UrbanWorkbench

From the category archives:

Environmental

Basket Willows

by Mike Thomas on March 7, 2010

in Environmental, Kootenays, Sustainability, Urban Farming

In the quest for useful plants to grow in our urban farm, we are looking at basket willow as a resource that has multiple uses:

Fedges – A cross between a fence and a hedge.
Living Structures
Basket-weaving
Coppicing for sustainable timber harvesting, and
Carbon sequestration

I’d like to give a plug to a local Kootenay Boundary grower of a variety [...]

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A lot of opportunities to participate in surveys and learning pass across my various “desks”, and I recently received a request from a group that I hold in high regard, led by Hans Schrier and Sandra Brown at the University of British Columbia.
The Soil Water and Communities Group from the Faculty of Land and [...]

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"In Transition 1.0" is now available on Vimeo. Watch it here…

In Transition 1.0 from Transition Towns on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: movie, Transition Network, Transition Town, Transition Towns

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BC’s Living Water Smart Blog

by Mike Thomas on December 26, 2009

in Blogging, Canada, Environmental, Kootenays, Water

The BC Ministry of Environment recently established a wordpress blog for the Living Water Smart project. As far as I know, this is the firs example of a provincial ministry using blogging software, including permitting comments, (with moderation) on the site! 
The first post, by Barry Penner, the Minister, requests comments, and at last count there [...]

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Tar Sands – Progress or Stupidity?

by Mike Thomas on December 18, 2009

in Energy, Environmental, Sustainability

“With just 5% of the world’s population, the United States now burns up to 20.6 million barrels of oil a day, or 25% of the worlds current output.” The insatiable demand for oil means that US ports must accept on supertanker every four hours, just to keep the country running. From America’s perspective, the large [...]

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George Monbiot pauses to consider the age we live in:
The summit’s premise is that the age of heroism is over. We have entered the age of accomodation. No longer may we live without restraint. No longer may we swing our fists regardless of whose nose might be in the way. In everything we do we [...]

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Even the Wall Street Journal was fooled, (or did they create it?)
An apparent press release from the Canadian Minister for the Environment Jim Prentice was posted at http://enviro-canada.ca/agenda2020 see pdf here.
“Today the G77 has again made their voice very clear,” said Jim Prentice, Canada’s Minister for the Environment. “This policy is our answer. Long in [...]

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Preparedness and Possibiilities

by Mike Thomas on November 18, 2009

in Business, Energy, Environmental, Sustainability

The media madness and hype has whirled around the topics of peak oil and peak energy – there have been the deniers, and apparently any argument that goes against the mainstream business as usual case needs to have it’s fair share of deniers. More power to them, freedom of speech and all that.
But what baffles [...]

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