Category Archives: Uncategorized

Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The disease has become a global pandemic, with over 1 million cases being confirmed and over 75,000 deaths across 200 countries and territories, after the first case was reported in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan.Continue reading “COVID-19: Chinese community in Toronto”

The glittering lights of the Las Vegas strip are no doubt a spectacle to anyone who visits the city. But the lights hold a dark secret – that they’re causing an absurd amount of light pollution! Light pollution is defined as the ‘wasted light cast in to the atmosphere’ (Ploetz, 2002). Las Vegas certainly castsContinue reading “Bright lights!”

10cm is the average amount of rainfall experienced in Las Vegas annually, making it highly vulnerable to water shortages (Lasserre, 2015). In the early 1990s it was thought that with the current rate of population growth that Las Vegas only had 6 years before it became a water deficient city (Gerlak & Soden, 1992). ThankfullyContinue reading “Impeding water doom: Over-allocation of the Colorado River”

Economic growth, urbanisation and structures of consumption that are characteristic of modern day developed cities, such as Toronto, correlates with an increase in the amount of solid waste being produced. Increased purchasing power and the corresponding changes to consumption patterns favouring goods such as single-use plastic bottles and cups, clothing and expensive goods like electronics.Continue reading “Toronto and Waste: Environmental justice and the importance of garbage”

It has been apparent that in recent years a new problem of increased waste has emerged. Coupled with economic growth and urbanisation there has been a rise in consumerism hence creating larger amounts of rubbish – the majority of which is being either sent to landfill or ending up in oceans. There is now aContinue reading “Las Vegas’ waste recycling… and pig farms?”

The concept of the ‘urban’ implies a metropolitan area with an economy centred around the secondary or tertiary sector (Pelling, 2003). Risk implies the likelihood or harm and severity at which this happens (UNLV, n/d). Urban risk is therefore thought of as the challenges faced by metropolitan areas in the wake of disasters. With theContinue reading “Urban Risk: Earthquakes in Las Vegas”

Cities are made by nature, but equally, they shape the ways in which nature flows through the built environment of towns and cities. This is understood through the idea of ‘metabolism’, both as a metaphor and as a practice. ‘These assemblages…are simultaneously real, like nature; narrated, like discourse; and collective, like society’ (Sywngedouw, 2003). ThisContinue reading “Urban Nature: Rooftop gardens”

Improving air quality is an issue that many urban cities are faced with. Las Vegas is certainly no exception. Ozone and particulate pollution (PM2.5) are the pollutants that are causing the most problems within the city (Martinez, 2019). Ozone (O3) is formed by a reaction between molecules of NOx from car exhaust fumes or VOCsContinue reading “Ozone pollution…is it inevitable?”