Federal Election 2021 Resources
Guide to a Strong Election Climate Plan, for your websites From Environmental Defence: Let candidates know that if they want your vote, they need to be serious about climate action. We’ve created a guide of key policies to watch for when you’re reading party platforms... Read more
101 Acres of Waterfront Forest Needs Protection
Did you know that nestled between Goldstream and Gowlland Tod Provincial Parks on W̱SÁNEĆ Traditional Territory there is a parcel of land for sale? It consists of 101 acres of mature forest with blankets of wildflowers, intact ecology, stunning waterfront on the... Read more
For the Love of Nature
STOP! I have been thinking about Fairy Creek for some time, about the issues and the folks involved. These poems are a token of my appreciation to the folk who are out there being visibly committed to the cause of the wellness of trees, our planet and all of us as a whole.
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How Much Is Enough?
This recent article in Yes! Magazine is very timely, as is the invitation to the event on Sept 9th. Stan Cox’s proposal for achieving fair shares for all through rationing managed by local governance is, to say the least, provocative in our current society... Read more
Saanich Naturescape Program
Support Nature in Your Neighbourhood Naturescape is a program and concept to protect, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat and native biodiversity. It encourages creating diversity, layers and edges and using native plants on your property and in the re-design of... Read more
If We Lose the Carbon Sinks, We Are Sunk
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Firefighters battle the Dixie Fire in Plumas County, California, this month after a burning tree fell across a road. Forest fires and other forms of deforestation worsen climate change because they impair the planet’s... Read more
Come to Fairy Creek Friday, August 13 – This is an Urgent Request
The RCMP have now invaded HQ – 50 arrested Monday, 35+ on Tuesday. They are stealing people’s belongings, smashing car windows to get inside, towing vehicles. Folks are still finding ways to resist and have set up a new camp. Meanwhile the court written... Read more
Denying net zero is ‘simply not on’
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: A flare stack lights the sky from a refinery in Edmonton. The pathway to net zero is tough, but doable, argues Trevor Hancock, and brings many social, economic, ecological and health co-benefits, as reports from the... Read more
A Wooden Stake – A Poem
I was affected by the May 27, 2021 article written by Justine Hunter in the Globe and Mail and in turn wrote a little rhyme. I’m a Delta, BC resident who writes poetry as a way to explore and understand myself and the wider world.
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Fostering Behaviour Change – The Power of Commitments
Canadians idle their engines an average of eight minutes a day. This unnecessary idling contributes to both climate change and poor air quality. To gauge the possibility of reducing engine idling, we conducted a pilot study in two locations in which idling is common:... Read more
Could lichens and bats help bring real protection to Fairy Creek?
Fairy Creek is home to a number of species at risk, and should be protected, say several scientists. At-risk species sighted in recent months include a variety of birds, little brown bats, and a lichen described as “cute” and sensitive. Could these species help Fairy Creek find true protection — beyond its present two-year deferral of logging?
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Building Child-Friendly Communities Means Protecting Future Generations
To become a Child Friendly City, cities should implement a nine-point framework that includes having “strategies for children, regular reports on the state of the city’s children, independent advocates for children, opportunities to listen to children’s views” and other governance measures.
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Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek Blockades, One Year Milestone Event
Voices from the Ancestral Forest Frontlines This gathering is in honour of the 1 year milestone of the Ada’itsx/ Fairy Creek blockades, began one year ago on the night of August 9th on the ridge into the headwaters of the unlogged Fairy creek watershed, where... Read more
Climate Health, Science and Politics in the Headlines – Early August 2021
Physicians, lawyers call on BC to investigate thousands of Heat Dome injuries From WCEL: The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and West Coast Environmental Law Association today warned that BC’s recent Heat Dome may have caused an estimated five... Read more
An Open Letter from John Cashore to Premier Horgan
John Cashore spent 15 years as the elected MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, serving as Minister of Environment (1991-1993), Aboriginal Affairs (1993-1998), Labour (1997-1998), and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier (2000-2001). He introduced the “Zero AOX” pulp pollution regulation requiring pulp mills to completely eliminate their organochlorine discharges and has been a tireless advocate for the environment.
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Phoenix Rising – A Poem
This poem is a reflection on our annual plague of forest fires and a consideration of what truly must change.
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Upcoming Climate Action – Have Your Voice Heard!
