By Loretta Shepherd and Chris R. Shepherd Have you heard of kopi luwak? Civet coffee? Luwak is the Indonesia name for civets, which are small-bodied mammals in the family viverridae, which includes genets, oyans, binturong, and civets (look them up!). Civets are mostly found in Asia, but the kopi luwak industry is largely in Indonesia and features mainly the Common Palm Civet and the Masked Palm Civet. So, what do civets and coffee have to do with each other? Kopi luwak refers to coffee beans picked out from civet feces. Yes, you read that right. Made from coffee beans that…
Author: thegreengazette
By Erin Hitchcock Sometimes we notice the air is not quite right: smog or smoke from forest fires looming in the sky gives us a clue that maybe it’s not such a good day to be outside. But often we don’t recognize that the air quality is worse than it is or realize the health hazards involved. Ten PurpleAir monitors were installed in Williams Lake last fall to collect data on particulate concentrations, providing an opportunity for increased understanding and education, and the opportunity to find solutions. The PurpleAir units are unique from the existing, more high-tech, regulatory instruments located…
By Erin Hitchcock Road dust is impossible to avoid, especially in communities that need to keep winter roads from being slippery and unsafe. However, in addition to residual sand, gravel, and salt, particulate matter included in road dust can be harmful to our health. According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, titled, “Seasonal ambient particulate matter and population health outcomes among communities impacted by road dust in British Columbia, Canada,” as road dust gets dispersed into the air, it can contribute to health issues and increase mortality rates. “Non-accidental mortality was…
As I write this, I am preparing for a trip to Kamloops to visit Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc, formerly known as the Kamloops Indian Band. This would usually mean packing clothes and getting excited for a vacation… But this time it means preparing myself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, because I am preparing to grieve. This Monday is Victoria Day, but more significantly, it is the memorial for Le Estcwicwe̓y̓, the one-year anniversary of the confirmation of 215+ unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Weyt-kp xwexwéytep; Michael Moses ren skwekwst. My name is Michael Moses. I am Secwépemc from my…
By Tera Grady, Supervisor of Solid Waste Management The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) is in the process up updating its Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). This ten-year SWMP outlines how waste and recyclables will be managed, with the goal of reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfills. The Province tasks Regional Districts with waste reduction and measures progress with annual waste per person metrics, which include all waste landfilled (household, demolition, and commercial) for the year across the Regional District’s population. In 2011, the CRD’s per person waste generation was 775 kilograms (kg) per year. After implementing changes…
By Sage Birchwater – I won’t say goodbye. Maybe so-long. Maybe catch you later, alligator.For many years since Lisa Bland took on The Green Gazette mantle, she has provided a forum for debate on the urgency of “going green” and for caring for this planet Earth we call home, “as if it matters.” Well, it does matter. The trouble with these debates is they can quickly devolve into arguments almost religious in nature. What’s right, what’s wrong? Who’s to blame? Everyone’s got an opinion and an angle. Then there’s the impossible. How do you have a global Green campaign when…
By David Suzuki – It’s hard not to despair over the state of the world, but one well-known, proven antidote is action. And though what you do every day to avoid environmental damage may seem small and ineffectual—especially if you feel no one else is doing anything—know you’re not alone. Green living is coming onstream faster than ever before, and many people taking many actions add up to a world of difference. Of course, confronting major issues like climate disruption, pollution, and species extinction requires top-down actions from governments, industry, and societal institutions, but each of us can contribute to…
By Ryan Elizabeth Cope – Saving the world starts with saving our communities.We think saving the world and being sustainable means certain things—big, lofty things. But what if sustainability and “being Green” starts with personal sustainability (How do I keep my cup full to then pour myself into other work?), morphs into community sustainability (How can I contribute to the longevity of the place I belong?), and eventually, planetary sustainability (How do we as a collective raise the green bar?)? Somewhere along the way, we started looking a little too far forward. We started advocating for big, planetary changes all…
By Helen Englund, Horsefly River Roundtable Director – The Horsefly River Roundtable (HRR) assisted Tolko Industries Ltd. in organizing an open house in Horsefly on May 28, 2022, from 10 am to 2 pm. This came after many citizens expressed their concerns regarding Tolko’s proposals for timber harvesting in the Horsefly area. The overview referral maps of forest development plans reviewed included 2022-ca-01 – Prairie Creek and 2022-ca-02 – Horsefly Lake, and they can be viewed by contacting Tolko. The HRR was very pleased, considering how small the community is, that well over 100 concerned citizens from Horsefly and Williams…
