The Green Gazette - 2022 Final Issue

Final Edition 2022

FREE Green Business | Environment & Ecology | Country Living | Arts & Culture | Sustainability | Natural Health & Wellness

Nature Apps Pet Palliative Care Get Messy, Feel Better Ending the Housing Crisis Building Community in Chaos Rural BC, Year 2052 Off-Grid Strategy Civet Coffee Secret Honey for Ukraine Disposition Options Microorganism Rancher Talking to the Storykeepers Road Dust Look Down at the Dirt PurpleAir Monitors Summer Reading Green Goodbye

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Growing Community Through Food

Contents Features

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Natural Wondering Connects with High Tech

By Jessica Kirby

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Let’s End the Affordable Housing Crisis Once and For All

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15 Ways to Build Community in the Face of Chaos

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In Place: The Practice of 'Stay'

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Final Edition l Issue #58

By Guy Dauncey

By Amy Quarry

By Venta Rutkauskas

What Does the Future Hold? A Best-Case Scenario About Rural British Columbia in the Year 2052

Publisher / Lisa Bland Editor-in-Chief Senior Editor Jessica Kirby Contributors Oliver Berger, Sage Birchwater, Lisa

Bland, Jim Cooperman, Ryan Elizabeth Cope, Guy Dauncey, Nicola Finch, Tera Grady, Bill Irwin, Jessica Kirby, Amy Quarry, Venta Rutkauskas, Loretta Shepherd, Chris R. Shepherd, Sandra Kelly Klassen, Angela Gutzer, Jenny Howell, Terri Smith, David Suzuki, Ron Young, Erin Hitchcock, Tanya NorthShymko, Michael Moses, Helen Englund

By Jim Cooperman

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Everybody Knows the Boat is Leaking: Off-Grid Strategy for Your On-the-Grid

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Civet Coffee–Kopi Luwak: Dirty Little Secret

By Ron Young

By Loretta Shepherd and Chris R. Shepherd

Advertising Lisa Bland Creative Director Stacey Smith Ad Design Jill Schick / Stacey Smith Published by Earthwild Consulting

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: 3. Publisher’s Letter: Don't Look Up, Look Down… at the Dirt 4. Caitlin Press Summer Reading List 5. Keep the Green Flame Burning

Printing International Web exPress Inc. Website Design / Stacey Smith Technical Support Cover Photo Sunflower by Laura Kravcenko,

pexels.com

8. Jar of Honey for Ukraine 11. Skywatch with Bill Irwin 12. When to Say Goodbye: Pet Palliative Care 15. Recipe: Chocolate Avocado Cookies 16. Last Confession: Saying Goodbye with Gratitude 22. Conservation Conversation: Water Wise 2006-2021 24. Disposition Options: You're Dead. Now What?

26. Get Messy, Feel Better

Paper Rolland Enviro Satin, 100% Post

Consumer Waste, Acid Free.

Ink Novavit 950 Plus Bio is a vegetable

based ink made from renewable raw materials with high colour.

28. Book Release: Talking to the Storykeepers 30. No Time Left to Waste: Microorganism Rancher 33. PurpleAir Monitors in Williams Lake Help Us See What We Breathe 34. Road Dust Adds to Unhealthy Air Quality 35. Opinion: Michael Moses for Williams Lake City Council 2022 36. Cariboo Regional District: Proposed Initiatives Emerge for Cariboo's Solid Waste Management Plan 38. Green Gazette Musings 39. Green Living is Good for You—and the Planet 40. The Journey to be Greener Never Ends 41. Opinion: Public Open House on Logging Development Plans in Horsefly, BC 42. The Green Gazette Directory Listings

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www.thegreengazette.ca info@thegreengazette.ca The Green Gazette is published by Earthwild Consulting.

To subscribe email info@thegreengazette.ca or visit our website at www.thegreengazette.ca © 2022 all rights reserved. Opinions and perspectives expressed in the magazine are those of authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the ownership or management. Reproduction in whole or part without the publisher’s consent is strictly prohibited.

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PUBLISHER'S LETTER

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Don't Look Up, Look Down… at the Dirt

T

he time has come to say, “So long, friends…” The winds of change and transformation are blowing.

This final issue of The Green Gazette is #58, and it marks ten years since publishing my first issue in the summer of 2012.

The Green Gazette has no doubt been a labour of love, involving many friends, individuals, and organizations in communities across the Cariboo Region and beyond.

The core concept behind The Green Gazette has always been caring—caring about the natural world around us, our communities, and ourselves, and striving toward healthier and Greener ways of living that might offer solutions for moving forward collectively and taking action to help create a more sustainable world for future generations.

Over the past decade, The Green Gazette has published over a thousand articles, (all available on our website thegreengazette.ca), many written by or about locals participating in or living Green(er) lifestyles and creating or promoting a more sustainable world. It’s true that it’s not easy being Green, but when we come together to tackle challenges, or when we hear about what others are doing, we can be inspired to do things differently. At least this is the Green flame I carried in my heart to keep me moving forward, issue after issue, pushing through sleepless nights, and diving into the depths of some of the most daunting topics and challenges we face, hoping to help in balancing the scales toward sustainability.

Finding others willing to wrestle with and write about complex issues, such as climate change, social injustice, racism, pollution, the consequences of capitalism, and the impacts of industrial practices on our communities and the environment, as well as efforts to live a Greener and simpler existence full of connection and enjoyment of the natural

world, including our beautiful Cariboo region and greater BC, was not difficult. It seems that everywhere, and at every level, people care about something and are doing important work—and their stories are all around us.

Over the years, however, it became apparent that although many people care and are making efforts toward sustainability, the systems in place are often barriers to creating a Greener world. There are many challenges individually and at a societal level that remain unaddressed, such as social inequities and institutional and political forces that block progress and efforts toward meaningful change.

Most of our current systems in the modern world run counter to sustainable principles and are profit driven. In producing the magazine, I learned that in the “economic bottom line” business model, I could barely cover production costs, much less my time and energy. While I wanted to promote sustainability at a collective level, I could not live by sustainable principles personally and continue producing the magazine. Labours of love are often just that, and although the benefits of contributing are rich in terms of connection and purpose, eventually, as is often the case in the world of volunteering or working in social services, burnout results.

Working for a cause because we identify strongly with it or caring too much about causes underrepresented or undervalued in society, we can inevitably experience a sense of isolation or carry an exhausting load, emotionally or financially.

In the fall of 2021, while facing the uncertainty of covid and contemplating the fate of The Green Gazette, I experienced a lightbulb moment. I was taking a UBC/ Haida Gwaii Institute university course called Resilience Theory in Community from

Indigenous Perspectives, and I knew that the time had come to transform. The course, which focused on concepts of social-ecological resilience, helped me to understand that many of the problems we engage with and try to overcome as individuals are persistent, systemic issues embedded in the contexts of where we live. Without the support of others within the system uncovering bias and privilege, and working collectively towards a common goal, and a general receptivity and willingness of the larger collective toward transformation, changes may not occur or be sustained over the long term. Change and transformation towards equity, compassion, and caring for our world and each other are truly collective efforts and require systemic change to last.

In understanding these concepts, I realized that in a similar way to the denial depicted in the recent film, “Don’t Look Up” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, where the collective is incapable of grappling with imminent disaster from a comet hurtling towards Earth, humans are unable to deal with large, nebulous issues such as climate change, especially if they can’t ground concepts and address them in a practical way. Similarly, when constantly being bombarded by the gloom of complex and daunting global issues, we naturally want to avoid or disengage and focus on something more tangible.

And so, the path forward became a shift in focus to food, farms, communities, and destinations in the region. I realized it was time to examine Green concepts and ideas at a more relatable and practical level, and Local Dirt Magazine was born. We can all agree that when it comes to good food and supporting local—whether we grow our own gardens, buy from local producers and businesses, or explore the area around us—when we feel like the sky is falling, getting back to the local dirt is always the answer. If you want to check it out, our first issue of Local Dirt Magazine (2022) is available in print throughout the Cariboo and online at localdirtmagazine.ca.

So, from all of us at The Green Gazette, thanks for all the love and support through the years, whether you’re a contributor, an advertiser, or a reader. We couldn’t have existed this long without you! Keep the Green flame burning and keep planting the seeds that will grow into a better future for all the life-forms with whom we share this Earth.

When things get to be too much, don’t look up, but look down and dig in the dirt… and focus on the small and beautiful things in our midst.

-GG Stay Green, Lisa

The Green Gazette

LISA BLAND Publisher/Editor-in-Chief The Green Gazette

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SUMMER READING LIST As summer gets into full swing, Caitlin Press has a wonderful line-up of books to choose from for your summer reading list. Visit caitlin-press.com, or buy our books from independent bookstores in the Cariboo, including The Open Book in Williams Lake, Nuthatch Books in 100 Mile House, and Books and Company in Quesnel.

Lot

By Sarah de Leeuw

Deadly Neighbours is a revealing and thoughtful examination of one of Canada’s most shocking and misunderstood moments of violence—the lynching of Louie Sam. Reimer reveals a complex and disturbing chronicle of the deadly grip the leading white settlers in Nooksack and Sumas held over the area—and most notably, over their Indigenous neighbours.

Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884-1914

By Geoff Mynett

Breath, Like Water: An Anticolonial Romance

Worth More Growing: Young Poets and Activists Pay Homeage to Trees

Breath, Like Water blends poetry and natural history to simultaneously express a critique of colonial land ownership and celebrate the spirit of Okanagan Mountain. The narrator, a settler-colonial hiker, grapples with her attachment to the Okanagan Mountain alongside her desire to honour the LANDBACK movement of Indigenous peoples and the harmful history of white colonizers.

Hockey with Dad

By Willie Sellars Illustrated by Kevin Easthope

Hockey with Dad is the highly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning Dipnetting with Dad. In it, Little Brother’s adventures continue as he grows and learns about the importance of hockey to his Secwépemc community. This illustrated children’s book is perfect for readers aged six trough eight.

A free downloadable teachers’ guide is available through Caitlin Press.

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By Chad Reimer

In Lot, award-winning poet and essayist Sarah de Leeuw returns to the landscape of her early girlhood to consider the racial complexities of colonial violence in those spaces. Following loosely as a companion to Skeena (Caitlin Press, 2015), Lot is written entirely of couplets, mirroring the two main islands of Haida Gwaii.

By Norah Bowman

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Deadly Neighbours: A Tale of Colonialism, Cattle Feuds, Murder and Vigilantes in the Far West

Final Edition 2022

Part history, part true crime, Murders on the Skeena: True Crime in the Old Canadian West, 1884–1914 contains the true accounts of murders, crimes, and scandals—some of which remain unsolved to this day—in smalltown northern British Columbia.

Edited by Christine Lowther

Forthcoming in fall 2022! In Worth More Growing, youth from kindergarten through grade 12 share their love and respect for trees.

Speaking to our changing climate, this new generation of old-growth defenders expresses their observations, anger, kinship, hope, and sorrow. Worth More Growing is a necessary anthology highlighting the importance of nature to a generation that will experience the ongoing consequences of climate change.

Worth More Standing: Poets and Activists Pay Homeage to Trees Edited by Christine Lowther

Poets, both settler and Indigenous, pay tribute to trees through reflections on the past, connections to the present, and calls for the protection of our future. Themes of connection, ecology, grief, and sustainability are explored through poems about trees and forests written by an impressive number of influential poets, several of whom have attended the recent Fairy Creek blockades and still others who defended old-growth ecosystems in Clayoquot Sound nearly 30 years ago.

Keep the Green Flame Burning

By Jessica Kirby

Photos submitted by Jessica Kirby

When I started with issue #1 of The Green Gazette, my children were six and two years old.

W

e played in the woods, baked wholesome treats, and spent rainy days snuggled in on the couch watching movies. Now, they are 16 and 12. We still play in the woods and bake wholesome treats, but rainy days are often spent differently, one doing art or tinkering, the other fuelled by the teenager drive for privacy. I sure miss those snuggles, but this is the independence we have fostered all along. We’ve also taught them to be their own person, love nature, and think about the true reach of their actions.

Looking back over eleven years writing for and editing The Green Gazette, this is the theme I have covered in more than 60 different ways: think about the consequences of your actions beyond the immediate space you occupy. Whether I was writing about trail running, coffee, voting, the United Nations, or sustainable Christmas—or discussing world peace with my son at bedtime, seed banks, legalizing weed, camping, mediation, or getting through COVID, the underlying theme was living the responsibility we all have to the environment and each other. Since I was

a wee, wild thing, I have known that helping others and making your community better isn’t a choice. It is an honor and a privilege, and we need to take it seriously.

Sometimes we fear that change is too big.

We think we have to go live with the gorillas or start a commune to make real change—not so.

There are so many small but meaningful things we can do, and I’d like to leave you with three of my favourites:

1.

