We live in an era of polycrisis — defined as a situation in which “crises in multiple global systems become causally entangled in ways that cause major human harm,” according to the Cascade Institute at Royal Roads University. The institute identifies 14 global systemic stresses that create systemic risk, including “climate change, biodiversity loss…
Working collaboratively with members of the Peninsula Biosolids Coalition, Creatively United is happy to report that our collective efforts (see our biosolids video) have finally resulted in a big win for our region. The Capital Regional District (CRD) has just... Read more
The BC Heat Collaborative will officially launch at the end of this month, coinciding with the 5 year anniversary of the 2021 BC Heat Dome. The launch includes an event at Vancouver City Hall on Sunday June 28th, 1-2:30pm. More details on the Vancouver event here. How... Read more
Released this month, this handbook offers a practical path forward for provincial decision-makers to achieve universal water metering within the next decade. Universal water metering supports conservation, enables fair and transparent cost recovery, enhances overall... Read more
The 2026 Climate Plan: 100% Renewable and Resilient Saanich will be presented to Saanich, BC Council on Monday, June 22nd for approval. Share your thoughts on the 2026 Climate Plan with Council, email council@saanich.ca. Attend the meeting in person or online (learn... Read more
The NDP Budget Committee is accepting written submissions for its 2027 Budget. What should we be asking for? You can make up to three recommendations, with an explanation for each. Participate by using the submission form HERE. We have set up a google doc to share... Read more
Oil and gas companies are making skyrocketing profits — an extra $60 billion within a year. The federal government has the power to step in. Instead of letting corporations profit off global instability while people struggle to pay bills, it should impose a 75%... Read more
Introduction If you think of capitalism as the global entanglement of everything financial and economic, then for sure, it feels like a pretty wild dream to imagine that we could disentangle it all and establish something different. It is a pretty wild dream, because... Read more
I’d like to shine a spotlight on one of the South Island Prosperity Partnership’s members: The Pacific Northwest Economic Region. (PNWER) Two years ago, I wrote an Open Letter to SIPP. In the letter, I asked them the following question: “SIPP’s membership includes an... Read more
The conflict in the Persian Gulf has caused the greatest disruption in world oil supply in history. Canadians have felt immediate consequences from this oil shock, through much higher prices for gasoline and other petroleum products. But that is just the beginning of... Read more
The View Royal Climate Coalition urges Minister Boyle to adopt “Density Without Demolition.” This strategy promotes adaptive reuse and internal home conversions over demolition, offering a faster, cheaper, and climate-resilient path to housing density.
Nearly 5,000 people have sent letters to the board members of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, demanding they vote no on a massive public loan for Ksi Lisims LNG. This Wall Street scheme can’t survive without public money. Add your voice, and urge them to hold the... Read more
I understand why the fossil-fuel industry pursues growth in the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels. It’s all about making money and damn the consequences. But how can any responsible political leader at this point push for more fossil-fuel extraction and use?
Last week, I began an analysis of the federal government’s draft Federal Sustainable Development Strategy, which somehow manages to ignore planet Earth, fails to mention planetary boundaries or our ecological footprint, or to recognize ecological limits and the need to invest in…
It took about 4 years for all 8 municipalities on Vancouver Island + the CRD, to withdraw their memberships in the UDI, a lobby for development and real estate interests. This is what happened in the process, and what is still yet to be determined.
Are we putting too much emphasis on targetting trees as a fire threat while we trustingly leave our highly flammable, plastic-laden vehicles parked in or next to our residences? Creatively United presents this free webinar/conversation and Q&A with some of BC’s... Read more
“No great fortunes can be accumulated out of wartime profits.” — J.L. Ilsley, Canada’s Second World War finance minister As in the past, this illegal war appears to be lasting considerably longer than its US protagonists initially claimed. And even if this ostensible... Read more
Thirty-nine years ago, Gro Harlem Brundtland, prime minister of Norway and chair of the World Commission on Environment and Development, presented its report to the United Nations. That report, Our Common Future — widely referred to as the Brundtland Report — proposed the concept of sustainable development…
Canadians largely buy into the fact that we need to get our energy from clean sources. At the same time, support can drop when specific projects are proposed near where people live. It’s easy to assume that this is just a classic “Not in My Backyard” reaction. Yet a... Read more
Support preserving as much of a rare patch of Garry oak and Douglas-fir ecosystem on an Esquimalt private property earmarked for development as possible, whilst still allowing appropriate development of the site.
In spring 2025, a piece of land in Saanich, BC—two acres of former hobby farm at 4015 Braefoot Rd.—became the flashpoint for a wider conflict. It supports a functioning Garry oak meadow and woodland, including approximately 120 mature Garry oak trees.
