THE INVESTIGATION: Bioplastics present a number of complex challenges. “There is a risk that a rather complicated issue is being oversimplified,” says Scott McDougall, president and CEO of TerraChoice, an Ottawa-based environmental marketing and consulting agency. In 2010 the company released a report called The Sins of Greenwashing: Home and Family Edition. McDougall says many bioplastics commit at least two of the seven sins.

First, the sin of the hidden trade-off: suggesting a product is green based on one set of attributes, while ignoring its wider—and possibly negative—effects. Take the ongoing “food vs. fuel” debate. Critics argue that bioplastics are contributing to the global food crisis by taking over large areas of land previously used to grow crops for food—raising the question of whether their potential damage outweighs their potential benefit.

Then, there’s the end-of-life issue. Many people assume a “biodegradable” product will break down no matter where it ends up. This is known as the sin of vagueness: a claim so poorly defined or so broad that its real meaning is likely to be misunderstood. In truth, most biodegradable plastics won’t decompose in landfills because the artificial environment lacks the light, water and air required for the decay process to begin. Even worse, bioplastics can contaminate the recycling stream if mixed with other recycled plastic.

Biodegradable plastic that carries the “Compostable Label” created by the New York City-based not-for-profit Biodegradable Products Institute are the exception. The logo identifies products that will perform satisfactorily in well-managed municipal and commercial facilities; home composts don’t generate the high temperatures needed for proper biodegradation.

THE VERDICT: Bioplastic packaging may seem like a magic solution, but it’s still an imperfect technology. While the demand for renewable materials, such as PLA, is a move in the right direction, these products can’t make a real difference until waste management systems are in place to support them. If you really want to reduce your carbon footprint, forget the plastic and try a reusable container instead.

Orange shows oil and gas licences granted under the New Brunswick government. Illustration by Dave Donald

Yes, natural gas development is good for New Brunswick’s flagging economy

When the New Brunswick government granted Southwestern Energy its first natural gas exploration permit in March 2010 hundreds of angry citizens set up blockades and held rallies on the lawn of the Legislative Assembly. Two years later, the debate is just as explosive. In fact, a survey released in December by Corporate Research Associates shows a province in complete divide. Of the 400 New Brunswickers surveyed, 45 per cent are in favour of natural gas exploration, and 45 per cent are opposed. The remaining 10 per cent are not sure what the government should do.

The New Brunswick government, meanwhile, continues to heavily support the industry. There are already 71 oil and natural gas agreements in place, spread between nine companies who pay rental fees totalling more than $1 million annually for their piece of the more than 1.4 million hectares allocated for exploration. The government predicts annual royalties will reach $225 million once the wells are fully functional – and the province’s proximity to the United States suggests promise for exportation. All that, it argues, will help pay for numerous social programs and to create new jobs in side industries from construction to accounting—a persuasive argument considering the December 2011 unemployment rate of 9.4 percent.

No, we need to know more about what fracking can do to the environment

In December, the New Brunswick government voted to move forward with “responsible” and regulated development of natural gas. It did little to dampen the furor. That same month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a high-profile report that found hydraulic fracking had severely contaminated water at an Encana company site in Wyoming. While the Calgary-based natural gas giant has angrily disputed the findings, the study cast even deeper doubt on whether the industry was being properly regulated—or honest about fracking’s potential to damage the environment.

Currently, about five per cent of natural gas wells in Alberta are leaking—and there is potential that number could grow to 15 percent in the coming years. This has convinced many anti-fracking advocates that more non-industry research is vital before the province reaches a full boom. As program coordinator for the Shale Gas Alert Campaign, Stephanie Merrill educates New Brunswickers about the industry’s dangers. There are guaranteed negative effects, she says, such as rural industrialization and threatened water sustainability. But there are also risks: contamination of drinking and ground water,  respiratory illness—it’s hard to say how far the list goes on without the right research. “We really need to know a lot more,” says Merrill. “We’re not willing … to be the guinea pigs for this experiment.”

Photo courtesy of IsumaTV

When climate change first started showing up in the news, people feared Canada’s North would literally melt away. As scientists debate and differing opinions—and confusion—abound, that initial panic seems to have ebbed. Amongst nearly everybody, of course, but the Inuit. After a lifetime of observation and generations of knowledge, Inuit elders say the melt is already happening. Their insight may be one of Canada’s greatest untapped resources, providing untold first-hand insight into the Inuit people’s traditional world and its changing climate. So why is no one listening?

