Column: From the Hill -- Invasive Species Action Inadequate
Lost in the recent media frenzy over the SNC Lavalin scandal were the 2019 Spring Reports of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. These last reports from Julie Gelfand before her retirement focused on protection of fish and their habitat from mining effluent, subsidies to the fossil fuels industry...
Column: When does plant and animal species loss become a societal crisis?
It’s heartening, in the midst of the human-caused sixth mass extinction, to find good wildlife recovery news. As plant and animal species disappear faster than they have for millions of years, Russia’s Siberian, or Amur, tigers are making a comeback. After falling to a low of just a few dozen in the mid-20th century, the...
‘Smart’ meters, the Arena, the Skatepark, new Watering Rules, the High Cost of Sewage, and more!
Rossland City Council Regular Meeting, April 15, 2019 Present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Janice Nightingale, Andy Morel, Scott Forsyth, Chris Bowman, Dirk Lewis, and – by telephone – Stewart Spooner. Public Input Period: John Howse spoke, objecting to the City’s installation of “Smart”...
COLUMN: Rapid Warming; What are we Doing About it?
Another week, another dramatic warning from scientists — met with shrugs all around. This time, a report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada, “Canada's Changing Climate Report,” warned that this country is warming at roughly twice the global average rate, even more in the North and on the Prairies. Some of...
Column: Schlock and Odd in Ottawa; Part One
Political Sense and Nonsense I cannot help it: the Jody Wilson-Raybould / SNC-Lavalin political storm in Ottawa and in news media has fascinated me. Bewildered me at times, but in the main, it has kept me interested week by week. Politics can be a bore. Not this time, not for me, in this instance. Her resignation, followed ...
Column: Children are fighting for their future. We must support them
“And a little child shall lead them.” – Isaiah 11:6 At 16, Greta Thunberg may not be a little child, but she’s showing tremendous leadership. The Swedish student has galvanized a world movement, pressing adults to remove the blinkers of corporate and political self-interest and recognize that their refusal to respond appropriately...
Editorial Rant: RCMP Surveillance of Social Media -- to What End?
Recent articles in The Tyee discuss the revelation that the RCMP have been engaged in monitoring social media – characterized in the article as “ongoing wide-scale monitoring of individuals’ social media use [that] could pose a threat to Canadians’ privacy and charter rights, say experts.” But ...
Op/Ed: It's Wrong-headed to Protect Nature with Human-style Rights
By Anna Grear, for Aeon How can the law account for the value of complex, nonhuman entities such as rivers, lakes, forests and ecosystems? At a time of runaway climate change, when the Earth’s biosphere is on the brink of collapse and species extinctions are accelerating, this has become a vital question. Some theorists argue...
Open Letter: Support for the Immediate Passing of Bill C-262
To The Editor: Dear Senators, The First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) is calling on each Senator of Canada to support the passage of Bill C-262, An Act to ensure that the laws of Canada are in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, without delay. The Truth and Reconciliation...
In-Depth: Sprawling clearcuts among reasons for B.C.’s monster spring floods
Wildfire, drought and a pine beetle epidemic are piling on top of a long history of logging, pushing the province’s forests to a dangerous tipping point that experts say will make bad flooding worse By Ben Parfitt for The Narwhal Every spring and typically in May the Kettle River hits peak flow. A gauge placed in the ...
