A new initiative in Toronto is trying to help the local ecosystem and bring people closer to nature through canoes. Not by paddling, but by bringing bees and butterflies to the canoes. The core idea is to help pollinators in the city survive by creating little sanctuaries on land using
Continue readingAuthor: Adam
Things Are Good: Monocle Looks at the Best Urban Farm Projects
Monocle recently took a look at some of the world’s best urban farming projects. Monocle’s favourite cities combine small-scale neighbourhoods with green spaces, but not all cities were built with the right foundations for future growth and sustainability. We champion four urban innovators who see potential in derelict spaces and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Sweden Ran Out of Garbage
Late last year Sweden ran out of garbage which caused problems in their energy network. In an ironic step, Sweden’s efficient waste diversion programs are so good that their trash-burning power plants couldn’t find anything to burn. To keep electricity flowing they turned to neighbour Norway for their trash. Let’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: Saudi Arabia Starts $109 Billion Push for Renewable Energy
The end of cheap oil is inevitable and it’s clear that at least one oil-producing nation gets that. Unlike Canada, which seemingly wants to destroy half a province, Saudi Arabia (with the second-largest oil reserves) is looking to invest a lot of money into fossil-fuel-free energy. Saudi Arabia wants it’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: Suburbia Gone Wild
The idealized version of the American suburb has spread around the world and can be found in nearly every country. The banality of the spread has been ignored by artists, at least that’s the feeling of Martin Adolfsson who set out to document this changing global landscape. For example, it’s
Continue readingThings Are Good: Using Behavioural Science to Lower Energy Consumption
Alex Laskey wants to lower people’s energy consumption by using tricks and practices from the world of behavioural science. It sounds great and would be great to see implemented, check out his TED talk for more:
Continue readingThings Are Good: Cheap and Easy Ways to Keep Cool Without Air Conditioning
I’m one of those people that can’t handle unrelenting heat and so I’m always looking for ways to stay cool. I’m also one of those people who doesn’t like air conditioning (for reasons beyond the obvious power consumption), as a result I love tips on how to make your home
Continue readingThings Are Good: Washington D.C. Approves Living Wage Bill
Washington D.C. lawmakers approved a proposed bill that institutes a living wage for the region. This is after a loud and boisterous campaign from Walmart to keep poverty-level wages. Walmart is known for low wages, firing employees who report animal abuse, and a whole list of other criticisms. Yet, Walmart
Continue readingThings Are Good: Suburban Community Considers Higher Taxes for Paved Properties
Toronto and area received massive rain fall last week and one suburban community has decided that the need to encourage better water management through taxes. Basically, if you pave over green space you’ll literally pay for it. THe idea is to preserve as much green space as possible to act
Continue readingThings Are Good: Camino Wear: Clothing for Walking
Camino Wear is a clothing line that is focused on celebrating walking, travel, and adventure. The inspiration for the clothing line comes the founder’s walk along the Camino de Santiago. We believe that walking, travel and adventure are some of the most important things in life. Walking, because (in our
Continue readingThings Are Good: Green Roofs Assist in Flood Prevention
Yesterday Toronto got more rain in two hours than it normally does in a month which meant some serious flooding happened. This got me thinking of a program that Toronto (alleged crackhead) Mayor (busted for DUI) Rob (loves pollution) Ford (reads while driving) cancelled. The cancelled program promoted green roofs
Continue readingThings Are Good: Building Better Homes for Refugees
Ikea’s charitable arm has used the expertise of the cheap furniture manufacturer to design a better housing unit for refugees with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Hopefully these designs will help people around the world who are living in poor conditions. The Refugee Housing Unit started working on a project
Continue readingThings Are Good: Kenya Medics Increase Reach Thanks to Bicycles
Bikes4Care is an initiative in Kenya that helps medics and other health care workers get to more places thanks to bicycles. It’s a simple and effective concept to get people improved access to health services, check out this video on the pedal medics: From Al Jazeera.
Continue readingThings Are Good: 15-Year Study: Stop Drug Use Through Harm Reduction
The American style “war on drugs” undoubtably ruins more lives than it saves (all while militarizing North American police forces), yet some people think that punishing drug users is sound policy. Research is continually adding more evidence that approaching drug consumption as a health issue and not a criminal one
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Vegetarian Calculator
It’s well known that meat production has a large carbon footprint. A diet that includes meat requires more land than a plant based diet so even decreasing the amount of meat one eats can be a good thing. Some fans of vegetarian diets have created the Vegetarian Calculator that lets
Continue readingThings Are Good: How to Get Out From the Invasive PRISM Surveillance Program
Thanks to the brave efforts from Edward Snowden we are now aware of something long suspected: that the USA (and many other nations including Canada) are reading our communications. The program is called PRISM and it monitors your communication. Basically, if you connect to the internet or use a mobile
Continue readingThings Are Good: Car-Addicted LA is Getting on the Bike-Train
Los Angeles is known to be a car-addled and car-addicted place but not for much longer. They have consciously set out to make their city more pedestrian and bike friendly. LA as also put efforts to make their transit better. The results are clear: people love to ride bicycles rather
Continue readingThings Are Good: Do You Make the World Better? There’s an App for That
By now most people have heard what a carbon footprint is, but have you heard about your gloabl ‘handprint‘? The notion is that it’s the opposite of a negative counter of your impacts on the planet. Handprints are recorded online or on your phone as you make little (or big)
Continue readingThings Are Good: Plants Which Clean the Air
Ever wanted to have really fresh air in your place? This TED Talk by Kamal Meattle provides some insight into which plants you should have in your home and what element the clean in the air. I’m going to try this out in my home.
Continue readingThings Are Good: Bike Delivery Business on the Rise
Red Riding Goods is one of a few companies in Toronto that deliver goods via bicycles. In other cities from Mumbai to San Francisco bike-based delivery is nothing new and not all that newsworthy. Here in Toronto, where a crack-smoking mayor who thinks cyclists deserve to die advocates the destruction
Continue reading