By Pat Teti – It’s the peak of autumn squash season as I write this, but you might be reading it when most pumpkins are in landfills and scarce on store shelves. Fortunately, they preserve well by freezing and canning so if you’re lucky, you’ve got some that you’ve put away. Otherwise, you can try this recipe with store-bought canned pumpkin and make a mental note to buy some for cooking next fall. For years I thought of pumpkins only as a craft medium for Halloween sculpting. Now, after a number of kitchen experiments, I see jack o’lanterns as a…
Author: thegreengazette
By Alison Main – The digital world has taken over our lives. There are millions of apps to explore, snaps to share, friends to “Like,” emojis to text, and emails to follow us wherever we roam. Undoubtedly, this communication stream increases our productivity. But what are the consequences of this wirelessly interconnected world—not just for our social selves, but for our physical bodies, as well? Sabine El Gemayel created the award winning documentary film Generation Zapped with this exact question in mind. Through expert interviews, scientific research, and revealing personal stories, her film delves into the productive conveniences and inconvenient…
By Barbara Schellenberg – HEALTHY SNACKS AND WHY School Snack Bars (Makes 12 bars) Ingredients 2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup rolled oats, blended to a coarse powder in food processor 1/2 cup raisins, finely chopped 3/4 cup coconut, shredded 1/2 cup dates, finely chopped 2 tablespoons wheat germ 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 egg 2 egg whites 1/4 cup pure maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla Method Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Combine the rolled oats, processed oats, coconut, raisins, dates, wheat germ, and salt. Then in a separate dish,…
By Vanessa Moberg – I guess by now you’ve heard that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is the richest man in modern history. It seems that online shopping is here to stay, and retail operations everywhere are struggling to survive. Whoever thought Sears would shut down? It’s ironic, really, considering it was the original mail-order company. Heck, I’m still mourning the loss of Blockbuster video. The act of going to the store, browsing the aisles genre by genre, and picking out your snack was all part of the Friday night experience. A few years ago, it was thought that online shopping had…
By Guy Dauncey – I continue to be obsessed with the urgency of the climate crisis, at the expense of my other main project, the book I’m writing on The Economics of Kindness: The Birth of a New Cooperative Economy. This summer’s forest fires and smoke-filled skies must surely have left many people asking, “What will it take to finally end the climate delay and start doing something to tackle this growing emergency?” Climate denial comes in three shades: red, pink, and purple. Red is full-on denial; it says that it’s all a hoax. Pink says for sure the climate’s…
By LeRae Haynes – The Salvation Army in Williams Lake, with its ever-expanding array of services and programs in the community, is gearing up for a busy winter season that includes warm clothing, great winter activities, and holiday meals for clients, as well as its annual fundraiser: the Christmas kettles. Coming in January will be a cooking program, teaching people how to budget, cook, and prepare food—stretching a food hamper, according to Lieutenant Dawn Butt, Salvation Army Williams Lake Corps. “Also coming soon to the drop-in centre is bingo, with fun trinkets to win,” she said. “And we’re taking clients…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of The Green Gazette – “Brace yourselves: Even friendlier Canadians are coming.” The excitement was bristly as this and other tongue-in-cheek memes made the social media rounds in October leading up to Canada’s legalization of marijuana—a landmark accomplishment for weed activists, medical consumers, and recreational users country-wide. The federal government’s decision to legalize the green was founded in many arguments—medicinal properties, lack of science behind the health risks, and a general sense of confidence that a plant around 3 million Canadians are using anyway ought to be legal because that would weaken the black market.…
Submitted by the Medieval Market Committee – “Kids nowadays.” How many of us have heard, or perhaps even uttered this phrase with a tone of frustration or even derision? Although many people argue that “kids have changed,” others truly believe that kids have not changed, but rather the world around them has changed. This is never truer than in the case of the 2018 Medieval Market being held at Lake City Secondary (LCS) in Williams Lake on November 24-25. Back in Medieval times, children would be put to hard service in the houses of other people and would be responsible…
Cariboo Growers has been the place to go for locally grown meat and produce for many smaller producers in the Cariboo-Chilcotin year-round for ten years. The store closed its doors on October 31 with a final celebration Harvest Sale enabling the community to enjoy a last feast of excellent local food sold at the Co-op store, operating as a not-for-profit business. The store was established as an initiative of Interior Health with funding to the Williams Lake Food Policy Council in 2008. The Growers Co-operative of the Cariboo-Chilcotin was established as the legal entity that would operate the store. Its…
By Oliver Berger – It’ll be a random day at home, a bit chilly outside, and I’ll be semi caught-up on typical property-owner duties. The sun will break through the cloudy or snowy day and I’ll think, “Now is a good time to get my Christmas tree.” I do this in a go-as-you-are fashion, bathrobe, shorts, whatever I am wearing, grabbing my saw before I head out the front door. I’ll walk across my driveway and into the ditch by the main road. On the crazy corner where I live there is a small patch of firs, destined for the…
