By Van Andruss — On October 18, after four years of negotiations, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, signed a “tentative” CETA agreement in Brussels. CETA stands for Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, and is said by Harper to be the biggest trade deal Canada has ever made, even bigger than NAFTA. Typical of the Harper government, this enormously significant agreement was signed before anyone had a chance to view it. It is still obscure just what, on the whole, we are being committed to, but the following contents have leaked into view.…
Author: thegreengazette
By Ron Young — No matter how well you think you are prepared for the unexpected there is always the “bolt from the blue,” that thing that occurs that you didn’t expect or plan for, also known as the unknown unknown. It’s such a commonplace reference in the aerospace industry, unknown unknowns are abbreviated as ‘unk-unk’. Donald Rumsfeld made the concept infamous during the Iraq war in the statement: “There are … unknown unknowns—there are things we do not know we don’t know.” Well, I had an encounter with unk-unks during a recent snowstorm and power outage and I’m sure…
By Sage Birchwater — Tucked away in the specialty fish section of Margetts Meats in Williams Lake are the delectable salmon products of Bella Coola Seafoods. One taste of half-smoked spring salmon fillets will have you hooked. However, the other products like regular spring or chum fillets and steaks or ready-to-eat hot-smoked salmon will have your mouth watering and coming back for more. That’s a guarantee. Ed Willson landing a spring salmon. Photo: Sage Birchwater It’s a long way from Williams Lake to the Central Coast waters of Labouchere Channel, Burke Channel, or North Bentinck Arm where Ed Willson spools…
By David Suzuki — The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just released the first of four chapters of its Fifth Assessment Report. It shows scientists are more certain now than in 2007 when the Fourth Assessment was released that humans are largely responsible for global warming – mainly by burning fossil fuels and cutting down forests – and that it’s getting worse and poses a serious threat to humanity. It contains hints of optimism, though, and shows addressing the problem creates opportunities. Image: www.flickr.com The IPCC was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization and UN Environment Programme…
By Lisa Bland — Dear Readers, Fall is but a memory now, and with it the spectacular display of colour and beauty around us. As the cool breath of winter creeps across the countryside, mist rises from lakes and forests and morning frost covers the ground for longer each day. It’s time to get used to the idea of dressing warm, taking extra care on the roads, stoking the fire, and thinking about indoor activities like gathering with friends, cooking warming foods, reading books, and preparing for the transition into the long winter. Historically, the Anglo-Saxons called November ‘Wind monath,’…
By Jessica Kirby — If we want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.” – Abigail Van Buren November 20 marks Universal Children’s Day, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1954 to encourage global recognition and understanding of issues that compromise the emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being of children. Its primary objective is to bring awareness about children the world over who have succumbed to violence, exploitation, and discrimination, and to encourage advocacy at the national and community levels in ending the abuses millions of children worldwide wake up to every…
By Van Andruss — Over the years it has been my privilege to know Herb Hammond. Herb has devoted his career to promoting ecosystem-based forestry. In 1992, he and Susan Hammond created the Silva Forest Foundation. Since then the Foundation has worked to create ecosystem-based conservation plans and ecosystem maps with many communities throughout Canada. Herb’s book, “Seeing the Forest Among the Trees,” remains an indispensible guide to the management of forestlands for health and biodiversity. His most recent book is “Maintaining Whole Systems on Earth’s Crown: Ecosystem-based Conservation Planning for the Boreal Forest.” Herb spent a couple nights at…
By Ron Young — Government leaders and bankers in China have helped fuel a huge glut of solar panels by supporting the industry with incentives and subsidies even when it was apparent that companies were losing money. Burgeoning growth of the Chinese solar industry has been characterized as a mad dash for easy money. As a result, the price of solar panels has seen a precipitous drop over the last few years. For homeowners this has been mostly a good opportunity in the short term. The downside is that many established solar companies worldwide have been unable to compete with…
By Chuck Handy — I don’t know about you, but I grew up with a fear of sharks. In my mind they were all voracious eaters of human beings. There is just something about the way I was brought up that made it all true in my mind. So the first time I went on a shark dive when the critters were being actively fed while I was in the water watching them, I had to wonder about my own sanity. Would they not go into a frenzy and just tear up any and everything that was near them in…
