Governance

The Good Society--Designing Citis as if People Mattered

Often, buildings and the infrastructure around us, are designed as if people don't matter. The costs of designing without taking into account accessibility and designing with nature are becoming more and more obvious. For example, many of the tall square building in large urban centres are going to have to be reclad at the cost of millions and millions of dollars and pose a physical danger in high winds until these repairs are made. Integrated design that takes into account the ecological, social and economic imperatives are just a win win for any city.

Waste Not Want Not

Our upcoming e-Dialogue as part of our Solutions Agenda research project, will be on the critical topic of waste, Wednesday, December 10th, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EST. I will be questioning the expert panel on why Canada does not have progressive policies on waste management, as we are one of the most wasteful countries on the planet.

Scrap them

An excerpt from The Economist, June 14th, 2014

For decades, governments from Egypt to Indonesia have subsidised the price of basic fuels. Such programmes often start with noble intentions--to keep down the cost of living for the poor or, in the case of oil producing countries, to provide a visible example of the benefits of carbon wealth--but they have disastrous consequences, wrecking budgets, distorting economies, harming the environment and, on balance, hurting rather than helping the poor.

Stopping the Myths

We live in the best of times and the worst of times. Such a rich information age, and yet, so much misinformation and disinformation. Check out this video for an example of some of the misinformation out there on poverty. What is more troubling to me is the lack of reliable and accurate reporting by the media and its disinformation.

Two Thoughts

"How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?" Pope Francis, calling capitalism "a new tryanny." The Pope issues his first apostolic exhortation (the official platform of his papacy) in which he criticized the global economic system.