For the environment: No Mow May is a campaign to help protect wildflowers and pollinating insects, because both are in sharp decline. It means not mowing your lawn in May and only mowing once a month for the summer. Yes, if you love a tidy lawn like I do, you are going to lose it a little as the jungle grows out there, but when you see the diversity and critters that thrive in spring, you will get it. If you don’t care about critters and diversity, at least consider this: without bees there is no life on Earth, so… yea.

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For community: Eat local. The Cariboo-Chilcotin is bursting with local

producers of everything from veggies to craft beer. Eating local reduces our carbon footprint and pollution; the food is fresher and more delicious; and it creates solid, meaningful connections with others. While you’re at it, consider growing something yourself. Growing a year’s worth of just one crop for your household has the environmental impact of taking 20 cars off the road.

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For yourself: Get. Out. Side. Accessing fresh air and green space at least 30 minutes every day has measurable impacts on your mental and physical health, and role modelling connection to nature will inspire others to do the same. Don’t overthink it and stop saying you don’t have time because you do: just get out there, take a big breath, and let science do its thing.

I want to thank Lisa and the gang for ten beautiful and fulfilling years; the writers for dedicating their words and hearts to sharing topics they deeply cherish; and Mother Earth for fighting the good fight. Let’s make sure we keep marching with Her for a greener, brighter future. -GG

The Green Gazette

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Natural Wondering Connects with High Tech

By Jessica Kirby

If you’re taking tech into nature, here are the tops picks for making your learning experience the best it can be.

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utdoors lovers may all agree on the beauty and benefits of nature’s playground, but opinions vary on whether taking tech into nature enhances the experience or is a distraction from the authentic experience. Advocates say the more we know, learn, and share about our natural world, the more connected to it we feel and more likely we are to protect it.

Nay-sayers say screens are a distraction from experiencing nature’s full beauty and taking it all in, in the moment.

Take a look at the following list of nature apps we’ve compiled based on reviews from die-hard, committed nature lovers and recommended for their ease of use, accuracy, and robust data. Whether you are a summit collector, sleeper under the stars, paved trail afficionado, or weekend beach comber, if tech is your thing (or you are tech-curious) there is something here that just may take your observation of nature to a new level.

BIRDS, BUGS, AND ANIMALS Birdnet: birdnet.cornell.edu The BirdNET research project uses artificial intelligence and neural networks to train computers to identify the calls of more than 3,000 of the most common species worldwide. Record a file using the microphone of your device to identify its source, or record bird noises in the bush and analyze them when you get into service.

For best results, crosscheck with another app, such as Merlin merlin.allaboutbirds.org Download the North America pack to access a database of birds, simple facts, and all the different calls they have.

Picture Insect: pictureinsect.com Just as it sounds, this online insect encyclopedia and insect identifier allows you to snap a photo on your device and access a database of thousands of species in your region.

Seek: (Google Play Store or Apple Apps) Get outside and point your device at any living thing—wildlife, plants, fungi, birds, and more.

Drawing from millions of observations on

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iNaturalist, this is a great all-around app for families or anyone who wants to learn more about the world around them.

PLANTS, FLOWERS, AND MUSHROOMS PlantSnap: plantsnap.com This hightech, comprehensive and accurate plant identification app recognizes 90% of known plant and tree species. To identify a plant, simply snap a photo and the app will tell you what it is in a matter of seconds. PlantSnap works anywhere on Earth and is translated into 37 languages.

Picture Mushroom: picturemushroom.com This AI mushroom expert in your pocket is a top-rated mushroom identifier with a huge database that includes photos, common and scientific names, and simple facts that include edibility warnings.

NIGHT SKY Star Walk 2: starwalk.space/en Experience the world of space and astronomy with visual effects, elaborate graphics, and mesmerizing music. This app offers a real-time, interactive sky map that includes stars, planets, and constellations. Simply point your phone to the sky and learn curious facts, view photos, and see elaborate 3D models.

My Aurora Forecast & Alerts (Google Play Store or Apple Apps) Aurora shows what areas on the globe have the most Northern Lights activity, and it will provide notifications when you might see the Auroras in your area.

TRAILS AND PEAKS Alltrails: alltrails.com Whether out for a casual stroll or a trek to the summit, Alltrails has you covered with a huge database of trails for hiking, trail running, mountain biking, and road biking. Find routes or record your own and add filters for your sport, difficulty, length, suitability (which includes factors like kid friendly, wheelchair accessible, and more) and specific features, like waterfalls, lakes, forests,

views, and more. Users can also filter routes by elevation gain, out-and-back versus loop orientations, and even the amount of traffic they are likely to encounter on the trail.

Trailforks trailforks.com: Trailforks is dedicated to giving you the best interactive trail maps, custom designed for your selected activity. See routes or record your own, access topographic layers, points of interest, trail popularity, heatmaps, routes, trail conditions, photos, videos, and so much more. It was developed to map mountain biking trails, but has since expanded to include trails for ebike, gravel, adaptive biking, winter fat bike, hiking, trail running, horse, dirt bike/MX, snowshoeing, and downhill/backcountry/Nordic skiing.

PeakLens: peaklens.com Open PeakLens, point your phone at a peak, and learn its name, elevation, and neighbouring features.

It uses augmented reality for high accuracy, has photography and sharing capabilities, and downloaded regions can be accessed offline.

PeakVisor: peakvisor.com This peak identification app includes 3D maps with hiking trails, making it a precise navigation tool for outdoor adventures. See the peaks reachable with hiking trails around you, make your route, and navigate to the best vistas.

SHARE THE NATURAL LOVE iNaturalist Canada: inaturalist.ca Become part of a naturalists’ networks with iNaturalist Canada, which works in partnership with Canadian Wildlife Federation. Record your observations in nature, share with fellow naturalists, and discuss your findings. Every observation can contribute to biodiversity science, from the rarest butterfly to the most common backyard weed. Your findings are shared with scientific data repositories like the NatureServe Canada, Canadensys, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility to help scientists find and use your data. All you have to do is observe. -GG

Whether you are a summit collector, sleeper under the stars, paved trail afficionado, or weekend beach comber, if tech is your thing (or you are techcurious) there is something here that just may take your observation of nature to a new level.

The Green Gazette

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Refugees at the Zbraslav shelter in Prague with fresh food for their group of 74. The food was purchased with Jar of Honey donations.

Photo: Colleen Kelly

Jar of Honey for Ukraine Fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees at the Zbraslav shelter in Prague, Czech Republic

By Sandra Kelly Klassen

A

woman hitches a ride with a Ukrainian driver who stayed in the country to volunteer to drive Ukrainians fleeing the country to safety. The passenger is accompanied by her own child and two of her neighbour’s children, their parents recently killed in the Russian bombing. Along the way, the passenger spots a small girl sitting on the curb with a small backpack. The child is clearly traumatized, hunkered down in despair. “Stop!” shouts the passenger, who rushes to the girl’s side once the car pulls over. The girl is paralyzed by the fact that both her parents have been killed.

She is eight years old and all alone. Upon investigation, the passenger discovers that the backpack contains the girl’s documentation.

Imagine her parents having to prepare in this way for the possibility that they would not survive the Russian invasion. The driver takes her four passengers to their destination, and hopefully to safety.

A group of Czech grandmothers, all in their 70s, sets up a nursery/daycare for Ukrainian refugees’ children three years old and under in Prague, Czech Republic. They see that the Ukrainian mothers must work and that care for this age group of children in Czech Republic is prohibitively expensive. So, they find a space, equip it, hire a nurse to join their volunteer staff, and, at their advanced ages, care for these children so their mothers can be employed.

My sister, Colleen Kelly, born in Williams Lake, lives an hour outside Prague. Colleen’s friend Kaca became involved in the Zbraslav shelter for Ukrainian refugees in Prague.

Colleen is now involved in helping to supply fresh food, clothing, medical, and dental aid.

As well, the vacant office building, now the shelter, needed to be equipped with showers, kitchen sinks, cooking facilities, washers and dryers, vacuums, and more. The shelter houses 74 refugees, mostly women and children.

Imagine setting up a home for 74 people then providing the day-to-day necessities to keep them fed and sheltered. It’s costly!

To help with the financial costs, Colleen, and I have established a GoFundMe account to

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raise funds for the Zbraslav shelter’s refugees.

The account is called Jar of Honey for Ukraine, and the idea is that one bee cannot make a jar of honey, but many bees can. We have been generating donations from both sides of the Atlantic to provide funding for the shelter.

The shelter’s refugees are so very frugal with these donations. They feel the war will be long and that at some point they will need to find alternate housing, which they will have to pay for themselves. Donors also have the option of donating via e-transfer by contacting me through my Facebook account @SandraWayne Klassen.

Meanwhile, the push has been for children to attend Czech schools and for the adults to find employment in a country where they don’t speak the language. Despite being teachers, agronomists, students, and stay-at-home moms, these people only qualify for entry level, low-paying jobs because of the language barrier. Rents, when the Czech government humanitarian aid soon comes to an end, are expensive in Prague. Pressing and concerning questions remain: Where will the refugees find new shelter? How will they afford it?

Colleen is employing four of the refugees part-time to help with gardening and cleaning at her cottage, Rusty’s Cottage, a tourist destination. Others work at bakeries or do cleaning jobs to help make up shortfalls. But the wages will not be enough to rent a new place to live when the time comes.

Our Jar of Honey donors have admirably opened their hearts and wallets to these

people. They have been empathetic and generous. Yet the costs to house the refugees continues to climb, and the refugees are very conscious of this. Colleen and I are doing all we can to reach out to other donors to keep the fund growing and help secure a home away from home for the refugees. Please donate to help the Zbraslave shelter refugees, and many thanks for your generosity.

The refugees are allowing themselves few, if any, personal items. They arrived at the shelter with the little they could carry as they fled Ukraine. They are lonesome for their homeland, worried about their families and friends who stayed behind, and worried about their futures in a foreign country that can’t sustain them long term.

A Ukrainian mother and daughter wanted to return home only to discover through the news that home no longer existed. These people and many like them are the refugees seeking shelter, and their needs are immediate (food) and long-term (shelter). Please help if you can.

The war is out of our hands, but together we can help put a meal on their plates and a roof overhead.

Visit gofundme.com/f/jar-of-honey-forukraine -GG Sandra Kelly Klassen is a Williams Lake resident still hung up on the notion of being a spy or a private investigator. But she can barely go five minutes without seeing her grandchildren so these pursuits are out of the question!

The Green Gazette

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The Green Gazette

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Let’s End the Affordable Housing Crisis Once and For All

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By Guy Dauncey

ll around the world, people on the cruel side of the housing crisis are in need of help. Something has to be done to help the millions who have become homeless, who struggle to pay sky-high rents, who are living in cars, who are burdened by enormous mortgages, who are forced to live far from their places of work, or for whom the hope of ever owning a home has gone.

The financialized economy, bereft of kindness and applied to housing, is creating misery for millions. For investors, rental housing has become an asset class, ripe for the squeezing and eviction of struggling tenants by real estate investment trusts and private equity funds whose owners care about just one thing: profit. Between 20 and 30 percent of Canadian rental units are now owned by real estate investment trusts, who distributed $2 billion in profits from rents to their shareholders between 2015 and 2020.

But what if we could eliminate the entire concept of rent?

In the 20th century, faced with horrible overcrowding and multiple generations of one family being crammed into tenement blocks where tuberculosis spread, and where people slept four to a bed and lodgers leased a bed between factory shifts, municipal governments stepped up to build public housing. In Zurich, the city secured land for housing and encouraged the formation of housing co-operatives, providing interest-free loans to assist with the purchase of land.

After World War II, Canada’s returning veterans created such a noisy protest that the government was embarrassed into action, resulting in a greatly increased commitment to public housing. In the 1970s, 10 percent of all new homes were built by co-operatives, nonprofits, or local governments.

Government engagement ceased in the 1980s, however, when economists persuaded them to leave housing to the private sector, to be treated like any other commodity, as a source of profit.

We need to declare a housing emergency, recognize that housing is a fundamental human right, and set a goal to end the crisis permanently within ten years. The key is to incentivize non-profit agencies guided by an ethic of community service to build 500,000 units of new affordable housing a year, financed by the Canada Infrastructure Bank at zero percent interest.

The land, once bought, should be owned by a federal Community Land Trust, taking it off the market forever. Each development should then become a housing co-operative, owned and managed by its residents, but without any right to sell a unit. Using this approach, the very concept

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of rent could be retired. Once the cost of land and building has been paid off, the co-operatives would only need to cover their operating and repair costs, just like homeowners who have paid off their mortgages.

Tenants who have become accustomed to being passive because their landlords have all the power, and they have none, will have to learn new skills of participation, compromise, and co-operative mutual support, but what’s not to like about that?

