Since the failure of the Halifax sewer plant in January, we’ve been dumping 100 million litres of raw sewage into the harbour every day. The crap flows through eight outfall pipes—four of which (arrows on map, above) empty right below the boardwalk, where the tall ships are moored this weekend. Festival organizers say there may […]
Environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
Better off dead
What better way to appreciate our seafaring history than get acquainted with the spirits haunting our shores? Andrew Aulenback, The Maritime Museum of the Atlantic’s ghost story “guru,” is interested in uncovering tales few Haligonians know about. Aulenback tells the story of The Duc d’Enville, a French admiral who, in 1746, gathered his entire fleet […]
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Building the little green schoolhouse
Last century I studied some environmental education at York. My professors walked the walk, and inspired us the way they would have us inspire our students. You need inspiration to make change. A decade later, I sometimes lose hope that we’ll change, and I have to think a long way back to find that inspiration. […]
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Alien fire ants invade Halifax
Last Monday the St. Mary’s Boat Club filled with 150 residents with ants on their minds, and in their Tupperware. The west and south ends are infested with stinging and biting European fire ants. Many residents brought samples. “The complaints have been escalating,” says councillor Sue Uteck. Andrew Hebda, a zoologist with the Maritime Museum […]
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Include us in climate change adaptation plans, say natives
Psst, hey, climate change deniers: Halifax Harbour is rising, and you don’t need a PhD in carbon core analytics to prove it. A simple observatory pillar in the harbour does the trick—and that’s how city staff measures water levels. And if you don’t trust a low-tech solution, 90 years of tidal records agree with the […]
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Food safety issues related to harbour ignored
Since the Halifax waste treatment plant failed in January, more than 100 million litres of raw sewage has been discharged into Halifax Harbour daily. Worse still, last month the screens at the sewage outfalls were removed, so the sewage includes lots of “floatables,” the toilet paper and tampon applicators that rise to the surface. Is […]
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Maritime artists address environmental issues
Reasoning with a psychopathic culture hasn’t been much fun for environmentalists. It’s probably futile anyway—if you wanna change minds, you gotta touch hearts first. And touching hearts is the work of artists, not policy wonks. “Art hits us viscerally,” explains spoken word artist Laura Burke. Burke, known for dropping earth-loving rhymes, will compete as part […]
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Raising awareness of the local bird populations
In Fort Needham Memorial Park in north end Halifax, Noel Taussig’s ears perk at the staccato tweet of what he thinks might be a magnolia warbler, a gorgeous little yellow-breasted bird. “Weep, weep, weep, eeeep! Eep-eep-eep-eep-eep.” We tread lightly to the patch of trees where the sound originates and hear it again, this time behind […]
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Keji plans first managed burn in park history
Parks Canada staff at Kejimkujik National Park plan to set 2.3 hectares of it on fire. “People think because it’s a National Park you should just put a fence around it and leave it,” explains Dave Algar, a resource conservation manager at Keji. “We’re under pressure because there is so much change and so many […]
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Stephen King agrees: climate change contributed to fires
Last year, a forest fire consumed nearly 2,000 hectares near Porters Lake. Last week, a fire burned 800 hectares near Spryfield, destroying eight homes. Stephen King looks at those fires and sees climate change. Before retiring last year, King was manager of HRM’s climate change department, and won wide acclaim. One of King’s many accomplishments […]
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Giving nature its consitutional rights
Last summer Ecuador passed a new constitution granting rights to nature. “Nature, or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and exists, has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution,” the constitution states. A few countries have granted rights to animals. More than 100 have recognized […]
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Boat Harbour: On toxic pond
Rodney MacDonald’s government isn’t the first to say it will clean up the mess the province made of Boat Harbour. And it’s not the first to use public money to keep the polluting pulp mill running. An investigation by a group of University of King’s College journalism students finds over four decades of murky water and broken promises.