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Sciences

This category contains 20 posts

Will you be as sustainable after a break?

As I’ve been working through the end of the semester, I’ve struggled with a few of my habits. I’m not as consistent with my workouts or a few chores as I faced a wall of assignment reviews to get students timely feedback. Now, we’re looking at the Christmas break where my schedule will vary a … Continue reading

Fish Skin Fashion

I’ve been contemplating the complexity of animal products in fashion recently. Growing up, I’ve always thought that fur was bad. But is it still bad if it is harvested by Indigenous peoples using traditional or even modern humane practices and that respect and use the entire animal? What about leather versus hide? Something I had … Continue reading

Can your city help keep you cool?

My city has an amazing river valley. It offers many recreation trails, treed areas, and open spaces. Even outside of the river valley, many neighbourhoods have access to smaller green spaces. Green space is not evenly distributed with lower socioeconomic status communities often having less access than higher ones, known as the luxury effect. Sadly, … Continue reading

I’m a savvy cyclist

We just got our first big dump of snow this past weekend and I’m itching to get out on my bike. That isn’t something I thought I would write three years ago. I’ve only been winter cycling for two years (this will be my third), other than a brief foray with poor equipment several years … Continue reading

How many trees does it take to cool a city?

Let’s be honest, we need to implement many different solutions to address climate change. But to do this, we often need more answers. In our current approach, someone has to give a number and that number has to then be budgeted. This is the goal behind research by Wang and colleagues (2024). Many places around … Continue reading

Cigarettes and the environment

I have never smoked, so I really don’t understand the attraction, but I do understand the frustration when I see so many cigarette butts lying on the ground. It always baffles me, how many people just toss their butts rather than disposing of them properly. This, along with a couple of recent discussions with people … Continue reading

Renewable energy for telescopes and local communities

I knew there were telescopes in remote in remote locations but it hadn’t occurred to me how these telescopes were powered. It turns out, that many of them are powered by generators that run on fossil fuels, diesel and natural gas. But the location of many telescopes makes them prime candidates for solar power. This … Continue reading

It’s the despair

At the start of the semester, I opened it up for students to ask me questions. One of the questions was what is the hardest thing about teaching sustainability. Without missing a beat, I responded, “the despair.” I kind of joked about it afterwards, but the despair people feel is really serious and, as Bird … Continue reading

Skating on weak ice

I was supposed to compete in an ice dragon boat festival last winter. Sadly, it was cancelled because of unsafe ice conditions. And according to new research by Culpepper and colleagues (2024) this is going to become more common as we consider quality as well as quantity. In the face of climate change, it seems … Continue reading

Who rides the bus if it is free?

Many years ago, I heard about a city that made public transit free and ridership went up. This is a dream from a sustainability perspective. Make transit free, get people out of cars, decrease emissions, road wear, so much. Right? Fielbaum (2024) asked who rides the bus when it’s free and the findings show how … Continue reading

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