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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The Voyage of Freydis
I am so excited to share that my first novel, The Voyage of Freydis, has been on the Canadian bestseller list for two weeks this October. The Voyage of Freydisa is a work of historical fiction that is a revisionist retelling of the life of Freydis Eiriksdottir, the... Read more
Lead Educator Position Open at Rocky Point Bird Observatory
Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) – www.rpbo.org – is based in Victoria B.C. and is the only Pacific coastal station in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. RPBO is a unique and important contributor to bird conservation; regionally, nationally and... Read more
Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Weekly blog with the latest news and upcoming events from the Elders for Ancients Newsletter.
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Donate to Elders for Ancient Trees Fairy Creek injunction court case
Elders for Ancient Trees needs your help, your donations, to sustain their legal challenge against the injunction at Fairy Creek in the BC Supreme Court.
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‘System-wide transformation’ needed to rebalance ourselves with nature
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Amazon opened its first general store outside the United States in a mall near London this week, selling the online retail giant’s most popular products, including books, toys, games and consumer electronics. A UN report... Read more
Help the Elders in their battle to save Fairy Creek
The Elders for Ancient Trees are engaged in a tough legal battle with the logging industry to save the embattled forests around Fairy Creek. Please support them with a donation to their legal fund.
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Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests + Forest Protectors
Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests+Forest Protectors October 13, 4-6 pm (Next week we will start winter hours 3-5 pm) 4 pm start at BCLeg Government+Belleville corner ~5 pm go for a walk to BellMedia building, home of CFAX, 1420 Broad St ~5:15 circle up for community... Read moreScience Must Trump Politics
This is an excellent statement from Dr. Suzanne Simard* re: Judge’s ruling opens window to save Fairy Creek as well as remaining old growth forests in British Columbia. Simard discusses the economic and ecological reasons, to which we might add eco-humanist values... Read more
Women’s History is Tree History
October is Women’s History Month, and the history of women’s activism in tree conservation (in wilderness & in cities) is particularly interesting, and a matter of ongoing urgency in the present. Women like Octavia Hill & Ada Salter still inspire us.
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Comment on BC’s Renewal Permits on the Wolf Cull by Nov.15, 2021
The 5-year permits for various helicopter wolf slaughters around caribou herds have expired and need to be renewed. Renewed permits are proposed for 12 caribou herds, along with one new permit for a 13th herd. In addition, there is a space for respondents
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How Do We Make Peace With Nature?
I find myself increasingly drawn to the United Nations’ framing of our current situation as being at war with nature, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it in a landmark speech at Columbia University in December 2020. For an organization that is, after all, intended to be the world’s peacekeeper, the response was obvious: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century,” Guterres said.
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PARKS AND CLIMATE ACTION – CRD Parks Needs Course Correction
In a climate emergency our elected representatives must adopt these 5 actions immediately to make real the protection of nature and the conservation of biodiversity in our parks as the top priority promised.
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Doctor’s Orders
The western screech owl joins in a moment of celebration.
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Suzanne Simard and the Understory
When I logged onto Suzanne Simard’s presentation last Wednesday, my picture of old-growth forest was of huge, towering trees, draped in lichen and moss, sheltering birds and animals – a beautiful picture from the ground up. At the end of Suzanne’s one-and-a-half hour... Read more
Spirits Must Be Seen & Heard – A Poem
SPIRTS MUST BE SEEN & HEARD In recognition, these Native baby spirits must be seen and heard. Most of us have evolved enough to see their face and hear their name, now. Some of us were not awake to get involved, we let their deaths go by. Some who knew better, Dr.... Read more
The Global Ecological Crisis is also a Global Health Crisis
Something extraordinary happened in mid-September: 231 medical journals around the world all published the same editorial, titled “Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health.” Led by a group of chief editors from world-leading journals…
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September 30, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Here are some resources to help settlers understand and advance Indigenous Reconciliation: 21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a... Read more
Fossil Fool – A Poem
Fossil Fool When our Fossil Fool went to school, profit was the Golden Rule. I wish that he had stopped to think that it would lead us to the brink of climate change, and fire and drought. Let’s help him see there is a way out of unrelenting growth and industry greed.... Read more
Making Your Internet Safer
It can be easy to simultaneously upgrade your internet and improve indoor air quality by switching any “wireless” connectivity at home to a “wireline” connectivity. Here are some simple videos and information: Simple 2-minute video How to reduce radiation from your... Read more
Student Climate Strike, Friday, Sept. 24
Students will walk out of class late morning and arrive at the Legislature at about noon. Speakers, music and more. Let’s get out and support the students as they struggle for a sustainable future. Organized by Our Earth Our Future. Details Date: Friday, September 24... Read more
A Tree Poem A Day
For the 30 days of September, I have been sending a tree poem a day, written by myself and others, to protect our ancient forest ecosystems to the Premier, Prime Minister, select ministers, MLAs and party leaders. Here is my letter, followed by a poem I sent on day... Read more
Announcing Victoria’s First-Ever National Reconciliation Day Ride
Capital Bike and Victoria Orange Shirt Day are proud to announce the first-ever National Reconciliation Day Ride on September 30th in Victoria, BC, as part of Go By Bike Week, in recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Everyone is invited to wear... Read more
The Girl Who Ate Dirt
My poem, “The Girl Who Ate Dirt”, is inspired by an intriguing autobiographical detail that Suzanne Simard shares in her book “Finding The Mother Tree”.