The UK has introduced legislation requiring all new homes to be net zero carbon. This is a leading example of what we need in BC. Original article by Esme Stallard,Climate and science reporter and Justin Rowlatt,Climate Editor, from the BBC. Heat pumps for all new... Read more
The results have major consequences. The CRD’s Regional Heat Map shows a stark difference in temperature between natural and built environments. A closer look: The first thing that becomes very apparent is high density in terms of built environment and low nature, not... Read more
A House of Commons petition is calling on the government to make energy efficiency a nation-building priority. We’re asking the federal government to set double the rate at which we improve energy productivity, and to end energy poverty. The benefits of... Read more
In February, the New Westminster City Council became the 12th BC community to support a proposed class-action lawsuit seeking to recover a share of climate-related costs from global fossil fuel companies. Local residents and young people played a pivotal role in... Read more
“The world is caught again in the bloody tangle of war, fossil fuels and climate change,” writes Chris Hatch in a recommended piece this week in Canada’s National Observer. The unintended dominoes are falling. As in the past, it appears this war will last much longer... Read more
It’s been an ongoing theme on CRD Watch, and in my writings that Post-Secondary Institutions on Southern Vancouver Island, shackled to the unsustainability of ecology destroying growth-based capitalism and a government also under its shackles, in particular to the... Read more
We are requesting your support to encourage the (CRD) Capital Regional District, to move ahead with plans for purchase of a thermal conversion biochar facility. It would be incredibly useful to have Nanaimo and the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) send letters of... Read more
We hop in the car to get groceries or drop kids at school. But while the car is convenient, these short trips add up in terms of emissions, pollution and petrol cost. Close to half (44%) of all Australian commuter trips are by car – and under 10km. Of Perth’s 4.2... Read more
Thanks to the efforts of the Peninsula Biosolids Coalition, a non-profit citizen’s group, plus numerous individuals, businesses and other proponents for integrated resource management (including Creatively United for the Planet Society), the CRD is now... Read more
Last year, Surfrider SVI identified PVC pollution near Victoria beaches and storm drains caused by the outdoor dry cutting of PVC pipes during construction. PVC is one of the most toxic forms of plastics, comprising up to 60% known carcinogens and endocrine... Read more
The Wall Street sickos who bankrolled Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump are hoping for a special gift: billions of dollars from Canada’s Liberal government. The Ksi Lisims LNG project would be 100 per cent American-owned and built in Korea, then floated over and hooked... Read more
Compiled by Guy Dauncey, author of The Economics of Kindness: The End of Capitalism, the Birth of a New Ecological Civilization Palgrave/Macmillan, Spring 2026 This list illustrates the deep, persistent desire by so many people to create a new kind of economy, one in... Read more
As readers of this column know, I often refer to a piece of wisdom put forth by the World Wide Fund for Nature in 2014: “Ecosystems sustain societies that create economies. It does not work any other way round.”
Your voice is a key part of making water rates fair and protecting BC’s watersheds. Tell decision-makers that British Columbians care about clean water and strong, sustainable funding for our watersheds. Budget day is Feb. 17th. Talking points appear after you click... Read more
Robert Reich is right. In a recent Substack post he laid out how tariffs, monopolies, and corporate power are driving up the cost of living for ordinary people. Much of what we call “inflation” is not an economic inevitability, but the result of policy choices that... Read more
Letters to Government – Action on Urban Forest and Climate-ready housing and Communities Thank you for taking action for our shared well-being! Find contact information for key government contacts here. SECTION 1 – Letter to Mayor and Council re... Read more
The North Coast Tanker Ban is there for a reason: to keep Coastal Communities safe What you can do to Defend the North Coast Tanker Ban and Protect B.C.’s Coast Context B.C. communities and The B.C. Government and Coastal First Nations have voiced strong... Read more
Ella Stream in Critical Danger: When asked if the District of Sooke had discussions with the Federal Government about damage or potential damage to the Ella Stream and its environs, Sooke’s CAO, initially confirmed that conversations between the District and the Feds... Read more
How can communities in B.C. grow and create new housing options while maintaining public safety and quality of life in the face of climate change and the biodiversity crisis? How do we create climate-ready housing and climate-ready neighbourhoods that are resilient to... Read more
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and the federal government have outlined a deal that will pave the way for a dirty tar sands pipeline from Alberta to the BC coast — without Indigenous consent and threatening our oceans, wildlife, rivers, and forests. The last time an... Read more
With your help, 12,000 community members have already taken action against any future pipelines – but we can’t let up the pressure now. Look up your MP and send them a personal email urging them to oppose any new tar sands pipelines or tanker expansion, and... Read more
Another COP, another cop-out! As anyone who pays the slightest attention to the news must know by now, COP30, the annual global climate change jamboree — this year in Belem, Brazil — ended, yet again, more with a whimper than a bang.
Here is my request to council to support the continuation of the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act. It would be helpful if you would take a moment to send a note to your council, Metchosin or other, with the same request. Dear Mayor and Council, and Admin. staff, Re: Oil... Read more
We the signed residents of British Columbia, call upon the Province of B.C. to repeal (or amend) BC Bill-44 (2023), in order to restore public hearings and municipal powers over zoning, which are being taken away by the bill. Sign the petition here. We do so, because... Read more
Prime Minister Mark Carney wants Canada to be an energy superpower, including in “conventional energy” (read fossil fuels). Far from being the climate-action champion we expected him to be, he seems to have swallowed his principles…
Ecojustice announces the first case of its kind… they are representing four young Canadians taking on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), one of Canada’s largest financial institutions, for putting our pensions at risk. Learn more about this... Read more
The following was posted on the Friends of Vancouver Island Facebook page: Friends of Vancouver Island | Tree Removal Notices Appearing Across Victoria | Facebook “Tree Removal Notices Appearing Across Victoria If you’ve been walking around Victoria lately, you... Read more
Last week I suggested we need a national People’s Well-being Commission to craft a new vision for Canada, one focused on how we become a society committed to equitable health now and for future generations while living within planetary boundaries.
In a rolling field in the Annapolis Valley, the soil in one row of grapevines is littered with charred fragments of wood. Those unassuming bits of charred material don’t look like much, but the charcoal-like substance…
