The New Ecology 35.4

Linda Duncan of Redmonton reveals what keeps her busy in Ottawa, and what envelopes she feels the need to push in another profile of a dynamic environmental icon by Nicola Ross.

CAN YOU NAME THE Canadian environmental lawyer who once headed up law enforcement for the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, was an assistant deputy minister in the Government of Yukon, was chief of enforcement for Environment Canada, was vice president of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund (now Ecojustice) and taught law at Dalhousie? ...

Nathan Vadeboncoeur shares how Manitoba’s Brokenhead Wetland was saved by a slight language adjustment and a different tack in public relations.

HOME TO EVIL SPIRITS and trolls, to say nothing of mosquitoes, swamps face a public relations problem. Wetlands, on the other hand, are adored for their myriad environmental benefits. But wait. Aren’t they the same thing? They are, in that a swamp is a type of wetland. But as supporters of Southeast Manitoba’s Brokenhead Wetland learned, the lexical difference between swamp and wetland represents a broad cognitive divide. ...

Jessica C.Y. Wong tells us how micro-organisms can assist policy makers in decisions around human health. When you consider the molecular dynamics of nature, small is beautifully strong

Ray Tomalty brings us all inside the ecosystem. The emerging “ecology of cities” considers urban centres as ecosystems in themselves. His is an approach that will involve not just ecologists, but hydrologists, engineers, landscape architects, sociologists – you get the picture.

"URBAN SUSTAINABILITY" is one of those phrases that many people use but no one can concretely define. It may, however, be this plasticity that has allowed the concept to morph over the 20 years or so that we’ve been struggling to implement it. ...