JANUARY 2010

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, 3300-37^th Avenue, Vernon, V1T 2Y5. Website: www.sensociety.org

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

SENS STUFF

Cosmetic Pesticides Forum: January 28, 7 pm, Schubert Centre: Experts from several fields will provide comments and research results. Questions and discussion welcome.

Transition Towns: Workshop in early February and speaker for February 25.

SENS AGM, seed exchange and panel on genetically modified foods: March 25.

Natural Step (or sustainability initiated by the City of Whistler): April 22

Green Communities - short films: May 27

LOCAL STUFF

1. Vernon’s Official Community Plan (OCP) is on line. Everyone can access it AND track its implementation and provide future input as required via a ‘see-it’ online tool at www.vernon.ca.

2. City Centre Neighbourhood Plan: SENS is a stakeholder on the Transportation Strategy Advisory Committee and soon will be engaged in a comprehensive overview of the City Centre transportation network, addressing pedestrian, cyclist, transit, vehicle, parking and loading needs.

3. OCCP Update: The Okanagan Collaborative Conservation Program (SENS is a member) has just completed their strategic plan, which will guide their work over the next 5 years. Check out what’s happening with foreshore mapping, sensitive ecosystems and more through the updated website at www.occp.bc.ca.

4. Vernon’s Water: Silver Star Mountain Resort has been adding condos steadily for the past decade, and the sewage lagoons, of course, have grown to keep pace. The lagoons, perched at the top of two community watersheds, are troubling sources for pollution. When nitrate levels in the Silver Star lagoon spike, this spike also happens very soon after in the Coldstream Antwerp Springs aquifer that supplies domestic water in Coldstream and Lavington. Read the article at http://vernonblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/keeping-watch-on-purity-of-bc-watershed.html.

5. Pledge to Pool Week: Congratulations to our area! So many residents in the Okanagan pledged to carpool that the number of single person car trips was reduced by over 55% compared to 2008 with at least 40,000 fewer cars on the road. In 2008, we had over 25,000 pledges for reduced car use. In 2009, there were almost 40,000. Visit www.carpool.ca for more information or to sign up.

6. Locovore Shopping: Green Croft Gardens, Enderby: Producing high quality, locally grown organic vegetables and fruits, this family farm strives to encourage and educate future generations to eat and/or grow organic food. Visit www.greencroftgardens.com for directions.

Wild Flight Farms, Mara: Short afternoon sales time at the side of the Vernon Alliance Church (2601 43^rd Ave) with a variety of produce sold on Jan 11, 25, Feb 8, 22, Mar 8, 22, April 5, 19. Email wildflight@jetstream.net for order inquiries.

7.Valhalla Mile Success: The Valhalla Foundation for Ecology and Social Justice, The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC) and BC Parks joined forces to raise $1.5 million to purchase a 155-acre parcel of private land along Slocan Lake, surrounded by Valhalla Park. The land was threatened with development for a resort or private summer homes. Thanks to a huge outpouring of public support and donations from across Canada and internationally, the Valhalla Mile was successfully purchased and transferred to BC Parks in April of 2009, to become part of Valhalla Provincial Park. Celebration events are planned in Silverton, BC, on July 1. See www.vws.org for details and to read about the BC Government’s wolf slaughter program, a call for protection of the Incomappleux River valley (rare southeastern BC temperate rainforest) and much more.

SENT BY MEMBERS AND READERS

1. Starving Capitalism: We can have prosperity (and happiness!) without growth, but BIG Ideas are needed and we need to stop blind consuming, share work, remove inequality, and “remove incentives for unproductive status competition”. Read the complete, and thought-provoking article “From Crisis Comes Hope” to learn how: http://thetyee.ca/Bios/Murray_Dobbin/

2. Green Links: Get the latest news and reviews about green products by visiting Consumer Reports’ Green Choices website: www.greenerchoices.org/home.cfm

3. Cosmetic Pesticide Ban: This private member’s bill just introduced in the B.C. legislature would protect the health of BC residents and the environment, without adversely affecting the agriculture or forestry industry. The ban would prevent stores from using a loophole in municipal bylaws that allows pesticide sales. Over 20 municipalities have banned use of cosmetic pesticides so far. For more: www.examiner.com/x-30428-Vancouver-Environmental-News.