July 31 Deadline for Public Input: BC Hydro’s Completely Inadequate 20-year Plan From the BC Climate Alliance: BC Hydro is asking for public input to their draft 20-year Integrated Resource Plan (the 111 page report is here). This plan is completely inadequate for the... Read more
ON FIRE Climate Action Campaign
With climate catastrophes erupting daily, hundreds of people from coast to coast visited over 40 MP offices across the country and called on them to take emergency-level action on the climate emergency by stopping fossil fuel expansion and delivering Just Transition... Read more
Highlands association asks Supreme Court of Canada to weigh in on threat of mining to climate change
The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether B.C. officials issuing mining permits can ignore climate change as a factor in deciding whether a project goes ahead. The move follows recent cases brought by... Read moreOne Year Anniversary and Ceremonial Celebration
I am excited to invite you all to this One Year Anniversary & Ceremonial Celebration. This will be a momentous occasion; a time of unity and possibility. By coming from the city a valuable heartfelt connection will be made. It would be wonderful if we could create a glorious convoy from the cities showing our big hearts and supportive presence. Everybody’s face lights up at Fairy Creek when the Shuttle Bus arrives.
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A ‘SLAPP Suit’ – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation – to protect the Old Growth Forest in Qualicum Beach
In Qualicum Beach, the 200-acre rural Estate Residential forest contains a highly-productive and rare old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem, that’s known as the scenic gateway to our village. So when a plan for residential development threatened this iconic treasure, the community rallied.
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We Need To Build ‘Gentle Infills’ for Affordable, Healthy Neighbourhoods
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Garden suites like this one under construction in Victoria in 2014 are considered “gentle infill,” along with row houses, townhouses, duplexes and secondary suites in homes, writes Trevor Hancock. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES... Read more
Apple Tree – A Poem
My heart warmed recently when I read Emily Qian’s poem Trees from a Child’s Perspective on this site. In it she honors the tree and wisely likens the tree to parents. It brought to mind the poem I wrote years ago when my father passed. Thanks Emily.
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Salt Spring Island 5G Vote July 27th
The Saltspring Trust will be voting on the Rogers 5G-enabled cell tower proposed for Channel Ridge, Tuesday, July 27. So far, the Trust has received 227 letters opposed to this tower, 72 in favour. We have one last opportunity to ask them to make a decision that truly... Read more
Fostering Behaviour Change – Developing Effective Strategies
Careful strategy development is the cornerstone of effective programs. Too often, behavioral change programs are developed based on hunches rather than reliable information regarding the barriers and benefits to a behavior. Developing effective community-based social... Read more
Why Care? Old Growth Forests in BC on Brink of Extinction: A New Moral Imperative is Upon Us All
Independent researchers tell us that the old growth forests in BC are on the brink of extinction due to continued clearcut logging. Fairy Creek on Vancouver Island is a typical example of how bureaucracies are unable to make the substantial changes needed to prevent... Read more
The Difference Between Social, Supportive and Affordable Housing
From time to time, fierce debates erupt over proposals to introduce more dense housing into residential neighbourhoods. I suspect that part of the problem is a failure to distinguish between housing that is affordable, social housing and supportive housing, as well as a related concern about loss of property values.
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Shareable Fairy Creek Infographics
What is going on in Fairy Creek? Why do we need to protect old-growth? What are indigenous perspectives on this issue? What can I do? Creatively United has created these free shareable infographics to help spread the world about the old growth logging at Fairy Creek.... Read more
A Message from the Dean of UBC on Old-Growth Forests in BC
Much has been made about the future of old-growth forests in British Columbia. Global media interest is intense, partly because of the coverage of protestors being arrested while demonstrating against the logging of old-growth on southern Vancouver Island. These arrests were made not for demonstrating, which in British Columbia is generally a lawful activity, but for violating an injunction issued by the British Columbia legal system.
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Let’s Flush Out the Real Criminals
First, let me remind you that we are now at around 400 arrests of peaceful, unarmed people doing the job the premier promised to do: protect the very very very last of the old growth. For this week, I want to draw attention to some of the various court cases going on... Read more
Sorry About the Earth, but We Need to Make Money
Why on Earth are we spending scarce public resources to prop up the fossil-fuel industries that are the underlying cause of the climate emergency and that we need to wind down? I could understand if the funds were being used to transition those industries and their employees into clean and renewable energy production. But too often, they are used to support business as usual.
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Socio-economic Conditions for Satisfying Human Needs at Low Energy Use: An International Analysis of Social Provisioning
I’m pleased to announce that we have just published a new article in Global Environmental Change, entitled “Socio-economic conditions for satisfying human needs at low energy use: An international analysis of social provisioning”. In the article, which was led by my... Read more
Fossil Fuels are Killing Us – Write to Your Local Paper
Starting Friday June 25, the West Coast saw a record-breaking heatwave. Hundreds of people — mostly seniors and people with chronic illnesses — passed away in the following week due to the heat. Wildfire reduced Lytton, a village that reached close to 50°C, to ashes the very next day. Our hearts are heavy thinking of all those who’ve lost loved ones or cherished places.
