By Nowell Senior – The Ancient Forest is in the heart of the Interior Cedar Hemlock (ICH) zone, or Inland Temperate Rainforest, and is a unique and critical ecosystem that provides habitat for a core group of six mammals that signify a high level of wilderness. These mammals are lynx, grey wolf, wolverine, mountain caribou, cougar, and grizzly bear. There are more tree species within the ICH than anywhere else in British Columbia, and arboreal lichen communities, especially the epiphytic cyanolichens assemblages on conifers, are among the richest in the world. These species depend on forests with old-growth attributes and…
Author: thegreengazette
By Jim Cooperman – Fifty-one years ago in Oakland California, I joined with other anti-war activists to block buses full of inductees heading to the Induction Centre. With a loud speaker atop my old panel truck, I cruised the streets of Berkeley, announcing the action and driving protestors to the site. When a phalanx of police came down the street bashing heads with their batons, I escaped to avoid injury and arrest. It was a full week of protests, and I helped organize one day of peaceful picketing after giving a speech at the famous Sproul Hall Plaza on the…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor – I’ll tell you a little something about beer: it’s not what you think. It’s actually better. If you aren’t a fan of the golden, bubbly nectar of awesome, well, I forgive you. But, I’ll bet you didn’t know beer boosts brain health—studies show a 20 percent decline in the risk of mental decline in people who drink beer. Beer-drinkers enjoy a 40 per cent lower risk of kidney stones; 20 to 40 per cent less risk of heart disease, and lower cancer risk, especially in dark beer drinkers, thanks to antioxidants and flavonoids. If…
By Oliver Berger – “I recycle everything.” Honestly, when I hear this statement I cringe. I am sure my fellow waste educators would also agree. Most people tell me these words with optimistic pride, boasting how little garbage they create, reassuring me that their recycling bag is always full to the brim, sometimes even overflowing. That’s fantastic, you might think … or is it? Because of the experience I have sifting through curbside recycling bins, my mind immediately wanders into visualizing what might be inside their bins. Did they rinse out their peanut butter jar? Did they throw batteries, glass,…
– Submitted by The Rivershed Society of BC Awareness is an upstream battle… You probably read one story each day about the decline in wild salmon, the possibility of salmon and sturgeon becoming extinct, the pollution that is toxifying our Fraser River Basin, or the wildfires burning across British Columbia. “The decisions we make today will be remembered, the impacts felt by generations to come,” says Fin Donnelly, chair of the Rivershed Society of British Columbia (RSBC) and founder of FraserFEST, about climate change. The Rivershed Society of BC isn’t sitting idle, reading the stories in the news. Its members…
“Rivers are the arteries of our planet; they are lifelines in the truest sense.” ~ Mark Angelo On September 23, communities all over the planet will celebrate World Rivers Day. The day focuses on highlighting the value of rivers, aiming to increase awareness and encourage river stewardship around the world. In BC, we are blessed with an abundance of wild rivers, including the Fraser River, which is the longest, free-flowing river in the province, stretching 1,375 km and draining some 234,000 square kilometres. It is the most productive salmon watershed on the planet and the most economically important watershed in…
By Lisa Bland, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief – In our rapidly changing world, the concept of biocultural diversity may be the crucial framework through which we need to see the diversity of life and our place in it—helping us see the context in our lives, making sense of the co-evolution of humans and the natural world, and strengthening our caring and responsibility towards our biological and cultural inheritance, preserving it into the future. Luisa Maffi is the co-founder and director of Terralingua, an international organization devoted to sustaining the world’s biological, cultural, and linguistic diversity through research, education, and policy change. She defines…
By Guy Dauncey – Democracy is a recent social invention. Most people don’t like it when the societies they live in are blatantly unfair, with privileges and glory for the rich and hard labour and exploitation for the poor. In consequence, starting a thousand years ago, people have gradually pried power out of the hands of the ruling elites and replaced it with democracy. The process is incomplete, however. I’d like to suggest 30 steps on the ladder of democracy. In BC, seven steps have yet to be taken. In America, depending on where you live, between 11 and 15…
By Ryan Elizabeth Cope – At the end of August, my partner Jan Vozenilek (a Kelowna-based cinematographer) and I were hop-scotching down the mighty Fraser River with two river rafts containing participants of the SLLP, or Sustainable Living Leadership Program, with the Rivershed Society of BC. They started the journey in early August, voyaging from the headwaters of the Fraser near Mount Robson, following the river’s path to where it meets the Pacific Ocean at Jericho Beach in Vancouver. This is an annual trip put on by the Rivershed Society of BC to raise awareness about the Fraser River, and…
