This and that for your Thursday reading. – Chris Stanford responds to the alt-right’s demonization of liveable communities by pointing out what a 15-minute city actually means. And Monika Korzun and Farzaneh Barak discuss how to ensure more equitable and sustainable access to food. – Tyler Buchana points out the
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Writings of J. Todd Ring: Stop Flushing Away Our Future
This is a short article on a subject of critical importance to ecology, food security, water security, and our future. There are many ways that we are busily flushing away our future. (See Requiem For The American Dream, A Short History of Progress, When Technology Fails, Koyaaniskatsi, Baraka, The Road
Continue readingPostArctica: Recycling in Montreal
What actually happens to recycling in Montreal? Post the same question in reference to where you live!! Let’s find out what everyone believes and if that differs from what actually happens. ( incongruously gratuitous photo follows )
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Recycling – The NIMBY Effect
Recycling isn’t really working. But was it working in the first place? When we in the Northern Hemisphere were shipping our garbage to China, they were just tossing most of it into a landfill or into the sea. Seems like a less than optimal solution to me. We kept the
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Banning plastic bags and public policy in Newfoundland and Labrador #nlpoli
Effective public policy must be based on a clear understanding of the problem and its relation to other issues, as well as public needs and behaviour. “…almost 50% of all wind borne litter escaping from landfills in Newfoundland and Labrador is plastic, much of it single-use plastic bags…. There’s the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Things We Don’t Know
One of the things I have always used this blog for is to bring to readers’ notice things they might be unaware of. For example, although most of us know something about the environmental and fiscal impact of rapidly filling landfills, how many of us are aware that almost 85%
Continue readingScripturient: Blue bin blues
Every Monday it’s the same thing. I walk my dog along local streets, past the blue bins put out on the curb by residents, bins stuffed with content meant for recycling. Two bins are provided to every household: one for recyclable plastics and glass, the other for paper and cardboard.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Plastic Is Out of Hand
Plastic almost always ends up as waste within a year or two of its production. We’re making too much of it also, at an increasing pace. “Of the 8.3 billion metric tonnes of virgin plastics ever made, half was made just in the last 13 years,” Geyer said. “Between 2004
Continue readingThings Are Good: Make More Things Out of Recycled Plastics
Over at Vice, one author asked a simple question: why don’t we make everything out of relayed plastic? The short answer is that oil is too cheap and companies don’t see benefits of recylcing plastics on their bottom line. Instead of championing for higher consumption taxes or waiting for oil
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Trash talk #nlpoli
The folks at the City of St. John’s wanted to boost their curb-side recycling program.Last fall, they launched a campaign called “Blue is the new Black”. Blue is the colour used for recycling bags and the campaign name is fairly plain play …
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Creative, But Incomplete, Solutions
If you read The Mound of Sound regularly, you will understand that there is no quick fix for the myriad problems the world faces. As he has pointed out on more than one occasion, threats like climate change cannot be viewed in isolation. It is only part of a wide
Continue readingreeves report: What’s Worth More: Your Time or the Planet?
WAITING FOR THE BUS one morning on your way to work, you realize your reusable travel mug is at home. You’d rather not use another single-use plastic cup, but if you run back to grab it you’ll miss the next bus and be five minutes late for work. Do you go
Continue readingCarbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: Four Green Initiatives Employees Are Sure to Embrace
Who wouldn’t want to work in an engaging office environment? An engaged workforce makes a happier workplace and promotes a culture of collaboration and creativity, as numerous studies show. Corporate green initiatives are some of the best ways to engage employees. Here are four ideas that are simple to run
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on how the corporate sector is taking advantage of Brad Wall, Michael Fougere and their respective administrations at the expense of citizens who both fund and rely on public services. For further reading…– Murray Mandryk and the Leader-Post editorial board each weighed in recently on the latest developments from
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: British Columbia study advocates postconsumerist model of zero waste
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: A new study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Wilderness Committee calls for a radical rethink of British Columbia’s waste management policies. It argues that recycling can’t solve the province’s pollution problems and calls for a postconsumerist model of zero waste. While acknowledging
Continue readingEclectic Lip: Book Club 08 – Cradle to Cradle
One line item in my 2013 “bucket list” was to upload the book summaries from my work business book club. Since we covered about 40 books, and I wanted to upload one book a week, March was about the latest date I could start this project, and still hope to
Continue readingCarbon49 - Sustainability for Canadian businesses: A Cardboard Box and Green Business Strategy
Each day offices across Canada and the U.S. receive thousands of shipments in cardboard boxes. Once unpacked they go straight to recycling depots or landfills. Office supplies chain Grand and Toy and its US parent OfficeMax launch their reusable Boomerang Box to help their customers go green and reposition themselves
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Zero-Waste Town in Japan
In Japan the town of Kamikatsu people there create zero-waste while living a modern life. The community has taken the idea of a plastic bag ban to the next level and have banned garbage outright. The crazy part? Most locals actually seem to like the extreme recycling process. Kikue Nii,
Continue readingknitnut.net: New neighbours, old garbage
Remember when you were a little kid, and a new family would move onto your street? You’d stand there watching the moving truck being unloaded, looking for clues about the children, how old they were, and what sex, hoping they’d have one just like you, someone with the potential to
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Taking Out the Trash, Bringing Home the Bacon
Mexico City has introduced a novel approach to dealing with its trash problem – food for trash. Under the plan, Mexicans can take standard recyclables to a recycling centre where they’re exchanged for “green points” that are redeemable for locally grown produce including fruits, vegetables, even flowers. So far, no
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