Monthly Archives: July 2008

There is a farmer in each and everyone of us

By Flavie | Published: July 29, 2008
The next big thing for urban dwellers is… gardening. We already knew about community and rooftop gardens, but recently, journalist and New York Times blogger Allison Arieff wrote about her experiment with vegetables in her own home. “It is truly growing into something that is wholly about collaboration, community and connection to food, to neighbors, [...]
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Universities using sustainability as a bait

By Flavie | Published: July 29, 2008
Since being sustainable is the new trend, universities are now competing to become the most sustainable possible in order to attract environmentally-conscious students. College reviews from magazines like Forbes or Sierra now include ratings of the campuses’ sustainability. But is it really something that can be rated? An article published by the New York Times [...]
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The BPP is cancelled. What went wrong here?

By Flavie | Published: July 23, 2008
NPR cancelled the Bryant Park Project after only nine months of existence. The announcement was made last week and the last show will be aired tomorrow morning. The BPP was launched as an attempt to draw a younger audience. Its tone is light and conversational and its news stories deal with various subjects such as politics, culture and [...]
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Danish eco-paradise

By Flavie | Published: July 15, 2008
Ok, I’m late to talk about this one, especially since the new issue of the New Yorker came out and caused all this controversy, but I bought the previous issue yesterday because of this article about a Danish island that tries to achieve sustainability and reduce its carbon emissions. Residents on Samsø island tried everything [...]
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Climate change for journalists 101

By Flavie | Published: July 14, 2008
Have you ever felt confused by all the differing information about climate change presented in the news? That’s totally normal, since journalists themselves don’t always know how to tackle the problem. Which expert do you listen to? How do you know that an information is credible and can be published? How do you stay away [...]
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The Atlantic’s Biggest Ideas of the Year

By Flavie | Published: July 12, 2008
In its July/August issue (already on the newsstands since June, go figure,) the Atlantic proposes a list of “The 11½ Biggest Ideas of the Year” that dominated American news and national affairs. Not surprisingly, they deal mostly with recurring themes: the war, the presidential elections, the war, global warming, the economic crisis and… the war. [...]
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“Bigger than the internet,” but still useless

By Flavie | Published: July 9, 2008
The Globe and Mail published an article last Monday about the Segway, this gas-free personal transportation device that was launched in 2001. It is small (with only two wheels,) doesn’t emit greenhouse gases and is great to use on short distances, like commuting to work. The Segway would solve so many of our problems related [...]
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Prince Charles’ eco-friendliness

By Flavie | Published: July 1, 2008
Prince Charles’ cars run on wine and used cooking oil, his vegetables are grown organically in his country homes, and he flies and takes his car less often. According to his office, these measures have allowed him to cut his carbon dioxide production by 18% (that’s still 3,081 tons.) These data have been released yesterday as [...]
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