Cars are the number-one killer of people under 35 in this part of the world. A couple of thousand pounds of high-speed steel and glass may have seemed like a good idea at one time, but cars have made simple acts like walking risky business. Urban sprawl increases that risk. Abundant research shows a strong […]
Chris Benjamin
Posted inNews + Opinion
The briny, grimy deeps
“I would love to see Nova Scotia do the same for marine waste as we have for on-land waste,” Lisa Kretz tells me in Clean Nova Scotia’s lunch room. She is the project officer for the organization’s marine waste project. “There needs to be more awareness and education, one person at a time.” Today it’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Talking to Ontarians
I’m writing this column during my annual summer visit to Ontario. I’m not particularly drawn to the province’s phallic symbolism, and I rarely get far enough north to enjoy the wilderness. Like so many of my Bluenose brethren, I used to live here, and the friendship and familial ties keep me bound here, year after […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Building the little green schoolhouse
Last century I studied some environmental education at York. My professors walked the walk, and inspired us the way they would have us inspire our students. You need inspiration to make change. A decade later, I sometimes lose hope that we’ll change, and I have to think a long way back to find that inspiration. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Alien fire ants invade Halifax
Last Monday the St. Mary’s Boat Club filled with 150 residents with ants on their minds, and in their Tupperware. The west and south ends are infested with stinging and biting European fire ants. Many residents brought samples. “The complaints have been escalating,” says councillor Sue Uteck. Andrew Hebda, a zoologist with the Maritime Museum […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
March protests criminalization of black youth
About 50 protesters against the criminalization of black youth marched from the Halifax Common to George Dixon Centre last Saturday. They were led by two of the youth involved in altercations with police at Auburn Drive High School in May. The two held a large banner reading “Education Not Incarceration.” According to one of the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Include us in climate change adaptation plans, say natives
Psst, hey, climate change deniers: Halifax Harbour is rising, and you don’t need a PhD in carbon core analytics to prove it. A simple observatory pillar in the harbour does the trick—and that’s how city staff measures water levels. And if you don’t trust a low-tech solution, 90 years of tidal records agree with the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Maritime artists address environmental issues
Reasoning with a psychopathic culture hasn’t been much fun for environmentalists. It’s probably futile anyway—if you wanna change minds, you gotta touch hearts first. And touching hearts is the work of artists, not policy wonks. “Art hits us viscerally,” explains spoken word artist Laura Burke. Burke, known for dropping earth-loving rhymes, will compete as part […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Raising awareness of the local bird populations
In Fort Needham Memorial Park in north end Halifax, Noel Taussig’s ears perk at the staccato tweet of what he thinks might be a magnolia warbler, a gorgeous little yellow-breasted bird. “Weep, weep, weep, eeeep! Eep-eep-eep-eep-eep.” We tread lightly to the patch of trees where the sound originates and hear it again, this time behind […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Keji plans first managed burn in park history
Parks Canada staff at Kejimkujik National Park plan to set 2.3 hectares of it on fire. “People think because it’s a National Park you should just put a fence around it and leave it,” explains Dave Algar, a resource conservation manager at Keji. “We’re under pressure because there is so much change and so many […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Giving nature its consitutional rights
Last summer Ecuador passed a new constitution granting rights to nature. “Nature, or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution,” the constitution states. A few countries have granted rights to animals. More than 100 have recognized […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Earth day attack
Earth Day is next Wednesday. Check your local listings to find out how you can celebrate the bountiful beauty of Mother Earth, the sacredness of all her life and living systems, right here in Hali. Then we can go back to beating the shit out of her on Thursday. Earth Day has always reminded me […]