Article Archives - Page 19 of 21 - Creatively United Community

Please take a moment and let Premier John Horgan know that you object to a proposed strip mine in the South Highlands. Now, more than ever, we need leadership on climate change. Turning 43 acres of hills, forest and wetlands into a deep and barren crater is not in the... Read more

Conservation of Resilience, Renewal and Complexity in B.C.’s Forests

Here is my input to Minister Doug Donaldson’s invitation to comment on the “Forest and Range Practices Act’ Improvement Initiative: Renewal and Resilience.” Click here to read my full report, “Conservation of Resilience, Renewal and Complexity in B.C.’s... Read more

5G Wireless: The Risks and Solutions

Portions of this article are originally by Arthur Firstenberg. Please visit Arthur’s website for more information and sign the appeal. We are all confronted daily with issues that affect our health and well-being and that of our loved ones. A new challenge is... Read more

Fixing Primary Care? Focus on the Demand

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Food & Health

The primary-care crisis has been getting a lot of attention in the community and in this newspaper recently. But the focus so far has been on the supply side — we need more doctors and other primary care providers, more services and a better system, everyone says.

Summer Markets Guide

We are so fortunate to have a plethora of wonderful fresh locally grown organic produce to choose from. Here’s a list of some of the most popular markets in the region, many of which, have wonderful live music and lots of local artisans to add to the flavour.

Urban Villages Can Combat Ugly Sprawl

Article, Energy, Housing, & Buildings

An important contributor to our large ecological footprint is urban sprawl, an energy and resource-hungry form of development that we cannot afford. It also is bad for our health.

Mudflats in the Colquitz River Estuary & Cuthbert Holmes Park

Barn Swallows, feeding at the tributary in the Colquitz River estuary. Globally listed under SARA as Threatened, and BC Blue listed status. How fortunate we are to have these visitors stop by on this flyway. We must protect these mud flats from disturbances by... Read more

The Benefits of a Holistic Approach to Health

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Friday was National Indigenous People’s Day, a good time to reflect on Indigenous perspectives on health. There is much there that can be helpful in these challenging times. A good place to start is the First Nations Perspective on... Read more

The Need For Change Can Provide Opportunities

A few years ago, Naomi Klein wrote a book about climate change titled This Changes Everything. Her point was climate change is a crisis of capitalism and we need to radically rethink our society and economy, if we are to deal with it. But she was only discussing... Read more

Our Efficient Mobility Agenda

Article, Transportation

How people travel varies significantly between communities. Although many cities are automobile dependent, with most residents owning a personal automobile which they use for most trips, some cities have much more multimodal transportation systems, were residents own... Read more

Green New Deal a Pact for the Future

As of May 5, the pact is endorsed by 70 organizations from different sectors across Canada. There are nine in British Columbia, including the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, and many individuals, a high proportion of whom are leading musicians and actors.

Inspired Leadership

Between the Leadership Victoria Awards at Government House and the Green New Deal townhall in Fernwood, Victoria was buzzing with excitement. Last night one of Victoria’s youngest recipients, Rebecca Wolf Gage was acknowledged for her leadership in organizing... Read more

Citizen Science Double Blind Testing

Good health solutions never get double blind testing so I designed a Citizen Science Double Blind Study method to inexpensively get the testing done. It was published in a medical journal of bioethics May 8 2019

Move From Denial, to Protests, to Building Better Mousetraps

Courtesy of the Times Colonist “Stop denying our Earth is dying,” read a poster held by a young woman taking part in a protest by the Extinction Rebellion group outside the BBC headquarters in London recently. Young people can see what is coming, and they are... Read more

Inspiration Plus!

