Greta Thunberg: 'How dare you!'
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...
Editorial: What to do?
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...
Climate Change Info Centralized Online
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...
Column: Our biodiversity crisis -- connecting the dots
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...
Energy Specialist Targets Carbon Emissions in the RDKB
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary has hired a new Senior Energy Specialist. Freya Phillips hails from Rossland via the United Kingdom and Australia and arrived at the RDKB Trail office on August 12. In a scant few weeks, she has established relationships with other local government energy specialists in the Central...
Column: From the Hill -- Oil, Pipelines, Jobs and the Climate Crisis
The conversation around pipelines and oil sands in Canada has been so heated and polarized it’s difficult to sort hype from fact. It’s often hard to have an informed conversation about the issue, let alone an informed debate. On the one side we have people who are deeply concerned about the climate emergency facing us. It...
Stung by derailed negotiations with B.C., Blueberry River First Nations return to court
Three-quarters of the nation's territory lies within 250 metres of an industrial disturbance. A potentially precedent-setting court case on this 'death by a thousand cuts' could disrupt B.C.'s multi-billion dollar natural gas industry. By Christopher Pollon, for The Narwhal After almost a year of negotiations...
Why Words Matter When We Talk About Addiction
Ed. note: The following is a press release issued by Toward The Heart, the harm reduction arm of the BC Centre for Disease Control: Words and language matter – especially for people who use substances. The terms we use to describe people who use drugs and the conditions associated with drug use can play either a supportive ...
It's time to go after invasive weeds.
Some ask, “What’s so bad about those so-called invasive species? Some of them are so pretty!” Yes, they’re pretty. One example is Himalayan Balsam, also known as “Policeman’s Helmet.” It has beautiful flowers. And it grows SO easily! The trouble with it is . . . it grows...
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...
