Last year we spoke to Darren Welner—sales and marketing coordinator for Scotia Recycling, the largest recycling business in the province—about a trial project to recycle Tim Hortons cups. As an update to that piece, he reports the Yarmouth trial run had positive results: Cups were successfully processed and their constituent fibres were found to be […]
Green Halifax
Posted inNews + Opinion
Local catch key to fisheries
We’ve got a strange relationship with fish. On the one hand, Nova Scotia pretty much is fish. The human geography of the province consists mainly of hundreds of settlements built around the coves and inlets that stretch along our coasts. From the Mi’kmaq forward, fishing has been the foundation of the local economy and fishing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s cardboard economy
1. Halifax’s waste system is easy for residents: one green waste bin, recyclables in blue bags and garbage in a regular trash bag. The recyclables are sorted at the Materials Recovery Facility in Bayers Lake, with plastic, glass and paper sent to processors. The MRF sorts about 22,000 tonnes of paper each year; newspaper, cardboard […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Into the wild Blue Mountain
It’s hard to believe this place exists at all, really. But sure enough, I can locate it on a topographic map nailed to my office wall: a chunk of land about the size of the Halifax peninsula, which is on the same map. In this area, however, the topo map shows no roads, no black […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tom surfs and protects
One of the world’s best surfers worries that the Nova Scotian coast is in danger. Three-time world champion surf legend Tom Curren is in town today and tomorrow to raise funds for the Coastal Access Committee, a group of surfers fighting to keep beach access open for all Nova Scotians. He’ll be playing Friday with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Westmount’s infected trees
Westmount looks like the perfect place to live. Kids frolic in the field behind St. Agnes School and neighbours greet each other by name. The neighbourhood has a unique design—front yards are the size of backyards—so people see more of each other. There’s just one problem and it’s keeping Lois Beaton up at night: “They’re […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dartmouth’s Urban Farmers
Jean Snow says she gets her best rest between 5am and 9am. She hits her sleep stride when most farmers are getting up. “But we’re urban farmers,” says the 53-year-old. “So it works perfectly.” Snow and her husband Bob Kropla, their two teenagers and their five-year-old golden retriever, Sam, live east of Prince Albert Road […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Local versus organic
When you can’t get a local organic English cucumber, what’s your next choice? An organic one from Israel or a conventionally farmed one from Maitland, Nova Scotia? It’s an important question in the quest for reducing our food’s impact on the environment: What does more harm—the greenhouse gas emissions from long-distance hauling by air or […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Black Rock beach bingo
This time last year on a hot day the smell of the Halifax waterfront was enough to make your stomach turn. But in a couple of weeks, parts of the former sewage swamp will be open for swimming and those beaches could turn into Halifax hot spots. Though it’s hard to shake memories of tampon […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Green Revisions
The debut of Green Halifax, the latest edition in The Coast’s stable of City Guides, happened around town on April 3. A directory of local businesses and organizations that are trying, in ways small and large, to make a difference to the environment, the guide offers lists of local organizations, restaurants, grocery stores, alternative energy […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
FSC Certified Woodlots & Sawmills
The Forest Stewardship Council is an internationally recognized body that ensures commercially used forests are managed sustainably and responsibly. There are a number of FSC certified woodlots in the Halifax area, and sawmills that use them. Look here for more information: fsccanada.org. Austin Parsons 9041 St. Margarets Bay Road233-3431Parsons Lumber operates a small sawmill, where […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The eco-local question
The question is simple, and it’s one of culture, heritage and health, both of the environment and of ourselves: How badly do we want to save our local agricultural producers? Enough to demand our local grocery outlets stock food produced by Nova Scotian farmers? Enough to make a conscious decision to change our buying and […]