One Planet Student Challenge Winners Celebrated
A total of $1,000 was handed out to the winners of the One Planet Student Challenge competition during a ceremony at the Cedar Hill Golf Course on June 8. Part of the One Planet BC initiative, the challenge is in collaboration with the District of Saanich and... Read more
AI — The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
There is much discussion about the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for humanity. Many of its impacts are likely to be good — AI has already helped develop new and better antibiotics — but not all of them, and some may be downright ugly.
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A Well-being Society Values All Four Forms of Capital
We may be economically better off, but we are not much better off in human and social development terms, and we are eating away at the Earth’s life-support systems on which we ultimately depend. Clearly, we need a new economic system, one based on growing all four forms of capital — natural, human, social and produced (or economic) capital — simultaneously.
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Edge Prize Announcement
Local Salish Sea activists Brandon Letsinger and Clare Attwell, announced as the Systems and Governance Edge Prize Winners – for their recently launched Regenerate Cascadia initiative.
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Maybe we should try real capitalism for a change
The mistake is to see capital largely or only in economic terms, either as financial capital (money, stocks and bonds etc.) or as produced capital — the stuff we produce and own, from trinkets to cities. Hence the heavy focus on the economy, on GDP, on economic growth and the price of stocks and shares, on wages and benefits.
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Asian Heritage Month
Ella here to talk about #asianheritagemonth ! Asian Heritage Month started on May 1 and “ends” on May 31 (although it is important to think about Asian history every day of the year). It has been celebrated in so-called Canada since the 1990s! The theme for 2023 is... Read more
Elders for Ancient Forests May 2023
We’re on the cusp of seasons changing, saying goodbye to spring and moving into summer. Farewell fawn lilies, orchids, shooting stars, flowering red currant. Welcome sword ferns unfurling towards sunlight, the delicate white bottle brush flowers of vanilla leaf,... Read more
Red Dress Day
Today, May 5th, is Red Dress Day, a day to honour the spirits of #mmiwg2s and to take action to bring them justice. If you are a settler in so-called Canada, please take today to read the findings from the national inquiry into MMIWG and to learn the calls for... Read more
Eat My Dust: Bikes Beat Cars at Commuter Challenge
At 8:30am “The Race to The Leg” concluded – and what a race it was! Mayors, Councillors, Ministers, and local celebrities raced for glory to see who would cross the finish line first– the bike or the car? The result: 17 bike wins, 1 car win , and 2 teams tied! The... Read more
Continual growth is completely unsustainable and heightens inequality
Last week I discussed some of the problems that result from our focus on the economy rather than on ecologically sustainable human and social development. This week, I turn to a more in-depth exploration of the impacts of continual economic growth, and in particular the way in which growth, if unchecked, will dramatically increase inequality.
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Where We Are and What’s Next
It’s been three weeks since the RBC AGM and our national fossil fool’s day mobilization. What did we collectively achieve, and what’s next? We went from 8% of shareholder support to … 26% At last year’s RBC AGM, a single resolution called for the bank to clarify its... Read more
We need to get over our obsession with the economy
I recently came across an eloquent and powerful passage by Carl Sagan, the famed cosmologist, written in response to an image of Earth taken by Voyager 1 in 1990, from beyond the planet Neptune. The Earth was just a pale blue dot, which inspired the title of his 1994 book from which the following passage is quoted. Sagan wrote: “You see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us…
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Protecting Nature in Cities: A Matter of Survival – Webinar Replay
Protecting Nature in Cities with Indigenous Wisdom, Creativity and Science Presented by the Community Trees Matter Network, CreativelyUnited.org, and Programs in Earth Literacies Links & Resources Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action:... Read more
Population growth is only part of the problem
In last week’s column, I discussed the findings of the recent report from Earth4All concerning population growth. Judging by several thoughtful and concerned responses from readers, I fear I did not do a great job, so I will revisit the report’s ideas and, I hope, somewhat clarify what is a complex issue and argument.
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A Local Guide To Participating in Earth Week
Highlighting actions and events related to art, nature, and social justice happening in Victoria, in BC and remotely! Check out the events below and browse the Community Events Calendar for more! What is Earth Week? • The first Earth Day, inspired by protests of the... Read moreMove the dial on biodiversity at your city council!
