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I’m always curious about how travel impacts the environment. I know many people, including myself, who travel to natural places in order to connect to nature and break from “the real world.” Clearly, there are other issues to unpack in this, not the least of which is that so many see nature as an escape … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
I had to book a flight recently and I “splurged” and paid the whole $5 or something around that to offset my carbon from the flight. This got me thinking about the impacts that offset might have. While the offset makes me feel a little bit better about the flight that I am taking, I … Continue reading
Driving through Jasper National Park in the last few weeks was a sobering experience. The scale of the destruction caused by the Jasper Complex fire is overwhelming. As a result, it was hard not to reflect on the reasons behind the scale of the fire. Climate change and wildfire is one of the more difficult … Continue reading
Sometimes, I just type random search terms into Google Scholar to see what papers pop up. Not going to lie; I was surprised by this one: Role of flying cars in sustainable mobility by Kasliwal and colleagues (2019). Flying cars? This is definitely not an area that I have kept up to date on since … Continue reading
I hear it quite frequently in my professional world. People all over want to change the terms related to things like climate change. I’ve been more resistant to change. I appreciated the change from environmentalism to sustainability in my own work because sustainability supports a broader conception that includes social, cultural, and economic concerns. But, … Continue reading
We are just over a month out from July 1 (Canada) and July 4 (US) celebrations. Many of these include fireworks. And fireworks, according to new research by Saporito and colleagues (2024), contribute to temporary increases in both air and water pollution. Saporito and colleagues studied air and water pollution levels in New York City … Continue reading
Connecting with Science 