Living Wage Fosters Sustainability
August 2010
By L. Sara Bysterveld
Like in any other system, the many aspects of sustainability are dependent on one another. What happens in one area, say local economy, will affect the other areas – ecology, health, standard of living – either directly or indirectly.
The lowest wage within a community is no exception. Normally this means the minimum wage, a provincial figure that applies whether a worker is living in a rural community with low rents or in a large urban centre with higher rents and generally a higher cost of living. For the latter, chances are the minimum doesn’t come close to covering the cost of living, including covering basic needs, maintaining a safe and decent standard of living
and saving for the future.
A Better Way to Ride
July 2010
By Angus Macdonell
There are approximately 1.1 million residents in the City of Calgary. There are also approximately 834,000 registered vehicles in the city. That’s a ratio of almost one car per person. As anyone who travels Calgary by car is well aware, there are days when it seems like every single one of those vehicles are on the road.
A United Nations report released last month ranked Calgary the fifth highest producer of carbon emissions among fifty major cities worldwide, ahead of both New York City and Mexico City. Toronto and Vancouver had carbon outputs less than a third of our beloved Cowtown, a sobering reminder of Calgary’s reliance
on coal-fired electrical generation, but also the preference of most
Calgarians for using their cars virtually every time they need to go
somewhere.
The new trend in Eco Art
April 2010
By Jennifer Dooley
Eco Art or Econological Art: It’s an up and coming trend around the world involving artists who use their talents for environmental sustainability. These artists have been called hippies, environmentalists, tree-huggers… you name it. Whether they are concerned with local and global environmental situations, bridging art with our natural resources, or connecting creativity with every-day-objects, one thing is for sure: Calgary is a place with some awe-inspiring talent in this field.
Putting a Price on Alberta’s Water
March 2010
By Emma Gilchrist
Okotoks is a town shaped by one thing more than any other:
water – a lack of water, to be precise.
Spurred on by its limited water supply, in 1998 the town became one of the first municipalities in the world to establish growth targets linked to environmental carrying capacity. With a population cap of 30,000, Okotoks would be able to stay just inside of the licenced limits of the Sheep River aquifer – or so it was thought. There’s just one hitch: two decades before the community’s build-out date of 2030, the town has run dry.
“We’ll hit our water allocation license this year,” says Dawn Heffernan, environment and sustainability coordinator for the Town of Okotoks.
Teaching REAP Values: A Child’s Primer
February 2010
Book Review: The ABC Field Guide to Faeries
By Angus Macdonell
Are you a parent looking for ways to promote the concepts of sustainability, environmental awareness and respect for others to your kids? Setting a good example is the most obvious method but children also need to have their own realizations as they nurture a sense of global accountability and a broader perspective toward life. That’s where a good book can help.
Author Susanne Alexander-Heaton’s The ABC Field Guide to Faeries is an excellent resource that creatively instills your progeny with values that espouse a love for nature and the people with whom they share their planet. Written for ages six and up, it captures the innocence of children and the magic of
make-believe while providing meaningful messages to a
readership that will take them to heart as readily as they do milk
and cookies.
The Business of Food
January 2010
Film Review: Food, Inc.
By Chandra McDonald
Food, Inc., by filmmaker Robert Kenner, is a film that should be on every conscious consumer’s must-watch list. In a society where many people think that milk originates in the grocery store, Kenner reveals what’s behind the curtain between the consumer and the producer, showing us the truth about where our food comes from.
With the possible exception of water, nothing is more basic or more universal than the need for food. So, have you ever wondered why it’s cheaper to buy junk food – which is processed and packaged and shipped thousands of miles – than it is to buy fresh vegetables and fruit that are wholesome
and natural? Kenner provides a detailed answer.
Remember the Cradle and the Grave This Holiday Season
December 2009
By L. Sara Bysterveld
The holidays are a time of giving, to friends, family and those in
need. 
This year, don’t forget to give back to the earth by keeping
cradle-to-grave impact in mind as you shop.
Cradle-to-grave refers to the impact of a product from the extraction of raw materials to its eventual disposal or recycling. Though a true cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment involves in-depth quantification of the environmental impacts at each stage of a product’s life cycle, as consumers we can attempt to estimate these impacts and buy with this in mind.
The stages of the life cycle of a product are extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. At each step there are social and environmental repercussions of the methods
and materials used.
If You…
December 2009
- celebrate Christmas, exchange gifts with friends and family,
and want to give gifts that are meaningful and personalized
this year – give the gift of your time. Time gift certificates can include anything from: gardening help, child care, cooking a dinner (romantic or otherwise), organizing an adventure experience like snowshoeing or hiking, or gifting someone with an entire day where your time (cooking, cleaning, errand running, whatever is wanted or needed) is at your recipient’s disposal. - want to give gifts that are planet-friendly, visit www.davidsuzuki.org and give “Gifts that Keep on Greening”; or visit the World Wildlife Fund store where you can purchase organic gifts, or give the gift of wildlife adoption in support of WWF-Canada’s conservation efforts.
