TheGreenGazetteAugSept2014

TheGreenGazette

August/September 2014

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TheGreenGazette

TheGreenGazette

Contents

Issue # 28

August / September 2014

Features:

04/ Mount Polley Mine Disaster There are more questions than answers concerning the August 4 breach of Mount Polley Mine’s tailings facility near Likely, BC. It’s being called the single worst environmental disaster in British Columbia’s history. And that’s before all the details are in. - by Sage Birchwater 06/ ature’s Classroom When September rolls around, many families head to the mall to stock up on school supplies, backpacks, and lunchboxes, not to mention the yearly closet full of clothing meant to help kick off a new school year with a sense of newness and a fresh start. Us? We go camping. - by Jessica Kirby 11/ Little Bodies Out of Sync?

Ask any parent-to-be about their top concerns for a new baby or for their young children and they will often say autism. - by Cindy Sage, MA 18/ The Pull of a River

We have come from all across the Fraser Basin, travelling from the outskirts of the city, meeting for the very first time on the overnight Greyhound bus. For the next 25 days we will live beside the gaping presence of the Fraser River.

- by Jacquie Lanthier

20/ BC Brewing at its Best It may come as a surprise—and a source of great pride— that modern day Canadian craft brewing has roots in British Columbia. - by Jessica Kirby 27/ Five Sure-fire Fall Mushrooms for the Beginning Fungivore There are many reasons to take part in the free bounty of wild mushrooms we have in the Cariboo. First and foremost is that wild mushrooms are to the farmed mushroom as the tree picked peach is to supermarket picked variety, that is, unbelievably more flavourful. - by Bill Chapman

TheGreenGazette Publisher / Editor-in-Chief Lisa Bland lisa@thegreengazette.ca Senior Editor Jessica Kirby Contributors David Suzuki, LeRae Haynes, Jenna Sipponen, Sage Birchwater Pat Teti, Jacquie Lanthier, Michelle Daymond, Ciel Patenaude, Wilf Geier, Lisa Bland, Jenny Noble, Tera Grady, Van Andruss, A.K. Amy, Jasmin Schellenberg, Terri Smith, Susan Tritt, Jessica Kirby, Ray Grigg, Betty Geier, Adam McLeod, Diane Dunaway Bill Chapman, Cindy Sage, Jessica Knodel Advertising Lisa Bland Creative Directors Lisa Bland / Teena Clipston Ad Design Teena Clipston, Rebecca Patenaude, Leah Selk Published by Earthwild Consulting Printing Black Press Ltd. Cover Mitchell River wetlands in Cariboo Mountains for Quesnel River Watershed Alliance. Photo by Ian MacKenzie Index Photo: Sockeye Salmon, Pniesen

PO Box 164 Horsefly, BC, V0L 1L0 250-620-3419 www.thegreengazette.ca info@thegreengazette.ca TheGreenGazette is published by Earthwild Consulting. To subscribe call (250) 620-3419. To view the web s ite an d on lin e f lipb oo k, v i s it www.thegreengazette.ca © 2014 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 August/September 2014 without the publisher’s consent is strictly prohibited.

25/ Upper Fraser Salmon Sustainability Protecting and conserving sustainable salmon stocks and supporting First Nations in becoming re-engaged with their traditional economy is the mission and the primary goal of the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFFCA). - by LeRae Haynes

Also in this Issue: 05/ Letter from the Publisher: Quesnel River Watershed Tragedy - by Lisa Bland 05/ Letters: Life was a Bowl of Cherries before Polly Mine Disaster 07/ Peace Talks Resume … at Bedtime - by Jessica Kirby 07/ Don’t Give Away our Forest Lands - by Van Andruss 08/ Grainy Griddle Flatbread - by Pat Teti 09/ Science Matters: It’s Time to Save the Bees - by David Suzuki 10/ Growing the Seeds of Change for Healthy Communities - by Michelle Daymond 12/ Youth Perspective: It’s All About the Music - by Jenna Sipponen 14/ Horsefly River Salmon Festival 2014 14/ Salmon Trip 15/ Choices: Selecting the Climate We Want - by Ray Grigg 15/ What’s in Your Well (part 4 ) - by A.K. (Sandy) Amy 17/ A Thousand Jars of Salmon - by LeRae Haynes 19/ Making Connections in Education - by Ciel Patenaude 22/ Confessions of a Farmer: The Story of Baby Goat - by Terri Smith 23/ Changing Course - by Jenny Howell, CCCS 23/ Chickens - by Susan Tritt 23/ Speak up for ature in BC Schools - by Jenny -oble 24/ Cariboo Growers Co-op Q & A - by Jessica Knodel 24/ Wood Waste (Part of the CRD Solid Waste Info Series): Becoming Waste Wise 25/ aturopathic Medicine and Cancer - by Adam McLeod, -D, BSc 26/ Simple Green Home Design - by Wilf Geier 28/ Featured Green Business: Adorn and Beauty aturally - by LeRae Haynes 28/ Thoughts on Rivers - by Betty Geier 28/ Di’s Honey Garlic Salad Vinaigrette & Vegetable Marinade - by Diane Dunaway 30/ ourishing our Children - by Jasmin Schellenberg 30/ Calendar of Events www.thegreengazette.ca 31/ The Green Collective

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TheGreenGazette

Mount Polley Mine Disaster: More Questions than Answers

By Sage Birchwater

T

here are more questions than answers concerning the August 4 breach of Mount Polley Mine’s tailings facility near Likely, BC. It’s being called the single worst environmental disaster in British Columbia’s history. And that’s before all the details are in.

The full impact of millions of tons of toxic mining waste spilling into one of the most pristine deepwater lakes in the world may never be known. It is a nightmare unimaginable.

The fact that Quesnel Lake is a significant part of the Fraser River watershed—the largest salmon-producing river system in the world—deepens the significance. The lake supports three major Sockeye runs as well as Chinook and other salmonid species. An event this massive in one part of the Fraser system affects the whole river.

As far as the salmon go, the timing of the disaster couldn’t have been worse because it occurred during the height of the summer migration runs.

What we know for sure is that around 1:15 a.m. on BC Day, August 4, 2014, the four-kilometre-square tailings facility that has served Mount Polley Mine since 1997, breached its banks.

As Imperial Metals president Brian Kynoch explained it, the pump that recycled “supernatant” water from the 10million-cubic-metre tailings lake, and sent it up the hill to the processing plant so it could be reused in the production of copper concentrate, stopped working. At that point mine staff went down and discovered the breach.

At a public meeting the day after the breach, Kynoch attempted to alleviate fears by saying the supernatant water is almost fit to drink. For the uninitiated, “supernatant” water is the term used for the liquid lying above a solid residue in a tailings pond.

The problem is, along with the 10 million cubic metres of almost-fit-to-drink water that poured into Quesnel Lake, millions of tons of contaminated sand and sludge also got washed into the water. The exact volume of toxic material in the lake has not been determined.

Witnesses at the spill say the lake was fizzing and popping like a can of Pepsi being poured into a glass.

The specific chemical composition of mine sludge in the lake and residue left behind along Hazeltine Creek is also unknown. Jennifer McGuire of the Ministry of Environment said MOE staff only sampled the water in the lake near the spill and not the solid material. She said it was too dangerous for MOE staff to go into the area to get samples.

The other bright note that Kynoch tried to convey was that the waste rock from Mount Polley Mine is not acidgenerating. PAG or potentially acidgenerating waste material must be kept submerged forever so it doesn’t oxidize and generate acid, which would release heavy metals and toxins into the environment.

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It is fortunate that the giant swath of previously submerged tailings waste lining the course of Hazeltine Creek is not acidgenerating because it is now exposed to the air. What was once a two-metre-wide water course through the rainforest is now a 150metre-wide wasteland. So what will happen when it rains? How much more toxic mud and sand will get washed into Quesnel Lake?

Whether it is PAG or NAG (nonacid-generating) material hardly matters.

The residue is nasty stuff. According to the Canadian Environmental Protection Agency file on Mount Polley Mine, the five-year accumulations of toxic material dumped into the tailings pond that make up its chemical cocktail include: 311 tonnes of nickel; 278,000 kg of lead; 472,000 kg of arsenic; 2,250 tonnes of zinc; 39,000 tonnes of copper; 7,070 tonnes of vanadium; 8,600 kg of cadmium; 653 tonnes of cobalt; 50,000 tonnes of phosphorus; 48.5 tonnes of antimony; 24,260 tonnes of manganese; 2,645 kg of mercury; and, 24,000 kg of selenium.

Those are the totals for the past five years and the mine has been operational since 1997, so do the math.

And no, I’m no chemist. I flunked chemistry twice in university, but I certainly wouldn’t walk my dog in that mess.

So what about the incidental interface with wildlife? Deer, bear, fox, moose, marten, eagles, crows, songbirds, and fish all live there.

These are just some of the questions Imperial Metals and the Ministry of Environment must address, sooner rather than later.

Meanwhile there’s a foreboding in the community of Likely. Jerked from the blissful sanctity of the summer tourist season, where people come to get away from it all, there are strong feelings of uncertainty and outrage.

Across the province people are furious that the government and industry have betrayed their trust.

Brian Kynoch told the people of Likely that tailings pond facilities are not supposed to fail. But the one at Mount Polley did, and the consequences are irreversible.

Quesnel Lake is no longer the purest deepwater lake in the world. Instead it is tainted and will never be the same.

Will the landscape recover? Probably, eventually.

Will the Fraser River salmon runs survive the impact and will healthy salmon runs make their way back to Quesnel Lake, Horsefly, and Mitchell River again? Hopefully.

What about the confidence people have in mining companies and government?

Time will tell. Right now people’s confidence is shattered. So what has to change?

“We need to know why the tailings facility failed,” Brian Kynoch told the people of Likely. “It will take a lot of time for the company to earn the people’s trust. We are going to do everything to clean it up once we know what has to be done.”

And, yes, the company’s confidence in its own abilities has been shaken.

“We need to know why it failed and

Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett and Premier Christy Clark on August 7, 2014 respond to questions from the crowd gathered at the public information meeting in Likely, BC. Photo: Lisa Bland

Councillor JoAnn Moiese for Soda Creek and Williams Lake Indian Band speaks to the crowd gathered in Likely, BC after a charcoal ceremony by elder Julianna Johnson, held to show respect for the land. With words full of emotion, JoAnn explains how important the Quesnel River Watersed is to their community. “It feels like there has been a death in our community. Keep us in your prayers today and for the months and years of long-term studies to understand what has happened.” Photo: Lisa Bland convince ourselves we can build a tailings facility that won’t fail,” Kynoch concluded.

And what about government?

There’s a culture of deregulation that pervades government with less capacity for oversight. How did this contribute to the Mount Polley disaster? Is there a willingness by government to be more responsible?

