By Tera Grady Part of the Cariboo Regional District’s Solid Waste Info Series: Becoming Waste Wise The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) commissioned a “waste audit” in June of 2019 that focused on typical household waste, not demolition or construction waste, at the Quesnel, Williams Lake, and 100 Mile House landfills. A waste audit includes collecting numerous 100-kilogram samples of waste from different sources (curbside, commercial buildings, self haul, etc.) and sorting the waste into unique categories. Each category is then weighed. All the data from each sample is compiled and a waste characterization report is generated. Most Regional Districts in…
Author: thegreengazette
By Melinda McKinnon – As the commoners assemble outside the gates, eagerly anticipating the start of the annual market, the voice of the Town Crier can be heard soaring above the assembled crowd. As the doors to the 2019 market swing open, the Crier unfurls his scroll to announce, “Hear ye, hear ye… come one, come all to the now open Medieval Market.” The sounds of wandering minstrels and the smells of mouth-watering foodstuffs mix with the aroma of fresh cedar boughs to welcome the patrons through the doors and out of the seasonal cold. As the crowd surges through…
With the lowest return of Fraser River Sockeye salmon expected since records began in 1893, Fraser River salmon are in peril. Not only do they face a massive rock slide, but a slew of other challenges like climate change, habitat loss, pollution, and fish farms. For months, crews have heroically captured salmon, flying them over the rock slide in helicopters and worked to create passage at Big Bar, a remote area just west of Clinton, BC . However, much more is needed if these salmon are to survive. The Rivershed Society of BC (RSBC) is calling for an investment of…
By Jessica Kirby – Mark Angelo has had a love of rivers and fascination with moving water since he was a boy. As a teenager, he became an avid paddler and fly fisher, and throughout the 70s he spent a lot of time exploring BC rivers in every region of the province, including a summer-long paddle trip along the length of the Fraser River in 1975. “At the end I was so impressed with this river, its beauty, power, and diversity,” says Angelo. “At that point I started thinking, wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were an event to celebrate…
Angela Gutzer and Nicola Finch are local end-of-life guides (also known as death doulas) who connected in the fall of 2017 thanks to a Green Gazette article written by Angela that alerted Nicola to their shared passion for ‘doing death differently’. The two women soon formed the Cariboo Community Deathcaring Network (CCDC) and have been offering regular Death Cafes in Williams Lake as well as a handful of End of Life planning workshops. This fall, in partnership with Community Deathcare Canada, CCDC Network is hosting the Swan Song Festival. This inaugural annual festival is intended to mobilize communities across Canada…
By Venta Rutkauskas – An arts education pathway ready to roll out in local classrooms this fall affirms the art and craft of poetry. Puddle Poetry in the Schools was developed by poets Sonya Littlejohn, Dana I.D. Matthews, and myself, and is a Community Arts Council of Williams Lake project supported by the City of Williams Lake and the Cariboo Regional District via the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society. The pilot project sees the artist educators spend three or four sessions with each class, guiding participants to write and perform their own poetic works. Ahh, poetry, that shunned literary…
By Melissa Chaun – In the newly released Patagonia documentary Artifishal an Indigenous fisher is quoted saying, “Many of today’s problems are a result of the stories we were told or told ourselves that were wrong.” We’ve been told that hydroelectric power is clean, even ‘green,’ and that damming wild rivers – wild salmon rivers – can be compensated by fish ladders, transporting returning salmon around dams, and by hardworking fish hatcheries. Artifishal is Patagonia’s most recent eye-opening documentary. The iconic outdoor clothing and equipment manufacturer began making documentaries in 2014 with Dam Nation, a film that explores the impacts…
By Ryan Elizabeth Cope – Summer tomatoes, fresh off the vine. Green beans, purple beans, and yellow beans, dangling among their tangled vines on the stalk. Cucumbers, hidden on the ground between their fuzzy, windy stems. These are just a few of late-summer’s magical garden offerings, the abundance that is our reward for patiently waiting through summer, winter, and spring as the plants take root and develop their fruit. With all this abundance comes a certain amount of responsibility, as well. We’ve brought this produce into the world and we’d better have a way of preserving it, or else all…
By LeRae Haynes – There is more than green in the name at Mint and Lime Catering Company, owned and operated in Williams Lake by Jenn Brown and Mindy Johnson. Dedicated to providing healthy, natural, delicious, high-quality food in partnership with local producers, Mint and Lime is also committed to a high standard of environmental responsibility. They cater large and small groups, with a focus on allergies and gluten-free, nut-free, and dairy-free food as options, as well as ideal protein and keto diets. “We try to make sure our customers are accommodated the best we can,” says Brown. “My son…
