“What exactly do we need to do as a community to survive, and thrive, through what is coming. Through the climate crisis; through climate breakdown; to mitigate as much as possible so that we can forego the extreme worst case scenarios and avoid them,” said Ashley Zarbatany.
Continue reading A Climate Action Plan for Cortes IslandTag Archives: Heat Pumps
The burning question: airborne pollutants from wood stoves?
National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As far as climate change and human health are concerned, no wood stove is the best wood stove, according to some experts.
Continue reading The burning question: airborne pollutants from wood stoves?Election 2020: Should BC keep giving fossil fuel companies subsidies and tax cuts?
“In the absence of major action to reduce emissions, global temperature is on track to rise by an average of 6 °C (10.8 °F), according to the latest estimates. Some scientists argue a “global disaster” is already unfolding at the poles of the planet; the Arctic, for example, may be ice-free at the end of the summer melt season within just a few years. Yet other experts are concerned about Earth passing one or more “tipping points” – abrupt, perhaps irreversible changes that tip our climate into a new state. But it may not be too late to avoid or limit some of the worst effects of climate change.” – NASA
Many scientists believe we have seven years to avert the worst ravages of the impending Climate Crisis. Even if they are wrong, it is clear that British Columbia must transition to cleaner energy sources. Should the BC government continue to pay out close to $1 billion a year in fossil fuel subsidies and tax cuts?
Continue reading Election 2020: Should BC keep giving fossil fuel companies subsidies and tax cuts?EASC Turned Down Linnaea’s Application For Funds To Purchase A Heat Pump
In theory, Cortes Island receives a portion of the Provincial Gas Tax. A recent Strathcona Regional District report states, “as of January 1, 2020, the balance of Electoral Area B’s Gas Tax Reserve is approximately $565,325 and (this year) is expected to receive a 2020 transfer of $58,155 in addition to any interest earned on the balance.” According to Regional Director Noba Anderson, the amount keeps growing because Cortes has not been able to access these funds. “The SRD has still not developed any kind of application guide or internal policy around Gas Tax spending, although it has been on the CFO’s work plan I believe for at least five years.” On March 11, 2020, EASC turned down Linnaea’s application for $44,520 in Gas Tax dollars to purchase a heat pump.
Continue reading EASC Turned Down Linnaea’s Application For Funds To Purchase A Heat PumpCortes Is Different
Originally Published on the Cortes Tideline
During all the fire and fury over Cortes’ proposed “Hall Tax,” it occurred to me that the problem of increasing difficulty in operating and maintaining our Community Halls can hardly be unique to Cortes. Surely other communities are facing similar challenges; it would be worth finding out how (or whether) they were solving the problem. So I set out to investigate the funding basis of as many coastal community halls as possible, in communities not too different from our own: smallish, rural-ish, remote-ish.
Continue reading Cortes Is Different