Environment

Some of the 500, one-meter tall Karl Marx statues on display in Trier, Germany, 5 May 2013. (Photo by Pierre Wolfer https://www.flickr.com/photos/dewolfert/ CC BY-ND 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ via Flikr

Revisiting the Communist Manifesto

December 18, 2019 at 12:47 pm

Over the last few columns, I have been exploring our disordered relationship with our material possessions. One of the reasons that so many of us, even those of us who have limited incomes, can still accumulate too much stuff results from the fact that we live in a capitalist economyRead More

Processed meats in a supermarket. (Photo by Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine, CC0, https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ via Wikimedia Commons)

About That Meat Study…

November 27, 2019 at 11:04 am

“Our approach has been very different than previous approaches,” says Bradley Johnston, PhD, an author on all six papers and a co-founder of NutriRECS. “We’ve taken the individual approach rather than societal. We believe that people should be fully informed when they make health care decisions based on best estimatesRead More

While the Gardener’s Away…

While the Gardener’s Away…

November 27, 2019 at 11:00 am

Michelle Smith is taking a well-deserved break, leaving me with some space to fill for the month of December. Rather than choosing a theme and trying to stick to it, I think I will simply write about whatever strikes my fancy each week. This week is easy because something unusualRead More

Brett Weinstein (talk) (Uploads [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]

Water Part I: Bottled

November 20, 2019 at 2:34 pm

Two things inspired this week’s feature story: the first was an Agence France-Presse article about a Michigan township that is trying to fight a deal under which the Swiss-based food conglomerate Nestlé may be allowed to pump 400 gallons of water per minute from a local wellhead for an annualRead More

Minimalism: A (Pseudo) Ethical Lifestyle

Minimalism: A (Pseudo) Ethical Lifestyle

November 13, 2019 at 12:54 pm

Last month, I considered the surprising popularity of the KonMari method of organizing our homes, and argued that the attractiveness of this approach to decluttering results, at least in part, from our recognition of our disordered relationship with our stuff, and that this disordered relationship negatively affects our lives. WhatRead More

Canada, the Bomb and Minority Government

Canada, the Bomb and Minority Government

November 6, 2019 at 2:17 pm

It’s not open by much, and it might shut soon, but the diminished return of the Trudeau Liberals has created a ‘window’ to review The Incredible Shrinking Issue of the 2019 election: Canada’s foreign and defense priorities in an age of grave and growing nuclear peril. Though domestic politics naturallyRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Things

October 25, 2019 at 8:30 am

Bad bidness Remember the business owner who accused me of breaking into their office and stealing their credit card? The one I chose not to name? Well, the story has taken an even stranger twist: I have now been accused of fabricating the whole thing to make business owners inRead More

Canadian House of Commons. (Photo by Sam [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

About Monday Night

October 23, 2019 at 1:36 pm

I’m going to keep this short because a) the Canadian landscape is flooded with election analysis at the moment and b) I’m not good at it. But I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t want to say something about the election results so here are my thoughts:   Voter TurnoutRead More

En høstarbejder (farmer taking a break) by Danish painter Peter Hansen (1868-1928), oil on canvas (cropped). Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Gardener Downs Tools (for the Week)

October 23, 2019 at 1:30 pm

What to do this week Michelle Smith is away this week. She’ll be back at her regularly scheduled time next issue, but in the meantime, feel free to peruse her now quite substantial archive of past columns for some season-appropriate gardening advice. This time last year, for instance, she wasRead More

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Issues

Fast & Curious: Short Takes on Random Issues

October 18, 2019 at 11:11 am

First of all, thank you to the candidates who took the time to respond to our questions — Michelle Dockrill, Lois Foster, Jodi McDavid and Kenzie MacNeil. As promised, we extended the deadline to Thursday at 5:00 PM for those candidates who had not yet replied, and here are theRead More