I grew up in Saskatchewan, so I’m not accustomed to being on the receiving end of the country’s resentment of Toronto. For this reason, I never thought I’d publicly acknowledge, let alone write about, problems created by the ongoing garbage workers’ strike. But the strike did get me thinking about new work applying “social proof” […] More »
It is my birthday this week. As I turn 25, there is one question I face: do I have a future? My life from here on out, and the lives of my generation, will be shaped by the choices we make now. The choices we make depend on one word: energy. We are at a […] More »
A Dutch design firm has released a new computer font, Ecofont, that they say uses less ink, and can therefore reduce the e-waste that results from depleted toner cartridges. It’s a regular-looking font except that it’s riddled with holes, and the firm, Spranq, claims this reduces toner use by up to 20 per cent. Their […] More »
Looking for an adventurous and educational holiday to beat the winter blues? Why not tour the chaos and misery of the mess Texaco Oil left behind in the Amazon Basin. For the last fifteen years Chevron Corp, which acquired Texaco Oil in 2001, has been in a deadlock legal battle with the citizens of Lago […] More »
This video, compiled by Swiss scientists, shows 24 hours of global aircraft travel in 72 seconds. I think the fact that it resembles a petri dish swarming with disease is only partly coincidental: Airplane travel is one of the largest and most damaging carbon-emitting actitivies on the planet. [spotted on Wired, via Worldchanging] More »
Cormorants are black, oily-looking birds. Some people find them beautiful. To others they’re an ugly scourge. I’m rather fond of them, having grown up on Lake Ontario where you see the odd few on rocky bars in Hamilton Harbour. But on Lake Erie, their population seems to have exploded and now may be causing some […] More »
Water levels in Lake Huron have been low for a while. Really low. Docks are now on dry land, harbours are having to be dredged, cottagers are getting ornery. In fact, Huron and Michigan have been at “critical alert” level since 2000. One group, the Georgian Bay Association, is championing the theory that the water […] More »
Those of you who are up on the news will know that Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has been in a little hot water lately, first for suggesting that thousands of seal deaths are more tragic than the deaths of four seal hunters who died in a recent marine accident, and this […] More »
Two things that have come through my life recently have me thinking about problems and solutions. The first is an incredibly well-presented online video and website called The Story of Stuff. In it, activist Annie Leonard describes her years-long investigation of the lifetime of consumer goods: where they come from, how they get in our […] More »
Tata motors of India has developed world’s cheapest car, revving engines in news-land. Retailing for $2,500, the tiny, amenity-less car is being compared to the Volkswagen for putting poor folks in the driver’s seat. While the vehicles are supposed to be lower-emission than North American cars, the price means there will be millions more polluters […] More »
As part of its continuing coverage of the Alberta tar sands, The Dominion has published a detailed map of Alberta’s oil apparatus, as well as proposed and likely future hot spots for Alberta, B.C. and the North. It’s an excellent graphic, and a great example of how web content need not include bells and whistles […] More »