A National Geographic (Aug 16/09) writer states: “Oils from thyme, rosemary, mint and other herbs and ‘killer spices’ are gaining favour among farmers as alternatives to synthetic pesticides.” Since costs and health and environmental impact matter, plant-based pesticides have an advantage.

4. Food-Choices in Climate Change: Global Warming is the single biggest threat to the health of the planet, and meat consumption plays a big role. For instance, eating a burger has a bigger carbon footprint than most SUVs! We've been bailing out the meat industry for years, and for what? For greenhouse gas emissions that out-pace the levels from cars and other transportation.

Really want to make a difference? Go vegan! Read the entire article (worth the read) at www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=are_cows_worse_than_carsv.

5. 4 Day Week Benefits: Workers still put in 40 hours, but in several US counties they now drive less, and have less overtime and absenteeism. The counties save on maintenance, building, and transport costs, and energy use. One county was able to cut utility bills by millions and cut greenhouse gases by 10,000 tonnes. Some Canadian companies are considering work share + the 4 day week.

6. “Seedy” Websites:

a)Canadian heritage seed program www.seeds.ca Order "How to Save Your Own Seeds" for $12 incl. postage. http://www.seeds.ca/vend/forsale.php

b)Numerous seed companies that sell open pollinated seed http://www.seeds.ca/rl/rl.php

c) Grain growing & more: “Demeter's Wheats”: http://www.grassrootsolutions.com/books.html

d) free booklet download (“Diversity In Gardens”) on getting you, your kids, and your friends connected to bio-diversity. Pics of strange plants/lots of activities. http://www.tgibc.org/DIG.pdf

e) free booklet download on doing 'field trials' and 'on-farm research' http://www.tgibc.org/On_Farm_Research_Guide_PDF.pdf

7.Global Warming Denial? (From Globe and Mail): Some say that climate is becoming stable and temperatures are decreasing…They’re only selecting a few recent years to support their comments and not even considering the cooling effect of the 2007 - 2008 La Nina event. Dates in the late 1990’s refute this. Climate changes very slowly with variations in between. Also, graphs of CO2 levels related to average global temperature clearly indicate that CO2 and global temperature have both recently shot up far higher than any time in the past 600,000 years with human activities as the cause. Sun radiation has caused the recent warming…no scientific data supports this. Climate Change always happens…Yes, but the change now is much larger and happening much more rapidly than at any time in the past. Over 14 million years ago, when CO2 levels were triple their usual (same as now at 387 parts per million CO2), temperatures were over 3 degrees higher and there was no ice, so sea levels were up to 40 meters higher than today. Melt and sea level change will now happen over decades. We can’t make solid policy decisions due to uncertainty in what scientists say… Whenever scientists do experiments, results are never 100% accurate due to the number of factors and complexity to be considered. The uncertainty is not an indication of lack of knowledge but is an indication of the probability that something will occur. They can only give “between ‘x’ and ‘y’ “ predictions. The chance of global temperatures rising 5 or 6 degrees is much greater than the chance of temperatures rising just to 3 degrees. The International Panel on Climate Change prediction of a hotter 21^st century over nearly all land masses, means they are 90 – 99 % sure of this. The costs of inaction are too large to risk a ‘do-nothing’ approach. What risk are YOU prepared to take to do nothing?

For those who think we need to spend our money/time on immediate issues, how ethical is it to put more value on the lives of those of us present today compared to those who will be alive 100 years or more from now? We have human ‘selfish’ genes that cause us to put lives of family before lives of others and we usually live for the moment and don’t think decades or centuries down the road. So, making decisions of great magnitude or asking for them is tough for many of us.

