Ron Dembo

Early in December I was sitting in the middle of Milne Bay, off the coast of Papua New Guinea, eating my breakfast. To my left at the table was Charlie Veron, one of the world's most preeminent scientists on extinction. We were on our way to see ocean vents where...

Climate change is one of the most hotly debated issues of our time, both from an economic and a moral viewpoint. And whenever someone makes a case for action from a moral stance, most often they'll justify it by invoking the future plight of the world and the children that...

There is no doubt the word "smart" is overplayed and devalued. A good example is smart meters for measuring home electricity. A smart meter is only as smart as the software and feedback loops generated from its data -- without feedback a smart meter is dumb.

In Ontario we...

In July I spent four days in Edinburgh at TEDGlobal listening to a broad range of talks by amazing people who are doing amazing things. The creativity of these people is inspiring. What we are capable of is truly awesome. It is awesome in the good it can...

Stop people on the street and ask them if the air quality in their home matters to them. I bet they would say "yes" across the board -- yet, I'm willing to bet that most of us know more about the fuel efficiency of our cars, or the price of...

Just as anyone with access to hot running water and a massage bench can declare they have a spa, almost any resort that uses recycled toilet paper and serves shade grown, organic, fair trade coffee can call itself an eco-resort.

There is no reasonable rating system that exists for eco-resorts....

For some time, Zerofootprint and many others have been highlighting the need to focus on the energy inefficiency of buildings, particularly if we are to make serious inroads into reducing global carbon emissions. We have looked at the issue of how to fund energy efficiency measures,...

Benchmarking is the process of comparing your performance metrics to industry best practice and/or best practices of other industries. The primary goal is to make improvements that lead to doing things better, faster and cheaper.

Benchmarking involves identifying the best performers and comparing your results to theirs in order to...

Global warming, apocalyptic movies about the future and discussions about the environment can sometimes be a drag. It often seems so dire that one wants to try and ignore the facts and carry on in our unsustainable ways, leaving the problem to future generations.

It doesn't have to be so...

On Earth Day, we looked back on a year in which James Cameron's Avatar, a film about environmental crisis and restoration, swept box offices around the globe. What if there were a real-life answer to help solve the real world problems of climate change, peak oil, and global food security?...

Ask anyone about the big causes of global warming and odds are that gas-guzzling SUVs will be a common reply. What those respondents do not understand is that SUVs are responsible for a percent or two of North America's carbon footprint. The big carbon culprits are our cities or, more...

On average, buildings in the US are responsible for 40 percent of the carbon emissions that lead to global warming. In big cities it is even higher. In New York it is 79%, Hong Kong 72%, Toronto 69%, to give some examples. It is clear that if we are to...

We congratulate Senator Obama on his historic acceptance speech last night. His call for an end to the American dependence on foreign oil - and his laudable target of 10 years - should be applauded for the investment they will bring to alternative energy sources and other clean technology. Senator...

The world has changed on us. It is no longer our national governments that are in control of the affairs of the world. They are not in a position to solve the problems we face. Our big problems today are global - global warming and the reduction of CO2, terrorism,...