Performances in the Park is the place to be on a Thursday night. From July 5 to August 23, 2018, the Gwen Ringwood Theatre in Boitanio Park will light up each Thursday evening with awesome musical performances from 6–8 p.m., along with food vendors, face painting, and children’s activities. Arty the Artwalker and ArtWalk 2018 will be part of the event starting August 9. Performances in the Park is a true community event. It is presented by the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society in partnership with the City of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Regional District, and is supported…
Author: thegreengazette
Conservation groups are applauding an announcement on May 24 from Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Dominic LeBlanc and Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna declaring endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) face “imminent threats” to their survival and recovery. Southern Resident killer whales are a genetically and culturally-distinct population of salmon-eating orca whales who hunt, socialize, and raise their young in the Salish Sea, a region that includes the Juan de Fuca Strait, Georgia Strait, and Puget Sound. Prompted by this assessment, the ministers also announced immediate fisheries closures in key Southern Resident foraging areas. Environmental representatives, including…
Local, provincial, and national groups joined Williams Lake on May 17 for the launch of the Stand for Water tour spearheaded by First Nations Women Advocating Responsible Mining (FNWARM) in British Columbia. Stand for Water is a movement to raise awareness of the threats mining operations pose to waterways throughout BC and across borders, and to incorporate free, prior, and informed consent principles under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in all phases of mining. The movement builds on the Tulalip Water Protection Declaration signed recently by over 20 Indigenous communities and regional associations in…
By Layna Chelsea – On May 8, 2017, the community of Esk’etemc held a Declaration of Title and Rights ceremony for its Band members. The event was a large-scale gathering with attendees from several other First Nations Bands and their communities. May 8 had introduced the Yucwimentem re Tmicws re Esk’etemc, “Looking After the Land of the Alkali People.” Family Representatives, Hereditary Chiefs, and Headmen are intended to collaborate with elected Chief and Council in order to gain self-reliance and sustainability within their lands and resources. Heather Johnson, Amanda Dan, and I were given an opportunity to be involved in…
By Dr Katie DeGroot, ND – Have you heard of the Mediterranean Diet or how it was discovered? Or have you noticed how popular it is lately, and wondered why is so often recommended by doctors and nutritionists for any number of health conditions? In the mid-1950s, a group of American scientists noticed that people living around the Mediterranean Sea were healthier and lived longer than the average American. After much study, they concluded this was almost entirely due to differences in diet and exercise. From this work the Mediterranean Diet was first described nearly 70 years ago. Now, the…
By Oliver Berger – Literally it seems that way lately: we have no time left to waste. With all the plastic pollution confronting our society, our unnecessary packaging, and our one-time-use items, we are beginning to be surrounded by our leftovers. Frankly, it is overwhelming. However, to be honest I have been waiting for this. As humans we usually only really react to serious problems when we really need to. It is that time. This issue I want to bring to light is a dedicated group helping our community in a particularly special way. Do you remember when there was…
By Tera Grady – While China is cracking down on the amount of contamination it receives with recyclables, many parts of North America are finding it harder and harder to market their recyclables. However, Recycle BC is launching a pilot for a new category of packaging to collect. Starting June 1, all Cariboo Regional District recycling depots will accept packaging like bubble wrap; nylon weaved rice and dog food bags; cereal bags; zipper lock bags (including Ziplocs!); stand up pouches; potato chip bags; cellophane; and many others. This new category type “other flexible plastic packaging” encompasses many packages that are…
By Diane Dunaway – Reports of honey bee losses are high this spring in the BC Interior. Many suffered after a tough summer and fall, followed by an old-fashioned winter and a long, cool spring. Anecdotally, the bees had limited flying conditions for several weeks starting in early July of last year when the wildfire smoke was most severe. This caused them to stay inside their hives and consume their limited honey and pollen stores. Limited, because July is typically when honey bees are geared to fill their pantries. It’s also when their population inside the hive is at its…
By Sandra K. Klassen – As children in the 60s and 70s, my sister and I were members of the Blue Fin Swim Club. These were pre-swanky swimming pool days: our team trained at Scout Island. Our training took place within the confines of a set of square docks and we swam rain or shine. Practices wound up with 80 laps made up of four different strokes: butterfly, backstroke, crawl, and breaststroke. One day I complained to my mom, who was pacing along the docks as we swam our “cool-down” 80 laps, that the cold-water lapping against my forehead with…
