The Tender Touch of Rising Light
In the Celtic tradition, February 1st marks the celebration of Imbolc, the first stirrings of Spring!
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Phase Out Gas Powered Leaf Blowers
A good guy I know named Francis Landy has created a petition to ban gas-powered leaf blowers in Oak Bay. Please sign and/or share it with others via email, Facebook or any form of social media. This cause is very close to my heart as I’ve been made painfully... Read more
Mark Angelo’s “The Little Creek That Could”
The Little Creek that Could is a children’s story written by Mark Angelo celebrating his life long commitment to bringing degraded urban streams back to life. Mark Angelo is a globally renowned conservationist, teacher and writer who is an Order of Canada recipient... Read moreB.C. Securing Watersheds for a Stronger Future
The BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy today released a Discussion Paper on Watershed Security and and associated Fund to support community engagement in watershed management across the province.
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What is a ‘well-being society’? For starters, one that values planet Earth
In the more than 40 years I have spent working in public health, I have been guided by a key realization and two principles. The realization was that medicine, in which I was trained, while important, is not the main factor that contributes to good health.
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Summary Synthesis of Amitav Ghosh’s The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
I am now of the view that the scientifically validated discovery of nonhuman sentience and intelligence in the natural world offers the greatest potential for transformation in natural and cultural interpretation and education since the rise of the ecological movement... Read moreHope for Ecosystems
I have recently come across a new source of information, inspiration, and opportunity to act. Endangered Ecosystems Alliance (EEA) is a relatively new non-profit environmental group. They have just been granted charitable tax status. The executive director is Ken Wu. One of the science advisors is Andy MacKinnon. To me, those participants signal knowledge, integrity, courage, and smart ideas.
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New Poet Laureate Launches Legacy Project
Congratulations to Vancouver’s sixth and Poet Laureate, Fiona Tinwei Lam. Fiona has been a guest on CreativelyUnited.org Climate & Artists Series free webinars. She just launched a new competition for young, emerging and established wordsmiths as her legacy... Read more
Teal Jones Timber Review Period Open
Here’s your chance to review Teal Jone’s timber analysis and management plan for Timber Forest License #46 (Fairy Creek) and submit your feedback. Teal Jones would like you to send your comments directly to them, however, please copy to... Read more
Health Requires A Well-Being Society
Even here in Canada, there are dramatic inequalities in health. A 2018 report from the Public Health Agency of Canada found a 4.1-year gap in life expectancy between those living in high- versus low-income neighbourhoods, and around 11- to 12-year gaps between areas with high or low concentrations of Inuit or First Nations people.
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Section of Bowker Creek for Sale
On January 24, 2020, School District 61 Trustees will be deciding on the sale of a parcel of 1.9 acres of publicly-owned land and section of Bowker Creek at Lansdowne South (previously Richmond Elementary School) We have been told that the number of emails the School... Read more
Cell Towers on the Ocean Floor
In 2018, on land and in space, preparations to deploy millions of antennas were very publicly being made and advertised, for “5G,” “Smart Cities,” and the “Internet of Things.” At the same time, and without any publicity, governments, research laboratories, and commercial and military interests were collaborating on plans to create “Smart Oceans” and the “Internet of Underwater Things” (IoUT).
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Fairy Creek Winter Fundraisers
Every dollar donated will directly support: ★ Physical needs for people still at camps, ★ Reimbursements for lost, stolen, and damaged property, ★ Direct support for frontline defenders healing from violent arrests and trauma
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Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Elders for Ancient Trees Update
Read moreDon’t Look Up Film Review
With more than 80 million views since its release on December 24th, the film Don’t Look Up has become one of the top three films ever shown on Netflix. It is a brilliant parody on our inability as a global community to focus on an immediate existential threat to... Read more
Summary Synthesis of Finding the Mother Tree
I have been struggling since the beginning of the pandemic to find meaning in, and to give value to this transformational moment in the human journey. At last, after many months, I have got as far as an outline, at least, for a personal approach to dealing with the accelerating…
Read morePrivate Police & Prosecutors
Corporate lawyers, backed by American billionaires, are trying to jail Indigenous people in Northern B.C. for peacefully standing on their own land. Crown prosecutors argued there was no public interest in pursuing criminal contempt charges against Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and family members who allegedly blocked CN Rail traffic in the town of New Hazelton two years ago.
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Online federal consultation on 2030 climate targets closes next week!
Next week the federal government’s online consultation on our 2030 climate targets closes. It’s a crucial opportunity for us to have our say about Canada’s climate targets and the plan to reach them. The consultation was launched under the radar in December, and... Read more
All I want for the new year is…
… well, world peace, of course; an end to poverty, hatred and discrimination in all its forms; reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada and around the world; serious action on climate change, an end to the ravaging of nature…
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January: A Time to Dream
“To Everything there is a Season and a Time for Every Purpose under Heaven…” Eccelesiastes 3:1-8. In this post we look at the purpose of January.
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The Midwinter Solstice and Other Turning Points
On Sunday evening, I will gather with others in our neighbourhood at Lights on the Gorge, our annual event to mark the midwinter solstice. We will light some of the trees along Gorge Road, sing songs appropriate to midwinter and the solstice and have a lantern parade for the kids.
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Black Friday is bad for the planet and our well-being
We have just witnessed another Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an orgy of consumerism that kicks off the Christmas shopping binge. Every year, it seems, the consumption-fest gets worse, hyped by a marketplace that encourages greed and over-consumption because it desperately wants us to purchase more and more stuff.
