DECEMBER 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
No Events Planned for December
– Have a Wonderful Family-oriented Month!
2010 Events:
·
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.Local Meat and the 100 Mile Diet: Local meat is an important part of the 100 Mile Diet for many of us. North
Okanagan meat supplies have been threatened by recent Meat Inspection
Regulations that have closed down the majority of our regionfs custom meat
processors. The NDP have put forward a new bill to legalise the purchase of
local meat at the farmgate, and it is felt that if enough of us send emails or
letters, there is a chance that both side of the house might come together to
support this bill. Certainly Eric Foster, our Vernon-Monashee Liberal MLA, has
spoken out against these regulations in the past, so letfs ask him to vote in
favour of this bill.
Please encourage your MLA too
support an amendment to the food safety act, meat inspection regulation, that
would allow an exemption for on-farm processing and non-retail direct meat
sales in an effort to keep small and specialty local farms viable and provide
consumers with a choice.
Premier Gordon Campbell, premier@gov.bc.ca Rm 156, Parliament
Buildings,Victoria BC V8V 1X4.
Ida Chong, Minister of Healthy Living and Sport, HLS.Minister@gov.bc.ca
P.O. Box 9062 Stn. Prov. Govt.,Victoria, BC V8W 9E2
Eric Foster, MLA Vernon- Monashee, eric.foster.mla@leg.bc.ca
George Abbott, MLA Shuswap, george.abbott.mla@leg.bc.ca
You may also want to CC:
Nicholas Simons, MLA Powell River who introduced the bill at Nicholas.simons.mla@leg.bc.ca
NDP Agriculture critic Lana Popham, MLA Saanich South at Lana.popham.mla@leg.bc.ca
2.
City Centre Neighbourhood Plan: The displays and
information presented last week by the Cityfs staff were superb! Photos of park
space, road, housing and other options gave all who attended many ideas to choose from about what
each wanted to have and enjoy in future.
If you missed it, please check this website and complete their survey: www.vernon.ca/citycentre
3. Green Croft Gardens: This local farm in Enderby sells
from the farm gate all winter. See their website for foods and other items at www.greencroftgardens.com
4. Wild Flight Farms: This Mara farm runs a small
farmersf market every 2 weeks on the as side of the Vernon Alliance Church 2601
43rd Ave). Produce includes apples, squash and a variety of
vegetables (rumour is that baked goods will soon be there too!). The next sale
is December 7, 3 – 5 pm.
Subscribers must order ahead before 10 on the Monday or just come, browse and
buy. wildflight@jetstream.net for details. Other dates: Dec 21, Jan 11,
25, Feb 8, 22, Mar 8, 22, April 5, 19.
5. Allan Brooks
Nature Centre: Their
Fundraising Dinner and Auction is scheduled for April 9, 2010 but they are
suggesting you might wish, now, to buy tickets to the event as an
innovative Christmas gift.
Tickets from www.ticketseller.ca or phone:
250-549-7469. More information from their website: www.abnc.ca The Society has lost major finding cut due to cuts in
egaming fundingf.
6. Reel
Change SustainAbility Film Fest: January 29th & 30th, 2010. The Fresh Outlook Foundation is
partnering with UBC-Okanagan and Leofs Videos to host this second annual Film
Fest in Kelowna.
7. Terrain
Terrorism: With the Olympics
coming to Vancouver, itfs easy to ignore the less often mentioned habitat
destruction in B.C.fs backcountry caused by off-road vehicles. WE SHOULDNfT
THOUGH! Irresponsible ATV and motorbike riders are damaging the backcountry
environment and hiking/cycling trails. Once areas have been damaged, the
impacts, such as wildlife disturbances and soil erosion, can last for decades.
Compounding this problem is that B.C.fs current driving laws (no licensing and
no training requirements) allow this! We need stricter regulations before itfs
too late. For more, go to: www.watershedsentinel.ca
SENT BY MEMBERS AND READERS
1.
