Community Stewardship and Living

Hear Mathis Wackernagel speak at the 9th annual Resource Recovery Fund Board Nova Scotia Mobius Environmental Awards

Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of Global Footprint Network (http://www.footprintnetwork.org/) and co-creator of the Ecological Footprint will be in Halifax for two public events. Mathis has worked on sustainability issues for organizations around the world, and has lectured for community groups, governments and their agencies, NGOs, and academic audiences at more than 100 universities. Mathis has authored or contributed to over fifty peer-reviewed papers, numerous articles and reports, and various books on sustainability that focus on the question of embracing limits and developing metrics for sustainability. After earning a degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, he completed his Ph.D. in community and regional planning at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he created the Ecological Footprint concept with Professor William Rees.

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Community Stewardship and Living

GreenDimes – Stop Junk Mail Now – Plant Trees – Save the Planet

When’s the last time you met someone that liked their junk mail? That’s right, never. It clogs your mailbox, takes a ton of time to sort, shred, or recycle and wastes counter space.
More than 100,000,000 trees are chopped down and 28 billion gallons of water are wasted EVERY YEAR producing junk mail. Unbelievably, Canadians receive some 13 billion pieces of admail annually. Most of this goes straight to the trash or recycling bin.

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Uncategorized

Loss of a friend is also a loss for science

On March 30th, Science, one of the world’s most respected scientific journals, published a paper about how the overfishing of big sharks in our oceans has led to an increase in ray and skate populations which, in turn, is having cascading effects down the ocean food chain.
It’s a fascinating piece of work – one of those big-picture studies that helps connect the dots and shed light on the complex interconnections between various species in an ecosystem. But what makes this particular piece of science so important to me personally is the lead author – Ransom Myers of Dalhousie University in Halifax.

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Uncategorized

One Day Action Tip – Week 3

SWITCH TO ENERGY EFFICIENT LIGHTING
Take one day this week to replace the most used light bulbs in your home with compact fluorescent light bulbs (those twisty ones).
Did you know almost 90% of the energy used by a conventional light bulb (incandescent light bulb) is not even used to produce light but is wasted as heat? Halogen torchiere lamps are even more inefficient, releasing so much heat they could be a fire hazard if an object comes in contact with the bulb.
Compact fluorescents use one-sixth of the energy of incandescents and last up to 10 times longer.

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Student Initiatives

Sierra Youth Coalition is hiring a new National Director!

The Sierra Youth Coalition is hiring a new National Director!
Job Classification: Minimum 2 Year contract, full-time
Deadline for application: April 23, 2007
Start Date: Mid-May 2007
Salary: Negotiable based on experience
Location: SYC National Office, Ottawa, Ontario
Background
The Sierra Youth Coalition (SYC) is a Canada-wide, diverse non-profit organization created by youth for youth. We serve as the youth arm of the Sierra Club of Canada and it remains an integral part of the Sierra Club. Through grassroots action, we address environmental and social sustainability, working towards happy people on a healthy planet. Formed in 1996, the SYC began with a vision of involving Canadian youth in pressing environmental issues. We have since grown into a national youth environmental coalition with members in all regions of Canada, and local groups operating out of schools, universities and communities across the country.
The Sierra Youth Coalition is a dynamic source of inspiration, resources and community for youth in Canada. Our core membership includes over three hundred youth and our network spans thousands of Canadians. We have staff working from coast to coast in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon and Vancouver, and our volunteers are located in countless more cities and regions. Our two major projects, Sustainable Campuses and Community Youth Action, are targeted towards youth of university age and high school age respectively. We also work on several volunteer campaigns.

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