Taming the Wild West of urban sprawl
August 2010
By Emma Gilchrist
Calgary has earned a dubious reputation for decades of unrestricted growth, but there’s reason to hope that’s all about to change.
Two recently released studies confirm what any driver who has ever been trapped on Deerfoot Trail during rush hour already knows: Calgary is the Wild West of urban sprawl.
A report released by the Neptis Foundation compared urban design in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary and, not surprisingly, found Calgary ranked at the bottom of the pack in terms of density. Throughout the 1990s, nearly 80 per cent of Calgary’s
growth happened on new land.
Greening our cities, one roof at a time
June 2010
By Jennifer Allford
The man who brought a green roof to the top of Barclays Bank in London’s Canary Wharf is bringing his passion and knowledge about green roofs to Alberta for a series of presentations later this month.
Dusty Gedge, the head of the European Federation of Green Roof Associations and founder of livingroofs.org will speak in Calgary on June 21st before traveling to Edmonton and Banff for speaking engagements on June 24th and 28th respectively.
Gedge has been championing green roofs for more than a decade and is pleased to report he is seeing more and more of
them sprout up.
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.
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.
Small Steps Can Make a Difference
November 2009
Web Review: www.ecôllo.com
By Chandra McDonald
One small step for man (or woman) kind – and we’re not talking about walking on the moon! Rather visit www.ecôllo.com – a website dedicated to reaching out to everyday eco-conscious people who just want to do a little something, each and every day to make a difference.
The site was launched in the Fall of 2007 and is maintained by three online personalities: Pinky Bean (the writer), Leafy Green (the eco-explorer), and CeeBee (the outdoors adventurist). The goal of Ecôllo is to be equal parts informative, entertaining, interesting, and funny all while helping the average, every-day consumer live their lives a little more eco-consciously.
Citizens of the Earth Come Together
October 2009
By L. Sara Bysterveld
A quick look around at the state of the world – the environment, the economy, global conflict – prompts many of us to wonder what we can do to help turn things around. Fortunately, many people around the world are working to improve their own lives and those of others, as well as the prognosis for our earth.
Among these millions spread over the earth, beliefs, goals and themes are often remarkably similar. As if there were one overarching set of beliefs guiding the actions of many, activists, philanthropists, visionary business owners and individuals of every walk of life are moving toward a similar vision of the future.
As it turns out, there is an overarching set of beliefs that matches much of what many envision for our collective future. It is called the Earth Charter, and it is an exhaustive document outlining what can and should be done to improve our odds for living long-term here on earth in peace, health and prosperity.
The Real Price of Bottled Water
January 2009
By Margaret Chandler
In the first of this series, I wrote about water withdrawals and their impact on local watersheds, water pricing and some of the recent successes of the anti-bottled-water activists. In this article, I will discuss the energy, waste, and health considerations.
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Water is the best of all things. Pindar, circa 500 BC
Two and half thousand years later and not much has changed. We can still concur with an ancient Greek’s pithy observation. But when it comes to bottling the “best of all things” into single-serve plastic containers, aphorisms fail us. Instead, we are left with a host of questions that need answering. How much energy goes into the bottling of water? What happens to those billions of water bottles that we discard every year? Does this energy and waste footprint pay off for us in any health benefits?
Quenching our Thirst for the Truth about Bottled Water
December 2008
By Margaret Chandler
In this three-part series, I’ll take an in-depth look at the bottled water industry: how water withdrawals impact local watersheds; the issues of water pricing; recent campaigns of the anti-bottled-water activists; health, waste, and energy considerations; quality of tap water versus bottled water; and the subtle and not so subtle marketing ploys of the Big Four. So buckle up, grab a glass of water, and enjoy the read!
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When you drink the water, remember the spring. Chinese proverb
Good heavens. Many people don’t even know the source of their tap water (in Calgary, if you live northside, it’s the Bow River; if you live southside, it’s the Glenmore Reservoir on the Elbow River), let alone where their bottled water comes from.
