Hey Doug, build housing on Gardiner, not Greenbelt

Amidst growing controversy over his destruction of Ontario’s Greenbelt premier Doug Ford wants us to believe he’ll do whatever it takes to build more housing. But he won’t even consider turning abundant public lands destroying our climate, health and urban sphere into human shelter. In a long story on Ontario’s push to audit school property... Continue Reading →

Liveability of planet requires an end to ecocidal capitalism

Every year since 1969 humanity’s resource consumption has exceeded earth’s capacity to regenerate those resources by an ever-greater volume. Damaging the planet’s life support systems will eventually spur the collapse of human civilization. Despite this, the CEO of CIBC Victor Dodig recently said Canada needs to be “obsessed with economic growth”. Published on the front... Continue Reading →

Time to ban automobile advertising

More disappointing than watching the Habs lose to Tampa in the Stanley Cup finals were the ads during the games on TV. As Lytton, BC, broke Canada’s all-time temperature record three days in a row and was then wiped off the map by a forest fire, Canada’s public broadcaster promoted resource intensive, space consuming and... Continue Reading →

Free public transit one step towards better cities

Free public transit could combat both economic inequality and climate disturbances. And, if paid for by fees on automotive junkies, fare-less transit could be part of a serious challenge to private-car-centred transit/urban planning. At Toronto’s first mayoral debate Saron Gebresellassi called for fare-free transit. By detailing a bold proposal the left-wing candidate steered  the other... Continue Reading →

Bylaws that require parking drive up costs of housing

While climate disturbances wreak growing havoc across the planet, Canadian cities continue to mandate pro-car measures that drive-up housing costs and contribute to global warming. Even the most walkable, bike-able and mass transit oriented neighbourhoods still require parking spots to be built in new residences.Finally, last week downtown Montréal eliminated parking requirements for new residential... Continue Reading →

Time to junk the cars and use public land for housing

Who could possibly be against doing something that would be both good for the environment and improve housing affordability in our biggest cities? By turning public land devoted to noisy, dangerous and polluting vehicles into social/co-op/rental housing it is possible to put a dent into runaway climate change while improving housing affordability and urbanity. Radio... Continue Reading →

We have an addiction problem — cars

I often read troubling reports about the world's unfolding climate catastrophe while working at McGill, but, ironically, steps from the university library I am reminded of Montréal's unwillingness to make the changes required to avoid civilizational collapse. During recent construction on Sherbrooke Street police have been stationed on corners near the university to direct traffic.... Continue Reading →

Justin Trudeau is no friend of the environment

Today the lives of over 10 million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk due to a drought at least partly caused by climate change. A study by Britain’s Met Office concluded that human-induced climate disturbances sparked a famine in Somalia in 2011 in which over 50,000 died. For its part, the Climate Vulnerability Monitor estimated in... Continue Reading →

Plotting to deceive the public nothing new for automakers

Over the past eighteen months two of the world’s largest automakers have been found responsible for deadly conspiracies. But, recent revelations can’t compete with the industry’s previous scandals. Last month Volkswagen was caught rigging millions of its cars emissions testing systems to meet regulatory standards. The German company programmed its turbocharged direct injection diesel engines... Continue Reading →

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