Greenpeace predicts world leaders will be making a big apology in 11 years if they don’t step up at the Copenhagen climate summit next week. A new line of giant ads in the Copenhagen airport features Harper, Obama, and 6 other serious looking, digitally aged world leaders saying, “I’m sorry. We could have stopped catastrophic […] More »
I came out of Tuesday night’s Munk Debate on Climate Change feeling kind of funny. Given that NASA scientists and others tell us we have about seven years to cap global greenhouse gas emissions before “runaway climate change”—and the next couple weeks may establish whether that happens or not—it strikes me that a debate about […] More »
The results from a recent study seems to perfectly illustrate Canada’s increasing confusion on climate change. While Canadians agreed that “climate change is the planet’s defining crisis”, when given a list of arguments used on either side of the climate change debate, there was a surprising amount of belief that both arguments held some truth. […] More »
To me, our Canadian identity has always seemed deeply rooted in our belief that as a country we do the “right thing.” We assumed for years that we were the moral compass of the globe and could do no wrong. But from where I’m standing, that reputation is being dragged through the mud and plenty […] More »
In the best example of Catch 22 that I can think of since, well, Catch 22, it seems our prime minister, Stephen Harper, will not be attending the international climate change talks in Copenhagen in December because it is unlikely any final deal on climate change will be met—though that is partly thanks to months […] 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 »
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 »
The tide may finally be turning on environmental action from the Canadian government. The Canadian Environmental Bill of Rights had its first reading in the house yesterday afternoon, and our fingers are crossed. Ecojustice, formerly the Sierra Legal Defense Fund, drafted similar legislation last year, in hopes of giving Canadians a legal means of protecting […] More »
It’s now been a year since the tour. His ecoHoliness David Suzuki joined his Foundation with the Canadian Federation of Students and the Sierra Youth Coalition as he spoke to youth across the country and to George Stroumboulopoulos on The Hour, where one particular U of Guelph student was watching. When it came to the […] More »
[Editor’s Note: Today Darcy Higgins and Rebecca McNeil start their new blog column for This, Stop Everything, on climate change and sustainability. They’ve been blogging Stop Everything independently since September, but today we’re happy to welcome them to the This Magazine family. They’ll be contributing each Tuesday and Thursday approaching the Copenhagen Climate Convention in […] More »
She changed her mind about nuclear power—and she wants to change yours, too 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? […] More »