This is a key moment for us to ensure the many plants and animals that call B.C. home can thrive. And you can help! Local governments have the power to adopt or amend bylaws that support greater biodiversity, and it is up to us residents to urge them to take action.... Read more
It’s not population growth but inequality that’s the problem
Whenever I write about the problems of economic growth and our ecological footprint, I get emails asking why I don’t also address population growth. The short answer is that I have, on several occasions. The longer answer, as I wrote in a July 2018 column on this topic, is that the issue is complex, and the solution not just a matter of family planning.
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B.C. timber industry in throes of change, as premier warns of ‘exhausted forests’
Courtesy of the CBC Photo: A timber operation in the Cariboo. B.C. passed amendments to modernize forestry legislation last year, including laying the groundwork for a new system of 10-year forest landscape plans to be developed in partnership with First Nations.... Read more
Creatively United Earth Day Events
Special Film Preview Creatively United for the Planet, in partnership with Climate and the Arts, presents the special Earth Day preview of our newest film, Changing Course: A River’s Journey of Reconnection. This 60-minute documentary features stunning footage by... Read more
Help Preserve Old Growth Forests for the Threatened Marbled Murrelet
Help prevent the extinction of the marbled murrelet. Act now by signing the petition.
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How Can We Stop The Looming Climate Disaster?
So much has been written about the urgency of the looming climate disaster that I’ll skip straight to the solutions. I am a climate alarmist, just as Churchill was a Nazi alarmist in the 1930s. But I am not a climate doomer. I am of one mind with Paul Hawken, author... Read more
A Deeper Exploration of Our Ecological Footprint
Given that we only have one planet, we need to live within the carrying capacity of the global ecosystem that is Earth. Yet as I noted last week, Canada’s ecological footprint per person is equivalent to using 5.1 planet’s worth of biocapacity and natural resources every year.
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Climate Leadership Plans Must Include Protecting and Enhancing Our Urban Forests
Photo credit: Nikki/Flickr The Victoria-based Community Trees Matter Network has created this handy letter to cut and paste, and send to Victoria City Council, or the officials of your choice, in an effort to protect and enhance urban trees and forests. The Letter:... Read more
Migrant Rights Protest
On Sunday March 19th, 2023, protestors in Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton and other provinces across Canada, came together to demand rights for all migrants. The protest was put on by the Migrant Rights Network, and in Edmonton (where I was in attendance, photos below)... Read more
We just overshot our fair share of Earth for 2023
Just a few days ago, Canada overshot its fair share of Earth’s biocapacity and resources, as measured by the ecological footprint in 2018, the latest year for which data is available. By March 13, Canada had already consumed its fair share of the Earth’s bounty for the year. Collectively, humanity passed its 2022 Earth Overshoot Day on July 28.
Read moreIPCC Report Findings
This is a good summary of the main points of the IPCC report released yesterday. The new analysis, a synthesis of six previous reports by the United Nations’ climate group, presents a mixed picture of the world’s fight against climate change. Here are three takeaways.
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Open Letter to Premier Eby: To Protect Our Oldest and Rarest Forests
“Our forests are foundational to B.C. In collaboration with First Nations and industry, we are accelerating our actions to protect our oldest and rarest forests.” These are the words attributed to you, Premier Eby, in the February 15, 2023 government press release... Read moreLearning self-care should start in school
Last week, I suggested self-care should be a strategic priority for Canada’s health system. Done well, it can reduce unnecessary demand for professional care while at the same time improving outcomes, empowering patients and enhancing personal and community capacity for caring.
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One Planet Challenge 2023
The Capital Regional District, District of Saanich and City of Victoria are very pleased to invite all Middle and Secondary School students (Grade 6-12) in Greater Victoria to participate in the One Planet Living Student Challenge. This One Planet BC contest is led by... Read more
Purchasing for protection: A perpetual Sophie’s choice for conservationists
Unlike the rest of BC, where the majority of land is under public management, 80% of the Coastal Douglas-fir zone is privately owned. Thus land protection is one of the most common conservation approaches, but is it sustainable?
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Support Spotted Owl to Save Our Forests
Please support the Federal Government in passing the emergency order to save the spotted owl. We need the Feds to take this on because BC doesn’t have species-at-risk legislation. Maybe the spotted owl’s right to survive can save some of our forests.... Read more
Self-care must be a strategic priority for the health system
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck The most important task in creating a health system is to keep people healthy, so they do not need to use the illness-care part of the system. My three most recent columns looked at ways in which we... Read more
United for Old Growth Rally Recap
Thousands of people from all over Vancouver Island and the Mainland braved the cold to show their support for protecting and preserving British Columbia’s at this week’s Old Growth Forest Rally. Douglas and Government Streets in Victoria were closed down for more than 45 minutes as people streamed in filling the streets from the length of City Hall to the Parliament Buildings.