Next, we will need legislation to steadily transfer the ownership of existing rental properties to the same Community Land Trusts, financed by the same zero percent interest loans. We will need to encourage trailer parks to become resident-owned communities, assisting their tenants to buy them, and in rural areas we will need to allow the development of clustered co-operative ecovillages, with economies based on regenerative agriculture and forestry.

To prevent the loss of homes that were once year-round rental units to short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo, governments should either ban them entirely, except for offering accommodation within someone’s home, or do as Lisbon does, and offer landlords $1,000 a month to rent their properties to the city for five years, to be rented to people in need.

Perhaps more controversially, we should tax increased land value and use the proceeds to help finance the construction of the new, affordable cooperative housing. If you buy a house for $500,000 and sell it two years later for $750,000, you have just made an unearned windfall gain of $250,000. How fair is that? We should tax the land on its increased market value, payable when the house is sold, rising to 80 percent for second homes and 100 percent for third homes, sending a clear signal that it is no longer morally acceptable to own two or more homes when so many people can’t find a home they can afford at all.

These proposals, along with others, could end Canada’s housing crisis permanently, along with the chronic insecurity that many tenants experience. The critical piece is mobilization.

Someone needs to form an Affordable Housing Alliance, with a chapter in every city, whose members who will fight for solutions such as this.

Our ability to put up with financial stress and suffering is admirable, but when the suffering has a solution, it’s better to organize. -GG Guy Dauncey lives on Vancouver Island. His website is thepracticalutopian.ca

Skywatch with Bill Irwin

S

ummer observing! Stargazing has its solitary phase—just you and the stars, and its social phase—fellow observers, groups, and star parties.

Both aspects feed the other. In a group, it’s great to have another observer who can find something worth looking at, while you hunt up something new.

The covid thing has really put a crimp into the social side. I look up at the familiar constellations and now I see “the mask” and “the syringe” and occasionally catch a glimpse of a “convoy” of dreaded Starlink satellites.

Fortunately, the stars are far away from my creative license.

My father once said, trying to be objective, “Stars are just points of light. What is so interesting about points of light?” Well, a television or computer image is just a massive aggregation of points of light. What’s

so interesting about that? I can guarantee that the stars are at least as interesting as a Sherlock Holmes movie, especially the older ones, starring Jeremy Brett. And probably more interesting than Skywatch, from which, by now, you will have deduced feeble attempts to make it funny. Well, the universe is mostly empty space, after all, waiting for something to fill it.

Most of the planets will be low in the southeastern morning sky as summer comes, and they will make their way slowly toward the south and into the evening sky as fall approaches. That should make for good observing as they are less affected by the brighter skies around solstice.

Mars is heading for an opposition December 8. It will not be as close as recent oppositions, but it will be much higher in the sky, which makes telescopic observing easier. Even with

a really good telescope, you will come away appreciating how small and far away it is. It’s unlikely that you will get the feeling you are being watched but being able to make out some detail and the realization that you are looking at a world with a solid surface make it well worth it.

Don’t forget to just look at the moon. It’s in the darker side of the sky this time of year, and you can catch a glimpse of the summer milky way, cascading down thru Sagittarius and the galactic centre. Then you can go back indoors and watch Sherlock Holmes and the points of light.

For more info contact me at Bells Lake Observatory: irwin8sound@gmail.com. -GG

The Green Gazette

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When to Say Goodbye: A LOOK AT PET PALLIATIVE CARE AND BEYOND

By Angela Gutzer

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he question of when to say goodbye to your pet is one of the most difficult questions to navigate. When you are with your veterinarian, they may ask you about the quality of life for this member of your family.

Are they eating or drinking? Are they in pain?

When I had to make the decision for my beloved dog friend, Chloe, it boiled down to one single moment. She became suddenly sick while I was away for a veterinary conference and went downhill quickly. By the time I got to the clinic, she had already had several seizures and her liver was in complete failure. I raced toward her, diving onto the floor and wrapping my arms around her—but she was no longer there. She did not recognize me! We took her home for one last night, and I hoped and prayed she would return, but she didn’t. She didn’t acknowledge me, or her home. I knew I had to say goodbye, and she was euthanized the next day.

For other animals, the decline is ever so slow, making the decision less clear. My cat Kitz made her exit as slow as molasses, and I grieved her loss as she lived. She required palliative care in her last few months of life.

My decision for euthanasia was made when she no longer wanted to eat.

Palliative care is supportive care with the aim to provide comfort versus a curative therapy. In Kitz’s situation, she had renal failure and was 21 years old. I aimed for her quality of life. She didn’t like her fancy renal diet, so I gave her canned Recovery food filled with fats and protein. She was dehydrated, so I gave her fluids under her skin. She enjoyed crème, so I gave her as much as she wanted.

Another example of a palliative approach would be after a cancer diagnosis. You may want to opt out of chemotherapy or radiation for your friend and instead make their last days, weeks, or months as comfortable and love filled as possible.

When faced with the end, the question of how to say goodbye may also come up. Many people have said that they wished their loved one would pass quietly on their own. That may happen—but from people who have experienced this, they wished they would have known so they would have stayed home that day from work or slept with them as they passed. Death comes when it comes. The most

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common way to say goodbye is with a planned euthanasia. The word euthanasia translates to “good death”. The aim is to make the transition from life to death as smooth and pain-free as possible. It is often a two-step process where the beloved is sedated, then given a barbiturate intravenously. The sedation is used so that the barbiturate injection is not felt, and the animal doesn’t pull their limb away—which is a natural reaction to pain we all have. The injection of the barbiturate causes the heart to slow down to the point that it completely stops. It is a fast-working injection, and the animal will stop breathing quickly. At that point, the stethoscope is used to ensure the heart has stopped. When it has been confirmed, the beloved friend is declared deceased. A unique signature of silence ensues before the cries of sadness and grief.

In 2016, the Parliament of Canada passed federal legislation that allows eligible adults to request medical assistance in dying (MAID).

I find it interesting that as this choice has become available for people, the interest in a natural death or a non-assisted death for our companion animals has risen. As a veterinarian, I have not witnessed nontraumatic, natural death very often. I have, sadly, witnessed death in accidents and in very ill animal patients. The idea of our loved friends dying naturally never really entered my sphere of experience until four years ago. My neighbour’s dog was old and was in distress, and I went to assist. The dog’s heart was racing, and she couldn’t get comfortable. It felt like she was in shock and distress and was close to dying, and therefore needed to go into a clinic for care or for euthanasia. They opted to stay at home with her, saying they loved her and that she could go. I left them hugging their beloved dog and within ten minutes she passed. Since then, I have heard countless, beautiful stories of people witnessing their furred loved ones dying without chemical assistance.

As excruciating as it is to say goodbye, there is a beauty in the moment. The space is filled with the utmost love and devotion. I imagine angels cloaking the space with compassion and offering the beloved friend a beautiful passage to the spirit side where their bodies no longer cause them any pain. -GG

Haida Gwaii, Naikoon Park beach. Photo: Angela Gutzer

More reading: lapoflove.com/how-will-i-know-it-is-time/ lap-of-love-quality-of-life-scale Dr. Angela Gutzer has been a veterinarian for 15 years, working in Williams Lake and later as a locum practising throughout BC. Her passion with death started with the loss of her beloved dog, Chloe, and then through the loss of her mother, Doris. She completed the Contemplative End of Life Care course through ITM in 2017. She will open her palliative and end of life practice as a veterinarian—White Feather Mobile Veterinarian—in Williams Lake this fall.

The Green Gazette

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| 13

1. When shopping, choose local businesses or locally owned franchises over large chains or box stores whenever possible. Walmart will never go under, but your favourite small shop might. If you don’t see what you want, or the price you were hoping for—ask! You never know what they might be able to do for you.

2. Take this opportunity to walk into a store that you have never been to, introduce yourself, and tell the store owner you appreciate them.

Spend something. Even a small amount helps a small business.

3. Think about all the gifts you are going to need for holidays, birthdays, and other occasions over the next three months. If you can afford to, go buy them now from a local business.

4. You can help without spending money, too. Share posts about local businesses on social media and encourage family and friends to support local when they can. Let business owners know you are there for them.

5. Do as much of your grocery shopping as you can at the farmers’ market and local grocery stores this month. You might assume prices are higher, but I think you will be surprised. And this month, if you can afford it, consider any small difference in price to be a donation to the greater good.

6. Invite people into your home for a meal. Everyone needs a bit of extra support and community right now. Buy what you need for your dinner from independent stores or farmers.

7. If you can afford it, order out one more meal than you normally would, and order it from a locally owned restaurant.

8. If you have a business that is unaffected by the current economic challenges, look over your purchasing choices and see if there is anywhere you can localize your supply chain for the next few months.

Who knows? You might realize you want to do that permanently!

9. Were you planning to buy a vehicle in the next six months? Do it now, if possible, from a local dealership. It might not seem like the right time to purchase, but it absolutely is critical to them surviving this, and I would bet you will receive amazing service!

15 Ways to Build Community in the Face of Chaos

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By Amy Quarry

s we work our way through these unusually challenging times, I have been reflecting on community, small business, capitalism, struggle, and how it all fits together. I have been thinking especially about my business buddies here in Quesnel. It’s been a tough season for most of us this past year, for many complex reasons, and I just wanted to show them a little extra love and gratitude. My journey as a business owner has been supported every single step of the way by other entrepreneurs in this town—they were my first advertising clients, had grace as I made mistakes and grew my skills, supported the Small Town Love projects, and were always there to support me in talking through the challenges we all share owning businesses in a small town. We are all in this together, and I think Quesnel is incredibly lucky to have the wonderful people and businesses we have here.

I want to share a list I wrote in 2017 after the wildfires happened—15 Ways to Build Community in the Face of Chaos. I think it is just as relevant now, perhaps even more so, as I know many businesses and individuals are struggling to make it all work. There is always so much behind the scenes that we don’t see as customers, and it is hard for entrepreneurs to talk about the challenges without sounding negative, so most of us just don’t share about the hard stuff.

So… here are 15 ways we can help build community in the face of chaos.

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10. Make a list of all the appointments you have been putting off— change the oil, get your hair cut, dry-cleaning, get your shoes repaired— and make those appointments as soon as you can 11. Collaborate! Ask around at the office, and pool funds and resources to make purchases locally whenever possible. Someone’s birthday? Get a cake from a local bakery or flowers from a local florist. Also, if you are in charge of purchasing gifts or meals as a part of your job, choose local businesses for these purchases, too.

12. Show emotional support to local business owners. In addition to facing intense business stress, many of them may also be facing all the personal challenges that come with keeping a business afloat. Ask what they need, ask what you can do. Be kind to the staff in these businesses, too—we all know that retail service is a tough job, and this season is especially intense.

13. Volunteer! Ask your favourite local business if they can use a hand and see what you can do. Wash some windows, run some errands—I am sure they would appreciate the support!

14. Spread the word! Many well-meaning people don’t know the potential impact their purchases can have at local businesses. Tell people about your favourite local shops and services and share your good experiences in reviews and social media posts.

15. Put aside bias. If you have a negative belief or assumption about local businesses, put it aside for just this month and give them a chance to win your business or win it back. Many small businesses are the victim of a belief that bigger is better and that chains are always cheaper—this is simply not true. If you don’t see the item you need, ask them if they can order it in. Give them a chance to compete and show them your support. At the end of the day, we are all in this together.

Please share if you feel inspired. A rising tide lifts all boats, and it takes all of us to turn the tide. -GG Amy Quarry is an entrepreneur, community-builder, maker, graphic designer, and localist. She loves her small town and strongly believes in the resilience of a community built together. Long Table Grocery is a locally owned independent food hub providing good food that is sustainably sourced and locally rooted in the Cariboo region of BC.

Chocolate Avocado Cookies Submitted by Long Table Grocery INGREDIENTS 350 g (2 1/3 cups) very ripe avocado 195 g (1 cup) coconut sugar 175 g (7/8 of a cup) cocoa powder 4 eggs 2 t baking soda 175 g (1 cup) chocolate chips METHOD 1. In a stand mixer, cream together the avocado and coconut sugar. Add the cocoa powder, eggs, and baking soda. Continue to mix until a smooth dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. For large cookies, use a tablespoon to divide the dough into approximately 24 cookies.

Drop the scoops of dough onto the cookie sheet lined with parchment. Use the back of a broad metal spoon, dipped in water, to flatten the dough balls to 1/2” thick. Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating halfway through.

The Green Gazette

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| 15

Last Confession

Saying Goodbye with Gratitude Article and Photos by Terri Smith

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Market garden greenhouse vs. permaculture greenhouse experiment. I would never have had such a beautiful and productive greenhouse if I hadn't stopped farming when it was time and allowed myself to become something else.

hen Lisa first approached me in 2012 to ask if I would write for The Green Gazette, I was a market gardener with a literature degree, owner of Road’s End Vegetable Company, and the surrogate mother of a ridiculous little bottle goat named Amadeus, who was the reason she asked me to write for her in the first place.

