Alberta’s oilsands, the world’s largest engineering project, may be getting rave reviews in the corridors of Ottawa and Washington, D.C., as a secure source of oil for the continent. At home, though, it is rapidly becoming a growing threat to northern water security.
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On a mid-May afternoon, the wind gusts over Beaver County, bending treetops and skimming dust from gravel roads. Despite the sunshine, a killjoy chill in the air threatens the unusually warm and eager spring. But its coolness could just be due to the altitude. The ten-storey table-top summit of the Beaver Regional Landfill, about an hour southeast of Edmonton, is the apex of 2.7 million tonnes of garbage, and a badly exposed place to try to avoid the elements. The view, however, is worth the discomfort.
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BACK In the 1980s when Tom Sutherland was a bright-eyed university student, a group of professors were teaching pupils that buildings should work with the environment rather than against it. Sutherland listened to their views, but didn’t put much stock into their preaching. “To us kids who didn’t grow up in the ’60s, their talk sounded like a dying ember,” says Sutherland. (more…)
Investors are putting their money behind green companies, but as in any hot sector, it’s buyer beware (more…)
Despite having no hospitality experience, Madeleine and Alan Ernst took their love for the mountains and turned it into a new career and a new life when they opened Aurum Lodge in 2000. Having spent 25 years in banking, freight and travel, the Ontario couple decided it was time for a change. After two years of searching, they settled on the eastern front ranges of the Rockies, 40 km east of Banff National Park.
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It was just weeks between the departures of John Browne, the Group CEO of BP PLC, and Jim Buckee, the CEO of Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. (formerly BP Canada Ltd.). In nearly every other respect, the two men were worlds apart.
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An exceptionally well-rounded industrial designer would be one of the best CEOs in the world.” So says Tim Antoniuk, who happens to be both an industrial designer and the proprietor of three companies. The self-righteous nature of this declaration isn’t lost on Antoniuk. But that doesn’t detract from the point he’s making.
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When Community Natural Foods renovated its packaging centre this year, the Calgary retailer replaced its old water heating system with a solar package that has cut energy bills and reduced its impact on the environment. For a company with a long history and strong commitment to recycling, conservation and composting, spending $6,000 on a solar water heater was a no-brainer.
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f the great question of the day is how to reconcile business and environmental concerns, Roger Smith may come close to embodying some practical answers. The former Faculty of Business dean at the University of Alberta has a solid commitment to the perspective of business on economic issues. But he also has an environmental view, serving on the board of the Alberta Branch of the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Alberta Conservation Association.
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You are worried about the climate risks from carbon emissions. But you live in Alberta or some other fossil fuel-rich region. So naturally you despise carbon taxes, without even five seconds of thought. However, if you also believe in unfettered free markets, a minimal role for government, protecting our tax dollars from useless policies and freedom from the pilfering reach of central Canada, think a bit longer.
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