Canada's Environmental Voice
YOU JUST TOOK A WATER BALLOON TO THE FACE. The good news is that, as a Canadian, you are rarely so pressed to think about the quality and abundance of your water. Globally, there is enough clean and fresh water for everyone. Nevertheless, huge shortages remain in many parts of […]
It’s a simple concept that is rarely utilized in Canada today: incorporating lifecycle analysis (LCA) into planning and design. Evaluating the full impacts of a project or product throughout construction, operational use and eventual decommissioning/disposal would go a long way to promoting sustainable development in Canada. Unfortunately, many planning decisions […]
When I first accepted my offer of admission into the Environment & Resource Studies program at the University of Waterloo, I had no idea where I would find myself five years into the future. Now, as I anticipate graduation, it seems as though the entrepreneurial bug that bit me during […]
I wanted to pursue a master’s degree outside of Canada because I suspected there would be a different culture of environmentalism in every country I visited. I am testing my critical and observational mind because I believe that in order to be a good policy maker you must have a plentitude […]
ON MAY 11, Andrew Heintzman took to the podium at reThink Waterloo to share his ideas about sustainability in business and building a green economy in Canada. Andrew Heintzman is the co-founder of Investeco, Canada’s first environmental investment company, and author of The New Entrepreneurs (Anansi 2010).
EXTENDED PRODUCER RESPONSIBILITY requires producers – not taxpayers or the government – to safely manage their products from the cradle to the grave (or from cradle to cradle). Because it allows product waste to be managed separately from the municipal waste stream, extended producer responsibility (EPR) saves municipal and taxpayer […]
IT’S BEEN OVER 20 YEARS since Gro Harlem Brundtland coined the phrase “sustainable development” in the landmark publication, Our Common Future. Since then, few terms have been so widely applied and produced such positive change, yet been so misunderstood. To pursue sustainable development, companies must minimize their environmental footprint, while […]
“Climate porn.” That’s how the Institute for Public Policy Research in Britain depicts the portrayal of the climate crisis by media and governments. In the organization’s report, “Warm Words,” the authors claim the apocalyptic and external framing of global warming convinces the public that climate change is inevitable and therefore […]
“At some point, someone in America is going to have to make something.” These obvious yet perhaps revolutionary words come from Industrial Evolution, a wonderful new book by Lyle Estill, an entrepreneur, author, and, dare I say, environmental industrialist. The book’s premise reflects something that we all know but generally […]
Professors Clapp and Dauvergne are among the few academics that recognize that the best approach to both analysis of and advocacy for environmental issues lies with political economy, or public policy designed by the application of economic concepts. Their book is a demonstration of that thesis, which they undertake by […]
