An Open Letter to all British Columbians: As British Columbians, we all rely on certain core services being available at the most critical moments of our lives. Because when they aren’t, an urgent situation can become catastrophic. We are taught from a young age that, when there’s an emergency, we should reach for the nearest...

Near the end of the film Don’t Look Up, Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, astronomer Randall Mindy, turns to the people around him and says, “We really did have everything, didn’t we?” Although the “everything” has never been equally distributed, humans really have had all that we need to survive and thrive. If only more people would […]

PART II Power, again If humans can exercise control over consciousness with the methods, tools, and technologies of neuroscience, maybe we can make “better humans” who will not go extinct. That is of course not the kind of thinking Charles Eisenstein likes to indulge because it is more of the old story of separation-and-control...

Ed.Note: this column was originally published by the Elephant Journal, a publication I would strongly recommend perusing. Ms. Smee is a highly regarded professional in the Kootenay community, and we will be featuring her op/ed (opinion/editorial) material at every opportunity. ~ Kyra You left way too suddenly. I was not ready to say goodbye, and […]

The lineage of our human species has survived for several million years thanks to a wondrous, interconnected evolution of factors resulting in air to breathe, water to drink and plants, fungi, animals and minerals for food, shelter, tools and clothing. For most of that time, our ancestors lived in relative harmony with the ...

Dear Neighbours, Friends and Community Members, June is National Indigenous History Month, a time to learn and show support for the ongoing work of reconciliation. This month, B.C. and the Tahltan Central Government entered the first ever consent-based decision-making agreement under the Declaration Act. This agreement honours...

Science, anti-science, pseudo-science, non-science, pre-modern science:  “There’s more under heaven and earth than is dreamt of” by homo sapiens Definitions: Science: what we commonly think of, when we hear the word. Medicine. Viruses. Stars. Atoms -- all studied by science. We tend to think this knowledge is valuable....

Two of the most important issues for Canadians right now are the affordability crisis—the impossibility of the housing market, the rising cost of groceries and the soaring price of gas—and the ongoing crisis of climate change. Recently the House of Commons debated an NDP motion that combined these two issues.  The motion asked...

It’s not science fiction to recognize that the landscapes we encounter daily, and whatever is in them, can be at various points in a time continuum. Put another way, most of the things we see are stamped with information from years gone by, and the way they are stamped differs greatly. A wooden table was once a tree. So too,...

Over 9,000 people have died in BC as a result of drug toxicity since the government declared a public health emergency into substance-related harms in April 2016. Year over year death tolls continue to rise, with 2021 the highest on record in our province - 2,224 people died, a 26% increase over the year before. “These are ...