Forget ‘Axe the Tax.’ Try ‘Pay the Price’
By proclaiming that the carbon tax “is an existential threat to our economy and our way of life” and that it threatens a “nuclear winter” for the economy, Pierre Poilievre has entered the world of full-on craziness and inverted logic. The reality is exactly the opposite. The “carbon tax” — actually…
Read MoreNew Forest Proposal Act
On September 14, a kick off event was held in Nanaimo to introduce a New Forest Proposal Act. Thanks to Dave Weaver, Beaufort Watershed Stewards, Jay Van Oostdam of SOFT, Guy Dauncey of Yellow Point Ecological Society, and all the other volunteers for their... Read MoreUrban Forestry Strategy
Term 2 /Take 2 Attention people of Saanich: this is a biodiversity alert. Biodiversity Biodiversity Biodiversity Taxes Taxes Taxes My job as an Independent 100% NOT developer-funded councillor is getting harder every day. A voice for the environment, wildlife,... Read More
Seniors Demand Action on Climate Change
I was born in 1948, when the average annual atmospheric CO2 level was about 311 ppm. When I started writing this column in December 2014, average annual CO2 was 399 ppm. Today, it is 422 ppm. The impacts of these heightened CO2 levels, as well as increased levels of methane…
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We Need To Act Now!
I feel this 18 min presentation on the Planetary Boundaries and Tipping points of Climate Change is one of the best that every one should watch. It is my hope that you will spend the time to really listen to this presentation.
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Save the Mighty Sequoia Tree at Centennial Square, Victoria BC, from Wrongful Demolition
An inconvenient tree? Sign the petition here. On Jul 11, 2024 Victoria’s mayor and a majority of council members approved the updated concept design for Centennial Square and directed staff to proceed with implementation as outlined in the Centennial Square... Read More
Ryan Senechal: Removing Sequoia Would Violate City of Victoria Policies
The redesign of Victoria’s Centennial Square is moving closer toward breaking ground, and there remains a chance for sober second thought on the fate of a highly appreciated giant sequoia. We’ve been informed that the removal is to improve sightlines for public safety…
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Let The Sequoia Live!
In July, Victoria’s mayor and council voted to cut down the giant sequoia that has been a focal point of Centennial Square for past decades, as part of a planned redesign of the space. Two other large trees will also be removed. These include a healthy sweetgum, and the beautiful Shirofugen Japanese flowering cherry…
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Navigating Toward a Better Future Locally
Recently, I have been discussing the large-scale changes we need to make in the face of the eight critical shifts identified in the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report Navigating New Horizons. Those changes are a focus on intergenerational equity; a new social contract that reinforces shared values about how we relate not only to…
Read MoreBlue Green Algae, So Worth The Watch!
So many of our southern Vancouver Island lakes are literally closed to people and pets because of cyanobacteria. And it impacts the wildlife who use the lakes. This video is horrifying, and explains... Read More
We Need a New Social Contract and an Emphasis on Well-Being Metrics
In addition to a commitment to intergenerational equity, which I discussed last week, the recent UN Environment Programme report Navigating New Horizons also calls for “a new social contract reinforcing shared values that unite us rather than divide us” and “a new global emphasis on well-being metrics…
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Water Scarcity, Forced Displacement Among Challenges We Face
The UN Environment Programme’s new report Navigating New Horizons, produced in partnership with the International Science Council, is not easy reading. It’s not just that it is a dense 100-page document, but because it paints a grim picture of the challenges we face.
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CANE/CAPE Information Sheets added to Solutions Resources
Check out Creatively United’s Solutions Resource Section for a variety of downloadable and shareable graphics and information, such as these new additions from the Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE) and the Canadian Association of... Read MoreThe Economy Should Serve Well-Being, Planet Health, Not Dominate Them
In exploring the need for a transformation of our values so they are fit for purpose in the 21st century, I have been using a piece of “scripture” from the World Wide Fund for Nature’s 2014 Living Planet Report. The third realm from my piece of “scripture” is the economy, and the text makes an important but often overlooked point…
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B.C. Government Blasted for ‘Ultimate Hypocrisy’ Over PFAS and Sewage Sludge
The B.C. government’s lawsuit over the health impact of so-called “forever chemicals” is now shining a questionable light on the province’s effort to also overturn one of Canada’s only bans on toxic sewage sludge applied to fields and forests.
