urbanization

Environmental news bites from across Canada, around the globe, through science, politics and technology. Sometimes we just can't resist the quirky and offbeat.

Highlights from this issue

• Losing Ice in Antarctica
• A Mount Royal mining project (in, yes, the heart of Montreal)
• Carrot City (one of about 60 visions of food security from around the world)
• Inside the pesticide ban in Ontario
• And lots more

Calgary is losing the density game.

Each year, its 3-per-cent population gain takes up 4.5 per cent more space.

A greenbelt, according to international wisdom, could help save the city’s near-urban lands. ...

Dave Thompson pocketed a cool $1.75 million a couple of days after the Ontario government released details about its greenbelt and Thompson learned that his land sat just outside its borders. Four years from now, he’ll receive the balance – another $1.75 million earned from the sale of his 40-hectare dairy farm in Caledon, a rural area northwest of Toronto. Thompson’s grandfather, father and his brother once tilled this fertile soil, but it’s hard to fault Thompson for accepting the $86,000 per hectare ($35,000 per acre) paid by the developer. Who wouldn’t?

When people envision green buildings, they typically think of state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, shiny, new buildings. Existing building stock is written off as inefficient, only good for demolition or recycling, and best left to heritage planners and architectural conservationists. Things are starting to change though. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System recognizes the tremendous amount of energy embodied in existing building stock. It awards credits to those who reuse existing building structures.