DECEMBER
2010
DECEMBER
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: SENS, c/o the Boys and Girls Club, 3300-37th Ave., Vernon, V1T 2Y5. Website: www.sensociety.org
*** SENS provides tax-deductible receipts for donations ***
SENS STUFF
** No Evening speaker for December. Enjoy a happy and sustainable holiday season! **
January 27, 7 pm, Schubert Centre - Peak Oil: What is it and what are the benefits/costs? How can we make this become a positive situation for our community?
LOCAL STUFF
1. Every Bite Counts: This new report is calling on the B.C. government to take action to make B.C.’s food system work better for farmers, eliminate hunger, shift away from imported products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, B.C. imports about half of its food, leaving the province vulnerable to supply disruptions and price shocks. To download the report and learn more, visit www.policyalternatives.ca/everybitecounts.
2. Garden Rap: Graham Campbell, a student taking courses on Development of Environmental Thought and Community Food Security in the Okanagan, has produced a rap video that promotes the sustainable gardening practices of water-saving xeriscaping. Watch, then vote for it in BC Hydro’s Invent the Future Contest 2010. www.inventthefuture.ca/songs.php#19
3. Wednesday Winter markets: They’ll now run from 3 – 6 pm, Dec. 8 and Dec. 22, in the Army, Navy & Air Force (2500 - 46th Avenue) hall. Vendors: Wolfgang's Grain and Flour - Organic flours and grain, Green Croft Gardens - Organic Vegetables, Kelsey the Fish Lady - (Wild not farmed) Sea Food, Shining Star on Little Ranch - Organic beef and pork, Mountain Gnome Coffee Co. - Organic Coffee, Meadow Lark Farms - Free-range Eggs, Coldstream Creek Orchards - Organic Apples.
4. North Okanagan Naturalists Club: The club is pleased with 2010 accomplishments… Over 1000 trees now planted at Swan Lake Nature reserve; 17 bluebird trails with 87 bluebird nesting boxes producing 311 fledglings; 385 hummingbirds(3 species) banded; 18 families in the Young Naturalists Club; a new brochure plus the usual well-attended hikes and nature camps and more! Kudus!
SENT BY MEMBERS AND READERS
1. Action On Senate Climate Bill: Bill C-311 was written specifically so that Canada would have a working Climate plan, designed to get us to an 80% reduction in GHGs by 2050. The House of Commons twice debated and approved it. It then went to the Senate, where Conservative appointed Senators seized the moment when there were not enough Liberals in the house to kill the bill without debate. At www.bit.ly/Can-Senators you’ll find a list of every Canadian senator with their party affiliations and emails. Write an email of protest, and send it to as many Conservative Senators as you can, telling them how you feel about what they have done.
2. Environmental Tidbits: According to a recent Macleans: (1) Plans are underway to deliver electricity from solar panels in space by 2016. Such panels could absorb 10 times more energy and could run 24 hours day. (2) Canada joined the G20 and pledged to phase out fuel subsidies, one of the driving forces behind our addiction to oil. This could cut carbon emission by 30%... (3) There is now an environmentally friendly saline solution (DEVap) that could use up to 90% less energy than today’s air conditioning units.
2. B.C.’s Energy Dilemma: Thanks, in part, to the Power Smart program, efficiency for electric gadgets has increased. However, with us having so many more such gadgets now, electricity usage is still too high. Building the site C dam I s only a bandaid solution. Instead we need to get to the root of the problem: consumerism!
3. Nanotechnology’s True Costs: A new report out debunks the promises made by the nanotechnology industry about its ability to increase energy efficiency and alleviate climate change and concludes that nanotechnology fails to exhibit much potential as a solution to global warming, resource depletion or pollution. Instead of reducing our environmental footprint by transforming, harnessing, and storing energy, it’s potentially wasteful and allows people to continue with damaging ‘business as usual’ practices. Even worse, at a time when we need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, there is growing investment in nanotechnology to find and extract more oil and gas. The report can be viewed at: www.foe.org/nano-climate.
4. UK Pesticide Controls: For years, government inaction, despite all the unarguable evidence, continued putting people, the environment and wildlife at risk to these harmful chemicals. But finally, new EU laws show promise in having a profound effect on the use of pesticides in British farming. The EU legislation contains a number of critical measures for the protection of residents. There is also a ban on pesticide use in areas used by the general public or by 'vulnerable groups'.
The savings related to health costs (e.g. from cancers, Parkinson’s diseases, etc.) would easily outweigh the costs associated to cleaning up and monitoring pesticides. Considering this, it makes clear economic sense to introduce new regulatory controls on pesticides, and to shift policy towards utilizing non-chemical farming methods in order to reduce dependency on pesticides. Such action would also go some way towards reducing the UK deficit as it would save the country billions every year. For more, go to www.pesticidescampaign.co.uk.
