Summary Synthesis of Finding the Mother Tree
I have been struggling since the beginning of the pandemic to find meaning in, and to give value to this transformational moment in the human journey. At last, after many months, I have got as far as an outline, at least, for a personal approach to dealing with the accelerating…
Read morePrivate Police & Prosecutors
Corporate lawyers, backed by American billionaires, are trying to jail Indigenous people in Northern B.C. for peacefully standing on their own land. Crown prosecutors argued there was no public interest in pursuing criminal contempt charges against Gitxsan hereditary chiefs and family members who allegedly blocked CN Rail traffic in the town of New Hazelton two years ago.
Read more
Online federal consultation on 2030 climate targets closes next week!
Next week the federal government’s online consultation on our 2030 climate targets closes. It’s a crucial opportunity for us to have our say about Canada’s climate targets and the plan to reach them. The consultation was launched under the radar in December, and... Read more
All I want for the new year is…
… well, world peace, of course; an end to poverty, hatred and discrimination in all its forms; reconciliation with Indigenous people in Canada and around the world; serious action on climate change, an end to the ravaging of nature…
Read more
January: A Time to Dream
“To Everything there is a Season and a Time for Every Purpose under Heaven…” Eccelesiastes 3:1-8. In this post we look at the purpose of January.
Read more
The Midwinter Solstice and Other Turning Points
On Sunday evening, I will gather with others in our neighbourhood at Lights on the Gorge, our annual event to mark the midwinter solstice. We will light some of the trees along Gorge Road, sing songs appropriate to midwinter and the solstice and have a lantern parade for the kids.
Read more
Black Friday is bad for the planet and our well-being
We have just witnessed another Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an orgy of consumerism that kicks off the Christmas shopping binge. Every year, it seems, the consumption-fest gets worse, hyped by a marketplace that encourages greed and over-consumption because it desperately wants us to purchase more and more stuff.
Read more
November 10th Elders for Ancient Trees December 7th Newsletter
December 7th Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Read more
A Winters Rest
Seasonal Changes
Read more
Mother Nature has shown us that ‘business as usual’ is a disaster
Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, has told us “humanity is waging war on nature.” The problem is that wars have winners and losers. But as the events this year have surely shown us, Mother Nature is more powerful than us, and bats last.
Read more
8 Apps to Combat Food Waste in Canada
Over 50 percent of the food waste in Canada is avoidable. This means that half of Canada’s food waste could have been saved and used to feed people. Not only is food waste a lost opportunity to feed someone, but rotting food in landfills emits methane and... Read more
A Footprint
a poem about the impression that the first snowfall leaves on our relationship with the world…
Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests Newsletter
December 1 – 7 Elders for Ancient Forest Newsletter
Read more
Practising planetary health care in B.C. starts with hospital food waste
It comes as a surprise to many people, including health-care professionals, that the health-care system has a large ecological footprint. But as I noted last week, if the global health-care system were a country, its carbon emissions would have made it the fifth-largest emitter on the planet, according to a 2019 report from Health Care Without Harm.
Read more
Regenerative Land Design
Years ago I visited a farm with a friend. The owners were ranging bison on the land and heard I worked in regenerative land design. They asked if I would consider a problem: There was a creek that ran through their property and pasture. They had a question, “how... Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests November 23 Newsletter
Elders for Ancient Trees Weekly Newsletter, Nov. 23/21
Read more
Practising health care as if the planet matters
Last week, I reported on the rally at the B.C. legislature organized by Doctors for Planetary Health — West Coast. The rally was timed to coincide with the COP26, the UN’s climate-change conference in Glasgow, where, for the first time — and at the behest of the U.K. government — health was one of three science priority areas.
Read more
BC Floods: Sharable Infographics and Information
Why are they happening? Preparation and safety tips.These conditions are not just being caused by “natural” disasters. They are “unnatural” disasters that have been exacerbated by climate change and exploitative land and resource management.
Read more
Kings Park Supporters: Action Required & Important Fundraising Update
URGENT CALL TO ACTION Please call or email Saanich Council before it’s too late –> Ask that 1.75M CRD sourced funds be applied to finally Save Kings Community Nature Space. In this era of climate crisis we must save our precious green spaces, they are... Read more
Doctors and nurses declare a climate Code Red for B.C.
Inspired in part by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who had called the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report a “Code Red for humanity,” we were there to declare a climate and ecological Code Red for B.C., noting: “The climate and ecological crisis is a health crisis. We stand in solidarity for a safe and equitable future for all living creatures and the planet.”
Read more
Reflections from Fairy Creek
As Creatively United’s media person, I have spent a large part of the past year learning about all things old-growth and Fairy Creek. I follow all the essential accounts (see @fairycreekblockade and @rainforestflyingsquad for on-the-ground updates), I have gathered... Read more
A Snowman’s Hope
Oh the weather outside is frightful… I’m a Delta, BC resident who writes poetry as a way to explore and understand myself and the wider world. My love of trees, the environment, poetry and the written word continue to inspire me.
Read more
Hawai’i Konea – A Story from the Future
It’s sunset, at the end of another beautiful day in Honolulu. The high tide is arguing with the seawall, which was raised another metre last year to protect the Capitol Building – but what’s new? They’re still not on good terms with each other. My name is Ben... Read more
November 10th Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This is the November 10th edition of the Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Read more
Becoming a One Planet region starts with food
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Cattle graze winter pasture in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies near Longview, Alta. on Jan. 8, 2004. Concern over the provincial government’s decision to drop a coal policy that has protected the eastern slopes of the... Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests Newsletter
The Elders for Ancient Forest Newsletter for the week of November 2nd.
