Today in our ongoing saga of legalization initiatives, Rosemary Counter talks to Canada’s pre-eminent outlaw milk farmer (not that there are too many of them jostling for the top position), Michael Schmidt. Schmidt believes that Canadians should be able to drink unpasteurized milk if they want to, and that it’s actually better for you; Health […] More »

I was sitting in my meditation practice working on quieting my thoughts when it hit me—religion could stop climate change. Well perhaps it wasn’t such a stroke of enlightenment, as it was keeping my ears open.  In this style of Buddhism led by Nobel Peace Prize nominee Thích Nhất Hạnh, the practice contains the reading […] More »

Unpasteurized milk is better, argues outlaw milk farm Michael Schmidt, and he’s willing to go all the way to the supreme court to prove it Despite numerous guilty verdicts, rogue milk farmer Michael Schmidt will not back down. He will not pay the $55,000 in fines, and he won’t cease selling his illegal product. “It […] More »

[Editor’s note: today we introduce “Body Politic,” a new blog column about medicine and public health, written by Lyndsie Bourgon. Visit her website or follow her on Twitter. Body Politic will appear every other Thursday.] As the Calgary Flames hit the ice this weekend they appeared to show no great superpower, which is what I […] More »

Our (totally made up, unofficial) Legalization Week continues today with Katie Addleman’s exploration of the drug trade, and the catastrophic effect prohibition has had on law enforcement, gang violence, addicts’ health, and community safety: Ounce for ounce, marijuana is worth more than gold, and heroin more than uranium. Yet it’s only as a direct result […] More »

The misbegotten “War on Drugs” has funnelled billions into the pockets of criminals, and drug use is higher than ever. We’re addicted to policy failure — time to kick the habit Shortly after Vancouver was named the host of the 2010 Olympics, Naomi Klein was seething about injustice again. “The Vancouver-Whistler Olympic bid presented the […] More »

Kibera, one of the world’s biggest slums, is a “glaring omission” on Google Maps, says Erica Hagen, member of the Map Kibera team. Indeed, Kibera remains a blank spot in relatively well-mapped and densely populated Nairobi, the economic hub of East Africa. When I first heard of this project, my first thought was of the […] More »

Three years ago, at least partly a result of an unusually warm winter, climate change broke through mainstream media as a major issue. Today, I’m experiencing a bit of a déjà vu. It is mid-November and yesterday there was a high of 18 degrees in Toronto. While we might relish a balmy November day after […] More »

For day two of what we’ve dubbed “Legalization Week” here, Jordan Heath Rawlings writes about a plan from the Songwriters Association of Canada that would throw open the file-sharing doors to every Canadian and find new ways to help musicians make a living from their creativity. It’s just one of many proposals that have been […] More »

Music is a dead industry walking. A radical all-you-can-eat plan promises unlimited tunes and puts artists — not record companies — first Politically speaking, it was a pretty good haul of booty. On June 7, an organization of self-described “pirates” took what was a fairly small step toward gaining real political clout, but a gigantic […] More »

It’s as if we’re in a car that is blazing along. We are on cruise control as we hit a crossroads. We desperately need to make a turn. But instead of slowing down or making shifts in the wheel, we’re full-speed ahead. It’s a diverse group of us in the car but all we’re doing […] More »