Green Halifax

It’s not every day a high school gets turned into a farm. But that’s what’s going on at the corner of Bell Road and Robie Street, where Queen Elizabeth High School once stood. Partners for Care, a registered not-for-profit charity that ventures to raise money for the city’s hospitals, had the idea to reclaim the […]

Sludge is a great example of onomatopoeia, a word that sounds like the thing it is. Sludge is that sloppy sediment that that contains all of a city’s sewer slurry. It’s not a solid. And while there are still water particles trapped in it, sludge isn’t really a liquid either. It’s sludge. And with the […]

FLOWERS Flowers can set the tone and theme for an entire wedding, and they are often a large portion of the budget. As flowers are direct from the earth and part of a surprisingly pesticide-dependent industry, if you’re looking for a more ecologically sensitive choice you’ll need to search. “‘Fair flowers’ is sort of a […]

“The first day of this conference was unbelievably overwhelming,” says Brooklyn Warehouse’s George Christakos of his trip to Turin, Italy for the 2010 Terra Madre Conference. “I just didn’t understand how to approach it. I felt like I was drowning in this wealth of information.” Slow food is a complex subject. Speaking with Christakos on […]

Two years ago Claire Campbell was a professor working in the Department of History at Dalhousie University. That is, until Dal’s College of Sustainability opened in September of 2009. “I always knew I wanted to do something about the environment,” says Campbell, now splitting her time between the history department and the new college to […]

A study at the University of Chicago in 2006 found that adopting a vegan diet has a greater impact in the fight against global warming than switching to a hybrid car. In a 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, it was estimated that 18 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions come […]

In terms of electricity generation, Nova Scotia is one of the dirtiest, most polluting jurisdictions in North America. We now produce about 85 percent of our electricity by burning fossil fuels—mostly in four gigantic, greenhouse gas-belching, coal-fired power plants in the northern reaches of the province. The provincial government has set a firm target for […]

Last year saw the beginning of a new opportunity for people who want to support sustainable and small-scale fishing in Nova Scotia: Off the Hook, Atlantic Canada’s first community supported fishery. On June 26, 2010 fishers and interested seafood lovers enjoyed a barbecue on the Halifax Waterfront, giving a chance for the consumer and the […]

Green roofs are not new. They’ve proven to be a huge hit in Germany, where an entire industry has shot up around the environmental and economic benefits of covering your roof with living plants. Beyond the extra insulation providing energy savings to the home or office it grows above, a green roof limits storm water […]

Every day thousands of Haligonians take their cars to work, all by themselves. The cars they drive can usually seat at least three others comfortably. Yet this lonely form of commuting remains the standard way to get from point A to point B. This inefficient form of transportation comes at a high cost for many […]

When it launches later this year, the Nissan Leaf will be the first automobile in Nova Scotia to not require an internal combustion engine. Even fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles—the Toyota Prius and GM’s Chevrolet Volt—require at least some gasoline to run. The Leaf, however, is completely electric. From the motor, to the air conditioning and the […]

If you’re still driving in a vehicle that was made in 1995 or earlier, guess what? It’s probably issuing 19 times more emissions than a vehicle made after 2004. Yep, that old Tercel that works “just fine” is actually one of the worst polluters on the road. Probably time to recycle it. It’s important to […]