Editorial: The value and the danger of “Climate Change Adaptation” programs
Readers may well wonder about the “danger” mentioned in this headline. The value of climate change adaptation is obvious to the well-informed: it will help willing residents and their communities better survive the extremes that climate change is bringing. Better water conservation can prepare communities for longer, more ...
KCTU: An Open Letter to Minister Conroy: Taking Away Services From Kids Is Not Equity
For audio, click here Dear Minister Conroy, After 16 years of a government that constantly picked fights with teachers and underfunded public schools, many in BC’s education sector felt relief when your government was elected. Teachers heard MLAs like you congratulate us on our Supreme Court win and back us up on our fight ...
Column: Government support for electric vehicles drives down emissions
Electric vehicles won’t save us from runaway climate change, but they’re part of the solution, along with support for public transit and active transport like waking and cycling. The transportation sector accounts for almost one-quarter of the world’s carbon emissions, so it’s an area where change is necessary and possible....
In the works: restrictions on plastic bags and watering; maybe changes to tax exemptions?
Rossland City Council Meeting, May 6, 2019 Present: Mayor Kathy Moore, and Councillors Chris Bowman, Scott Forsyth, Stewart Spooner, Dirk Lewis, and Janice Nightingale. Present by speaker-phone for a portion of the meeting: Andy Morel. Public Input Period: Miche Warwick spoke about the draft outdoor watering...
Column: Will Someone Please Tell me . . .
Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on? Last October, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a special report indicating that global emissions are still rising despite more than three decades of warnings. Now we’re on a path to a 3 to 5 C temperature rise above pre-industrial levels by 2100. The...
BC Increases Firefighting Budget by 58%
The B.C. government has released its updated action plan in response to the government-commissioned, independent Abbott/Chapman report on the unprecedented 2017 wildfire and flood seasons in British Columbia. The initial action plan was released October 2018, with a commitment to provide updates over six-month intervals until...
Editorial: Is Survival a Worthy Goal? Is Life Worth Saving?
Environmentalists have come under fire lately from certain quarters. Questioning the motivation of environmentalists raises the question: What are they fighting for? And the short answer is: survival. Not just personal, short-term survival, but the long-term survival of life on earth -- stopping the acceleration of...
B.C. stalls on promise to enact endangered species law
The province is home to more species at risk than any other and is one of only three provinces that lacks stand-alone legislation to protect endangered species By Sarah Cox, for The Narwhal The B.C. government is backpedalling on a commitment to enact an endangered species law in 2020, sparking concern from scientists who ...
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...
