LETTER: Rossland council distances itself from Mayor's decision, but doesn't want her resignation
To the Citizens of Rossland From Rossland City Council: Rossland Mayor Kathy Moore is currently in the USA. While not breaking any laws, she travelled contrary to current Federal and Provincial Public Health recommendations against non-essential travel which has raised significant concerns in our community. While Mayor Moore...
COLUMN: Invasive, or neo-native?
As human activity continues to heat the planet and destroy wildlife habitat, plants and animals are responding based on their genetic makeup and ability to adapt to altered environments. Some are losing ground, landing on ever-growing species-at-risk lists or winking out altogether. Others are making gains, eking out their ...
COLUMN: Old growth forest, and how much we (don't) have left
[Editor's note: the map accessed by the link at the beginning of the fourth paragraph from the bottom takes a long time to load, but provides sobering information about the state of BC's forests.] Anyone who’s read the book I wrote with Wayne Grady, Tree: A Life Story, or Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, knows...
Column: Alberta inquiry steps into a past era’s dark denial
That anyone today could deny the overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence for human-caused climate disruption is shocking. You don’t even need a science background to see its worsening effects occurring worldwide, from record high temperatures to increasing extreme weather events and wildfires. For a government — especially...
Column: U.S. crisis shows need to speak truth to power
As was demonstrated in the U.S. last week, many who are motivated by fear and ignorance are feeling emboldened — and desperate. It’s not just in the United States. Irrational, authoritarian, anti-science rhetoric and action has been heating up from Brazil to India to Hungary, and is fully entrenched in places like Russia and China. […]
Opinion: From a tough year, a tremendous amount of hope
By Chris Gusen 2020 was tough. But, as we look back on the past year, it also brings us a tremendous amount of hope. Seeing how the world mobilized to fight COVID-19 gave us a glimpse of what might be possible if our elected officials treated the climate emergency just as seriously. As we rest up and prepare to continue our...
Column: From the Hill -- CERB injustices
In the middle of the pandemic’s second wave and with the holidays fast approaching, many Canadians are still struggling to figure out how they’ll get through these tough times. Last week we saw two examples of how the government’s priorities are hurting many low-income, self-employed Canadians while letting large corporations...
A glimmer of hope for dwindling Kootenay caribou and biodiversity
After significant public pressure, the B.C. government and its logging agency BC Timber Sales (BCTS) have committed to pause logging and road-building in a remote old growth valley north of Revelstoke, which is critical habitat for the North Columbia caribou herd. A total of 276 hectares of proposed logging and more than 10...
What does wearing a tie have to do with human trafficking?
By Vivienne Hurley Will Rossland’s student-led initiative for Dressember be part of the fabric of change? High school students attending Seven Summits Centre for Learning (7S) in Rossland have created a community of advocates to fight against human trafficking and have donned their uniforms in support of Dressember. The dress...
Column: From the Hill -- Small Modular Reactors
Earlier this year, Seamus O’Regan, the Minister of Natural Resources said in a speech that “We are placing nuclear energy front and centre… This is nuclear’s moment.” And in discussions around building a new economy after COVID, the government is doubling down on those sentiments. The latest debates are slightly different ...
