Nutrient Dense Meals by Barbara Schellenberg – Navigating the school lunch: How to train picky eaters to eat the nourishing meals their bodies and minds need to grow and learn. Having a good supply of nutrients to sustain your child’s mind and body through the demanding school day will give them more tools for success. In the colder months a hot Thermos of pasta or chili makes a great meal. You will need a decent quality 375–400 ml Thermos with a wide mouth to access easily with a fork. It’s important to always properly heat the Thermos to make sure…
Author: thegreengazette
By Erin Hitchcock – A local group has started within the community to bring forth the Pachamama Alliance’s message. The vision that informs the Pachamama Alliance’s work is of a world that works for everyone: an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just human presence on this planet—a new dream for humanity. This non-profit organization based in San Francisco offers people the chance to learn, connect, engage, and cherish life, free of charge and from anywhere in the world, for the purpose of creating a sustainable, harmonious future that works for all people and all species. In 1995, the Achuar people,…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor – It was an easy mistake, something any one of us could have done. But whether any one of us would have survived unscathed is a different question entirely. It was mid-November 2018 when Roberta Robson (75) and Karen Talbot (69) left a home on the north end of Quadra Island to take the dog for a short trail hike to “Skinny Dip Lake” as it is called by the locals. Roberta, a fit and avid hiker, was leading the way, and she was confident she knew the directions to and from the lake. “I’d…
By David Suzuki – An alarming scientific review has found human activity is driving insects to extinction. When the bottom of the food chain is endangered, so, too, is everything up the chain—including people. Insect declines threaten birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians that eat insects, as well as the many plants that require them for pollination. Insects are also crucial to soil health, nutrient recycling, and ecosystem functioning. Habitat loss from intensive agriculture and urbanization is the main cause of the decline, according to the review, “Worldwide decline of the entomofauna: A review of its drivers,” published in Biological Conservation.…
By LeRae Haynes – Dan the Trash Man in Williams Lake has taken customer service to new heights by adding another green feature to his business. Besides garbage, recycling, glass, and yard debris, he also picks up composting. Dan Wilkinson worked for the original Trash Man owner starting in 2001 and purchased the business four years ago. His customers are rural residents, people with mobility issues, business owners, and people with busy lives who appreciate being able to leave their garbage and recycling in his capable hands. “Recycling has become both more mainstream and more regulated,” he says. “When I…
By Angela Gutzer and Nicola Finch, Cariboo Community Deathcaring Network – The swan symbolizes grace, beauty, love, and transformation. She signifies beauty in the aging process—the shedding of our undesirable characteristics on the path to re-connecting to our eternal inner light. She teaches us to use courage as we hit the pitfalls of life and offers us her guiding intuition to see the bigger picture. Grace comes in when we allow the not-so-pretty parts of ourselves to be seen and acknowledged as a part of us. Her medicine is the surrender to the great unknown regardless of the outcome. She…
By Ron Young – In much of the world solar energy is rapidly becoming mainstream power. In Germany, one of the world’s most industrialized nations, renewables overtook coal as the leading source of power and now account for 41 per cent of the country’s electricity. Germany recently announced that it will begin to shut down all 84 of its coal fired power plants. Germany gets less sun than many parts of Canada, including BC’s Cariboo, yet they’re planning to use the sun as their primary electricity source in years to come. With the legitimacy of solar power no longer in…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of The Green Gazette – Birdwatching is turning heads among North American hobbyists. In fact, nature-based activities like wildlife viewing have grown exponentially in Western Canada over the past decade and the reasons are not a surprise: being in nature is exciting, educational, and healthy, and we all feel better for doing it. Birding is detail oriented, requires time spent outdoors and in nature, and requires one to focus on the natural world and its different relationship to time, says Bernard Schroeder, wildlife biologist and birding enthusiast.Birding helps develop skills of observation, listening, pattern and sound…
By Oliver Berger – What goes through your mind when you open your closet? I will tell you what has been echoing in my brain lately… “The clothing industry is the second-largest polluter in the world, second only to the oil industry.” For the past decade companies have been mass producing more clothes than ever before. In an effort for us to buy more and keep shares high, fashion moguls create new season trends quicker and quicker. This makes us feel like the last clothes we bought are already out of style. To keep up with the competition, they make…
By Venta Rutkauskas – Art saved my life. How about you? Each artist’s journey is akin to their fingerprint. It’s why I adore interviewing them, searching the sands of their process for clues or pearls of insight that might decode the art they make. I do this, I chase the spark of inspiration in others towards its source, because I believe if I keep following it, the source’s warmth and passion will reveal its secrets to me. It is my own personal fairy tale, a heroine’s journey to soul and unveiling so that my own artistic endeavours deepen. It’s easy…