By Lisa Bland — Dear Readers, Fall is a wonderful time of year. Although the glorious summer days are hard to say goodbye to, as the mornings get cooler and frost lingers on the ground, there is the cozy feeling of retreat from heightened activity that comes with the shortening of the days. Thoughts turn to woodpiles, storing and sharing the abundant harvest, and preparing for the long winter months ahead. The fall is a beautiful time in the Cariboo with its brilliant yellow aspens and low-lying shrubs in hues of red and gold. The last of the huckleberries still…
By Tera Grady — Part of the Cariboo Regional District’s Solid Waste Info Series: The garbage from Williams Lake and area, including 150 Mile House, Horsefly, Wildwood, McLeese, Frost Creek, Chimney Lake, Alexis Creek, and Riske Creek, is disposed of at the Cariboo Regional District’s (CRD) Gibraltar Landfill. Two to four loads of waste are transported to the landfill in 53-foot walking floor trailers five days a week, each weighing approximately 19 tonnes. Annually there are between 12,000 and 13,000 tonnes of waste disposed of at the landfill. Waste is compacted onsite with landfill equipment into three-metre-thick layers. Once the…
By Ray Grigg — Real forests are wild. The forests of human contrivance are tree farms, plantations, monocultures, timber supply areas. Such clusters of trees may superficially appear to be real forests, but they are less complex, less organic, less living, and therefore, less enduring. And they were handicapped by their beginnings. Instead of originating and developing by the creative randomness of biological chance, their growth was guided by a defined purpose. They are not real forests because they are not wild. Forest stillness at dawn. Photo credit: Lisa Bland Even real forests can lose their wild quality if they…
By Melissa LaPointe — Movement is vital to life. Yes, there are the more obvious health benefits of exercise – combating obesity, heart disease and diabetes; building strength, balance, and flexibility; improved breathing, and increased circulation that aids digestion and keeps the organs healthy. But there’s so much more. When we move using large muscle groups in a rhythmical, repetitive way, our body releases serotonin and dopamine in the brain (important mood-regulating chemicals and help with attention, learning, and a sense of calmness) and releases endorphins (happy chemicals that induce a sense of well- being). Melissa Lapointe and son Max…
By Lisa Bland — The Fraser River, designated a Canadian Heritage River in 1998, is the largest river in BC and has the most productive salmon fishery in the world. Its headwaters begin at Mount Robson in the Rocky Mountains and it empties some 1400 km later into the Strait of Georgia in Vancouver. BC’s history is intimately bound to the Fraser River; it was an essential route between the Interior and the lower Coast, a significant area for food, settlement, and travel for First Nations people for thousands of years, a fertile agricultural region, the main route of the…
By Jessica Kirby — Long before Martin Forbisher and the Forbisher Expedition celebrated Canada’s first Thanksgiving to commemorate successfully reaching what is now Newfoundland during attempts to find the Northwest Passage in 1578, native people held ceremonies in honour of the harvest and a sense of security heading into winter. In Europe, ancient festivities celebrated having sufficient food stores to survive the winter, and to mark the changing of the seasons. During the 19th century, days of thanks marked community and political accomplishments—the cessation of cholera in Lower Canada, February 6, 1833, the end of war between Great Britain and…
By Dr. Joel Moskowitz — In the last issue we explored the potential hazards of electromagnetic radiation from iPad use. We learned about warnings from the European parliaments and doctors’ associations in various countries, and discussed the differences between pulsed digital wireless signals and continuous analogue radio waves. This time we are pleased to invite Dr. Joel Moskowitz to share his research findings regarding the health effects of cellphones. I started studying the effects of cellphone radiation when Dr. Seung-Kwon Myung, a physician and epidemiologist from the National Cancer Center of South Korea, spent a year working in my center…
By Ron Young –Government leaders and bankers in China have helped fuel a huge glut of solar panels by supporting the industry with incentives and subsidies even when it was apparent that companies were losing money. Burgeoning growth of the Chinese solar industry has been characterized as a mad dash for easy money. As a result, the price of solar panels has seen a precipitous drop over the last few years. For homeowners this has been mostly a good opportunity in the short term. The downside is that many established solar companies worldwide have been unable to compete with cheap…