Community Stories
Scrap Bill C-39: Protect Canada’s Environmental Laws
Bill C-30 Pest Control Products Act allows Ministers in the government to override scientific decisions on the use of pesticides previously banned by Health Canada. This marks the most significant setback in Canadian pesticide regulation in over a generation,…
The Deeper Challenges Underlying Our Political Unease
Surveying the political scene after the recent provincial election, it seems to me there is a lot of discontent and unease out there. We saw the NDP ejected in favour of a relatively unknown, inexperienced and potentially fragmenting alternative, the newly minted B.C. Conservative Party. I am not so sure…
Capitalism: A Global History
This book is quite astonishing. Over the past ten years I have read some 600 books on economics and economic history, and Sven Beckert’s book stands head and shoulders above them all. For Thomas Picketty, it’s “monumental, a must read.” Yes, it is 1,100 pages long,…
Microplastics in Me
This report features credible scientific research with findings from 28 people who had their blood analyzed, including Margaret Atwood, actor Fran Drescher and Victoria Pruden of the Metis National Council. Read the report here.
How Are Canadian Pension Funds Invested?
Hundreds of Canadians turned up to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s (CPPIB) public meetings across the country this past October to ask how their retirement savings are being invested. But despite people lining up at the microphones…
Student-led Evening Bus Pilot Launches in B.C.’s Columbia Valley After Years of Advocacy
After nearly four years of work, a new evening bus pilot is finally running in B.C.’s Columbia Valley, giving residents another way to get around after regular transit service ends for the day. The Late Bus runs from Edgewater in the north to Canal Flats in the…
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BC’s Timber Numbers Don’t Add Up
New Video from Jennifer Houghton Jennifer’s videos are always worth the watch. She simplifies, clarifies and takes a scalpel to the policies and words of the Ministry of “Forests and Corporate Logging”. In this latest 12-minute video she cuts to the chase:…
Camosun College’s Devastating Clear-cutting Last Week
It’s been an ongoing theme on CRD Watch, and in my writings that Post-Secondary Institutions on Southern Vancouver Island, shackled to the unsustainability of ecology destroying growth-based capitalism and a government also under its shackles, in particular to the…
Request Your Participation in Supporting CRD Biochar Incinerator Facility
We are requesting your support to encourage the (CRD) Capital Regional District, to move ahead with plans for purchase of a thermal conversion biochar facility. It would be incredibly useful to have Nanaimo and the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) send letters of…
It’s Not Just the Ecosystem; Our Economy is Socially Unfit, Too
Last week, I discussed a couple of recent global-level reports that identify serious problems with our current economic system. In particular, the UN Environment Programme, in its 2026 report…
The World’s 280 Million Electric Bikes & Mopeds Are Cutting Demand for Oil Far More Than Electric Cars
We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost. Close to half (44%) of all Australian commuter trips are by car – and under 10km. Of Perth’s 4.2…
Environment Groups Condemn Mining Permits Violating First Nation’s Consent in Clayoquot Sound
Environment groups comprising the Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance (CSCA) condemn the recent permits issued by the BC NDP provincial government to clear forest and build exploratory drill pads…
BC Parks Foundation Creates New Bird Sanctuary Near Victoria
METCHOSIN, BC (Mar 3, 2026) – Along the Pacific Flyway, where millions of birds travel north and south each year, a 21-hectare property in Metchosin has now been permanently protected by BC Parks Foundation. The acquisition was made possible by support from the Wilson…
Yes, There is a Problem With Our Economic System
In a recent article in the Hill Times, I noted that while Prime Minister Mark Carney was right to identify a rupture in the world in his Davos speech, he focused on the wrong rupture. The rupture he focused on — the geopolitical state of the world — is a minor inconvenience compared to the drastic impact…
How Contemporary Art Is Reimagining the Climate Crisis
Vancouver Art Gallery’s upcoming exhibition “Future Geographies: Art in the Century of Climate Change”, is set to unveil the visual, and often misconceived, reality of global warming through contemporary art.
Biosolids Update and Important Time Sensitive Survey
Thanks to the efforts of the Peninsula Biosolids Coalition, a non-profit citizen’s group, plus numerous individuals, businesses and other proponents for integrated resource management (including Creatively United for the Planet Society), the CRD is now…
Making Sense of BC Budget 2026
Lots of people are analyzing BC’s Budget Speech. I just watched this webinar – BC Policy Solutions – Making Sense of the BC Budget 2026 (text also at https://bcpolicy.ca/2026/02/17/bc-budget-2026/). The first two speakers from BC Policy Solutions were…
The Rights of Trees, Woodlands and Forests Toolkit
The University of Sussex, UK has created a comprehensive guide to delivering rights-based protection for trees, woodlands and forests. Read more here
