Alternatives Journal articles from October 1996

Alternatives Journal archives from October 1996

Punching dummies in the North. (Northern Canada resources will once again be exploited, this time instead of oil or whales, diamonds and nickel are sought)(Editorial)
October 1, 1996... Many of you will remember inflatable bottom-weighted punching dummies. You knock them over; they bounce back up and whonk you in the face. And they'll do it again and again if you're stupid enough to keep hitting them. Makes you wonder which...

Mad cows shake up British agriculture: disaster for industrial farming gives a boost to greener pastures. (mad cow disease causes slaughter of ten thousand cows in Britain and increased interest in vegetarianism) (includes article about positive effects on Canadian cow industry)
October 1, 1996... With ten thousand cows to be slaughtered, a billion-dollar export market lost, and ten people so far diagnosed with a new strain of a fatal disease, the "mad cow" scare is hitting Britain hard enough to force reconsideration of modern farming...

Calgary house goes beyond sustainability. (home demonstration project of sustainable living/alternative housing)
October 1, 1996... The Alberta Sustainable Home/Office in Calgary looks normal enough. But it doesn't have a furnace or a stove and soon it won't need to be connected to the city water or sewer line. It will, however, maintain its electrical connection to the...

Northern science undermined: budgets decline as environmental concerns increase. (less funding available to do environmental research as the need to understand environmental problems increases)
October 1, 1996... On the Peace and Athabasca Rivers in northern Alberta, scientists trace the fate and effects of effluents from pulp mills and other sources. In the Mackenzie River Basin, ecologists project the impact of a changing climate on northern forests,...

National parks abandoned: Ottawa's budget plan means no new parks, less protection for existing ones.(Column)
October 1, 1996... To Canadians and foreign visitors alike, wilderness is one of the defining characteristics of our country. Recent opinion surveys have found that Canadians, by a huge majority, hold our national parks right up there with "O Canada" and our...

The nasty game: how environmental assessment is failing aboriginal communities in Canada's North. (includes chronology of environmental assessment of the Broken Hills Proprietary Company Ltd., BHP, Diamond Mine)(includes article on BHP settlement of Ok Tedi damage)(includes article summary in French)(Cover Story)
October 1, 1996... IN THE SMALL NORTHERN communities surrounding Great Slave Lake, there is much talk of diamonds. The diamonds are located under the ground at Lac de Gras, a few hundred kilometres north. But the area around Lac de Gras is also within the...

Neither boom nor bust: the renewable resource economy may be the best long-term hope for Northern Communities. (indigenous peoples of Northern Canada pursue sustainability over development)(includes article summary in French)(includes footnotes)
October 1, 1996... The Renewable Resource Economy May Be the Best Long-term Hope for Northern Communities CANADA VIRTUALLY IGNORED its Northwest Territories and northern peoples until after the Second World War. Then, as national security and other...

Hunting grounds: making co-operative wildlife management work. (traditional and nontraditional sources of input help develop strategy for wildlife management)(includes article summary in French)
October 1, 1996... VISITORS TRAVELLING in the back country of Wood Buffalo National Park during winter are just as likely to witness a snowmobile hauling a load of furs as they are to see a moose or bison. While a moose wading regally through waist-deep snow...

Too Good To True: Alcan's Kemano Completion Project.
October 1, 1996... Once, the answer was obvious: a river is raw material, latent power, input for industry. In the early 1950s Alcan Aluminum built the Kenney dam across the Nechako River in northwestern British Columbia, reversing much of its flow to create a...

Mediating Environmental Conflicts: Theory and Practice.
October 1, 1996... The critical step in resolution of many environmental and resource conflicts is the recognition that problems and their contexts can be extremely complicated and clear-cut solutions may not be possible. Environmental mediation, which seeks...

The Environmental Bill of Rights: A Practical Guide.
October 1, 1996... Once you get through the preamble of Ontario's new Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR), it becomes readily apparent that this is not typical bill of rights legislation. In fact the 124 sections that follow create what David Donnelly of the...

Conserving Wildlife: International Education and Communication Approaches.
October 1, 1996... There can be little doubt that one major change in wildlife conservation in the last 30 years has been recognition of the importance of working with and educating the public about local wildlife (and other resource) conservation efforts. I...

Getting a charge out of infomercials. (sarcastic explanation of a new generation of environmental problems spawned by electric cars)(Column)
October 1, 1996... There can only be two reasons why you're now reading this magazine. Either you picked it up by accident, and are still looking for the ads for leather fashion accessories, or you're anxiously waiting for the latest news on the electric car. I...