“People don’t have any idea about the scale of this problem,” says Andrew Weaver. “You can’t just go and do a little conservation here, and do a bit of recycling there and deal with it—that ain’t gonna cut it. We have to find a path toward zero emissions. The only way to stabilize the atmosphere […]
Environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
Losing the enviro war
Here’s a typical environmental campaign: Step one, get annoyed by a problem behaviour. Step two, rally other people and groups who are equally annoyed. Step three, create some posters and stickers and flyers about it. Step four, put out a press release. Step five, hold a public event with a dash of fun, a splash […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Wind power breaks down in Nova Scotia
Breaking wind: Just one percent of Nova Scotia’s electricity is generated by wind. Monopolistic energy policies, a dilapidated power grid and broken promises from the new NDP government are making it difficult to get more wind power. We can do better, but it will take rediscovering our cooperative history and forming a new relationship with the wind.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Imagine a car-free Halifax
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 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Rail to trail project gets OK
Halifax council last week agreed to spend $2.7 million to purchase the Chester Spur Line, a rail corridor that winds its way from Fairview, around the Fairmount neighbourhood and out to the Lakeside Industrial Park. CN stopped running trains on the line some years ago, and last year put it up for sale with a […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How the sewage plant broke
[Editor’s note: this story is one of five Coast articles selected as finalists for the 2010 Atlantic Journalism Awards. All five stories are collected here.] Halifax’s new sewage treatment plant was turned on in February 2008, and it seemed to fulfill its promised intentions immediately. All you had to know was that parts of the […]
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
Sloane wants more garden time
Halifax councillor Dawn Sloane wants the Public Gardens to be more public. At Tuesday’s council meeting she asked that the city consider lengthening the season for the park. “I understand it can’t be open when there’s three feet of snow on the path,” she says. “But there’s no reason we can’t keep it open until […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Momma’s death: fowl play or old age?
A prominent figure is missing from the Public Gardens. Mother Goose, called “Momma” by her friends, passed away this week under mysterious circumstances. Momma was over 20 years old, which in goose years made her a senior citizen. Though she may have died of old age, Police and Gardens staff haven’t ruled out foul play. […]
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Worm finds a new fisheries hope?
Three years ago, Dalhousie marine biologist Boris Worm made international headlines when he warned that all the world’s seafood could disappear by 2048 unless drastic measures were taken to protect fisheries. Worm’s paper, “Impacts of Biodiversity Loss on Ocean Ecosystem Services,” which was published in the journal Science, was hotly contested by other scientists, including […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Milking it
Cows are simple. There’s no other way to put it. They stare. And right now there’s a good two dozen staring at farmer Rick Rand. Staring, chewing, staring, chewing. It’s not love. At least not on the Holsteins’ part. Cows respond to being fed and being milked, which takes Rand, for his herd of about […]
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 […]
