Book Review: The Man Who Planted Trees: Lost Groves, Champion Trees, and an Urgent Plan to Save the Planet
Jim Robbins was incredulous when David Milarch first told him he was cloning ‘champion trees’ because angels had told him to during a near-death experience. “I thought he was joking or spinning a yarn, but he said it all with a straight face,” Robbins said.
Read more
Film Review of Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees
Call of the Forest is all about the incredible and vital importance of trees. If you want to get motivated to plant trees, this is the film to watch! “For every breath you take, thank a tree,” says Diana Beresford-Kroeger, the Canadian botanist, author and medical... Read more
Healthy Homes – The Basics & Beyond
The environment of our buildings, and especially our homes, is enormously important for us. As Sir Winston Churchill remarked: “First we shape our buildings, then they shape us.”
Read more
Tools For Healthier Built Environments
We are lucky in B.C. to have two useful initiatives to help us create healthier built environments. The first, which I described briefly last week, is the Healthy Built Environment Linkages Toolkit. The second is a B.C. Ministry of Health-funded initiative, PlanH,... Read more
Hope Is A Verb
Thomas Teuwen shares a wealth of information on a variety of topical subject matter from a federal Green Party perspective. We were happy to see Creatively United’s recent Creating a One Planet Region event included.
Read more
Light Pollution: The One Form of Pollution That Can Be Fixed in a Flash
We often do not realize the effects we are having on our natural surroundings. Last fall, Tri-City Greendrinks featured lighting specialist and long-time member of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA), Brian Bury, to enlighten us about one of the least talked... Read more
We Can Create Healthy Built Environments
The B.C. Healthy Built Environment Alliance was established by the Provincial Health Services Authority in 2007 to provide leadership and action for healthier, more livable communities.
Read more
City of Victoria Honorary Citizen Awards 2018
What a huge honour to receive a City of Victoria Honorary Citizen Award today at the Victoria Conference Center with so many lovely and well-deserving people as: Marika Albert, Mark Ashfield, Fiona Bramble, Diya Courty-Stephens, Denis Donnelly and Siobhan Robinsong,... Read more
Summer Reading – Journey to the Future
If you are wondering about a great summer read, can I gently suggest this for your consideration? I spent over three years years crafting this positive, uplifting vision of a future in which we tackle our many problems successfully and begin to build an ecotopia right... Read more
Population Growth Only Part of Our Ecological Problem
My recent columns about the ecological crisis we face and the need to reduce our ecological footprint generated emails from several people saying I should address the issue of population growth. They have a good point, but the issue is complex, and the solution is not just a matter of family planning.
Read more
Environmental Lawyer to lead Sierra Club BC into 50th Year
Environmental lawyer Hannah Askew will be leading the Sierra Club of BC as its new Executive Director. She replaces Bob Peart, former Executive Director, who retired last year. 2019 will mark the 50th anniversary of Sierra Club BC’s founding. Confronting the climate... Read more
Finding Hope For Our Planet’s Future
Finding hope can be challenging these days, what with the global ecological crisis, high levels of poverty and inequality, nasty xenophobic and nationalistic politics, and the general failure of governments and societies to respond effectively to these and other challenges of the 21st century.
Read more
One Planet One People Please!
The serious issues facing our world – climate change, pollution, ecological degradation, poverty, etc. are global in nature and require a global response. The challenge is how and when the peoples of the world will make this happen.
Read more
A Roman Catholic Response to One Planet
The ecological crisis that we are facing is the degradation of life as we know it. Our vary survival is at stake. It raises questions of meaning for us. Who are we, where did we come from and why are we here? These are questions that are central to all religious communities.
Read more
Films on Food Issues & Food Security
Enjoy a compiled list of films and documentaries related to food issues throughout the world.
Read more
Issue: Food Security
Food security can be described as the state of having reliable access to an adequate quantity of nutritious and affordable food, while food sovereignty is the right of communities to have authority over their own food systems, to produce food that is healthy, culturally appropriate, and ecologically sustainable.
