On World Day For Animals in Labs we educate ourselves about the virulent reservoir of cruelty to animals which exists in the international network of experimental labs, & take time to communicate with our political representatives on the issue.
Why do people reject the science of climate change; what are the consequences of accepting misinformation and what role does psychology and the media play in overcoming this resistance? This webinar features internationally…
So great to see such a fantastic turnout for the old growth forest rally at the Victoria Legislature. Thank you to everyone for taking a stand for our forests. Here’s a letter, complete with email addresses to share: Subject: A call for a New Forest Framework in... Read more
International Dark Sky Week (April 5-12) is just around the corner! We invite you to take a look at the new International Dark Sky Week website. There, you will find a map with popups that tells the stories of a small snapshot of the beautiful International Dark Sky... Read more
Too often, politics is focused on the short term. We see it everywhere: Support for clear-cutting the last stands of old-growth forest, fishing to the last fish, maintaining and even expanding the fossil-fuel industry — the list goes on. Only when it is almost too late do we act — and not always even then.
Governments and stakeholders agree that we must urgently work together to build our net zero carbon future. The cost of inaction is simply far too great. The sooner we act, the more effectively we can reduce the risks and protect the health and safety of Canadians. It... Read more
The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) is asking for public support requesting MLA’s (the Premier’s) support in stopping the OK Industries (OKI) strip mine, and in changing the Province’s Mines Act so this won’t happen again – here or anywhere in BC. Our... Read more
Humans act as if we have several planets to sustain us when in reality we only have one – that’s the motive behind a new six-week series of Monday evening conversations called Re-imagining Life In A One Planet Region.
One of the common topics of conversation these days deals with how well we are faring with Covid lockdown. All the in-person people that I’ve met seem to be coping fairly well, even the dog walkers passing by or the strangers I meet at the nearby park. Actually, the... Read more
Two opportunities to help nature are coming up soon. You may not be aware that in BC, there is less than 1% of the biggest old-growth trees left. Keeping these forests standing is among our best tools for mitigating climate change. Yet government and industry still... Read more
The wetlands of Nanaimo are a precious ecological resource. To understand their natural values they need to be properly mapped, classified and monitored. This wetlandkeepers course will give you the tools to help steward our local wetlands. Sign up now for the 2021... Read more
Metchosin council took a bold move on March 15 in passing a bylaw that downzones the Boys and Girls Club property that we know as Metchosin Wilderness Camp. The community rallied to provide letters of support for this move. We have been blindsided by the Club’s... Read more
‘The spiraling decline of our planet’s biodiversity is the true tragedy of our time’ – David Attenborough from A Life on our Planet The road to carbon neutrality can only be successful if nature’s biodiversity is not only…
I missed the Reimagining Agriculture webinar in February but was able to listen/watch it today and was pleased to see the references to organic agriculture, water usage, and the spiritual connection to land use provided by the poet, Rhona McAdam. That research on... Read more
Last week, Indigenous youth land defenders Braided Warriors were violently assaulted and removed while holding a peaceful sit-in and engaging in ceremony at the offices of Trans Mountain’s insurers. [1] They were demanding these insurance giants stop backing the... Read more
Here’s some info on the old growth blockades (www.fairycreekblockade.com) that are in place near Port Renfrew: Since August 10, 2020, ancient temperate rainforests in the Fairy Creek watershed (TFL 46) near Port Renfrew have been protected from Teal Jones... Read more
The Koksilah Working Group is a group of community volunteers who address concerns about the impacts of land use and climate change on their local water and environment on Vancouver Island, Canada. It was established in 2015 by the Cowichan Station Area Association,... Read more
Water required for agriculture is becoming a major concern for water and food security across the province of British Columbia. This issue will only get worse over the coming decade as the climate dries and warms….
Vancouver has a wonderful Climate Emergency Action Plan (https://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/vancouvers-climate-emergency.aspx ) that increases resource efficiency (it significantly reduces per capita energy and land consumption), plus housing and transportation... Read more
After full commissioning of the Residuals Treatment Facility for the Capital Region’s Liquid Waste located at Hartland Landfill, the CRD has confirmed the Facility is now producing bio-solids from dewatered sewage sludge, and is spreading them at the Landfill. The... Read more
“Humanity is waging war on nature. This is senseless and suicidal. The consequences of our recklessness are already apparent in human suffering, towering economic losses, and the accelerating erosion of life on Earth.” – UN Secretary-General António Guterres “We... Read more
A lot has happened in our community in the past few years: entire mountainsides clearcut and blasted, residents unable to adequately access council meetings during the pandemic, residents of Danbrook, and Tri-way mobile home park displaced, all in the pursuit of... Read more
On Monday, Feb. 22nd, Saanich Council will be deliberating on the future of the Panama Flats. The 2013 master plan for this remarkable 62-acre property has the ingredients of bird and wildlife sanctuary, wetlands, walking paths, Garry Oak preservation, flood plan... Read more
Join three incredibly talented and well-established visual artists: Roy Henry Vickers, Roberta Pyx Sutherland and David Ellingsen for an insightful look beyond the obvious, hosted by multi-media artist Frances Litman….
A cynic, Oscar Wilde wrote, is someone who “knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” On that basis, our dominant economic system — corporate capitalism — is beyond cynical. It takes Wilde’s aphorism one giant step further because it doesn’t even know or take into account the price of everything, never mind recognize and account for that which is priceless.
