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Modern wastefulness was deliberately designed by industry
A July 9, 2014 article from the Discard Studies Blog caught my attention, thanks to it being forwarded to me by the folks at UPSTREAM (http://upstreampolicy.org). The article deserves reading by anyone in the waste management industry, and especially people crafting…
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The Race to the Bottom Part 2 – Death of a Recycler
Is there a greater tragedy imaginable than that, in our endeavour consciously to shape our future in accordance with high ideals, we should in fact unwittingly produce the very opposite of what we have been striving for? ― Friedrich August von…
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Hey hey! Ho ho! Bylaw 280's got to go!
Articles in the Abbotsford News and Tri-Cities Now report that local (and non-local) Chambers of Commerce are calling for the rejection of a bylaw proposed by Metro Vancouver that would restrict the flow of waste and control various waste-related activities…
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SWANA/SWRC Reforum 2014- Behaviour Change Through Compassionate Systems
Friday morning’s keynote speaker Rubin Anderson gave a spirited talk on using compassionate systems to change behaviour. A thrust of his talk involved debunking what he considered the top ten human behavior myths on why they can’t/won’t change their behaviours.…
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Asleep at the Switch: Regulators prioritize corporate interests over public safety with oil shipments by rail
Recent articles in the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail newspapers paint a disturbing picture of the situation in Canada (and by extension the United States) regarding safety and public disclosure of information about fuel oil shipped by rail through populated urban areas,…
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Canadian government tries to muzzle oil sands critics
I find the media reports extremely disturbing about the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) auditing environmental groups that have been high-profile critics of the Alberta oil sands project. You’d think that politicizing the agency that collects tax and conducts audits is…
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WDO lobbied to reject Call2Recycle plan
Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) is considering a new battery recycling program that, if approved, would lower recycling standards in the province and permit “downcycling” of used batteries into slag rather than the current “upcycling” into added-value products. At least that’s…
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Newspapers and MMBC fall out over recycling fees
One of the more interesting developments in the struggle to introduce extended producer responsibility (EPR) in British Columbia is the reaction of the organization that represents the newspaper industry to the new recycling system that’s to be introduced next year,…
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The cancer prevention diet: an update
When I attend environment industry events these days I’m often approached by people who ask me for an update on the “cancer prevention diet” I introduced to readers in a series of online articles a couple of years ago. A…
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Thoughts on the Arctic 30
By now most readers have heard of the “Arctic 30” — a group of Greenpeace protesters plus two journalists who have been detained by Russian authorities and charged with “piracy” for their involvement in staging a protest in the Arctic,…