For ten years now, I have shared my thoughts, farm tales, and love for Amadeus with more people than I probably even realize.

Readers have told me that I have made them laugh, and also cry, and I have probably even sometimes made some of you angry. But through this most interesting decade, writing for Lisa and The Green Gazette has always been a labour of love, just like farming.

My farm at Road’s End was where I grew up. I spent ten years in Vancouver after high school, and it was wonderful to be back in the magical, enchanted place of my childhood. I felt so grateful to be there because I was so sure that it was where I truly belonged and that I was doing what I was meant to do.

But seven years and a lot of lessons later, I realized that my path to sustainability was not sustainable for me.

I didn’t think I would ever leave Road’s End. It was my dream, my path, my calling. But it was becoming too hard on my body, and after a time, my heart just wasn’t in it anymore.

When I stopped market gardening and left Road’s End in the spring of 2016, I didn’t know who I was anymore if I wasn’t a farmer. I did move to another farm in the Cariboo, but I had no idea what I was going to do next. My entire identity had become so entangled in my home and occupation that without those things I was free—but I was also lost.

I was so grateful to Lisa for wanting me to

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continue writing, and to my readers who still wanted to hear from me as I built a new life and tried to find my new path after Road’s End. “After Road’s End” is how I still think of my new life here, and it always makes me smile because where does one go after one reaches the end of the road?

Wherever one wants.

I read something recently about how in our world the definition of success is tied to the concept of forever. As in: if you start a business, run it successfully for a time, and then decide to go do something else, then that business “failed.” Or if you start a relationship and it goes well for a time, but then you grow in different directions and decide to separate, you now have a “failed” relationship. But what if we move beyond that idea? What if we stop tying the idea of success to the idea of forever?

All things have their season, and if we can appreciate them while they are happening and then let them go with loving gratitude when it is time, is that not actually a better success story than if we cling to something beyond its season?

I love the new path I am on even more than my original plan. I do not see Road’s End as a failure. It was a successful business, and it was also a seven-year study in biodynamic agriculture. With the knowledge I gained during that time, I have taught so many workshops on how to grow food, helping to empower others to grow sustainably, and I have been able to explore many new ways of growing as I experiment with permaculture design in the garden of my dreams here in my new life. The six years I have been here have been wonderful, and I am so grateful that I had the courage to make a change when it was time.

And now it is also time to say goodbye

to The Green Gazette with loving gratitude.

Thank you, Lisa and crew, and thank you, dear readers. What a beautiful journey it has been, and what a wonderful success! I look forward to whatever comes next! -GG Terri Smith still teaches gardening workshops, and she also teaches the magical art of needle felting through her new business: Something Magical. As well as forever identifying as a gardener, Terri is also a purveyor of wool, felting kits and supplies, and other bits of magic and art. She lives with her partner, Mark, and a few sheep and cats on a small farm near Quesnel.

She can be found at somethingmagical.ca The adventures of Terri and Oatmeal continue.

The Green Gazette

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| 17

In Place: The Practice of ‘Stay’

By Venta Rutkauskas

Photo: Leah Selk

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o commit to a place, a community, or a landscape, there comes a time when we are called to stand up and defend it—to act in accordance with our values and reciprocate support.

From this place where I write, in Northern Secwepemcúl’ecw, I have recognized a call to learn, to understand what it is to be a responsible visitor to the territory. Part of this action involves social justice and equity movements that advocate for the wellness of our community with a focus on anti-racism study. Deeply supportive and transformational educators recognize that sensory awareness and an intelligence of feeling and knowing housed in our complex tissues and neural pathways provides an anchor for our society’s needed transformation. We’ve really uplifted the mind over our bodies and learned to disengage from the powerful feelings that arise when we harm the environment or each other. Without the body’s wisdom and healing, we will struggle to develop true equity and compassionate societies that support everyone.

Somatic practices have been a part of learning in all cultures. They centre lived experience and self-regulation skills, resources that help us manage our behaviours. But many

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of us have been living in highly developed technological and consumer cultures that discount the wisdom of nature, sensation, or satiety. With that in mind, maybe a concerted effort is required to re-orient and strengthen the ability to work with sensations, especially those which bring forth discomfort. Somatic practices encourage what the Eastern philosophies describe as non-attachment, neither grasping nor repelling the experiences we have. We learn to stay with it. The social justice movements using somatic practices view them as crucial and foundational work required to address the issues that are so connected to the body, like our internal biases and instinctual reactions.

‘Stay’ asks us to build a capacity in the bodymind, in the nervous system, an ability to regulate and endure because we know there are going to be tough times. So, let’s build an awareness and then orient that knowing toward the need for systems change and compassionate action. In my heart, I believe this is the beauty way, a fully embodied presence ready and willing to uplift.

It can be very uncomfortable for many of us white-bodied settlers to hear that we benefit from a system of organized supremacy. I also believe that racialized bodies are deeply

uncomfortable existing in the systems that have organized around supremacy. Imagine, too, the felt sense of an Indigenous community member, when resource-extraction-driven governments and corporations maintain an agenda to break down and dispossess them of their traditional ecosystems, which are intrinsically bound to their emotional and spiritual culture and practices. Be with any imagery, any sensations differentiating themselves around your body as you read this.

Stay. Feel your emotions and feel your feet on the ground. Breathe. Can you discover a pathway that allows you to be ‘in place’, that a heart-centred response may create a personal action toward a compassionate society?

My work has been influenced by mentors and teachers in racialized bodies. Sometimes I encounter folks who worry or counter that we are spending too much time separating ourselves into tribal identity politics, stoking division over unity or causing the loss of children’s innocence. I hear it and I feel it, too. The struggle to do the right thing wades through all the voices in the conversation, locally, nationally, and globally. Often, I don’t know the next best step or what to do.

When I give myself the time to practice, my body offers a message, through gut, through chest and eyes: I want to listen and believe and act on the words of those who are not experiencing equity.

As this movement gains momentum, so, too, do the resources for learning and experiencing with mindful and wise guides.

Resmaa Menakem’s acclaimed work grounds somatic practices as a healing pathway to racial equity (see My Grandmother’s Hands at resmaa.com). Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee (decolonizeeverything.org), Selam Debs (selamdebs.com/about), Rachel Ricketts (rachelricketts.com/online-courses), and authors and activists all over the globe provide frameworks for whole-self practices that awaken full awareness in context to social justice work. I have been fortunate to find a group willing to instill somatic anti-racism into our local advocacy. Thank you to the committed members of Cariboo Chilcotin Collaborative for Anti-racism and Reconciliation Engagement (CC CARE) for holding that space.

Maybe you, too, will be curious about somatic practice and approaches to social justice work. If you are a racialized body, this could be the pathway to releasing from all you’ve had to carry; if you are a white body, somatic abolition assists the endurance and willingness to stay with the deeply troubling truths about systems that benefit us and harm others, then act to change them. There are barriers to bringing equity to society, some of which live inside of our very selves. Let us not forget the beauty way. -GG Venta Rutkauskas is an arts organizer, integrative energy healing practitioner, and writer living on unceded Secwepemc Territory near T’exelc. To learn more about local advocacy in anti-racism and Cariboo Chilcotin CARE, find this group on Facebook.

Tel: 250-395-4545 Fax: 1-877-606-5385 spellizzari@telus.net

Stephen Pellizzari NOTARY PUBLIC

The Green Gazette

Cariboo Mall 575 Alder Avenue Box 2105, 100 Mile House, BC V0K 2E0

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| 19

What Does the Future Hold?

A BEST-CASE SCENARIO ABOUT RURAL BRITISH COLUMBIA IN THE YEAR 2052

By Jim Cooperman

Illustration by Otto Pfannschmidt

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he most common narrative about the future is dystopian, one that is feared and that most people avoid thinking about. This is because, despite continued warnings by world scientists, some politicians, and environmental activists like David Suzuki and Greta Thunberg, greenhouse gases continue to accumulate in the atmosphere, forests continue to be devastated, farming practices continue to add to the problems, and feedback mechanisms

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are spewing out exponentially more carbon and methane.

A more promising approach would be to imagine a best-case scenario future, one where the planet is continuing to warm up but where society has learned to both cope and thrive. In order to achieve a more promising future than what the cards are currently dealing, three prerequisites need to be met that would lay the foundation for a better future.

Key to our ability to thrive in the future will

be pre-emptively adopting climate change adaptation measures that will minimize the impacts from fires, heat, drought, storms, and other emergencies. The second prerequisite is overall societal and economic stability from the world level down to the regional level. The third would be achieving equitability, with cooperation replacing competition, the wealthy paying their true fair share, and poverty eliminated.

One value of considering what a better

future might look like is that it enables back-casting to identify what policies and programs are needed to reach to future desired state. By imagining an ideal future condition, one can better understand what is needed to get there. If we want our grandchildren to experience the best possible future, there is no better time than the present to help make that happen.

Imagining a future 30 years from now that is better than the one we are heading for now requires a major “Don’t Look Up” event that would cause a paradigm shift and result in a significant reversal in the current trends of ever-increasing income inequality, climate change disasters, and corporate control of the political agenda. That event could come sooner than expected, as scientists are sounding the alarm about the impending collapse of the Thwaites glacier, which is the size of Great Britain, in Antarctica.

The aptly nicknamed 80 miles wide “doomsday glacier” is held back by a rapidly destabilizing floating ice shelf that has cracks crisscrossing its surface. When it breaks apart, the glacier could slide into the ocean causing sea levels to rise upwards of 65 cm (two feet), which would then flood coastlines throughout the world. Although this event would be devastating, it would be exactly what is needed to move the climate crisis to the forefront for everyone, including those who deny climate change and those who continue to profit off the continued use of carbon fuels.

Once countries are faced with resettling millions of people, all other concerns will likely fade away as people unite to make the changes needed for both human survival and to tackle the climate crisis. All aspects of the economy and society will need to shift, as people realize that only by working co-operatively will the shift to decarbonization, greater income equality, and true sustainability become possible.

Provincial and federal governments will have their hands full coping with the coastal flooding crisis, thus local communities will need to take on greater responsibilities. There will be a major shift to a circular economic system, where money circulates more within each community.

The result will be more food and goods are produced and sold locally and, gradually, more of what we need to live will come from our own region.

Co-operation will outpace competition, as communities, companies, and neighbours work together to provide more of what is needed for all citizens to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

If and when the world finally decarbonizes, the structure of the economy will need to change, resulting in less reliance on world trade and greater self-sufficiency. One way to achieve this goal could be to tax goods according to how far they are shipped, to give an advantage to local production.

Given the massive amounts of CO2 that are pumped directly into the atmosphere by the airline industry, the tourism sector will also need to change. Flying to distant countries is a form of entertainment that will no longer be socially acceptable when millions of people are desperately trying to survive after their homes and businesses are underwater.

Most importantly, the crisis will alter most people’s obsession with consumerism. The world is drowning in far too many manufactured items, from clothes to plastics to vehicles, while most of it ends up as waste. The crisis made evident by a sudden rise in sea levels should shock most people enough that they should accept a future where they do not have the freedom to purchase anything they want and as much as they want, whenever they want. Austerity helped win the Second World War and it would be needed again to battle climate change.

A critical factor that will be essential for survival as the planet heats up is innovation. The best minds will need to focus on developing new technologies, better batteries, more efficient heating and cooling systems, less expensive and more resilient housing, and more sustainable and productive farming techniques.

Ideally, in 2052, crown land is managed sustainably to absorb carbon and store water. The loss of lives and homes to wildfires has prompted intensive forest management near communities, and that includes development of fire-resistant stands and conversion of coniferous forests to ones mixed with deciduous trees. While electric powered machinery does much of the work, the Canada’s Earth Corps, staffed by young people as part of their education and public service, handle most of the physical work.

Leading up to that point, while the number of fires continued to

increase, the damage to property decreased as fire control became a high priority. Wildfires are now extinguished quickly thanks to high-tech satellite detection, locally stationed aircraft, drones, and Earth Corps firefighters.

Key to this success is contributions from improved water management.

Nearly every creek in the region has a series of run-of-the-river reservoirs that capture the spring run-off, which varies greatly due to climate instability. In addition to fire control, the stored water is used for human consumption, agriculture, and aquaculture.

Adaptation efforts include intensive field-based inventory work, as well as regular monitoring of forest conditions. Forest steward professionals follow comprehensive ecosystem-based standards to protect and restore ecological integrity and live in the communities close to the forests they manage. Extra attention is given to watershed management to meet community water needs and to help prevent flooding and landslides. Silviculture practices ensure that burned areas are protected from damage by salvage logging and replanted as soon as possible with native trees suited to the higher temperatures and long droughts caused by the climate crisis.

