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Resist Blind Faith in Statistics

27 May, 2009 | Rafael Ziegler

Statistics are omnipresent in large-scale democracies, and recently they have come to play an important role in green politics as indicators of sustainable development. However, both the democratic and green benefits will be limited if sustainability indicators are not well chosen. ...

Published in: Measuring Progress and Building Heritage 33.2-3
Tags: targets, sustainability, politics, policy, law

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Letter from Haliburton

27 May, 2009 | Louise Berry

The idea of replacing a fossil fuel, gasoline, with a renewable one, fuel-ethanol derived from corn, may seem like a smart green idea. Scratch the surface, however, and you discover that corn-ethanol doesn’t stack up well against other conventional sources of energy. But protecting the environment is not the prime motivator for our neighbours to the south. ...

Published in: Measuring Progress and Building Heritage 33.2-3
Tags: law, food, business

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Hands Off Our Crap

27 May, 2009 | Pina Belperio

Whistler is a resort town better known for its world-class skiing and expensive real estate than for its social activism. But after a lively battle, it has become one of the only Canadian towns where citizens successfully halted the privatization of a publicly owned utility. In a community obsessed with extreme sports and eternal youth, sewage became a big issue. ...

Published in: Myth of Water Abundance 33.4
Tags: waste treatment, politics, policy, law

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Ingenuity Trumps Hard Tech

27 May, 2009 | Oliver M. Brandes and David B. Brooks

Throughout history, water management has meant constructing dams, digging and drilling wells, and extending canals and pipelines into cities and farmers’ fields. Industrialized nations have been spectacularly successful at delivering vast amounts of water wherever and whenever it was required. In wealthy countries, water has been readily available to humans, their farms, factories and power-generating stations, with sufficient quantities left over for gardens, parks and swimming pools. Imagine Las Vegas. ...

Published in: Myth of Water Abundance 33.4
Tags: water, technology, politics, policy, law, conservation

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Letter from Tanzania

27 May, 2009 | Greg John

With Mount Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, I was quietly chatting with my neighbour on our front lawn. The morning peace shattered, however, when a nearby transformer exploded in a shower of sparks. The pyrotechnics that would deny my household three days of electricity sent me ducking for cover in a flurry of adrenaline-driven expletives. In cool contrast, my Tanzanian neighbour’s response hung in the air. “Matatizo,” he muttered. “Complications,” the typical Tanzanian euphemism for any problem, big or small. ...

Published in: Myth of Water Abundance 33.4
Tags: technology, reuse, politics, policy, law, culture

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Raising the Bar

26 May, 2009 | Jode Roberts

We asked Jode Roberts, a Toronto-based artist and environmental advocate who works for Ecojustice, how “The Organization Formerly Known as Sierra Legal Defence Fund” chooses its environmental cases, and what it has done to raise the bar for testing sustainability. ...