Some people are calling for an independent public inquiry into the spill.

What about other tailings facilities in the region? Gibraltar Mine is pumping effluent from its tailings facility directly into the Fraser River to avoid a similar breach from happening, and is applying to double this volume.

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What kind of scrutiny and monitoring of the effluent quality is there? How can people trust that it is being done properly?

These are just some of the questions that need to be answered, and now is the time to ask them.

Sage Birchwater is a freelance writer based in Williams Lake. A resident of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Coast since 1973, he is the author of several books on local history and people of the region. Sage lived on a trapline in the Chilcotin for 10 years, worked in the field of cultural research and education in various First -ations communities, and has worked as a reporter for the Williams Lake Tribune and Coast Mountain News of Bella Coola.

August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Letter from the Publisher

Quesnel River Watershed Tragedy Lisa Bland Publisher/ Editor-in-Chief

D

ear Readers, It’s hard to find words to express the scale of the impact of Imperial Metals’ Mount Polley Mine tailings pond breach and spill into Quesnel Lake on August 4. The magnitude of this disaster is staggering. For those who live and work in the area and treasure the pristine gem of the Quesnel Lake watershed, it is heartbreaking. As the shock and disbelief wear off, sadness and fear for the river, fish, animals, ecosystem, and people who love and depend on this area, now covered in a river of gray sludge, continue to flow. Anger and mistrust grow towards an industry regulated by a government that should have protected this beautiful place.

Anyone watching the aerial footage in the early days of the disaster is impacted by the horror of the scene. The mountain of debris and river of toxic gray effluent blasting through the once tiny Hazeltine Creek, oozing down into the turquoise depths of Quesnel Lake, is beyond tragic. In this place, renowned for its pure waters and rich salmon and wildlife habitat, it’s hard to imagine a bigger blow.

At the time just before press, with early water test results in, Health Canada has confirmed the safety of the drinking water for the residents of Likely and some areas along the Quesnel River system, yet countless questions remain. The long-term impact of this disaster on the local residents; impacts to First Nations people and their reliance on the food, medicine, and salmon of the watershed; and, the extent of the toxic effects on the wild animals, fish, and waterways are all in question.

What are the cumulative effects of the millions of gallons of tainted water that coursed into Quesnel Lake, down Quesnel River, and into the Fraser? Will we ever know? With reports coming in from First Nations of sickly salmon in the Fraser River and an estimated 1.5 million Sockeye heading up into the Quesnel system, what impact, if any, will this have on their migration? If there are no effects to the fish now, then how will this play out in their life cycles in the years to come? In what ways will the ecosystem, animals, and fish continue to circulate and bio-accumulate the toxins present in Quesnel Lake? Who can we trust for answers?

The pressing concerns of reducing the water levels in Polley Lake to avoid another devastating release of tailings into Quesnel Lake, how to clean up the mass of sludge in Hazeltine Creek and surrounding area, and cost and responsibility of the clean-up, will play out in the days and months to come.

While a government inquiry is being conducted into the cause of the disaster, some are calling for an independent investigation.

Despite assurances from the province and Energy and Mines Minister Bill Bennett that the mine was well within compliance, claims of local mine workers that the tailings pond

August/September 2014

was showing obvious signs of stress tell a different story. The state of environmental regulation of industry in our province, the political affiliations and monetary ties between the Imperial Metals mining company and the Liberal government, the relationship between First Nations and industry, and the safety of industrial mining and other toxinproducing industries across the world are now being brought into question.

When I first arrived in the Cariboo over 20 years ago, I learned firsthand how special Quesnel Lake and the surrounding watershed were. The Quesnel River Watershed Alliance (QRWA), worked tirelessly to protect the water, salmon, animals, and habitat for the generations to come. Never before had I encountered a group of people so passionate about protecting the pristine beauty of a place. They organized Voyageur canoe trips on Quesnel Lake to enjoy its rugged beauty, and challenged industrial logging activities in the area, monitoring their impacts on the watershed.

It was here, near Quesnel Lake, that I began to understand the depth of love and connection people can have for a place. In a cozy log cabin, a group of people young and old—researchers, ranchers, biologists, tourism operators, and wilderness enthusiasts— gathered together to discuss strategies for protection of the watershed. These people were diverse. They were not what people might label “hippie environmentalists.” What they shared was a love for something beyond themselves and a calling to protect it so strong that they were called to action.

I would like to dedicate this issue to long-time Beaver Valley rancher, conservationist, and QRWA member Nora Nicol, who passed away peacefully on August 4, the night of the Mount Polley disaster. She was a passionate advocate for the wild places of the Quesnel River Watershed and it was in her log home, eating her home-made cookies, that I first met the QRWA members, and became friends with this group of remarkable people. Nora was a beloved and important part of the Horsefly community and will be sadly missed. In her memory, I hope that we can continue to speak up and fight for the natural world that so inspires and feeds us with life. Maybe we shouldn’t accept everything we are told about how things need to be in order to prosper in the modern world.

We are all consumers of the products of modern industrial mining and industry, but when there are profits on the line, impacts will be kept hidden and shortcuts will be taken. It’s up to us to keep questioning what it means to live in a modern world and how we impact other life-forms and subsequent generations. Nora and the QRWA taught me to listen to the wilderness of my heart and to speak up for those that have no voice. I learned that you can also have a lot of fun doing it.

In this time to savour the last days of summer and anticipate the return of the salmon, on BC Rivers Day, September 28, many of our thoughts and prayers will be with the Quesnel River watershed. The Horsefly Salmon Festival on Sept 27 and 28 is an opportunity to celebrate the return of our Sockeye salmon run. Please come out and support our watershed and community and the salmon that find their way home. Clean waters and healthy salmon runs are the gold that will sustain us for generations to come.

See page 14 for more details on the Horsefly Salmon festival.

25 km from Horsefly along Ditch Road, Rod Marining looks downstream of what was once a 2 meter-wide-creek that grew hundreds of meters wide due to Mnt. Polley's tailing pond collapse. Imperial Metals Corp. stated they do not have the estimated $400 million to clean up this site. Photo: Chris Blake

Letters: Life was a Bowl of Cherries before Polley Mine Disaster

B

C Holiday weekend: “Life is a bowl full of cherries,” I announced at a family gathering.

We were all having a beautiful time. We were at the family cabin at Quesnel Lake. Early Monday morning, I got up to pee at 3:00 am and I was sleeping on my boat, which was docked in front of the cabin. I heard this continuous roar, like a 747 jet towards the town of Likely.

Then I noticed that the boat was rocking, while a minute ago Quesnel Lake was like glass. That’s odd. I knew that Polley Mine was within a few miles, but I just returned to bed, puzzled by the strange noise.

In the morning, I swam in the lake and drank out of the lake (love that coffee). When we left the cabin and entered the realm of cell, TV, and radio coverage, I found out that I was swimming in and drinking toxic sludge laced with arsenic, mercury, cynanide, etc. The full horror story of the Polley Mine disaster was revealed.

Nice ending to my weekend. Life is not a bowl full of cherries. I found myself back in 150 Mile House scrubbing my body over and over like I was borderline insane.

I was mad as hell that one could not swim in or drink water from Quesnel Lake.

This incredible lake was no longer pristine and I was now caught up in a political madness wanting to know why and how this happened. I received a call Monday that a radio station wanted to talk to me about my experience. Take a listen, but start at 3:32 minutes. https://soundcloud.com/cjsfradio/august5th-2014-mount-polley-disaster-and-salishsea-summer-gathering?in=cjsfradio/sets/ wild-salmon-warrior-radio-1 Three days later, I am sitting in the Likely Lodge Restaurant and who walks in? I will give you a hint. She was not

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wearing a hard hat. You got it. It was Christy Clark.

“Could you please tell me where the washroom is?” Christy asked.

The restaurant lady gave her routine speech, “You have to use the outhouse.”

Christy looked puzzled. “The outhouse is across the street,” said the young lady.

Numerous people had entered the restaurant looking for a bathroom, all getting the same answer. It shows that we are all unaware of the ramifications from this disaster. Even Christy forgot for a moment that there was a water ban in effect.

Every day we read more info on this spill of toxic sludge. This lake is the deepest lake in North America. This lake has a vortex, said one resident. Many believe the lake currents are related to wind currents. You would think that the debris from the spill would head towards the outflow river. However, the debris is heading in the opposite direction. Then there was a green plume, which many could see. It seemed to reappear at times. Many believe the green was part of the 18,000 plus tonnes of copper in the tailings pond.

The 2.3 million Sockeye salmon will most likely pick up contaminants as they head to the salmon grounds to spawn.

Therefore, up the Quesnel Lake and up rivers, such as the Horsefly River, the salmon could be acting as a vector for contamination. It is possible that these salmon are carrying some of the one million pounds of arsenic in their gills. All that eat the salmon could be also contaminated.

Who would have thought salmon could be a vector for arsenic or other chemicals?

Another ramification I never thought of.

Rod Marining 150 Mile House, BC

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TheGreenGazette

By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of TheGreenGazette

W

hen September rolls around, many families head to the mall to stock up on school supplies, backpacks, and lunchboxes, not to mention the yearly closet full of clothing meant to help kick off a new school year with a sense of newness and a fresh start.

Us? We go camping. There is really nothing like enjoying all the amenities of provincial campsites when there is barely a soul in sight.

Our kids look forward to this time of year and to the quiet, relaxed approach we take to fall. Our almost nine-year-old son attended Montessori preschool and kindergarten, and although he strolled confidently out of his kindergarten graduation with six years of hands to heart work under his belt, we just knew the traditional classroom wasn’t going to cut it for this little guy. My husband was a little sceptical of our options—continuing with Montessori was way out of our reach financially, and he was still a bit old school in thinking homeschoolers were basically either weirdos or fundamentalist Christians—and although he has nothing against either of those groups, he wasn’t exactly identifying with them either.

But in the end it was our son’s personality and learning style, my work-fromhome career, and the sheer joy of fostering creativity, open-mindedness, and passion in the learning process that helped us decide to keep our son home. (I’m not even sure “keeping him home” is the right phrase, because he’s never been as relieved in his life as he was to hear he wasn’t going to have to brave “that great big building with all those kids and stuff on the walls.”)

Everyone has their reasons for their learning at home choices, and be they

Nature’s Classroom learning challenges, flexible schedules, the desire for specialty curriculum, weirdness, or religion, the growing number of families who cherish the choice are finding it’s a real plus living in BC. British Columbia is the only province that has retained a section in its education act to allow real, actual “homeschooling” in the truest sense of the word. Under sections 12 and 13 of the School Act of 1989, BC parents have the legal right to provide an educational program of their choice for their children.

This means the parents create, deliver, and assess the program, if there is one, and the students are not required to meet any progress requirements. Homeschoolers have to be registered with a BC certified school, but this essentially helps the province keep track of what children are in what place.