The overall goal for land management in 2052 is to conserve, restore, and protect biodiversity, water, soil, and healthy natural forests, all in an effort to promote resilience. As well, efforts are increasing to better understand the rapid changes that are unfolding as the planet continues to heat up. With extreme weather events now the norm, there is an urgency to develop new ways to assist forests to adapt, and new ways to develop technologies and systems to prepare for and cope with what is expected to be a far more intense and life-threatening future climate.

This is an abridged version of the future vision. To read the full story, which covers farming, housing, education, social life, and infrastructure, visit shuswappassion.ca. -GG Jim Cooperman, author of Everything Shuswap, is a longtime environmental activist and bioregionalist. He and his wife, Kathi, live in a log home they built on 40 acres above Shuswap Lake.

The Green Gazette

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Conservation Conversation: WATER WISE 2006–2021

By Jenny Howell, Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society

Jenny Howell teaching a Water Wise module at Gavin Lake Forest Education Centre.

Photo by Laureen Carruthers Photography

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ater Wise has been around for a while now in Williams Lake.

Since 2006, thousands upon thousands of kids have learned about where City water comes from and goes, dressed up as water molecules, and seen how water travels underground using a working model. They have been on field trips to see the City water and sewage system, tested the Williams Lake creek water quality, painted yellow fish by storm drains, and learned about trees and water in the Community Forest. As someone delivering these programs, there is always an underlying question as I look out at

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the sea of young faces in front of me. Does this make a difference? Are enough of these kids actually listening and absorbing this, or are they just politely stifling yawns and counting the minutes until I’m done so they can get back to their lives?

This was the week I got to find out. It was time to update my annual water report, which looks at water consumption over the last year and compares that to pre-Water Wise data.

So, after sifting through endless statistics on water flow rates, industrial consumption, precipitation data, and population levels, my answer emerged.

Comparing the average city water consumption for the last four years with the average of the three years before Water Wise started, we are now using 31.6% less water in this city. That is with a population slowly but steadily increasing (11,505 in 2021) and two very dry summers in 2018 and 2021 (2019 and 2020 were wetter than average).

Since we have had many new people moving into the area recently, here’s a little background on the water situation in Williams Lake. City water comes from several deep wells, mostly located at Scout Island. These wells draw water from an aquifer, reaching about 70

metres below the Williams Lake valley. In the early 2000s, concern was mounting that the aquifer was ‘drawing down’, which means the water level at Scout Island was dropping and the long-term ability of the aquifer to support the city was in doubt. With no easy alternate water sources available and big implications for the future of Williams Lake if its water source failed, a committee was established to look at options. From that came several recommendations, including the need for an extensive education program so that residents would learn to appreciate and conserve the water we have. The City partnered with the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society to deliver Water Wise in the schools and the community.

Which brings us back to my report. A 31.6 percent drop in water use since Water Wise started suggests that education really does work. Those children (or enough of them) are not only listening but they are also taking the information back to their families who have responded spectacularly. Our community outreach programs must be working to reach those without children in the school system.

This big drop in residential water use has allowed the aquifer to stabilize and water levels are thought to have remained steady for many years now, allowing the City to plan more confidently for the years ahead.

Want to be Water Wise and help protect our aquifer, too?

Here are some of the ways to make a difference.

Indoor Tips:

• Five-minute showers. Ideally, also switch to a low flow shower head (they are cheap and easy to install).

• Install a low flow toilet or put a large jar (1 litre pickle jars work well) in the toilet tank to reduce your tank size.

•

Turn off the tap while washing hands or brushing teeth.

That doesn’t mean that Water Wise is now obsolete. It would not take much to overstress the aquifer again, especially with weather patterns changing, reduced local snowpacks to recharge it, and potentially more people moving here. So, Water Wise continues with each new generation of kids, hopefully engraining a respect for this essential resource that will in turn get passed on to their own children. Whether they choose to stay in this community or not doesn’t really matter; stress on our freshwater supplies is an increasingly significant world issue with extensive geopolitical implications. Education in conservation of water and other resources will help all of us prepare for and navigate our way into the future as the impact of climate change starts to affect more of us directly.

For more information on Water Wise, our programs, more tips, or to read the full water report, please visit the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation website at conservationsociety. ca or contact us at coordinator@ conservationsociety.ca. -GG Jenny worked as a veterinarian for the first half of her career and then took an opportunity to teach kids at Gavin Lake where she lives with her family. This led to a new career with the Conservation Society, developing and teaching the Water Wise education program.

Outdoor Tips:

• Grass in our area needs approximately 30 minutes (1 inch) of watering twice a week to stay healthy and green. You can place a tuna can on the grass to measure an inch and know when to stop watering. Or allow some areas to go ‘golden’. The grass doesn’t die; it just goes dormant and will green up again when the rain comes.

• Use drip irrigation to save up to 50 percent of outdoor water use in your garden.

• Switch areas of your landscaping to xeriscape plants. These are low water use, and there are many hardy and appealing xeriscape shrubs and flowers available at local garden centres—they are not all cacti!

• Install a nozzle on the end of your hose so you only use what is needed. Sweep driveways rather than washing them down.

TIP: Reclaim all that running water.

Keep a clean ice cream bucket next to the kitchen sink to catch all the extra water wasted when running the tap.

Use this water for other things such as refilling your pet’s water dish, watering plants, cooking or cleaning.

The Green Gazette

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Disposition Options: You're Dead. Now What?

By Nicola Finch

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f you care about the health of the planet, then what happens to your body once you are dead matters. It’s called disposition.

Our disposition options in British Columbia are limited. We currently have only two choices.

Flame cremation or burial. Conventional burial is what most municipal cemeteries offer.

Your city’s website will have a cemetery section that lists the bylaws and current pricing for burial plots, along with fees for opening and closing the plot, optional headstone placement fees, a fee for the grave liner or vault (required by bylaw in municipal cemeteries), and, in at least seven BC communities—Penticton, Prince George, Parksville, South Surrey, Cache Creek, Powell River, and Chilliwack—green burial is also an option. When a green burial option is available within a municipal or conventional cemetery, plots are generally the same price as conventional burial plots; however, there is no requirement for grave liners or vaults, and individual headstones are not used in green burial sections. Most First Nations communities in BC can accomplish what we call a green burial because their cemeteries are self-governed, without the requirement for vaults or grave liners.

We are fortunate in BC to have several beautiful green burial cemeteries. Royal Oak Burial Park on Vancouver Island offers

Woodlands for Green Burial; there’s Denman Island Natural Burial Cemetery, Canada’s first contemporary green burial cemetery (available only to current or past residents of Denman Island); and now, Salt Spring Island Natural Cemetery, the first stand alone natural burial cemetery open to the public in Canada.

Currently, however, the most popular disposition choice in British Columbia is cremation. We have the highest cremation rate in North America at about 87 percent. There are as many reasons for choosing cremation as there are people making those decisions.

Each family will decide what is best for them.

There is, however, a popular misconception that flame cremation is ‘greener’ than conventional burial. In reality, the cremation process releases significant levels of carbon dioxide into the air. Vaporized mercury is also released from fillings in teeth. Carbon emissions released during a single cremation are equal to about two full tanks of gas for a standard vehicle.

Flame cremation is problematic, and in BC we do not have enough crematoriums to meet the demand that is upon us as our aging Baby Boomer population dies. Nor should we build more crematoriums when we have greener, gentler alternatives readily available, but not yet legal in BC. Aquamation is legal in four Canadian provinces and one

territory. Alkaline hydrolysis, aka aquamation, is a water-based, sustainable method of disposition that combines a gentle water flow, even temperature, and alkalinity to accelerate the breakdown of organic material. It uses 90 percent less energy than flame cremation.

There are no harmful greenhouse gases, no burning of fossil fuels, and no mercury by-product.

BC needs to offer this alternative to provide more individual end-of-life choices, to help lessen climate change effects, which we are seeing all around us, and to prepare for the demographics of Baby Boomers’ deaths over the next 20 years. For more information and to sign a petition to legalize aquamation in BC, please visit the Aquamation BC Coalition at aquamationbc.ca.

Another option that is not yet being offered in Canada but is legal in three states at the time of this writing is natural organic reduction.

Natural organic reduction or NOR—naturally and gently transforming human remains into soil in an environmentally-controlled facility— was pioneered in the United States by Katrina Spade and is now being offered in Washington, Oregon, and Colorado. But organically composting life is something humans have always done. NOR can be done very simply and accomplished with minimal harm to the environment. Herland Forest (herlandforest. org) in Washington is a wonderful, off-grid example of human composting. Return Home (returnhome.com), also in Washington, offers an indoor facility for what they are calling terramation (gently transforming human remains into life giving soil). Katrina Spade’s Recompose (recompose.life) is up and running in Washington, as well.

Providing greener, gentler disposition options is essential to the health of our planet.

Take time to consider your options and raise your voice for greener end-of-life options in BC. -GG Nicola Finch lives off-grid in a remote area west of Williams Lake. She and her husband are co-owners of Touch Wood Rings. They offer custom handcrafted wooden rings, including wooden memorial rings inlaid with the ashes of a loved one. Nicola’s passion is holistic end-oflife care. She is a Death Doula and an advocate for greener, gentler end-of-life options. She also sits on the Aquamation BC Coalition Advisory Board.

Contact nicola@greenburialbc.ca or find her on Facebook @greenburialbc @touchwoodrings @memorialrings.

Photo: Nicola Finch

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Everybody Knows the Boat is Leaking AN OFF-GRID STRATEGY FOR YOUR ON-THE-GRID HOME

By Ron Young

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hen Leonard Cohen sang: “Everybody knows that the boat is leaking” it wasn’t hard to understand his meaning.

When Johnny Cash sang: “The whirlwind is in the thorn tree” you didn’t have to be religious to understand the concept. Somehow these songs come to mind in recent days.

In just two years we’ve had climate emergencies; enduring floods and fires with the resultant loss of habitat; livelihood and food security scares; an on-going pandemic; a war in the civilized world that at this writing still has an uncertain and potentially catastrophic outcome; and an impending recession.

Some simple but evident truths have come to the forefront of our thoughts, and maybe most importantly for the individual, a loss of certainty of the future.

Major supply uncertainties in recent years have our undivided attention. Confusion and some degree of mass panic motivate some to extreme actions such as hoarding.

Periods of emergency are the worst possible time to make rational decisions about what you should do because the problems seem insurmountable, and we become like a deer in the headlights. So, what is the best strategy when faced with an insurmountable problem?

It’s like the humorous question, “How do you eat an elephant?” The simple answer is, “One bite at a time.” How do you mentally begin to prepare yourself for the unknown? Start small with what you know and build toward a goal, one step at a time.

In the solar business, most of the people I have worked with over the years live off the grid. These folks have chosen to live in locations where there is no electricity other than generator power or solar with battery storage. These modern-day pioneers have set an example for many others who have weekend retreats or recreational vehicles.

Now it is commonplace to power lights, electronic devices, entertainment, and even

satellite systems with quiet, clean, solar backup systems at remote homes, cottages, ranches, and lodges.

But in the last two years, as concerns about the security of our electricity grid and food supply have become elevated, I find I am designing many more systems for family homes that are on the grid, providing back-up power in case of longer-term grid outages caused by weather extremes or other unpredictable events.

Some significant advances have occurred in solar energy systems that have made these systems much more user friendly and, importantly, much less expensive.

Batteries—the heart of any off-grid or backup system—are now commonly available in maintenance-free, long-lasting lithium models. Lithium batteries, although initially more expensive, have greater longevity and over the course of their life expectancy cost a lot less in dollars and pesky maintenance.

Lithium packs also take up less space because they can be located anywhere in any orientation and can be discharged more deeply than regular lead acid batteries. Another huge bonus is there is no off-gassing, which is one of the concerns with lead acid models, which need active ventilation to disperse sulphur dioxide and acid fumes.

If batteries are the heart of a system, then inverters are the muscles that perform the work. Inverters take the low voltage direct current output from batteries to the higher voltage alternating current requirements of regular household appliances at the same time delivering the required power for the household loads that you use.

Household inverters have typically been large, heavy, expensive beasts but a revolution in design of these devices has produced smaller, lighter, less expensive versions called transformer-less inverters, often incorporating another essential device, the charge controller, that controls how much power goes from your

solar panels to your batteries. These types of inverters, commonly referred to as all-in-one, can cost less than half that of similarly sized old school inverters.

The final essential component to an offgrid or emergency back up power system is the solar panel. If batteries are the heart and inverters the muscle then solar panels are the stomach or nutrient delivery system that takes sunlight, converts it to energy in the form of electricity, and delivers it to the heart (batteries) via the circulatory system (wires). A dramatic decrease in the price of solar panels has come about in the last ten years with prices dropping from over $10 per watt to less than $1 per watt!

