By Terri Smith – I try not to despair for the world. I had almost entirely recovered from the previous case of despair that led me to become a farmer. And yet, here I am all over again, back at the edge, crying in frustrated anger as I wonder what is to become of our world. What is it that led me back here? Did organic farming suddenly fall out of fashion? Has our ozone finally depleted beyond repair? Was that the sound of the last tree falling in the rain forest? No, not just yet. It’s living in a…
Author: thegreengazette
By Terri Smith – Have you ever paused to consider why so much of our modern world is covered in small swatches of relatively useless greenery? Why we spend so much time, money, and resources growing something that does not provide us with food? In England and France, the original lawns began as large areas around castles where trees and shrubs were cut down so that guards would be able observe the surroundings. As the climate was milder and wetter than our own, these large expanses of mixed, low-growing plants grew well. During the 16th century, the lawn became a…
By LeRae Haynes – Giving people a chance to turn their lives around and connecting them to their communities is at the heart of a growing, successful program in Williams Lake. For nearly 20 years Restorative Justice has taken cases off the court dockets, bringing offenders and victims face to face to discuss impact and consequences, with life-changing, meaningful results. The Williams Lake Restorative Justice program is known throughout the province for its success. “Restorative Justice is a lot more efficient than the standard court process,” explained volunteers Sandra Hawkins and Jim World. “We did over 60 cases last year…
Good Day, My name is Angie Delainey and I was born and raised in Williams Lake and where my family has owned and operated a business in the downtown core for over 45 years. I have two small children ages 2.5 and 6, one of which attends the Nesika Elementary School located in the valley near Atlantic Power’s cogeneration plant. I’m writing on behalf of my children since they are not old enough to advocate for themselves. Currently, Williams Lake’s air shed is at an 80% saturated state for 2.5ppm. If AP’s permit to burn up to 50% rail…
By David Suzuki – Feeding more than seven billion people with minimal environmental and climate impacts is no small feat. That parts of the world are plagued by obesity while starvation is rampant elsewhere shows part of the problem revolves around distribution and social equity. But agricultural methods pose some of the biggest challenges. Over the past half century, the world has moved increasingly to industrial agriculture—attempting to maximize efficiency through massive, often inhumane livestock operations; turning huge swaths of land over to monocrops requiring liberal use of fertilizers, pesticides, and genetic modification; and, reliance on fossil fuel-consuming machinery and…
By Terri Smith – Why did I think Amadeus needed a goat family? He doesn’t. And we certainly do not. I read (and stupidly took to heart) that a goat can get used to anything so long as there is another goat around. But whoever wrote that helpful bit of advice was making the assumption that the goat in question actually knows that it is, in fact, a goat. Amadeus doesn’t know this. He doesn’t know a lot of things. Like how to walk without falling over, or how to scratch his head on the fence without falling over, or…
By Brandon Hoffman– Williams Lake has a pretty small music scene. Given that I play music with one Brent Morton (aka Drum and Bell Tower) all the time, and even played a small part in the making of his new album, reviewing said album might be a slight conflict of interest. So make no mistake, this is not a review. This is a straight up plug. That said, it would not be in my best interest as a music promoter living in a small town to push anything I didn’t believe in 100%. I wouldn’t feed you any lies.…
By Devon Chappell – Each and every day of our lives, we rise with the sun, open our lids, and embrace the morning. There are certain times when the mind reflects awkwardly on one’s life. Those mornings when we are suffering from poor thoughts about not accomplishing enough, or find ourselves buried under blankets with sore muscles. Days like these are awful! We wake up groggy after setting the alarm only to sleep through it by hitting the snooze button for an hour. Sometimes, the morning seems even worse when we have no ambition, no motivation, or perhaps are hungover…
By Jenny Howell, CCCS – It is interesting to see the different strategies we all take to cope with the news stories of more and more struggling people worldwide in increasingly desperate situations. Some of us switch off, don’t listen to the news, and pretend it isn’t happening, or at least has nothing to do with us. Others rush to help—either in person or by fundraising for the latest disaster. Then there’s most of the rest of us, somewhere in the middle of the bell curve. We send off our modest donations to the Red Cross, sign petitions, feel terrible…
