Habitat Loss Is the Pan-demic
It seems amazing that medical and political officials obsess about social distancing but have NOTHING to say about the cause of the pandemic – i.e. nothing about addiction to animal products. (Telling us don’t go outside, but keep buying meat?!?)
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Challenges and Solutions for Engaging Youth in Agriculture
Shelter Farm, a social enterprise operated by The Port Alberni Shelter Society. The farm grows vegetables that provide a source of nutrition for our clients and are sold to local markets. Shelter Farm is also home to the Market Gardener Program.
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Gardening Resources
The Compost Education Centre has moved all their gardening workshops online. Many of them are free! Check them out here: https://www.compost.bc.ca/education/workshop-series/ Linda Gilkenson’s Gardening Tips! You can receive tips by email from this west coast... Read more
Essential Services in BC during COVID-19 Crisis
The Government of BC has confirmed a list of essential services, and some non profits are included in this list. “Essential services are those daily services essential to preserving life, health, public safety and basic societal functioning. They are the... Read more
Volunteers Needed to Help Feed Community Members Most in Need
We are reaching out in hopes that you can help us. We are trying to identify community partners to help us coordinate meal distribution sites to feed our community members most in need. The Downtown Victoria Business Association (DVBA) is working with the Coalition to... Read more
A Different Perspective on COVID-19
There is no question COVID-19 is a serious issue. If we did nothing, hundreds of thousands of Canadians, especially older people, might die and the health care system would be overwhelmed, jeopardizing the health of many other people with other health problems.
Read moreSocial Change Requires an Open Mind
This is a video I created out of a PowerPoint presentation created by a social change movement that I’m part of. I invite you to take the time to watch it. I hope it sheds light on my state of agitation, and why you too might be frustrated with the widespread inertia... Read more
Neighbourhood Markets Open During Pandemic!
The coronavirus continues to spread across the globe, and while many despair and are living in fear, we attempt to ease their burden by bringing a little hope and peace in providing free produce and groceries.
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BC Mines Act Permit Q-8-121 “Climate Change is not relevant!”
The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) has learned that the BC Government had Permitted a proposed strip mine in the District of the Highlands. This approval came three years after the application, yet only a few hours after the Government had declared a... Read more
Laid Off and Looking For Work? Chamber Job Board Lists Employers Looking For Workers
After mandated restaurant closures today (now take out and delivery only) we know there will be more people looking for work. Pharmacies, grocery stores, island health and others are hiring right now. At time of this writing there are 37 jobs listed on the Jobs Board... Read more
Spread Compassion – Stop Diseases
This short report describes the special problems that contagious diseases such as COVID-19 present to people experiencing homelessness, and the organizations that serve them. Homeless people tend to be vulnerable to infections due to a combination daily stress, poor... Read more
Keeping Yourself Strong and Healthy in this COVID-19 Time
I have been reading the news more than I ever have in my entire lifetime for the past couple of months. When the virus first erupted in Wuhan, I was away on Orcas Island with friends. We were all sitting around discussing what was happening and the initial numbers-... Read more
50 Ways to Stay SANE During the Coronavirus Pandemic
How can we stay strong during this crisis? With love, careful planning, and care for others – and total lockdown. When we emerge, huge numbers of people will hopefully want a more caring, cooperative approach to life, and a new kind of economy, based less on greed, selfishness and the destruction of Nature, and more on the economics of kindness.
