Wrapping your head around climate change can often feel overwhelming. Many people experience environmental apathy or even grief when trying to comprehend the enormity of the situation.
It’s a good time to revisit this 2011 TED talk by Louie Schwartzberg. He is a time-lapse nature photographer whose work is all about what we cannot see. In this talk he zeroes in on pollinators--hummingbirds, bees, bats, and butterflies--and how colony collapse disorder is possibly the most serious problem we face today.
This article in Scientific American calls for high-tech companies to emulate systems found in nature. Written by Yale University professor, Oswald Schmitz, it addresses the flawed manufacturing and consumerism system of advanced technology.
As CBC reported on March 23, 2017, Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC will no longer sell bottled water.
Public transit may not be as green as you think according to this Star article. In addressing climate change, many consider “robust networks of transit lines” as key to lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
Fast Company recently interviewed the CEO of Illy and learned how the world renowned Italian coffee company does things a little different. While they work with dozens of countries worldwide, they do not work within the standard fair trade system. Instead, they cultivate their own relationships with coffee producers. This ensures superior product, fairness, and better quality of life for those employed by suppliers.
Pollution from industrial processing, tanning, lead smelting, and other toxic operations cause three times as many deaths in developing countries as malaria, and 35% as many deaths as from smoking. Not only do the workers suffer debilitating effects and shorter lifespans from days spent in toxic smoke, spilled lead, or chemical runoff, but the soil, rivers, and air become contaminated in a manner that is harder to contain.
From Victoria to St. John’s, the Trans-Canada Highway stretches across 8030 km of landscape in Canada. While it covers a lot of ground, it also fractures many habitats that are home to a variety of animals. Bears, moose, and even birds make dangerous crossings along highways and rural roads in search of food, shelter, and mates. And as our modern roadways become increasingly congested, more and more collisions are occurring. When travelling through Newfoundland, you can often spot signs along highways tallying the number of yearly moose fatalities.
There are many children’s books that share heartwarming stories of nature and why it needs protecting. But what if our younger readers could learn about ecology while practicing it? One Buenos Aires publishing company has taken this one step further. Pequeño Editor recently printed copies of i Papá Estuvo en la Selva (My Dad Went to the Jungle) that sprout a micro-forest of jacaranda trees, a species native to Argentina.
It would be great if BCs low standards would spread federally -- Low Carbon Fuel Standards, that is.