February 19, 2010
Road scholarship: the slippery facts about road salt
It makes for safer driving in Canada, but the price is high Wintertime in Canada is sure to mean roads covered in snow, ice and salt. Here’s a look at the country’s de-icer of choice— how it’s good, how it’s bad, and what can be used instead. Click below to see the PDF full-screen: In December 2001, Environment Canada officially declared road salt to be damaging to the environment. Since... [More >>]
February 1, 2010
How having the web on your phone is changing urban living
In ways large and small, having the internet in your pocket changes the urban experience. Illustration by Matt Daley. I stood there on the street, squinting into my phone, needing to double check. Could the nondescript restaurant before me really have, as the anonymous web commenter put it, “the. best. hot sauce. ever.”? It didn’t seem likely. But sure enough, after popping inside, the fiery,... [More >>]
January 28, 2010
Booming trade in “slum tourism” dispels some myths, creates others
Slumdog Millionaire Child star Azharuddin Ismail plays in his shanty on May 30, 2009 in Mumbai, India. Ismail's family faced evicition from their dwelling in spring 2009. Photo by Getty. It can be an eye-opening experience that helps everyone involved move towards greater understanding…. It’s been happening in Rio’s famous favelas for some time. Now slum tourism—which turns a real-life... [More >>]
January 25, 2010
“I think I might be a little bit racist. And I’d like to change.”
When one writer found herself sinking into a mire of prejudice and resentment, she set out to find a cure. But maybe 12 steps aren’t enough. The first step to getting help, they say, is admitting you have a problem. That part took me years of halting, painful introspection and self-doubt. Later, I told friends—just a handful at first. They weren’t surprised; some of them even admitted to... [More >>]
September 18, 2009
Canada’s an urban nation. Why is our literature still down on the farm?
CanLit has the literary equivalent of the Y2K bug—it can’t flip over into this century Most Canadians live in cities. Why is our literature so relentlessly rural? Illustration by Graham Roumieu. When he delivers public lectures, editor and writer John Metcalf is fond of illustrating CanLit’s paradoxical obsession with tales of the rural past by describing the query letter he once received... [More >>]
August 10, 2009
Is a 60-storey skyscraper the farm of the future?
How to get local produce in the city? Look up. Illustration by Peter Mitchell. Canadian architecture student Gordon Graff attracted worldwide interest when he designed SkyFarm, a 59-storey farm for downtown Toronto. What inspired you to design a vertical farm? Sometime in 2006, when I was first working on my masters at the University of Waterloo, I knew I wanted to focus on how to turn a city like... [More >>]
July 7, 2009
Be an urban chicken farmer in 5 easy steps
A growing number of Canadians are extolling the virtues of the urban chicken. And why not? They’re an affordable source of fresh, local, organic protein; eat lawn-destroying insects; produce nitrogen-rich fertilizer; and are fun to have around. Intrigued? Here are some key steps toward taking on your own personal flock. 1. Look before you leap. Make sure you have the time, space, and cash to care... [More >>]
July 3, 2009
How farmers are going to save civilization
Advocates for ‘permaculture’ say it can improve our diets, heal our environment, and improve our lives. Meet a new generation of farmers with some radical ideas for untangling our food chain (and saving the world in the process) Permaculture means taking more responsibility for knowing how your food got to your plate. Photo by Zorani/iStockPhoto; photo illustration by Dave Donald. Trent... [More >>]
April 28, 2009
Autoholics
Tim Falconer, author of Drive: A Road Trip through Our Complicated Affair with the Automobile proposes a 12-step program for breaking our addiction to cars As individuals and as a society, we love our automobiles — even as we hate how they screw up our planet, our cities, and our lives. Environics Research Group, a Toronto based research firm, found that 32 percent of Canadians see their wheels as... [More >>]
April 28, 2009
Traffic Jamming
Around the world, cities are finding ways to drastically reduce, or even eliminate, car use. It could happen here too In cities around the globe, World Carfree Day is a nice little break from the everyday. Every year on September 22, dozens of large cities shut down some of their main streets to traffic, leaving them open to pedestrians and cyclists for parties, rallies, mass bike rides, and the sort... [More >>]
