Around the Web

Animal Factory

Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment is a captivating journalistic narrative that follows the stories of three families and their communities as they campaign against concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO), more commonly referred to as factory farms. Kirby’s exceptionally well-researched book is a detailed account of the issues that CAFOs cause to both the environment and to the humans who neighbour them.
Kirby’s book is a hybrid, mixing investigative journalism with academic text to create an engrossing storyline that will capture a large reading audience. The reader can take it as a gripping story about community advocates and their struggles with CAFOs, or accept his book as a guide to further their own research, advocacy and consumer decisions. Either way, the power of Kirby’s work lies in his engaging writing.

Click through for our full review! Continue reading Animal Factory

Uncategorized

If there is a war on cars, which side is winning? – Science Matters

We humans like our wars. We have a war on drugs, a war on terror, a war on crime, and now, it seems, a war on cars. The latter “war” has entered the political vocabulary in Vancouver, where city council has been trying to reduce reliance on private automobiles; in Toronto, where the mayor is driving the agenda in the opposite direction; and in Seattle, where bike lanes and increased parking fees have come under fire. In the U.K., they’ve been calling it a war on motorists. Continue reading If there is a war on cars, which side is winning? – Science Matters

Around the Web

My Empire of Dirt

Manny Howard was commissioned to write an article for New York magazine about attempting to spend a month eating only food grown in his Brooklyn backyard. Like many books based on magazine articles, My Empire of Dirt quickly wears thin…. Howard comes across as egotistical, ignorant, and privileged. He jumps into farming completely unprepared, then is surprised when things don’t work. Lucky for him, the seemingly unlimited resources provided by New York magazine make up for his failings.

Click through for our full review…

Continue reading My Empire of Dirt

Around the Web

Food Security and Global Environmental Change

Irrigation accounts for 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water use, so it has been evident for many years that food security is considered a greater issue, if less immediately critical, than drinking water. Add climate change into the mix, and what was already a difficult global problem becomes significantly more so. The nexus of water, food, and climate change is the focus of this book. Its central goal is clearly expressed in the preface: “… as the requirement for more equitable access to food for all grows, so too grows the need for best science to under pin the development of more effective food systems.” The 22 chapters in this edited volume provide an excellent compendium of the issues that arise when growing populations, limited availability of water and early impacts of climate change impinge on the world’s food supply.

Click through for our full review…
Continue reading Food Security and Global Environmental Change

Community Stewardship and Living

No Impact Man

January 1 is the day most people stop to question their consumption levels and think about what is truly important in life. Writer Colin Beavan took a whole year to do this, along with his wife and toddler, as chronicled in No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process. In this witty and entertaining narrative, Beavan starts with producing no garbage, traveling carbon-free, eating low impact food, and buying only used items. He then progresses to using no electricity, conserving as much water as possible, and, finally, offsetting any remaining impacts through good works such as volunteering for an environmental group.

Click through for our full review… Continue reading No Impact Man

British Columbia, Energy, Nature and Wildlife Conservation

First Nations’ Opposition to Site C Dam Submitted to BC Legislature

Victoria – Today opposition energy critic John Horgan submitted a declaration from 23 First Nations into the Legislature opposing the development of the Site C Dam, a large-scale hydroelectric project proposed by the BC Government.The earth-fill dam – estimated to cost $6.6-billion – would be the third dam on the Peace River in Northeastern BC. Continue reading First Nations’ Opposition to Site C Dam Submitted to BC Legislature