NOVEMBER 2009

The Sustainable Environment Network Society (SENS) Newsletter


Environmentally active for over 40 years!

 

Support Us! You can become a member (Family - $20.00, Individual - $15.00, Basic - $5.00), attend our monthly meetings (the 4th Thursday usually), donate and/or volunteer.  Mailing address: c/o the Boys and Girls Club, 3300-37th Avenue, Vernon, V1T 2Y5.  Website:  www.sensociety.org 

*** SENS provides tax-deductible receipts for donations ***

SENS STUFF

1.Toonie Nite for new film, gThe Age of Stupidh: Thursday, November 26 (7 pm) at Schubert Centre. Question / answer and discussion will follow the film.  Tools for positive action will also be provided.

 

2.Events in 2010: mid-January: workshop for facilitators on transition towns.

     January 28: Forum on use of cosmetic pesticides.

                  February: Transition Towns speaker

      March: AGM, seed exchange and panel on genetically modified foods.

      April: speaker on Natural Step (or sustainability initiated by the City of Whistler)

      May: night of short films on green communities

LOCAL STUFF

1.Food Action Society of the North Okangan: Saturday, November 14, 7 pm, Vernon Public Art Gallery is their AGM complete with glocal-icioush refreshments. They seek a treasurer and a few more directors(nominations in by Nov 10/09 tosandra.peacock@ubc.ca). Details by contacting 542-6920 or info@foodaction.ca

 

2. Carpool.ca: November 16 – 20 is Carpool Week in the North Okangan! This year there will be a variety of prizes for carpool pledges received before Nov 27/09 ($300 of fuel, iPod Nano are more!)

Sign up at: http://www.carpool.ca

 

3.Spionkop survey:  Hikers know this area of crown land near Lake Country, with its 300+ hectares of great views of both Okanagan  and Wood Lakes. The Central Okanagan Regional District is seeking input on turning this area into a regional park. The survey is at www.regionaldistrict.com

 

4. Local Regional Growth Strategy:  NORD seeks age-friendly input and comment for over-55fs before November 30/09. Surveys are at municipal offices or through www.rdno.ca  or contact Anthony Kittel at 550-3750. SENS has 2 board members on 2 different committees for this RGS.

 

5. Reclaiming Activism: This local symposium is planned for May 5 – 9, 2010 and will look at ways to create socially responsible citizens who can effectively deal with social and environmental crises of our time. Presentation proposal deadline is January 8, 2010.  Please submit proposals for papers and sessions to: Wilma van der Veen at wvdveen@okanagan.bc.ca,

 

SENT BY MEMBERS AND READERS

1. gCoolh Melting Man Art: To make a point about global warming, artist Azevedo has set up his 1,000 melting men in Berlin, Germany. See the pictures at www.unurth.com/79699

 

2. H1N1 Precautions: The only portals of entry for this flu are the nostrils and mouth/throat so limiting its spread is certainly possible. Simple preventative steps: (1) use frequent hand-washing, (2) avoid touching your face, (3) gargle twice a day with warm salt water or mouthwash (VERY EFFECTIVE), (3) clean your nostrils at least once every day with warm salt water cotton swabs (ALSO VERY  EFFECTIVE), (4) blow your nose at least once every day, (5) boost your natural immunity with Vitamin C (with Zinc) and Vitamin D, and (6) drink plenty of warm liquids (tea, coffee, etc).

 

3. Pyrex Warning: These once indestructible plastic dishes (made by Corning 25 years ago using borosilicate) are no longer safe thanks to (Chinese) companies using cheaper soda lime glass. When exposed to extreme temperature changes (i.e. going from the freezer to the oven), they can explode due to micro-cracks in the glass. Liquid that has entered the micro-cracks super heats, expands rapidly, and forces the soda lime glass to shatter. You may continue to use the soda lime dishes for holding stuff... Just DO NOT attempt to roast or microwave with them.

 

4. On the Brink of Extinction: Abbreviated  from full article at: www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091019_a_reality_check_from_the_brink_of_extinction

The Kyoto Protocol was a failure (The U.S. and other industrialized nations scoffed at binding targets) and Copenhagen is looking even worse (no binding targets for anyone). Studies show that the polar ice caps and the permafrost are melting at record rates, therefore methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more toxic than carbon dioxide, is being released from the ocean floor  (enough to asphyxiate the human race?). Rising sea levels, which will swallow low lying countries and cities, will combine with severe droughts, horrific storms and flooding. The effects will be suffering, disease and death on a scale unseen in human history.

