the opposite: a home built using the newest materials and technologies to maximize energy...

Greening together: the ecovillage movement grows from grassroots to mainstream.
November 1, 2004... FAST-FORWARD one hundred years: what would you want your community to look like? This is the long-term vision behind the ecovillage movement, often brushed aside as the product of an idealistic dream. Granted, not all ecovillages are exemplary...

Living laboratory to show us the future.
November 1, 2004... PARTNERS in a new state-of-the-art research facility hope to get people thinking about the future. University of British Columbia (the owner of the facility) and its partners at Simon Fraser University, the BC Institute of Technology and the...

Green superbuildings: innovative new designs and technologies are taking ecological building onward and upward.
November 1, 2004... The trend started in 1992. The German corporation Commerzbank announced a competition to design a radically innovative skyscraper. It was to be the first and tallest ecological building ever built. The Commerzbank sponsors had very specific...

Turning brownfields green: expertise is growing and municipalities are tapping into a wealth of redevelopment opportunites.
November 1, 2004... CANADA'S CITIES put on a good show, but behind the scenes, parts of our urban environment are far from enviable. The country has an estimated 30,000 brownfields--contaminated urban sites resulting from a century of industrialization, ranging in...

Five ways to encourage green building.
November 1, 2004... GREEN COMMUNITIES are not futuristic, utopian concepts. Every day, planning, design and construction professionals seek permissions for innovative designs. Many are successful, but regulatory barriers and costly processing delays discourage...

Code blocks: rigid building codes hinder innovations in the natural building movement.
November 1, 2004... BUILDING CODES provide safeguards and ensure uniformity in the construction industry. They also severely curtail the use of natural building materials, especially in cities. Many natural building contractors consider building codes to be their...

The genius of Wangari Maathai: recent winner of Nobel Peace Prize shows how equality, democracy and the environment are all branches of the same tree.
November 1, 2004... SEVERAL prominent Norwegians have questioned the Nobel Committee's choice of Wangari Maathai for the Nobel Peace Prize. Why honour environmental activism in an era when war, terrorism and nuclear proliferation are even more urgent problems,...

The fungus among us: tiny but ubiquitous, mycorrhizal fungi form vital connections underground.(Science Essay)
November 1, 2004... THE MI'KMAQ have a story about a forest, supported by the roots that are intertwined as if holding hands. I first heard this image described by a story teller who used it as a metaphor for cultural exchange through stories. Sharing stories...

Serve the riders.(Making Public Transport Work)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Making Public Transport Work, Mark Bunting, Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2004. There are many reasons to despair about the future of public transit. The last decade has been one of underfunding, service cutbacks and plummeting...

Small boat in a big sea.(Women Fishes These Days)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Women Fishes These Days, Brenda Grzetic, Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 2004 "Aglimpse into a nervous system" is the first chapter of Brenda Grzetic's book, which grew out of her Masters thesis research at Memorial University, Newfoundland....

Romance and piety.(Speaking for Nature: Women and Ecologies of Early Modern England)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Speaking for Nature: Women and Ecologies of Early Modern England, Sylvia Bowerbank, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2004. Romance. We all know what that means--or rather, we like to point out all that is left out by the...

Moons of Clayoquot.(Chasing Clayoquot: A Wilderness Almanac)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... Chasing Clayoquot: A Wilderness Almanac, David Pitt-Brooke, Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2004 David Pitt-Brooke's almanac of the seasons in Clayoquot Sound is a beautiful and deeply interesting book. He achieves what Daniel Wood so...

Neighbourhood tea.(The Troublemaker's Teaparty: A Manual for Effective Citizen Action)(Book Review)
November 1, 2004... The Troublemaker's Teaparty: A Manual for Effective Citizen Action, Charles Dobson, Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2003 The Troublemaker's Teaparty is the civics course we all should have had. Instead of learning how a bill...

1000 words, 1000 actions.
November 1, 2004... I enjoy readings Alternatives and find the publication useful in my work. Professor Ann Dale of Royal Roads University (Victoria, BC) once told me that "visuals can connect our hearts and actions." This notion applies to the image on the cover...

Real contributions.
November 1, 2004... Congratulations on your Sept/Oct issue [30:4 Earth Invasion] focusing on the many connections between war, militarism and the environment. The issue highlighted many of the ways in which militarism affects natural and social environments--often...

Dud the spud (with apologies to Stompin' Tom).(Brain Mulch)
November 1, 2004... I AM EMBARRASSINGLY clued out with respect to the en vogue diets sweeping the Western world. I thought the Subway diet meant you missed a meal because you were commuting. South Beach was a vacation destination and The Zone, as far as I knew,...