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Physician Group Fighting for Health and Planet Marks 30 Years
In my time, I have co-founded a number of organizations, but I am particularly proud to have helped start CAPE — the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment — 30 years ago. Three of us, independently, had started to develop the idea of some sort of doctors’ organization…
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Two Petitions for Southern Resident Killer Whales
Here are two petitions for people to sign for the protection of our Southern Resident Killer Whales. One is from the David Suzuki Foundation and one is from Georgia Strait Alliance: https://davidsuzuki.org/action/tell-leaders-to-give-srkw-a-lifeline/ Endangered... Read More
Science’s Wise and Beautiful Older Sister
While we owe a great deal to the scientific method and its objective reasoning and always will, we need to transcend the mechanistic world view that we have inherited from it. Here we need to engage science’s wise and beautiful older sister, art. We have known this... Read More
PFAS Lawsuit Smacks of Irony
Dear CRD Board, Senior CRD staff, and Minister Heyman, I’m sure many of you saw the following article on CBC this weekend highlighting a lawsuit launched by the BC government against the manufacturers of PFAS chemicals for contaminating drinking water and... Read More
B.C. Launches Class-Action Lawsuit Against Makers of ‘Forever Chemicals’
The BC government has filed a class action law suit in the BC Supreme Court against a number of chemical companies which manufacture so called ‘forever chemicals’ or PFAS which commonly occur in household products and do not break down in the environment. The US... Read More
CRD’s Biosolids Plan Beset With Issues
The report by Sidney Coles of Capital Daily exposes the problems with disposing biosolids at the Lafarge cement plat at Richmond and at Cassidy Quarry at Cassidy. The CRD Board will approve the long term pan for biosolids management on Wednesday June 12. Creatively... Read More
Ecosystems Sustain Societies That Create Economies
Back in April, I was asked to be the homilist at the First Unitarian Church just before Earth Day and to talk about the values revolution that is needed. Now I don’t know about you, but I didn’t even know there was such a a beast as a homilist…
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New Bill Could Bail out US Farmers Ruined by ‘Forever Chemical’ Pollution
Courtesy of The Guardian. The US may soon bail out farmers whose livelihoods were destroyed by toxic PFAS “forever chemical” contamination. The proposal for a $500m fund aims to head off a crisis for the nation’s growers and is moving through Congress amid increasing... Read More
Petition that the Province of B.C. Protect Native Tree Species within Building Envelopes
With the recent housing Bills, protecting the natural environment within so-called building envelopes couldn’t be more crucial.
Read MoreTake the Nanaimo Climate Pledge
Ever get the feeling that your family is the only one taking the climate emergency seriously enough to try to do something about it? Want to know that you are not alone or what else you can do? Take the https://www.nanaimoclimatepledge.ca/ Together we can make a... Read MoreFORWARD! for a Frack Free Future
Get ready for a weekend of connection, training, scheming, and dreaming of a Fossil Free Future. Build the power of the BC climate movement for a climate-safe future! From June 7-9, activists, organizers, and changemakers from across the B.C. will gather on the... Read MorePetition – MPs: Put Big Oil on Trial This June
In early June, executives from the largest fossil fuel companies in Canada – Enbridge, Imperial, Cenovus, Enbridge, and Shell – will testify before the House of Commons’ Environment Committee. The purpose of their summons? To answer for their failure to rein in... Read More
Our ‘Ignore-ant’ Elites Blindly Adhere to ‘Business As Usual’
My colleague Paul Kershaw is a professor of public health at UBC and founder of Generation Squeeze, a “Think and Change Tank” that promotes wellbeing for all generations. It does so “by turning evidence into action and rejuvenating democracy to protect what is sacred for younger and future generations…
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POLIS Launches New Wildfire Resilience Project
Resilience and “whole-of-society” approach are clear priorities to address emerging wildfire reality in B.C. Victoria, B.C. lək̓ʷəŋən territory: British Columbia needs to adopt a “whole-of-society” approach to advance wildfire resilience, say the authors of an... Read More
Harms of PFAS, the CRD’s contract with Lafarge, and Celebrating the Long-standing Ban on the Land Application of Biosolids
A CTV news story on the pervasiveness and dangers of PFAS, a VicNews story on the ongoing issues with biosolids disposal at the Lafarge Cement kiln, and an op-ed by BioSolids Free BC founder, Philippe Lucas, celebrating the popular CRD ban on the land application of... Read More
Petition Aims To Keep Toxic Chemicals Out of Greater Victoria Environment
The world finally seems to be waking up to the harms of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Commonly referred to as “forever chemicals” due to their slow rate of degradation and associated build-up in animals, humans and our natural environment, PFAS are... Read More
Governments Need to Limit Plastic Production to Protect Health, Environment
A team led by Prof. Martin Wagner of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology recently reported that of 16,000 chemicals associated with plastic, at least 4,200 “are of concern because of their high hazards to human health and the environment.”
