Canada's Environmental Voice
Imagine a society in which the figures, facts and records that governments accumulate are publicly available and free to use by citizens, civil society and business. This – and the potential for greater civic involvement in politics it promises – is what the open data movement wants to see, and […]
Sometime during the next 100 years or so, the world is going to run out of platinum. If we haven’t found a replacement, production of new jewelry, electrodes, anticancer drugs and turbine engines will all grind to a halt. Also coming to a screeching stop will be production of solar […]
Around the year 2000, I attended a conference organized by the Council of Canadians about the risks associated with genetically modified organisms. At some point during the proceedings, an extraordinary thing happened. One of the speakers, professor Ann Clark (then of Guelph University) rose and said the following: the problem […]
Some folks are Superbowl fans; I’m more of a “superb owl” enthusiast. I stand in awe of these beautiful predators, all of which, from the diminutive screech owl to the imposing great gray, boast silent flight, crushingly strong talons and acute senses of sight and hearing.
The 2013 Earth Day Canada Outstanding Commitment to the Environment award went to Tom Rand, one of the country’s top thinkers, investors and advisors. He is a trailblazer in the realm of clean energy technology and co-developer of the lauded low-carbon Planet Traveler hostel in downtown Toronto.
Suburban sprawl has defined much of the last half century of North American development. Suburban design and use have changed continuously throughout this period and are still evolving as suburban retrofit projects become ever more common.
On July 13, 1908, huge crowds gathered in the streets of various small towns and villages in Germany to witness the spectacle of LZ 4, one of the first airships, flying overhead. The airship, which was on a proving flight from Lake Constance to Mainz, was greeted with cheering crowds and […]
Having been millions of years in development, the life forms that thrive on Earth have come up with a trick or two for maximizing sustainability. So what better model could we use for sustainable technology than the Earth’s own natural processes? And one of the most impressive of the world’s […]
As a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s Environment and Business program, I was taught that by going green businesses can create value for themselves while benefiting society and the planet. While there are certainly many publications on this subject, it is interesting to look at how far corporate citizenship […]
The Canada of 2035 will be a very different place. We’ll be a nation of 43 million people; the GTA alone will balloon to more than nine million residents. It is hard to fathom the changes society will undergo in the next 22 years. Just think back to 1991 (if […]
