Views from the Edge

Conversations from the Edge

Welcome to the CRC blog, where we discuss bleeding edge issues around sustainable community development. The term ‘bleeding edge’ connotes the idea of our failure to somehow or other convince the publics about the urgency of responding to climate change now, and that we need to better communicate the principles and practises of sustainable development to the wider publics. So, yes it takes courage to be 'at the edge', and sometimes one 'bleeds' a lot, but let's start the conversation now. I encourage our students and former students to use this blog and share what they are learning out in the real world.   Ann

Maybe it's as simple as getting energy right

The ability to do work for man depends on the energy quality and quantity, and this is measureable by the amount of energy of a lower quality grade required to develop the higher grade. The scale of energy goes from dilute sunlight up to plant matter to coal, from coal to electricity and up to the high quality efforts of computer and human information processing. (Odum, 1973)

Making a Contribution

As part of our research, we are constantly trying to experiment with research dissemination using social media, this blog, HEADTalks, our Facebook page, and tweeting.

Patterns of our Footsteps - The Future of Science and Research

Earlier this month, over 1,500 scientists, students and activists gathered on Parliament Hill in protest of the recent dramatic budget cuts in Canadian scientific research and staged a mock funeral dubbed the “death of evidence”. When considering the implications of this “death of evidence”, we should also look at the “life of evidence”, or the history of Canadian research expenditure and progress.

The Good Society--Evidence Based Decision-Making

Fundamental to the good society is the ability of elected officials and their civil servants to make decisions and policies grounded on evidence and sound scientific advice. This is also key to ensuring that the power of elites, and vested interests for maintaining the status quo do not dominate the political agenda of the day, and are kept in balance with the democratic principles of social justice, fairness, equity and sustainable development.

Patterns of our Footsteps - Rethinking Growth and Prosperity

As the population of Canada doubles in size, one would expect the gross total household consumption of goods and services to increase accordingly.  To be specific, Canada’s population has increased in the last 50 years from approximately 18 million to 34 million; thus, arithmetically speaking, households collectively should be expected to consume 1.89 (i.e., 34 divided by 18) more now as they did as in the 1960s.  However, this is not the case. 

The Good Society--Spatial Justice

What does inequality do to a community? Ironically, there is no relationship whatsoever between key social indicators and gross national product (GNP). Bigger income gaps lead to deteriorations in health (drug abuse, infant mortality, life expectancy, mental illness, obesity), human capital (child well-being, high school drop outs, math and literacy scores, social mobility, teenage births, and social relations (child conflict, homicide, imprisonment, social capital, trust).

The Good Society--Managing Natural Resources

Humanity is now using nature’s services 52 percent faster than what Earth can renew, according to the Global Footprint Network’s 2012 data.

The Good Society--Screw business as usual

Richard Branson is using his purchase of British bank Northern Rock to offer small loans to the poor and urged Wall Street bankers to use their bonuses to help repair the economic damage they caused. His book, Screw Business as Usual, urges companies to not only focus on profit, but also on doing good for the world. "Microcredit has worked in Africa and India, maybe it could even work in somewhere like the United Kingdom". Microfinance traditionally targets women and, anlaysts say, has default rates of just a few per cent.

The Good Society--The Need for Conversation

A very thoughtful reflection on our use of technology, which some believe may be taking us to places we may not want to go. Technology is changing relationships, redefining the meaning of a ‘friend’, how we relate to one another, and most critically, our capacity for reflection. Technology creates the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship. Are we sacrificing conversation for connection?

The Good Society--Gathering the Evidence

Governance in the good society is grounded in integrated and evidence-based decision-making based on the science and research circulating widely in society. This carbon map is an example of such evidence, as over 95% of the world's scientists now concur that we are indeed changing the climate as a result of human impacts. We need to think carefully about our own perceptions of what our governments say they are doing on our behalf and what decisions are actually being made. Governments are only as accountable as we make them.