By Angela Abrahão – Things happen often when we’re not paying attention, mostly because, well, they are just part of life. Here, ranching in our small part of the world is life, filled with hayfields and cows, where there are things like calving season and haying season, and in all the other times in between, things are happening. Sometimes really important things happen in between those times, like the time early this spring when life pushed through the mundane and a seed that grew from the people of the Cariboo came to life. Earlier this year on BC Beef Day,…
By LeRae Haynes – I think the world is a much, much better place with animals in it. (I hope they think the same of us.) Not that animal lovers really need an excuse to celebrate animals, but World Animal Day on October 4 is a truly wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to have them in our lives and on our planet—not to mention how important it is to protect their environment and the habitat, and if they’re pets, how important it is to care for them and teach our children to do the same. Helping heart…
By Jasmin Schellenberg – HEALTHY SNACKS AND WHY Deviled Eggs Ingredients 12 eggs 6 Tbsp olive oil or mayonnaise 4.5 Tbsp vinegar 2 Tbsp mustard (or more to taste) salt pepper parsley Method Hard boil a dozen eggs. Take off the shell, cut in half, and take out egg yolk. Put yolk into a bowl and mix with remaining ingredients. Mix fill into a plastic bag, cut a small corner off the bag, then press the mixture into egg halves. Use organic ingredients when ever possible. These are easy to prepare and have them ready when your hungry kids come…
By Sharon Taylor – You’ve heard the Golden Rule in many forms throughout your life: treat others the way you’d like to be treated. Don’t treat people in a way you wouldn’t like to be treated. The Buddha said: Treat not others in ways you would yourself find hurtful (Udana Vargas 5.18). The Prophet Mohammed said: No one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself (Hadith). Rabbi Hillel said: What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah; all else is commentary (Talmud, Shabbat at 31a).…
By Venta Rutkauskas – On October 20, RupLoops is coming to town. Here’s why you want to be there. When musician and artist Rup Sidhu, aka RupLoops, first started playing music, he knew the expanse of feeling was something he needed to pursue. He’d been writing and performing spoken word, teaching, and performing theatre, but what music offered him was something new. Within that spaciousness, he could extend the rhymes he had been crafting, encircling them with sounds both electronic and organic. He set himself up in the community of East Vancouver, where his musical compatriots taught him what he…
By Pat Teti – My wife and I love Italy—the people, food, history, architecture, and long walks. Our idea of a perfect holiday is to wake up in a small town, have coffee, pack a lunch, spend most of the day walking trails and country roads, eat a big dinner, sleep well, and repeat. In fairness, there must be thousands of places around the world where similar experiences could be had but I’m limiting this article to an area I know. There are many commercial multi-day guided walking tours in Tuscany that might satisfy the objectives of our ideal…
By LeRae Haynes – There is still an air of excitement in the air from the 40th annual BC Elders Gathering that took place in Williams Lake this July. Williams Lake Indian Band Chief Ann Louie said she was incredibly inspired by the event, and that it was an honour to have it in Williams Lake. “The Elders Gathering was very positive: everywhere I go people are still talking about it,” she said. The Williams Lake Indian Band was the largest private contributor to the Elders Gathering this summer. The band contributed $10,000 and the Chief Will-Yum Gas Bar donated…
By LeRae Haynes – Being a voice for a loved one lost, as well as for the family left behind, is at the heart of Cariboo Chilcotin Funeral Services. Serving the Cariboo-Chilcotin and B.C. central coast including Bella Coola and Quesnel, they look after families on every aspect of a death, from burials, cremations, and monument sales to funeral services and celebrations of life. “Death is a hard thing,” said funeral director Dave Wilson. “Most people go through it once or twice in their lives; we go through it every day. We’re here to make this process as easy and…
By Dr. Joel Moskowitz – On May 26, the National Toxicology Program (NTP) of the National Institutes of Health issued the first in a series of reports that contains partial findings from their long-awaited $25 million study of the cancer risk from cellphone radiation. This report summarizes the study of long-term exposure to cell phone radiation on rats. The report on mice will be issued at a later date. According to the report: “Given the widespread global usage of mobile communications among users of all ages, even a very small increase in the incidence of disease resulting from exposure to…
By Margaret-Anne Enders – While visiting my parents in Alberta a short while ago, I picked up the Edmonton Journal. The world news page was filled with tragedy: a French priest is murdered while conducting mass, a shooting rampage by a teenager in Germany leaves nine dead, and the list goes on. As I continued to read, stuck in a strange state of being mesmerized yet repelled, I felt my anger rising. What good comes from knowing these things? How will this benefit society, these continual stories about brutal violence in countries far away from here? I do not wish…