If you are on-grid but want to reduce your expensive electricity bill and provide power security, then systems are available that will take your solar power, deliver it to your household loads (appliances), send any surplus back into the grid (BC Hydro) —which gets credited to your account for any future requirements. All this is done while also maintaining an emergency backup battery for your critical loads in case of an outage. The application process to BC Hydro for a “gridtied” system is a simple, one-page document that is often approved within one week.

So, it may be that the whirlwind is in the thorn tree but the tools to protect yourself from at least some of the thorns are easily obtainable.

In the 400 BC Sun Tzu wrote: “Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small … to not prepare is the greatest of crimes.” -GG Ron Young a renewable energy specialist owns the earthRight store in Williams Lake established in 1993. A series of articles on the basics of solar energy can be found at his website: solareagle.com. Copyright 2022 Ron Young.

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Get Messy, Feel Better Using the creative process to ease anticipatory anxiety and calm the nervous system

By Tanya North-Shymko

Photo submitted by Tanya North-Shymko

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e’ve all felt it... The anticipatory excitement of good things to come. The electric feeling that courses through us when we are filled with positivity and hope. The motivation to dream big and set high expectations as our dopamine and adrenalin levels increase with our excitement. We have been craving these feelings for the past two years as the entire human race has been waiting for the global pandemic to run its course so that we can return to “normal”. Now that we are finally getting a reprieve from living with restrictions, why are we not feeling this elation?

Anticipatory anxiety is the feeling we get when we expect something bad to happen. Just like a muscle builds memory with exercise, the autonomic nervous system (ANS) builds memory with experiences, and it is the ANS that is responsible for helping us to either feel calm or anxious. When a person becomes used to unfavourable experiences happening repeatedly (much like the past couple of years), they can develop a belief that a pattern of bad things will continue to happen in the foreseeable future. Even when life levels out and things are going well, a sense of dread, worry, and procrastination can be felt because of this anxiety. I call it the “eye of the hurricane syndrome” because when life seems the calmest, we can feel the most anxious worrying for the worst to come. We can’t fully immerse ourselves into all that life has to offer when we are expecting the worst all the time.

How can we overcome anticipatory anxiety so that we can become excited about life again?

One thing I recommend to my clients is to do something they enjoy that is also creative. When we create, we have control, and when we are in control, we calm our ANS and ease anxiety. Traditional arts, such as painting, sketching, music, and dancing, are great outlets for creativity.

But you don’t need to be an artist to create. As the weather gets nicer, getting outside and enjoying the sunshine while gardening or building a sandcastle will have the same effect. Following a YouTube video while you fix your faucet or gathering with a bunch of friends to follow the steps in a painting video are also great ideas. Classes and groups are opening again, and it is a great way to get out and rediscover what you enjoy. What makes you excited? What gives you a buzz of electricity in your blood when you are doing it? Whatever it is, do more of it, and do it often!

Another thing I work on with my clients is releasing the need for perfection. First, there is no such thing as ‘perfect’, so striving for it is an impossible feat. Second, it is good to know that anxiety also plays a role in perfectionism. A person who identifies as a perfectionist might find themself either stressing over every detail or frozen from even beginning the project. What really is going on within their brain is a means to ease anxiety by trying to find control over the situation.

However, when ‘perfect’ is unachievable, easing the anxiety can be impossible. A healthier exercise that I recommend is ‘messy movement.’

There are many ways to do this, and summer is the perfect time to do it.

I take clients outside where they are encouraged to spray, splatter, fling, and stomp paint all over large canvasses. You can do this with old sheets or curtains at home. You can also fling mud at the fence after the rain, or even get the family involved in a water fight on a hot, sunny day. The messiness of these activities overrides the need to be perfect. Big body movements like running, throwing, and jumping get your blood flowing.

Also, using all your senses and feeling a variety of temperature changes are great ways to calm your ANS. And let’s face it, smiling, laughing, and having fun will make everyone feel like a care-free kid again!

We cannot control what is going on in the world around us, but we do have control over how we respond to it. It is okay. Start small and allow yourself to experience joy and elation. The more you do, the more those actions increase your ANS memory so that it can start anticipating good things to come and make the bad times easier to handle. -GG Tanya North-Shymko is a certified health, life, grief, and master transformational coach. She works with clients who struggle with anxiety and chronic stress.

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BOOK RELEASE

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Talking to the Storykeepers Sage Birchwater launches new book of stories on the Cariboo-Chilcotin

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n his latest book, Talking to the Story Keepers (Caitlin Press), writer and journalist Sage Birchwater gathers dozens of stories spanning decades from Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities throughout the Cariboo-Chilcotin. He offers an image of a changing landscape and reclamation of culture, identifying the quiet stories swept aside by colonization. Here, side characters and unidentified faces in old photos are brought to life.

“In school, the one subject I detested was history,” Birchwater says. “However, hearing stories around the kitchen tables of the Chilcotin brought history alive for me. Stories

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put a face on the landscape and a human touch on why things are the way they are.”

From the tale of the Old Emmanuel United Church’s brass band playing “Onward Christian Soldiers” from the pews as the church is dragged across the river to its new location on the south side of the Bella Coola River, to the Ulkatcho community search for missing local Tory Jack, which was successfully led to its conclusion by a clever horse, each story builds a portrait of time, place, and the story keepers that protect these histories for the next generation.

Birchwater has been a resident of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Coast region of

Central British Columbia for nearly half a century. Originally from Victoria, BC, he arrived in Williams Lake in 1973. Two years later, he bought a trapline in the Chilcotin with a friend and began living in the area. He began his literary career as a freelance journalist covering events and happenings across the region, from Horsefly to Bella Coola. In 1990, he was commissioned by the Ulkatcho First Nation to write a series of books documenting the culture and history of the Ulkatcho People to preserve the stories and memories of the Elders for the unborn generations. In 1995, he published Chiwid (New Star Books), an oral history of Tsilhqot’in recluse Lilly Skinner, also known as Chiwid. The book has remained a regional bestseller for over 25 years.

In Talking to the Storykeepers, Birchwater continues to honour the stories of important people, such as Skinner.

The stories he shares help us reflect on our common humanity while questioning the dominant perspectives from which history is often told. The storykeepers are held up as those who protect history for the next generation. Full of insight, these tales offer unique perspectives on our shared past and help to prepare us for an unknown future.

Talking to the Storykeepers will be available at retail book outlets across the CaribooChilcotin, including The Station House Gallery, the Open Book, Save On Foods in Williams Lake, Native Arts & Crafts, the Tourist Discovery Centre in Williams Lake, the Quesnel Museum, Nuthatch Books in 100 Mile House, Nimpo Lake Store, Anahim Lake Trading, and Kopas Store in Bella Coola. Birchwater will mail signed copies to Canadian addresses for $30. Reach out to him on Facebook @sage. birchwater. -GG Sage Birchwater is the author of Chiwid, Williams Lake: Gateway to the Cariboo Chilcotin, and the bestselling Chilcotin Chronicles. He was a staff writer for the Williams Lake Tribune until 2009 and is the editor of Gumption & Grit: Extraordinary Women of the Cariboo Chilcotin (Caitlin Press, 2009). Sage still lives in Williams Lake, BC, and continues to write about the Chilcotin.

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NO TIME LEFT TO WASTE

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Microorganism Rancher

By Oliver Berger

anisms and checking ouse in Williams Lake.

Oliver Berger, the Black Goldsmith, aka ‘composteur’, ranching his microorganisms and checking the temperature of the compost at the public drop-off bins at the Potato House in Williams Lake. Photo: Lisa Bland

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ome people grow food, others raise animals, this self-appointed ‘composteur’ focuses on the smaller things in the agricultural world: worms, centipedes, pill bugs, fungus, beneficial bacteria—all the macro and microorganisms.

His livestock grazes on mountains of leftovers from our modern world. With substantial food scraps and ample yard waste the perfect paddock is created, and these little buggers love it. The living conditions are excellent: they’ve got food, they’ve got warmth, they’ve got oxygen, and they’ve begun making more of themselves. That is when things start to get a little heated.

As consumption and reproduction ramp up, thus begins the stage of decomposing the surrounding organic matter, turning it into a usable soil amendment—the first step in creating the Original Black Gold.

At a certain point, when the herd has overconsumed its surroundings and is running out of air, food, or moisture, things start to cool down. It is now the perfect opportunity for the heavy-duty, human-powered shovel

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or pitchfork to step through the gates.

With aggressive stabbing and throwing, the environment gets agitated, rotated, and revived with some oxygen and water, if needed. Fresh food has worked its way to the inside now, and the microbe family is happy and continues to thrive.

This Black Goldsmith rinses and repeats this agitation process a few more times for his underground family over the course of the next few months.

Finally, at some point his micro army of decomposers has consumed all it can.

Reproduction reduces rapidly, and the livestock moves onward or begins to die away.

These can be viewed as sad days; however, we often hear this soil nerd repeat the phrase…

“The end of an era is always the beginning of a new one.”

The by-product of the livestock’s work now begins a maturation stage, which means it is on the final stretch to becoming this rancher’s main cash crop—a healthy, nutrient-rich, living, soil amendment.

Now the rancher has shepherded his flock

onto a new batch of feed that just came in, and he observes on his thermometer-staff how they are enjoying it.

The cycle continues.

Either way, this rancher geeks out in the world beneath our feet. You know how when you dunk your head underwater, you see a whole new living world submerged under there? He wants to do the same thing, but into the ground. He might just end up with a hefty bruise on his head, unless his inner worm kicks in… then he’ll slither his way into the black depths of the underworld. -GG Oliver Berger is a composteur/microorganism rancher at The Potato House Project in Williams Lake. He cares lovingly for his herd, and in return, it produces Black Gold--a rich and luscious soil amendment produced from the community's public compost drop-off and sold to raise funds for community education and resources through The Potato House Project. It is a little-known fact that Oliver's spirit animal is the mighty earthworm.

natural supplements, bulk foods, groceries, homeopathic remedies seasonal local produce and so much more!

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Civet Coffee–Kopi Luwak: Dirty Little Secret

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By Loretta Shepherd and Chris R. Shepherd

ave you heard of kopi luwak?

Civet coffee? Luwak is the Indonesia name for civets, which are small-bodied mammals in the family viverridae, which includes genets, oyans, binturong, and civets (look them up!).

Civets are mostly found in Asia, but the kopi luwak industry is largely in Indonesia and features mainly the Common Palm Civet and the Masked Palm Civet.

So, what do civets and coffee have to do with each other?

Kopi luwak refers to coffee beans picked out from civet feces. Yes, you read that right. Made from coffee beans that are eaten by civets, partially digested, and then defecated—and then made into coffee.

Perhaps some coffee connoisseurs have a romantic view of the process, where smiling, batik-clad villagers in remote Indonesia forage the rainforest floor for coffee berries hidden in civet droppings. After enough berries are collected, they are washed, dried, and prepared for packing, perhaps even stamped with something assuring the discerning customer of how natural and eco-friendly this treasure is, with assurances of its wild authenticity to commensurate its hefty price tag—this ranges from $35-$100 per brewed cup and from $600 to $1000 per pound.

Kopi luwak is even served at Harrods (GBP 500/250g) of London, known to cater to the upper echelons of English society.

The reality, however, is slightly less romantic.

Wild civets are trapped, often illegally, using snares and other inhumane methods, or mother civets are shot, and the young are taken. They are then confined to small, wire cages on so-called civet farms, and this is where the coffee production takes place: the civets are fed almost exclusively on coffee berries—a far cry from the natural diet of wild civets, which sometimes eat coffee berries along with a wide variety of small animals and

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eggs, fruit, and other plant matter. The civets are housed in wire-bottom cages, so the feces can conveniently fall through for collection.

They also feature as ‘attractions’ at these facilities and going on a kopi luwak tour allows tourists to have up-close-and-personal encounters with these nocturnal creatures.

According to industry experts, what makes kopi luwak the crème de la crème is that wild civets select the choicest coffee berries to eat, but ‘farming’ these civets in cages and feeding them coffee berries defeats the purpose.

And whether the coffee is truly superior in taste, many people still want to try it as it offers them a taste of luxury and adventure that they have dared to sample something so bizarre and exotic. Buying kopi luwak supports the ongoing trapping of these animals from the wild and the keeping of them in often terrible conditions. Animal welfare organizations have exposed the poor conditions these animals are kept in and have begun work to reduce demand for the civet-processed coffee, coming up with terms like ‘crapiccino’ to help with their messaging. But the welfare aspects are only one part of the problem. By buying this coffee you may be supporting the illegal wildlife trade.

Indonesia is home to a booming illegal wildlife trade, with civets included in the long list of victims. While legislation is in place to allow for a small number of civets to be taken from the wild for the pet trade, the quotas set each year are largely ignored and civets are very often seen in the wildlife markets, being sold illegally along side numerous other species taken illegally from the wild for the pet trade, or to be sold into kopi luwak farms.

