Three new signs have recently been greeting boaters arriving in Cortes Bay.
They say:
Several years ago the editors of The Guardian Weekly, an independent British news magazine noted for its objective credibility, decided that the global warming subject was serious enough to warrant special coverage—not to understate the seriousness of the situation, their preference has been to call it “global heating”. They have not disappointed. In their May 17, 2024, edition they reported on a survey they undertook to sample the opinion of hundreds of climate scientists about their personal assessment of our situation. Their assessment is sobering.
Continue reading The Quadra Project: Temperature(Originally published on the Cortes Tideline)
By Barry Saxifrage
Judging by the big turnout at a recent community town hall, a lot of Cortes folks are concerned about the impact of the runway upgrade happening at the Lavender Farm. I’m writing to provide some information about one of those concerns – the extreme levels of climate pollution that this kind of airstrip enables. If you are concerned about the metastasizing climate crisis you might find this information of interest.
Continue reading My airstrip concern: oversized private jet emissionsEditor’s note: Some of the places mentioned in this article, like Mount Washington and the Comox Glacier, are only about 20 km southwest of Cortes Island as the crow flies. Mount Cain is about 100 km west of us. If the snowpack has been decreasing since 2005, is it surprising that we’ve been experiencing droughts during the summer on Cortes and other parts of the Greater Campbell River since 2021?
By Madeline Dunnett, The Discourse, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
My dad, far left, and students in a ski retail and repair class he taught at Forbidden Plateau in the early 90s. Submitted photo
When I was a kid, I used to play with the pile of toys at Ski Tak Hut in Courtenay while my dad closed up shop.
Ski Tak Hut has been selling skis and snowboards in Courtenay since 1976. My dad has worked there since before I was born, and when I was a baby he would divide his time seasonally — working as a fishing guide in the summer and at the ski shop in the winter. He became a store partner in 1993 up until his recent retirement, and in a way it became part of the family.
Continue reading Magic mountain, melting snow: Climate uncertainty in the Comox Valley
Sierra Quadra has been educating Quadra Islanders about the unfolding environmental crisis for close to 25 years, but they have been relatively quiet since COVID.
This is changing. On September 28 they joined with the Council of Canadians, in Campbell River, to protest the provincial governments failure to implement its strategy to preserve old growth forests. On October 21 they will be sponsoring the world premiere of Robert Bringhurst’s poem ‘The Ridge‘ at the Quadra Community Centre. They will be bringing two widely recognized films to Quadra this winter and plan to host a forum on environmental issues in March 2024.
Cortes Currents recently asked Ray Grigg, one of Sierra Quadra’s principle Directors, for an update on their vision for the future.
Continue reading Sierra Quadra: How do we proceed?