Real Change: According to some disturbing numbers,
individual attempts at going green just arenft cutting it. For instance, for every can of garbage
lugged out to the curb by an individual in the U.S., another 70 cans are thrown
away by the industries that create the products. With each bag of garbage comes
a new hazard to the environment. Despite the fact that many Canadians are
adopting greener practices, Canadafs emissions continue to rise. We placed dead
last for climate performance out of all G8 countries in 2007! One solution is to reduce our massive over-consumption. Think differently, look at things through a green lens,
simplify life and consume less. Advocate for government
participation, activism and group engagement. Individual action is still
important, but ultimately we need to go further. For a top-ranked
environmental websites, see: www.worldchanging.com. Source: www.ucobserver.org/ethics/2009/11/green_enough
2. An
Environmental Economy: A new study out,
commissioned by the Pembina Institute and the David Suzuki
Foundation, shows that under a new economic model
Canada can meet global-warming reduction targets while still growing the
economy, enhancing job creation and raising the quality of life. One ambitious
target is a 25 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
below the 1990 level by 2020 (a target which needs to be met if we are to limit
an average global warming rise to 2 C — a
limit supported by a broad scientific consensus). Far stronger policies will
need to be implemented if this is to occur, with a significant price being
placed on global warming emissions backed up by stiff regulations. Revenues
from this carbon pricing could be used to fund green public investments, such
as building smart grids and transit infrastructure, be used to reduce
Canadiansf income tax and be used to research technology to further reduce
emissions (e.g. carbon capture, increased energy efficiency, renewable energy,
etc.). Going into Copenhagen for the UN climate summit, this is a great model
to show the world! Download a copy of the study at: www.davidsuzuki.org/Publications/Climate_Leadership.asp.
3.Arithmetic, Population and Energy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY
FROM ECOJUSTICE (FORMERLY SIERRA
LEGAL DEFENCE)
1. Stop Soot Now: http://stopsoot.ca/ to view a short video and to send a message to our federal leaders with your concern
about soot, the #2 cause of global warming (after CO2).
FROM RECYCLING COUNCIL OF BC (RCBC)
1.
RCBC Movie Trailer Contest: This environmental short film competition (with a twist!) harnesses your
creativity to convince the world to stop making garbage! All the entries must be in the form of a movie trailer and they all
have to convey this yearfs waste reduction theme, which is: gSay
NO to disposable coffee cups! Each
year in North America we throw away billions of paper coffee cups,
wasting trees and creating unnecessary
garbage. Create a trailer that helps
people make the choice to refuse to use disposable coffee cups!h
Use animation, live action, Lego, toy
soldiers, sock puppets, your familyfs dog, cand the trailer can take the style
of any movie genre: horror, comedy, sci-fi, historical, action flick, love
story, buddy movie, chick flickc.Win
cash prizes and other cool stuff! Enter online at www.trailertrashed.org
2. Greenwash example: Creative Review, a
UK-based visual communications magazine, will test-drive Cyberpac's
experimental packaging material called "harmless-dissolveh that dissolves
in water. The material is lighter and five times stronger than normal polythene
yet it is non-toxic so you can toss it in a compost pit and it will be degraded
by micro-organisms like moulds and yeast. It just becomes carbon dioxide ( a
greenhouse gas), water, and biomass. Sounds too good to be true, butc.Therefs
no detail about exactly what the gbiomassh is (bits of plastic that still stay
around for over 1,000years?!?) and how much there isc. Source: Greenfudge.org
3. Reusable Mesh Produce Bags: These bags are a green alternative to rolls of plastic bags provided for
fresh fruit and veg. and will be available through the Canadian grocery chain
Metro Inc.(back East, only!) by December. The bags are see-through
and will allow cashiers to quickly identify the contents. Each set of four
washable bags will be sold for $4.99. A Metro Inc. survey revealed that 77 percent of customers are trying to
limit the use of plastic bags when shopping the produce section, and 87 percent
of customers prefer to buy individual fruits and vegetables instead of
prepackaged ones.
FROM CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK
Moms Against Climate Change (a partnership of Environmental Defense and Forest Ethics.): Moms! Improve the future for your kids who are too young to
vote, but will have to deal with the worst effects of global warming. Canada is
one of the top 10 global warming polluters on the planet so we need to clean up
our act. Join other Canadian parents and take three minutes to post a photo of your child at www.MomsAgainstClimateChange.com.
