The newest movement in sustainable living
June 2010
Film Review: In Transition 1.0
By Jennifer Dooley
In Transition 1.0 – From Oil Dependence to Local Resilience, is the first film ever released about the newest movement in sustainable living: the Transition movement. It’s a film worth watching – it’s hopeful and powerful, showing us a practical vision for creating a post-consumer society where ordinary people make a difference.
The Transition movement, inherently powerful by its very own name, is about transitioning into a more sustainable way of life. It’s about taking small steps towards environmentally friendly choices: switching to energy efficient light bulbs, recycling, turning down the thermostat, composting, using re-usable grocery
bags, or taking the bus more often. The movement has a place for
everyone and now entire communities are joining the effort.
Red, White and Green All Over
June 2009
By Natasha Evdokimoff
A couple of years ago, my husband and I were on a hedonistic, self-guided tour of the Napa Valley wine region. It was late August, sweltering, and the vines were all heavily laden with fruit that was nearly ripe for the picking.
The more we roamed around, the more impressed I became by the number of wineries that follow organic practices. I’ll never forget the words of one vineyard manager at a picturesque organic property we visited, as he leisurely guided us between rows of lovingly tended vines.
“One hundred years ago,” he said, with a hint of a wry grin, “this
wasn’t called organic farming – it was just called farming.”
Sinfully Delicious
September 2008
By Craig Copeland
Ivory Coast, a tiny country on the west shore of Africa, produces half the world’s cocoa. It’s the source of more than 75 percent of the chocolate consumed by North Americans.
The International Labour Organization, part of the UN, estimates nearly 300,000 child labourers are the backbone of the Ivory Coast cocoa industry. According to the ILO, these children are “either involved in hazardous work, unprotected, unfree, or have been trafficked.”
40 Hours a Week is Too Long
September 2008
By Craig Copeland
Search the archives of the New York Times and you’ll see the newspaper’s most recent article about the four-day workweek was published in 1993.
In September 2006, Macleans magazine published an article about how working 60 hours per week increases employee injury risk (wow, really?), but it didn’t mention the possibility of reducing the standard workweek to less than 40 hours.
Humanity’s Most Significant Accomplishment
August 2008
Bill McKibben is one of the world’s most influential
environmentalists.* His most recent public appearance was at the
Banff Centre. It was inspiring. In response to the impending climate-change disaster, he advocates a creative solution that just might save us all.
Yet McKibben’s presentation was also discouraging – not because his situation assessment gives the world a mere five to ten years to either mobilize or pray – but because he spoke to only a few hundred people. The theatre was full. The audience was rapt. But McKibben’s presentation is one everyone, particularly everyone in Alberta, needs to hear.
iLife
March 2008
Funny name, that. It refers to Apple’s suite of multimedia software
applications for creating, organizing, viewing and publishing
digital content: photos, movies, music, web pages. It suggests your life can be, should be, totally, blissfully digital. Yet it ignores that computers contain dangerous chemicals, toxic substances, and can be, when disposed of, deadly.
Until a few years ago, the computer industry was able to disregard this unsettling fact because few people were aware of it. But now that we’re all wired – or wireless, as the case may be – nothing remains secret long, including incriminating revelations about computers themselves.
Anything That Exists is Possible
January 2008
Book Review: The Geography of Hope
By Stephanie Jackman
“Anything that exists is possible” was Chris Turner’s mantra while surveying sustainable solutions worldwide – solutions already in place – that will change the course of the next generation.
By introducing us to people, communities, companies and governments setting exciting examples all of us can emulate, The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need proves it’s possible to live, even thrive, without negatively affecting our planet. And it strongly suggests our net impact can be positive.
Hollywood vs. Reality
January 2008
Film Review: The 11th Hour and A Convenient Truth
By Stephanie Jackman
The 11th Hour, produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a gorgeous film. The cinematography, particularly the aerial footage of our blue-green planet, is stunning. If Leo’s goal was to inspire appreciation for the environment, he succeeded.
Beautiful scenery, however, is not enough to elicit behavioural change, and surely that was the film’s intent.
Instead of guiding me toward responsible action, it belaboured the reasons I should be concerned while relentlessly assaulting me with images of the tsunami in Thailand, Hurricane Katrina, and other natural disasters.
