Month: July 2005

Canadian Political Transparency

- Fraser Birt 1 Comment

Transparency in democratic politics is not only a good thing, it is necessary to the process. In Canada, there are strict rules in place for the recording and reporting of donations during an election campaign. We like to know just much a corporation or rich citizen has donated, and to what party. However, what most people don’t pay attention to, or even know, is that the myriad of smaller donations given to local candidates are also strictly regulated, and scrupulously recorded. Individuals and local businesses give surprising amounts of money to their preferred local candidate. And now, thanks to Elections Canada, you can easily find out the details.

Searchable by candidate, contributor, party or location, see who supports what in your riding. There are also options for searching contributions to party leadership races and even candidate nomination contests. Things are good when you can see.

Wind Power Potential!

- Adam Clare

Map of Wind Power PotentialAccording to a Stanford University study there is enough wind to generate five times more energy than the world currently needs. The total output of power is predicted to be 72-terrawatts – and that’s a conservative number.

The researches placed 8,199 wind monitoring devices around the globe to reach their conclusion. Wind monitoring devices used in the study were located primarily in the developed world, as a result they had to generalize in the majority world.

Cancer Man Dies

- Adam Clare

How is a person dying a good thing? I’ve suggested before that when someone ceases to exist on our planet Earth that we use that time to celebrate the person’s live.

A British man, Sir Richard Doll, whose research linked smoking to cancer in the 1940s died on July 24th. His research into smoking and lung cancer seem obvious to us now, but back then the idea wasn’t widely accepted.

I think it is worth remembering that research that might seem “a little out there” can actually be true. For instance, genetically modified foods are still under-tested in the majority of the world and as a result we may be eating many carcinogens. It takes hard work and research done by people like Doll to challenge the status-quo and provide inertia for change.

Smog is another example; lots of research has proven that smog kills and kills and kills. It unfortunately takes time for governments – and people – to react, but we need to remember that life is short (shorter if you smoke) and we need to collectively take action to make the world a healthier, and happier, place to live.

Ecological Footprint

- Adam Clare

How many Earths do you require? You can see how many planet Earths the current human population would need if they all consumed as mush as you. It takes into account the country you’re living in and the size of your city.

This is known as your ecological footprint. It’s presented by the kind people at Earth Day.net and Redefining Progress.

Environmentally Friendly AC

- Adam Clare

Some students have created an air conditioner that is more environmentally friendly than your common cooling unit. From the article: “[the students] won the first-ever Ricoh Sustainable Development Award in May when they competed against 1,400 other worldwide invitation-only entries at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix.”

More info on the Ricoh Sustainable Development Award.

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