Read moreMountain Mover
Forty three years ago now I felt called to take a month off in the summer where I could be alone and write. What happened almost instantly was that I began seeing for the first time visions on paper and as soon as each vision came there was a poem to accompany it. By... Read more
List of Vancouver Island and Gulf Island EV Clubs
The Victoria Electric Vehicle Association (VEVC) is an Electric Vehicle (and solar) advocacy group with over 900 members across Vancouver Island and Canada. The group conducts twice monthly information/presentation sessions to both members and the public on EV news,... Read more
Book Review – Forest Therapy: Seasonal Ways to Embrace Nature for a Happier You, by Sarah Ivens
Forest-Bathing! Confused or mystified about this trendy new panacea for all that ails us? Sara Ivens’ book is a good book for beginners and experienced tree lovers alike. Forest Therapy has many virtues. It’s an easy read. Ivens captures the reader on the... Read more
Thieves Oil for Extra Protection in These Times
Going outside or flying anywhere? Here is something that could protect & save you – here is the story
Read moreBeauty During Madness
Hi everyone! I am writing you today in the hopes to bring you some comfort during this time of madness. My love of gardening brought me to watching a lot of rural Chinese people (on YouTube). Their vast knowledge of gardening and the wild veggies/fruits/herbs around... Read more
Artist Spotlight: Diego Narvaez
I work from the experience of place in a specific time to paint natural and urban landscapes. From Antarctica to Mexico City, Iceland to the West Coast of North America, I am interested in experiencing places that are in continuous transformation.
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Standing Up to Help Secure Our Children’s Futures
With respect to poverty, the commission states: “The evidence is clear: early investments in children’s health, education and development have benefits that compound throughout the child’s lifetime.” But they note that many children live in poverty and there is a gap between what we know children need and what they get.
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Extinction Project
Being a bridge between 2 cultures I feel the most important thing I can do is, bring awareness to our climate crisis not just environmentally but also through indigenous cultures. The world needs to come together in this time of need and the avenue Is art.
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The Ethics of a One Planet Region
These great ethical issues are made urgent by the Anthropocene: the massive and rapid human-created changes in the earth’s natural systems that threaten the viability of our society in the not-too-distant future.
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The 5G Trojan Horse
This 96 minute documentary will expose the truth behind the global “Race to 5G”, the health, privacy, and local power concerns, and the corruption between the Big Wireless industry and the U.S. government.” The 5G Trojan Horse (Documentary) Marg Friesen’s... Read more
Energy Efficiency Starts in our Homes and Workplaces
The third-largest component of our ecological footprint consists of buildings, and almost two-thirds of that is the operating energy used for heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, cooking and powering electronics. Most of the rest is the embodied energy in the materials used to construct the buildings.
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Invitation to Apply to the LEEP Field Trial Homes
BC Housing and its partners are currently accepting expressions of interest for the LEEP Field Trial Homes and would like to invite you to participate! If you are planning the design and construction of a high-performance home or building, your project may be eligible... Read more
Earth-Friendly Transportation Must Be Our Priority
Last week, I described some of the local “seeds” working to create a One Planet Region in the second-largest part of our ecological footprint — transportation. About three-quarters of the transport footprint is due to private vehicle use, most of which uses fossil fuels.
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The Power of One Voice – Artist Poulami Banerjee Spotlight
Painting is a form of language which helps me to voice my outlook towards certain issues that stir me emotionally. I feel that I have expressed myself to the viewer aptly through my art only when it moves the audience or evokes an emotional response in them.
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Saanich Endorses One Planet Island Declaration Motion
Thanks to the District of Saanich Mayor and Council for unamimously passing a resolution to the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities to “encourage municipal governments to take steps to engage their citizens in reducing their ecological footprint by... Read more
Petition for 100% Electrification of Victoria Regional Transit System Vehicles
This petition seeks a rapid 100% transition of Victoria Regional Transit System vehicles to clean electric power. The petition is launched by the View Royal Climate Coalition and supported by the South Island Climate Action Network.
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Local ‘Seeds’ of a One Planet Region
This week, I begin to highlight some of our local “seeds” — groups and organizations that are working to create a One Planet Region. This is our local version of a good Anthropocene where we use only our fair share of the Earth’s resources while improving health and well-being in a way that is socially just.
Read moreThe Hope of a Good Anthropocene
Sadly, there is not much good news about the state of the Earth these days. Climate change becomes more real as it starts to bite — just ask the Australians — and there is growing awareness of and concern about the extinction crisis we are triggering. We do have positive options, good choices and many opportunities.