Ultimately, there’s no way to tell whether the packaged kopi luwak coffee on the shelf came from truly wild animals or caged ones or whether any of these animals were legally or illegally sourced. And if you can’t be sure, why support something like this? Furthermore, the welfare of these animals on many of the kopi luwak farms is a far cry from adequate.

As the borders open up and you dig out your passport and look for tropical holiday destinations, do your part and be a responsible tourist. Avoid kopi luwak, including tours to kopi luwak facilities. Be part of the solution, and not part of the problem. -GG Loretta and Chris Shepherd both work with the Monitor Conservation Research Society.

Chris is also a member of the IUCN SSC Small Carnivore Specialist Group.

PurpleAir Monitors in Williams Lake Help Us See What We Breathe

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ometimes we notice the air is not quite right: smog or smoke from forest fires looming in the sky gives us a clue that maybe it’s not such a good day to be outside. But often we don’t recognize that the air quality is worse than it is or realize the health hazards involved.

Ten PurpleAir monitors were installed in Williams Lake last fall to collect data on particulate concentrations, providing an opportunity for increased understanding and education, and the opportunity to find solutions.

The PurpleAir units are unique from the existing, more high-tech, regulatory instruments located near Columneetza Secondary, due to their affordability, which makes it feasible to have them located throughout the community. This could prove helpful in identifying particulate matter in specific areas. From there, one could begin to identify the causes.

Martin Kruus, education coordinator with Scout Island Nature Centre, one of the partners in the local citizen project, set up many of the PurpleAir monitors in the community in both residential and industrial areas: Westridge, Commodore, the golf course, South Lakeside, North Lakeside, Glendale, downtown, Scout Island, lower Hodgson, and Columneetza, the latter of which can be compared with the existing regulatory station there.

It’s important to have monitors set up in numerous locations, as air quality can differ in various areas due to factors such as inversions, industry, high-vehicle use, or woodstove use, for example. PM 2.5 (2.5 micrometers or less) is about 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair and “goes all the way down to the bottom of your lungs,” Kruus says. “This is the most harmful particulate size for human [respiratory system] health.”

Pinnacle Pellet and Atlantic Power covered the cost of the ten units ($300 each) that are about the size of a pop can or oil filter, as per requirements in their permits to participate in ambient air monitoring. The information will be used to help the public understand air quality in the community, but it will not be used for the Air Quality Health Index or for regulation, as the PurpleAir monitors are not of regulatory standards.

Gavin King, air quality meteorologist with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, will analyze the results after a year. “One of the biggest advantages of this type of study is that it lets the public get a broader picture of what’s happening across their community,” King says.

University of British Columbia professor Peter Jackson, who teaches classes on weather

By Erin Hitchcock

Martin Kruus, education coordinator for Scout Island Nature Centre, shows what a PurpleAir monitor looks like. This one, installed on the Nature House, is among several others throughout the city that collect data on fine particulate matter. Photo: Erin Hitchcock

and climate in the Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences department, and his graduate student Brayden Nilson, are mapping the monitors on the University of Northern BC website, as well.

After studying PurpleAir monitors across North America for the last five years, Jackson feels confident with their reliability, as the data are compared with government monitors and corrected. Because they use laser sensors, PurpleAir monitors can give erroneous values due to certain environmental issues, such as fog and localized dust.

“By looking at the two kinds of monitors together, it gives us an assurance that the PurpleAirs are doing a pretty good job because the numbers are similar to what the governmental monitors show, after we correct them,” Jackson says, adding that while industry can often play a role in particulates, the public can as well, especially when it comes to woodstove use and vehicle emissions, including unnecessary idling. Environmental

factors such as dust and forest fires can also contribute to concentrations.

In addition to the ten in the Lake City, another four monitors are in the works at Sugar Cane, through a separate agreement between the ministry and the Williams Lake First Nation.

Anyone can view current data by visiting cyclone.unbc.ca/aqmap/index.html#4/56.44/109.09 and purpleair.com.

Scout Island Nature Centre would also like to thank local residents and businesses for hosting the monitors. -GG Erin Hitchcock is an Air Aware educator with Scout Island Nature Centre. Visit our newly updated website at breatheasywilliamslake. org and like us on Facebook at Air Aware Williams Lake. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of BC through the Ministry of Environment and Climate.

Change Strategy.

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Road Dust Adds to Unhealthy Air Quality

By Erin Hitchcock

Tim Starlund, operator of the City of Williams Lake's mechanical street sweeper, which is used to pick up sand, gravel, and other debris throughout the city. Photo: Erin Hitchcock

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oad dust is impossible to avoid, especially in communities that need to keep winter roads from being slippery and unsafe.

However, in addition to residual sand, gravel, and salt, particulate matter included in road dust can be harmful to our health.

According to a 2017 study published in the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, titled, “Seasonal ambient particulate matter and population health outcomes among communities impacted by road dust in British Columbia, Canada,” as road dust gets dispersed into the air, it can contribute to health issues and increase mortality rates.

“Non-accidental mortality was strongly associated with daily particulate matter (PM) concentrations in the road dust season,” the study says. “Elevated effects were observed in the communities of Smithers, Quesnel, and Williams Lake, all of which are routinely affected by spring road dust advisories.”

The study, which analyzes particulates in seven BC communities, explains that both “short- and long-term exposure to PM pollution is detrimental to cardiopulmonary health,” with some leading to an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest and arrhythmia,

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while also exacerbating asthma and other respiratory conditions.

Moreover, the study mentions that fine to coarse particulate matter (PM2.5-10), can contain mould, pollen, de-icing agents, dust suppression agents, traction material, salt, heavy metals from combustion, rubber particles from tires, and asbestos particles from brake linings. Many impacted communities also have high concentrations of ambient PM2.5 from residential woodsmoke in winter and wildfire smoke in summer.

Removing the debris without creating a lot of dust requires a strategic response.

Temperatures need to remain high enough so further sand and gravel is no longer needed for icy roads, and so conditions aren’t too dry or too wet, said Matt Sutherland, manager of public works for the City of Williams Lake.

“It’s a dusty, dirty job,” Sutherland said.

“You create dust clouds if you’re not using enough moisture, but if you use too much you don’t pick it up. It just turns to mud, so it’s a really fine line.”

He said the city uses a street sweeper with a mechanical broom to remove aggregate used in the winter. It picks up the gravel, sand, salt, and other debris and puts it in a hopper before piling it. The material then gets picked up and

hauled to the landfill for cover later. It also has two broom attachments that run on the front of a wheel loader, one of which has a bucket.

The city also uses calcium chloride to help keep dust down and washes the sidewalks to remove salt residue and fine dust and sand, with sweeping measures taking place until winter again.

Mick Jones, supervisor of streets operations for the City of Prince George, said that about a decade ago Prince George made changes to its aggregate in the downtown core, which has helped to reduce road dust.

He said it uses predominately small, fractured rock with little to no sand particles and, when feasible, flushes and washes away fugitive particulates after sweeping.

In sub-zero temperatures it also uses salt brine, which traps some of the particulate, Jones added. Prince George’s Clean Air bylaw also helps, according to Kim Menounos, manager of the Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable.

“The area that has probably made the biggest impact is the changes to the way that roads are swept and maintained, and that’s outlined in the Clean Air bylaw,” Menounos said, adding roads, lots, industrial yards, and driveways need to be moistened before sweeping. “That applies not just to city roadways but to anyone sweeping surfaces, like parking lot maintenance.”

She said the burning of yard waste is also prohibited in Prince George, as is the use of woodstoves during a dust advisory unless they’re the only source of heat.

Williams Lake doesn’t have a Clean Air bylaw but a section in its Good Neighbour bylaw addresses dust escaping from someone’s property, and burning of yard waste is also prohibited in the city, according to the city’s bylaw department. -GG Erin Hitchcock is an Air Aware educator with Scout Island Nature Centre. Visit the newly updated website at breatheasywilliamslake.org Scout Island Nature Centre gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of BC through the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

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OPINION

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Michael Moses for Williams Lake City Council 2022

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s I write this, I am preparing for a trip to Kamloops to visit Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓ pemc, formerly known as the Kamloops Indian Band. This would usually mean packing clothes and getting excited for a vacation… But this time it means preparing myself mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, because I am preparing to grieve. This Monday is Victoria Day, but more significantly, it is the memorial for Le Estcwicwe̓ y̓ , the one-year anniversary of the confirmation of 215+ unmarked graves at the Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Weyt-kp xwexwéytep; Michael Moses ren skwekwst.

My name is Michael Moses. I am Secwépemc from my mother’s side and Nlaka’pamux from my father’s. Both of my parents attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School. My family has lived in Williams Lake for over three

decades. I watched my daughter grow up here for 19 years, and I even met my life partner here. I attended Marie Sharpe Elementary School, Lake City Secondary School, and Thompson Rivers University. I am a Water Protector, independent Indigenous scholar, and sole proprietor of an Indigenous digital marketing firm. I am announcing my candidacy for the City Council of Williams Lake in the 2022 General Local Election.

The two stories of visiting the Le Estcwicwe̓ y̓ memorial and running for city council fit together in a solemn way. It was October 29, 2021, when I turned on my computer, like any other day, and I read an open letter from my good friend Kúkpi7 Willie Sellars to the Mayor and Council of the City of Williams Lake. This open letter contained information about two members of Williams Lake’s municipal government sharing and speaking of culturally

insensitive topics regarding residential schools. That was the first day I considered running in the election.

Since then, I have found many like-minded people and many more reasons to run for city council. I have firmly built my Coyote Rock (Secwépemc boundary marker) with all of my strongest passions and with care for reconciliation, climate change, and all of our Peoples’ health. I became a member of CC CARE and joined Boards to both contribute to and learn from, including the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society, and Cariboo Mental Health Association. If you support me in the coming election, you will receive progressive representation that holds the City Council accountable, pays better respect to the environment, and champions reconciliation.

For more information on my campaign, visit MichaelMosesWL.com -GG

The Green Gazette

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CARIBOO REGIONAL DISTRICT

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Let's Talk Less Trash:

PROPOSED INITIATIVES EMERGE FOR CARIBOO’S SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLAN

By Tera Grady, Supervisor of Solid Waste Management

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he Cariboo Regional District (CRD) is in the process up updating its Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP). This ten-year SWMP outlines how waste and recyclables will be managed, with the goal of reducing the amount of waste disposed of in landfills. The Province tasks Regional Districts with waste reduction and measures progress with annual waste per person metrics, which include all waste landfilled (household, demolition, and commercial) for the year across the Regional District’s population. In 2011, the CRD’s per person waste generation was 775 kilograms (kg) per year. After implementing changes recommended in the 2013 SWMP, such as increasing diversion for concrete, wood waste, and other recyclable items, per person waste generation went down to 657 kg per year. While we are moving in the right direction, we are still above the 2019 provincial annual average of 500 kg per person, and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy’s per person annual target of less than 350 kg per year.

In June 2021, through the Let’s Talk Less Trash public consultation, we received feedback on what is working and what could be improved for solid waste systems. The CRD’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee used the feedback to identify eight proposed solid waste initiatives to investigate. Each initiative is being assessed to determine potential waste reduction, costs, environmental impacts, and feasibility so residents can be consulted later this year (2022) to provide comments.

Diversion/Reuse Centres The vision for Diversion/Reuse Centres considers providing drop off and management of multiple waste types including commercial recyclables, food waste, reusable construction and demolition materials, reusable household items, clothing, furniture, and recyclables. The scope considers incorporation of space for repair/upcycling opportunities and storage for reusable items such as furniture. Feasibility hinges on accessing capital cost funding and support from the CRD’s member municipalities.

Multi-unit Residential Building (MURB) Recycling MURB recycling for packaging and paper products for apartment buildings and condominiums could be established within the existing Recycle BC stewardship program. CRD’s member municipalities could use bylaws to ensure that all MURB property owners provide collection systems. Education, promotion, and auditing are key components for successful MURB recycling programs.

Commercial Recycling Aside from corrugated cardboard, office paper, deposit beverage containers, and scrap metal, there is limited access to business recycling in the Cariboo. The provincial government is studying the issue and exploring possible solutions but does not yet have a timeline set for finalizing a solution. If commercial recyclables, which account for twenty percent of the CRD’s household waste, are going to be diverted from landfills we first need to determine how much could feasibly be collected and the actual costs for recycling.

Food Waste Diversion An increasing number of BC communities are implementing landfill disposal bans for organics, providing food waste collection services,

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and operating compost facilities. These initiatives are fuelled by the reality that landfills account for twenty-three percent of Canada’s methane emissions, and organic waste generates the majority of landfill leachate. We have many dedicated backyard composters in the Cariboo, but household waste still contains about thirty percent compostable organics. Collecting compostable organics in the Cariboo could be challenging, as currently only thirty-two percent of CRD residents have curbside collection.