5. G.E. Victory: Despite biotech industry attempts to shut down debate, the NDP has just secured a new 5-hour debate(not just 1 hour) on Bill C-474 and the impacts of genetic engineering for early in 2011. This type of debate on genetic engineering in the House of Commons has never happened before! Now every MP will have a chance to participate in the debate on Bill C-474. Write your MP today and ask them to represent your concerns in the debate.http://www.cban.ca/474
FROM RECYCLING COUNCIL OF BC (RCBC)
1. Recycling Volume Tripled: A Port Coquitlam apartment complex will soon be used as a region-wide template for waste diversion. The pilot program was geared specifically to townhouses, apartments and condos and bolstered recycling rates by providing more recycling containers, educational pamphlets and other information provided in pictures, rather than text.
2. Green Tax on Takeout Coffee Cups: Albertans may be charged a small deposit on disposable coffee cups in a bid to keep litter from blowing down the province's streets.
3. Plastics to China: Most of Winnipeg’s recyclable plastic is sent to China to be remade into fly swatters, dolls and other plastic objects that never get recycled again. 82 % of Winnipeg’s plastic waste in 2009 was sold to International Paper Industries in Vancouver which then shipped 4,835 tonnes of the "mixed rigid plastics" to Hong Kong to be remade into countless plastic goods for world markets. Too bad those jobs aren’t staying in Canada…
4. Laptop Design Aids Recycling: The Bloom notebook (a Stanford student design) features a 3D-printed plastic case with just a pair of knobs that opens up the system to let you easily remove the motherboard, battery, and other components. A postage-paid envelope that resides behind the display is provided so you can send the parts to a recycling facility. You can then chuck the case in with your other plastic recyclables.
5.Mockumentary on plastic bags: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw&feature=youtu.be
WATER SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT
1. Water Sustainability Charter: Part of the ongoing ActionH2O campaign to help local organizations develop effective new conservation and efficiency-based water governance techniques, this Canada-wide charter aims to contribute to the global effort to mitigate our looming water crisis by providing steps that address local water management challenges. By signing the Charter, communities and municipalities can commit to clear targets, become leaders in sustainable water management and join a network of leaders, innovators and champions working towards local and regional water conservation goals. The Charter is also a great tool for holding local politicians and governments accountable. For more, visit www.waterdsm.org/toolkit.
FROM CANADIAN ENVIRONMENTAL NETWORK (Alternatives Journal)
1. Canada’s Biodiversity: Sadly, Canada’s position on the international stage (i.e. the U.N.) has made us the laughing stock among biodiversity negotiators – more so even than at climate change talks. Thanks to the government’s antics, our country is reputed to most likely block progress on negotiations surrounding biological diversity. The federal government is obviously failing; a better solution for you to help is to get behind provincial and regional efforts to create new parks and protect habitat. Support organizations such as the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, World Wildlife Fund Canada, the Canadian Environmental Network, ETC group, the Convention on Biological Diversity Alliance and more. These hardworking groups are making modest gains despite the grim situation in Ottawa. Protecting biodiversity is important, demand action, but don’t wait for Ottawa to take the lead! A great place to start is by reading Alternatives at www.alternativesjournal.ca/articles/a-rick-mercer-comedy-hour.
2. Substitution: The prevailing theory of human material progress is that economic motives and human ingenuity will save us when shortages loom. Increasing scarcity of valued goods will increase prices, leading to more investment in innovative alternatives. The bright and avaricious will then figure out how to replace the disappearing tuna, the cut-over forest and the exhausted mine. They will find ways to exploit a substitute fish, a more distant forest, and a less accessible ore body. If necessary, they will construct substitutes for fish, trees and minerals to deliver the desired services. This theory works reasonably well. For instance, there’s coal replacing depleted firewood, synthetics replacing natural rubber, and so on.
Sometimes substitutions are good (e.g. solar water heaters, weather stripping, medicines, etc.), but some substitutions are slow (e.g. new drugs to fight the diseases of the poor), unneeded (e.g. video games), dangerous (e.g. ocean draggers, unconventional oil, etc.) or detrimental to their users (e.g. fast food). Rooting out the good substitutions from the bad is a worthy collective challenge with grand opportunities for creative innovation. To read the entire article, go to www.alternativesjournal.ca/articles/whats-the-big-idea.
3. Call for Papers: The Environmental Studies Association of Canada (ESAC) is calling for paper or poster proposals and panels for its annual conference. To fit with this year’s theme, papers should be geared towards 'sustainability'. ESAC encourages the participation of individuals and groups working in various environment- related fields. The deadline for abstract submissions is January 15, 2011. For more information on submissions, registration and the poster contest, visit www.esac.ca.