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Small is Beautiful — and Essential
Some readers will doubtless recognize the reference to E.F. Schumacher’s classic 1973 book Small is Beautiful, in which he introduced the world to the concept of “Buddhist economics.” The book’s sub-title was “Economics as if people mattered,” which today we might amend to read “Economics as if people and the planet mattered.”
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Old Growth Strategy Review
An effective old growth strategy is one important part of a long-term forest asset stewardship plan to ensure nature’s endowment of forests best serve the public’s interests in changing times. Effective old growth forest conservation, protection and management will be... Read more
Mature Trees Best at Absorbing Carbon
Anyone interested in the importance and value of old trees, should find this interesting. For years foresters have assumed that old trees have stopped growing and in many cases are decadent. Good we have forest researchers to do this important research. From The... Read more
UBC Survey for EV Owners
EV owners, please consider taking this quick (5 minute) survey from UBC students on EV charging. Read more
Key Public Health Issues for the 2020s
I was prompted to write this column by an article in The Tyee (a Vancouver-based online news service) about public health issues in 2020. It’s not often people write about public health, as opposed to health care, so the attention is welcome. However, I found the... Read more
Garry Oak Comic Strip
A love of Garry Oaks and their Ecosystem compelled me to find a simple way to show my appreciation. Maybe through shared laughter it may bring more awareness.
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First They Came for the Whales…
While there has been an increasing public focus on climate change in the past few years, and a slow awakening to the threat it poses, we have yet to wake up fully to an even bigger problem. I noted in a September column that we face not only a climate emergency but an extinction emergency.
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Oppose Military Exercises in Washington State Parks
Tell the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission to not renew the military’s permit to access our public parks! In 2015 the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission issued a 5-year permit allowing the U.S. Navy to occupy five Washington State... Read more
Save Craigflower Creek
The BC government wants to turn an existing park into a bus depot, despite the presence of a salmon spawning creek and many trees. The details are on the website: https://www.savecraigflowercreek.org and we have a petition started here:... Read more
Wet’Suwet’en Overview
On December 31, 2019, BC Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church extended Coastal GasLink’s injunction order from an interim injunction to an interlocutory injunction. Members of the Wet’suwet’en nation have been stewarding and protecting their traditional territories... Read more
Indigenous Rights Trampled by Rule of Law
On Wet’suwet’en Territory, The Hereditary chiefs and matriarchs were holding a ceremony to honour the memories of the missing and murdered indigenous women when they were arrested on February 10, 2020. The hanging of red dresses along fences posts and trees has been a... Read more
Faith in a Sustainable Future is Vital
I recently touched on the interest among local faith communities in the challenge of becoming a One Planet region. But that local interest is part of a wider national and global movement across many faiths that links concern with ecological change — especially but not... Read more
We’re Spending Our Children’s Inheritance
Photo: Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, says the world is on track for a temperature increase as much as 3 to 5 C. Photograph By TWITTER Courtesy of the Times Colonist No doubt you have seen — perhaps you even have — a... Read more
Recognizing the Spiritual Value of Nature
The Midwinter Solstice is nearly upon us, and it is a powerful time of the year. For our ancestors, the shortening days and the growing cold must have been a source of concern every year; would the sun come back, would winter end?
Read moreSupport Needed to Stop Strip Mine in the Highlands
The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) announced this week that it has petitioned the BC Government to reject the 2017 Application by OK Industries (OKI) for a strip mine. The petition, conducted over the summer, was tabled today in the BC Legislature by... Read more
How to Make Studying Interesting to Kids
Making studying and learning as much fun as possible isn’t an easy task, but it’s absolutely necessary if you want to help your kids. Not everything will go smoothly and there are bound to be obstacles along the way, but you need to be persistent.
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The Nature Fix – Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
“I’m no tree hugger but The Nature Fix made me want to run outside and embrace the nearest Oak. Not for the tree’s sake, but mine.” – Eric Weiner
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