October 27, 2009
Interview: Power to Save the World author Gwyneth Cravens
She changed her mind about nuclear power—and she wants to change yours, too Gwyneth Cravens. Illustration by David Anderson. Novelist, journalist, and former anti-nuclear activist Gwyneth Cravens spent 10 years researching and writing Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy. She tells us why she now favours nuclear. This: How did you become an advocate for nuclear power? Cravens:... [More >>]
October 8, 2009
Cape Breton conservationists at odds with wind power plan
Wind turbines generating power at a 400 MW wind farm in Colorado. Conservationists are concerned about the impact of such developments on fragile ecosystems. Photo by UPI/Gary C. Caskey Nuclear power has always been controversial, but even green power sources like wind and hydro meet resistance from locals. When Nova Scotia entrepreneur Luciano Lisi unveiled a plan to blow 250 megawatts of wind-power... [More >>]
July 20, 2009
Postcard from Liberia: The Prisoner
Prisoner in Butuo, Liberia. Photo credit: Myles Estey On Christmas Eve, 1989, Charles Taylor’s band of rebels stormed the small border village of Butuo, Liberia, taking over the police station and sparking a civil war. Chief Inspector Morris Gonylee waves dismissively at the state of ruin the station now lies in, a common sight in a nation struggling to rebuild from this 14-year conflict. A tethered... [More >>]
July 16, 2009
The privileged Westerner’s guide to talking about the rest of the world
When you’re talking international development, words matter There’s nothing like an all-purpose label to bring comfort and order to an otherwise overwhelming world. But what’s comforting to one person can be downright offensive to another. When it comes to the language used to label the “non-Western” world, quotation marks just won’t cut it anymore. What’s really behind the terms... [More >>]
June 26, 2009
Two Poems by Asher Ghaffar
Alchemy of Traces There’s a tyrant of a ghost who visited my apartment on Dufferin Street, strangled me with a towel. “I was born before the gold rush, before the flood, before once upon a time. I want to be known in harrowing grief.” In a nightmare, my herm- aphrodite muse whispered, “To lose a finger is to grow a hand, a new sensorial world. Allow the book to die inside the... [More >>]
June 24, 2009
The American Nightmare of Kelly Reichardt’s ‘Wendy and Lucy’
How global recession, Hurricane Katrina, and social breakdown can strand one lonely woman—and her little dog, too Michelle Williams as Wendy in Kelly Reichardt's 'Wendy and Lucy.' Courtesy Oscilloscope Laboratories. In cinematic terms, the Great Depression is arguably best represented by Mervyn LeRoy’s 1932 classic I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang. Wrongfully convicted of robbery,... [More >>]
June 18, 2009
Dear CBC: Review more books
Professional book reviewing is dead in this country. The CBC could revive it. The CBC could be a force for CanLit. Why isn't it? Illustration by Dushan Milic If Clive Owen were a Canadian author, maybe the CBC would finally review books. Katrina Onstad, a film columnist for CBC.ca, begins a recent review: “The International opens with a long, extended close-up of Clive Owen’s face, following... [More >>]
June 12, 2009
B.C. libraries introducing homegrown e-books — for free
Publishers, libraries co-operating to get locally published e-books into the public’s hands If the Association of Book Publishers of B.C. gets its way, the province’s libraries will be making a major acquisition this summer without gaining any weight. The association’s Best of B.C. Books Online project plans to purchase electronic rights to a collection of some 1,000 non-fiction titles... [More >>]
June 8, 2009
Meet Ralph Nader’s secret (Canadian) weapon: Toby Heaps
How Canada’s Rollerblading, CEO-hugging, cartel-busting activist-entrepreneur became Ralph Nader’s presidential campaign manager (and why he did it when there was zero chance of winning) Toby Heaps demonstrates his style in Toronto. Photo by Steve Payne Junue Millan is getting agitated. It’s a hot day in May 2008, and Millan, an organizer on Ralph Nader’s quixotic presidential campaign,... [More >>]
June 4, 2009
Welcome to the no-growth economy
York University economist Peter Victor says it’s time to shrink the economy, not grow it York University economist Peter Victor: "We're in serious trouble right now." Photo by Molly Crealock How can we escape our current economic mess while simultaneously avoiding the looming triple threats of peak oil, climate change, and species extinction? York University ecological economist... [More >>]
