Two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia overturned the environment minister’s approval of the Alton Gas project, citing inadequate consultation with Sipekne’katik First Nation. Alton Gas must now resume consultations for 120 days, or until both parties are satisfied. Given the present circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, no start date has been set […]
Laura Cutmore
Posted inNews + Opinion
Defending Indigenous sovereignty from Wet’suwet’en Territory to Mi’kma’ki
Since last week, the RCMP has been executing almost daily raids and arresting Indigenous land defenders on Wet’suwet’en territory in BC, enforcing a court order to remove people from the land granted to Coastal GasLink for its pipeline construction. Since the raids began, people in Halifax have been taking action—at MP Andy Fillmore’s office and […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
NS municipalities call for inquiry on offshore drilling risks
Tonight, Offshore Alliance is meeting in Mahone Bay to speak about international efforts from municipalities to stop offshore drilling. This comes on the heels of a Tuesday press conference held just prior to the start of the Fall Conference of the Federation of Nova Scotia Municipalities, where twelve Nova Scotia municipalities—Halifax not included—announced their request […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Undermined in the Town of Westville
On September 30, in the town Westville, Nova Scotia—155 kilometres from Halifax—town councillor Lynn MacDonald surprised even herself when she put forward a motion to take back a proposal for exploratory coal mining on town land. She was effectively squashing a proposal that she had brought to council with a motion of support nearly a […]
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David Suzuki, Stephen Lewis and Catherine Martin on putting the climate first
A few days before the Halifax stop of their Climate First Tour, renowned scientist and author David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis, humanitarian and former ambassador for Canada to the United Nations, spoke with me over the phone from Vancouver. While we were speaking, millions of people around the world were striking for climate action, inspired […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Lessons we can learn from Hurricane Dorian
When Hurricane Dorian hit Nova Scotia on September 7 as a post-tropical storm, it reminded many of destructive Hurricane Juan. It was also a taste of what the future holds. Climate change is contributing to the increasing frequency and intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes. As the planet warms, we can expect more storms like […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How Nova Scotia can move forward from 300 years of coal and fossil fuel extraction
“No more coal, no more oil, keep the carbon in the soil” chanted Halifax high school students and their supporters outside Province House last Friday. They joined millions of other students around the world striking from school on Fridays protesting inaction on climate change, following the lead of Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and fuelled by […]
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Time for Canada’s own green new deal
We have just 11 years to cut global emissions in half in order to avoid climate catastrophe. Young people like myself are justifiably scared for our futures. This year is critical—and terrifying—as the federal election is under 180 days away. Our prime minister, who was elected mostly by young people on a platform of climate […]
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No consent, no pipeline
The year I was born, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were 356 parts per million. The safe upper limit was 350 ppm. Since then, globally, we have increased that concentration to 410 ppm. This is a climate changed. When I heard about Justin Trudeau’s decision to buy out the Trans Mountain pipeline from Kinder Morgan, I […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Student issues are real this election
Something I hear over and over is how apathetic students and youth are. As a young person, I am frustrated and insulted by this because I know that it isn’t true. I’ve been working with the Canadian Federation of Students-Nova Scotia and an amazing group of student organizers to help engage young people in the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Faith in government not enough to protect our environment
[Image-1] We need real climate leadership and now we have a chance to demand it. On June 28th, Halifax is having a climate town hall with MP Andy Fillmore. This is our chance to influence policy to fight the ever-growing crisis of climate change. Last December, at the United Nations climate negotiations in Paris (COP21), […]