Famous for its oil wealth and the "prosperity cheques" being handed out to every resident, the Canadian Province of Alberta is actually a classic example of rapacious growth, dangerously poor planning and poor performance on social development indicators.
"The Alberta Genuine Progress Indicator, just published by the Pembina Institute (a non-profit energy watchdog), says if that everyone spent their natural capital [as liberally as Alberta], 'five planets would be needed to meet global consumption demands.'
"The province has systemically looted one landscape after another. Forty years ago, Alberta's boreal forest was a wilderness; today, provincial records show that 90 per cent has been seriously fragmented by roads, well sites, seismic lines, pipelines and power lines, and looks like an industrial park. What isn't being drilled is being logged.
"In Drayton Valley, southwest of Edmonton, the government allows companies to build highly toxic sour-gas wells so close to people's homes that many Albertans live in what's known as 'emergency response zones' (in the event of a leak or accident, they would die or suffer permanent brain damage if not evacuated in time). There are as many as 52 such zones; to be located inside one devalues a home by an average of $6,000. But property devaluation is par for the course in Alberta."
FULL STORY: If Ralph's a friend, who needs enemies?
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Trump deemed the landmark civil rights agreement “illegal DEI and environmental justice policy.”
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The 120 Year Old Tiny Home Villages That Sheltered San Francisco’s Earthquake Refugees
More than a century ago, San Francisco mobilized to house thousands of residents displaced by the 1906 earthquake. Could their strategy offer a model for the present?
In Both Crashes and Crime, Public Transportation is Far Safer than Driving
Contrary to popular assumptions, public transportation has far lower crash and crime rates than automobile travel. For safer communities, improve and encourage transit travel.
Report: Zoning Reforms Should Complement Nashville’s Ambitious Transit Plan
Without reform, restrictive zoning codes will limit the impact of the city’s planned transit expansion and could exclude some of the residents who depend on transit the most.
Judge Orders Release of Frozen IRA, IIJA Funding
The decision is a victory for environmental groups who charged that freezing funds for critical infrastructure and disaster response programs caused “real and irreparable harm” to communities.
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