Environment

If the growth in our consumption and resource use continues at its present rate, we’ll need two-and-a-third planets by 2051. Most likely, though, Mother Nature won’t let us get there without kicking our upright hairless asses. We won’t change the way we are, the things we do, until we fundamentally change the way we think […]

Sea level rise Dystopia: A one-metre rise in sea levels is within 30 years is almost a given. Throw in the disintegration of the Greenland and Antarctic ice shelves, and all bets are off. Expect more cities flooded by hurricanes. Utopia: Sea level rise is limited to 30 or 40 centimetres, and thanks to thoughtful […]

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 […]

Despite government initiatives for green home-energy use, most consumers are clueless about how to get their homes off oil. The visionary solar city program, which will equip 1,000 HRM homes with solar-heated water, is just a start. As a recent press release states, “the Community Solar Pilot Project is designed to help residents take advantage […]

Seven years ago the Bloomfield Centre, at Agricola and Almon, seemed doomed. “The city was going to destroy it,” says Susanna Fuller, co-chair of Imagine Bloomfield. The nonprofit devoted to re-purposing the centre into a neighourhood hub held a series of community consultations, facilitated by Dalhousie planning students, between 2004 and 2008. Rather than make […]

Four of the city’s most substantial institutions—Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s universities, the IWK and Capital Health—are co-operating to create a “Bikeways Plan” in the south end, which they have named the “Urban Halifax Institutional District.” “It’s a large area,” says Mark Nener, a community planner with Dalhousie’s Cities and Environment Unit. “The ballpark number for […]

Four of the city’s most substantial institutions—Dalhousie and Saint Mary’s universities, the IWK and Capital Health—are co-operating to create a “Bikeways Plan” in the south end, which they have named the “Urban Halifax Institutional District.” “It’s a large area,” says Mark Nener, a community planner with Dalhousie’s Cities and Environment Unit. “The ballpark number for […]

Halifax might be less sustainable than it was last year, or it may be about the same. We know for sure that Vancouver is kicking our asses, that we are less sustainable than Mississauga, and that we are more sustainable than Hamilton, Quebec City and Winnipeg, by a nose hair. Those are the confusing conclusions […]

A new report by the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Institute says the nation’s agricultural sector is in serious decline and recommends we ramp up our food exports. We’ve dropped from third biggest food exporter to seventh, globally, with Brazil leapfrogging us and China and Argentina nipping our heals. The facts are there, the analysis is reasonable, […]

Halifax is known for its recycling. In the world of wasters, we’re among the best at cleaning up after ourselves. We don’t bury all our old toys underground anymore. Half our junk is diverted through composting, recycling and shipping it to the Chinese countryside. Our municipality also has one of one of the highest recycling […]