Who Will Speak for the Earth?
Speaking for the Earth is more than a choice it is a responsibility. Through the lens of dialogue and conversation, this issue of Earth Common Journal explores our relationship to the Earth and how that relationship transforms into a voice.
Preface
Preface | October 2012
Speaking for the Earth. The voice of a single student can grow to become the voice of the Earth, through the simple act of conversation.
By Dr. Lucille Mazo, Managing Editor
Acknowledgement | October 2012
Designs of Diana Duzbayeva. The designer of the 2012 print issue’s cover art discusses how organic design and social media collide to illustrate environmental advocacy.
By Tracey L. Anderson
International
Economic Sustainability | October 2012
Water Use and Abuse. Examining how we consume and regulate the over-consumption of water during droughts can help keep us from sending our future down the drain.
By Maria Teresa Dela Cruz & J. Michael E. Gray
International | October 2012
Discovering The Future Canadians Want. We Canada and the Canadian Earth Summit Coalition connected people and organizations across the country in a vision for sustainable development and created opportunities for influencing political actors.
By Aleksandra Nasteska & Victoria Wee
Features
Community | October 2012
Dwelling together. Step inside an immersive, sensory ethnographic community and experience the social landscape of life within an ecovillage.
By Jonathan Taggart
Sustainability | October 2012
Food Sustainability. Edmonton’s food sustainability scene is the star in this multimedia presentation promoting food activism and awareness.
By Melissa Cloutier
Identity | October 2012
Getting Back to the Garden. While both men and women can be found in home gardens, gender analysis is key to understanding differences in gardening methods and the role of women in food production.
By Karen Zypchyn
Communication | October 2012
Communication Breakdown. How environmental issues are presented has an affect on how we react to them. An understanding of how media outlets distort environmental messaging is key to the Ecuadorian environmental perspective.
By Sean da Silva
Articles
Industry | October 2012
A Discounted Threat. Livestock have a significant impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, water, land use, and biodiversity. The solution to this liability? Look no further than your shopping cart or dinner plate.
By Leanne Bourgeois
Industry | October 2012
Building Pressure. Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline project may be nearing completion, but the environment is only beginning to prepare for the pipeline’s consequences. This study explores the Northern Gateway Pipeline’s proposed benefits and potential consequences on Alberta and British Columbia’s environment and local communities.
By Derek Neil Pluim
Urbanization | October 2012
Chasing Rabbits. The voice of the Earth can be described by some as poetic. A colony of rabbits facing the threat of urbanization are the focus of this visual, poetic analysis.
By Melissa Cloutier
Feature | October 2012
A Man of Conservation. This feature highlights the life and work of Dr. David Suzuki, and how the David Suzuki Foundation’s (DSF) Nature Challenge provides a realistic set of goals that can help guide us towards a better world.
By Samantha Sperber
Conservation | October 2012
Ethical Primate Conservation. Human or Primate: Who is at the centre of our conservation priorities? The balance between human and primate community needs is a delicate one that requires time to understand and achieve.
By Emma Cancelliere
Preservation | October 2012
Preserving Natural Beauty. Nature and art have lived in harmony for centuries. This analysis of Alyssa Ellis’s painting The Shadows showcases the connect between art and nature, and how art can be used to inspire conservation.
By Melissa Cloutier
Sustainability | October 2012
Striving for Sustainability. Paul Johnston, the lead scientist with Greenpeace International, combines scientific knowledge with public debate and awareness campaigns to work towards environmental change and sustainability.
By Lynn Squires
Perspective | October 2012
The Harmony of Nature. Jeremy West’s, Earth’s Lonely Heart audibly embodies our symbiotic relationship with the Earth. Listen and learn about how Earth Science and song came together to create an award-winning composition.
By Kay Del Rio & Jeremy West
Climate Change | October 2012
The Potential for an Impending Sea-Level Rise. Over the centuries the world has experienced a temperature rise of 0.8°C. This created the potential for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to melt, increasing the risk of sea level rise to coastal countries.
By Sarah McLeod
Reviews
Review | October 2012
Dune: Desert Planet. Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel Dune explores the relationship between humanity and nature, and what happens when that relationship is exploited by those in power.
By Kay Del Rio
Review | October 2012
Echoes of Our Past. This review of Jared Diamond’s book, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (2004), explores the effect human impact on the environment has on the success or failure of a civilization.
By A. Rachelle Foss
Review | October 2012
To the Arctic, For the Arctic. Greg MacGillivray’s film, To the Arctic (2012), offers a visually stunning IMAX experience of the affects of global warming on landscape and wildlife in the Arctic.
By Tracey L. Anderson
Earth Common Journal
An online journal dedicated to supporting and promoting student research projects on the topics of sustainability, conservation and climate adaptation