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November 10th Elders for Ancient Trees December 7th Newsletter
December 7th Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
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A Winters Rest
Seasonal Changes
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Mother Nature has shown us that ‘business as usual’ is a disaster
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, has told us “humanity is waging war on nature.” The problem is that wars have winners and losers. But as the events this year have surely shown us, Mother Nature is more powerful than us, and bats last.
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8 Apps to Combat Food Waste in Canada
Over 50 percent of the food waste in Canada is avoidable. This means that half of Canada’s food waste could have been saved and used to feed people. Not only is food waste a lost opportunity to feed someone, but rotting food in landfills emits methane and... Read more
A Footprint
a poem about the impression that the first snowfall leaves on our relationship with the world…
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Elders for Ancient Forests Newsletter
December 1 – 7 Elders for Ancient Forest Newsletter
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Practising planetary health care in B.C. starts with hospital food waste
It comes as a surprise to many people, including health-care professionals, that the health-care system has a large ecological footprint. But as I noted last week, if the global health-care system were a country, its carbon emissions would have made it the fifth-largest emitter on the planet, according to a 2019 report from Health Care Without Harm.
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Regenerative Land Design
Years ago I visited a farm with a friend. The owners were ranging bison on the land and heard I worked in regenerative land design. They asked if I would consider a problem: There was a creek that ran through their property and pasture. They had a question, “how... Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests November 23 Newsletter
Elders for Ancient Trees Weekly Newsletter, Nov. 23/21
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Practising health care as if the planet matters
Last week, I reported on the rally at the B.C. legislature organized by Doctors for Planetary Health — West Coast. The rally was timed to coincide with the COP26, the UN’s climate-change conference in Glasgow, where, for the first time — and at the behest of the U.K. government — health was one of three science priority areas.
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BC Floods: Sharable Infographics and Information
Why are they happening? Preparation and safety tips.These conditions are not just being caused by “natural” disasters. They are “unnatural” disasters that have been exacerbated by climate change and exploitative land and resource management.
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Kings Park Supporters: Action Required & Important Fundraising Update
URGENT CALL TO ACTION Please call or email Saanich Council before it’s too late –> Ask that 1.75M CRD sourced funds be applied to finally Save Kings Community Nature Space. In this era of climate crisis we must save our precious green spaces, they are... Read more
Doctors and nurses declare a climate Code Red for B.C.
Inspired in part by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who had called the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report a “Code Red for humanity,” we were there to declare a climate and ecological Code Red for B.C., noting: “The climate and ecological crisis is a health crisis. We stand in solidarity for a safe and equitable future for all living creatures and the planet.”
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Reflections from Fairy Creek
As Creatively United’s media person, I have spent a large part of the past year learning about all things old-growth and Fairy Creek. I follow all the essential accounts (see @fairycreekblockade and @rainforestflyingsquad for on-the-ground updates), I have gathered... Read more
A Snowman’s Hope
Oh the weather outside is frightful… I’m a Delta, BC resident who writes poetry as a way to explore and understand myself and the wider world. My love of trees, the environment, poetry and the written word continue to inspire me.
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Hawai’i Konea – A Story from the Future
It’s sunset, at the end of another beautiful day in Honolulu. The high tide is arguing with the seawall, which was raised another metre last year to protect the Capitol Building – but what’s new? They’re still not on good terms with each other. My name is Ben... Read more
November 10th Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This is the November 10th edition of the Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
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Becoming a One Planet region starts with food
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Cattle graze winter pasture in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies near Longview, Alta. on Jan. 8, 2004. Concern over the provincial government’s decision to drop a coal policy that has protected the eastern slopes of the... Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests Newsletter
The Elders for Ancient Forest Newsletter for the week of November 2nd.
Read moreThe World Is Coming Apart at the Seams and Why We Should Embrace It
A few weeks ago, the City of Victoria, the Victoria Foundation and the Canadian Urban Institute came together to host an “urban intensive” called CUIxVictoria – Vital Conversations for Our Shared Future. It was a very powerful three-day series of discussion and... Read more
Helping Ugandan Women Maintain Their Livelihood
Ugandan women living in poverty are greatly at risk right now due to two lockdowns in Kampala. Help me help them get back to work and create a situation where they can be financially self-sufficient and feed their families.
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Working toward a One Planet Saanich
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated almost a year ago: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” In my view, this can only happen if we recognize, as Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos’ 1972 book put it, that there is “Only One Earth” and we have to learn to live within and not beyond its bounds.
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Sadly, B.C. is still treating nature as resource to be exploited
In this series of columns, I am exploring the UN’s call for humanity to make peace with nature. Last week, I noted that B.C.’s government is failing to act, or is taking inadequate action, on climate change. This week, I look at B.C.
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Elder or Older?
I found this an inspiring commentary by a wise storyteller, especially the difference he sees between becoming ‘older’ vs becoming an ‘elder’. We are all in that transition. This consciousness is so needed in the world right now. This is only 30 minutes:... Read more
Now Recruiting: City of Victoria Committee/Panels
Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Want to help shape Victoria’s future? We’re accepting applications from individuals to serve on the following committees to provide advice to City Council on a variety of arts and culture, design, planning and development projects,... Read more
Oct 20 Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This week’s Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
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B.C. fails to take adequate action on climate crisis
By recognizing that “humanity is waging war on nature,” the United Nations arrived at the idea of making peace with nature. Regrettably, the B.C. government pays little heed to calls to make peace with nature, whether from the UN or its own citizens.
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