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Climate Jobs and Opportunities
GoodWork: https://www.goodwork.ca Director, Sustainable Communities at David Suzuki Foundation A rare senior leadership opportunity to join one of Canada’s leading environmental organization and become an agent of... Read more
Make the Switch to a Heat Pump
Make the Switch is a research initiative to better understand homeowners’ motivations and experiences when switching from natural gas to a heat pump. The study will collect information on your costs, your reasons for making the switch, and your experience using a heat... Read more
Will We Ever Learn?
Will we ever learn? The pandemic is giving us mixed signals. As England’s Prime Minister tells us to forget face masks and social distancing for the good of his voting base, relying on 55% double vaccinated population, the nation is obsessed with Euro football... Read more
Trees Pay Decades of Dividends
There is a vestigial image of Canada – a raw and vast land of forests, lakes and mountains. Forests, most of all. At Confederation, 154 years ago, this was true for most people. Fewer than one in five lived in a city. At the start of the Second World War, close to half the population still lived in rural areas. But this changed rapidly thereafter.
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Oh, Kanata. Time for a New Flag and a New Name?
Last week, the Times Colonist announced that for Canada Day, it would be running a full-page pull-out of the Canadian Indigenous Flag. Designed by the late Curtis Wilson (Mulidzas) of the Wei Wai Kum First Nation near Campbell River, it is a revised maple leaf flag with swimming salmon in the side bars and an orca in the maple leaf.
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Court Drops Bombshell on B.C. Natural Gas Industry
The B.C. Supreme Court has found the B.C. government infringed the Blueberry River First Nation’s treaty rights by allowing decades of industrial development in their traditional territory. The ruling will likely have significant impacts for industries in that region, notably the natural gas industry.
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Trees from a Child’s Perspective – A poem by Emily Qian
Emily Qian, an 11 year-old BC resident in grade 5, wants people to know “that trees are a priceless treasure. We’ve only been on Earth for a few years, but trees have been here for thousands.” Trees By Emily Qian, Gr. 5 Trees are all long trunks and... Read more
Seasons Cyclical – A Poem
I’m a Delta, BC resident who began writing poetry as a young girl but really connected with it in earnest in my mid-thirties as a way to explore and understand myself and the wider world. Now approaching 60, poetry and the written word continues to inspire me. I... Read more
Stop Subsidies to ‘Corporate Welfare Bums’ That Harm Our Health
The list of unworthy corporate recipients of government (read tax-paying citizens) support is long, but surely right at the top must be the fossil-fuel industry, followed by industries such as mining, forestry, agriculture and fisheries (of which more next week).
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The Death Of A Tree Equals Paper Money – A Poem
To speak only of beauty and bountiful means Would be the perfect and serene But within this picture of life it seems Are both the best and worst extremes Could there be a place for variance and degree Where one could actually climb the tree Where the almighty dollar... Read more
Mount Work Coalition Joins Peninsula Biosolids Coalition to Support Motion for CRD to End Spread of Biosolids and Choose Safe Options
On June 16, the CRD’s Environmental Services Committee passed a motion to request the Province to end land application of biosolids at Hartland. This motion will be submitted for approval to the full CRD Board on July 14. This motion was a result of public pressure... Read more
West Coast Climate Action Network – Seeking Indigenous Engagement
We would be most grateful if you could share the opportunities below with any Indigenous people you know who are engaged in any kind of climate action or initiative. The West Coast Climate Action Network is a new non-profit society: we work to support and promote the... Read more
City of Victoria Honorary Citizen Award Call for Nominations
Do you know someone who makes our community a better place? Nominate them for the City of Victoria’s Honorary Citizen Award which celebrates those who have performed outstanding service for the betterment of our community and personal achievements. Nominees must be a... Read more
Getting Back to the Garden at Fairy Creek
I came upon a child of God, he was walking along the road, And I asked him, “Where are you going?”, and this he told me, I’m going on down to Fairy Creek, I’m gonna try and save some trees, I’m gonna camp out on the land, I’m gonna try and get my soul free
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A Call To Provincial & Federal Governments
British Columbia has the greatest ecological and biological diversity in Canada, from magnificent but highly endangered old-growth temperate rainforests to semi-arid grasslands, from valley-bottom wetlands to high alpine tundra. The BC NDP government can become a... Read more