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A local energy company in Vermont, Green Mountain Energy, is leading the transformation of an electric system that depends on power sent along big transmission lines to a community-, home- and business-based energy system for both economic and environmental reasons. As a practical matter, the less electricity the utility pulls from the regional transmission system, especially at times of peak demand, the less it has to pay in fees, producing savings it can pass on to customers.

Following up on my last blog, a new study has been released that talks about two narratives about climate change that appeals to a broad cross-section of the political spectrum and more importantly reduced skepticism among the centre-right. What’s the secret, focusing on avoiding waste as a critical part of saving energy, and appealing to patriotic support for the UKs flourishing low-carbon energy technologies.

I have been having a discussion with a dear friend and colleague, Susan Tanner, former president of Friends of the Earth and a fearless environmentalist. She feels, and she is right, that we are in dire straits when it comes to climate change impacts, and although I agree with her, we don't agree on the best way to stimulate greater action.

After testing 5 captive ravens, a team of Swedish researchers at Lund University believe this clever corvid species considers the future. According to this Guardian article, the ravens completed a series of tests centered on two tasks not typical in the wild. Not only did they learn how to use tools but also figured out how to barter with humans. In one experiment, they determined which tool could be dropped down a tube to release a tasty treat.

There is a new metric when it comes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals: the ‘spillover effects’ of each country on the world at large. These spillover effects include pollution, financial secrecy, and contribution to peace abroad. Since these effects are accounted for outside of a country’s borders, they are not represented by national statistics. A country might rank very highly when judged only by its own statistics (such as the US and Switzerland), but this is a lopsided view when looked at in a global context.

This interesting article talks about the problem with climate doomsday reporting and how to move beyond it, in a series of interviews by Desmog Canada. To read the article on-line, click here or to download it, click here. Here are three steps to move beyond despair to hope and action.

1. Positivity ratio of 3:1

One of the challenges of analysing textual data in the social-sciences or humanities is that data often requires a binary categorization: does it fall into this box, or that box? This can be a tough call to make, especially when working with data that needs that extra bit of context to be interpreted. And if your data set is too huge to be read through with that level of care, you might want to use a computer to answer some quick questions and give you the gist of it (by making a word cloud, for instance).

Right now is the perfect time to share feedback with our federal government, especially when it comes to basic income. To identify poverty reduction strategies in Canada, they are calling on the public to submit ideas on how our various levels of government can address this issue. They are also encouraging Canadians to join the conversation by sharing personal experiences with social support programs.

It feels so good to wake up and get some good news for a change, especially given the withdrawal of the United States from COP 21. The National Observer has just reported that two Canadian provinces, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, have already reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 30 per cent below 2005 levels, hitting a national target 13 years earlier than what was required.

Blog by Joanna Chin, Doctoral Student, York University-Environmental Studies 

Robert Hart, a pioneer of forest gardening in the UK, had a vision of forest gardening:

“Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests. But tens of millions of us have gardens or access to open spaces such as industrial wasteland, where trees can be planted and if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available in heavily built up areas, new city forests can arise…”