Gone are the days of the Ecology Action Centre’s No Flyers Please stickers giving distributors enough guilt to keep their half-price blenders and donair-pizza-quiche flyers out of your mailbox or the end of your driveway. In an attempt to curb “nuisance litter” and ensure those who have opted out don’t get unwanted flyers, Halifax Regional […]
environment
Posted inNews + Opinion
How Nova Scotia can move forward from 300 years of coal and fossil fuel extraction
“No more coal, no more oil, keep the carbon in the soil” chanted Halifax high school students and their supporters outside Province House last Friday. They joined millions of other students around the world striking from school on Fridays protesting inaction on climate change, following the lead of Swedish 16-year-old Greta Thunberg and fuelled by […]
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Time for a second look at Alton Gas
L ast week, news came down that we have a new environment minister: Gordon Wilson has replaced Margaret Miller. We welcome a fresh set of eyes on this important file. Minister Wilson arrives at a critical time to do right by Mi’kmaq communities dealing with environmental racism—from Pictou Landing First Nation’s long struggle to make […]
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Time for Canada’s own green new deal
We have just 11 years to cut global emissions in half in order to avoid climate catastrophe. Young people like myself are justifiably scared for our futures. This year is critical—and terrifying—as the federal election is under 180 days away. Our prime minister, who was elected mostly by young people on a platform of climate […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: What do we do when the cathedral burns?
When Paris’s Notre Dame caught fire on April 15, the flames threatened more than eight centuries of culture and history. The fire evoked shock, horror and grief worldwide. While the cathedral burned, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed determination to rebuild what the French regard as a sacred site. Beset by divisive “yellow vest” demonstrations, the […]
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The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board has an extensive public relations department, yet it seemed determined to avoid relating with “How your paycheque supports fracking in Colorado.” The PR team did not respond to multiple phone messages, email requests for an interview or a list of emailed questions sent over the course of more than […]
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How your paycheque supports fracking in Colorado
I t’s a familiar story. A rich country develops oil fields in a heavily indebted nation with lax environmental rules. Local residents object, saying oil and gas extraction degrades their air, water, quality of life. Protests mount as the foreign energy company steamrolls the permitting process. The rich country tries to influence local elections in […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Government should heed Unist’ot’en message
I visited the Unist’ot’en camp near Kitimat, BC, a year ago. The people, led by Chief Freda Huson, are trying to re-establish a sustainable relationship with territory that has enabled them to flourish for millennia. Ever since colonization and settlement, much of that traditional way of life has been lost or seriously constrained. These are […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Carbon, climate and corruption coalesce in concrete
Most of us rarely think about concrete, but it’s the foundation of modern society — from roads, buildings and bridges to the economy, political power and crime. We use more of it than anything except water. Concrete has been a great driver of human progress. It’s allowed us to build up instead of out, made […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: You may not like insects, but you need them
An alarming scientific review has found human activity is driving insects to extinction. When the bottom of the food chain is endangered, so too is everything up the chain—including people. Insect declines threaten birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians that eat insects, as well as the many plants that require them for pollination. Insects are also […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Winter weather doesn’t disprove global warming
Weather and climate aren’t the same. It’s one thing for people who spend little or no time learning about global warming to confuse the two, but when those we elect to represent us don’t know the difference, we’re in trouble. For a U.S. president to tweet about what he referred to as “Global Warming” because […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Children should be seen and heard
Summer 2018 was Sweden’s hottest since record-keeping began more than 260 years ago — marked by drought, wildfires and extremely low reservoir levels. That was too much for 15-year-old Greta Thunberg. She heard politicians talking about climate change but didn’t see them doing enough about it. So she refused to go to school until a […]