8.Food Waste: Aesthetics determines what you buy and what supermarkets put on shelves. As a consequence, in Canada, 40% of most fruit and vegetable crops are rejected – you never see them in stores. They are misshapen or too large or too small. Some countries even have laws that ban sale of such foods. Supermarkets may try to distribute culls to the needy, however the extra bagging effort is sometimes too much so they go to the landfill. As well, producers may be fined heavily for giving away irregular food. More than half of all fish caught is thrown back, dead - they are too small or are the wrong species. Households are also putting much more unused food into landfills because food is so cheap. Torontonians alone are generating 70kg more waste per person than they did 10 years ago. As well as this waste, modern farming is thought to produce about 37% more greenhouse gases than anything else North Americans do. (Macleans, Nov 16/09)

FROM GUY DAUNCEY’S ECONEWS

1. Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation: In 2001 they bought 5,000 acres, collected the seeds from 740 species of tree, and planted them in a micro-biological mixture made from sugar, excrement, food waste, sawdust and cow urine.  Within six years, in what was a deforested mess, the trees were up to 35 metres high. Cloud cover has increased by 12%, rainfall by 25%, and the local temperature has fallen by 3-5ºC, helping people and wildlife to thrive. Nine species of primate have returned, including the orangutans, along with 116 bird species and more than 30 species of mammal. The long-term goal is to restore 18.5 square kilometres of Borneo back to its natural habitat; the same approach could be applied to tropical deforestation the world over. You can sponsor the Samboja reforestation at 3 Euros a square metre through www.create-rainforest.org, or adopt an orangutan through www.redapes.org.

2. Ecuador’s Yasuni: Ecuador was willing to leave the oil in the pristine Yasuni Amazonian rainforest underground if the international community would recompense it for half the lost revenue… and the proposal is going to go through very soon! More at www.yasuni-itt.gov.ec.

3. Circle of Family/Friends: Guy has created an 8-week Climate Challenge Circles course as a free download to accompany his new book The Climate Challenge, which you can access here: www.earthfuture.com/theclimatechallenge/downloads.html. Form a Circle and use the detailed charts on Sustainable Food, Green Electricity, Keeping Warm/Cool, Transport, and “Everything Else” to tackle going green. The charts recognize that some things are easier than others, so each has four action columns labeled This Week, This Month, This Year, and Future Year. If you have any feedback, please get in touch with Guy at 250-881-1304.

FROM ECOJUSTICE (FORMERLY SIERRA LEGAL DEFENCE)

1. 1600 Ducks: perished on a polluted tar sands tailings pond that they had mistaken for a freshwater lake. It turns out that pollution from this tailings pond is now leaking into groundwater and making its way into fish bearing streams.

FROM CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK

1. Cap & Trade: This idea by energy traders and Wall Street financiers will allow free permits to big polluters and allow fake offsets… but will not reduce dependence on fossil fuels or slow global warming…more at http://storyofstuff.com/capandtrade/ In BC all entities emitting more than 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually must publicly report their emissions. Companies that emit more than the limit would be able to virtually "trade" their excess emissions with companies below the limit for a certain price. Ontario’s limit will soon be 25,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. The federal limit is 100,000 tonnes.

FROM RCBC (RECYCLING COUNCIL OF BC)

1.Styrofoam Chipper: The Gibsons, BC Recycling Depot is the first in BC to purchase and use a machine that runs off electricity to compact and recycle large chunks of expanded polystyrene with the use of a heated coil and auger system. The foam is sold back to an American contractor for reuse in such items as high-end crown molding, photo frames and bike helmet insulation. Don’t we need one here?!? Ask for one via NORD!

2. Non-Fossil Fuel Plastics: A team of South Korean scientists has produced the polymers used for everyday plastics through bioengineering, not fossil fuel-based chemicals. Polylactic Acid (PLA) is produced from renewable biomass that is biodegradable and has a low toxicity to humans.

3.Walmart Goal – Zero Waste By 2025: Pratt Industries is assisting with this goal by reusing all boxes to make corrugated pizza boxes. This measure alone will save 8,600 tons of waste from landfills and

reduce the need to consume the equivalent of 40 million gallons of water and 125,000 trees.

