Alternatives articles from January 1993

Alternatives archives from January 1993

Waste and the final frontier. (space) (Editorial)
January 1, 1993... The traveller crossing Manitoba from east or west on the Trans-Canada Highway is greeted by a sign that says "send your garbage into orbit in five minutes." The intent apparently is to capture the attention of motorists who might have thoughts...

There are strange things done .... (eco-tourism) (Column)
January 1, 1993... Eco-tourism has been getting a rash of publicity lately, which when you think about it pretty much sums up the effect publicity has on most things. Take the Galapagos Islands, for instance. This pleasant little archipelago has been in a state...

Micro hydroelectricity in Nepal.
January 1, 1993... As controversy builds over the economic and environmental viability of large hydroelectric projects, Nepal is exploring new paths towards energy self-sufficiency. Locally owned and operated "micro" hydroelectric projects are reducing Nepal's...

Eco-living in Sweden.
January 1, 1993... In Sweden, people are joining together to build specially designed "eco-villages" and city housing authorities are building apartments with solar collectors. Building associations are designing units for recycling ease and people are renovating...

Sewell Commission considers alternative septic systems. (Ontario, Canada)
January 1, 1993... Problems with Ontario's one million rural septic systems have prompted the Commission on Planning and Development Reform in Ontario to promote some alternatives. Concern over traditional systems, which don't always do a good job of removing...

Environmentally sound buildings now within reach.
January 1, 1993... Environmentally sound construction practices are gaining popularity in Canada. A small number of contractors and institutions are changing to accommodate the new environmental market, and governments are organizing environmental housing...

New Brunswick law brings back pop bottle debate.
January 1, 1993... From one end of the country to the other, the question of a deposit system for beverage containers keeps returning. Both British Columbia and New Brunswick have recently announced deposit initiatives. New Brunswick's The Beverage Container...

Beyond the blue box. (Guelph, Ontario's recycling program)
January 1, 1993... Guelph has moved beyond the blue box. Citizens in this Ontario city are now diverting 60 to 70 percent of their waste by weight by putting their organic wastes in a green bin alongside the traditional blue container which now takes an expanded...

Hospitals re-think disposables. (health care supplies)
January 1, 1993... Over the past 25 years, health care facilities in Canada have become increasingly addicted to disposable health care products. But the escalating financial and environmental costs of this addiction are causing concern among governments and...

Managing biomedical wastes.
January 1, 1993... Although reusing and recycling can substantially reduce biomedical waste, the tricky question of disposal of remaining waste persists. Management of biomedical waste involves striking a balance among health risks, environmental impact and...

Community-based waste management in Halton Hills. (Ontario)
January 1, 1993... While debate continues over the environmental impacts and the economics of various waste management options, some communities are getting down to business and establishing their own models of sustainable waste management. In the township...

Removing barriers to government waste reduction requires political will.
January 1, 1993... Governments are involved in a bewildering range of activities from operating day care centres, to administering courts of law, to building highways. They are both major consumers of goods and services -- Canadian municipal governments alone...

Working with the waste pickers. (Asian urban waste management)
January 1, 1993... A new philosophy of resource management is beginning to transform solid waste management worldwide. It is grounded in "resource recognition" -- the idea that most waste material can be regarded as unused resources. Environmentally sound waste...

Pulling in the same direction. (private, public waste management in Canada)
January 1, 1993... In the last three to four decades, consumer convenience--emphasizing throw-away packagin and a disposable, non-repairable product -- has become as much a tool of marketing as quality and price. Among the results of this trend has been a...

The economics of garbage.
January 1, 1993... A cross North America, waste management is becoming increasingly dominated by a small, tightly knit international cartel of private, profit making firms. This is not accidental. It stems from the underlying economic forces which shape the waste...

Restructuring the economy: a look at the implications of the shift to recycled materials.
January 1, 1993... In Ontario, the management of waste is a crucial political issue. In February 1992, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) estimated that 62 landfills in Ontario would close within one year, and another 65 would close by February 1997. At the...

Garbage transport derailed. (Ontario's Waste Management Act)
January 1, 1993... Catalyzed by the "garbage crisis" in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) where four million people produce about 4.3 million tonnes of solid waste per year -- roughly half of the provincial total -- the Ontario Minister of the Environment has...

No Safe Place: Toxic Wastes, Leukemia and Community Action.
January 1, 1993... Toxic waste and community "Everyone is going to be poisoned, even the people making profits." This poignant quotation from a Wolburn Massachuesetts mother begins an account of toxic waste mismanagement in a town of 37,000, where...

Waste Management Inc.: An Encyclopedia of Environmental Crimes and Other Misdeeds.
January 1, 1993... Revolving waste Some of the big corporate players in the waste industry wield enormous power over the communities and environments where they operate. A particularly illuminating example is provided in Greenpeace USA's thorough...

Politics of Pollution: Why Canadians Are Failing Their Environment.
January 1, 1993... Confronting government inaction The Politics of Pollution is a clear, well researched account of why government action on environmental problems has been at a virtual standstill despite mounting evidence of the crisis we are faced with....

Value Assumptions in Risk Assessment: A Case Study of the Alachlor Controversy.
January 1, 1993... Excluding values from the decision-making process Our governmental and scientific institutions dream of a mechanistic decision-making process that will remove the need to discuss values. Risk assessment is one tool they hope will ease the...

Endangered Spaces Progress Report.
January 1, 1993... Endangered spaces progress embarrassing The Endangered Spaces campaign is a lobby effort sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to have 12 percent of Canada's territory (land and sea) protected by the year 2000. This report is a 1991...

A Family Doctor's Guide to Understanding and Preventing Cancer: Environmental Risks and Solutions.
January 1, 1993... Preventing cancer at home and work By the year 2000, roughly 40 percent of the human population will be attacked by some form of cancer. The disease will cause 25 percent of all deaths. If someone were to put forth a proposal that...

The Global Citizen.
January 1, 1993... The wisdom of "why?" The Global Citizen provides clear insights about the world with a vision that is system-based, globally-oriented, and long-term in perspective. The book (and prior to the book, her weekly syndicated column of...

Lithuania's Environmental Problems.
January 1, 1993... Environmentalism in the Baltic The emergence of a powerful environmental movement in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1980s was an important part of the challenge to soviet authority and ideology. Environmental and...

Seeds of Survival Video and Teaching Kit.
January 1, 1993... Learning about lost seeds India once grew 30,000 varieties of rice, but today more than 75 percent of total rice production comes from fewer than ten varieties. In 1904, 7098 varieties of apples were grown in the United States. Since...

Solar Industry Green Plan: A Call for Action.
January 1, 1993... Solar industry offers alternatives The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) is an American lobby group with the raison d'etre of raising the profile of solar technology to the level of a significant national energy source in the...

This passing show: product aesthetics and the environment. (Column)
January 1, 1993... Don't be dazzled by the splendour that comes to you from the West. Do not be thrown off your feet by this passing show.... The distinguishing characteristic of modern civilization is an indefinite multiplicity of human wants. The characteristic...