Homeschooling families aren’t offered a great deal of support or resources although they do receive a small funding amount that would normally go to the school a child was attending.

In 2006, the BC government enacted Bill 33, which made Distributed Learning programs part of the School Act. Under DL programs students are enrolled in a private or public school somewhere in BC, from which they receive resources, support, and overseeing guidance from a BC certified teacher. DL programs can be as traditional as your neighbourhood school district’s government mandated curriculum completed at the kitchen table and graded by a school teacher, or as flexible as Self Design, in which parents are encouraged to help students and teachers decide on a learning plan for the year under which the student’s abilities are demonstrated in ways that reflect his or her interests. DL families receive a larger portion of funding that can be used for materials and supplemental classes or instruction.

Homeschoolers relish in the freedom to learn from life, to pursue passion in everything from community engagement to video games. Their “programs” are essentially about interacting with the world and learning life skills as their parents offer (or not). Their core principles are often curiosity, fulfilment, responsibility, and

Distributed learners Sebastian, Hunter, Solomon, Kaeden, and Mackenzie practice their social studies, science, and construction skills during an average school day near Oliver Woods Park in anaimo. Photo: Kelly Davalos play, and skills are often learned through work experience, mentoring, elective classes, and books.

DL programs are better suited for families who like some structure, but who still appreciate a student and family centered program. Flexibility and studentfocused are the keys here, in that a student who struggles with handwriting or math may be able to act out, sing about, or sculpt his language assignments or use manipulatives to express her math skills, for instance. Children are encouraged to follow their interests and obsessions with particular projects or subjects, all while being evaluated and supervised to some degree by a BC certified teacher.

In our case, we went with our local school district’s Learn @ Home program, which uses the province’s learning outcomes objectives, but allows a great deal of flexibility in how students meet the objectives. Ours is also one of a handful in BC considered a hybrid DL program in that students are offered three, six-week-

long blocks of on-site classes at a local school, taught by L@H-employed, BC certified teachers. The classes are for L@H students only and cover basic subjects like math, language, science, and phys ed, catering more or less to the structure and social components of the school experience. Most of all, it simultaneously met my desire for creative, open education for our son, and my husband’s desire that our son experience structure and interacting with teachers and other students in a traditional way.

This fall when the leaves are falling and the air is crisp, enjoy not just the change in seasons, but also the quiet and bounty of nature’s classroom. I know we will.

***

22ND Annual Tour De Cariboo – September 6, 2014

B

ig Brothers Big Sisters of Williams Lake will be holding the 22nd Tour de Cariboo event this September. This annual event is a highlight for many cyclists in the Cariboo and beyond.

This 75 km ride from Williams Lake to Gavin Lake is an event for riders of all abilities. Whether you want to challenge yourself to ride the event as a solo rider or as a part of a relay team this is an event that you will enjoy participating in.

All revenue generated by this event supports programming for over 100 local children. Programs supported by this event include Big Brother Big Sister matches, In-School Mentoring to children

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in School District 27, as well Couples for Kids, Aboriginal In-School Mentoring, and Teen Mentoring.

On the day of the event you will be supported by many volunteers along the way. There are rest stops with water and some snacks to give a boost along the way.

At the mid-point at Big Lake a delicious lunch will be provided for riders.

First Aid and support vehicles will also be provided along the route.

At Gavin Lake there will be an appetizing buffet, presentation of prizes, and a fun evening of music and stories. Bring your own tent or trailer, stay in the cabins on site, and keep the enjoyment going.

Visit our website at www.bbswlake.com or give us a call at (250) 398-8391 for more information.

Registration is on our website. Registration is $40 and a minimum of $100 in pledges. Make this an important annual fundraising event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Williams Lake.

Sign up for the Tour de Cariboo today and support your community!

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August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Peace Talks Resume … at Bedtime

By Jessica Kirby So, what is peace? I ask him, brushing the hair away from his forehead as we lay on his bed, spooning, his back to me. What does peace look like?

Quiet, he says. Quiet and no fighting.

What about fear? I ask. Some people say peace is the absence of fear and worry.

I guess so. As long as you’re quiet at the same time.

Is that important? I ask. That you be quiet to be peaceful?

It means sitting quietly and calmly with nothing in your head.

Do you feel peaceful most of the time or just sometimes?

Mostly I am not peaceful, he says.

Oh? Well, I’m pretty active, you know.

I’m always running.

Me too, I say. But when I run, I feel very much at peace.

How is that possible? he says, rolling over to look me in the eye, like he thinks I’m up to something. You can’t be calm when you’re flailing your body around.

Well, for one thing, I don’t flail when I run. I just run. And, I am very much at peace because my mind is empty of worry. I am quiet in my thoughts and feel no stress.

Aren’t you worried an animal will jump out an eat you? That must disrupt your peace.

-ot at all, I say. That is why I bring the dog.

What if a cougar ate the dog?

Would you be at peace then?

-o, I say, imagining that horror for a brief moment. I certainly wouldn’t be.

We are quiet for a moment, both, I think, imagining the horror.

Then I ask him: You know about the International Day of Peace? That it falls on your birthday?

He grins at this last part, as though the United Nations did it just for him and he owes them the awe of this moment.

Why do you think the International Day of Peace is important? I ask.

Because of my birthday? he asks, then giggles. Because it’s a reason to talk about peace. That’s my real answer.

Yea, I say, that is a good reason. It is also a chance for the whole world to think about ways to be present and not so worried about everything. A chance for the U- to spend every September 21 talking about how to keep people safe and the world calm.

What’s the U-?

Oh, right. It’s a group of people representing almost every country in the world. They get together regularly to talk about things that affect the whole world like whether we have enough clean water or access to food, what rights children have, and how to handle it when people aren’t treated nicely by their own governments.

And peace? he offers. They also deal with peace?

Correct, I say. Or, they try to.

What does that mean?

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That means that they try to deal with peace, but sometimes the issues are too big or so much has happened to fuel a fight and so people can’t agree on how to make peace.

He says nothing.

-ot only that, I continue, but there are five original U- members who can cancel out a vote whenever they like.

Seriously?

Seriously.

How is that peaceful?

It isn’t, really.

Well, if I were mayor, I would make those five countries give up the right to cancel other people’s votes.

You would?

I would.

You would make a great mayor, then.

Thanks.

We are quiet for a few minutes and then: I think peace is when you aren’t afraid, he says, rubbing his eyes.

The absence of fear?

Yea, I guess so. But I guess that’s impossible because there is always something that could scare you.

Like what?

Like spiders or fire or leaving your book on the bus and never finding it again.

Well, what if you could remain peaceful in those situations?

That’s impossible.

Really? Why? Because you would be sad, not peaceful, he says, yawning. You can’t be calm and still when you feel like that.

The Buddha says you can. He said the whole experience of living was about finding a way to be calm and compassionate—peaceful—no matter what is happening around you.

He raises up on one elbow, suddenly more awake, because he’s serious now. So you’re never mad? I though being mad is okay …

Of course it is, and of course you still get mad. But the anger just comes and you notice it, and move on.

He flops over onto his back, laughing. That’s ridiculous, he says.

It is? Or is it just unusual and hard to imagine?

It’s ridiculous, he says, yawning again.

Why? Because even if you kept your mind calm, the librarian would lose her pickle when she found out you lost the book and then POOF! your peace would be gone.

You think?

I know.

Maybe she reads about peace when she’s not serving customers and she would just be at peace with the lost book.

Maybe then she would want to come to my birthday.

Who? The librarian?

Sure, Mom, he says, his eyes drifting a little closer to closed. Anyone who can be that calm can come to my birthday.

Good night, Mr. Mayor, I say, kissing his forehead. Peaceful dreams.

Don’t Give Away Our Forest Lands!

By Van Andruss

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his year the BC government carried out an online public inquiry called an “Area Based Forest Tenure Consultation,” which ended May 30, 2014. Advertised as a response to a dwindling timber supply and particularly to the devastating beetle kill of the past decade, the Consultation invited comment on a proposal regarding “tenure” for large-scale logging interests.

Basically, two kinds of tenure exist in BC. Both involve logging rights. One is known as an FL, or Forest Licence; the other is known as a TFL, or Tree Farm Licence. There is a big difference between the two. The Forest Licence gives the right to harvest a certain volume of wood, while the Tree Farm Licence gives the licensee management control and near-exclusive harvesting rights over a specific area of land.

The government’s proposal is that, in selected cases, tenure shift from “volumebased” logging rights (FLs) to “area-based” logging rights (TFLs).

The evil here is that the Tree Farm Licence offers a degree of property rights only slightly less complete than Fee Simple, meaning ownership of the land. The provincial government’s “Discussion Paper” states that only existing tenure holders are to be considered and only in beetle impacted areas. These specifications necessarily refer to forest companies on a grand scale.

You can be sure that converting FLs to TFLs will make it much more difficult than it already is for the general public, and even for the present government, to influence forest management plans and operations, to protect vital forest functions, and to carry out non-timber economic activities like ranching, tourism, and recreation. Under this regime, it is certain that First Nations will have greater difficulty negotiating just and honorable treaty agreements and any kind of protection in their lands.

In fact, granting big corporations TFLs must be regarded as a final step towards the government’s de facto privatization of public forests, which began with dismantling the BC Forest Service and their approval-authority over company logging plans.

The shocking truth is that the present Ministry of Forest Lands and Natural Resource Operations is no more than a processing agency for issuing cutting permits, while the power to decide how cutting plans should be executed is currently in the hands of company-hired RPFs who cannot deviate from their employers’ fix on timber extraction and the maximization of profits.

TFL holders have consistently degraded the land under their control, after which they are free to sell their rights to “what’s left over,” yielding further profits at public expense. In reality, the pressure for new corporate tree farm licences is being driven by overcutting in the interior of BC, not only beetle kill. Issuing new tree farm licences can only worsen the problem and skirt the necessity to address the history of unsustainable logging, the lack of community control, and the many other complicated issues resulting in mismanagement

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Photo: Chris Stubbs and environmental degradation.

The government’s focus—I would say “obsession”—with timber extraction alone is narrow and destructive. Responding to the Consultation’s “Discussion Paper,” ecology-based forestry advocate, Herb Hammond of the Silva Forest Foundation, reminds us that “providing timber products is a relatively minor role that forests play in BC and elsewhere on Earth.

Necessities of life like clean air, pure water, carbon sequestration and storage, and climate moderation are all important functions of forest ecosystems” and “these functions are best carried out by old, natural forest ecosystems, as opposed to tree farms/managed forests.”

TFLs effectively privatize ecosystem functions as well as timber supplies.

The simple fact is that logging corporations, big or small, do not make acceptable stewards of public forest lands and giving away near-ownership of our precious heritage will not reverse dwindling timber supplies.

