How a New Way of Thinking about Soil Sparked a National Movement in Agriculture

Known as the soil health movement, it is a management philosophy centered around four simple principles: reduce or eliminate tillage, keep plant residues on the soil surface, keep living roots in the ground, and maximize diversity of plants and animals.

The Best Way to Restore Environments in the Face of Climate Change

How can the Kissimmee team and others best restore degraded environments in the face of the unpredictable and tumultuous future that climate change promises? A big part of the answer is by building in resilience — the ability to resist change or to recover from disturbance in a way that preserves the essence of a system’s structure and function.

How Might 21st-Century Movements for Radical Social Change Win?

This talk introduces a book project titled Taking Power or (re)Making Power: Re-Imagining Movements for Radical Social Change and Global Justice, presenting the culminating case study — the “Global Climate Justice Movement.” The project surveys the history of the new movements for radical social change of the 21st century, contrasting them with the great social revolutions of the 20th.

The Right to Food

The group’s message is that “fresh, nutritious food and a positive environment in which to eat it, is a basic right which all of us should enjoy,” a right that should be legally underpinned, formalising the government’s responsibility to ensure the nation is adequately fed – and potentially leaving it vulnerable to legal challenges if it fails.

What Quebec Can Teach Us About Creating a Social Economy

Quebec’s social economy (also translated as “solidarity economy”) extends far beyond the province’s two major cities, and includes manufacturing, agricultural cooperatives, daycare centers, homecare services, affordable housing, social service initiatives, food co-ops, ecotourism, arts programs, public markets, media, and funeral homes.

Methane Leaks from Energy Wells Affects Groundwater, Travels Great Distances, Study Confirms

A new University of Guelph study proves what many western Canadian landowners have long documented — that methane gas leaking from energy industry wells can travel great distances in groundwater and pose safety risks, contaminate water and contribute to climate change.

Jet Streams Stumble as the World Warms

Researchers have once again linked a sequence of devastating climate events to global warming fuelled by prodigal human use of fossil fuels. And this time, they believe they have identified the agency behind the blazing summers that have claimed lives and destroyed livelihoods repeatedly during this century.

New Sharing Depot Opening Reflects Success of Toronto’s Library of Things Movement

The Toronto Tool Library in Ontario, Canada, is a model tool lending program. With four locations and a variety of workshops and community events, it is a pioneer of the lending and sharing movement.

Cultural Capital: Part 2

We call this regenerative mentoring. There’s a mentoring process to this where you’re either in a peacemaking relationship or you’re mentoring towards that. Some people don’t feel like they have a connection to others, and so you have to really give them some surplus — you have to get them on board and bring them into the game again.

Grow Something that You Can Eat and Eat it

I am very excited about the growing recognition of using ecological approaches to growing food, particularly linked to the growing interest in rebuilding local and regional food systems. This not only builds regional economic and cultural vibrancy, but it helps us all stay healthier.

Renewables Growth Breaks Records Again Despite Fall in Investment

Falling costs allowed the world to add record new renewable capacity even as investment fell, according to a new report. The findings, from the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), show 139 gigawatts (GW) of renewable capacity was built in 2016.