From the age of five, Inuit children go outside to meet the morning. They look at where the wind is coming from and how cold it is; their parents quiz them on their observations. In the North’s extreme weather, life is inextricably linked to the environment—and that environment is changing. Leanna Ellsworth, Policy Advisor on Climate Change for Canada’s Inuit Circumpolar Council, says the warmer temperatures affect infrastructure built on permafrost, animal migration routes, abundance and, therefore, food supply. All bad, but nothing compared to the elders’ most surprising observation: The sun has moved.

Past the Arctic Circle, residents lose the sun for a few months during the deep of winter, says Igloolik-based Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk. That’s normal. What’s not, however, is where the sun reappears. For his film, Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change, Kunuk interviewed elders from four communities, hundreds of kilometres apart, who all drew the same comparison to their childhood observations: Now when the sun returns in the spring, it has shifted right, across the horizon, as far as 20 km. “We were wondering what happened,” says Kunuk, “and the elders thought, ‘our world tilted off its axis.’”

The Inuit’s observations were met with some skepticism in the scientific world, admits Co-Director Ian Mauro, the only non-Inuit researcher working on Kunuk’s film and also a Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Environmental Change at Mount Allison University. “In fact,” he says, “Many scientists disregarded them.” Not willing to discount the elders’ observations so easily, however, Mauro kept asking for more scientific opinions.

As it turns out, the sun hadn’t moved – but there was something wonky going on that scientists had missed. It’s called the Novaya Zemlya effect: a mirage is created on the horizon as hot atmospheric air meets the cold surface air, creating the appearance of a shift. This effect is exacerbated by climate change and thus, the sun’s altered course acts as a visible indicator. “Once the scientific community started to understand this seemingly complex story,” says Mauro, “many realized this indigenous knowledge is very effective to helping the world understand what environmental changes are taking place in the Arctic.” Let’s hope they spread the word.

Ilustration by Dave Donald

Yes, we must stop killing and eating animals.

Vegetarians give up meat for various reasons—out of compassion for animals, to be healthy or to be more environmentally friendly. And now vegetarianism is more accessible than ever, says David Alexander, Executive Director of the Toronto Vegetarian Association. “There’s simply no compelling reason,” he believes, “for vegetarians to embrace meat of any origin.”

When animals are treated like products, he says, who gets to decide what’s humane? Even our best intentions can become murky in the pursuit of cost-cutting, marketing, and making money. Take free-run eggs: some egg producers who use the free-run label don’t keep their chickens in battery cages, but still de-beak them and pump them full of antibiotics—making the eggs far removed from the higher-priced ethical product consumers think they’re buying. Unfortunately, it isn’t always easy to tell which companies are doing the bare minimum. “What’s a more realistic avenue for social change: putting our faith in the corporations that profit from animal slaughter to live up to consumer concerns, or putting our energy into building a movement that shows people how to stop the suffering altogether?” Alexander asks. “We believe it’s the latter.”

No, we must adopt an ethical approach to animal farming.

Mario Fiorucci, Co-President of The Healthy Butcher, is a vegetarian-turned-meat-eater. For him, it’s all about the practice of procuring ethical meat. And yes, he says, there is such a thing—and it actually parallels the principles of vegetarianism. Both, proponents argue, spare animals pain and unfair or inhumane treatment. The one difference, of course, is you get to eat the hamburger. For many who love chowing down, but hate being part of the corporate mystery chain, ethical meat shops are an appealing choice.

“The animals we sell have lived happy, healthy lives,” says Fiorucci. Like other ethical meat shops, the Healthy Butcher only sells meat from farms that are certified organic, which means the farmers follow strict federal guidelines that address everything from humane treatment and happy lives to good food. Fiorucci can tell customers the farmer, the location of that farm, the feed, the water source and the kill date of the meat they’re buying. Everything in the shop is labeled in detail. And, the farmers aren’t just suppliers—they’re trusted partners who don’t cut corners. In other words, ethical meat shops offer a place to ask questions and get real, truthful answers. “It is surprising,” Fiorucci admits, “how many butchers don’t feel the need to have this level of transparency.”

