You probably already heard the good news about the end of Keystone XL with Obama killing the proposal. This is a good symbolic step in ending the exploitation of the tar sands in Alberta, plus this comes just a few weeks before COP21. COP21 is the upcoming United Nations climate
Continue readingTag: International Events
Things Are Good: Using Comics to Explain Complex Economics
Economix Comix is a series of comics that looks at, you guessed it, economics. Using comics is a great way to translate really complex economic ideas into something which is more relatable and understandable. Late last year the artist (and brain) behind the series of comics released a look at
Continue readingThings Are Good: We Are in the Anthropocene Epoch
Human civilization has undoubtedly changed the surface of the planet on a massive scale. There will be evidence of our civilization’s impact for millions of years to come. This may not strike you as good news considering it implies we’ve altered the planet in a way only nature itself could
Continue readingThings Are Good: A Look Into the Ig Nobel Awards
The Ig Nobel Prize is dedicated to science that makes you laugh then makes you think. It’s a fun and great way to get people engaged in science while exploring questions that sound rather bizarre. As founder of the Ig Nobel awards, Marc Abrahams explores the world’s most improbable research.
Continue readingThings Are Good: LHC Data Freely Accessible from CERN
The Large Hadron Collider run by CERN is making huge insights into the fundamental workings of the universe. Already it has found evidence the Higgs-Boson and other groovy particles in physics. Now CERN is setting all that data that’s been collected free to use! Now you can use research generated
Continue readingThings Are Good: China and US Agree to Cut Emissions
The world’s largest polluters have agreed that they have a problem and they need to stop it. The USA and China have come to terms with the fact that they are the worst polluters and have both decided to take action using various policy tools and joint cooperation. This is
Continue readingThings Are Good: Investors: Good Economics is Taking Action on Climate Change
It’s no secret that carbon trade, carbon caps, and various other policy tools improve economies and diminish negative environmental impacts caused by economic activity. Yet, the myth that having a sustainable economy isn’t possible with a growing economy. Environmentalists have been arguing for better policy and enforcement for decades, and
Continue readingThings Are Good: Norway Pays to Protect Liberia’s Forests
Deforestation is killing the planet and has been linked to the current ebola outbreak. Still, many places (Canada included) cut down hectares of land as if it’s nothing. Norway is apparently sick of tho attitude and has made a deal with Liberia to protect their woodlands. “We have funded efforts
Continue readingThings Are Good: Rockefellers Got Rich From Oil, Switching to Renewables
As the UN climate summit continues there is good news coming from it. It’s worth noting that Canada is not part of any of this good news thanks to the climate-change denying Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The “pro-corprate” Harper is actively doing the opposite of corporations: supporting renewable energy. Even
Continue readingThings Are Good: Ozone Layer is Recovering
Many years ago a bunch of countries decided to take action to stop damaging the ozone layer in the hopes that it will eventually recover. It’s great to see that the efforts of working together to protect the environment of come to fruition and let’s hope we see efforts like
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Country That Does The Most Good
Many countries claim they are making the world a better/safer place, but how which ones are actually making the world better? Simon Anholt asked himself the same question and came to a conclusion that to me was unexpected. I won’t spoil it for you.
Continue readingThings Are Good: USA to Stop Landmine Procurement and Production
Unfortunately not every country has signed the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personal land mines. Recently the largest producer of armaments, the USA, has opted to stop production of landmines. The army has also committed to not purchasing new landmines. “Our delegation in Maputo made clear that we are diligently pursuing solutions
Continue readingThings Are Good: It’s Time to Reset the Net
One year ago today Edward Snowden revealed to the world evidence that many long suspected – that the American government is actively performing mass surveillance. Innocent people have been targeted and information the likes of which we’ll never fully know has been collected on nearly anyone who’s used the internet.
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Lancet Calls on Canada to be a Good Global Citizen
The Lancet is a medical journal that is known for its direct and terse reports, the are perhaps best known for their detailed account of the death toll in Iraq (as a result of the American invasion in 2003). Now they are calling the Canadian government to task. PM Stephen
Continue readingThings Are Good: Rest of World to Canada: Stop Risking The Future
COP 19 ends this week and there is at least one clear message coming from the meeting: Canada is risking the wellbeing of future generations. While most countries agree that climate change needs to be dealt with and carbon output needs to be curtailed, Canada is refusing to budge on
Continue readingThings Are Good: Formula E is the All-Electric Alternative to Formula 1
Car racing is a popular sport around the world and it used to be a great testing bed for new, more efficient, technology used in internal combustion engines. Today, the technological improvements seem to be more on material science rather than fuel efficiency (most racing leagues still allow leaded gasoline).
Continue readingThings Are Good: Brazil Restructures Debt With African Countries
Brazil has announced that they will essentially “write off” about $90 million in debt from African nations. This is for helping the countries alleviate their huge levels of debt while helping create stronger economic ties between Brazil and their indebted partner nations. “To maintain a special relationship with Africa is
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Conflict Kitchen
Conflict Kitchen is a take-out restaurant that serves cuisine only from countries with which the USA is in conflict. It’s located in Pittsburg and founded/operated by artists and chefs to humanize the international conflicts that the USA engages in around the world. It functions as a space to get food
Continue readingThings Are Good: Worldviews Conference Looks at Media and Education
Universities and colleges do a lot of research and sometimes their findings can make a large difference on the world around us. Unfortunately, it can be hard to get the media to represent what the research actually means and how the media can best work with academics to ensure that
Continue readingThings Are Good: Gross National Happiness is a Good Thing
Bhutan is a small country with a big idea that can change the world. For many years now gross national happiness is how the country monitors its progress, which is the opposite to how other countries measure success (which is from the quantity of money exchanged). With a world population
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