Tag Archives: BC

Environment

Responses To Cortes Island’s Algae Bloom Problem

4 Comments

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.

Continue reading Responses To Cortes Island’s Algae Bloom Problem →
Business

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

3 Comments

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.

Continue reading Squirrel Cove General Store: Cortes Island’s One Stop Shopping Experience →
Environment, Finances

How Do We Build A Different Economy?

1 Comment

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?”

Continue reading How Do We Build A Different Economy? →
Forests, Housing

Fun with Firewood

1 Comment

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.

Continue reading Fun with Firewood →
Energy

Tight Oil, Canada’s Pipeline Capacity & The Trans Mountain Pipeline’s Feasibility

By Roy L Hales

Last March I interviewed internationally recognized energy expert David Hughes at his home on Cortes Island. Publication of this story was delayed, in part, because of a six minute segment in which he discussed some of the issues raised in his newly published report Will the Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tidewater Access Boost Prices and Save Canada’s Oil Industry? However we touched upon a wide range of subjects, including Tight Oil, Canada’s Pipeline Capacity & the Trans Mountain Pipeline’s feasibility.

Continue reading Tight Oil, Canada’s Pipeline Capacity & The Trans Mountain Pipeline’s Feasibility →