Remind Prime Minister Stephen Harper exactly who he's representing at the UN
Climate Summit in Copenhagen.
FROM CANADIAN CANCER SOCIETY
1.
Banning Cosmetic Pesticides: Cosmetic pesticides are used to improve the appearance of lawns and
gardens by controlling unwanted weeds and plants and can contain toxic
chemicals that are cancer-causing. The Canadian Cancer Society, B.C.
and Yukon Division is calling on the B.C. government to ban these pesticides,
joining Ontario, Quebec and the Union of B.C. Municipalities who already have
bans. With overwhelming public support and the authority to restrict the sale
of pesticides, the time for government action is now. See: www.cancer/bc.ca.
2.
Wefre Likely Not Alone! Cute video: http://dingo.care-mail.com/cards/flash/5409/galaxy.swf
3.
Food For Thought: Amid low demand
for food products as well as a collapse in its once-booming housing market,
California is suffering. At the same time, the region is grappling with drought
and reduced water shipment to their local farmers (as little as 10% of their
normal allotment). Many field pickers and packers are out of work and many
acres of land (roughly half) arenft being worked. This leads many to wonder if
B.C is ready for the inevitable spike in food prices that will come since much
of our food is from California. We need to collectively organize and focus on
growing as much local food as possible. To read about Californiafs plight, visit: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125184765024077729.html.
4.
Climate Change Denial: Sadly, climate change denial is
spreading. A recent survey suggests that 44% of Americans believe global
warming is the result of natural causes instead of human action. Only 57% of
Americans acknowledge that therefs solid evidence for global warming. The
number of internet pages proposing that manmade global warming is a hoax or a
lie more than doubled in 2008. Books championing this denial are beating the
scientific books by miles. Why?
Right-winged
idiocy is certainly one reason.
Another is age. The second survey found that people over 65 are much
more likely than the rest of the population to deny that there is solid
evidence for global warming, that itfs manmade or that itfs a serious problem.
Such a belief likely stems from the fact that: they were brought up in a period
of technological optimism and that a fear of death drives them to armour
themselves in lies. Now all we need to do is confront itc
Source: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/11/02/death-denial/
FROM SMART GROWTH BC
1.
The Living Building Challenge, 2.0: Is expanding its focus to local food
production, unrestricted access to nature, no gated communities and other
equity issues, the new standard addresses
social justice, urban agriculture (i.e. food gardens) and community scale
impacts.
New version is at: www.ilbi.org
2. Dangerous by Design: Every year, thousands die in
North America while crossing or walking along a street
in their community. These deaths are preventable (often occurring along
roadways engineered for speeding cars – not pedestrians), and solving this
problem will go a long way towards improving neighbourhoods, public health and
the environment. To do this, we need to continue retrofitting poorly designed roads
to become complete streets, adding sidewalks and bike lanes, reducing crossing
distances and installing trees and crosswalks to make walking and biking safer
and more inviting. Source: http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/
3.
Electric Cars Arenft Always Good: A new study out dispels the myth that a wholesale
switch to electric cars would automatically reduce CO2 emissions and dependence
on oil because it depends on how the electricity fuelling these cars is
generated, how it is taxed, and how emissions are regulated. Here in B.C. the
main power source is hydro, so wefre very low carbon. Alberta, with its
coal-fired generation, is not. In Europe, itfs even worse as loopholes in their
laws could lead to higher CO2 emissions
and oil use! So, donft just assume electric cars are a magic bullet. Significant
changes to the way we produce and tax power are needed before we will reap
benefits. Read the summary and the full study at: www.transportenvironment.org/News/2009/11/Electric-cars-likely-to-lead-to-more-CO2-because-of-EU-legal-loopholes/.
4. Transportation Mode Cost Comparisons: Free download at http://www.sxd.sala.ubc.ca/8_research/sxd_FRB07Transport.pd
FROM LIVING OCEANS SOCIETY
1.Speaking
tour possibility:
If your group is interested in this coral and ocean protection research,
contact info is at: http://www.findingcoral.com/finding_coral_speaking_tour
Co-edited
with Egan Mandreck
Happy Holidays!