Chris Turner

MY MOST RECENT CONTENT

Sustainability is a process of creative destruction

Fri, Nov 04 2011 at 4:06 PM

Watching a 100-year-old house get knocked down might sound tragic, but it feels exhilarating. And it's a reminder that the process of change is an act of creative destruction that appeals to our darker nature as well as our high-minded ideals.

What does trick-or-treating tell us about sustainable living?

Mon, Oct 31 2011 at 5:42 PM

On Halloween night, every neighborhood pretends to be a walkable neighborhood. The truly sustainable neighborhoods, though, are the ones where kids can go by themselves to get treats the other 364 days of the year.

Limitless clean energy from wastewater? Nah, let's stick with clean coal

Thu, Sep 22 2011 at 2:50 PM

A Penn State lab has found a way to make hydrogen fuel from wastewater and seawater with no emissions. So why are we spending our billions on the pipe dream of burying the carbon dioxide we make burning coal?

In rural India, solar power is the cheap and easy option

Wed, Sep 21 2011 at 2:13 PM

Harish Hande launched his Indian solar company to dispel the myth that renewable energy was too expensive for the world's poorest people. The wealthy West could learn a lot from his math.

As Greenpeace turns 40, the eco-movement aches for another wave of innovation

Mon, Sep 19 2011 at 3:07 PM

In 1971, a ragtag gang of committed activists unleashed the first 'mind bomb,' and it set the environmental agenda for decades to come. Today, with campaigns by Al Gore and Bill McKibben preaching to the converted, it's time for another strategy.

Planning to tear down your old house? First, let it be art

Fri, Sep 16 2011 at 8:57 AM

As a wedding gift, we turned our neighbors' condemned house into an art gallery. What happened next was a crash course in the intrinsic value of urban space and the permission to re-use it.

The urban cycling boom: Sometimes too big, sometimes too small

Wed, Sep 14 2011 at 12:05 PM

In Tennessee, the streets are too dangerous for one 10-year-old on a bike. In Copenhagen, the streets are too crowded to accommodate any more kids. The real problem, though, is the one that dare not speak its name: there are too many cars.

Innovation stats of the week

Fri, Sep 09 2011 at 7:08 PM

The second edition of MNN's Innovation Index finds solar wilting, cleantech booming, deep seas cleared of fish and streets freed of cars. Here are the numbers that matter right now to the sustainable economy.

Climate conspiracy hoax revealed!

Thu, Sep 08 2011 at 4:15 PM

As GOP presidential hopefuls sound the alarm on the global warming hoax, we've uncovered the smoking gun: irrefutable proof, backed by flawless logic, that climate scientists are only in it for the fat climate science research cash!

Charming Hilo's waterfront promenade needs a radical makeover

Wed, Sep 07 2011 at 10:34 AM

Like many cities, beautiful downtown Hilo has been tragically divorced from its primary natural asset by highways and parking lots. Welcome signs and banners won't bring more tourists, but a highway wrecking crew could.

Commenting (8)

Actually, the folks in Europe

Fri, Mar 30 2012 at 12:54 PM

Actually, the folks in Europe go to the nearest square and sit out at cafes on warm evenings. Together. In public. There are no drive-by shootings there because no one has guns.

I'll throw in my two cents on

Tue, Nov 01 2011 at 1:37 PM

I'll throw in my two cents on this, Jenn. Very thoughtful response, and I recognize that half a century of car-centred urban planning (even at small-town scale) has turned walkable neighbourhoods into a certain kind of luxury. As with urban cycling, the safety of walkability comes in numbers, in what Jane Jacobs called "eyes on the street." I certainly can't speak authoritatively to your situation, but one thing I always stress in these conversations is that sustainability shouldn't be a chore, especially for kids. It should be joyous, reinvigourating, exciting. If it isn't, maybe your town isn't ready for it on that particular front. I gather the main reason your kids don't like it is because they're by themselves. Would there be a way to channel their energies into advocacy, maybe something like a one-day-a-month walk or ride to school day just to get some more kids engaged? Just a thought. Like I said, sustainability's not one-size-fits-all and it shouldn't be a constant battle. If it is, I'd argue the energy's better spent on something else.

Consider the source indeed.

Mon, Oct 10 2011 at 11:53 AM

Consider the source indeed. In classical logic, this is known as an ad hominem argument and is not generally thought to be a strong tactic. My credentials, for the record, are mostly as a journalist with 15 years' experience and nearly all of those on the climate/energy/tech beat. You think rocket scientists write their own press?

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Chris Turner is an author, journalist and public speaker covering climate change and sustainability issues. His most recent book, the bestseller The Geography of Hope: A Tour of the World We Need (Random House Canada, 2007), was named one of The Globe & Mail's Best Books of the year and shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Nonfiction and the National Business Book Award. His narrated visual tour of The Geography of Hope has captivated audiences ranging from Environmental Defence summits to Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers galas. He was a featured speaker at the 2008 Alfred Deakin Innovation Lectures in Melbourne, Australia.

Turner is also the author of the international bestseller Planet Simpson: How A Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation (2004). He writes a monthly feature on sustainability for The Globe & Mail. His magazine writing mostly for the late, great Shift Magazine has earned him four Canadian National Magazine Awards and six honourable mentions, including the 2001 President's Medal for General Excellence (the highest honour in Canadian magazine writing). His writing and reporting on culture, technology and the environment have also appeared in Fast Company, Time Magazine, The Independent (UK), Maclean's, Canadian Geographic, The Walrus, Azure and Utne Reader. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, with his wife, the photographer Ashley Bristowe, and their daughter, Sloane.

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Chris Turner

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