Illustration by Dushan Milic

The hockey world was shocked this summer when three tough guys (one just retired) died unexpectedly, one from an overdose of alcohol and pills and two others by suicide. When Wade Belak, a popular, seemingly happy former Toronto Maple Leaf hanged himself while in Toronto for the taping of CBC’s The Battle of the Blades, it affected many in the hockey world very deeply. This talked to sports psychologist Paul Dennis, who worked for the Leafs for 20 years as what he calls “a mental skills coach,” and who once coached the Toronto Marlies of the OHL, about depression and hockey.

THIS: In general terms, how do hockey players deal with depression or mental illness?

DENNIS: It’s a taboo. The evidence seems to be that for athletes in general, between nine and 15 percent will report symptoms of depression. It’s almost double that for the general population.

THIS: Is it also a taboo topic with management?

DENNIS: No. That’s the irony of the whole thing. Because the people I’ve worked with, whether it’s Brian Burke or Pat Quinn or Ken Dryden, those three in particular, they would want people to come forward. They would be there for them and make sure they would get the social support to deal effectively with this. But the athletes themselves wouldn’t take advantage of it.

THIS:: What’s their fear?

DENNIS: For the most part, they fear it’s a sign of weakness. Professional athletes are all supposed to be tough-minded and not be vulnerable. Not have any demonstration of mental weaknesses even though we know that depression, for example, is not a sign of being mentally weak. They’re not well-educated in that regard.

THIS: Does the league educate them?

DENNIS: They do. There’s a program they have. At the beginning of each year the player’s association sends around a team of experts. One psychologist and one or two people in the substance abuse area. They talk about anxiety disorders. They talk about depression. And here’s the confidential number they can call if they need help. What was disappointing during the summer when these three tragedies occurred, the NHL and the PA were criticized quite heavily for not having a program. But they do have one. It’s just not publicized.

THIS: What can you say specifically about Wade Belak?

DENNIS: I knew him very well for seven years when he was with the Leafs. I’m not sure anyone in our organization was aware [of his mental issues].

THIS: I think his suicide is particularly hard for people in the sports world to accept because no one saw it coming. And they’re saying, if Belak can do this, anyone can do this.

DENNIS: That comment has been expressed to me by players, almost word for word.

THIS: Are they rattled by his death?

DENNIS: Incredibly rattled by it, for that reason: happy guy, great family, financially secure, a lot to look forward to.

THIS: What does his suicide tell us about depression?

DENNIS: It’s similar to the concussion in that it’s the invisible injury, an invisible disorder. There are signs and symptoms we can look for, but if they aren’t there we automatically assume everything is okay. We don’t even make that assumption. It means people can mask it very well.

THIS: Will his death have any positive impact on how the NHL in particular, and maybe sports in general, deals with depression?

DENNIS: I hope it does. We used to think that because an athlete is depressed after he retires and he withdraws socially it’s because he misses the game so much and therefore he becomes depressed. Now it seems research is telling us that the blows to the head…there’s something organic going on in the brain that’s causing this depression.

THIS: I’ve interviewed several enforcers and they all said they hated fighting.

DENNIS: I recall having conversations with Wade about how difficult his role was. Who likes to get hit? Who likes to fight and take blows to the head? They do it because they have to. It’s their livelihood. I think players today fight because it’s a strategy, a tactic. It energizes their teammates. It energizes the crowd. It’s for all the wrong reasons.

THIS: Hockey might be the only place that bare-knuckle fighting is allowed. You can’t do it in a boxing ring or in mixed martial arts.

DENNIS: Remember Don Sanderson [the 21-year-old who played for the Whitby Dunlops in a senior league and who died after hitting his head on the ice during a fight a couple of years ago]? I thought fighting would be banned after that.

THIS: But it wasn’t.

DENNIS: Just last night I said to my wife that if Sidney Crosby plays in a game [on a Thursday] and he gets punched in the head and falls to the ice and dies, by Saturday fighting would be banned in hockey. But that’s the total disregard for human life they have. What difference does it make whether it’s a Sidney Crosby or a name we’ve never heard of before? It’s a human life.

THIS: What’s a bigger taboo in the NHL? Admitting you’re gay or admitting you’re severely depressed?

DENNIS: Geez, that’s a great question. I think they’re on the same plane.

Vogels, an internationally syndicated columnist since 1994, realizes that audiences across the country have varying comfort levels when it comes to sex. “I write the way I speak, but I try to strike a fine balance between using real language and silly innuendo [and I try] not to use language gratuitously, to simply shock,” she says. Her assistant, Karen LaRocca, is in charge of tweaking her columns for their various destinations each week. For the alternative weeklies, it’s just a quick copy edit for length and clarity. But LaRocca made special arrangements for Halifax. “Right from the start, I’d had lengthy conversations with the section editor about what we could get away with in their small, very conservative market,” she says.

