Op/Ed: How to protect yourself from media manipulation
By Holly Clermont, from The Conversation When my kids were little, we would play a game during the TV commercials. What was the main message, I would ask. To whom was it targeted? Did you find it convincing? Why or why not? I hoped this would encourage critical thinking, build some awareness of unscrupulous messaging and wrest...
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)....
Fresh local food for families goal of new EcoSociety program
July 29, 2020 Everyone deserves access to healthy food. That’s the starting point for Farms to Friends, a new program this summer bringing local organic produce to low income families and seniors in the West Kootenays. Food security is one of the pillars of West Kootenay EcoSociety’s work, and the idea and funding for Farms...
Column: Language, shaping and reflecting our relationship with nature
As natural environments and geographies shape language, so too does language shape the way we see nature and, subsequently, the impacts we have on the lands and waters that surround us. Western culture and the English language primarily view nature as something owned by humans that can be exploited. That’s why Canadian...
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: Words
“... Thinking your mind was my own, in a dream -- What would you wonder and how would it seem? Living in castles a bit at a time, the King started laughing and talking in rhyme. Singing words, words... between the lines of age.” Neil Young, “Words,” Harvest “Though it all may be One / in the Higher Eye. Down here where ...
Canada is failing to track the true climate cost of clearcut logging in boreal: report
Organizations call on the Canadian government to properly record and regulate greenhouse gas emissions connected to forestry and align its forest management policies with climate targets Matt Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, for The Narwhal Greenhouse gas emissions created by logging in Canada’s boreal forest aren’t being properly regulated or accounted for, threatening the country’s […]
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,...
Editorial: Hockey teams — what's in a name?
During a pandemic crisis, and a climate change crisis, and a plastics pollution crisis, it may seem trivial to be concerned about the names of a couple of hockey teams. But is it, really? We’re talking about the Rossland Senior Warriors. The logo is a well-designed stylized drawing of an Indigenous guy with some feathers ...