Early Support For Children Is Essential
Brain development in infancy is astonishing. According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, a million connections are made in the brain every second — yes, every second — in the first three years of life.
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Humboldt Street Tree: A Case Study
An approximately 40 year-old white birch tree (“the Humboldt tree”) at the intersection of Humboldt and Government was cut down on January 28, 2019 to implement a complete redesign of the intersection. The redesign was scheduled as part of the implementation of the City of Victoria’s AAA Bicycle Network Plan.
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One Planet Saanich – Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
Based on Bioregional’s 10 “One Planet” principles, the initiative addresses the “usual suspects” of sustainability — energy, transportation, food, materials and waste, water, green space and so on. But Bioregional begins with three principles about people and community: Health and happiness, equity and the local economy, and culture and community.
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Is Canada Doing Enough to Protect Wildlife?
Most people are unaware that ALL LIFE is being harmed by the wireless devices that require more and more cell towers. We need education about this technology and its dangers.. not more electromagnetic radiation. Radiation affects all of life, including tiny... Read more
‘One planet’ Communities Look Forward
On July 29 we reached Earth Overshoot Day — the day when humanity’s overall Ecological Footprint (EF) exceeded the Earth’s ability to replenish sufficient biocapacity to meet our demands.
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It is Not Too Late To Stop 5G!
This is the terrifying map of cell towers and some of the Huawei Microcells that have already been laid out in Greater Victoria. Congratulations for Victoria having the least density so far. The map is not totally accurate, since locations such as Jubilee Hospital and... Read more
Care about the Colquitz? Elk/Beaver Lake are the head waters of the Colquitz
This event will provide an opportunity to learn more about water quality issues at Elk/Beaver Lake and how you can support the development of a watershed management plan. Tasty, light refreshments will be provided! Join the CRD and the community on Wednesday, July 31... Read moreSun Dancing
When I examined my past twenty years of life with Bipolar Disorder, I was shocked at the story I saw emerging. One that I feel must be shared. I have a creative and unique perspective on the topic of mental health. May it be helpful and inspiring.
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Fixing Primary Care? Help People Help Themselves and Others
Reducing the need for care means reducing the burden of disease within society. This requires both a government and society-wide provincial population health strategy and a much stronger commitment to public health and clinical prevention within the health-care system.
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One Planet Saanich
The Creatively United for the Planet Society has been involved since last year in the One Planet Saanich Initiative, with 12 local schools, businesses and other organizations. One planet living is a vision of the world in which people enjoy healthy, happy lives,... Read more
Putting Good Money To Work
Thank you to the incredible Vancity team for their support for CreativelyUnited.org, where local solutions for lighter living are shared 24/7. Vancity shares our common goals and values, as a result, we are creating more videos and a special limited edition magazine... Read more
Residents’ Group Fights for a New Park in Langford
(200 residents attended a rezoning meeting recently to request some of this property be left as parkland. Please read on for an update.) On July 8, 2019 the City of Langford Planning, Zoning and Affordable Housing Committee moved to proceed with comprehensive... Read more
Looking For Locals With Expertise
We’re looking to put together a “panel of experts” for the Citizens of South Langford for Sustainable Development (CSLSD). We often have questions pop up about certain subjects as we are working on our various plans of action, and would love to have... Read more
Show Your Support for a CRD Foodlands Trust
Municipalities are indicating their support in having the CRD operate a foodlands trust in partnership with a non-profit organization – here’s what they are saying: Indication of Support: Central Saanich, Highlands, North Saanich, Saanich, Sidney, Sooke, View... Read moreHighlands Strip Mine Not in Public Interest
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 moreConservation 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 more5G 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
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.
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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.
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Urban Villages Can Combat Ugly Sprawl
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.
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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
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 moreGreen 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.
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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
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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!
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 moreHelp Us Save The 6
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.
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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
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
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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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Green New Deal
“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.”
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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.”
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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.
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