When you hear that knock at the door or dig out that piece of political literature from your mailbox, think of the effort the volunteer canvasser makes to engage you in the greatest expression of a democratic state – the vote. Continue reading
Category Archives: Power
Random Acts of Renewable Energy
What’s happening in renewable energy advances around the world? Some surprising examples of who’s making great strides. Continue reading
POWER
Power is a concept or phenomenon too amorphous, sprawling or chameleon-like ever to be amenable to exact identification. Where we are concerned with power, we must be satisfied to live with vagueness.* Vagueness may be inherent, but we can’t be satisfied without attempting to make a dent in it. We begin simply. Power is the … Continue reading
WORLDPRIDE 2014: How We Got Here
A look back at the origin of Pride activities in Toronto and the activism and efforts that have gone into the making of WorldPride 2014. Continue reading
GOING GEOTHERMAL
This past winter when Toronto experienced a power blackout due to a major ice storm, Elizabeth Cinello discovered ICE in Costa Rica. Continue reading
WORKPLACE POWER: What I Learned From The Not-for-Profit World
How do not-for-profits handle power in their workplaces? Here’s the view of a long-time staffer who had bosses and has been a boss. Continue reading
HYDRO: Getting The Power We Deserve
As we huddled under the covers in the dark and cold last December, the ice storm and its aftermath got us asking. Why was it such a massive outage? What was taking so long to fix it? Why is our system vulnerable to this? Who is responsible? How can we make sure this never happens again? Continue reading
PROTESTING THE MEGACITY: The Activist Camera And Citizen Power
The 1990s saw widespread street protests as unions and community groups came together to fight against the cutbacks in social services that were made in a radical shift to the right by the neo-conservative government of Mike Harris. Continue reading
POWER TO THE PEOPLE: Saving Wychwood Barns
Artscape Wychwood Barns is a community hub that includes arts and cultural activities, a food production and education centre, and environmental initiatives. Bringing this complex project to fruition was a long, challenging and often frustrating labour of love. Continue reading
COMMUNITY CONSULTATIONS: A Fraud Detector
Faced with a developer’s unwelcome application for rezoning, a Toronto neighbourhood agreed to take part in a Working Group set up by City Hall. Continue reading
EMPOWERING PARENTS: Information for Equitable Education
“Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.” These are the wise words of Nelson Mandela and are especially important when it comes to meaningful parental engagement. Continue reading
ABUSE OF POWER: The Justice System at Risk
Recently, a Toronto criminal lawyer was found guilty of ‘smuggling’ marijuana into the Don Jail. Many criminal lawyers, including myself, were united in their anger with this verdict. Continue reading
POLITICAL POWER: More Than Voting
Canvassing is a great way to discover your neighbourhood and understand the ideas and concerns of people in your community. Continue reading
PORTUGUESE POLITICS IN THE CITY
It is often said that Toronto is a city of neighbourhoods, each with its own socioeconomic characteristics, ethnic communities, life cycles and histories. While that may be true, Toronto is also a cluster of “invisible cities”… Continue reading
CASA LOMA AND THE NANO CASTLE
A video docu-tale about how we got Ontario Hydro, the world’s first publicly-owned utility. Continue reading
LIVING TORONTO 