Back in1989, the Social Credit government tried to convert FLs to TFLs. Public meetings were held and the outcry prevented the conversion from happening.

I wish to remind the board of “Consultation” that, strictly speaking, neither corporations nor government, for that matter, own the Crown Land of this province. The people of BC, both native and non-native, own the Crown Land of this province. Crown Land is our version of the Commons.

A better solution to the declining state of forest lands is to begin a process of re-claiming TFLs and FLs from large corporations. Besides this, to set about reinstating a socially responsible forest service charged with supervising a respectful stewardship of the land, legally empowered to deal with all aspects of forest health and forest use. In this vision, private enterprise will not control the land or set the rules for its use, and government policies will shift to favour small scale forestry operations whose products accrue to the economic benefit of local communities. In this way, “profits” will be counted in terms of jobs (meaningful and friendly) for local workers.

For further appraisal, please visit Forestethics.org and Silvafor.org.

Van Andruss is editor of the magazine Lived Experience. He enjoys the bioregional life and community in historic Moha outside of Lillooet, BC. Originally published in Bridge River News.

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TheGreenGazette

Grainy Griddle Flatbread

By Pat Teti

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ike eggs, beer, wine, and cheese, “bread” refers to a single food category while encompassing endless variety. Part of the variety comes from using different ingredients but altering the proofing, loaf size and shape, and baking conditions can also add great diversity to the finished product. When you are following a recipe and trying to replicate a loaf you see in a photo, this also means that getting the ingredients right is only the beginning.

The temperature and duration of the proofing (rise), dough handling and shaping, and oven temperature and humidity also affect the outcome. Those variables that come into play after the ingredients are in the bowl are seldom described in detail in bread recipes. They are best learned through experience but on the bright side, the result of your efforts will almost always be delicious, even if it doesn’t turn out exactly as you had hoped.

The amount of oven rise that a loaf achieves has a large effect on the texture and appearance of bread but a nice puffy loaf is not easy to achieve with breads containing large amounts of whole grain, like the 50 per cent in this recipe. It is much more reliable to make a grainy dough into flatbread. There are all sorts of advantages to flatbread. It doesn’t require an oven, doesn’t have to be sliced, is durable for packing, can be made from any dough recipe, and it’s fast. You can convert dough into delicious flatbread in a few minutes instead of an hour. I chose to write about flatbread because it lets you experiment with high proportions of whole grain without the frustration of low oven rise. It’s meant to be flat, so aim low and achieve your goal!

While flatbread can be made with chemical leavening such as baking soda, or no leavening at all, this recipe uses yeast.

Well-proofed yeasted dough is easy to roll out and you have the option to make part of it into loaves and part into flatbread.

Like my pizza recipe in the April/May 2014 issue of TheGreenGazette, this one uses a long, slow rise in a “cool Cariboo kitchen.”

Recipe This can make 16 to 32 tortillasized flatbreads, depending on their thickness. I often divide this into two and make half into loaves and half into flatbreads.

You’ll need a heavy duty camping griddle that spans two burners on a range, or at least one large cast iron skillet.

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Day 1 • 5 cups water in a large bowl • A pinch of instant yeast (less than 1/8 tsp) • 2 cups whole wheat or other all-grain flour • 2 cups cracked grain such as 7 grain cereal Cover and let sit at 15 to 18 degrees C for two days. Allow more time if cooler and less if warmer.

Day 3 After this “pre-ferment” the dough should be bubbly and have a nice fermented aroma.

Mix in the following: • 2 cups rolled oats or other rolled grain • 1 cup all-purpose flour • ½ cup flax seed • 2 tsp turmeric Cover and return to cool room temperature.

Day 4 Add 2 tsp salt • Add about 5 cups more all-purpose flour or bread flour a cup at a time, mixing after each cup. Don’t worry about the amount.

•

When it comes away from the bowl (after mixing in about 3 or 4 cups), turn it out onto a floured surface for kneading. If you use a mixer I’ll leave that up to you because I don’t have any experience with them. I’ve read that it is possible to overknead with a mixer but not by hand.

Kneading is one of those things that are easier to do than they are to describe.

You can find “kneading dough” videos online but I haven’t found any that do it the way I do. Large, grainy batches of dough like this are much harder to knead than small batches made with white flour.

In fact, this batch is much too large to knead all at once in a consumer countertop mixer.

My kneading method is to repeatedly push and roll the dough so that it forms a baguette shape. When it gets long and skinny I simply double it back on itself and continue rolling. This makes it much easier to knead because you are not kneading all of it at once. Unlike a stand mixer, this method is slow and quiet. Listen to the radio, music, or your own thoughts. Keep the dough and the work surface dusted with flour to keep it from sticking. One of my favourite tools for a wooden kneading surface is a metal cabinet scraper to scrape up the sticky bits and corral the flour. If

I divided this recipe in half to make 14 flatbreads and two loaves. I brushed the loaves with egg yolk and sprinkled them with sesame seeds before baking at 450 F for 25 minutes. Photo: Pat Teti you have a concrete or stone surface, a wooden or plastic scraper might be better.

Keep kneading and adding flour until the stickiness is mostly gone. This takes at least 20 minutes for a recipe this size. When done, fold it up into a flat ball dust it with flour and place back in the bowl, which has been generously oiled.

Cover and let rise at a suitable temperature.

Final rise This can be done overnight at down around 15 C but I generally put the dough in a warm place to speed it up so I can bake it the same day. If you are making just flatbread, there’s no harm done if the dough “over proofs” (that is, rises as much as it’s going to rise and then starts sinking). However, if you are making part of it into loaves, you don’t want it to over proof. I won’t go into how to determine when the dough has risen just the right amount before baking into loaves because this recipe is about flatbread. I use a digital meat thermometer to check dough temperature. If you want it to rise fast, try to get it up to 25–30 degrees C for the final rise.

Grainy dough such as this doesn’t rise as much or as fast as dough from white flour alone but it should rise by a factor of 1.5 to 2, or nearly double its starting volume. The amount of rise isn’t critical for flatbread.

When nearly doubled in bulk, turn out onto a floured surface and divide in two. Place one half back in the oiled bowl.

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The following instructions apply to the first half.

Preheat the griddle or skillets over medium heat while getting the dough ready.

Gently pull and push the dough into a uniform log and place little marks with a knife for dividing it into four equal parts.

Gently shape one of the quarters into a smaller log and divide it into four equal pieces for small or thin flatbreads. If you want thicker breads, divide into two rather than four. Dusting with flour as needed to avoid sticking, press or roll out one piece of dough at a time into the desired thickness and size. Flax seeds help gauge the thickness for thin flatbreads and sunflower seeds could be used in a similar way for thicker flatbreads.

Grill each flatbread on both sides, rotating as needed and flipping once until they look and feel done. It only takes a few minutes. You can use high heat if you’re careful and don’t mind a bit of smoke. If the flatbread was floured well enough to roll out, it won’t stick to a well-seasoned steel griddle or iron skillet.

This bread is quite low in salt. I like to drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle with a little more salt. You can use it for sandwiches or make it into crackers by cutting it into pieces and drying them in a warm oven. Enjoy!

Pat Teti was a research scientist with the BC government for 18 years and has always enjoying making things.

August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Science Matters

It’s Time to Save the Bees and Ban Neonic Pesticides Honey Bee. Photo: Bob Peterson

By David Suzuki

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ees may be small, but they play a big role in human health and survival. Some experts say one of every three bites of food we eat depends on them. The insects pollinate everything from apples and zucchini to blueberries and almonds. If bees and other pollinators are at risk, entire terrestrial ecosystems are at risk, and so are we.

Well, pollinators are at risk. And we know one of the main causes of their alarming death rates. A new report concludes that neonicotinoid pesticides, or neonics, “pose a serious risk of harm to honey bees and other pollinators.” They also harm butterflies, earthworms, and birds, and because they’re now found in soils, sediment, groundwater, and waterways, they alter “biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and the ecosystem services provided by a wide range of affected species and environments.”

The report, produced by the Task Force on Systemic Pesticides, is the work of 50 independent scientists from around the world who spent four years analyzing more than 800 peer-reviewed scientific studies.

“Far from protecting food production, the use of neonics is threatening the very infrastructure which enables it, imperilling the pollinators, habitat engineers, and natural pest controllers at the heart of a functioning ecosystem,” says lead author Jean-Marc Bonmatin of the National Centre for Research in France. Other research shows they may not even increase agricultural yields.

Neonics are a family of chemicals with names like thiacloprid and imidacloprid. They disrupt the central nervous systems of insects and are undeniably great at killing pests like aphids and grubs. Unlike traditional pesticides, neonics are “systemic pesticides” that are most often applied to seeds and roots so the chemical becomes incorporated into the plants’ leaves, pollen, nectar, fruit, and flowers.

According to the Task Force, “Neonics impact all species that chew a plant, sip its sap, drink its nectar, eat its pollen or fruit” and can remain toxic for weeks or months—even years. The impacts cascade through ecosystems, weakening their stability. As nerve poisons, they can kill targeted and non-targeted species and can cause “impaired sense of smell or memory; reduced fecundity; altered feeding behaviour and reduced food intake including reduced foraging in bees; altered tunnelling behaviour in earthworms; difficulty in flight; and, increased susceptibility to disease.” There’s also evidence they can harm human health, especially in infants.

August/September 2014

Neonics make up about 40 per cent of the world insecticide market, with global sales of US$2.63 billion in 2011, and growing. That may explain why, despite increasing evidence that they’re harmful, there’s been such strong resistance to phasing them out or banning them. After experts concluded in 2013 that neonics pose an unacceptable risk to bees, the European Union imposed a temporary ban on the use of three neonics in applications that are particularly hazardous to bees—despite fierce opposition from the agrochemical industry and several governments. At the same time, Canada re-approved clothianidin, one of the chemicals banned in Europe.

In the face of conclusive findings from hundreds of studies, industry reaction has been astounding. “There is very little credible evidence that these things are causing untoward damage because we would have seen them over 20 years of use,” said Julian Little, spokesperson for neonicotinoid manufacturer Bayer.

Canadian agricultural pest control trade association CropLife Canada also rejected the science, blaming bee deaths on varroa mites, another serious threat to honeybees. And even though Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency confirmed neonics used on corn seed contributed to bee die-offs in Ontario and Quebec, federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose has so far rejected a ban, saying her department’s research is “inconclusive.”

What will it take to get governments and industry to put people—and pollinators—before profits? Around the world, concerned individuals and organizations are calling on decision-makers to get serious about this threat. At writing, more than 27,000 have signed a David Suzuki Foundation action alert asking federal and provincial governments to ban the use and sale of neonics.

It’s the government’s duty to protect us from potentially harmful chemicals. With neonics, the science is clear: they’re unsafe.

Researchers say, “there is clear evidence of harm sufficient to trigger regulatory action.”