Earlier this year, while LaRocca was on vacation, Vogels wrote her columns, fed them into the email list and hit send with no special treatment. That week, in her My Messy Bedroom sex column, Vogels responded to a Globe and Mail “exposé” about teen girls and oral sex. Vogels’s take on teen sex: what’s the big deal? She related some of her own early sexual experiences and chastised the Globe article for being alarmist.

“We’re still not comfortable with girls being the sexual aggressors,” she wrote. “We still rely on girls to be our social sexual barometer. I mean, why aren’t we scolding boys for not refusing oral sex? Were these guys just standing around when girls’ mouths happened to fall on their dicks? Interestingly, not one BJ recipient was interviewed for the article.”

The Daily News received 75 letters in response to that column. “While many readers supported the column, others hated it. They said it was too graphic, the language too frank,” says Marilyn Smulders, editor of the HFX section, where the column appeared. Ultimately, the paper sided with the majority of outraged readers who argued that Vogels’s work was unfit for HFX, which includes entertainment features for kids and is distributed to local schools. It was a hard blow for Vogels, since The Daily News was the first daily to publish My Messy Bedroom and was originally one of the column’s biggest supporters. HFX now runs Dating Girl, Vogels’s tamer relationships column, instead.

Could this dust-up have been avoided if the column had been pre-edited, as was Vogels’s usual habit? She and LaRocca don’t think so. “We were willing to do that little bit of extra work if it meant having a presence in Halifax. All we asked in return is that they consulted us, in advance, if they encountered any problems or required further editing. Clearly, that didn’t happen.”

And although she is disappointed with the decision to pull her column, Vogels isn’t surprised. This isn’t the first time a paper was spooked by the views in My Messy Bedroom. Around 1995, the column was pulled from View magazine in Hamilton, Ontario. The offending column was titled “Cock Tales” and talked about men and their sexual preferences. It sparked outrage not only with readers, but also with advertisers. Since then, View has reinstated the column. “The mainstream media are really uncomfortable with talking about kids having sex,” she says. “It’s automatically assumed that any sexual experience will be traumatic.”

Vogels says she’s prepared to compromise but only to a point. “I’d rather censor myself slightly and still get the message across than have someone shut me up entirely. I don’t want to get too lofty about it, but really, if we shut down every opinion we’re uncomfortable with, we might as well shut down as a free-thinking society.”

For Haligonians and others wishing to peek into Vogels’s Messy Bedroom, her columns appear in all their uncensored glory at www.joseyvogels.com.

In August, the retail behemoth beat back the UFCW’s campaign to unionize the Wal-Mart in Thompson, Manitoba.

So why did so many minimum-wage slaves with zero benefits and job security vote against the union? Michael Forman of the UFCW’s national office points to a number of key factors. First, partway through the drive, a rumour spread that if workers unionized, Wal-Mart would close the store. In Thompson, a town of just 15,000, the loss of a big employer like Wal-Mart would be devastating. Given Wal-Mart’s record, the fears are justified. After the meat department of one U.S. store unionized, Wal-Mart shut it down (though it has since been forced to re-open it).

Forman also said that the vote was held in the store under the watchful eye of Wal-Mart security cameras. That might explain why 27 employees didn’t show up to cast their ballots. That, and the fact that UFCW had its strongest support from the younger Wal-Marters÷many of whom were away on holiday because the vote was held two days after the local community college’s graduation.

Robert Ziegler of Local 789 says he has no evidence workers were intimidated, which has been blamed for the failure of previous attempts to unionize Wal-Mart stores. Charges are pending against Wal-Mart in Quebec, and a B.C. court recently upheld UFCW complaints that the company had harassed workers during the drive.

Still, Ziegler dismisses the 54-61 loss as a temporary set-back. Now that workers know how strong support is for the union, he says, they won’t be afraid to vote for it. Under Manitoba labour law, the union must wait six months to re-apply for certification. He also says that Local 789 is pushing ahead with its campaign. A number of Manitoba Wal-Marts are close to certification. Ziegler says another location may announce a union vote before Thompson’s waiting period is over.

Julie Crysler is a recovering editor of This Magazine. Her current gig is at CBC Radio.