The reason the ecosystem is dying is because corporations look at everything, from human beings to the natural environment, as exploitable commodities. We have allowed the corporate state to sell the environmental crisis as a matter of personal choice when actually there is a need for profound social and economic reform. Unless we dismantle the corporate state, piecemeal efforts such as reducing consumption of fossil fuels, water, energy, etc. are doomed to fail. We need to target and take down the industrial infrastructure that is killing the planet. They must be halted by ANY means necessary! The crisis of global heating is a social problem. It requires a social response.

 

5. Climate Change Accountability Act:  Bill C-311 was passed just before the 2008 election but, due to the 2008 election, did not make it through the Senate. It must be moved again through the House of Commons and the Senate for it to be valid.  The bill requires the Minister of the Environment to implement measures to ensure that Canada reduces its absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 25 % below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 % below 1990 levels by 2050.  It introduces greater government accountability by requiring the environment minister to prepare 5 year target plans starting in 2015 and report on progress every 2 years. It mandates an independent body, the National Roundtable on the Environment and the Economy, to review and report on the feasibility of each target plan. Please ask your MP to support this bill.

 

6. Globe and Mail Bits:  a) Acid Oceans and future food for us and other ocean denizens: CO2 emissions are making our Arctic ocean more acidic to the point that they will reach corrosive levels in less than 10 years. This will disrupt the ability of shellfish to grow shells – but it will also dissolve shells of living shellfish! b)  Dust Storm Danger: Scientists are finding that major dust storms are most likely responsible for spreading meningitis spores in central Africa, asthma in Carribean children and evalley feverf in California. A giant dust storm in China in July carried over 800,000tons of dust around the world. c)Hybrid car batteries: Our love affair with the car canft last! A lithium battery for the Volt Hybrid costs $21,000 and, if Lithium prices go up 6 times, as forecast, no-one will be able to afford such carbon emission savers. Some gas and diesel autos are just as efficient, but peak oil looms. Have you pushed for more buses? or used them? Or car-pooled? Or walked? Or cycled? Are you part of the solution, or part of the problem of climate change?

 

7. Climate Change Deniers: http://www.straight.com/article-265275/taking-goliath   This article discusses details from 2 new books that exposes what deniers say – an interesting read.

 

8.Untreatable infections: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/10/25/toronto-tapwater-bacteria.html    Tapwater from numerous North American cities including Toronto, now contains drug resistant bacteria.  One concern is that other harmless (or disease-causing) bacteria will pick up drug resistance from such organisms and become esuper-bugsf that are untreatable.

 

9.Aquaculture Management:  The Province of BC has relinquished control and management of marine fin-fish aquaculture to the federal government as a result of a BC Court decision. This may be good as there will only be one authority with responsibility, however the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has a mandate to conserve and protect, yet their political mandate is to promote and support the aquaculture industry! Please contact your MP and the DFO  minister  and ask for  a higher level of accountability and responsibility. There are more details on myths and realities of BCfs salmon farming industry at this site: http://www.livingoceans.org/newsletters/farmed_and_dangerous/fad10190901.aspx#a1

 

FROM RECYCLING COUNCIL OF BC (RCBC)

1. Waste Reduction is Best: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 37% of USf total greenhouse gas emissions results from non-food products,packaging and transportation. Improving product design and product stewardship programs that give producers a financial incentive to design environmentally-sound products, are a sound way to reduce waste and thus combat global warming.  More at: www.productpolicy.org/content/climate-change-epr

 

2. Iffy Credentials for Pro-Incineration Side: Metro Vancouver is looking at building a plant (in 7 years) that could burn about 400,000 tonnes of garbage a year. Pro-incineration expert Jim Bridge, an apologist for the industry, once argued that there was not enough evidence linking smoking to cancer; now hefs telling people at a public forum that they neednft worry about cancer-causing dioxins given off by incinerating waste. I wonderc

 

3. London Drugsf eGreen Dealf Program: Through a partnership with Genesis Recycling, London Drugs is Canada's only major retailer to offer an in-store take-back packaging recycling program. Customers can simply leave product packaging at London Drugs' customer service desks as they leave with their purchases - from perfume boxes and cardboard packaging from toothpaste boxes, to polystyrene from a microwave or a boxed appliance. They have already had major success, diverting over 22,000 kilos of polystyrene over the last 18 months, even at extra cost to the company. Impressive! Herefs hoping other retailers follow suitc More at: www.greendeal.ca.

