All posts by Roy Hales

Environment

Responses To Cortes Island’s Algae Bloom Problem

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By Roy L Hales

The global phenomenon of algae blooms has reached British Columbia. The BC Northern Health issued an advisory for Prince George area last summer. Severe outbreaks have been reported at St. Mary and Cusheon Lakes on Saltspring Island, and Village Bay Lake on Quadra Island. The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) recently published a monitoring report. I recently interviewed the author, Rex Weyler, about responses to Cortes Island’s algae bloom problem.



“Hague and Gunflint Lakes are typical lakes and the challenges we are having there are also typical when you have a human community that lives around a body of fresh water … The problem is human septic and livestock concentrating nutrients and then passing that into the water table, which then drains into the lake. Those nutrients are feeding the algae booms,” says Weyler.

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Business

Squirrel Cove General Store: Cortes Island’s One Stop Shopping Experience

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In an era of increasing specialization, some remote locations are developing in the opposite direction. In addition to the services you might expect, Squirrel Cove’s General store is also a gas station, post office, liquor store, gift shop, hardware outlet, building supply store, shellfish interpretive centre and it hosts one of the island’s finest take-out food providers. It has become  Cortes Island’s one stop shopping experience.

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Environment, Finances

How Do We Build A Different Economy?

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By Roy L Hales

Last week I began a two-part interview with Guy Dauncey, founder of the BC Sustainable Energy association and the author of Journey to the Future: A Better World Is Possible. This week Dauncey tackles the question “How do we build a different economy?”

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Environment, Weather

Canada Is 1.7 Degrees Warmer Than In 1948

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By Roy L Hales

Average global temperatures keep rising. While 2016 is the warmest year on record, the previous record was set in 2015 and, before that, 2014.  A new joint report from Health Canada and the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) puts this into perspective.  Canada is 1.7 degrees warmer than in 1948.

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Forests, Housing

Fun with Firewood

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By Roy L Hales

Firewood is a vital source of heat energy on Cortes Island. Some think of it as our secret sin. There may be more environmentally conscious people here than any other part of British Columbia, per capita, yet we use a more carbon producing energy source than coal. This is the season when we cut and stack it for the coming winter. It’s also time to have fun with firewood.

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