By Laurie Sarkadi – After plans to live in Africa shatter, young journalist Laurie Sarkadi moves to the Subarctic city of Yellowknife seeking wilderness and adventure. She covers the changing socio-political worlds of Dene and Inuit in the late 80s – catching glimpses of their traditional, animal-dependent ways – before settling into her own off-grid existence in the boreal forest. There, she experiences motherhood and its remarkable synchronicities with the lives of caribou, dragonflies, and other creatures. As a mother and as a journalist, Sarkadi speaks up for abused women and children, creating controversies that entangle her in long, legal…
By Stefanie Hendrickson – Here at Downtown Williams Lake, planning is underway for this year’s Four Directions Festival (formerly Stampede Street Party) that will take place on Saturday, June 30 from noon to 5 p.m. (following the parade). Downtown Williams Lake is a not-for-profit business improvement association that is established through the Community Charter and funded by a levy collected from commercial property owners within a set boundary. Our members are these commercial property owners and the businesses that are tenants in their buildings. As such, it is important this is event is about our members but for the enjoyment…
By Shawn Lewis – Autonomous: Acting or free to act independently. Volunteerism: The use or involvement of volunteer labour, especially in community services. Two big words used to describe one very simple thing: volunteering on your own for the better of all. Williams Lake is blessed with more than 150 mountain bike trails and nearly all of them have been built by volunteers. This is the Shangri La of the mountain bike world. The Williams Lake Cycling Club (WLCC) is tasked with the maintenance of this expansive network, and we, too, rely on volunteers to help get this done. Our…
By Angela Gutzer – “There is no death. Only a change of worlds.” ~ Chief Seattle Have you grieved the loss of someone and felt you wished you could go back in time and change things with them? Perhaps if you were more available? Made more trips to visit them? Wished you hadn’t done or said certain things? In our ongoing journey to connect after a loved one has passed on, we are often drawn to the dream world for answers or searching for signs that they are still with us. No one really knows what the great mystery holds…
By Bill Irwin – This article covers June, July, and August. It’s about time, astronomy is totally married to it, the positions and motions of the heavenly bodies are the hands of a great cosmic clock. Hence the great seasonal variations. You get a sense of it being out under the stars. The dark times shrivel up around June solstice. At our latitude, 52 degrees north, it doesn’t get completely dark. One a.m. is the darkest time on daylight saving time and the north horizon looks like dawn. South, you lose a magnitude, so the number of visible stars is…
By Bernie Littlejohn – We seem to have current desires to travel faster and faster, and further and further, both for business and pleasure. For most people this is due to wishing to save time. The time of our limited lives, that is. But for those of us who care about our planet, travelling faster means causing more pollution. It has also means using valuable land around cities to accommodate faster aircraft and achieve these timely desires. So, if some organization decided to offer a more efficient but slower method of travel, many would consider it somewhat retro. And for…
By Jasmin Schellenberg – HEALTHY SNACKS AND WHY Power Smoothie Enjoy as an afternoon drink or for breakfast Ingredients 2 Tbsp whipping cream 2 Tbsp kefir 1 whole egg 1 Tbsp raw honey 1 c. frozen berries Method Start by putting the cream, kefir, egg, and honey in the blender.Drop in the frozen berries a few at a time. Blend until smooth and serve immediately. This way it will have a consistency similar to soft ice cream and with frozen berries you won’t taste the egg and kefir. Super-power the recipe by adding 1 tsp collagen powder before blending. This is…
By Terri Smith – Amadeus’ sixth birthday was the 23rd of April. This also happens to be Shakespeare’s birthday, and I can’t believe it took me six years to realize that my favourite goat and my favourite author have the same birthday! Interestingly, we named all our baby goats except Amadeus after characters from Shakespeare. I really should have named him “Hamlet.” Since birth he has been constantly debating whether he wants “to be or not to be…” We celebrated Amadeus’ birthday with a trip to the vet. I have been writing about my struggle to rid Amadeus of his…
By Terri Smith – In my workshops I keep telling people that one of the most important things you can do for your garden is have it be a place that you love to spend time. If you enjoy hanging out in your garden, you are more likely to be in your garden more, which means you are more likely to do more in your garden. I have been telling this to lovely groups of people at least once a week for a few months now, and then I come home, do the bare minimum of chores, and fall asleep…
By Michelle Carriere – Picture this: Yankee Flats, a wide ridge above the Salmon River Rd. On either side of the long gravel road are fields, farms, and woods. Mid-way, you come upon a large, old farmhouse that stands out in its field. There are a few rickety out buildings and a noble, old barn. This is the base and launch pad for the Little People’s Caravan. We are a motley crew of people, come to community to create a unique lifestyle and theatre that packs into three wagons and runs on horsepower. Indeed, on magnificent horsepower, whose warm breath…