Many people, including me, expected Greta Thunberg to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali was deservedly awarded for ending more than 20 years of conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.Greta and the young people worldwide urging adults to care about their future don’t need a Nobel....

Mainstream media coverage to date of the federal election campaign has led CBC pundit Neil Macdonald to declare, “I can’t get little enough of it.”  No wonder.  Irrelevant distractions, insults, inaccurate accusations, fake videos, false social media memes, a flood of promises that few voters put much faith in anymore, and ...

Southern BC has lost all or most of its formerly numerous wild mountain caribou. Populations are crashing in the BC central interior as well. The Western Canada Wilderness Committee points out that they “were once so numerous that an entire region of BC is named after them. The Cariboo in the central interior of BC was given...

In Canada, the decision on whether or not a woman considering abortion will actually have one is currently made privately in discussions about the potential risks and alternative options between the woman and her doctor, and also depends on the accessibility of an abortion provider.  There is no federal law prohibiting or...

To the Editor, The Fridays For the Future youth strike last Friday was inspiring. Around the world, millions of youth and their supporters marched and demanded real climate action from the adults. By ‘real action’ I assume the youth mean action that avoids the forecasted global catastrophe and delivers the Paris Accord goal...

Tackling climate change means purging privilege from politics Our national political arena often seems dominated by unproductive partisan potshots and misplaced accountability, with corporate interests prioritized over people’s. Behind the noisy partisan sniping, a quiet majority — 70 to 75 per cent of Canadians — is largely disengaged from politics, according to McAllister Opinion Research. […]

Greta Thunberg’s speech to the  UN was transcribed.  Here is the full text.  For the full effect, though, listen to her speech at this link:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYqtXR8iPlE In response to the question, “What’s your message to world leaders today?” Thunberg responded as follows: Greta Thunberg:   “My message is...

Current and anticipatory grief The reality of the continuing extinction of many so species is profoundly upsetting.  Readers may wonder why old people should care.  For example, I’ll be dead in a few years myself;  it will be up to others to live their lives diminished by the loss of caribou and many other creatures, many...

There’s a new online source for people seeking easy-to-understand information on climate change specific to communities throughout the Columbia Basin and Boundary regions. The Columbia Basin Climate Source website—basinclimatesource.ca— was initiated by Columbia Basin Trust and developed by Selkirk College’s Applied Research...

The polar bear has become the poster child for climate change impacts in the Arctic. Sea ice, which the bears depend on for hunting, is melting at an ever-expanding rate. For other species, climate impacts are not as direct. The 2019 State of Canada’s Birds report found aerial insectivores like swifts, swallows and nightjars...