FROM GUY DAUNCEY’S ECONEWS
1. Climate Fightback: Climate deniers are given much undisputed airspace (despite the thousands of solid research papers out there) because they instinctively don’t want to restrict their human footprint. Now, 80 climate scientists are pushing back with a Rapid Response Team to meet every denier untruth with valid science. See www.climaterapidresponse.org
2. World’s Greenest Modern House: It’s a totally green cob-solar house outside Victoria. For pictures and info see: http://ecosenseliving.wordpress.com/
3. Oikocredit: It’s a 35 year old global organization that enables relatively wealthy people to invest in microloans, providing the capital to tackle poverty in 3rd world countries. Each $1,000 invested for a year, earning 2 % interest, helps create 5 jobs in the developing world. December 15, 2010 is the 2010 deadline for investing. See www.oikocredit.org or call Blaise at 250 384-1842 (Victoria).
4. How To Get More Local Food: …we owe it to ourselves and our future…
*organize. One group needs to speak for the whole food community - the farmers, value-added businesses, retail stores, restaurants, institutional purchasers, and consumers.
*buy more local food. We now have all – year – round farmers’ markets which don’t sell out.
*revamp the Agricultural Land Reserve. require ALR landowners to farm at least 10% of their land for real food - not hay for horses. Perhaps allow farm owners to sublet land to new farmers, and loosen up the rules to allow strata farmland-ownership and co-ops, including clustered farm housing, subject to the condition that the owners or tenants work the land.
* teach our children - require a food garden in every school, and teach them how to garden, cook, and appreciate real food. The local landed learning project at OSC does this.
* inject some vision into the Liberals, the NDP, and the provincial government, making ourselves noisy enough that they will realize that agriculture is not an invisible ministry that can be ignored without harm. They must realize that food is all-important, and show the leadership that’s needed.
* encourage everyone to grow more food in their gardens, and local municipalities to support more community gardens and food-growing on public boulevards. Wherever there’s land, we have the capacity to grow food - see Carolyn Herriot’s best-selling book The Zero Mile Diet.
FROM SMART GROWTH BC
1. Happy Cities: Vancouver is asking itself what more it can do to provide for physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs, and it’s not alone. By linking urban design to the economics of happiness is the answer. Read this great article for more: http://tinyurl.com/33d2x2e
2. Pushing Solar in B.C.: Twenty-four schools, nine colleges and universities, and five hospitals in British Columbia are getting solar panels installed as part of an effort to make the province the first carbon-neutral public sector in North America. The main focus of the project is on education and supporting growth in the solar technology. Emissions will be reduced and energy consumption will be lowered. For the entire article, visit www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id41368/.
3. Not so Smart Cities: See urban sprawl from the air in “The Art of Sprawl" at http://tinyurl.com/2596wq5 and watch “Smart growth Splits Environmentalists" at http://tinyurl.com/2a9d3hn to better understand the conundrum and conflicts faced by residents.
For cities to become truly smart, everything must be connected! http://tinyurl.com/23nvd3a
4. Stop the Freeway Push: TransLink is going ahead with the "United Blvd. Extension - North Fraser Perimeter Road”, a little stub of freeway and an overpass that competes with the Evergreen Line. This is a horrible waste of taxpayers’ dollars ($150 to $175 million) and also a climate crime, as roadway expansion is one of the major drivers of increasing greenhouse-gas emissions in Canada!
Full text and comments can be found at
5. 21st Century Urban Environmentalism: Berkeley recently passed “Measure R”, a measure that will see more concentrated housing, jobs and cultural destinations near transit and shops and amenities with the goal being to revitalize the downtown and help make it one of the greenest cities in the United States. The measure passed in large part because of backers like the Sierra Club and Greenbelt Alliance, organizations with long track records and solid green reputations. The concept of environmentalism is also maturing, from less to more emphasis on urban centres and bigger buildings. Times are a changing! Hopefully, this will start to happen around Vancouver… For the entire article, go to www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/15/DDSJ1GA4B7.DTL#ixzz15gx4VUTw
6. ENERGY STAR® For New Homes: is now available in BC. The label means that these new homes are 25% more energy efficient than those built to minimum provincial building codes, ensuring savings in energy costs for new home buyers.
FROM LIVING OCEANS SOCIETY
Salmon Containment: Scientific research clearly demonstrates that net cage salmon farming degrades nearby wild fish populations. Coho salmon from 1975 – 2007 were 7 times less able to produce offspring than unexposed Coho populations due to salmon farm sea lice infestations. Ask your local MP to make closed containment a priority in the federal government’s 2011 budget.
FROM ECOJUSTICE (www.ecojustice.ca)
1. Mine Pollution Data: After a hard-fought court battle, federal data that documented mine pollution release by metal and tar sands mines was made public. The first report from this data showed that over 500,000 tonnes of toxic substances are added yearly to tailings ponds/waste rock dumps. Ugh! For the entire story, go to www.ecojustice.ca/media-centre/press-releases/court-victory-forces-canada-to-report-pollution-data-for-mines.
Co-edited with Egan Mandreck