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…
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…
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…
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.…
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,…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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,…