By Roy L Hales
They paddled almost every day, sometimes more than fifty kilometres a day. The two women were at sea for three months. They started in the icy waters of Glacier Bay, Alaska, meticulously tabulating the impact of single use plastic everywhere they camped. I heard the story of Mathilde Gordon’s 2,042 kilometre kayak adventure during her recent visit to Cortes Island.
Continue reading Mathilde Gordon’s 2,042 Kilometre Kayak Adventure
For the past eight years Gorge harbour residents, on Cortes Island, have been cleaning up the aquaculture debris, left by industry, at their own expense. This was sometimes a source of tension between property owners and industry. Barry and Amanda Glickman, who organized these annual clean-ups, said the first year they hauled away three truck loads of debris. The most recent clean-up was last May. Now the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is stepping in and, in partnership with industry, will be holding Turn it in Week between September 11-15, 2017.
Continue reading Turn It In Week
Originally broadcast in Season One of the Deep Roots Initiative, Cortes Radio, CKTZ, 89.5 FM
Our material world is obsessed with acquiring and accumulating stuff. But how much do we all really need? Morgan Tams looks for options and solutions to this omnipresent conundrum.
Continue reading StuffBy Roy L Hales
Princess Cruises have been voted “Best Cruise Line in Alaska” for the seventh year in a row, by the annual Travel Weekly Readers’ Choice Awards. The cruise line also won awards for “Best Itinerary Design” and “Best Travel Agent Educational Program.” These are all industry awards. Every year Marcie Keever of Friends of the Earth (FoE) grades the industry’s environmental records in her Cruise Line Report. The “B ” she gave the Princess Line was good, but not exceptional. Keever gave most Alaskan Cruise Lines high marks.
The ECOreport uses Marica Keever’s 2013 Cruise Report Card to evaluate California Cruise Ships: an Environmental Report Card
By Roy L Hales
According to a report released three days ago, Cruise ships dumped more than 1 billion gallons of sewage in the ocean last year, much of it raw or poorly treated. More than 40% of the 162 ships in the 2013 Cruise Report Card“still rely on 30-year-old waste treatment technology, leaving treated sewage with levels of fecal matter, bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants harmful to aquatic life and people.”
“It’s time for cruise ships to stop using our oceans as a toilet!” said Marcie Keever, author of the Friends of the Earth report.