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Why you should know and be concerned about C-IRG
C-IRG emulates and supports a structure of quasi-fascism within Canadian government and policing, however many citizens are unaware of this government funded group. This post hopes to raise awareness and gain community support.
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Public policy as if health matters
Back in the early 1980s, building on the work of others, I came up with the concept of “healthy public policy,” which has since been taken up by the World Health Organization and many national and provincial governments. Canada even has a National Collaborating Centre on Healthy Public Policy.
Read moreYour Pension and the Planet
Many people are either contributors or beneficiaries of one or more of the pension plans reviewed by Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health in their inaugural Canadian Pension Climate Report Card and as presented in their webinar – Report Card 2022 —... Read more
Voices in Motion choristers serenade local little free library
On Wednesday, February 22, 2023, the Voices in Motion Choral Society and Greater Victoria Placemaking Network launched region-wide distribution of I Remember, a book by student author Priscila Kumar that focuses on the power of singing and what it can do for those... Read moreRSVP for our Youth Climate Corps event!
This event, featuring Anjali Appadurai, Seth Klein, Naomi Klein, Juan Vargas Alba (& others to be announced), will be a place to learn more about this campaign and plans to win a Climate Corps (nationally and in BC and Alberta). Plus, we will be debuting an... Read more
Old Growth Forests Need Legal Protection
The stakes for old growth forests in British Columbia couldn’t be higher. The old growth forest ecosystem in BC is the most biodiverse ecosystem in Canada. Yet today, very little of the original old growth remains, due to the practice of clearcuts, TFLs (Tree Farm... Read more
Please encourage Saanich to better fund its urban forests!
The Community Trees Matter Network is asking anyone who lives, works, studies, recreates, or would like to help the urban forest in Saanich, BC, to please consider sending this letter to council@saanich.ca, or write your own. This letter could be used as... Read more
Whose Land is This, Anyway?
Welcome to Home on Native Land, a self-guided course about Indigenous justice in Canada. Through a series of 10 videos, cartoons & lessons, take a walk down the back alley of history — and the frontlines of legal action — with Anishinaabe comedian Ryan McMahon.... Read more
Nature’s Greetings Cards
Saltspring Island author, naturalist and artist Briony Penn, has kindly allowed the Yellow Point Ecological Society to convert some of her beautiful illustrations into greetings cards, which we are selling as a fundraiser for YES. Details here:... Read moreNew B.C. Old-Growth Update Video & Please Send a Message!
Please watch and share our new BC Old-Growth Policy Update by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Executive Director Ken Wu. Note: it was filmed just before the positive new forest policy announcements by BC’s new Premier David Eby last week, which we... Read more
Feb. 25 Rally for Old Growth – The Final Push
United For Old-Growth March & Rally February 25 Walk: begins at Noon, Centennial Square (lək̓ʷəŋən territories, Victoria) Rally: 1:30-3:30 pm, BC Legislature Dear Friends of the Forests, We’re now moving into the final phase of coming together for the United We... Read more
Human behaviour is affected by factors beyond personal choice
The most fundamental determinants of our health are what I and others call the ecological determinants of health: air, water, food, fuel, materials, and other “ecosystem goods and services” we derive from nature. A second major set of determinants are the social factors that enable us to meet our basic needs: healthy food, adequate shelter…
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Great Tree Stories
Here are a few great tree stories we hope you enjoy. We welcome submissions from the public. Please share your tree stories here. Community Managed Forests: https://www.theverge.com/2023/2/10/23592712/conservation-nasa-satellite-images-nepal-forests The Spirituality... Read more
Time for a radical re-think of health care
Having worked as a family physician in primary care, as a public-health physician in health planning and as a medical health officer, as an advisor and consultant on health promotion to the World Health Organization — mainly in Europe — as a medical consultant in population and public health at B.C.’s Ministry of Health…
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If doctors operate as a business, what’s wrong with surgery through private clinics?
There is much wringing of hands these days about the state of the Canadian health care system, as well there should be. But in fact, there is no such thing as a Canadian health-care system, although there is a Canadian way of funding health services. In the 1990s, when I helped organize study tours for Swedish health-system managers to visit Canada…
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