environmental justice
Harper's oily case for ethical oil
First of a series on the politics of oil and Canada's climate change goals.
environmental justice
Environmental sustainability is the core issue of our times
Sustain: to keep in existence, maintain. Sustainable: capable of being sustained. Sustainability: the property of being sustainable.
There is at least one clear fact about human society -- it is an integral part of the environment and the environment dictates how it functions. For human society to remain in a form similar to what we developed historically, it must have a stable environment that contains most of its historical features. How society treats the environment affects its stability.
As wake-up calls go, it's hard to beat the BP oil spill
If there is a God, she's surely bewildered by the apparent determination of the human race to ignore the deafening wake-up call she's recently sent our way.
As wake-up calls go, it's hard to beat the BP oil spill. The relentless gush of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for the past 85 days, captured live on camera, should be enough to finally force us to look critically at the deeply flawed concepts that have become the guiding ideologies of our times -- starting with unbridled capitalism, and its elevation of economic gain above the very sustainability of the Earth we inhabit.
Another dominant creed that cries out for rethinking is blind faith in technology and the human ability to solve any problem.
The costs of hiding environmental information
For citizens and NGOs who want to challenge environmental decisions, the biggest obstacle is usually obtaining information about the potential environmental effects of a decision or project. In the 1990s, the Ontario government passed the Environmental Bill of Rights which was supposed to make access to environmental information easier. As a result of this Act, we now have a public registry where potential decisions that may adversely affect the environment are posted for review by the public. Quebec, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories also have similar legislation, and a federal Environmental Bill of Rights was tabled, but not passed in the House of Commons in June 2010.