Powell River Living April issue - Earth Month

An American Bullfrog sits on a rock in a stream near Nanton Lake, unaware that it is both threatening and threatened.

Photo by Sean Percy

Fear for the planet’s future, but keep hope alive

Electric versus gas? Should we have more children?

Am I a bad person because I eat meat? New clothes versus second hand? Buy new or reupholster?

We’re faced with questions like these every single day. How we respond depends on our values, income and often what’s available. Despite our best intentions, we’re still consuming way more than we should.

This issue of the magazine is our “green issue.” Today, more than ever, people worry about the future of the planet. Overconsumption and fossil fuels are two ways we’re killing it. A third way is with too many people.

Powell River Living’s editor Pieta Woolley’s story on Page 8 has her diving into one of her favourite topics – statistics. This time she’s looking at qathet’s birth rate and comparing it to Japan’s, the country with the world’s lowest birth rate. Fascinatingly enough, she’s found that Powell River’s birth rate is lower than Japan’s. But although we’re having fewer babies, we’re using more than three times as many resources than the planet can sustain (see story on Page 9). We’re doing some things

right, but we still have a lot of work to do in other areas.

When Coast Mountain Academy students clean up marine garbage on Harwood Island (see photo on Page 13), they’re helping the planet and themselves at the same time. When children volunteer at a young age, they learn life skills and develop a voice that can last a lifetime. More green volunteers have been working on a new sanctuary, Myrtle Creek Wetlands, on Brookfield’s power line property. The area is a haven for birds – to see the gorgeous photos taken by Ken and Kathie Pritchard, turn to Page 16.

What would Powell River be like without volunteers? There’d be no Kathaumixw, PRISMA, Festival of Performing Arts, Rotary, Kiwanis, or Health Care Auxiliary Economy Shop. There’d be no school crossing guards, no Search and Rescue, no United Way or the hundreds of other volunteer organizations.

We are a community fuelled by volunteers and at the heart of it are all the people who give selflessly of their time and talents.

April 7 to 13 is National Volunteer Week. It is a week for recognizing the many volunteers who live among us and thanking them for what they do. All of us at Powell River Living are grateful for our volunteers. Without volunteers, we wouldn’t have all the insightful stories and beautiful photographs we have. Our volunteer contributors (who include photographer Rod Innes and proofer Roberta Pearson) let us bring you many diverse voices.

This issue is filled with hope. Hope for a better future, hope for a greener planet and hope for what’s to come. If you’re hurting and need some soothing words, I encourage you to read a selection of quotes chosen by local pastors and ministers on Page 19 and their comments about these quotes.

Listen to the sounds of lawnmowers and the birds, smell the spring flowers and I hope you feel as optimistic as I do about the future.

ISABELLE SOUTHCOTT | isabelle@prliving.ca