With the economy in the doldrums, many people in the environmental field are scrambling to find work. Though I do not have any concrete figures, it is no suprise that consulting contracts, particularly sustainability related, have dried up dramatically. Companies have put new and expansion projects on hold, and this has in turn removed demand for soil contamination, phase I & IIs and other assessment work.

As such, I thought I would put together a quick list of the canadian job boards targeting environmental specialists. We are not particular to any single one, but some clearly have more volume than others. I have placed the number of jobs on the boards on May 25th, 2009 in brackets followed by the cost of posting a job on the site.

• Eco Canada Job Board – (30 jobs) – 250$ per posting
• Canadian Environmental (EnviroJobs) – (53) 200$
• Good Work Canada -  (176) Free/Voluntary Contribution.
• Work Cabin -  (31) 40-80$
• CanadaJobs Environment - (20) Free

Did I miss any big ones?

Not legally binding, but here‘s an interesting motion from Queen’s Park picked up by Dianne Saxe. It seems the Ontario Securities Commission is likely to beef up reporting requirements for social and environmental information.

According to a recent OSC Staff Notice, disclosure of environmental liabilities by reporting securities issuers fails to fully satisfy applicable disclosure requirements. The two main concerns:

1. issuers rely heavily on boilerplate disclosure, deemed insufficient, and
2. disclosure often lacks detailed discussion and quantification of environmental liabilities.

We work in environmental law, but we are also web experts. Designing for the internet and it’s wide variety of users is very challenging, no one does it perfectly. That being said, it is becoming indispensable to design websites well. Users have many places to go for information, if you do not design well, they will just click on out of there. The Globe and Mail, Canada’s premier newspaper just redesigned their website and my verdict is: Disaster.

The previous version was not amazing, but this is truly a mess.

Below is a screenshot and here are a few notes. My main complaints, as a web designer and usability professional are:

1. Four!, different ways to navigate the site (see blue lines). More is not better, it is confusing.
2. Hideous banner as the first thing you see. I understand the need for advertising revenue, but this comprimises the entire reader experience – thus reducing readership and advertising. (see red lines)
3. Red headlines and Black headlines – consistency?
4. Red lines to seperate articles – drawing your attention to the lines instead of the articles
5. Confusing search options
6. Over 10 unique colours on the various design elements – 3 or 4 is the maximum.
7. Drop down menus where the top link acts as a link! It should only trigger the drop down or don’t do a drop-down.

I could go on. But, largely, this redesign looks like it was done on a small budget with no high quality designers. The Newspaper industry is dying because of bad design, see our post on saving newspapers through great design.

The best use of the internet to deliver newspapers is the recently released New York Times Reader (not the website). It is a truly well designed software that makes reading online as pleasurable as the print format.

The Globe and Mail is destroying it’s credibility with this low quality production.

Written by Isaac Rudik at Compliance Solutions Canada – A top quality provider of complaince solutions

Many industries use potential soil contaminants in a wide range of manufacturing processes. Yet prevention is relatively easy, doesn’t require major investment and can be averted with properly trained personnel using the right equipment.

Admittedly, it is an extreme example but last July’s discovery of a small amount of loose yellow uranium in the soil under Cameco’s uranium hexafluoride conversion plant near Toronto added another chapter to an ongoing story. Cameco admitted at a public hearing in April that a leak from its plant reached a nearby harbour, groundwater was contaminated and the soil under its parking lot was contaminated, as well.

Yellow cake is nothing to fool around with but, fortunately, few companies deal with radioactive material. Yet many industries do use potential soil contaminants in a wide range of manufacturing processes. For example, in Ottawa in late April, the National Capital Commission closed a portion of Stanley Park near New Edinburgh when lead contamination was discovered in the soil, the site of a former landfill.

The problem with soil pollution is three fold.

First, it makes its way into the ecosystem and food chain when everything from small insects to large animals feed from plants growing in the contaminated soil.

Second, soil contamination can seep well beyond the original contamination site, leaking into ground water and adjacent surface areas.

Third, cleaning it up is incredibly expensive; Cameco is facing the possibility of regulators making it tear down its plant to clean the uranium-contaminated soil under the facility.

Yet preventing soil pollution is relatively easy, does not require a massive investment and can be averted with properly trained personnel using the right equipment.

Many Causes

There are numerous ways soil becomes polluted.

One is solid waste seepage and landfill leaking. Discharging industrial waste into the soil is another method. Applying fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are another cause of soil pollution.

But the most common chemicals causing soil to become contaminated are solvents, pesticides, heavy medals and petroleum by-products. Other pollutants include metals, organic chemicals, oils and tars, gases, biologically active materials and combustible materials. Problems from these substances arise most often from disposing of industrial waste in landfills or uncontrolled dumps.

Unlike yellow cake and other radioactive material, these components are widely used by industry. And every one of them can make workers sick as well as people living in surrounding areas.

Simple Prevention

There are simple ways to prevent soil contamination from industrial use of hazardous substances.

Organic waste matter requires proper containers and safe storage until it can be disposed of properly at a licensed and regulated treatment facility. Storage units come in countless sizes and many are designed for handling specific types of materials.

Inorganic matter such as paper, plastic, glass and metals should be reclaimed and recycled. While nearly every business has a “blue box” programme – indeed, most municipalities now require one – special recycling containers holding toxic materials need to be used and kept separate from bins full of soda cans and discarded photocopy paper. Their recycling requires special handling or the supposedly empty container can still contaminate the soil.

Industry is being held more accountable by government and consumers alike when it dumps industrial waste into the soil as well as into the air and water. That’s why prevention is cheap and easy; clean-up is hugely expensive and time consuming.

I just thought I would post two fantastic talks on sustainability and its potential to transform your business. The first talk is by Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface Carpeting and poster-boy for the sustainability mouvement in business. He is transforming his company from a heavy polluter to a zero-waste profit making machine. Take a look. Below this one is a talk on bio-mimicry.

This talk outlines the awesome inginuity of nature and evolution. Proteins that clean pipes, substances that form ceramics, carbon storage plants and natural water filtration. There are many ideas to draw inspiration from and use to change the way we do business.