Upgrades to Rural Sites There are twenty rural, non-controlled refuse sites in the CRD. None have power and two currently have cell service. Both traditional and reliable/effective solar power supply are costly. About nine percent of the CRD’s waste is generated from the twenty facilities combined. A few of these sites are being considered for transition to controlled facilities.

User-Pay Most of BC’s population has a user-pay system to help fund waste disposal, meaning that all waste destined for the landfill is charged for upon drop off, but recyclables are accepted free of charge. This approach provides an incentive for residents to reduce the waste they generate and to recycle. User-pay generally works best at higher volume-controlled sites, but can work at smaller rural controlled facilities, especially if cell service is available or if a punch card system is used.

Curbside Garbage Collection for SomeRural Areas Many of the CRD ‘fringe’ communities directly adjacent to municipal boundaries have sufficient housing density and total population to justify curbside garbage collection services. Services would be paid for through a CRD “utility” charged to households within service areas. The new garbage service would hinge on participation by Recycle BC to also add curbside recycling collection. Curbside service to these residents would also increase the feasibility of organics diversion in the future with the possibility of curbside organics collection.

Landfill Disposal Bans Banning the disposal of all recyclables or organics with accessible diversion options is a proven method of reducing what goes to landfill, but it requires extra staff and regular monitoring of waste disposal.

Some jurisdictions have implemented the use of clear garbage bags to encourage recycling and facilitate inspections.

Following public consultation on all eight potential initiatives above, a draft Solid Waste Management Plan, with vetted and finalized initiatives, will be issued for public review and comment. The final draft of the SWMP must be approved by the CRD Board before it is submitted to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy for review and approval.

We welcome your ongoing feedback. For more information on the SWMP update or to contact us, visit cariboord.ca/swmp. -GG

Solid Waste Management Plan The CRD’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee, comprised of interested residents, First Nation representatives, environmental organization members, industry representatives, and local government staff have identified eight future options to further investigate: 1.

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Diversion/Reuse Centers Multi-unit Building Recycling Commercial Recycling Food Waste Diversion Landfill Disposal Bans Upgrades to Rural Sites User-Pay Curbside Garbage Collection for Rural Areas

Visit cariboord.ca/SWMP for more information and updates Suite D - 180 Third Avenue N Williams Lake, BC V2G 2A4 P: 250-392-3351 TF: 1-800-665-1636 talktrash@cariboord.ca

The Green Gazette

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Green Gazette Musings

By Sage Birchwater

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won’t say goodbye. Maybe so-long. Maybe catch you later, alligator.

For many years since Lisa Bland took on The Green Gazette mantle, she has provided a forum for debate on the urgency of “going green” and for caring for this planet Earth we call home, “as if it matters.” Well, it does matter.

The trouble with these debates is they can quickly devolve into arguments almost religious in nature.

What’s right, what’s wrong? Who’s to blame?

Everyone’s got an opinion and an angle.

Then there’s the impossible.

How do you have a global Green campaign when goofballs like Vladimir Putin start blowing up their next door neighbour with little regard for consequences?

How do you contend with the corporate agenda where gargantuan companies put their own survival ahead of the common good? Our world is increasingly wired, complex, interrelated, and wildly out of control. It’s mind-blowing, really.

Maybe it is time to step back and reassess where we go from here.

How do we live sustainably? How do we live as if other people and the Earth actually matter? How do we deal with the waste and toxins our human existence creates? How can we do things better?

I appreciate the opportunity The Green Gazette gave us to examine many issues, including burning rail ties in Williams Lake. A decision was later made

by Atlantic Power not to burn rail ties. Did our voice have something to do with that? Did The Green Gazette make a difference?

There are new environmental challenges ahead of us. Global warming, heat domes, and floods.

With or without The Green Gazette, we must figure out the best way to move forward, communicate, and stay in touch to grasp the bigger picture. Our actions matter, and we’re all in it together. One planet. Each person’s actions affect everyone else.

Half a century ago, a bunch of us went “back to the land” to escape the ravages of society we saw coming down the pike. But there’s really no where to run.

Thanks to Lisa Bland’s persistence, The Green Gazette has served us well in the Cariboo for a decade. Now she’s ready to take a different tack with the new Local Dirt Magazine. The crucial issues of our times remain and are no less challenging.

What choice do we have other than to roll up our sleeves and put everything we have into making a difference?

Like the ancient Zen koan: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. -GG

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Green Living is Good for You—and the Planet

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By David Suzuki

t’s hard not to despair over the state of the world, but one well-known, proven antidote is action. And though what you do every day to avoid environmental damage may seem small and ineffectual— especially if you feel no one else is doing anything—know you’re not alone. Green living is coming onstream faster than ever before, and many people taking many actions add up to a world of difference.

Of course, confronting major issues like climate disruption, pollution, and species extinction requires top-down actions from governments, industry, and societal institutions, but each of us can contribute to the tidal wave of change the planet needs.

After all, humanity’s utter interdependence with nature means that how we treat our surroundings affects us all.

Personal action is a great entry point into making the world a better place. With good information, anyone can make informed choices and adopt sustainable practices.

Mindfully considering your habits and their effects on nature can also help you develop a deeper understanding of complex challenges our species faces.

Linking environmental issues to everyday activities makes environmentalism easy, accessible, and tangible. And simple steps like walking, cycling, or taking transit instead of driving, or growing your own food and making your own home cleaners and personal care products, can save money and improve your health and quality of life.

Get out of your car. Plant gardens for butterflies and bees. Take part in climate strikes. All are ways to connect with others, build relationships, and ignite hope— important for mental health. Learning about and practising sustainable habits will also help you more confidently participate in conversations on topics you care about.

It can be a challenge to live sustainably, though. That’s because many of our systems are deliberately designed to promote excessive consumption and waste for the sake of profit and economic growth. Making changes in your life can catalyze deeper involvement in activism—in your community and beyond—to improve those systems.

With so much going on in our lives, it can be difficult to know where to start or find ways to step up our efforts. Joining a local organization is one option, but lots of online resources can also steer you in the right direction.

For almost two decades, the David Suzuki Foundation’s Queen of Green program inspired thousands to adopt Earth-friendly habits.

Recognizing the need to remove barriers from

participating in sustainable lifestyles and to seek input from diverse segments of society to identify solutions, the Foundation recently launched a renewed Living Green program.

Growing awareness of social and justice consciousness has brought problems in the eco-lifestyle community to light. It hasn’t always accurately reflected the true crosssection of society and, historically, could be considered sexist, classist, colonial, and gendered.

Marginalized people and those living in remote or rural communities often face greater barriers to adopting green lifestyles— including lack of safe and sustainable transportation infrastructure, food insecurity, precarious work or housing, income insecurity, affordability of everyday goods, access to green spaces, and environmental racism.

Disproportionately shouldering the role of nurturer in households and communities— including workplaces—women are also more likely to champion environmental causes and support sustainable lifestyles. Studies show some men won’t adopt green behaviours such as carrying reusable tote bags because they could be perceived as “too feminine.”

It doesn’t have to be that way.

Diverse communities in all socioeconomic circumstances have long traditions of practising sustainable lifestyles for economic, cultural, and survival reasons. And to overcome environmental crises, we all have to contribute. We can learn from each other, and the beauty and strength diversity brings is not just theoretical; it’s proven by science. As humans, we must embrace diversity—in our families, organizations, and communities.

It’s important to push for changes to the institutional and societal structures and beliefs fuelling the climate, biodiversity, pollution, and other environmental crises, and the changes we make in our individual lives signify support for those large-scale shifts needed to protect nature’s diversity and the well-being of all life.

They can also get us to question our values, an important step in a world where wealth and unbridled consumerism are often prioritized.

Live green. You’ll feel better for it. Let’s all be part of the solution! -GG

DAVID SUZUKI is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and cofounder of the David Suzuki Foundation. Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation senior editor, Ian Hanington.

Learn more at davidsuzuki.org

The Green Gazette

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The Journey to be Greener Never Ends

By Ryan Elizabeth Cope

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I firmly believe chickens are the answer to all of life’s woes. I also believe community + active listening + true collaboration = a recipe for success. Photo submitted by Ryan Elizabeth Cope

aving the world starts with saving our communities.

We think saving the world and being sustainable means certain things—big, lofty things. But what if sustainability and “being Green” starts with personal sustainability (How do I keep my cup full to then pour myself into other work?), morphs into community sustainability (How can I contribute to the longevity of the place I belong?), and eventually, planetary sustainability (How do we as a collective raise the green bar?)?

Somewhere along the way, we started looking a little too far forward. We started advocating for big, planetary changes all at once, working ourselves into exhaustion trying

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to save the whales and the Amazon—all in the same day.

In the quest for planetary sustainability, we got a little burned out and forgot what it meant to be personally and communally sustainable.

The Green Gazette has always taught me about the importance of personal and community sustainability: What are the good, Green things happening right in this area worth learning more about? The magazine has always served as a tool for taking “the Green life” to a personal level, all while teaching us about important, bigger issues, like recycling, regenerative agriculture, and carbon emissions.

The journey of being Green and striving for a more sustainable life is hard, no doubt

about it. We are up against the fight of our collective lives and it’s daunting. With all of the conflicting crises across the globe, it can be hard to find even a shred of hope. One way to survive and thrive in this place is to find what sustainability means, first to ourselves, then to the communities that surround us.

To me, that is what it means to save the world. And this journey, while hard, is so worth it.

To the founders, editors, and contributors of The Green Gazette (past and present!) thank you for helping me along on my sustainability journey and teaching me this lesson. I’m so grateful, and I look forward to continuing walking the good, Green journey with you, wherever you may land! -GG

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OPINION

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Recent Public Open House on Logging Development Plans in Horsefly, BC, a Success

By Helen Englund, Horsefly River Roundtable Director

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he Horsefly River Roundtable (HRR) assisted Tolko Industries Ltd. in organizing an open house in Horsefly on May 28, 2022, from 10 am to 2 pm. This came after many citizens expressed their concerns regarding Tolko’s proposals for timber harvesting in the Horsefly area.

The overview referral maps of forest development plans reviewed included 2022-ca-01 - Prairie Creek and 2022-ca-02 - Horsefly Lake, and they can be viewed by contacting Tolko.

The HRR was very pleased, considering how small the community is, that well over 100

concerned citizens from Horsefly and Williams Lake attended the open house at the Horsefly Community Hall.

The HRR created a questionnaire that residents used as a guide when speaking to Tolko’s development foresters who were available with maps to discuss details.

Questionnaire topics include the opportunity to comment about silviculture systems, road building, wildfire risk, waste, debris, water quality, fish/wildlife habitat, property values, recreational values, biodiversity, old growth management, and local job opportunities.

The HRR will stay in communication with Tolko, Ministry of Forests, Lands & Natural

Resource Operations, and the public regarding these proposed plans. There will be updates submitted to the Williams Lake Tribune in the coming months as the planning progresses.

For any logging development plan concerns in the Horsefly watershed area, contact Jenna Swanson, RPF, Tolko Cariboo Woodlands Operations Supervisor at jenna.swanson@ tolko.com or (250) 992-0114. If you have questions about HRR activities or would like more info about how to comment on logging development plans near your residence or property in the Horsefly area, contact Helen Englund, Horsefly Roundtable Director, at hrfsw2020@gmail.com.

The Green Gazette

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Directory Listings Business Services

Community / Organizations Continued

Health and Wellness

Business For Sale

Community / Organizations

Healthy Food / Farms

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Directory Listings Local / Green Business Continued

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Healthy Food / Farms Continued

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ARE YOU A

local business, farmer, food producer, ranch, community organization, OR tourism destination?

Local / Green Business

Sign up and add your listing to our NEW online Local Dirt Directory—launching this summer! Featuring your own individualized webpage with higher search results online, at affordable pricing.

For more info about the Local Dirt Directory or to be a part of the 2023 issue of Local Dirt Magazine contact:

info@localdirtmag.ca localdirtmagazine.ca

We are expanding our Green Directory Listings site across BC. List your green or local business online at greenlisted.ca!

Improve your visibility to locals and visitors alike with: • • • • •

Increased search engine results A custom online business page Link to your website and social media pages The ability to list products and services An easy to use Greenlisted Mobile App

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We invite you to shop local.

The character of our region is largely shaped by the unique businesses and entrepreneurs that are at the heart of our vibrant communities.

Visit our community webpages to enjoy all Unique.

Eclectic.

Diverse.

the Cariboo has to offer by discovering our small independent businesses.

Northern BC is one of the most colourful, diverse and eclectic regions in Canada.

The character of the area is largely shaped by the unique shops and shopkeepers that are at the heart of our vibrant community.

Enjoy a true northern experience by discovering some of the locally owned, independent businesses that are here.

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