Tag Archives: UBC

Environment

A UBC Professor Explains What To Look For At COP 28 & Why He Does Not Believe In Overshoot

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With the COP 28 only a little more than a week away, the University of British Columbia held a press conference about key issues. In the breakout session, Cortes Currents asked Dr Simon Donner a former COP delegate and professor from the Department of Geography and Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, two questions.

  1. Many people on Cortes and Quadra Islands believe in the Overshoot theory. What do you say to people who believe that Climate Change is a symptom of a much larger problem: there are too many of us living on a planet with rapidly diminishing resources?
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Disaster, Opinion

The Quadra Project: Overshoot

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A fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada is an honour that is not bestowed lightly, so readers can assume that Dr. William Rees, a 79 year-old retired professor from the University of British Columbia’s School of Community and Regional Planning has credibility. Age, experience and scholarship have given authority to his opinions. So his peer-reviewed publication in the August 2023 edition of the academic journal, MDPI, deserves attention.

The Human Ecology of Overshoot: Why a Major Population Correction Is Inevitable is a sobering analysis of the trajectory of human civilization as it continues to expand, as more and more people consume increasing amounts of the world’s finite resources, and as the resulting waste overwhelms the disposal capabilities of the ecosphere.

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Forests

MYCOBlitz 2023 on Cortes Island

“The goal of a MYCOblitz is to document MYCOdiversity; i.e. the diversity of fungal species present on Cortes Island.Fungal fruiting bodies vary month to month, location to location, season to season. Therefore ongoing MYCOblitz’s are required to cover these bases!!” – email from Sabina Leader-Mense

Close to 70 people of all ages took part in Cortes Island’s community fungal forest walk on November 1, 2023. The students of the Cortes Island Academy were among them. We were greeted outside the Linnaea Education Centre by one of the islands better known scientists, who declared:

“Good afternoon. Good afternoon. ‘Truncocolumella citrina‘ you can call me, the Latin name for Lemon truffle. On any day other than MYCOblitz, my name is Sabina Leader Mense. I’m a founding director and an educational research associate with the Forest Trust for the Children of Cortez Island Society and it’s my pleasure on their behalf to be hosting MYCOblitz 2023.” (Cheers)

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Housing

BC’s new Canadians at higher risk for eviction from rentals

Editor’s Note: An excellent over view of BC’s eviction problem, told from the perspective of immigrants.

By  Diary Marif, New Canadian Media, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Rising eviction rates in B.C. and tenant-landlord disputes are causing stress and insecurity for tenants, especially immigrants.

At the Dispute Resolution Office in Burnaby, Borhan Moradi waited in line to challenge his landlord’s one-month eviction notice. Holding his file in one hand and ticket Number 31 in the other, he was among 30 tenants waiting to file disputes with their landlords.

Moradi was stressed; he spoke to NCM briefly because he had taken time off work to dispute and needed to return. He said he couldn’t believe his landlord’s “strange behaviour.”

“I have nowhere to go. It’s not easy to find a house,” Moradi said. “I am looking for justice.” 

According to a new report, renters in B.C. have the highest eviction rates in Canada. The University of B.C. report used the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey — the most recent statistics available — to estimate eviction rates across Canada. 

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Arts

Kim Paulley (part 1): Quest for the Ultimate Free Voice

The audio version of this story opens with a clip of Cortes Island’s own Kim Paulley singing in what may be the first music video release of Bryan Adams’ ‘Straight from the Heart.’ That was in 1980. Adams originally thought it should be sung by a woman and did not make the song famous for another 3 years. 

Paulley has been entertaining Cortes Islanders for the past three decades and in 1994 gave a special unscheduled performance for Queen Elizabeth on Twin Islands. In the first broadcast of a two part series, she talks about the beginnings of her career.

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