Alternatives Journal articles from September 2008

Alternatives Journal archives from September 2008

Sustainability with a twist.(Editorial)(Editorial)
September 1, 2008... THIS issue of Alternatives demonstrates what sets it apart from other environmental magazines. The theme is Testing for Sustainability. In it, one might think we would discuss questions relating to what sustainable development is and whether we...

Climate change free-for-all.(In Brief)
September 1, 2008... Any chance of Canada having a unified approach to tackling climate change has all but disappeared. * Canada's first revenue-neutral carbon tax went into effect in BC in July 2008 (for background, see "Tax Shifting" in Alternatives, 34:1,...

Greenwashing sins.(TerraChoice Environmental Marketing tests consumer products)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... TerraChoice Environmental Marketing recently tested the authenticity of environmental claims made about over 1000 consumer products, ranging from toothpaste and shampoo to caulking and printers. The result? The claims made about all but one...

Failing springs.(In Brief)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Many residents of Western Newfoundland find that their tap water leaves a bad taste in their mouths. Complaining about the flavour, colour and odour of their municipal supply, an unusually high percentage of folks in the area admit that they...

Trilateral monarchs.(protection of monarch butterflies)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Monarch butterflies, with their distinctive colouring and unique multigenerational migration across North America, have come to symbolize the continent's shared environment. Although they are not at risk of extinction, monarch butterflies will...

LCBO too sexy.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... This spring, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) promoted organic wines, waste reduction and reusable bags during its Enviro Chic sales campaign. Meanwhile, recent reports warn women that there may be no safe level of alcohol consumption...

In the name of conservation.(land management)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... A new trend in land expropriation carried out in the name of the environment and social justice is quietly occurring across Canada. In the Municipality of Ellice, Manitoba, for instance, a farmer's land will become a heritage site. In Toronto,...

Legislating the status quo.(In Brief)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Following its 2006 declaration that a family of flame retardants known as Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) is toxic, the Harper government banned their manufacture, use and import in 2008. The ban, however, failed to include DecaBDE--the...

More on books.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... I thoroughly enjoyed your issue on key environmental books [issue 34:2, 2008]. A couple of important omissions include Our Plundered Planet by Fairfield Osborne (1948), and the works of Barbara Ward in the 1960s and 1970s, which laid so much of...

Trees work on the farm.(agroforestry)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... AGROFORESTRY, the deliberate integration of woody species with agricultural crops or pastures, is an ancient practice that is coming back into vogue. In Europe, farmers used to integrate apple orchards with sheep pasture, and timber or nut...

May the forest be with you.
September 1, 2008... ONCE THOUGHT to be caused by UFOs, mysterious forest rings in Northern Ontario are now believed to be a potential source of energy. As much as two kilometres in diameter, these giant circles outlined by light-coloured, stunted tree growth, were...

The bats and the bees.(bats' population )(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... YOU CAN ADD BATS to honeybees and frogs. All are species common to North America that are disappearing at an alarming rate. The sudden deaths of thousands of bats in the northeastern United States may be caused by a mysterious white fungus...

Garden pharmacy.
September 1, 2008... I STRUGGLE to keep up with sari-clad Ratna Soni as she leads me around the garden, rapidly reciting the Hindi names and healing powers of the plants we walk by. This inspiring woman is in charge of Sambhavna Trust's half-hectare medicinal plot,...

Testing for tomorrow: explicit sustainability tests are emerging to help ensure that new initiatives preserve ecosystems, maintain viable livelihoods and deliver quality-of-life gains.
September 1, 2008... A SERIOUS TEST is one you can fail. A useful test is one you can hope to pass--eventually, if you put some effort into it--and passing makes life better. Sustainability is both of these. At the global scale, we are failing the...

Application denied: BC's Kemess North and Nova Scotia's Whites Point projects promised jobs and revenue, but the communities were looking for overall sustainability.
September 1, 2008... NORTHGATE MINERAL CORPORATION's proposed Kemess North Project will not be going ahead, at least not soon and not as proposed. The project--an open-pit, copper-gold expansion to an existing mine in a remote, mountainous area of northcentral...

Power of the people: a strong sense of place swayed the review panel to reject the Whites Point Quarry proposal.
September 1, 2008... IN OCTOBER 2006, a joint federal-provincial review panel recommended that both levels of government reject the Whites Point Quarry and Marine Terminal proposal in Nova Scotia. The proposal involved the creation of a 120-hectare basalt rock...

Legislating sustainability: Nova Scotia's new law marries environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.
September 1, 2008... The Environmental Goals and Sustainable Prosperity Act. Now there's a piece of legislation begging for an acronym. Tongue twister or not, this law certainly has Nova Scotians talking about what it means for the province. [ILLUSTRATION...

Raising the bar: because the earth needs a good lawyer.
September 1, 2008... We asked Jode Roberts, a Toronto-based artist and environmental advocate who works for Ecojustice, how "The Organization Formerly Known as Sierra Legal Defence Fund" chooses its environmental cases, and what it has done to raise the bar for...

Eco-cents: sustainable development is good for business.
September 1, 2008... IT'S BEEN OVER 20 years since Gro Harlem Brundtland coined the phrase "sustainable development" in the landmark publication, Our Common Future. Since then, few terms have been so widely applied and produced such positive change, yet been so...

Buyer be good: can you really save the planet by buying stuff?
September 1, 2008... IT SEEMS that every time I open the newspaper, turn on the television or check for online news, some company is touting its environmental commitment. I am encouraged to use reusable shopping bags, purchase more concentrated detergent and wear...

Sustainability--the very idea!
September 1, 2008... THE IDEA of sustainability is simple: an arrangement is sustainable if it can go on indefinitely; it is unsustainable if it cannot. Living on the interest from an inheritance is sustainable; drawing down the principal is not. An unsustainable...

The smallest revolution: we need to learn more about nanomaterials before they get too far under our skin.(nanotechnology)
September 1, 2008... AS REVOLUTIONS GO, this is no big deal: stain-resistant pants, sunscreens that go on clear, hockey sticks with extra zing. But perhaps that's the point with nanotechnology. When the real transformation is occurring in spaces dwarfed by the...

Thinking like an ecosystem: the inherent uncertainty of natural systems calls for the integration of resiliency and diversity in environmental management.
September 1, 2008... Do you suppose that Humpty Dumpty saw it coming? Did he have any advance warning of his impending fate? Even the slightest wobble to tip him off? I mean, as it's told, he went straight from sitting to falling without a single intermediary step....

The danger of misinformation: the Deniers is so full of misinformation that it is impossible to list it all.(The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... THE DENIERS is both interesting and frightening: interesting in how an apparently intelligent author can construct a story so biased and inaccurate, and frightening in that it is apparently being purchased--and possibly believed--by many. ...

Nuclear expose.(Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System)(Book review)
September 1, 2008... Canada's Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System, Jim Harding, Black Point, NS: Ferwood Publishing, 2007, 272 pages. Sometimes a book, perhaps originally intended as a reflective memoir chronicling the...

Moving from aught to do.(Essay)
September 1, 2008... WE ARE WELL into 2008 and there still is no common global name to define this decade. There's no catchy term like the Roaring Twenties or the Dirty Thirties. These past eight years have remained unnamed and undescribed. [ILLUSTRATION...