Social Imperative

The importance of being engaged and being counted

Ekos Research just released their latest poll, which shows some interesting trends for civil society in Canada and our democratic process. The Liberals and Conservatives are still bouncing back and forth, with a majority still elusive to both parties. What is most interesting, however, is that the results reveal a profound generational chasm in Canada. The Green Party now leads significantly among youth and would be close to a majority government if voting were limited to those under 25.

Environmentalist's Paradox

I don't know how many of you have read the recent report in the newspapers about the "Environmentalist's paradox gets global attention." A researcher at McGill University published a paper in BioScience about the paradox that although humans are having a negative impact on the environment (60% of the planet's ecosystem services are already heavily degraded), human well-being in terms of literacy, life expectancy, income and so forth has risen steadily since the mid-70s across the globe.