Since the proliferation of big box stores and malls small cities have been struggling to keep their downtowns engaging and profitable for businesses. What if we rethought our downtowns to be about people and making a community instead of profit centres? That’s the very question a small city in the
Continue readingAuthor: Adam Clare
Things Are Good: Digital Violence Exposes NSO’s Tools Targetting Activists
NSO made the news again due to their tools being used to spy on Bahraini and Hungarian activists, which obviously isn’t good. NSO is a cyber security organization that focuses on offensive rather than defence; they sell hacking tools and exploits to target individuals. Anyone with enough money can buy
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Kenyan Factory Turns Plastic Waste into Bricks
Nzambi Matee got tired of waiting for a solution to all the plastic waste she saw, so she created a company to deal with it. The material engineer opened a factory in Kenya where they turn plastics which can’t be recycled (with traditional methods) into bricks. She designed a concoction
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Real Smart City Lacks Smart Technology
A few years ago Silicon Valley mega corps thought all cities should be made “smart” by tracking all citizen data. There was a concentrated effort by Google to violate privacy rights in Toronto and bullying the city into a finance deal which only benefit the advertising giant. Torontonians protested and
Continue readingThings Are Good: These 100 Debates Could Decide the Canadian Election
Canadians are about to vote in the country’s 44th election and this election may finally be the moment when the nation votes thinking about a green future. From coast to coast to coast in the country there will be local debates about the environment and what the candidates will do
Continue readingThings Are Good: Master Resilience Improves Gender Equality in Mexico City
Water scarcity is a real problem in Mexico City, and due to existing gender inequality women bare the brunt of the costs of a lack of water. This manifests itself in everything from laundry to buying potable water, both are time consuming endeavours in places with water scarcity. Mexico City
Continue readingThings Are Good: Leaded Gas for Cars Impossible to Buy Globally
After decades of effort by environmentalists leaded gasoline for use in automobiles is impossible to buy anywhere on the planet. Last month Algeria ended sales for leaded gasoline which marked the end of the dangerous fuel for consumers according to the UN Environment Programme. All gas burning is bad for
Continue readingThings Are Good: How Cities Deal with More Intense Heat Waves
Global warming is bringing more intense heat waves to our urban environments which means cities will need to adapt to the new temperatures. Indeed, regular readers will recognize a lot of ways cities can mitigate extreme heat from painting roads white to regulating green roofs. Over at Arch Daily they
Continue readingThings Are Good: Organs Made in Outer Space
Custom made 3D printed organs in space may sound like science fiction, but it’s real and up at the International Space Station they are experimenting with how to print organs better than before. Printing organs is still a relatively new technology and we have good technology to print organs on
Continue readingThings Are Good: This Drone is Hitting the Rails
In order for train travel to be safe the rails the trains ride on need to be of a certain quality. You don’t want the equivalent of a pot hole on rails. In order to maintain good tracks workers need to shut down the rail line and physically go out
Continue readingThings Are Good: Yes, You Have Changed
You have changed. The person you are today is not the same person you were years ago. Being able to change your mind is the mark of a smart person because you can re-frame how you think based on new information. Indeed, we can rethink our personalities too, more and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Exposing Exxon’s Elaborate Escapades in Eluding the Electorate
Exxon (and other oil companies) knew all about the harm their products cause to the environment 40 years ago, yet they kept making profits despite threatening all life on Earth. This is some real-life cartoon villain stuff that sounds made up, but it’s real and it happened. In fact, it’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Startup Wants to Help Predict Floods
For years engineers tried to prevent flooding, then they realized they can’t stop nature. Now instead of trying to stop it, we try to mitigate flooding by creating spaces that can absorb a lot of water (parks along rivers are an example of this). Still, these attempts don’t always work
Continue readingThings Are Good: Philosophers Help Scientists do Better Work
Some empiricists argue that science is a separate discipline from philosophy, and those thinkers may want to rethink their stance. The debate isn’t philosophy or science, the debate is actually how much philosophical rigour should be applied within a certain field of research. In order to effectively advance scientific fields
Continue readingThings Are Good: How To Make North American Homes Climate Friendly
Everyone is well aware that low density, sprawling, and energy inefficient is bad for the planet. Years of mindless development have left us with homes which are not well built for the current climate. It’s imperative that we get these homes to be climate friendly, here’s how. The Guardian has
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time to Destroy Highways to Build Cities
People make cities an interesting place to be. It’s the people that produce culture and economic prosperity, yet many cities have highways going right through them. These highways make the city worse in every regard. Now, cities in America will be getting funding to repair the cities from the damage
Continue readingThings Are Good: Quebec Cancels Planned LNG Operation to Protect the Environment
The waters of the Saguenay and the St. Lawerence have avoided great harm thanks to the cancellation of a massive natural gas facility in the area. People had been protesting the development for years and the government finally listened. The project would have taken bitumen from the tar sands in
Continue readingThings Are Good: Reducing CO2 Emissions by Targeting the 5% of Power Plants
Electric energy production using non-renewable processes produces an immense amount of carbon, and as a civilization we can’t afford to put more carbon in the atmosphere. Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder set out to figure out how much pollution do power plants actually produce and what can we
Continue readingThings Are Good: Given the IPCC Report, Let’s Ban Oil Propaganda
Today the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released data that proves the world has rapidly warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, and is now careening toward 1.5 degrees. They are calling it a red alert for the planet. Obviously this isn’t good news. The oil
Continue readingThings Are Good: Want Better Communities? Get rid of Homeowners
\ The North American dream often hinges on owning the shelter you reside in, but with raising home prices this is a challenge for many. It may work out in the long run though as we should be creating systems that favour renters over owners since homeowners tend to hold
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