They’re calling them “the new DDT.” It’s time to ban these harmful pesticides.

Written with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation senior editor Ian Hanington. Learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org.

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TheGreenGazette

Growing the Seeds of Change for Healthy Communities: The Williams Lake Food Policy

By Michelle Daymond

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s Food Action Co-ordinator, I have been writing articles on behalf of the Williams Lake Food Policy Council (WLFPC) for a number of years now (and it still amazes me that I have actually been in the Cariboo that long!). As I was thinking about what to write this month, I realized it has been a long time since there has been a description of what the Food Policy Council is, who we are, and what we do.

The WLFPC was formed as a result of a Community Food Action Forum held in November, 2006. We are now currently a sub-committee of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Child Development Centre, and work in partnership with the City of Williams Lake, Thompson-Nicola United Way, and Interior Health, as well as a large number of local businesses and, of course, all of our fabulous volunteers.

Over the last eight years, we have been working towards addressing priority issues of food security and helping to create sustainable and healthy communities. The goals of the WLFPC are to: •

•

•

•

Promote opportunities for skill development and increase self-sufficiency around food Increase production, consumption, and access to locally grown and produced foods Encourage practices and policies which promote healthy eating, active lifestyle, and sustainable communities Grow a viable local food economy

In addition to our goals, the WLFPC uses the framework of the City of Williams Lake’s Official Community Plan to guide our actions, ensuring that we are in alignment with, and have the support of, the City itself. The Food Policy Council is primarily a hands-on, action-oriented group; we hold quarterly meetings to discuss priorities, but our work in the community is ongoing throughout the year.

Perhaps the most current and visible projects of the Food Policy Council are our two successful community gardens. The Cariboo Lodge Community Garden was built in 2010, and offers over 15 gardening spaces for individuals and community groups. This garden has been growing strong for the last four years, and we are looking forward to continuing to beautify and enhance the space in the future.

If you’ve driven down Carson Drive this year, perhaps you’ve wondered what exactly is going on in the previous empty lot below Williams Lake Secondary. This is where the Williams Lake Food Policy Council, with all of our partners, has established a 25,0000-square-foot community gardening space. Named the Memory Garden by a high school leadership class, students wanted to create a beautiful space and positive memories for those living in the area. The Memory Garden currently offers over 50 garden beds, which are all lovingly tended by local families and community groups. With a huge thank you to Success

by Six, we have begun construction on an area dedicated to local preschools, daycares, and families: our new Lil’ Sprouts Chil-

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Photo: Tortie Tude dren’s Learning Garden. When complete, this child-friendly space will engage the senses and imagination of our Lil’ Sprouts gardeners.

Prior to 2010, both the Cariboo Lodge site and the Memory Garden were virtually unused patches of bare land, with nothing but a few weeds growing on them.

Today, they are alive with organic foodgrowing beds, enthusiastic community members, a community composter, a demonstration xeriscape garden, and many more developments to come. They have, and will continue to, host gardening demonstrations and workshops, art-making events, harvest celebrations, and much more.

Although Williams Lake has been home to a handful of backyard community gardens and our two established gardens over the last eight years, there are still many misconceptions out there about what a Community Garden entails. So, to clarify, here are a few key points: The Williams Lake Food Policy Council works hard year-round to fundraise to continue supporting the growth and maintenance of all our Community Garden sites, and to ensure we can continue to allocate beds free of charge.

• Garden beds are currently free, although donations are always appreciated.

• Beds are given away on a first-come first serve basis to any interested community member or organization (with preference given to returning gardeners).

• The gardens are NOT a U-Pick. If you would like to enjoy fresh, seasonal produce, please contact the WLFPC to sign up for your own garden spot.

• The produce you grow is yours to keep or donate—whatever you choose to do with it.

There are always plenty of opportunities to become involved: weeding, garden work bees, attending our quarterly meetings (give your input into future plans), and much more. Please contact us if you would like to be kept up to date on volunteer opportunities, or if you would like a space in one of our Community Gardens.

•

Michelle Daymond is a Food Action Coordinator with the Williams Lake Food Policy Council, a sub-committee of the Cariboo-Chilcotin Child Development Centre.

The Food Policy Council is concerned with food security for Williams Lake and the Cariboo Region. For more info contact f oodpol i cycounci l @h ot mai l .co m, www.facebook.com/WLFPC, or (250) 3025010.

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August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Little Bodies Out of Sync?

According to Autism Speaks autismspeaks.org the prevalence of Autism increased dramatically from 1 in 5000 (1875) to 1 in 68 (2010) as seen in statistics published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

By Cindy Sage, MA Sage Associates, Santa Barbara, CA USA Co-Editor, BioInitiative Reports (2007 and 2012) Why Electromagnetic Fields and Wireless Radiofrequency Radiation Exposures Matter for People with Autism Spectrum Conditions

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sk any parent-to-be about their top concerns for a new baby or for their young children and they will often say autism. Parents of a child (or children) with an autism spectrum condition (ASC) can tell you about its impact on a family’s emotional well-being as well as the financial challenge to provide for basic education, treatment, and healthcare.

The prevalence of ASCs has grown so fast that the numbers dwarf any other disease or developmental disability in children. Autism now affects about 1 in 50 children, and costs an average lifetime cost of more than $3 million per child. The situation is getting more severe every year.

We know that genetics alone cannot be responsible, given the staggering rise in prevalence. Multiple environmental factors may act together—it’s not just wireless— that can muck up delicate developmental patterns in early childhood.

In 1975, before widespread use of cellphones and exposures to wireless technologies, autism was a comparatively rare health issue. Since then, the nurturing environments that direct the growth and development of humans from fetuses to young children have massively changed. The explosive growth of wireless technologies in the last few decades represents one of the most staggering alterations of the built environment that has ever occurred. And, there is compelling evidence that this alteration are negatively affecting human health.

According to the BioInitiative 2012 Report, exposures in everyday life from electromagnetic fields (EMF) and wireless radiofrequency radiation (RFR) may be contributing to autism. The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified radiofrequency radiation in 2011 as a Possible Human Carcinogen (Group 2B) which applies to all RFR exposures. So, it is already known to be an environmental toxin of consequence to human health, which justifies taking EMF and RFR seriously as a possible health risk.

Many of the behavioural and biological characteristics seen in autism are similar or identical to those produced by typical daily exposures to cell and cordless phone radiation, cell towers, baby monitors, wireless tablets, Wi-Fi, and other sources of pulsed electromagnetic radiation. EMF/RFR exposures appear to contribute to chronically disrupted homeostasis consistent with many key symptoms of autism.

Lead author of BioInitiative 2012, Martha Herbert, PhD, MD of Harvard Medical School and a paediatric neurologist with Massachusetts General Hospital, says, “such exposures can have a disorganizing effect on the ability to learn and remember, and can be destabilizing to immune and metabolic function.”

August/September 2014

Evidence for Effects on Autism Spectrum Conditions ASC prevalence continues to rise, now affecting up to 1 in 50 children in the US, and averaging one per cent globally, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control report. More American children will be diagnosed with ASCs this year than with AIDS, diabetes, and cancer combined. ASCs cost the US $137 billion a year and, having become a huge healthcare burden and global threat, have been categorized by the CDC as a national public health crisis.

Several thousand scientific studies over four decades point to serious biological effects and health harm from EMF and RFR. These studies report genotoxicity, singleand double-strand DNA damage, chromatin condensation, loss of DNA repair capacity in human stem cells, reduction in freeradical scavengers (particularly melatonin), abnormal gene transcription, neurotoxicity, carcinogenicity, damage to sperm morphology and function, effects on behaviour, and effects on brain development in the fetus of human mothers that use cellphones during pregnancy. Cellphone exposure has been linked to altered fetal brain development and ADHD-like behaviour in the offspring of pregnant mice.

Many disrupted physiological processes and impaired behaviours in people with ASCs closely resemble those related to biological and health effects of EMF/RFR exposure. At the cellular and molecular levels many studies of people with ASCs have identified oxidative stress and evidence of free-radical damage. Lipid peroxidation of cell membranes, altered brain wave activity, and consequent sleep, behaviour and immune dysfunction may occur. Mitochondria may function poorly, and immune system disturbances of various kinds are common.

Changes in brain and autonomic nervous system electrophysiology can be measured and seizures are far more common in ASCs than in the population at large. Sleep disruption and high levels of stress are close to universal in ASCs. Disruption of calcium metabolism is known to occur; calcium metabolism being absolutely critical in maintaining many metabolic processes. EMF/RFR exposure can cause calcium leakage in the cells, by disrupting voltage-gated calcium ion channels, and may interfere with vesicle transport of molecules into cells. Elevated intracellular calcium in ASCs can be associated with genetic mutations but more often may be downstream of inflammation or chemical exposures. All of these phenomena have been documented to result from or be modulated by EMF/RFR exposure. EMF/RFR exposure also makes chemical toxins more damaging, adding another layer of ‘allostatic load’ or body-burden on healthy functioning of living tissues.

We know that cellphone radiation

can cause pathological leakage of the bloodbrain barrier. This allows toxins to cross this critical protective barrier and to damage neurons. It also is linked to memory, learning, and behaviour problems in children and pathological changes can be seen directly in the hippocampus (the memory and learning center of the brain). But, what other bloodbarriers can EMF/RFR impair? It raises the question whether EMF/RFR may contribute to the widely observed condition of impaired gut metabolism in ASCs (chronic constipation, diarrhoea, and inflammatory bowel disease). Chronic inflammation of the gut wall by passage of immune cells through it can lead to severe GI problems. Pain caused by GI issues can prompt behavioural changes such as increased self-soothing (rocking, head banging, etc.) or outbursts of aggression, or self-injury. And, what does this infer for the placenta-blood barrier?

What if EMF/RFR also causes pathological leakage of the placenta and exposes the fetus to toxins in the mother’s blood?

EMF/RFR can cause deficiencies of antioxidants such as glutathione, leading to a build-up of excess glutamate, which can lead to neurological hyperactivity and possibly overload conditions of the nervous system and sensory processing. Problems with sensory integration, sleep, seizures, speech, language, and other brain-based issues increase stress, and make adapting and learning more difficult. According to Dr. Herbert in The Autism Revolution, too much glutamate equals non-stop electrical signals—like a cartoon character with a finger stuck in an electrical socket getting shocked over and over. Your glutathione supply runs low, and you are so overwhelmed by non-stop neu ro lo g ic a l activity that it’s hard to interact, keep track, or calm yourself.

O n e new s tud y reports that the brains of autistic children generate more information at rest—a 42 per cent increase on average.

This offers a scientific ex-

planation for the most typical characteristic of autism—withdrawal into one’s own inner world. The excess production of information may explain a child's detachment from their environment.

