Canada's Environmental Voice
BALANCE IS HELPFUL for bicyclists, knives and the Flying Zambezi Brothers’ high-wire act. For many other purposes it is overrated. For sustainability, it’s a mistake. The idea often sounds good, in a low-expectations way. Balance is preferable to falling down, spilling the beer, or becoming mentally unhinged. Balance of power […]
Two species, both alike in dignity In warming Arctic, where we lay our scene From dwindling ice to heated landWhere carbon theft makes habitat uncleanA pair of star-crossed lovers test their lifeAnd misadventures come perilous to eachDo make a child … A glooming peace in morning?Uncertain future at noon?Go hence and […]
FOR MOST CANADIANS, energy efficiency is synonymous with light bulbs. Switching to compact fluorescents might be simple and inexpensive, but it is not the only cost-effective way to reduce energy use in homes, businesses and utilities. Reducing water use, especially the hot stuff that flows from showers and cleans our […]
THE SUMMER OF 2009 marked a tumultuous stage in the evolution of electricity policy in Ontario, and the future path of the province’s electricity system remains uncertain.
AH, THE NEW YEAR. Time to change the wall calendar. By October, our household had already acquired Greenpeace’s latest offering, a Group of Seven issue, and one of those generic versions that hardware stores and real estate agents give out for free. All of them feature beautiful scenes of pristine […]
IN 2012 it seems easy to mudsling the truth until it’s a total mess. This weakness is not new – women, homosexuals and people of colour who lived just 50 years ago might argue that 21st century reality is far less distorted. What distinguishes our time is that we can access […]
IN ITS QUEST to dominate the planet’s agricultural biotechnology sector, Monsanto’s business model has produced significant collateral damage. Generations of farming families in South America, India and other robustly developing regions have been devastated by the US-based multinational’s product line, namely its flagship herbicide Roundup and the patented seeds that […]
SOME OF THE MOST important controversies we face today are those with a scientific underpinning – but a public consequence. Anthropogenic climate change, GMOs and nuclear power are among them. The curious feature of these so-called “scientific” controversies is that most members of the public take a stance, pro or […]
DAVID SCHINDLER is one of Canada’s most influential environmental scientists, both at home and abroad. Between 1968 and 1989, he directed the Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Ontario, leading experiments on freshwater ecosystems that advanced our understanding of the effects of nutrient enrichment, acid rain and climate change. An […]
Read the first half of the interview that was published in In Defence of Science. Stephen Bocking: Would you say that this is the most critical period in environmental protection, at least going back to the 1960s?