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Petition: Uphold the Ban on Land Application of Biosolids in the Capital Regional District
The Capital Regional District (CRD) in Victoria, BC, Canada has a long-standing and popular ban on the land application of biosolids. This is a crucial regulation that protects our local drinking water, environment and public health. Biosolids contain PFAS,... Read More
CRD Pressed to Come to a Long-Term Solution for Biosolids Management
Under pressure from the province, the CRD needs to come up with a definitive plan to deal with the mounting quantity of dried biosolids pellets at Hartland. Biosolids are the byproduct of the region’s wastewater treatment processes. As of now, the CRD says…
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Our Addiction to Plastics Will Come Back to Haunt Us
Monday is Earth Day, and the theme this year is Planet vs. Plastics. This is timely, because Tuesday marks the start of a week-long session in Ottawa of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. So this week, I begin to look at the plastics industry…
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Regulating Forever Chemicals in Drinking Water
Canada Proposes stricter regulations for Forever chemicals in drinking water. PFACs are indestructible chemicals which are ubiquitous in the environment due to their presence in a wide range of household items The US Protection Agency introduced new regulations this... Read More
A Big Idea for Climate Leadership: Colwood As a Model Municipality for Renewable Solar Energy
Introduction: Climate change presents an urgent global challenge, demanding innovative solutions at every level of society. Colwood, in its commitment to climate leadership, has an opportunity to spearhead transformative change through the implementation of renewable... Read MoreSite C and Water Bombers
I wrote to Elizabeth May reminding her of two of her excellent ideas that I hope she’ll continue to promote regarding Site-C and water bombers. I remember when I first heard her mention these ideas several years ago and I thought “brilliant.” Elizabeth got right back... Read More
April 4th: Prayer Walk for our Sacred Ancient Forests
Join Elders for Ancient Trees on a bus trip to the Nanaimo courthouse on April 4th to show solidarity for Land Defender, Rainbow Eyes, and old-growth forests. Meet people from Nanaimo, Cowichan, Duncan, Comox and Saltspring Island. For those coming from the Victoria... Read More
CRD Needs Answers and to Pursue Better Options to Protect the Public and Environment From Biosolids
Dear CRD Chair, Board and staff, In light of the emerging details about the criminal investigation and civil suits against Synagro, we’re very concerned about the lack of CRD follow up on an emerging public health and environmental issue that seems to clearly... Read More
Company Behind CRD Biosolids Sued in U.S. Over Health Issues, Animal Deaths
The company that produces biosolids at Hartland Landfill for the Capital Regional District is being sued by a group of Texas farmers. The farmers claim fertilizer made from a product of sewage treatment by Synagro Technologies’ operation…
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CRD’s Biosolids Maker Sued by Texan Farmers Over Illnesses, Animal Deaths
The company that helps produce the Capital Regional District’s biosolids is being accused of its similar products medically harming Texas farmers and fatally impacting their animals. Synagro Technologies is the majority…
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Potential Extinction of Insects — A Major Report
Scientists have been warning that insects are disappearing at alarming rates. Not only are they pollinators for our food, but they are food for birds and other animals. We depend on these tiny creatures and this report warns of possible extinction. Below in letters is... Read More
Sign on Letter to Trudeau: End All Public Financing of Fossil Fuels
The Government of Canada has made some progress in ending support for the fossil fuel sector, including introducing two policies over recent years aimed at ending international public financing and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. However, most of the support... Read More
Job Posting: Assistant Outdoor Naturalist Educator
Ecoforestry Institute is seeking an Assistant Educator/Naturalist passionate about protecting BC’s forests, to run interpretive ecoforestry and ecology based school workshops, summer camps, and public tours at Wildwood Ecoforest near Ladysmith.
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CRD Under Pressure To Make A Plan For Biosolid Waste By June
The CRD has been punting its management problem down Hartland Ave. for years. Pressure to resolve the region’s biosolids and other solid waste management plan has resurfaced as construction plans to increase capacity at the landfill are underway.
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Unavoidable Legal Liability of Land Application of Biosolids
Dear CRD Chair and Board, Let me begin by thanking you all for your continued support for the popular and longstanding ban on the land application of biosolids in the CRD. This is just a quick note to share a news story from the Guardian about a community group suing... Read More
Legal Action Could End Use Of Toxic Sewage Sludge On US Crops As Fertilizer
New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer, and force America to rethink how it disposes of its industrial and human waste. A notice of intent…
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