All Articles

Eye of the Storm: Time for a New Deal

17 February, 2010 | Jeff Beyer

With almost 20 years of negotiations behind us and greenhouse gas emissions rising faster than the federal deficit, perhaps the time has come to look for alternative approaches to tackling climate change. As University of Victoria professor Michael M’Gonigle suggested in The Tyee in December, could it be that Copenhagen’s failure was a good thing?

Published in: Building Resilience 36.2

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Don’t Bogart that Tree

17 February, 2010 | Bruce Lourie

Canadians think of forests as “the lungs of the earth” or “natural air purifiers.” They understand that forests provide life-giving oxygen. They may not be familiar with the corollary benefit of sequestering carbon from the atmosphere, but they appreciate that having large areas of healthy forests helps balance the web of life and maintain a stable climate.

How is it then that governments, industry and even some academic think tanks believe that climate change will be helped in the short term by cutting down forests, turning them into wood chips, shipping them hundreds of kilometres, and burning them to make electricity?

Published in: Building Resilience 36.2
Tags: sustainable forestry, Ontario, Nanticoke, mountain pine beetle, Kyoto Protocol, Hearst

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Resilience 101

17 February, 2010 | Chris McLaughlin

"Resilience is … the ability to absorb and learn from disturbances, to be changed and then to re-organize and still retain basic structure and ways of functioning. Growth and efficiency alone can often lead ecological systems, businesses and societies into fragile rigidities, exposing them to turbulent transformation. Learning, recovery and flexibility open our eyes to novelty and new worlds of opportunity." (From www.resalliance.org/564.php – “key concepts”)

Published in: Building Resilience 36.2
Tags: resilience thinking, resilience, pine beetle, panarchy, David Salt, cod fishery, Buzz Holling, Brian Walker

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Calling Buzz Holling

17 February, 2010 | Nicola Ross

Nicola Ross: You’ve written that “Novelty emerges from the interaction between opportunity and crisis.” Can you explain what you mean by novelty?

Published in: Building Resilience 36.2

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Kulturträger: Travelogues with Conviction

17 February, 2010 | Mark Meisner

I have never gone south in the winter. The closest I came was a three-day, mid-February family getaway in Niagara Falls at a hotel with an indoor waterslide park. The chlorine infusion did wonders for my skin! I actually prefer going to Ottawa to skate on the canal or ski in Gatineau Park. We might as well enjoy winter while we still can, eh? My partner usually goes along with this, but this year she was pressing for some sun, sand and tropical nature.

Scoping out the possibilities in Mexico and the Caribbean, we were quickly dismayed by the typically hermetic resort offerings. They seem designed to insulate travelers from the real world, while offering up an ersatz version of the local culture and cuisine. I’m told this is the norm.