Article, Community Trees, Nature & Conservation

Thanks to everyone who came out in support of our Earth Day event Monday evening and dropped by to say “hi” and volunteered at our table at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific’s Earth Day event earlier in the day. Our line up of speakers for... Read more

Urban Forests Benefit Us All

Thank you to the more than 100 people who attended Community Trees Matter Network’s April 17th discussion with Dr. Cecil Konijnendijk. His inspiring presentation clearly illustrated the true value of trees from a public health and wellness perspective and why we... Read more

Help Us Save The 6

Article, Community Trees, Nature & Conservation

The 6 acres, located beside Wildwood, were once part of Wildwood and despite several changes in ownership have remained intact. Merv did some selective harvesting in line with his ecoforestry principles and practices, but the property hasn’t been touched for decades.... Read more

Earth Day In The Gardens Community Event

Meet and interact with earth-minded community groups, nonprofit organizations, green businesses and more at this, “enviro expo for all things eco!” Admission is free and includes access to our nine acres of demonstration gardens to inspire you, as well as interactive children’s activities to engage the next generation of environmental stewards.

Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge

The District of Highlands initiated the Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge in response to the catastrophic climate impacts we are experiencing and that will continue to escalate if we don’t collectively and immediately reduce our emissions. Here in BC and Canada we... Read more

First Flight Out – A Poem

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Nature & Conservation

One mote one note one earth one world floating pearl and blue wholly indivisible. Bearer of life in this system shouting through space, by endless schemes we partition you: Language. Colour, Coins..Philosophy. Faith. But in the context of this universe you are what... Read more

The Redfish School of Change

The Redfish School of Change is an Environmental Studies field program open to ES students at the University of Victoria and at Western Washington University. Now entering its tenth year, this field school takes students on a tour through the the communities on both... Read more

Happy National Volunteer Week

Thank you for your support of our Volunteer Friends of Uplands Park Society. We greatly appreciate the many ways that our members volunteer: helping to restore Uplands Park and other natural areas in Oak Bay, stopping by to appreciate those that are able to do this,... Read more

Chantay and the Forest Illustrated Children’s Book & Storytelling

A fantasy story-poem supporting urban forest, Chantay and the Forest is offered as a fundraiser for non-profits. Storyteller Gerald Harris and artist Holly Joy Harris published the fun and lively children’s story mainly for children of primary school age. Chantay and... Read more

We Face Alternative Health Futures

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Food & Health, Nature & Conservation

The possible future encompasses all the things we can imagine happening, which can take it into the realm of science fiction. This is not to disparage science fiction; at its best, it can illuminate our present world and its values, and imagine and test ideas most of us have never considered.

Senate Needs To Protect Our Health and Environment

In recent weeks, we have seen large Canadian industries pressuring the Senate to favour their special interests over the wider health and environmental interests of Canadians. In the process, this unelected chamber is being asked to subvert the will of the elected House of Commons by delaying and effectively killing two bills.

Ecotoxicity and the ‘enormity of tiny-ness’

Courtesy of the Times Colonist Persistent organic pollutants, covered by the 2001 Stockholm Convention, are described as “chemicals that remain intact in the environment for long periods, become widely distributed geographically, accumulate in the fatty tissue of... Read more

Park Protection Needs Vigilance

Check out the fabulous images/video of the diversity of wildlife living in harmony just 30 minutes from downtown Victoria. The NDP wants to put a highway through Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park. Fortunately and thankfully, the CRD board, with tremendous public... Read more

Time To Shift The Bell Curve Toward Health

Life is lived on a bell curve. Many attributes of a population — height, for example — are distributed on a bell-shaped curve, with the average at the centre and then decreasing numbers of people as we get further from the centre.

Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge

The District of Highlands Council would like to challenge all of the AVICC Local Governments to a Municipal Survivor Climate Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to initiate a fun and friendly local government competition with each participating council measuring... Read more

Youth Climate Strike Movement Builds in Victoria

Local youth and students, families and adult supporters will be mobilizing in solidarity with youth world-wide for a safe, livable climate future. Join us on March 15th!

Green New Deal

Article, Community Trees, Nature & Conservation, Transportation

“For more than a decade, the biggest progressive ideas about curbing climate change have relied on technical or narrow market mechanisms. They have required regulators to make emitting carbon dioxide costly. By prescribing industrial policy, the Green New Deal goes in a different direction: It throws all of American government and industry behind an attempt to make renewable energy cheap.”