Read moreThe World Is Coming Apart at the Seams and Why We Should Embrace It
A few weeks ago, the City of Victoria, the Victoria Foundation and the Canadian Urban Institute came together to host an “urban intensive” called CUIxVictoria – Vital Conversations for Our Shared Future. It was a very powerful three-day series of discussion and... Read more
Helping Ugandan Women Maintain Their Livelihood
Ugandan women living in poverty are greatly at risk right now due to two lockdowns in Kampala. Help me help them get back to work and create a situation where they can be financially self-sufficient and feed their families.
Read more
Working toward a One Planet Saanich
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated almost a year ago: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” In my view, this can only happen if we recognize, as Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos’ 1972 book put it, that there is “Only One Earth” and we have to learn to live within and not beyond its bounds.
Read more
Sadly, B.C. is still treating nature as resource to be exploited
In this series of columns, I am exploring the UN’s call for humanity to make peace with nature. Last week, I noted that B.C.’s government is failing to act, or is taking inadequate action, on climate change. This week, I look at B.C.
Read more
Elder or Older?
I found this an inspiring commentary by a wise storyteller, especially the difference he sees between becoming ‘older’ vs becoming an ‘elder’. We are all in that transition. This consciousness is so needed in the world right now. This is only 30 minutes:... Read more
Now Recruiting: City of Victoria Committee/Panels
Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Want to help shape Victoria’s future? We’re accepting applications from individuals to serve on the following committees to provide advice to City Council on a variety of arts and culture, design, planning and development projects,... Read more
Oct 20 Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This week’s Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Read more
B.C. fails to take adequate action on climate crisis
By recognizing that “humanity is waging war on nature,” the United Nations arrived at the idea of making peace with nature. Regrettably, the B.C. government pays little heed to calls to make peace with nature, whether from the UN or its own citizens.
Read more
The Voyage of Freydis
I am so excited to share that my first novel, The Voyage of Freydis, has been on the Canadian bestseller list for two weeks this October. The Voyage of Freydisa is a work of historical fiction that is a revisionist retelling of the life of Freydis Eiriksdottir, the... Read more
Lead Educator Position Open at Rocky Point Bird Observatory
Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) – www.rpbo.org – is based in Victoria B.C. and is the only Pacific coastal station in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. RPBO is a unique and important contributor to bird conservation; regionally, nationally and... Read more
Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Weekly blog with the latest news and upcoming events from the Elders for Ancients Newsletter.
Read more
Donate to Elders for Ancient Trees Fairy Creek injunction court case
Elders for Ancient Trees needs your help, your donations, to sustain their legal challenge against the injunction at Fairy Creek in the BC Supreme Court.
Read more
‘System-wide transformation’ needed to rebalance ourselves with nature
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Amazon opened its first general store outside the United States in a mall near London this week, selling the online retail giant’s most popular products, including books, toys, games and consumer electronics. A UN report... Read more
Help the Elders in their battle to save Fairy Creek
The Elders for Ancient Trees are engaged in a tough legal battle with the logging industry to save the embattled forests around Fairy Creek. Please support them with a donation to their legal fund.
Read more
Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests + Forest Protectors
Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests+Forest Protectors October 13, 4-6 pm (Next week we will start winter hours 3-5 pm) 4 pm start at BCLeg Government+Belleville corner ~5 pm go for a walk to BellMedia building, home of CFAX, 1420 Broad St ~5:15 circle up for community... Read moreScience Must Trump Politics
This is an excellent statement from Dr. Suzanne Simard* re: Judge’s ruling opens window to save Fairy Creek as well as remaining old growth forests in British Columbia. Simard discusses the economic and ecological reasons, to which we might add eco-humanist values... Read more
Women’s History is Tree History
October is Women’s History Month, and the history of women’s activism in tree conservation (in wilderness & in cities) is particularly interesting, and a matter of ongoing urgency in the present. Women like Octavia Hill & Ada Salter still inspire us.
Read more
Comment on BC’s Renewal Permits on the Wolf Cull by Nov.15, 2021
The 5-year permits for various helicopter wolf slaughters around caribou herds have expired and need to be renewed. Renewed permits are proposed for 12 caribou herds, along with one new permit for a 13th herd. In addition, there is a space for respondents
Read more
How Do We Make Peace With Nature?
I find myself increasingly drawn to the United Nations’ framing of our current situation as being at war with nature, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it in a landmark speech at Columbia University in December 2020. For an organization that is, after all, intended to be the world’s peacekeeper, the response was obvious: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century,” Guterres said.
Read more
PARKS AND CLIMATE ACTION – CRD Parks Needs Course Correction
In a climate emergency our elected representatives must adopt these 5 actions immediately to make real the protection of nature and the conservation of biodiversity in our parks as the top priority promised.
Read more
Doctor’s Orders
The western screech owl joins in a moment of celebration.
Read more
Suzanne Simard and the Understory
When I logged onto Suzanne Simard’s presentation last Wednesday, my picture of old-growth forest was of huge, towering trees, draped in lichen and moss, sheltering birds and animals – a beautiful picture from the ground up. At the end of Suzanne’s one-and-a-half hour... Read more