By LeRae Haynes – Students from Sacred Heart School are embarking on an exciting project that includes habitat revitalization, outdoor classroom spaces, and gardens so each class can have its own bed. Principal Shirley Giroux said the project kicks off soon. “We’re bringing in the community to be part of this project,” she said, adding that all students from kindergarten to grade 7 will be involved. The project, called Birds, Bees, Berries, Beets, and Binders, is a result of a $6,500 TD Friends of the Environment grant and enthusiastic support from the community. One community member integral to the project…
Author: thegreengazette
By Frances McCoubrey – What happens when you foster an early diet of wilderness, community connections, and rural living? After 15 years of living in other urban and rural areas, moving back to the community that raised me has helped me realize the richness of our seemingly small, resource-supported community. I’ve begun to realize how the experiences of my time away has made minor shifts in how I approach life, and perceive and understand the world. It has also become apparent how much of what I believe and who I am was set in motion by the experiences, landscapes, and…
By Diane Dunaway – More than a whim, on the third of June, 2016, a reminder came through the mail. Applications open for the Bee Audacious conference. Earlier in the day I’d busied myself capturing a small swarm in our home apiary. Here was an opportunity to join a larger one consisting of academics, researchers, extension workers, commercial operators, NGO heads, backyard beekeepers, and government representatives—all with a focus on the betterment of bees, pollinators, and those who manage them. Both daunting and alluring, two world-renowned bee researchers evolved their understanding of bee communication to create a template for us…
Submitted by Dina Stephenson – Everybody has a heart and your body can not live without it. But your heart is also more than just an organ pumping blood throughout your body. With the help of HeartMath® techniques you are able to tap into your heart’s intelligence and start healing yourself. HeartMath is a unique system based on rigorous scientific research, with validated techniques and advanced technologies. It is highly effective for people interested in personal development and improved emotional, mental, and physical health. The HeartMath Institute (HMI) researches heart-brain communication and its relationship to managing stress, increasing coherence, and…
By Jasmin Schellenberg – HEALTHY SNACKS AND WHY Red Lentil Dosas 3/4 cup long-grain rice, such as jasmine or basmati 1/4 cup red lentils 1 cup warm water 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro lard for frying and butter for drizzling Place rice, lentils, and water in a bowl. Cover and allow mixture to soak for 8-12 hours at room temperature. Drain, reserving the soaking water. Place rice and lentils in food processor; blend until smooth. Add reserved soaking water and blend. Place the puree into a Tupperware…
By Pat Teti – I’ve had the pleasure of using an outdoor pizza oven a couple of times and they are a joy, producing a thin char on dough and cheese that’s not possible in a domestic oven at 500 degrees F. A little bit of open flame can also impart a wonderful smoky flavour. However, they’re expensive in time and/or money, take up a lot of space, and burn a lot of firewood. A typical scenario would be to start a large fire at 3:00 p.m. to pre-heat its large mass and then bake several pizzas starting at 6:00…
With the beginning of a new year, many of us make resolutions to exercise more, live healthier, spend less money, reduce our environmental footprint, spend more time with loved ones, or simply make life less hectic. Resolving to become waste wise can help you accomplish all of these things. Increase your exercise by wising up on composting. Start by aerating or turning your backyard compost at least once a week during non-winter months. In the fall, rake your leaves, stockpile them in bins or bags, and add the leaves to your compost each week as carbon. This keeps your compost…
By LeRae Haynes – Finding the best home for every animal is the goal of the Williams Lake SPCA. Not all adoptable animals find local homes, but thanks to a BCSPCA program called Drive for Lives, thousands of homeless animals are transferred every year to other shelters where they can find their forever homes. According to Williams Lake shelter manager Liz Dighton, that program has been a big benefit for the local branch. “Last year 597 animals from Williams Lake were sent to the coast for adoption,” she explained. “Generally they’re adopted in less than a week: that’s one of…
By David Zirnhelt – Many pastoralists and conservation farmers in the US voted for Donald Trump—by a strong majority, according to my reading. So maybe farming is a tribal activity and the resettler tribes of the land operate with a worldview that in part says we humans are a chosen race, destined by a higher power to dominate/steward the earth in our image, no matter what. David with two of his saddle horses. Photo: Pati Moreno Farming cultures resettled much of the world, and some kind of farming has made it possible for societies to survive times of famine. It…
By Terri Smith – Even though it’s still the dead of winter as I write this and we are once again in the middle of a super-cold snap, the days are getting longer, and all that wonderfully fluffy white stuff some of us love and others of us despise is helping prepare the ground for spring and planting time. Snow is good for a garden because it covers and protects the ground and all those beneficial microbes living in the soil. The cold is also good because it helps kill off some of the pests that may otherwise be a…
