Just as avoiding climate catastrophe isn’t the only reason to phase out fossil fuels, it’s not the only reason to curtail meat consumption. Phasing out fossil fuels will reduce habitat destruction and land, air and water pollution—and leave us reserves for fuels that remain necessary and for other petrochemical products. Reducing meat consumption has similar […]
environment
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Pipeline push promotes false and misleading claims
An Angus Reid poll found 58 per cent of Canadians think lack of pipeline capacity is a national crisis. They can be forgiven for this. The company that owns a near monopoly on newspapers in Canada, aided by politicians and fossil fuel interests, has put significant effort into convincing them. That the number rises to […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Pipeline blockade is a sign of deeper troubles
Recent controversy over a natural gas pipeline blockade and the differing priorities of hereditary chiefs and elected band councillors illustrates a fundamental problem with our systems of governance and economics. Elected councils for the Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous bands have signed lucrative “impact benefit agreements” with TransCanada (now called TC Energy), builder of the Coastal […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Political climate is heating up
Global warming isn’t a partisan issue—or it shouldn’t be. The many experts issuing dire warnings about the implications of climate disruption work under political systems ranging from liberal democracies to autocratic dictatorships, for institutions including the U.S. Department of Defense, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and numerous business organizations and universities. In 1988, when NASA […]
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Want to reduce clearcutting? Clear out Natural Resources
If the province wants to reduce clearcutting on Crown lands, first it needs to clean house over at the Department of Natural Resources. So says Raymond Plourde, wilderness coordinator for the Ecology Action Centre, who believes the current departmental leadership has lost the public’s trust. “It’s largely because of their single-minded focus on giving the […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Decades of denial and stalling have created a climate crunch
In a 1965 speech to members, American Petroleum Institute president Frank Ikard outlined the findings of a report by then-president Lyndon Johnson’s Science Advisory Committee, based in part on research the institute conducted in the 1950s. “The substance of the report is that there is still time to save the world’s peoples from the catastrophic […]
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Plastic bag ban still up for debate
Plastic bags may be in peril in the HRM. The municipality’s environmental standing committee is holding off on a vote to reduce single-use plastic waste through voluntary collaboration with the city’s businesses. Back in January, regional council asked for a report to come to the Environment and Sustainability standing committee outlining options to reduce or […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Ocean study criticism shows benefits of scientific method
Errors in a recent ocean warming study illustrate global warming’s complexity. They also show the depths to which climate science deniers will stoop to dismiss or downplay evidence for human-caused climate change. The study by researchers from the U.S., China, France and Germany concluded, “ocean warming is at the high end of previous estimates” and […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Tackling climate change requires healing the divide
Canadian climate change opinion is polarized, and research shows the divide is widening. The greatest predictor of people’s outlook is political affiliation. This means people’s climate change perceptions are being increasingly driven by divisive political agendas rather than science and concern for our collective welfare. Over the past year, the Alberta Narratives Project gathered input […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Human behaviour is at the root of orca plight
News about orca mother Tahlequah carrying her dead newborn for 17 days through the Salish Sea this summer was heartbreaking, and rightfully captured the world’s attention. It highlighted the plight of one of Canada’s most endangered marine mammals. The southern resident killer whale (orca) population has dropped by 25 percent in two decades. Just 74 […]
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Legal cannabis over-packaged
With cannabis fresh on the legal Canadian market, consumers can expect a whole lot of plastic and cardboard packaging with their legal weed—a stark shift from the small plastic bags common in illegal cannabis distribution. Health Canada regulations specify that packaging needs to be “child resistant” and “tamper evident.” Dried cannabis, for example, is sold […]
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Letters to the editor, October 25, 2018
Tory mudslingers The late-stage mudslinging in the Nova Scotia PC Party leadership race makes one thing clear: While Julie Chaisson respectfully focuses on her campaign, three of her fellow candidates believe Tim Houston is way out in front. Cecil Clarke, John Lohr and Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin left the final debate in Truro seemingly in agreement that […]