[Image-1] Aside from all the other terrible city smells unearthed by summer’s heat (here’s to you, green bin day), HRM has been bathed in a particular musk over these past few days. Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency says the culprit is smoke from the ongoing wildfires elsewhere in Nova Scotia. That smoke is wafting its […]
environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Half measures aren’t enough to save caribou
[Image-1] Alberta is home to two of Canada’s imperilled caribou populations, the southern mountain and boreal woodland herds. Both are threatened with extinction. Under the federal Species at Risk Act, the boreal woodland caribou recovery strategy requires provinces to develop range plans by 2017, outlining paths to recovery. Because caribou need large, intact areas, degraded […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Will growing our fuels drive us to a cleaner future?
[Image-1] The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is occurring mainly at the power plant level. But what about transportation? Can we significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching to cleaner fuels? Or is this just an attempt to keep 20th century technology chugging along while trading one set of environmental problems for another? […]
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Secret Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes map will be released
[Image-1] A secret map that may hold the future of the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes park will be released to the public, but it’ll take a few more weeks to see the light of day. Halifax regional council unanimously voted on Tuesday to defer the release of map “3A” and its relevant materials until August 31, […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Industrial damage threatens Blueberry River’s way of life
[Image-1] Industrial activity has profoundly affected the Blueberry River First Nations in northern B.C. A recent Atlas of Cumulative Landscape Disturbance, by the First Nations, the David Suzuki Foundation and Ecotrust, found 73 percent of the area inside its traditional territory is within 250 metres of an industrial disturbance and 85 percent is within 500 […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: The future of hydro in a warming world
[Image-1] People have harnessed energy from moving water for thousands of years. Greeks used various types of water wheels to grind grain in mills more than 2,000 years ago. In the late 1800s, people figured out how to harness the power to produce electricity. Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, hydropower has expanded, […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Dark earth could herald a bright future for agriculture and climate
[Image-1] Feeding more than seven billion people with minimal environmental and climate impacts is no small feat. That parts of the world are plagued by obesity while starvation is rampant elsewhere shows part of the problem revolves around distribution and social equity. But agricultural methods pose some of the biggest challenges. Over the past half […]
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Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for HRM
[Image-1] Dear council and HRM staff, Today I write to you in regards to the facilitator’s report and the overall progression of the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes Wilderness Area. Overall, I am extremely disappointed with the lack of leadership from council on this file. We truly have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this right and create a […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Broken records define the climate crisis
[Image-1] We’re living in a time of records. More renewable energy came on stream in 2015 than ever—147 gigawatts, equal to Africa’s entire generating capacity—and investment in the sector broke records worldwide. Costs for producing solar and wind power have hit record lows. Portugal obtained all its electricity from renewable sources for four straight days […]
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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), […]
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Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes a “sham of a process”
[Image-1] Hundreds of people crammed into a tiny meeting room at the Lacewood Future Inns on Monday evening to hear a presentation on the proposed plans for the Blue Mountain-Birch Cove Lakes wilderness area. It did not go well. The crowd—which filled the conference room and spilled into the hallway and lobby of the hotel—was […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: South Australia sets an example for the country and the world
First-time visitors to Australia are often drawn to the big city attractions of Sydney and Melbourne, or the fabulous beaches of Queensland’s Gold Coast. I’ve always had a soft spot for Adelaide in South Australia, a city built more on a human scale, where downtown can be easily navigated on bike, foot or tram. For […]