Looking for something for your holiday reading list? Rocky Mountain Books is pleased to announce the release of two compelling books, Total Transition: The Human Side of the Renewable Energy Revolution, by Sandeep Pai and Savannah Carr-Wilson, and Quenching the Dragon: The Canada-China Water Crisis, by Robert William Sandford. In Total Transition: The Human Side of the Renewable Energy Revolution, follow the journey of a Canadian and Indian couple as they travel the world to capture the human side of one of the biggest energy transitions of our times—the global shift from fossil fuels to renewables. In this exciting and…
By Tera Grady – The provincial government has given all Regional Districts in British Columbia the responsibility of solid waste management planning. This means the Cariboo Regional District produces a Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) every 10 years to identify targets for waste reduction and strategies to manage the waste produced in the region. The last SWMP brought some changes, such as changing several high-use refuse sites to controlled sites and providing household recycling access. Many residents have taken advantage of this access. In 2017, 822 tonnes of household recyclables were collected from the CRD’s Williams Lake area depots and…
By Dianne Noort – On December 2 from 1:30–3:00 p.m. Gendun Drubpa Buddhist Centre in Williams Lake will offer a puja. We offer various pujas several times a year. Sometimes it is to Medicine Buddha or to Tara. The upcoming puja is a Guru puja. Puja means “offering” in Sanskrit, and this practice of making offerings can take many forms. We can do them alone or in a group, with or without our teachers. During rituals like pujas we are at our most human. Pujas give us the chance to connect with our big minds and big hearts, even as…
By Venta Rutkauskas – Research in education and child development has prompted a wave of publicity for nature-based and forest schools. Experts agree that children thrive in the outdoors, while the benefits attached are academic, social, and personal. Children who learn in the outdoors generally have decreased anxiety and hyper-activity, increased self-confidence, and stronger, healthier bodies. These programs meet curriculum goals in creative and seasonal ways, adding a love and keen perception of the natural world to the child’s toolkit. Williams Lake is home to the Cariboo’s first nature kindergarten, now in its third year at the Scout Island Nature…
By David Suzuki – When our children and grandchildren and those of us still here in 20 years look back to this time, will we say it was when the world finally got serious about the climate crisis? Or will we mark a tragic time when political and business leaders prioritized short-term economic gain over the future of humanity? Listening to Canada’s minister of environment and climate change respond on the radio to the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, “Global Warming of 1.5°C”, didn’t raise my hopes. Despite outlining good policies such as pricing carbon pollution and phasing…
By Kristine Webber – Let me start by saying I don’t generally align myself with the RV crowd. (Not that there’s anything wrong with RVing; when I go on vacation I prefer to either sleep under the stars or have a soft bed and room service.) So imagine my surprise when I saw the new ad titled, Bring Back the Wildhood, produced by GoRVing Canada and I found myself nodding along. The ad features parents and grandparents exploring the outdoors with children. Pure, outdoor adventure where the only devices are the rocks and sticks, and the entertainment is provided by…
By LeRae Haynes – Some of the locally-produced treasures available at the Williams Lake Medieval Market on November 24 and 25 are four beautiful teas grown, harvested, and made by Callie Borkowski at New Paradigm Teas. Borkowski wild-crafts four blends of fragrant teas: Anise Petal, Orange Balm, Mighty Mint, and Lemon Bliss. She became interested in making teas about 14 years ago while living in India. “I became overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the chaos and decided it was time for a change. I emailed my mentor, herbalist and homeopath Crystal Slevin. I asked if I could…
By Tim Pearson – Most British Columbians care deeply about the environment. Perhaps it is because of our jaw-dropping scenery and iconic species, from ancient forests to grizzly bears to salmon and orcas. BC has extraordinary diversity and abundance: it is home to three-quarters of Canada’s mammal and bird species, and 70 per cent of its freshwater fish. For generations, we have relied on the natural world for economic resources, recreational opportunities, and the health and stability of communities. Polling shows we consistently want strong protections for the land, water, and air we depend on for jobs, recreation, and health.…
The Facts Populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have, on average, declined in size by 60 percent in just over 40 years. The biggest drivers of current biodiversity loss are overexploitation and agriculture, both linked to continually increasing human consumption. Given the interconnectivity between the health of nature, the well-being of people, and the future of our planet, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) urges the global community to unite for a global deal for nature and people to reverse the trend of biodiversity loss. Humanity and the way we feed, fuel, and finance our societies and economies is pushing…