Canada's Environmental Voice
The final hours of climate change negotiations in Paris are looming. Having wrapped up Thursday night’s session at 6 am Friday morning, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has conceded that the final text will not be released Friday evening has he hoped, but rather Saturday morning. This means another late night […]
From its ratification in 2002 to Canada’s eventual withdrawal from the agreement in 2011, the Kyoto Protocol has caused many debates, disagreements and discussion for the country and its citizens. In December, Canada is expected to sign on to a new climate agreement at COP21 in Paris. Is there anything […]
Climate change is an international, inter-generational and interdisciplinary issue. To help on the inter-generational side, the University of Waterloo is sending a team of six student delegates from diverse academic backgrounds to represent the university at COP21 in Paris, France. Four other UW Students will be attending the negotiations with […]
When I start a new semester of teaching, I don a t-shirt that has one word on the front: “unlearn.” The word is printed from right to left, so that it only becomes clear when you look in the mirror. On the back of the shirt it says (also in […]
IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE EASY. But it was never supposed to take this long. Through the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement (CBFA), forestry companies agree to leave parts of Canada’s boreal forest untouched and use the remainder sustainably, while environmental groups agree to cease marketplace campaigning against logging the […]
Aristotle nailed it when he said, “What is common to the greatest number gets the least amount of care.” He elaborated that people “pay most attention to what is their own; they care less for what is common.”1 One wonders whether the ancient teacher could have foreseen the day when […]
Have you seen Canada’s new passport? Each page is designed as a snapshot of Canadian history, a representation of people and places that have formed our nation. We see pictures of Confederation, the Bluenose, the Last Spike – many images of exploration and development. Surprisingly, we do not see pictures of Canada […]
Last year, under the radar of most consumers, Health Canada instated a ban on the sale of citronella as an insect repellent, meaning citronella would not be allowed in any formula labelled as bug spray, insect repellent or outdoor spray.
After an extensive development period, the British Columbia provincial government introduced Bill 18—Water Sustainability Act (WSA) into legislature this spring and it received Royal Assent in May. While it is now officially law, the WSA will not come into force until next year, after certain details have been finalized and […]
There’s a void the size of the boreal forest between the Canada we want to have, and the Canada our government has envisioned for us. As Canadians, our values of kindness, honesty, respect and integrity lie at the core of how we see ourselves. We take pride in our place […]
