Preserve green infrastructure so it can preserve us
This summer’s heat dome made international news, showing the world what a couple weeks of extreme high temperatures can do to communities and more than a billion seashore animals. During that same week, Toronto and Calgary experienced severe thunderstorms and hail, leading to significant flood damage. We’ve seen unprecedented flooding around the world and hundreds […]
Climate change and the new space race
LONDON, U.K.—If you’re worried about your “carbon footprint” – a concept foisted on the world in 2004 by British Petroleum to persuade people that their own behaviour, and not giant oil companies like BP, is causing the climate problem—then you definitely should not sign up for a sub-orbital space flight.Besides, you probably can’t afford it, […]
Building sustainable infrastructure for next-generation cities
COVID-19 has abruptly changed the professional urban lifestyle in cities with daily commutes and national and international business travel moving towards days of virtual meetings and walks within the neighbourhood. And the work efficiency has often benefitted from these gains in time otherwise spent in private cars or airports. Having hardly mastered the COVID crisis, […]
For the Canada we want, we need to build better
The yellow-brick road to recovery post-economic downturn is often paved in shovel-ready infrastructure projects. The result of short-sighted investment planning, these projects all too often are merely a drop in the proverbial bucket of infrastructure needs. The growing national infrastructure deficit is estimated at upwards of $150-billion, with at least $30-billion in Indigenous communities alone. […]
Infrastructure projects should look past COVID-19 to include climate focus, says McKenna
Climate change is the lens through which Canada must evaluate the infrastructure projects that will drive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, according to outgoing Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna. “Every dollar we invest has to drive us to a cleaner future and tackle climate change,” said Ms. McKenna (Ottawa Centre, Ont.). “Every time there’s […]
Call a debate on climate change
HALIFAX—Last week, journalism Professor Sean Holman of Mount Royal University in Calgary published a lengthy piece in The Tyee about the poor coverage afforded to the most important story in the world: planet-threatening global warming that is rapid, widespread, and intensifying. Holman compared how the 10 biggest U.S. newspapers, as determined by the Alliance for […]
Ottawa must accelerate climate action after ‘dire’ IPCC report, say Senate Environment Committee members
After the release of the “dire” UN climate panel report, three Senators are imploring the government to take “urgent action,” warning its slow response to climate change will only lead to increased health and safety concerns in Canada. “The situation is dire, and the situation is terrifying. It is very difficult for me to accept […]
UNESCO delivered a blistering assessment of the state of Wood Buffalo National Park, and the Mikisew Cree First Nation believes there is a path forward for Canada
Natural World Heritage Sites contain the planet’s most outstanding natural wonders and Canada has the honour of having one of the largest, Wood Buffalo National Park. The heart of the park is the Peace Athabasca Delta (PAD), one of the world’s largest freshwater deltas and a unique area supporting migratory birds, wood bison, and Indigenous […]
Incremental Tory tweaks won’t make for a better Canada
OTTAWA—This election season is as uninspiring as Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for president in the 2016 U.S. election, yet it’s probably one of the most important elections for at least a decade. This is the election that will determine who gets to redraw the board, in terms of what the priorities are and which structural changes […]
Promises, promises, but the GG might actually keep hers
In Beauty and the Beast, there is a scene where the Beast is looking for advice as to how he can win the love of Belle. Lumière, the talking candlestick, helpfully suggests that the Beast make Belle “promises you don’t intend to keep.” As we have entered the season where election promises are made, some […]