By Layna Chelsea and Heather Johnson – On July 12, 2018, Esk’et hosted Clayton Gauthier, Cree/Dakelh artist from Prince George, who facilitated the Canvas Art Project to share his teachings with selected community members. The four-day workshop took place in the community of Alkali Lake. Gauthier’s art portfolio consists of drawings, paintings, carvings, drum making, rattle making, logos, mirror etching, tattoos, and digital art. He apprenticed under artist Peter George, Wet’suwet’en master carver, and has had training opportunities, including a two-year program with the En’owkin Centre and the National Aboriginal Professional Artists Training, both of which have expanded his professional…
By David Suzuki – Scientists, journalists, environmentalists, and others who draw the connection between increasing wildfires and global warming often face a backlash. It’s not climate change; it’s lightning, careless smokers or campers, poor forestry management, industrial activity or sparks from vehicles, bad government… One doesn’t negate the other. Wildfires have many causes, and more than one factor is fuelling increases in the number and intensity of fires worldwide. But hotter, drier weather increases the risk. Forestry practices and urban development are among the contributors to wildfires. Even preventing fires can increase risk, as low-intensity natural fires clear out…
By Sage Birchwater – Editor, Thick smoke clogging the airshed of Williams Lake for the second summer in a row drives home the realization how precious clean fresh air is to our health and happiness. It is difficult enough tolerating smoke from distant wildfires, but what if Atlantic Power was burning railway ties at the same time? How many citizens would want to take even one breath of air that also contains dioxins and furans from burning millions of rail ties in Williams Lake every year? That’s the dilemma facing our community as government regulators consider an appeal by a…
By Van Andruss – In the April/May issue of TheGreenGazette, I wrote an idealistic article titled, “Calling for a Re-birth of the Social Imagination.” The story below is a follow up of that article in an effort to provide at least one simple example of what I had in mind. They were young people, eight of them, except for one older fellow in his 50s, and they were hustling back and forth from the house to the old Ford passenger van, toting boxes of books, lengths of metal pipe for the woodstove, and a big cooler stuffed with food to…
By Patrick Lucas – The trail cuts down through a thin grove of burnt and blackened birch and poplar trees that remain standing from the wildfires that burned through the Cariboo Chilcotin Region in 2017. Spindly, leaning, ready to fall, their bark black and shriveled like skin peeling off in sheets, exposing the rotten dead wood. My friend Thomas Schoen and I are leading a group of youth from the Xat’sull First Nation on a mountain bike ride down the Soda Creek trails located above Highway 97 and the Xat’sull Heritage Village just north of Williams Lake. The trail beneath…
By LeRae Haynes – Giving animals the best life possible is at the heart of a caring young family in Williams Lake. Kathleen, Sophia, and their four-month-old baby have rescued and opened their home to five cats named Sampson, Rebekah, Ellie, Absence, and Mylo, a dog named Sadie, Aki the orange corn snake, Esther the gecko, and Navi the baby corn snake. “I got Ellie, our black cat, as a tiny runt being fostered by a dog; when we met, she chose me,” said Kathleen, long-time animal lover. “When I wanted to take on another cat, I wanted another…
By Nicola Finch – You plan your meals and your garden, you plan your vacations, and now is the time to plan for your care when you can’t speak for yourself. It happens to us all. Death is the end we all share. It can come anticipated, even gently, as the natural end of a long life or it can come suddenly, unexpectedly, or after a long illness. We die. It’s a really good idea to know what we want the aftermath to look like: do you want to be cremated or buried? Do you envision a traditional funeral or…
By Sage Birchwater – Something exciting is going on at the former Riske Creek Elementary School. Toosey Old School Wood Products is laying the foundation for a brighter future for local First Nations. Riske Creek Elementary School on Stack Valley Road was constructed in 1976 and ran for 30 years before the school district shut it down in 2006. Toosey First Nation (also known as Tsilhqot’in People at Tl’esqox) kept it going for a year as a primary school but after that the building was boarded up and stood empty for seven years. Then, in 2014, Toosey forest manager Craig…
By LeRae Haynes – Ensuring a humane, respectful end to an animal’s life is just as important as giving them a healthy life, according to the growing number of people who believe a healthy animal means healthy meat. Springhouse farmer Debbie Irvine is one of many producers who raise animals for meat and have chosen Kam Lake View Meats in Cherry Creek, BC for that very reason. Ron Keely, owner operator, has been a butcher for 27 years. He bought the facility in Cherry Creek and added on 5,000 square feet, two cutting rooms, and a retail area. It’s a…
By Venta Rutkauskas – Today, I write to remember August 4, 2014 and the mining disaster that took place in my backyard. I write in honour of the beautiful and sacred Quesnel Lake watershed, its Indigenous peoples, and the community of humans, plants, and animals that call it home. I reflect on the four years passed. Life changed dramatically for my family. Here is a small part of our story. It is, at its heart, a love story. Love of a land, love of a family, and the love a man can put into his work. As word of the…