Read more
National Indigenous People’s Day 2018
Creatively United was honoured to be invited to take part in the 2018 National Indigenous People’s Day at the invitation of the Victoria Native Friendship Centre (VNFC) at their fabulous Regina Avenue location in the Burnside/Tillicum area. The drumming, dancing,... Read more
A Jewish Perspective for One Planet Region Conversation with Faith Communities
8 Jewish Practices to Help Mitigate Humanity’s Impact During the Anthropocene 1). Who is happy that tomorrow is Friday? TGIF! For Jews, it’s TGIS: Thank G-d it’s Shabbos (Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, runs from just before sunset Friday to an hour after sundown on... Read more
One Planet Conversation
How is my faith tradition (the Christian tradition) equipping myself (and others) … to live into this vision of the Greater Victoria Region “achieving social and ecological sustainability, with a high quality of life and a long life in good health for all its... Read more
Let’s Shed A Couple of Planets’ Worth of Ecological Footprint
The ecological footprint measures our impact in terms of the amount of biologically productive land and sea we need to provide the crops and fish we use for food, the grass and feed crops we use for livestock, the timber we use for paper and wood, and the land we need planted in trees to absorb our carbon emissions (“energy land”).
Read more
Microplastics found in Bottled Water and Beyond
We, in Victoria, BC, Canada, have been blessed, more blessed than many other parts of North America. We’ve had some amazing warmish weather, bringing out the best in many things: flowers, blossoms and the urge to live a healthy life style. That includes eating... Read more
Springing in to Festival Season with Two Amazing Events
What a celebration of community these past two weekends have been! Creatively United was proud to help sponsor two inaugural festivals to launch. Starfields – A Festival of Hope, featured a wide variety of amazing speakers, Juno award-winning musicians, and... Read more
Global Warming: How It Works
Below you will find a short , easy to understand explanation of the science behind global warming and why it is so important to our life on this planet. The excerpt is from Oil’s Deep State by Kevin Taft, with permission of James Lorimer & Company Ltd.,... Read more
Does Mental Heath Matter Most?
There is an interesting common thread underlying many of my recent columns. It is the question in the headline: Does mental health matter most?
Read more
Solastalgia: The Painful Result of Man’s Ongoing Reviling of Nature
The term solastalgia was coined 15 years ago by Glenn Albrecht, an Australian philosopher. He derived it in part from the idea of nostalgia, which means home-sickness. In the 19th and into the 20th century, he wrote, it was considered a medical condition caused by a desire to return to one’s home.
Read moreLocal Heroes Bringing Hope to Millions in Epic Plea
Victoria’s own Compassionate Resource Warehouse (CRW) is partnering with ICROSS Canada in sending 2 x 40′ HC containers to YEMEN. I have personally visited the Compassionate Resource Warehouse and can say they are a vital, proactive volunteer organization... Read more
Book Excerpt: Conversations With A Tree by Jane Warren Campbell
The book explores Jane’s communication with trees, revealing that what they have to share is deep wisdom and pure love. Jane not only shares the heart-felt messages from the trees, she shows you how to experience for yourself the guidance and healing that the trees have to offer.
Read more
The Birth of a New Cooperative Economy
They say we are self-interested, we’re always out to win. Always individualistic, though it used to be a sin. They say we need free markets, the better to compete, and the economy will flourish if we only think of greed. This is Economics 101, the way it’s taught... Read more
Recommended Reading: A World of Three Zeros
For those invested in creating a viable, sustainable, inclusive economic alternative to the current dysfunctional status quo, a must read is Muhammad Yunus’s latest book A World of Three Zeros. Dr. Yunus, a native of Bangladesh, economics professor and founder of... Read more
Open Innovation Challenge
Are you ready to unleash your most innovative ideas to help solve Greater Victoria’s real-world challenges and have the chance to win $15,000 in prize money? On November 25, the South Island Prosperity Project brought together residents, local leaders, First... Read more
Don’t Let Timber Salvage Damage Our Forests
Forest health is best understood as the rate of recovery from ecological stresses caused by fire, logging, insects, etc. Greater stress means poorer health and longer recovery.
Stewardship is not about “cleaning up the mess.” Salvage logging will rarely contribute directly to ecological recovery.
