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Food

Almost But Not Quite Co-ops

Can a struggling businesses be spared from closing its doors if ownership is transferred to the workers/community?

I wrote a case-study for Co about four businesses—a restaurant, a small-town grocery store, a community center, and a pulp & paper mill—that explored the possibility of converting into a co-operatives. Read why it didn't work out for them.

​Ontario Smoked Salmon

For thousands of years, smoked Atlantic Salmon came from Lake Ontario. Now it comes from a fish farm inside a warehouse. Here’s how you can get your hands on delicious smoked fish from The Great Lakes.

​Making Tortilla One Cob at a Time

The Fall Harvest is a time to celebrate local food. For months, we’ve been anticipating the cornucopia of produce that’s now available at markets and grocery stores. We can finally sink our teeth into the season’s first ears of corn. But many of us will have already had our first corn months ago, when it was trucked in from South America, as if the Summer barbeque season, in its full golden glory, could be expedited by a cob of corn.

Whatever Happened to Pure Cream?

​Pick up a carton of cream at the grocery store and you'll probably find a list of ingredients in addition to "cream". Here's why that is and why it matters.

What are "natural" and "artificial flavours"?

They're in almost everything on the grocery store shelf. So what are they? And what are they doing in our food?

Has Local Gone Too Far?

*guest post for The Healthy Butcher's blog, 

The importance of eating locally grown food has gained a strong presence in public consciousness—perhaps its presence is a little too strong. Being local is often considered the ultimate indicator of ethical food. But, in truth, local is just one of many factors we need to weigh in before putting an item into our grocery basket.

Ontarian Terroir

What is terroir? Why does it matter? And why aren't Ontarians as concerned about where their maple syrup and honey come from as the French are about their wine and cheese?

Craft Beer: Real Flavour

Ontario's thirst for craft beer is a sign of an even deeper thirst; a thirst for real flavour.

Cities & Buildings

The Accessible Icon as a Barrier to Education

Teachers speak of the “hidden curriculum”, the implicit lessons we teach our students. The signage around our schools can be a part of this hidden curriculum because signs often carry implicit messages. For example, take the International Symbol of Access (ISA), which explicitly indicates where one can find barrier free access, but implicitly reinforces barriers to education and accessibility because it focuses on inability instead of ability. ​

Natural Light and Time's Passage at
The Regent Park Aquatic Centre

The aquatic centre’s generous windows allow sunlight to pour in, turning the pool water asparkle, and splashing a kaleidoscope of light and shadows onto the walls and ceiling. But if, outside, a cloud should pass in front of the sun, everything will suddenly change.

The Horse Palace

​Breathing in deeply, your lungs and body fill with this air – the air of a bygone era when horses were an ubiquitous part of urban life. You’re not just looking back in time; you’re smelling back in time. These smells describe a world that is impossible to articulate in words and images; the nose is a gateway into a different dimension of reality, one that isn’t reducible to the dimensions of sight and language.

Running the White Light

Many drivers read the amber light as a “hurry up” signal; they often don’t stop when they could, and instead of completing their maneuver they begin their maneuver—sometimes even after the amber light has extinguished. It seems some motorists read the amber light as a green light and the red light as an amber light.

Growing Policy: 

If rising food prices suddenly made it prohibitibely expensive to transport food into your city, what groceries would you find the the supermarket after one week? One month? One year? A city with a resilient food system can handle this very possible scenario. The key to urban food resilience is urban agriculture...

Desire Waste Bins

​Where we see litter is where we need more waste bins

​The Regent Park Aquatic Center

Dynamic lighting affects us deeply, whether we notice it consciously or subconsciously. It activates our temporal perception, our sense of time. To be aware of time is not trivial; time is a basic fact of the human condition. We always exist in time. If architecture is meant to be a place for human beings, then it should acknowledge the temporal dimension of our existence. 

Hungry Trees

​They're eating everything! Or are they?

Environment

Jane Goodall Institute Blog

In this series of nine blog posts, I apply environmental and ethics philosophy to promote social action and environmental conservation.

SolarShare Blog

These blog posts, written for North America's largest renewable energy co-op, promote ethical investing and inform current and potential investors on issues related to solar energy and ethical investing.

LEAF Blog

I wrote these three blog posts for LEAF, a Toronto organization that aims to enhance and increase public appreciation for the city's urban forest.

Lessons from Nature

This ongoing writing project looks closely at certain flora, fauna and natural phenomena to uncover what lessons they have to offer.

Other

"Captain! My Captain!"

​The origins of Robin Williams' epithet is a Walt Whitman poem, where a sailor mourns the loss of his captain. These words are fitting to mourn our unbelievable loss of Robin Williams.