By Natasha Bulowski, Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
If the BC Greens end up with the balance of power in British Columbia and choose to support the NDP, they are likely to push hard on two main climate policy issues — the consumer carbon price and liquid natural gas expansion.
Continue reading Greens could be tie-breakers on B.C. climate policy
By Sidney Coles, Capital Daily, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The future of the natural systems we rely on to meet our basic needs—food, water, and shelter is being rolled into campaign promises made by sitting and would-be MLAs across the CRD. In the run-up to the Oct. 19 election, it’s important to remember that these ecological systems aren’t constrained by riding or ideological boundaries. They will be constrained, however, by environmental policies that impact them, and so impact us all.
Because of their overarching effect on the way we live, work, play, and sustain ourselves, campaign promises concerning the environment and climate should trump all, but they don’t. It’s understandable that as people struggle to pay rent, mortgage, heating, and grocery bills each month, it’s easy to forget the horrifying impacts of the 2021 heat dome in which 619 people in BC died and the disruptions the washout along the Malahat Highway caused that same year.
Continue reading Candidates are making election promises on behalf of ecosystems that can’t vote
Recording by Bryan McKinnon; Broadcast and text by Roy L Hales.
NDP incumbent Michele Babchuk came to Cortes Island Saturday, October 12, in the second in a series of meet the candidate events organized by FOCI’s Climate Action Committee.
There is not room to unpack close to two hours of fact filled conversation into this half hour, but the full podcast is at the bottom of this page and here are some highlights.
Continue reading Michele Babchuk Meets With Cortes Island Voters“A ccording to NASA, if we look back 800,000 years, we can see that carbon dioxide concentration fluctuated between roughly 180 and 280 parts per million and just in the geological blink of an eye, we have sent that parts per million up to just about 400. So we’re getting very close to a doubling of CO2 relative to where it has been for a long time.”
That quote was Max Thaysen, from FOCI’s Climate Action Committee, explaining one of the slides (top of page) shown at ‘Our Fair Share,’ an interactive online climate solutions workshop held in Mansons Hall on Thursday, October 3, 2024.
The event was hosted by the Climate Action Committee.
Continue reading Our Fair Share: Climate Crisis Workshop on Cortes Island
Transcript of a radio broadcast by Sabina Leader Mense
Just last weekend several of us were at the Cortes Island Museum for the launch of Sheila Harrington’s new book ‘Voices For The Islands: 30 Years Of Nature Conservation In The Salish Sea.’ What Sheila does in this book is she celebrates this amazing community of conservationists that are living and working in the Salish Sea.
In the foreword, Briony Penn wrote, “If you’ve picked up this book, chances are that you’ve fallen in love with the islands in the Salish Sea. You might have wondered how the heck they’ve retained their natural beauty against the hostile tsunami of contemporary clear-cuts, cookie cutter suburbs, and mindless malls that are encroaching elsewhere.”
Briony talks about the collective efforts of thousands of people over generations that have actually been working to maintain the beauty of the islands.
Sheila’s book documents the last 30 years of people (voices in the islands) who have been working at conservation. She includes a chapter on Cortes, so we’re in there with the best of them! I encourage everybody to pick her book up and have a read to see what the island community of conservationists have been doing.
The most exciting conservation story on Cortes today is definitely the Children’s Forest! This is the 624 acres of forest lands that stretch all the way from the Carrington Bay Road trailhead, east across Carrington Lagoon to Goat Mountain, just on the northern shore of Blue Jay Lake. These are lands owned by Island Timberlands. It’s part of their privately managed forest land base on Cortes Island.
Continue reading The Most Exciting Conservation Story on Cortes Island
