September, 2019:
We sailed from Nova Scotia aboard our sturdy little motorsailer Magnus in July, 2004 – Marjorie and I, and our Brave and Faithful Dog, Leo. We were bound for points south – for Abaco, in the northern Bahamas, as it turned out.
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“We have not come here to beg world leaders to care,” declared 15-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden at the COP 24 conference in Katowice, Poland. “They have ignored us in the past and they will ignore us again. We have come here to let them know that change is coming whether they like it or not.
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Green Rights: The Human Right to a Healthy World
An On-site/Online Course from Cape Breton University
If you’re a Canadian (or an American) you don’t have a right to a clean breath of air, or a drink of pure water. Your body contains a pound of plastic and traces of 700 toxic chemicals – and you can’t sue the polluters responsible.
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It’s been called “the most important lawsuit in the history of the planet” – and none of the plaintiffs is over 21. In the “Our Children’s Trust” case, 21 young Americans are suing the US government for violating their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property through its continuing support of industries that cause climate change.
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An astronaut doesn’t see the Earth the same way you do. And if the astronaut started as a planetary scientist, striving to understand the solar system, he really sees the Earth differently. Furthermore, if he was the child of environmentally-sensitive parents who were well ahead of their time, he started out with an unusually sophisticated view of the Earth.
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Orri Vigfusson is one of my heroes – a very successful Icelandic businessman from a fishing family who made it his mission to save the wild Atlantic salmon from extinction by purchasing and retiring all the commercial Atlantic salmon fishing licenses in the world.
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I'm happy to pay a little extra to buy my power from Bullfrog Power, which puts renewable electricity into the grid in proportion to the power I take out of the grid. I pay a little extra, but I help to build up the renewable infrastructure, and I cancel out the carbon emissions from generating the electricity I use.
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Freelance writing, like old age, is not for sissies – and it seems to get harder for each generation.
I’m moved to this observation by contemplating the autumn of my friend and colleague Chris Benjamin, who is 30 or 40 years younger than I am.
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How can it be that I can know the right thing to do, do the wrong thing instead, and still consider myself an intelligent being? We’ve all had that experience. I shouldn’t eat any more of those fattening canapes, we think.
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“You’ll be pleased to know that the emissions for your air travel to this conference have been offset by the purchase of carbon credits,” announced the Executive Director.
The delegate next to me leaned over.
“What language is she speaking?” he whispered.
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