Column: Forestry and the 'circular economy'
Many people are calling for a just, green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Investing in natural solutions to climate change, restoring damaged and fragmented ecosystems, strengthening the social safety net and rethinking flawed economic systems would make us more resilient to current and future crises. One concept that...
Explainer: The clean energy bill that divided BC’s NDP and Greens: 11 things you need to know
Proposed legislation would end B.C.’s mandate to be electricity 'self-sufficient,' and the Greens say that’s bad news for small-scale renewable energy producers, including First Nations By ZoëYunker, for The Narwhal The BC NDP came to power promising to launch major jobs initiatives in clean...
COUNCIL MATTERS: August 10, 2020, meetings.
Duplex opposition; insult shouted at Mayor; to ice, or not to ice? TRP report; cannabis store decision, and more . . . Present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Dirk Lewis, Janice Nightingale, Andy Morel, and Chris Bowman; Staff: CAO Bryan Teasdale, Deputy Corporate Officer Cynthia Año Nuevo, Chief Financial...
Scientists' Warning on Affluence
[Editor’s Note: This is a very long article which supplies answers that such activists as young Greta Thunberg have been criticized for not providing – even though she has repeatedly said, “Listen to the scientists!” – and she has also provided many of the answers suggested here....
Column: Advantages of a four-day workweek
When we started the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, we implemented a four-day, 34-hour workweek. Staff consistently say it’s made their lives better, giving them time to rest, pursue other interests, explore nature, volunteer, enjoy the company of family and friends, and so much more. Life isn’t about...
Investigation: BC rarely inspects hazardous waste handlers despite companies frequently breaking rules
By Ben Parfitt, in The Narwhal Provincial investigators found companies weren’t fully compliant with regulations 70 per cent of the time in the five years since a digital database of shipments was replaced with paper files shoved in cardboard boxes. B.C. rarely inspects hazardous waste handlers even though the province knows...
Opinion: Want to farm? Need Land? Check out this resource.
Some people have land that can grow crops, but they don’t want to farm; others want to farm and can’t find land. The solution – a program that matches people who want to farm with those who have land available to lease, and want it to stay in production or start producing crops. It's called the BC Land Matching Program (BCLMP)....
Blog: Solidarity after the Pandemic: Basic Income or Basic Services?
By Edward Xie and Danyaal Raza, from the Broadbent Institute Blog page People are struggling. As front-line workers in emergency rooms, isolation shelters and clinics, we see how the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated health and livelihoods. We’ve witnessed the toll that the last several months has taken on workers, families,...
Column: Coal power should be relegated to the ash heap of history
During and after his 2016 campaign, the current U.S. president promised to make coal great again. He also claimed climate change was a hoax, so it’s no surprise that he’d promote a cheap, outdated, polluting, climate-altering fuel even as cleaner alternatives continued to become more efficient and cost-effective. Since then,...
COLUMN: The vital importance of diversity
Diversity is strength. That’s true in nature and human affairs. But recent painful events have shown society has yet to grasp this. The appalling deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Toronto’s Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Chantel Moore from Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and many others — all at the hands of those tasked to serve...