By Terri Smith – Dear Reader, I hope you have even just one small corner of your own to retreat to when the world becomes overwhelming or life is wearing you down, or just because you would like a quiet moment to relax. I suppose, technically, the space I think of as my quiet corner is supposed to be both Amadeus’ and his sister-dog, Kasha’s quiet space, but they are nice enough to share. You’ve got to admit, anxieties are high and things are tough all over just now. It seems the world is becoming more difficult by the day:…
By Van Andruss – I seem to be one of those people who lag behind the times. For instance, I assume that BC’s Crown land is owned by its citizens, both native and non-native. Certainly logging companies do not own our land; neither does government. Besides this, I believe in the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment (now Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks) to guard the values of the land, its forests, air, water, and animal life, while the Ministry of Forests (now Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations) must stand vigilant to oversee the day-to-day conduct of all…
By Dr. Adam McLeod, ND, BSc (Hons) – There are hundreds of natural therapies that can be used to support or stimulate the immune system. It is often challenging to sift through this information to find out what actually works. Everyone you talk to will have a different solution they swear by. In this article, I will describe some approaches I personally use to fight off a common cold. Some of these ideas discussed are from my experience as a naturopathic Doctor; others are simply approaches I have found to be personally helpful. Immune stimulating tinctures There are countless botanicals…
By David Suzuki – In the 1990s, the David Suzuki Foundation embarked on a program to develop community economic projects with coastal First Nations. Between 1998 and 2003, my wife and foundation co-founder, Tara Cullis, established relationships with 11 coastal communities from the tip of Vancouver Island to Haida Gwaii and Alaska, visiting each several times. She encountered unemployment and a desperate need for jobs and economic development in every community. Then came pressure for pipeline projects and court-mandated consultation with First Nations. Federal and provincial governments began offering huge financial incentives for pipeline approvals. But opposition remained strong because…
By Brandon Hoffman – We kicked off the 2017 Safety Meeting concert series with sold out double-night performances by Kym Gouchie and Marin Patenaude with her band The Follow Through. I am thoroughly stoked with how the whirlwind weekend came together. All the music was outstanding, and on Saturday we managed to sneak an afternoon workshop in with Kym and a dozen lucky participants. So here we go again, head first into another Safety Meeting season! For the second episode, we will dial the energy up a few notches with Kelowna’s Andrew Judah. I had a phone interview with Andrew…
By Jennifer Clark – Picture a dimly-lit urban parking garage. Two people are standing by a car. One opens the back hatch and removes a slim wooden box, then hands it to the other person, who opens it, checks the contents, and puts it into their own car… No, this was not a drug transaction. It was my brother and I deciding which of my family’s heirloom silverware sets he should take (of the two that had been riding around in the back of my car for more than a month.) While it’s probably unusual for a family heirloom to…
By Casey Bennett – Krista Liebe is a true film buff through and through. There’s an excitement that comes over her as she lights up when discussing obscure, difficult to find films from countries like Estonia and Iran. As a film buff myself, it’s quite contagious, really. Over a three-hour conversation, we spoke about her background in radio, running a successful publication, and more recently, her new endeavour—starting a film festival right here in the Lake City. A native of Northern Germany, she came to Canada seeking adventure, first arriving in Edmonton to study at the University of Alberta…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of TheGreenGazette – The Unites States under President Donald Trump is currently the most convenient place to look for evidence of a systemic movement to erode women’s rights. In just a few short weeks, President Trump has reinstated the global gag rule or Mexico City Policy, which blocks US federal international funding for NGOs providing abortion counselling or referrals, or who advocate for or work to expand abortion services internationally. The US has not funded abortion services itself, internationally or domestically, since the Helm’s Amendment was implemented in 1973, but every Republican president since Regan…
On January 13, the United States filed its answer to youth plaintiffs’ complaint in Juliana v. United States. In their answer, the federal defendants make several admissions to their long-standing knowledge of climate change danger and to today’s knowledge on the severity of those impacts. “The Department of Justice and the Federal Defendants have now admitted many of the central facts underpinning our youth plaintiffs’ constitutional claims against the United States,” said Julia Olson, counsel for plaintiffs and executive director of Our Children’s Trust. “This answer moves us even closer to proving our case at trial this year. “One important…