What is Global Dimming?
There has recently been a lot of talk and a lot written about global warming. Increasingly, skeptics are coming to realize that global warming is not a political issue. I used to often hear the question “do you believe in global warming?”, but I have not heard it in a while.
A Delicate Balance
The state of our environment hangs in a delicate balance. A once flourishing planet has been obviously replaced by a polluted, factory-filled wasteland. Just look around you. Look around a modern, urbanized city. Watch the news, listen to the reports, read the newspaper; environmentalists, activists and politicians alike are screaming to be heard: “Our environment is in a critical state.”
Shenzhen, China: “The Biggest Place You’ve Never Heard Of”
A mere thirty years ago, what we know today as the city of Shenzhen was nothing more than a fishing village in the province of Guangdong, just north of mainland Hong Kong’s New Territories. Established as a city in 1979, it was chosen as a ‘Special Economic Zone’ (SEZ) by the Communist government by 1980. In Shenzhen, officials hoped to showcase China’s new economic glory and attract foreign investment from Hong Kong and beyond—and if all else failed, who would notice?
Making The Connections: A Social Environment Indictment
I have lived through two “Green revolutions.” When I was a teen, I remember protesting acid rain, having friends in demonstrations against the clear cutting of Clayoquot Sound, and instituting recycling programmes in the highschool. Global warming was not quite on anyone’s lips just yet, but a hint of depleted ozone had some people wondering.
HALT the Dump
It was in early December that I first got the call from a friend of mine. It was from a Toronto Lawyer; one who has devoted herself to anti-oppression legal system-based activism, and who is also the primary legal advisor for the local activist group—AW@L—that I am a member of. Within a few days of that phone call, a car full of Laurier students was on the road out of Waterloo towards Cayuga at 4:30 on a Monday morning.
Breaking out of the university bubble with class and integrity
At university we’re presented with an overabundance of ideas and theories, lifestyles, and viewpoints, but what happens when you break out of the university bubble into the world of work? Will you remember everything you learned at school about social and environmental responsibility? Will the phrases ‘fair trade,’ ‘environmental sustainability,’ ‘respect for diversity’ and ‘critical thinking’ stay in your vocabulary?
Give Greens a Go
They say that ‘green is the new black’ but that’s not fair; green is the whole spectrum these days. Every store window, television commercial and political party has entered into a ‘green war,’ feverishly trying to out-green the competition. But is this the utopia that environmentalists dream of? Not quite.
Sacramental Living
Arguably one of the most misused and misinterpreted sacred text in existence today is the book of Genesis in the Hebrew Scriptures. The book and particularly the two creation stories contained within it have been central to the creation vs. evolution debate. Since Darwin published ‘On the Origin of Species’, Genesis seems to have become viewed simply as a scientific account of how things came to be, given to humanity by God thousands of years ago for the purpose of condemning those evil Liberals.
Eco-Nomics
During the holiday season and the weeks leading up to it, the prime time to observe the true essence and nature of consumerism is at hand. Stores filled with eager shoppers willing, and wanting, to spend hundreds or thousands of their hard earned dollars on anything and everything that is available and desired. During this time it is often easy to gain a microcosmic idea of the trends and fads that are currently present in popular society.
Brand Me
Protecting the environment is something we can all appreciate, I think. We live on this beautiful Earth, so let’s take care of it! The thing that I can’t handle though is the trendiness of it all. If I hear another celebrity say that they’ve “gone green” I think I’ll punch a small child.
Progress: A Story With a Sad Ending
We live in a world that is advancing at rates that are hard to comprehend with the human brain, yet the notion of progress is one we have all come to accept as, well, progressive (a.k.a. a good thing). If we aren’t moving forwards then where else is there to go but backwards? It is common sense to try to improve the situations in which we find ourselves in, but where does this perpetual movement through space and time lead us, and is there enough space for all 6 billion of us to progress?
Waste
What good is an ocean
without form, without function?
Tangled wires and dented sides,
broken-glass raindrops scattered,
like grains of sand evolved, something
just a decade or two down the line.
Polar Bears and Not Giving a Shit: A Dialogue
One – Polar bears.
Two – What?
One- Polar bears.
Two – What about them?
One – They’re going extinct. They’re drowning because the ice flows are too far apart now.
Two – So what?
Untitled 1 & 2
Pulp mill. Spiggots. Factorial inspiration. Unpackaged waste. Pulp. `Mechanical destruction is much more environmentally friendly than chemical destruction`. Little human space; it is a world made of machines, machines and the bodies of the trees, machines to bury the bodies of the trees. Machines to fix their knots and bruises, bend them at their knees. The tumbler. Magnificent sounds.
Earth Ending
We’re the molecular seizure of regressive progression,
The nuclear insanity of technological absurdity,
The cellular fissure of pill-popping euphoria,
The stormed-out symphony of violent paranoia.
We’re the hierarchical deformation of narcotic vanity,
The militant march of mistaken manipulation,
Organic Food
Society seems to be stressing the importance of organic food, but who really knows what the importance is? Consumers are unaware of the pesticides and chemicals that go into their food, and they are therefore oblivious to the benefits that organic foods offer.
Green Trends
“We need more trees to hug!” “Green Love.” “Green is the new Black.”
All these, and more, can be found at any given clothing store at Conestoga Mall. What does it all even mean? Are these companies actually trying to create a new socially aware generation?
Where’s the Beef?
The environment is an exploding issue that is receiving attention all over the world. Interestingly, when examining climate change and wasted resources, most of the attention focuses on the waste that humans produce. This waste comes from the abuse and overuse of resources combined with a heavy reliance on fossil fuels. However, one of the most draining processes on our environment is the meat industry.
Building Blocks
A lot of a little bit is still a lot.
In the game of Jenga, you take a block from the bottom of a well ordered tower and try to place it on top of the pile without upsetting the tower’s delicate balance. The game only ends once the pile topples over when one of the players choses a piece which upsets the balance of the tower system.
Abuse of the Natural World
Even if we aren’t thinking about it, the issue is ever-expanding
Now is the time to act…not later…not someday