By LeRae Haynes – Tiffany Simard from The Heeler: Cobbler, Crystals, and Curiosities in Williams Lake brings skill, vision, passion, and a true love for people to work with her every day. The range of work she does is matched only by the range of the people’s lives she touches and the heart connections she makes. The cobbler aspect of her work involves repairing and refurbishing shoes and boots. The crystals and curiosities aspects are reflected in a unique little shop where she sells a wide range of thoughtfully researched products promoting healing, beauty, and happiness. Simard has been repairing…
By Ella Parker & Riley Brennan – This past August, seven youth took part in an inaugural five-day canoeing program on the Nechako River. The River Clinic for Empowered Youth (RCEY) program consisted of one day of canoe certification training, one day of learning about the history of the Nechako watershed, and three days of paddling and camping on the upper reaches of the Nechako River. With youth participants coming from communities across the Nechako watershed, the purpose of the program was two-fold: to build outdoor and leadership skills and to form a network of youth passionate about their watershed.…
By Oliver Berger – There is ample talk out there about recycling and reducing our waste as a society to curb our big garbage problem. We discuss consumerism coupled with resource consumption adding a burden to our planet. We are all bombarded with plastics in our lives poisoning the food we eat and killing our wildlife. What is the real problem here? I keep finding myself returning to one main issue that we as a society seem to look at with a faded vision. Littering. The real problem with our waste, especially plastics, is when they end up in the…
By Amy Quarry, Owner – I have always been fascinated by history and stories from the past. When we started Long Table Grocery, I spent a bit of time looking into our own family history of entrepreneurship. The scale we have on the table in our shop is from our great-grandmother Anne Stella’s grocery store in Chicago, which she owned with her father Frank Stella in 1907 when she was just 17. Frank Stella was an Italian immigrant who also owned a milk delivery business. Anne managed her grocery store until the late 20s when, as the family legend goes,…
The 100 Mile Nordic Ski Society completed a major LED lighting upgrade last summer. Over 70 new LED lights were installed to replace 83 high pressure sodium bulbs. The club operates at the 99 Mile ski trails and has been in operation for over 35 years. The “Nordics” have over 200 members and operate a 45-km network of track-set Nordic ski trails and a charming log cabin lodge. The club is one of the most active and vibrant non-profit sports clubs in 100 Mile House. Club Media Liaison Craig Davidiuk says the club has seen renewed interest in cross-country skiing…
By Erin Hitchcock – It’s not clear when or by what authority, but a single-use plastics ban is on the horizon. In July, I presented a petition to Williams Lake city council with more than 1,300 signatures, asking them to ban single-use plastics. They all agreed at the Committee of the Whole meeting with plans to begin working on a ban bylaw, as several other municipalities in BC have done. However, doing so may not be as simple as previously thought. Days after the presentation, the BC Court of Appeal overturned last year’s BC Supreme Court ruling that allowed Victoria…
By Jim Hilton – As promised, the BC Government has published a forestry discussion paper, which includes a number of questions for public input. The link engage.gov.bc.ca provides access to the 19-page “Interior Forest Sector Renewal Policy and Program Engagement Discussion Paper”, which can be viewed at engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/consultation/interior-forest-renewal-forest-policy-initiative/ The online public engagement period runs from July 18 to October 11, 2019 at 4 p.m. The report contains the following topics along with questions in each of the seven sections: 1. Forest Tenure and Fibre Supply 2. Fibre and Sustainability of Timber and Non-Timber Values. 3. Climate Change and Forest Carbon.…
By Terri Smith – “And roots, if they are to bear fruits, must be kept well in the soil of the land.” —Pearl S. Buck, “The Good Earth” As a bio-dynamic farmer, I have always felt that plants need soil. Feeding the soil has always been my highest priority in the garden. If you feed the soil well, it will be lively and good, and it will reward you with beautiful plants that provide the tastiest and most vibrant food imaginable. Because of this I have always felt sceptical about plants grown hydroponically. In hydroponics, plants are not grown in…
By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of TheGreenGazette – Every time we see a headline about climate change, it should inspire hope. Although the situation is dire, headlines validate climate change, put it in front of the people who can create change, and inspire people who can demand action. In Canada, these headlines will be especially important over the next few months as we get closer to one of the country’s most important federal elections. With only a few years left to turn this thing around, whoever we elect to run the country for the next 4 years will change the…
Are you tossing your cellphone and laptop batteries into your blue bin? How about lighters, propane, or butane canisters? If yes, then you are potentially causing explosions and fires at material recovery facilities and in material collection vehicles, endangering the lives of BC’s recycling collectors and processors. There is an alarming increase of hazardous waste that British Columbians are depositing in the province’s residential recycling stream—a behaviour that has caused a resurgence of concern from Recycle BC. Follow these expert tips to help you rethink what you recycle and where, and to help keep recycling workers, facilities, and the environment…