Regardless of all other factors, higher global temperatures alone will cause an increase in the price of food in the range of 0.9% to 3.2% per year, a price that will add between 0.3% and 1.2% per annum to inflation, according to a study by Maximilian Kotz from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, done in collaboration with the European Central Bank (“Food Is Costing More Due to Climate Change—Prices Will Keep Rising”, New Scientist, March 30, 2024).
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Ann Mortifee: A South African Pilgrimage
Part 3 of a 4 part series
Ann Mortifee was born in Zululand. While she’s been in Canada most of her life, the first 10 years were spent on a sugarcane farm where she was surrounded by the Zulu and Xhosa peoples.
“My grandfather had been in Africa during the Boer War. He had stayed on and had become a farmer. It was in KwaZulu, then called Zululand and I felt I owed a debt on behalf of our family,” she explained.
“Apartheid was a terrible thing. In fact that’s why my father left South Africa.”
The family moved to Vancouver, but Ann still felt connected to the land of her birth.
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Wildfire Smoke Is Making Us Sick
By Michelle Gamage, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
It’s early June and there are 80 wildfires burning in the province, according to the BC Wildfire Service dashboard.
There are evacuation orders in place for areas of the Peace River Regional District, and localities close to significant fires are blanketed in smoke.
Fires are also bringing hazy skies to Vancouver and other areas of the province farther away from active fires. Across the continent, smoke is coating Toronto and New York right now.
While smoky days and even weeks might be a regular feature of future Canadian summers, they’re not something we should be complacent with, according to health experts.
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Tying history to present-day racism
By Aly Laube, Fraser Valley Community Radio, CIVL 101.7 FM, Local Journalism Initiative
A co-chair of the Race and Anti-Racism Network and professor at UFV, Ian Rocksborough-Smith says white supremacy in the city now looks different than it did in the 1900s. Organizations like the Heritage Society are predominantly white as well, as are most of the other influential groups in the valley. Abbotsford is also the only city in the valley that didn’t swing NDP, and stayed largely Liberal in the last provincial election, and it’s the home riding of the Christian Heritage Party, which Rocksborough-Smith describes as “a white nationalist neo-fascist party.” This reflects the ideals and beliefs of the people living there: Largely conservative and religious.
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Advice From A Dutch Doctor
Dr. Erik Hockheimer was a general practitioner in the Netherlands before giving up his practice to work with Doctors Without Borders which he did in many countries throughout the world and continues to support an advisor. As a GP he was very involved in the HIV epidemic and that led him to co-author and edit a book on viruses called Virology, published in 1991. While with Doctors Without Borders he continued to work with tropical diseases, HIV, Hepatitis B, and Ebola. He’s retired now but still consults with a number of NGOs particularly around helping refugees.
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