Reducing or removing EMF and wireless RFR stressors from the environment is a reasonable—no, a vital— precautionary action given the overall weight of evidence for a link to ASCs. Canada’s Safety Code 6 and the Federal Communications Commission thermal safety limits do not address low-intensity (nonthermal) effects, and thus legalize massive exposures and the rollout of hazardous wireless technologies without regard for children who are more sensitive than adults to environmental toxins. Public safety limits must be rethought in terms of fetal, neonatal, and childhood neurological and electrophysiological development. Children are more vulnerable than adults to environmental toxins, and can be affected in utero as well as during the rapid growth of early childhood. Brain and nervous system development in young children appear to be particularly sensitive. The evidence is more than sufficient to warrant new public exposure standards benchmarked to low-intensity (non-thermal) exposure levels causing biological disruption.

In the meantime, it is possible to detoxify the environments of fathers-to-be, pregnant women, and young children by eliminating obvious sources of EMF and wireless radiofrequency radiation. Given the evidence for health risks and the possible links to autism spectrum conditions, these are reasonable things you can do.

Cindy Sage is the co-owner of Sage Associates—an internationally known environmental sciences consulting firm in Santa Barbara, CA. Sage’s specialty area of practice is the science and public health effects of electromagnetic fields and radiofrequency radiation (non-ionizing radiation). She is the co-editor and principal author of the BioInitiative Reports (2007 and 2012) and a founder of the international BioInitiative Working Group. Dr. Herbert is an expert on autism and has studied physiological abnormalities in autism and environmental influences on neurodevelopmental disorders, and brain development and function.

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Page 11

TheGreenGazette

Youth Perspective: It’s All About the Music

By Jenna Sipponen

S

ometimes your body responds to good music with goose bumps, sometimes you just can’t help but sing along, and sometimes it’s proper to just quietly listen. Depending on your music choice, you may have a combination of these experiences. Music keeps us alive in many ways, keeps us happy, and even inspires us to do great things in our lives. Music keeps the party going, and we all have to admit it gets our toes tapping.

“Those darn teenaged youngsters listening to their darn rap music!” scowls a wise grandmother, clutching her vinyl record in one hand and her tea in the other.

I’ve witnessed teens listening to Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Howard Shore, Saint-Saëns, and Rachmaninoff for enjoyment purposes. To assume that all teens listen to rap is kind of like… well, it’s kind of like assuming all wise grandmothers drink tea and only listen to vinyl records.

Music and musical experiences are stored in our brain in what is called the hippocampus.

Our emotional reactions to music are controlled by the amygdala, permitting you to feel tears well up in your eyes after a beautiful guitar solo. The nucleus accumbens is also where your emotion comes from while hearing music. Next time you start crying from a certain song, just yell, “I HATE YOU, NUCLEUS ACCUMBENS!” People will turn and stare because you sound so smart. Your auditory complex has the responsibility of the perception and analysis of sounds. Also, the motor cortex and cerebellum is where foot tapping, dancing, and playing an instrument are processed.

Our creative energies are heightened when listening to ambient music.

Having a moderate noise level while practising your creative passions is possibly the best thing you could do to obtain more creativity. High noise levels stunt the process because they are overwhelming and make it difficult to process information efficiently.

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“Without music, life would be a mistake” - Friedrich >ietzsche Predictably, our music choices tell people about our personality. “In a study of couples who spent time getting to know each other, looking at each other’s top ten favorite songs actually provided fairly reliable predictions as to the list e n e r’ s p er s o n al it y t r ai ts . ” blog.bufferapp.com They compared test scores of children who played musical instruments, to those of children who did not. The ones trained with at least three years of musical instruments tested better with vocabulary and nonverbal reasoning skills. They also tested better in fine motor skills, and in auditory discrimination abilities. Auditory discrimination is to recognize languages and properly understand conversation with background noise. This is where many speech impediments stem from.

Music is also a great tool to use when it comes to exercising. Bikers pedal faster when listening to music, according to a study done by Leonard Ayres. We are actually able to push past the pain and go for longer when listening to music, giving us a better workout!

In fact, the entire time writing this article, I was listening to music. Music gives us something to rely on for our physical, mental, and creative needs. So let me just pause my obscene rap music to tell you this: we would not survive without music. It is everywhere—in our hearts, in the tree branches of a forest, and in your car on your way to work. Let the music flow through your body!

Jenna Sipponen is in Grade 12 and lives in a cute little valley called the Similkameen.

Her hobbies include procrastinating, theatre, and yoga in random places.

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August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

August/September 2014

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Page 13

TheGreenGazette

Horsefly River Salmon Festival 2014 - September 27 and 28 in Horsefly, BC -

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fter the devastating spill of tailings from Mount Polley Mine in Likely, we have more reason than ever to honour the sockeye salmon as they come back to their Horsefly River spawning grounds after an arduous adventure from the Salish Sea. The Horsefly River Roundtable invites all to the annual Horsefly River Salmon Festival on September 27 and 28. Celebrate BC Rivers Day on T'exelc (Williams Lake Indian Band) and Xatsull (Soda Creek/ Deep Creek) territory by welcoming the Sockeye salmon as they return to their place of birth after one of nature’s most epic and commendable journeys.

The mouth of the Horsefly River is 760 km by water upstream from the mouth of the Fraser River at Steveston. Averaging 27 km a day, Sockeye that elude the nets of the fishermen make this trip in about 28 days. From Hell’s Gate the Sockeye continue their journey up the Fraser River. They swim past the mouths of both the Thompson and Chilco Rivers to the mouth of the Quesnel River (at Quesnel, BC). They make their way up the Quesnel River to the mouth of the Horsefly River and continue up the Horsefly River to their spawning grounds at Horsefly, BC. Activities will be happening across the bridge in downtown Horsefly from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday and Sunday. Both days will be filled with “fishy” arts and crafts for children of all ages, including Gyotaku traditional Japanese fish printing, and Dream Fish

painting, provided by the Stream of Dreams Mural Society. Local River Interpreters and DFO representatives will be there to answer questions regarding the Sockeye run and river ecology and any of your watershed related questions. The whole family is encouraged to come out to Horsefly, take a stroll along the river, and find out what you can do to help the Horsefly River Roundtable achieve and maintain healthy community watersheds.

Local vendors will be selling food, coffee, and wares including delicious bannock. On Saturday Night, Arts on the Fly Festival Society will be hosting a family friendly evening of music and dance at the Horsefly Community Hall. Music starts at 7 pm.

This year’s Salmon Festival is a collaborative event sponsored by the Horsefly River Roundtable, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Heritage Canada, Community Futures of the Cariboo Chilcotinand, the Central Cariboo Arts and Culture Society. As in previous years, this is a family-focused all-ages event aimed at celebrating and understanding more about the highly significant Horsefly Sockeye salmon run.

For mo r e i n f o r ma t i o n c he c k o ut h t t p: / / w w w . ho r s e fl y r i v e r . c a / s a l mo n f e s ti v a l / salmon.html. For the event page on Facebook visit https://www.facebook.com/events/297065403805945/ Contact Marin Patenaude for more info – info@horseflyriver.ca.

Roy Argue, founder of the Salmon Trip program, with student, capturing Chinook salmon to remove gametes. Photo: Guy Scharf

Salmon Trip 2014

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very September since 2006, high school students in Williams Lake have had the opportunity to pull on their gumboots and wade into the Quesnel River to haul slippery, fighting Chinook salmon onto the bank. It’s a highlight of a three-day science adventure made possible by teachers, Scout Island >ature Centre staff, Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologists, local and undergraduate researchers, Gavin Lake, and Quesnel River Research Centre staff. Students directly experience and contribute to scientific research for the understanding and enhancement of salmon populations.

The trip goes from Monday-Wednesday, September 22, 23, 24 (overnight at Gavin Lake).

Goal: To involve students in activities that help them appreciate how a watershed works—the animals, the plants, the water, the geography, and how humans fit in.

Details: Twenty students from School District #27 will work together with teachers and biologists doing the following: Chinook brood stock collection – You will be in the river helping to catch adult spawning Chinook salmon so that eggs and sperm can be harvested.

• Work on mini projects involving stream invertebrates, salmon dissection, and stream chemistry and dynamics • Doing natural history observations (birds, plants, possibly bears, and other mammals) • Tree planting to restore riparian areas • Art in nature • Learning from and sharing with First Nations and Natural Resources staff, DFO staff, and researchers at Quesnel River Research Centre • You will be expected to be outdoors work-

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ing, and to share a cabin with 7-10 others.

You will be asked to think about your Ecological Footprint and what changes you can make to shrink it to help steward the water and land. The first evening we will cover information you will need to understand the work we will do on and in the river with salmon and other species.

Transportation, food, accommodation, and staff costs are being covered by Scout Island Nature Centre, Kiwanis, Gavin Lake, Quesnel River Research Centre, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), PAC, and your fees. The total cost for the field trip is $7500 or $375 per student. Fee is $50. This is due by Wednesday, September 17.

Action Project: Each student is required to complete an action project. This will be either: tree planting/weed pull (September 17), Dairy Fields cleanup, Salmon Festival Host, or River Valley work. We will be discussing these Action Projects in September.

For more info about this program and applications contact Sue Hemphill at Scout Island Nature Centre at 250-392-8532 or visit scoutislandnaturecentre.ca

August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Choices: Selecting the Climate We Want

By Ray Grigg

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hoices are one of the many benefits provided by our modern, affluent, consumer culture. A television universe of 500 channels should provide something for everyone's viewing preferences.

Toothpaste? More different kinds than can be imagined. Breakfast cereal? The varieties are overwhelming. Cars? A model with specifications for every possible need. Don’t like the long cold seasons? Just choose a warmer place for a winter holiday.

Such choices are more than comforting. Beyond lightening the burden of inconvenience, reducing the stress of adapting, and creating the illusion of security, our choices come with a satisfying sense of control and plentitude. And now, thanks to the wonders of technology, we can even choose our climate.

Yes, just like adjusting a thermostat, turn to the desired temperature, wait patiently for the greenhouse gases to take effect, and that's the climate we’ll get. Furthermore, the science is so accurate that it even offers a range. This is why the October, 2013 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change provided choices between 0.3°C and 4.8°C by 2100. It all depends on what we want. The IPCC does regret the rather slow response but that’s the best they can do given the complexity of climate dynamics and the geophysical inertia to be overcome. But they have done their best. And now, in collaboration with the thoughtful people at -ewScientist (Catherine Brahic, Oct. 5/13) and the expertise of Dr. Richard Moss of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington, we are provided with four—not two or three but four—distinct and easily identified climate options for 2100.