Article by Nicola Finch – Death has been a hot topic in these pandemic times. Perhaps you’ve considered your own death or worried about people you love dying. More people have been actively engaging in conversations about death and dying. More people have been getting their end-of-life planning in order. These conversations naturally include decisions about disposition—what you want done with your body when you die.Burial and cremation are the two options we currently have in BC. Our population is aging and, naturally, dying. We are also dealing with increased deaths from the opioid crisis and the pandemic. Seventy-five percent…
Article by LeRae Haynes – Daniella Gastaldello is a young, informed ‘hippie’ transplant from Vancouver Island who has embraced her new home in the Cariboo, bringing to life her vision, passion, and commitment to the environment, and to leaving the planet a cleaner, better place for her children.Her new business, FullFILL Williams Lake, has been open since November 2020. She offers a wide range of refill products from skin care to floor cleaners, helping to reduce plastics in landfills and taking it to the next level: reducing plastics in recycling.You can bring in your own containers and get refills on…
Article & Photo by LeRae Haynes – Beauty, history, craftsmanship, and an artist’s eye come together at Fox Mountain Urban Upcycle to create artistic furniture, furnishings and yard décor out of old items. The pieces that Sheri and Shane Marsh have refinished and refurbished from used and discarded things are charming, practical, full of character and history, and unique, and they are guaranteed to enhance your home and delight your soul.Located at the bottom of Fox Mountain Road a few minutes out of Williams Lake, the store is hard to miss with the historical building, large windows, and a beautiful…
Article by Amber Gregg – The past few months have been busy here at the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society (CCCS) in Williams Lake. There is a faint light at the end of the pandemic tunnel; however, our team has become comfortable adapting to health and safety guidelines as we teach classes, plan projects, and attend small events. We have accomplished so much in the past few months, in fact, that activity around CCCS has started to feel almost normal. If I had to guess, I would say that part of that feeling is because of the partnerships we have formed…
Article by Vanessa Moberg – Do you ever feel hopeless about the future of our planet? Unfortunately, the more we immerse ourselves in the world of conservation, the easier it is to become disillusioned. Robert and I, a filmmaker and conservationist, respectively, decided a few years ago that we wanted to dedicate our lives to telling stories of hope for the Earth.It started with our sailing project where we circumnavigated Vancouver Island (with no sailing experience!) in search of stories to lift us up. The film we produced called Sailing for Good can be found on YouTube.com/RestorationPlanet.We knew we wanted…
Summer 2021 By the time you read this, the summer season will be approaching. That means passing through the brightest time of year at Solstice, June 21. The sun is 61 degrees above the horizon at solar noon at our Williams Lake latitude. Not quite overhead, but solar panel people are happy. For astronomy, it doesn’t get completely dark. There are perhaps half as many stars visible looking south and fewer in the north at the darkest time, around 1 a.m. DST. It’s in these twilight times that the Starlink satellites will have the most impact on visual astronomy. The…
Article by Sage Birchwater – In a corner of my office sits a pile of signed petitions dating back six years. Some of the signees are dead now, and some have moved away, but they represent a community voice 1,500-people-strong who said no to a proposal to burn toxic rail ties in Williams Lake to generate electricity.”After a six-year struggle, we lost the battle but won the war. Let me explain. On June 17, 2015, Boston-based Atlantic Power Corporation, owner of the 66 MW biomass-fired Williams Lake Energy Plant, hosted a public meeting and floated the idea to burn up…
Article by Shawn Lewis, President, Williams Lake Cycling Club – Fresh off the success of Williams Lake’s first machine-built trail, Foxfire, the Williams Lake Cycling Club (WLCC) sought after and received funding for another project: a machine built intermediate flow trail on the east end of the Fox Mountain network. This funding came from the provincial Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) and is one of four projects in Williams Lake that received funding. What is a flow trail you might ask? To quote Google, “Flow trails are built mountain bike (MTB) specific and go downhill. They have bermed turns,…
Article by Peter Ewart – Is it a good idea to pick and eat wild raspberries and blueberries in forest cutblocks in the Central and Northern Interior of British Columbia? Not if these lands have been sprayed with the weed killer glyphosate sometime in the last few years. And the same caution holds true for wildlife like moose and bears who, besides berries, also consume large quantities of fireweed, willow, and dogwood shoots, all of which can contain low levels of glyphosate residue for relatively long periods of time.These are the conclusions that can be drawn from a recently published…
By Alexandra MortonPublished by Penguin Random House Canada Alexandra Morton has been called “the Jane Goodall of Canada” because of her passionate 30-year fight to save British Columbia’s wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring and a roadmap of resistance.“When I went into the wilderness of the BC coast to study whales in 1984, Echo Bay was perfect,” Morton says. “It was a remote archipelago full of salmon and whales, a tiny floathouse community, and three First Nation villages. When the first salmon farm arrived, I thought the industry would bring new families and help keep our…