Chris Turner

MY MOST RECENT CONTENT

Can we calculate the true cost of a manta ray?

Fri, Sep 02 2011 at 3:56 PM

By externalizing the costs of human industry, we've pushed the world's coral reefs to the brink of extinction. It's past time to put a price tag on the infinite value of biodiversity.

Why would a Hawaiian coffee shop import bananas?

Thu, Sep 01 2011 at 11:45 AM

On Hawaii's Big Island, a Starbucks outlet sells Ecuadoran bananas. It's a trivial example of the way the twisted logic of global business creates its own unsustainable reality.

To end the age of fossil fuels, try learning to speak its language

Fri, Aug 19 2011 at 3:59 PM

Climate activists are about to launch two weeks of protest against a pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to the Gulf Coast. They'd do well to remember there are not just companies but people and communities on the other side of the argument.

Is oil from Alberta really climate's linchpin?

Thu, Aug 18 2011 at 1:59 PM

Some of the world's most prominent climate activists are protesting a proposed pipeline that would bring Alberta's unconventional oil to the Gulf Coast. Is this the make-or-break point for global action on climate change?

Want to get Big Government off your back? Embrace clean energy

Mon, Aug 15 2011 at 10:38 AM

Renewable energy is a powerful force for the decentralization of Big Energy (and Big Government). It's odd that it isn't more popular in supposedly 'radical' anti-government circles.

Believe it or not, there's one great idea up on Capitol Hill right now

Fri, Aug 12 2011 at 11:31 AM

Just before D.C. went crazy over the debt ceiling, 25 members of Congress tabled a bill that would revive a remarkably effective solar energy financing program. Does Congress have enough sense left to pass HR 2599?

A few notes on the singular legacy of Ray Anderson, sustainability pioneer

Tue, Aug 09 2011 at 5:26 PM

Ray Anderson was among the first corporate leaders to not just talk sustainability but make it the bottom line of his business. He passed away this week, leaving a legacy as green and inspirational as any in modern history.

Forget the Dow, here are the numbers that mattered this week

Fri, Aug 05 2011 at 5:30 PM

Follow the Dow, and the economic forecast looks pretty black right about now. But in the midst of the old economy's failure, a new one continues to shine brightly on the horizon.

What makes a building ugly? The failure to become a place

Fri, Aug 05 2011 at 11:15 AM

The world's starchitects may create impressive icons, but cities are made from great places — which is why old European shopping streets, not Frank Gehry's wavy towers, are the heart of Düsseldorf, Germany's most ambitious design city.

Style rules as solar power goes mainstream

Wed, Aug 03 2011 at 3:46 PM

In cleantech, innovation often speaks of high-tech jargon in the future tense. A new generation of solar panels uses existing technology and a present-tense vocabulary of style and convenience to bring green energy to the mainstream.

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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