Option One The Quick Response: A heavy investment in renewable energies and R&D, with so me geoengi neering a nd considerable political resolve to wean ourselves off fossil fuels, has held atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at 400 ppm—they are now falling due to new sequestration technologies. Billions of trees have been planted, forests revived, meat consumption reduced, and the world’s population stabilized at nine billion. Arctic sea ice has stopped melting, Antarctica has stabilized and ocean acidification has slowed. Sea level rise has been limited to 0.26–0.55 metres. Temperature increases have been held to 0.3–1.7°C. Option Two - A Slight Delay: A slow response in transitioning to renewable energies and implementing climate treaties are having measurable effects. Increasing efficiencies and the widespread use of natural gas, together with nuclear power and other green technologies, have stabilized carbon dioxide levels at 550 ppm.

Less pastureland, more compact cities, better mass transit, and a general endorsement of a low-carbon economy have slowed the rate of climate change. Sea level rise is between 0.32–0.63 metres.

Global temperature rise is 1.1–2.6°C. Option Three – Too Little, Too Late: Fossil fuel use continued unabated until late in the 21st century, then dropped to 75 per cent of energy consumption in the last few decades—not much less than the 82 per cent in 2011. Lifestyle changes were largely unaltered until extreme weather events prompted panicking gov-

What’s in your well? (Part 4) How do I fix the problem with my well?

By A. K. (Sandy) Amy

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ou’ve had your well water tested, and have received a report from your water testing service provider or laboratory.

The report shows that one or more of the parameters tested for does not meet the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines.

What do you do now?

There are as many answers as there are possible problems with well water.

These could range from something as simple as installing an inexpensive filter system, to having to drill a new well. In some cases, where a serious health hazard exists, the use of bottled water for drinking and cooking is the easiest and least costly solution. There are also many different kinds of water treatment devices now on the market that effectively remove various contaminants. Prices for them (including installation) can run from a few hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars. Due to space limitations, only some of the more common problems and their possible solutions will be discussed here.

August/September 2014

Bacterial contamination: If your well has been shown to contain Coliform or E. Coli bacteria (or many other possible bacterial cultures), often the simplest resolution is to chlorine treat or “shock” the well. This is a process where chlorine (usually in the form of household bleach) is added to the well and piping system, allowed sufficient time to kill resident bacteria, and then flushed out, allowing uncontaminated water to refill the well. After a 48-hour wait period once the procedure is complete, the water should be retested. Two consecutive “safe” tests, performed on samples obtained over a period of one to three weeks, will probably indicate that the treatment has been effective. If the “shock” treatment solves the problem, repeat bacteriological testing in three to four months. If the above steps do not alleviate the problem, it is recommended that the source of the ongoing contamination be determined and corrected, possibly with professional help. If remediation is not possible, a permanent alter-

ernments to institute unambitious controls on inefficiencies, greenhouse gas emissions, and even travel. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is at 650 ppm. The global population is 9.5 billion, oceans continue to acidify, sea level rise is 0.33–0.63 metres. The temperature increase is 1.4– 3.1°C. Option Four – Addicted to Carbon: Fossil fuels still energize a booming economy that is structurally similar to 2014. The global population of 12.5 billion is proud of its consumer and high-tech identity. With carbon dioxide levels at 950 ppm, human health is suffering, food production is faltering, water shortages are acute, and biodiversity crashes are threatening essential “ecosystem services.” Extreme droughts and floods are creating widespread political instability. Tropical diseases and pests have become common in northern latitudes. Ocean acidification is severe with primary marine ecologies in jeopardy. The Arctic has not had summer ice for decades. Melting has accelerated in glaciers, Greenland, and Western Antarctica. Sea level rise of 0.45–0.82 metres is displacing cities, settlements, and agriculture in coastal regions. Because the temperature increase of 2.6–4.8°C is registered as an average, some places have become too seasonally hot for human habitation.

These options for 2100 will be the consequences of our choices, the ones we make in the succession of moments that constitute the unfolding importance of the present—a particularly special present because it is pivotal in the history of humanity and our planet. We obviously have some crucial choices to make—or to not make.

The choice of Canada’s federal gov-

ernment is to develop Alberta’s tar sand and make BC’s West Coast an export terminus for its bitumen. Several pipelines are being planned: the Northern Gateway from the tar sands to Kitimat; the KinderMorgan Trans Mountain from Calgary to Burnaby; David Black’s proposed refinery at Kitimat would require at least two more pipelines, one for dilbit and another for natural gas; and, the proposed LNG plants for northern BC ports would require more gas pipelines. Meanwhile, the BC government continues to encourage the mining and export of provincial coal, while using its southern ports as conduits for the offshore shipment of American coal. Such choices will determine the future choices we have—or do not have.

We cannot be faulted for the unpredictable consequences of our choices—this is why we excuse children for their innocence of cause and effect. But fully functioning adults, those who know, or should have known, or could have known, are not excused from responsibility for their choices. Intentional denial and willful blindness are not defences in law, are dubious excuses in morality, and are harshly judged in history.

This is the sobering side of our modern, affluent, consumer culture. Because its information density educates us in unprecedented ways, many of the choices we now make carry a weight that can no longer be excused by innocence or ignorance. Sophisticated climate science is able to accurately describe the inescapable consequences of our choices. Of the four options suggested, which one would you choose?

native solution, such as a new well or a drinking water disinfection device, should be considered. Disinfection devices could include systems such as distillation, ultraviolet light, chlorination, ozonation, and ceramic candle filtration.

Heavy metals, pesticides, and -itrates: Reverse osmosis systems will remove heavy metals and Nitrates, and are often used in conjunction with activated carbon filtration. However, these should not be used with microbiologically unsafe waters or water of unknown microbiological quality. Distillation systems remove heavy metals and nitrates. Ozonation systems remove organic compounds, including pesticides. These last two systems are often used in conjunction with activated carbon filtration.

Hardness, colour, odour and taste: These aesthetic parameters of well water can come from many sources. Hardness is usually a result of excess mineralization, especially calcium. This is usually remedied by installation of a water softener.

Iron and manganese can also be removed with a softener, provided the water is not

too hard. However, people on sodiumrestricted diets should consult their physician before drinking artificially softened water. Iron, manganese, and hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell) can also be removed by chlorination-filtration, greensand-filtration, aeration-filtration, and distillation systems.

There are many local businesses that can help you with the selection and installation of the water treatment system that is right for you. Consideration must be taken as to the kind of contamination, the severity of the situation, the intended use of the water, and the amount of water being consumed. In order to select the best treatment method, a full testing of the suite of chemicals, minerals, and bacteria should be conducted prior to the purchase of a device.

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Ray Grigg is a weekly environmental columnist for the Campbell River Courier-Islander.

He is the author of seven internationally published books on Oriental philosophy, specifically Zen and Taoism.

A. K. (Sandy) Amy has over 40 years of laboratory experience in analytical chemistry and trace analysis. As the proprietor of Safe Well Water Consulting, he provides well water quality, well performance testing, and water treatment consulting services to private well owners in the South Cariboo region.

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TheGreenGazette

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August/September 2014

A Thousand Jars of Salmon

TheGreenGazette

By LeRae Haynes

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hen my children were born I learned to cook with meat. I came from several generations of vegetarians, and wanted my kids to have a choice, moral and otherwise, about what they ate.

I’m not squeamish and I love to cook, so I started pestering my friends for their favourite carnivore recipes. “It’ll be great,” they said. “It’ll be so easy,” they said.

My newfound decision was put to the test when, as the result of a country barter, a giant dead salmon was delivered to my front porch. Eight months pregnant with a toddler in tow, I stood over the fish, which was as tall as I am and two feet wide in Jars of canned wild salmon and beets. Photo: Lisa Bland the middle, and said, “I’ll bet you don’t eat the head.” breasts with bones and chicken breasts without bones, This was 30 years ago, so no Internet, and we and if you accidently get boned ones for making chicken lived in the wilderness. You had to figure stuff out on cordon bleu, you’ll end up sweating and cussing while your own. Determined to turn this massive dead creature trying to roll them up and all the toothpicks you use to into food for my family, I marched into the house to get hold them in clumsy cylindrical shapes will eventually a knife to cut off the head and the tail, and to carve it pop out and start on fire in the bottom of the oven. into steaks to put in the freezer.

I’ll bet you I canned a thousand jars of salmon Already imagining how I’d cook my first salmon when my kids were little. They used to eat home-canned steak (I’ll bet it would be good rolled in seasoned flour salmon as a snack, in sandwiches, and often took it for with garlic, butter, dill, and lemon) I knelt over the fish school lunches and on camping trips. I also canned lots of and started sawing on its neck. With a steak knife. I had fruit and veggies from the garden every year and they no idea what it would take to cut a fish’s head off. I grew up eating green beans, beets, applesauce, cherries, hacked away to no avail; I tried a bread knife and then a pickles, and corn from jars all winter, as well as sauercarving knife. There was blood and scales everywhere kraut cured in a big porcelain crock. and the fish looked like it had head-butted a barbed wire All my kids can cook; they all like whole, natural fence. Finally, sweaty and frustrated, I stomped out to foods and care about where it comes from. As teenagers the shed and came back with a machete. I balanced my they thought it was amusing and vaguely pathological enormous pregnant self over that fish and while my tod- that I spent so much time and effort preparing food I dler watched with bemusement through the screen door, never ate, but as adults they’ve thanked me for making I brought the blade down with a primal yell. the choice to give them a choice. They still love anything I was determined that my children not be raised I home-can and recently I traded my youngest son a jar of believing that meat came from little Styrofoam packages pickled beets from my garden for pairing my cordless from the grocery store. If they were going to eat meat, I keyboard to my phone. wanted them to know where it came from. I took them And, by the way, everybody said those salmon to butcher chickens at a neighbour’s farm. They caught steaks were great. Even with the slightly raggedy edges. and gutted fish, helped butcher a deer, and they even ate bear stew once for Thanksgiving dinner.

LeRae Haynes is a freelance writer, songwriter, coBoy, did I learn a lot. I learned that if you cook producer of “Pursicles,” and the community cothe hamburger ahead of time and then try to shape it into ordinator for Success by 6. She is also the instigator of a patties it looks like road kill and you have to improvise lot of musical shenanigans in Williams Lake including it into Sloppy Joes in a flying hurry before your com- “Borderband” with kids and is a member of the “Perfect pany arrives for dinner. I learned that there are chicken Match” dance band.

August/September 2014

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TheGreenGazette

The Pull of a River

By Jacquie Lanthier

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e have come from all across the Fraser Basin, travelling from the outskirts of the city, meeting for the very first time on the overnight Greyhound bus. We have left our homes in Port Coquitlam, >ew Westminster, and Burnaby. Taken off from towns like Gold Bridge and Horsefly. We have travelled from Lillooet, Quesnel, Williams Lake, Prince George, and beyond. And, at the beginning of August, as others have for the past ten summers, we arrive, from all across BC, to take part in the Rivershed Society of BC’s Sustainable Living Leadership Program.