Canada C3: Honouring the past and looking towards the future
Canada C3 is an epic 150-day sailing journey from Toronto to Victoria via the Northwest Passage. Through this unprecedented journey, Canada C3 is celebrating our environment, sharing the stories of coastal communities and connecting Canadians from coast to coast to... Read more
ECOreport: What Do You Think Site C Is Really About?
“They are going about it in completely the wrong way. To force this project through on First Nations that does not want it, on a public that does not want it: is not how you build support and trust. “
Read more
Tapping into the Power of Ancient Indian Ceremony (Puja) for Personal and Global Transformation
In ancient Indian Vedic teachings, there is a science for tapping into that numinous energy for powerful transformation. This precise science has been handed down through the centuries in the form of a sacred ceremony to our Divine natures called a puja.
Read more
Climate action must include protecting old-growth rainforest
Eliminating destructive logging to protect ancient forests and their vital carbon reserves is a key step in the fight against climate change. Hardly a day passes without news of unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, and other climate related-disasters. In British... Read more
Lieutenant Governor recognizes Government House Gardens as part of a NatureHood
The Honourable Judith Guichon, Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia and Nature Canada, Canada’s oldest national nature conservation charity, officially designated the grounds of Government House, a NatureHood site, as part of the expansion of the existing Saanich... Read more
Local Senior Making A Difference | Planting the Way to a Sustainable Future
Retirement isn’t in the vocabulary of Victoria speech language pathologist Marlene Lewis. By day, this vivacious Victoria-based, 65-year-old mother is on a mission to end-dyslexia and by night, she volunteers with Landmark Education Worldwide as a... Read more
Car Free Day YYJ 2017
Thanks to everyone who came out this past Father’s Day to Car Free Day YYJ and to Andrew Duffy for the coverage of This Is Leadership and End Dyslexia, one of our community members in this week’s paper. More photos inside!
Read more
Couple Bolts Across Canada to Promote Zero Waste and Electric Vehicles
As we travel across Canada we would like to connect with businesses, groups, individuals who are interested in the Chevy Bolt, electric vehicles, and Zero Waste. If you would like us to stop by, just send us a line.
Read more
Making History Together!
Thank you to everyone who came out in support of Creatively United’s Sixth Annual Earth Day Community Celebration & Sustainability Showcase. The crowds were steady, the displays interesting and meaningful, the art and music beautiful and plentiful, and the... Read more
Shaw TV Pilot Training & Launch
This Is Leadership, an initiative of the Creatively United for the Planet Society, will be launching a community television series this April that showcases and celebrates local individuals, organizations, businesses, institutions and groups in our region. Produced in... Read moreClimate Change & Sustainability and its Relevance to Society
Having recently attended a climate action talk this week hosted by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC it was extremely encouraging to hear how engineers are now questioning their liability, ethics and moral responsibility.
Read more
Cuthbert Holmes Park Miracle
A Great Horned unfledged Owlet falls from its nest, right at the site where boaters chained sawed through two very important river wildlife trees.
Read moreGrowing Awareness & Interest in All Ages
There is definitely a growing awareness and interest in curbing fossil fuel expansion and moving towards a carbon neutral economy that puts people and planet first.
Read moreI Found a God of My Understanding
Are you hobbled psychologically by your church doctrine?
I’m only asking.
Some things do not evolve me. Some things do.
When a man moves away from nature his heart becomes hard.
Native American Proverb, Lakota Sioux
Seeds for Thought
When I held a seed there was a weight of inspiring knowledge that sprung forth – I was holding generations and generations of a plant. An endless cycle of seed, leaf, flower, seed… Food for generations.
Read moreHow a bowl of soup helped me get to know 100 neighbours
How bowls of soup helped me get to know 100 of my neighbours!
Read more
TV Training for This Is Leadership
We are so fortunate to have the opportunity for community-led television programming with Shaw TV. Thanks to community leaders like Daphne Goode and the incredible camera/tech team led by Chris Weatherhead and Orlando Carillo at Shaw, our enthusiastic volunteer team... Read moreIs Housing A Human Right?
Taxpayer money is being spent on policing and on health care that would not be necessary if everyone had adequate housing. Not only is housing each person what a just society should provide for its citizens, it is also the most socially responsible thing t
Read more