Environment

London’s Under Developed Retail

by

There are several, I assure you, under developed commercial developments well within London’s urban growth boundary. And after this and this, and even people asking where they are on Twitter this morning, I thought it prudent to identify them. You can click on the images below for bigger versions. Spot #1 – Crossroads Centre at … Read more

How about them trees, PenEquity?

by

Earlier tonight the Second Planning & Environment Committee voted to allow PenEquity clear a massive 4.2 hectare woodlot with the promise of 1,200 jobs. There won’t be 1,200 jobs coming to this massive monstrosity of a shopping plaza south of the 401, behind the Costco and Gold’s Gym. Here’s why. Let’s assume that 1,200 jobs … Read more

Sustainable Food Initiatives to Take Note Of

by

It’s been a while since I’ve found some really good initiatives that I thought London, Ontario and Canada at large should be adopting or plain old ripping off. After all, I’ve never seen a government agency claim intellectual property (IP) infringement if someone else began doing the same thing, so why shouldn’t we?! This type of stance has been brought forth by Shawn Adamsson very recently.

Food 2030

The UK government recently unveiled Food 2030 – a food strategy designed to ensure that Britons have access to high quality, sustainably farmed/grown, food that benefits both the farmer/grower and the consumer. At the same time Food 2030 should ensure that people have good jobs, a reduction in greenhouse emissions and food waste.

Read more

What Canadian Cities Should Be Doing

by

Seeing as we have entered construction season here in Canada (a.k.a. spring and summer), I thought it prudent to collect some things that other cities have been doing that I think we ought to be implementing here in London (in some cases especially since we’re known as the Forest City) and other Canadian cities ought to be at least contemplating.

Let’s start with a great example from Vancouver: The roof of the Vancouver Convention Centre has been turned into a green roof. What does that mean?

Read more

A Sustainable Food Cycle, Part 2

by

As a follow-up to my previous post, A Sustainable Food Cycle, I have done some research recently in the interest of covering some more ideas surrounding the subject. Talks from the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference, pro-business magazines like Fast Company have both been covering the topics recently and I think it’s worth noting. Admittedly this entry will not have nearly as narrow a focus as part 1, but I don’t think that will really matter.

First off it’s worthy to note that Fast Company, a magazine & website all about business innovation, recently put up an article entitled the Ten Best Green Jobs for the Next Decade. The very first job listed? Farmer. Why? Because the move to a sustainable food cycle invites urban/vertical farming to be a part of the solution. Translation – we’re not going to replace the farmers we currently have, we’re going to offset the lack of supply during non-growing months. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Indeed, it may be high time for a former client of mine to realize his dream of it “being a good time to be a farmer” fairly soon. And the message that Mark Bittman, cookbook author, journalist and TV personality, has been espousing recently just lends more credence to that.

Read more