Once a year, we put out an appeal for financial support – by Becoming a Member – here! https://yellowpointecologicalsociety.ca/join-us/ Some of our initiatives cost us nothing, but we have costs to keep our various technologies going, and some of our new... Read more
Trees are among the hardest working members of our world community. Every day, 24 hours a day, they provide a huge host of incredible services that they receive little thanks or recognition for. I created these graphics to visually show some of the many attributes of... Read more
Here is an opportunity for Saanich residents to provide input to the District on issues such as zero waste. Please take a moment and let your voice be heard by following this link. Read more
The Rainforest Flying Squad is looking for valuable long-term in-camp volunteers to help continue to grow this movement of direct action protection of endangered old-growth forests. Currently needed are responsible, hard-working, conscientious people, who can get... Read more
Thanks in large measure to the power of the BC Provincial Mines Act, OKI has recently won two legal decisions, one each against the Highland District and the Highland District Community Association (HDCA). While the HDCA has decided to appeal one of these decisions,... Read more
Once every five years the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) reviews its sustainable forest management certification for BC logging companies and this is a chance to let them know that logging old-growth forests, 10,000 years in the making, is not possibly... Read more
Once every five years the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) reviews its sustainable forest management certification for BC logging companies and this is a chance to let them know that logging old-growth forests, 10,000 years in the making, is not possibly... Read more
As you read this, approximately 26,000 human-made objects are circling overhead around the Earth. Some 3,000 of them are functioning spacecraft and satellites; the other 23,000 are pieces of junk left over from 63 years of the human use of space. Literally millions of... Read more
Our Conversations in 2021 will be focusing more on imagining and starting to design and create a One Planet Region, exploring what local and personal and actions are needed and the policy changes needed to support those actions.
Did you know that 73 acres of precious urban forests situated next to our Hartland Landfill are slated to be destroyed in order to provide a bigger hole for more garbage? In an era of climate crisis, we, the Dogwood South Island Regional Team (SIRT) feel this is... Read more
Sign the petition here. As former BGCVIC employees, we are starting this petition to stop the application to subdivide an ecologically vulnerable parcel of land owned by the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Victoria (BGCVIC). This land has been used for decades for... Read more
18 months ago, teachers, parents, and students ran a campaign to have the Victoria School District declare a climate emergency, and put together a climate plan. They passed the motion unanimously, including this provision, that the Board would: a) direct the... Read more
Season 3 of Creative Solutions for a New World launched January 13th, 2021 with policy experts, Bob Sandford and Jon O’Riordan, uncovering the systemic challenges to reach carbon neutrality and a review of national and local…
The 2019 Human Development Report from the UN focused on inequalities in the Human Development Index, but did not look at an inequality that is particularly important in Canada: the HDI of Indigenous people. Happily, Indigenous Services Canada has done this, at the request of the Assembly of First Nations, although only for “Registered Indians,” which misses Inuit and Métis people.
The Ecoforestry Institute Society encourages organizations and individuals passionate about our remaining old-growth forests to write their own letters to Premier Horgan and Minister Conroy. These irreplaceable forests are almost gone. Add your voice!
GVAT’s Climate Action Research Team launched their Tuesdays for Trees campaign on the first Tuesday of the New Year. Due to the current Covid restrictions, only a few of us set up signage and a repurposed Xmas tree at the Legislature and walked with signs around the... Read more
Last week, I quoted from a Dec. 2 speech by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on the state of the planet. It made for grim reading, but it is the reality we need to face. Mr. Guterres did not end on a pessimistic note, however. Instead, he pointed to many indications of opportunity and hope.
Mount Work Coalition (MWC) welcomes the CRD’s decision to extend the public consultation period on its draft Solid Waste Management Plan to February 15, 2021. MWC, joined by other community groups, requested the extension so that more people could review and comment... Read more
The following profile those portions of each of the Premier of British Columbia’s (John Horgan’s) new Cabinet member’s Mandate Letters sent to Provincial Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries on November 26th, 2020 that highlight ‘climate change or environmental... Read more
The following are a sampling of climate action-related updates, activities or reports from an active Fall 2020, both internationally and closer-to-home: Internationally: On December 2, 2020, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented a sobering State of the... Read more
On Dec. 2, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres gave an important if somewhat overlooked speech at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum on the state of the planet. Guterres was blunt: “To put it simply, the state of the planet is broken,” he said. “Humanity is waging war on nature” – and that is “suicidal.”
On November 19, 2020, the Climate Action Program presented an update to Victoria City Council on the progress made to meet our emissions reduction targets and advance the actions outlined in the Climate Leadership Plan which was released in July 2018. Information on... Read more
Many people pay into the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) through paycheque deductions and become beneficiaries of the same when they retire. For those of you that are concerned on where your investments are going, including the CPP where one of the largest pension plans in... Read more
The CRD just released its draft solid Waste Management Plan for the Victoria region and wants your feedback. Landfills are not sustainable, produce greenhouse gases and should not be expanded. Other options are available. The CRD needs to do more to move to Zero Waste... Read more
A rare opportunity exists to give a beautiful living gift that will not only last lifetimes, supports everyone in our local community and beyond, is convenient, plus is a climate solution in alignment with zero waste. If you are looking for the best Christmas gift,... Read more