Sooke Hills Wilderness Park Highway Proposal Update

Thank you to everyone who has written letters and showed up at CRD meetings to speak against the province’s desire to see a highway pushed through our precious watershed in the Sooke Hills Wilderness Park. The insanity of this proposal shows that the Ministry of... Read more

Delivering Community Power

Kudos to the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and Friends of Public Services for taking a serious look at the Leap Manifesto and bringing an action plan to it. If we truly intend to take climate change seriously, we need more initiatives like this and support for the... Read more

Re: Generation – Why older people must stand in solidarity with the youth climate strikes

“But those of us who have long been engaged in this struggle will not abandon you. You have issued a challenge to which we must rise, and we will stand in solidarity with you. Though we are old and you are young, we will be led by you. We owe you that, at least.”

Healing the Pain of Climate Despair

The problems facing the world right now, the litany of environmental and social problems, are hard to bear. We feel despair, anger, and apathy. It hurts to engage deeply again and again with this very heavy material. And so it should. Use that pain, as it is fuel.

Why we still need to love this planet

The proximity of Valentine’s Day and the plan by a University of Victoria student, Antonia Paquin, to create love letters for the Earth for Valentine’s Day, put me in mind of the work of Dr. Helen Caldicott, an internationally renowned Australian physician and anti-nuclear activist.

Youth Rising For Climate Justice Rally

Kudos to Antonia Paquin and all the students and youth who came out this morning to the Youth Rising for Climate Justice rally at the Victoria Legislature where songs and many wise words were shared. A few of the many notable quotes: “We’re the first generation to be... Read more

Protect Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park

Article, Arts, Community, & Inclusivity, Energy, Housing, & Buildings

Creatively United will be standing up for the East Sooke Regional Park on February 20th at the CRD headquarters, 625 Fisgard in the 6th-floor boardroom on the importance of protecting and preserving East Sooke Regional Park. Please join us! Read more for more information.

Local councils are right to sue the fossil-fuel industry

Considerable derision has been heaped on Victoria city council for endorsing a class-action lawsuit against the fossil-fuel industry, seeking financial compensation for the added costs the city will incur as a result of climate change.

Standing up for South Park School

As you may know, School District 61 in Victoria in their current catchment review process is wanting to make South Park Family School a regular catchment school. It is a school of choice, meaning any family can enroll their kids there, not just the ones who live... Read more

Take Action on Food and Farmland Trust

Hello CRD residents, As you know we need food and farmland that is protected and accessible to farmers over the long term. One strategy is to create a local government supported Food and Farmland Trust. It’s time! On February 20, 2019, the CRD Planning and Protective... Read more

Many global health threats linked to climate change

The World Health Organization recently released a report on the top 10 threats to health in 2019. Strikingly, several are related to global ecological change, marking perhaps a turning point in the recognition of the health implications of the rapid and massive ecological changes we are causing.

Planning To Feed A One-Planet Region

Article, Community Trees, Nature & Conservation

The concept of a one-planet region is simple: We need to reduce our collective impact on the Earth so we — and others around the world — can live within the ecological and physical constraints of this one small planet we all share. But at the same time, we want to... Read more

Beautiful Tree in Downtown Victoria Slated For Removal

This beautiful and established tree at the corner of Humboldt and Government Street by the Visitor Information Centre adds beauty, character, charm and works 24/7 for no pay cleaning the air, absorbing excess water and providing habitat for birds, yet, like the stump... Read more

FOCUS Magazine Article: Victoria’s diminishing urban forest

Article, Community Trees

A big shout out to Leslie Campbell for her excellent article in this month’s Focus Magazine on Victoria’s urban forests and the rise of the Community Trees Matter Network. We are so fortunate to have a publication like Focus Magazine telling it like it is.... Read more

Plenty to Celebrate!

Thank you for being part of the Creatively United community. We are honoured that Guy Dauncey has endorsed CreativelyUnited.org as the go-to-place to post and find local thought-provoking events, information and resources. This past year we have seen our community... Read more

Grizzly Bear Hunting Banned

Thanks to Barb Murray and the Bears Matter team for their years of hard work to ban the Grizzly Beat hunt. More than 300 grizzlies were saved this year and hundreds more will be spared each year the ban is in place. Charlie Russell was instrumental for changing how... Read more

Solstice a timely reminder of our place in the universe