At the time of writing this we are having a real cold snap. Often it is clear at night during these Arctic outflows and if the moon isn’t interfering, those bright winter stars can be spectacular, with Orion the hunter leading the charge in his constant battle with Taurus the bull. Gemini the twins are riding high overhead, and the hunting dogs, Canis major and minor, follow the hunter’s path in the southeast. Sirius is the bright star in Canis major and is the brightest star in the night sky. Because of its low elevation and great brightness, Sirius is…
By Judy Hillaby – The Cariboo is an exciting place to live and work and getting out in the lakes and streams is an important part of enjoying life here. Streamkeepers helps with this—it is a volunteer organization that has existed in BC for 40 years and has over 100 member groups. Horsefly Streamkeepers is now among them, and we have a long list of go-to places to find and examine. The Pacific Streamkeepers Federation (www.pskf.ca) helps with science support, training and practical advice, liability insurance, mapping, data archiving, and an impressive network of watershed stewards that will help you…
By Terri Smith – Hello, Everyone! I’m excited to begin this new column on local food. Local food has been my passion for over a decade, and my own journey of eating it, growing it, selling it, and teaching about it has been both fascinating and difficult, but always rewarding. While there are many parts to the story of local food in the Cariboo, I’m going to begin by talking about one that is dear to my heart. For almost a year now I have been working at Long Table Grocery in Quesnel, BC, and I’m very proud to be…
Fin Donnelly, Member of Parliament for Port-Moody-Coquitlam, is sponsoring Bill S-238, the Ban on Shark Fin Importation Act, which passed in the Senate late last year and will now be reviewed by the House of Commons. This bill, introduced by Senator Michael MacDonald, would prohibit the import and export of shark fins into and out of Canada. McDonald’s bill was based on Donnelly’s Private Member’s bill, which was narrowly defeated by five votes in the House of Commons in 2013. At the time, Donnelly’s bill had support from the NDP and Liberal caucuses. He hopes the Liberals, who now account…
By Sage Birchwater – If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the recently released book Tsilhqot’in Voices: Our Place, Our People, Our Story is a veritable encyclopedia. Published in late 2018 by the Tsilhqot’in National Government (TNG), the book’s 62 spectacular photographs and quotations from 18 Tsilhqot’in elders, leaders, and youth offer a fresh new look at the Tsilhqot’in people, their history, culture, and territory they have occupied for millennia. The book creates a unique sense of place and offers a concise historical perspective. Of particular interest is the map of the region with Tsilhqot’in place names. “For…
By Jenny Howell – I have been teaching Water Wise classes to elementary kids for many years now. It is in many ways the ideal job with lots of variety and flexibility, including outdoor classes at Gavin Lake near Likely, BC in the fall and in February; in-class sessions through the winter months; special events such as the April grade 7 Earth Challenge; library art displays; our Earth Friendly event; and then outside with field trips through May and June. The other great part of my job is working with the other Conservation Society staff, planning projects and bouncing ideas…
Lawyers with West Coast Environmental Law applauded BC’s Budget 2019 for delivering on funding promises to implement the government’s climate plan, CleanBC. The organization argued that funding aggressive climate action makes sense both economically and environmentally but cautioned that there needs to be greater urgency across government to achieve BC’s climate goals. “BC is a place that environmentally-minded businesses will want to invest because of our beautiful natural environment, plentiful resources, and renewable energy,” said Andrew Gage, staff lawyer. “Budget 2019 builds on that advantage by funding an aggressive path to further lower our provincial greenhouse gas pollution.” Highlights of…
Submitted by The Rhythm Club – Look to your left, or your right. If your smartphone isn’t within a foot of you (assuming you’re not reading this on your mobile) you’re one in a million. It’s not news that smartphones have pervaded every area of our lives, but the stats on exactly how our compulsive use of these incredible contraptions is shaping our minds might surprise you. Comparison fatigue, sleep disruption, memory loss, depression, and anxiety are just the beginning of the challenges. Digital Information Overload (the constant influx of information) has been scientifically shown to change the neural pathways…
By LeRae Haynes – Regardless of your skill level or area of musical interest, The Guitar Seller in Williams Lake is a music lover’s music store where you are genuinely welcome to come hang out, be inspired, or fall in love with the perfect musical instrument. The personable, professional, and helpful staff is made up of Owner Brian Sawyer, Manager Rick Blackwood, and Musical Instructors Herb Pannekoek and Tyler Pollock, who teach individual guitar, bass, and ukulele lessons in two private teaching studios. Pannekoek also does stringed instrument repairs for the store. Well qualified and experienced, Pannekoek’s been teaching for…