 

4. Starbucks to Start Cup-Recycling (maybe): Starbucks has launched a pilot program in seven New York stores recently that could help the company move toward its goal of making all of its coffee cups recyclable by 2012. In the U.S., three billion Starbucks coffee cups end up in landfills every year. At present they can't be composted or recycled in most communities because of a thin polyethylene plastic coating that prevents liquid leakage.

 

5. Garbage Patch Raises Health Concerns: Lying 1,000 miles west of California is the notorious garbage patch, a bobbing debris field of garbage estimated to be twice the size of Texas. This soupy mess of discarded fishing lines and plastic bottles is held stationary by swirling ocean currents, but is not visible from the air or from satellites because most of the plastic has broken down into billions of tiny pieces that float just below the surface. Tiny jellyfish in these waters are eating bits of the plastic debris, then are eaten by larger fish (salmon or tuna), which people eat. Because the plastic pieces contain toxic chemicals, fish are now being tested to see how far these chemicals have moved up the food chain.

 

FROM CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK

1. Eat This Recession: Governments the world over are trying to spend their way out of the crisis by dumping loads of money into infrastructure projects. This hope of kick-starting the economy has a flaw though: it ignores the notion of a citizen-led and shopper-based economic recovery that focuses on agriculture, food and their allied sectors. Such an approach couldfve gone a long way toward alleviating the ill effects of the downturn while nurturing more sustainable economic foundations for tomorrow. The stimulus couldfve been spent: (1) in the labour-intensive market of agriculture which wouldfve created many local and sustainable green-collar jobs, (2) in energy efficiency which wouldfve created considerable productivity and job creation (3) building green infrastructure, such as green roofs, which wouldfve had the added benefits of creating green jobs, opening up areas where food could be grown, reducing our carbon footprint, saving money, and encouraging others to follow suit, and (4) towards a four-day work week with EI covering the fifth (for volunteers) which couldfve allowed workers to spend some portion of their free day gardening, getting healthy exercise, learning new skills, etc, all the while saving jobs.  Source: http://alternativesjournal.ca/articles/eat-this-recession

 2. CPAWS Pledge:

A Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) public campaign invites citizens in Canada and other countries to let decision makers know that in the next U.N. Convention on Climate Change, itfs time to gmake forests count.h The campaign is timed to coincide with the final two months before the U.N. Climate Change summit in Copenhagen in December. Forest clear cutting & wetlands destruction are responsible for about 1/3 of all the extra greenhouse gases(GHG) humans have put into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution. When forests are logged or wetlands are drained they release stored carbon into the atmosphere as a GHG that contributes to global warming. Sign at http://makeforestscount.org.


FROM PREVENT CANCER NOW

1.Anti-bacterial Soap Caution: They contain triclosan, also found in over 700 consumer products (toothpastes, detergents, cosmetics)cand itfs in dolphins now, in concentrations known to disrupt hormone, growth and developmentc.and there are suggestions of carcinogenicity in us. Some alternatives with antimicrobial properties: tea tree oil, pine oil, grapefruit seed extract.

 

2.Quebecfs Asbestos Industry: Our Prime Minister and Quebecfs Premier support  safe, controlled export of chrysotile asbestos. The International Agency for Research on Cancer confirms that all commercial asbestos fibres cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, laryngeal and ovarian cancer.

 

FROM SMART GROWTH BC

1. Awarded for Sustainability: The City of North Vancouver most recently won The UBCM [Union of BC Municipalities] Community Excellence Award in Leadership and Innovation for its 100 Year Sustainability Vision to build a vibrant, diverse, resilient, and liveable community.  Their long-range plan examines likely scenarios and allows the City to develop egreenf forward thinking land use plans. The goal of the 100-year plan is to guide the City toward carbon-neutral status by 2107, the Cityfs 200th anniversary. For more information at:www.cnv.org/Sustainability.  

2.Bike Lanes, New York City: http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/video-new-york-city-bike-lanes-explained-23737   Neat approach to traffic calming and bike safety including a 5 minute video. NYC has installed over 200 miles (360 km) of bike lanes in 3 years with a corresponding 45 % increase in bike traffic.

 

Co-edited with Egan Mandreck