From the category archives:

Canada

Launch Week: The Olympics

February 12, 2010

I was at a loss at what to showcase today on launch week. Then I pulled my head out of…
Today the 2010 Olympics start in my home town of Vancouver. That’s a big deal.
When we had a referendum many years ago about whether we wanted to have the Olympics, I, along with 30 odd percent, [...]

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Launch Week: Centre for Social Innovation, Toronto

February 10, 2010

Launch week continues on Cashewman. Yesterday it was Saving Darfur, a new book by Rob Crilly. Monday it was Ethical Ocean, a rad new ethical online store.
Today it’s the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. Well, here’s the catch: they already exist. And it’s not that they’re launching anything yet, but that they’re trying t:
CSI [...]

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Canadians: How does it Feel to be a Pariah?

December 2, 2009

Several years ago I stumbled upon this obscure report. Greenhill had found a pulse lurking under the surface: opinion-makers around the world felt that Canada had gone from a positive force to relatively useless in about 15 years. Worse even, as we were still trying to tell the rest of the world how to behave, [...]

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November 11: Thank You

November 11, 2009

I received this email from a friend today, a friend who does not usually send mass emails. Her note gave voice to my own thanks, to my grandfathers, their fellow soldiers of wars past and the soldiers of my generation currently serving. She let me reprint it here.
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day. There is 1 WW1 [...]

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Public Campaigns: Surface-Scratching Environmentalism?

October 19, 2009

I am coming to a realization: I don’t believe in environmental (or climate change-tackling) solutions that rely on consumers continuously making conscious decisions to be environmental. I don’t believe in public campaigns. At least not if we want impact within a generation, and directly.
Public behaviour-changing may work in the medium to long term to create [...]

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Canadian Environmentalism and Erosion of Responsibility

October 13, 2009

A Nigeria-based friend recently posted this on her Facebook profile:
“A request from my Nigerian colleague in Bangkok: “Someone should please tell the USA, Japan and Canada to be serious about the ongoing climate change negotiations. The concept of common but differentiated responsibility should not be misinterpreted. We live in a single world.””
Many readers may have [...]

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My God, Canada, Aren’t We Amazing? Uhhh…

September 5, 2009

I’ve picked up on a couple little self-congratulatory snippets since returning home. Our ‘The World Needs More Canada’ vibe. The BC slogan ‘The Best Place on Earth’, splashed across license plates, government projects and the like. Listening to the CBC, I caught a host say (in an unrelated interview) ‘well, we all know Vancouver is [...]

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Vancouver, I’m Proud of You

September 4, 2009

I’ve got a lot of reasons to disagree with my country, and my city. Today I found another great reason to love Vancouver - the new Canada Line, a rapid rail under/overground train from the core to the airport and Richmond.
This is a big deal to me. I’ve been away through most of the construction, [...]

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Happiness

August 23, 2009

(written yesterday)
Ashley and I were having a bite to eat last night. At some point we began talking about happiness. Fundamental happiness. And lack of it. I’ve both at times here in Ethiopia. It comes with the territory of living and working for long stints outside of your own culture, and far from home.
This is [...]

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Shot of the Day: A More Even, Better Pie

August 18, 2009

“We think that a good society makes trade-offs between protecting the unfortunate and encouraging initiative and self-help – between giving everyone a decent share of the pie and increasing the size of the pie.”
- Thaler and Sunstein, Nudge
I couldn’t agree more.
B
Check out more:  Ethiopia - Canada - Our World - Development - Economy - Shots of [...]

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