In New Brunswick, cancer clusters. One unlucky town has ovarian cancer rates 200 percent higher than the national average. In another region, you’re more likely to get brain cancer. Each cluster has one thing in common: heavy industry. Inside the radical fight to kill the economy and save lives With a small plastic tote in […] More »

Here at This Magazine we’re hard at work on our Corporate Hall of Shame issue (coming in September!), an annual roundup of shady company dealings, corruption, lies, and a lot more. It can be pretty depressing around the office – in addition to all of the above, we’re also researching stories on environmental degradation, animal […] More »

Canada now has a working group dedicated to figuring out bee mortality. On July 9, environmental group Sierra Club Canada shared a press release announcing the group’s formation, which is made up of beekeepers, farmers, scientists and others in agri-business. The press release mentions the recent loss of 27 million bees near Elwood, Ont. In […] More »

Another day, another oil spill. Eighty-four thousand gallons of bitumen oil from Alberta leaked into a suburban Arkansas neighbourhood after an ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured this weekend. Twenty-two families have to stay off their property for at least a week. But it’s okay, because as an ExxonMobil media response said, they “apologize for any disruption and […] More »

Ian McCormick is one of the new generation of Canadian farmers.  Thanks to programs like FarmStart and CRAFT (Canadian Regional Alliance for Farmer Training), new farmers — young people and folks who often didn’t grow up farming — are trying their hand at small-scale production.  FarmStart helps develop a new generation of farmers by leasing […] More »

After a thousand-plus kilometre invasion and destruction of U.S. ecosystems, Asian carp are now poised to enter Canada’s Great Lakes—where they could unleash incalculable and irreversible damage. Inside the desperate fight to stop the swarm. Four fish lay motionless on the metal slab in the laboratory, lying good side up. Their wide, recessed eyes are […] More »

Are we only interested in ourselves? The recent uproar over the provocative (dare I say titillating) May 2012 Time magazine cover on attachment parenting has got me thinking again about local food. The old joke among lactating mothers is that breast milk is the most local you can get. The other thing about the article […] More »

About 200 protesters gathered on King Street today as Enbridge held their annual general meeting inside the King Edward Hotel. The mass of protesters had congregated on the street to voice their opinions on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, which would stretch 1,172 kilometres from Bruderheim, Alta., to the port of Kitimat, B.C. The proposed […] More »

THE CLAIM: Plant-based packaged goods are sprouting up across Canada. Made from renewable resources such as vegetable oil and starch from corn or sugar cane, bioplastics, such as polylactic acid (PLA), are often touted as the earth friendly alternative to conventional petroleum or fossil-based plastics. Some products claim to be biodegradable or even 100 percent […] More »

Yes, natural gas development is good for New Brunswick’s flagging economy When the New Brunswick government granted Southwestern Energy its first natural gas exploration permit in March 2010 hundreds of angry citizens set up blockades and held rallies on the lawn of the Legislative Assembly. Two years later, the debate is just as explosive. In […] More »

Canadians who care about climate change have good reason to be depressed about our history of climate change politics, which goes something like this: Jean Chrétien promises a lot, does little; Paul Martin promises more, does a bit, but not much; Stephen Harper promises nothing, and delivers. What explains this pattern? The answer has a […] More »