FROM SMART GROWTH BC

1.Solar Homes Strategy: Vancouver is allotting $50,000 towards providing solar hot water for 50 new homes to be built this year, first-come, first-serve. The new systems generate enough energy to meet about 60% of a home’s hot water heating demand and eliminate up to 2 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually.

2. Men and Their Monuments: Premier Gordon Campbell has said, "you cannot build your way out of congestion" yet is still using many millions of our taxes to add 4 lanes of pavement in the lower mainland rather than support people – related social projects. The government's own studies say that the Gateway freeways will increase GHG emissions by over 160,000 tonnes per year. pics & videos at: www.gatewaysucks.org http://youtube.com/badfreeway

3.U.S. Supports Trams: Under the Obama Administration $280 million is going towards urban projects such as streetcars, buses, and bus facilities with the goals being to promote communities, expand business opportunities, improve people’s quality of life, help the environment and create much-needed jobs. Can Canada be far behind? Details: www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot18509.htm.

4. EPA Endangerment Finding: To ensure public health and welfare of the American people, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has just announced a legally binding endangerment finding with regard to greenhouse gas emissions, including those from motor vehicles. With this, the EPA is cleared and required to act on control of greenhouse gases. A first step will be the enforcement of new GHG standards for new light-duty vehicles, thereby reducing emissions and dependence on foreign oil. www.epa.gov/climatechange/endangerment.html

5. Poisoning Our Waters: Outdated sewer systems in the U.S. are frequently being overwhelmed by heavy rains. The result is untreated feces and industrial waste spilling into waterways. In the last three years alone, more than 9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems — including those in major cities — have reported illegally dumping their untreated waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into waterways. Illnesses related to these sewage spills are likely in the tens of millions each year! Thousands of sewage systems operated by large cities, smaller cities, colleges, mobile home parks and companies have broken the law, but few violators are ever punished. Enforcing the law is one option, but the only real solution is extensive new spending on sewer systems largely ignored for decades. I wonder how Canada fares? Read the entire article at www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/us/23sewer.html?_r=1&th&emc=th.

6. Green Energy Task Forces: Four advisory task forces, dedicated to ensuring B.C. remains a leader in clean and renewable energy, have just been set up and consist of leaders who will help the province maximize its clean, green energy opportunities. Individually they will work on (1) procurement and regulatory reform with BC Hydro, (2) carbon pricing, trading and export market development, (3) community engagement and First Nations partnerships, and (4) resource development. More at www.greenenergytaskforce.gov.bc.ca.

7. B C’s Waste Incineration Proposals: Zero Waste BC, a province-wide network, is speaking out against these proposals and is calling for a moratorium on new incinerator development. The ‘waste’ doesn’t disappear, it becomes CO2, a major contributor to global warming, numerous hazardous byproducts, and toxic ash that must be safely stored (1/5^th of each ‘waste’ load is toxic ash). If such ‘waste’ is treated as a valuable resource and recycled, reused, repaired, or composted, then much energy is conserved, 10 times more jobs are created than would be from incinerators, and pollution from toxic waste, ecological degradation and global warming is reduced considerably. Once an incinerator is present, it MUST be ‘fed’ forever. Please sign on via: http://sites.google.com/site/zerowastebc/home3 5 active incineration proposals are under discussion for Kamloops, Delta, Christina Lake, Gold River and Metro Vancouver (6 incinerators). These proposals are being encouraged by the current provincial government policy that defines Municipal Solid Waste(MSW) as a "clean and renewable fuel."

8. 21^st Century Cities in Canada: This paper is the result of a multi-year study that sheds light on the role of cities as dominant sites of economic activity where leading edge innovation generates new ideas, products and industries. The study also looks at how the 2009 economic shock has affected Canada’s economy and what challenges lie ahead. http://sso.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/layoutabstract.asp?did=3311

Co-edited with Egan Mandreck