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Healthier Options of Plastics in Food Packaging

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Plastics are widely used to store and package foods and beverages. Plastic is convenient, lightweight, unbreakable and relatively inexpensive. However, there are both environmental and health risks from the widespread use of plastics. 

Environmental problems: Most plastics are made from petroleum, a non-renewable and mostly

Oil, Gas & Banks Head South

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A host of oil and gas companies based in Calgary and Toronto have been increasing their holdings throughout Latin America, taking advantage of the same lax legal standards Canadian mining companies enjoy.

Inflation and the Decreasing Value of Money

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by Norm Gibbons 

Last July, US Congressman Ron Paul asked US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, “Is gold money?” On YouTube you can watch Bernanke squirm in his chair. 

The US Federal Reserve is a money- spewing monster. Like any central bank, its main function is to print money. However, the more they print, the weaker the currency becomes. 

A private banking cartel created the US Fed in 1913. The bankers got rich, but the US dollar has retained only 2% of its 1913 real value, so the average citizen – and this applies to Canada as well – has

Are Bt Toxins Safe to Eat?

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by Anne Sherrod

The pesticides Bt and Roundup loom large amongst the many concerns regarding genetically modified (GM) foods. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was once hailed as a completely natural, safe insecticide, because it produces toxic substances that target certain insects, but do not affect animals or humans. But are the toxins safe for humans to eat? That is the question that arose when agrochemical companies set about modifying and transferring genes from the bacterium into food plants, which then make their own version of the insecticide.

Disappearance of Bees and the Pesticide Link

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by Anne Sherrod

Canada has been suffering unusually high losses of bees each winter since 2006. That's the year when a new and unexplained set of symptoms called colony collapse disorder (CCD) began to be recognized, in which all the worker bees in a colony simply disappeared.

Very high commercial honeybee losses have continued since then, with 30.9% of hives lost in Canada in 2010/11. This doesn't include the serious decline of

Do You Need Germ-Killing Soaps?

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by Philip Dickey

Turn on the TV or read any home-oriented magazine and you'll see them. Ads for all kinds of household products containing germ-killing ingredients are everywhere. Hand soap, dishwashing liquid, underwear, kitchen sponges, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mattresses, cutting boards, window cleaner, socks, cycling shorts, chop sticks, and facial tissues are all being marketed for their ability to kill germs.

It's been estimated that more than 700 antimicrobial-infused products are now available, including 76% of

Cancer Smart For Consumers

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Dozens of household products and pesticides on retail shelves across Canada contain carcinogens, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and reproductive toxins. Yet most consumers have little idea what they’re being exposed to.

That could change this year with the release of the CancerSmart Consumer Guide, published in March by the Labour Environmental Alliance Society (LEAS) and just hitting distribution networks now. 

The first of its kind in Canada, the 24-page guide identifies carcinogens, reproductive toxins

Monetary System Has Changed Society's Meaning of Poverty

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by Don Malcolm

The world’s most powerful governments are proud to declare that they are fi ghting a global war on poverty. They back their rhetoric with foreign aid in the form of massive expenditures of public money, surplus goods, and often, military assistance, commonly known as peacekeeping. 

Cheap Oil = Cheap Food

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by Danielle Murray, Earth Policy Institute

From farm to plate, the modern food system relies heavily on cheap oil. Threats to our oil supply are also threats to our food supply. As food undergoes more processing and travels farther, the food system consumes ever more energy each year. 

The US food system uses over 10 quadrillion Btu

Forests Vanish for Agricultural Development in Brazil

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The consequences of such large-scale development of agrilculture has been devastating, causing large-scale environmental and social problems.

by Paul Wolda

Nildo Quiros is obviously disturbed as he surveys the road directly in front of his speeding Toyota 4x4 truck. I soon discover why. A series of deep potholes in the tarmac have yielded half of the road impassable at speeds exceeding 5 km/hr.

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"This is it. It's done!" was the message in Alaska in 2008, 19 years after the Exxon Valdes oil spill.  Dave Janka, who runs Auklet Charters in Prince William Sound, ran his boat over to Smith Island to snap this photo.  Dave says, "It's far from done!"

W.L.M. (Bill) Wilson writes: 'Attached is my rewrite of Anne Feeney’s “Have You Been To Jail for Justice”. Anne granted permission to do non-profit performances of this Enbridge version.' Video by Ester Strijbos.