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Call to Action: AccessBC Letter Writing Campaign for Free Prescription Contraception
The AccessBC Campaign for free prescription contraception is once again running a letter writing campaign, calling on the provincial government to fulfil their election promise to make all prescription contraception free.
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The Destruction of the Earth is a Crisis of Masculinity
I have learned in a visceral way—through relentless confrontation of comfort and exposure to vulnerability—that my culture, and its systems and structures, all derived from patriarchy, is the downfall of humanity.
Read moreCity of Victoria Tree Opportunities
Join the Trees in Cities Challenge The City of Victoria is working with the community to plant 5,000 trees on public and private land in the United Nations Trees in Cities Challenge. In 2020, the City increased tree planting by 40 per cent and planted 500 new trees in... Read more
No Matter Who Wins, We Could All Lose
It has been a pretty dispiriting election all round. It was called in the midst of a pandemic for no better reason than that the Liberals want to hang on to power. The campaign has been lacklustre, the debates uninspiring and badly organised and, at the end of it all, it seems to me we may well be right back where we started: a minority government.
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Being a Voice for the Forest: A Guide for Taking Action
As human beings we are an inseparable part of the natural world. Our existence depends on a good relationship with our non-human relatives. Unfortunately, the current model of forestry practiced in this province breaks the relationships between ourselves and nature.... Read more
Fall Go By Bike Week 2021 Launch
Fall Go By Bike Week is returning September 27th to October 3rd and, after a spring hiatus, the always-popular Celebration Stations are back! “Community is incredibly important, so I’m thrilled that we can bring our community of riders and local supporters... Read more
Candidates Who Care for Safe Technology
Just a quick reminder – before heading out to vote on Monday, September 20th – please check if any of your candidates signed on to the list on our “Candidates Who Care About Canadians’ Health” webpage: https://c4st.org/candidateswhocare/... Read more
Important Tips for Making Your Home Safer
1) Less than 10 days until the election, but still time to try to get MPs elected who are supportive of reducing EMF in our environment and helping to protect the health of Canadians. A simple ask of those running — if they will support implementation of the... Read more
The Right to a Healthy Environment is a Vital Election Issue
Last week, I noted that none of the main parties — those likely to form the next government — have yet recognized and accepted the scale of the global ecological crises we face, to which Canada contributes disproportionately. Nor have they recognized the implications for Canadians and the rest of humanity, including the threat these crises pose to our human rights.
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The Planet-Sized Elephant in the Election Room
In a December 2020 speech at Columbia University, the UN secretary general said: “The state of the planet is broken. Humanity is waging war on nature. This is suicidal,” adding: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.”
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Sign Up Today for an Old Growth Lawn Sign / Window Sign
Do you want a lovely Protect Old Growth sign for your lawn? Of course you do! Sign up today for an Old Growth Lawn Sign / Window Sign! We are focusing right now on distribution of signs to households in Greater Victoria, to get the message out to the Premier and his... Read more
Neither left nor right, but ahead — why the Greens are different
As anyone who has ever Googled my name could tell you, I was the first leader of the Green Party of Canada in the mid-1980s. That was in part because I had deep roots in green or ecological political thinking, dating back a decade before that.
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Weekly Climate Action – September 7th Deadline
Urgent, before September 7th: FortisBC, the province’s gas utility, tried to sneak one by us From The Wilderness Committee: It split the expansion project at its Tilbury LNG plant in Delta into two. We’ve got until Sept. 7 to tell the province to reject a key part of... Read more
Forest Defenders Supreme
Feeling a deep gratitude for the united Fairy Creek front line forest defenders.
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Scientists Call for Urgent Protection of Fairy Creek Biodiversity
Many endangered species inhabit the remaining old-growth forests that lie within and just outside Fairy Creek on the southern end of BC’s Vancouver Island, as well as nearby in areas like Eden, the Walbran, Bugaboo and Caycuse, say a group of scientists. The... Read more
The Eleventh Hour
A Timely Reminder. 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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