When Jackie Augustine opens a chicken coop door one brisk spring morning in upstate New York, the hens bolt out like windup toys. Still, as their faint barnyard scent testifies, they aren’t battery-powered but very much alive. These are “solar chickens.” At this local community egg cooperative, Geneva Peeps, the birds live with solar […]
Solar
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Avoiding climate chaos means zeroing in on emissions
We’re caught in a bad cycle. Global greenhouse gas emissions are still rising, causing more extreme weather events and temperature swings. Hotter than normal weather in some places and colder in others means more people are using heat and air conditioning, which creates more emissions… According to a statistical review by oil and gas company […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: Reconciling energy and Indigenous rights
In 2007, Canada was one of four countries to vote against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (with New Zealand, the United States and Australia). With its single-minded focus on making Canada an “energy superpower,” albeit only with fossil fuels, the Harper government feared the declaration’s concept of “free, prior and informed” […]
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SCIENCE MATTERS: We can learn so much from nature
[Image-1] If you fly over a forest and look down, you’ll see every green tree and plant reaching to the heavens to absorb the ultimate energy source: sunlight. What a contrast when you look down on a city or town with its naked roofs, asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks, all ignoring the sun’s beneficence! Research […]
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Can Halifax be Canada’s “Solar city”?
[image-1] Halifax can become “Canada’s solar city,” says Richard MacLellan, the city’s manager of sustainability. MacLellan has brought forward a bold plan: the city will not only pay all the upfront costs for homeowners to install solar water systems, but will also figure out all the bureaucratic hassles, arrange government rebates and negotiate with the contractors who install the systems.