Chris Benjamin

Councillor Jennifer Watts (Connaught-Quinpool) says the planning efforts to widen Bayers Road go back to 1994. “Things have changed since then, so does [widening roads] reflect the reality today?” she asks. “Construction costing is based on oil-based products and the numbers are unbelievable—$292 million for the construction costs alone, from the actual Stanec study, for […]

In an age of self-made screen-addicted pundits, in which the winner is the one most heard/followed/friended, David McLearn is a rare breed. He doesn’t have an email account. He doesn’t self-promote. He doesn’t talk much. And he’s pretty soft-spoken when he does. But, his laughter could fill any space, even the wide outdoors where he […]

In 1971 in Gopeshwar, India (part of the Himalayan region), in the wake of devastating floods caused by deforestation, the area’s women had had it. The Chipko (“to embrace”) movement was born. Women surrounded trees and held tight. It was Vandana Shiva’s first social-justice fight. She’s now one of the world’s most revered, and effective, […]

In this schizo-virtual world we live in, it’s miraculous anyone can sit and think long enough about one thing to write a thesis or book about it. Good thing writers have the internet to crib from, though my guess is it takes longer to research infilling—soil quality—agrifood—the 10 best burgers in America—Elvis Presley’s influence on […]

As I write this, a litre of gas costs $1.23 in Halifax—down from $1.34 earlier this week thanks to an intervention by the Utility and Review Board. While most experience pump rage and wilderness-type voices say it’s a good thing (which it is, long term), the spiking price of gas is the inevitable beginning of […]

This Friday the 13th, the Ecology Action Centre’s Amy Hawke is laying her brain on the line for the environment. In a task too daunting for most, the plucky activist, who usually specializes in “supporting human networks,” will harness the power of the undead—specifically zombies—at the Camp Hill Cemetery on Robie Street. From there they […]

Three years after HRM By Design was adopted to standardize development in the downtown, the war over building height rages on. Fronts are forming around the Roy and Discovery Centre buildings on Barrington, and CBC and YMCA buildings at Sackville and South Park. Proposals for the Roy and Discovery Centre will undergo public hearings May […]

Did 40 Earth Days make a difference? Earth Day 1970 versus Earth Day 2011, by the numbers In 1970, humanity’s rate of resource consumption could be sustained even by a planet just 80 percent the size of this one. Today, we use the resources of 1.5 planet Earths each year— meaning it is taking the […]

Comparing environment then and now is difficult. Indicators, methods and technology—our ability to measure accurately—change. Anthropogenic climate change wasn’t on our minds in 1970. Air pollution was, but only rich countries measured it and they didn’t look at the global picture. Two Dalhousie scientists, Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin, are helping NASA and the […]

Earth Day was inspired by the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill. Senator Gaylord Nelson was outraged—little was being done politically to change the oil industry. Perceiving a lack of knowledge as the problem, he organized Vietnam War protest-inspired teach-ins attended by 20 million Americans. Nelson’s mistake was assuming that education automatically creates change. It can, […]