It’s January 2024 and my sneakers are wet. The rubber soles gave up months ago, meaning the three inches of mud and puddle water underfoot is seeping right into my socks as I clomp toward Susies Lake on a blue-grey morning that feels like it could be April. My feet, I imagine, have already taken […]
Environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
Meet the Halifax startup that’s making compostable period products
Rashmi Prakash has no time for small thinking. As a young girl growing up in Wales and southern Ontario, the Indian-born Prakash dreamt of genetically engineering “green dragons” that would fly over the planet and convert greenhouse gases into oxygen. “I do consider myself delusionally optimistic,” she told The Coast in 2023. “‘Be realistic’ is, […]
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Halifax to start environmental stewardship of watersheds
The city’s Environment and Sustainability Committee met on the first day of August, and started that meeting with two presentations before moving on to their agenda of making sure we have enough clean drinking water. The first presentation was from LungNSPEI, which gave the committee a look at the dangers of radon, the second-leading cause […]
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Restoring an unsung hero: How eelgrass is making its comeback in Nova Scotia
When Trinity Nicholas was a child, she would wade through lush beds of eelgrass off the shores of her home in Pictou County to swim in the warm waters of the Northumberland Strait. Meadows of the green fronds lined the coastline, providing vital habitat for lobsters, crabs, tiny invertebrates and a range of other species, […]
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Cruise season is back in Halifax—with newer anti-pollution rules. But how much has changed?
As cruise ships go, the Viking Octantis—arriving Thursday in Halifax—is a relative minnow among whales. At 205 metres long and with room for 378 guests, its passenger load could fit 11 times over within the 4,485-passenger MSC Meraviglia—the largest cruise ship set to visit Halifax in 2024. But even the Octantis, small as it may […]
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Road salt lowers the risk of deadly collisions—but it’s also killing Halifax’s lakes. What’s the answer?
As Halifax heaves a final sigh of winter this weekend—with up to 20 centimetres of wet and heavy snow expected to fall—the city’s contracted road and sidewalk crews will, almost assuredly, be waiting for one last call to spring into action, plows, shovels and piles of salt at the ready. It’s been a busy winter […]
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Building for the future in Halifax
As housing providers in Halifax look for ways to meet the city’s housing crisis, some are turning to green building practices. In addition to renewable energy from sources like rooftop solar, passive design principles—which include extra insulation, airtight construction, triple-paned windows and strategic building siting—help create low- or no-emission buildings. But two non-profit housing providers […]
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Why can’t Nova Scotia phase out of fossil fuels faster?
Amid the dizzying displays of oil wealth and lofty visions of AI’s potential to save the planet at the United Nations-led global climate summit (COP28) happening now in Dubai, one neon-emblazoned sign stood out for its brutal honesty: “Act as if your house is on fire,” the conference pavilion display read, “because it is.” The […]
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Dalhousie delegation of ocean researchers has big presence at COP28
What insights into climate change does the ocean hold? What solutions can it offer for life on a warming planet? None if we don’t have the means to listen. The Dalhousie University-based Ocean Frontier Institute—OFI—is opening up global conversations on ocean observation during the 28th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on […]
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“I was 12 and already felt betrayed by the people in power”
Jane Elliott stands poised with her back to the red stone tower of Halifax City Hall. She’s dressed in a sleeveless top and rain pants. Ready for heat. Ready for rain. The northern face of the seven-story tower faces out towards Grand Parade, dotted with tents wet with the morning’s rain. The clock on the […]
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UPDATED: Here’s what you need to know about the flooding in the HRM right now
Halifax mayor Mike Savage has not minced his words about the historic flash floods still receding across parts of the HRM. On Saturday, he described this past weekend’s downpour as “biblical proportions” of rain, and yet more evidence of the “awful force and unpredictability… of a changing climate.” More than 300 millimetres of rain fell […]
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Ottawa declines Hartlen Point residents’ appeal for renewed environmental impact assessment of DND site
Neighbours and environmentalists hoping that Ottawa would take a second look at plans for a 93,000-square-metre military testing facility at the edge of Eastern Passage are left looking for other avenues. Late last week, the federal Impact Assessment Agency of Canada rejected the group’s request to designate the Department of National Defence’s $129-million Hartlen Point […]