At first we are strangers—to each other, to the river’s headwaters. We collect at the start of the Mighty Fraser like salmon brushing fins in a back eddy.

Many of us have never been this far north.

For the next 25 days we will live beside the gaping presence of the Fraser River.

We swat mosquitoes from each other’s temples and make blueberry sauce from the fruits that line our trails. In the canyon, under sharp stars, we do away with our tents, fanning out in a slumber circle, heads pointing in toward the centre. We wake to birdsong, dappled shade dancing across our eyelids. We cook and eat under a ceiling of sky. For 25 days we tuck in close to the heart of the landscape and hear its beating.

It always takes a few days to settle in, though nature has a way of reclaiming us quickly. Our thoughts slow as we uncouple from our electronic devices. We converse with each other, and within days have exhausted the topics of small talk.

Our discussions dig wells for our minds to drink from. Away from artificial light, we become re-attuned to the rhythms of daylight and darkness. We gather our food from local organic growers as we travel downriver, our compost packed inside a plastic olive jar amongst our camping gear. We are self-contained.

We travel the length of the Fraser’s 1,400-kilometer arc—paddling, rafting, walking, and driving the river’s undammed length. We work on project plans to implement in our home communities upon our return. We support each other and troubleshoot on the spot. While doing this, we see this province in a way few souls have.

A river smoothes every surface it touches, and group comfort is found soon in the outdoors. We laugh, we yell, a few of us cry. We tell jokes and sing the songs of our childhood. When we forget the words we make them up. We paddle in perfect rhythm for at least a few moments each day. Some of us have not laughed like this in years. We remember what it feels like to live in a tribe. We remember how to listen—to each other, to the river.

In our listening we are reminded of our own inner strength, how to hear, most importantly, ourselves. We remember how to lead and be led. Our hearts fill with the hope that can be forgotten so easily living in the routine of our media-

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laden lives. We care about the Earth and we want to do something about it. Our projects are something we can do, one small thing. Ripples can grow large from a tiny pebble tossed into a lake.

We experience the meaning of “watershed” and “riparian zone,” learning the lexicon of the Earth from an encounter with it. We paddle, float, and walk towards our lessons. Discussion flows from animal tracks to organic agriculture with the same ease as a river emptying out to sea. We watch a herd of bighorn sheep kick a plume of dust to the wind as they race to the river’s edge for a drink.

Along the way we stop in places like Quesnel, Williams Lake, Lillooet, Coquitlam, and New Westminster. We meet people who are deeply connected to the Fraser. We learn about each other.

They will become our supporters when we return home, helping us implement our projects. We learn how many good things people are doing. More hope flows in.

Day after day, the river reminds us of the beauty of the natural world. We watch the moon move through its monthly rhythm. We touch hair lichen on the branches of an old growth fir in the Goat River Valley and wonder how much longer these trees will remain standing.

We discuss, we analyze, we question. We look from up close and from far away. At ourselves, at the province, at everything still living and everything taken away. At everything we would lose if we do not learn how to care for our watercourses.

We get out our journals and our cameras.

We document. We draw. We paddle. We sit in silence. We listen to stories about the land. We work on our project plans.

We teach and learn from each other. We learn from the Earth.

Rivers have a way of calling us back to ourselves. The river cradles us, and in the carrying shows us who we are.

After this trip, many of us will realize that rivers have been in our lives all along—invisibly watering the food we eat and churning the soil it grows in. Rivers have been feeding the animals and birds we see, seeding the forests with rain, clearing the air, aiding our commerce. A channel to each of our lives.

Human beings have always been close to water.

After 25 days together we will disband, though you are never the same once you have travelled a river. When the trip ends and we step from the canoe onto the banks of Jericho Beach in Vancouver, some part of us will be put back in place, like a missing puzzle piece finally found.

The artery of the river will run through our tissues. You cannot travel a river and remain unchanged.

If everyone could connect with a river in this way, what kinds of decisions would we make about our rivers, about our future? How important would they become? A world where everyone has travelled a river is a world I would like to live in.

Our journey begins at foot of Mount Robson, the headwater region of the Fraser River. Photo: Doug Radies

Paddling the upper Fraser, between Dunster and McBride.

Photo: Jacquie Lanthier When we return home from our journey, we will share the lessons we have learned. We will implement our projects—starting community gardens, teaching students about watershed health, giving talks and slideshows. The projects are as varied as we are. But they share one thing in common: a message of hope.

We carry hope, the message of the river, to all who will listen.

For the past three years Jacquie Lanthier has travelled the length of the Fraser River with the Rivershed Society of BC’s Sustainable Living Leadership Program.

The program runs once per year, taking up to 10 adult participants by voyageur canoe, by raft, by van, and on foot down the Fraser River. In September, 2015 she plans to swim its 1,400 kilometers with three other women to mark the 20th anniversary of Fin Donnelley’s first swim of the Mighty Fraser. Get involved! For more information, visit rivershed.com.

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August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Making Connections in Education

By Ciel Patenaude

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midst the recent challenges within the BC school system there is a profound and much needed conversation happening with regards to our provincial education practices.

At least in the circles I run with, this long-needed job action has served as a potent drama that has brought latent issues and long-suffered imbalances out into the open (as dramas tend to do), cracking wide the host of challenges that our schools experience, and then taking the issues beyond what had originally been presented. Although we have yet to see any change or progress, I am certain there are huge shifts happening already and moving towards us.

Past limitations on class composition or pay cheque, this conversation seems to seek the big questions of our teachers and, hopefully, our entire society, exploring the base philosophy of why and how our education system operates, and then asking whether these practices might be the best choice for our children.

How often do we ask ourselves why is it that we send our children to school?

What is the purpose of the education process? What exactly do we hope to achieve through this 13-year process, and is that goal something that ultimately serves the well-being and balance of our society and species? These are huge questions, yes, but ones that I feel we have not asked often enough in the last 100 or so, often resulting in ways of educating children and adults that do not serve the ultimate flourishing of human beings on this planet.

For the most part our contemporary educational system focuses upon the practice of ‘instilling’ education and knowledge into an individual who previously lacked that information. Coming from a kind of tabula rasa (blank slate) perspective on the possibility and intelligence of an ‘uneducated’ individual, children go to school to learn things that they did not know before. Those of you who are teachers know that there is so much more to this, of course, and I don’t mean any disre-

August/September 2014

“The fact is that given the challenges we face, education doesn't need to be reformed—it needs to be transforme d.

The key to this transformation is not to s t a nda r diz e e duc a t io n, but t o personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put stude nts in an environme nt where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.”

Photo: Michael Anderson spect for the work and what you offer, but just to point out a very simplified base philosophy from which we, as a society, are often operating. This perspective results in an educational process where the student is seen to be without information and knowledge before, and then they ‘become’ something when the process is completed.

This philosophy is not entirely wrong or bad, for of course we all learn by receiving information from outside of ourselves and then integrating it into our core knowledge. It’s just incomplete. It is a perspective that does not speak to the profound potential that exists within each individual far before they ever enter the doors of an educational institution, nor does it address the possibility that they are not existing on this Earth to ‘become’ something, but to encourage, understand, and express individual creative potential. Perhaps we have missed the entire purpose of being alive and human by educating our children—and viewing ourselves throughout life—in this way. There is an enormous difference between an education system that focuses on ‘creating’ a person—a system that basically has the goal of forming people who are fit for particular jobs—and one that seeks to empower the selfactualization of the individual so that they may fully and creatively express their innate talents and proclivities in the world.

As Sir Ken Robinson expresses in the opening quote of this piece, we must change our education system in a fundamental way so we move away from teaching in this manner. We are and have been

suppressing the creative and personal potential of our species by educating without seeking self-actualization and empowerment as the ultimate goal. We have been creating human dysfunction and unhappiness by not seeking first to affirm, to each individual, that they have a perfection to their individual experience that must be sought out, understood, and articulated to the world. That there is a purpose for each of us being here—like the individual cells of a body each having their role—and that we do not ‘find’ that purpose, but uncover it. This is the real purpose of education, I know.

Making Connections, a program that I facilitate through the School District, seeks to do exactly this. Intending to nourish the connection that each child has to their own internal intelligence—expressed through their creative activities, physical and emotional experience of life, and the dreams, awe, curiosity, and inquisitiveness that is their natural state—we spend time with children not intending to let them know what they don’t know, but to bring attention to the incredible wisdom that is and has always within them.

It is small scale for now, but what if we had an entire school system that was based upon these ideas? What if we sought not to create people for jobs, or jobs for people, or more money for people, or more people to make money, but to ensure that each individual on the planet knew exactly who they were and what they were here to do? We would change everything.

People without internally-derived

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purpose and meaning naturally seek to find meaning and purpose outside of themselves. This might look like overworking or too much dependence upon other people’s assessment of them, but it might also look like religious intolerance, environmental destruction, and war. Might seem like a stretch to make those connections, but I know that it is true: happy people who love themselves and know that they have meaning just because they exist are kind to others, considerate of their circumstances, and conscious.

It is time, without a doubt, that we design our educational practices with this in mind, and move towards created an enlightened society where each of us get to live our full potential every day. I know that I want this for my future children, for every child I work with, and for every person I encounter.

Ciel Patenaude is an Integrative Health & Shamanic Practitioner based in Williams Lake, BC. A highly trained and naturally gifted intuitive healer, Ciel holds a BSc in Biology, an MA in Integrative Healing, and is a certified Yoga Teacher & Wellness Coach.

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TheGreenGazette

What’s Brewing in BC?

By Jessica Kirby, Senior Editor of TheGreenGazette

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t may come as a surprise—and a source of great pride—that modern day Canadian craft brewing has roots in British Columbia.

According to Ken Beattie, executive director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild, it all began in 1982 when John Mitchell, who owned the Troller Pub in Horseshoe Bay, hired brewer Frank Appleton to supply beer to the pub.

“John had this idea after the prov-

ince-wide beer strike in 1979 left him without a supply of beer for his regulars,” says Beattie. “The provincial government allowed him to brew beer for the pub as long as it was not part of the existing building. John and Frank made the beer across the street and moved it by handcart to the pub.”

Craft brewers are defined and classified in official terms by a taxation benchmark based on volume, meaning they produce less than 160,000 hl (or 320,000 kegs) of beer per year. In every other sense, they are defined by freshness, meaningful, local branding, and an exquisite variety of flavours that has blossomed in BC and across Canada. Flagship and seasonal brews of all varieties from deep stouts to springtime lagers, sometimes extended with local fruits or spices, offer beer lovers novel, creative choice.

Beattie says the magic lies in the artistry and creativity of brewmasters—they are at once artists and scientists.

“They are really like chefs as they continue to experiment with different ingredients and styles to create new flavour combinations,” he says. “And because they create these beers in small batches they can produce more beers in a month than a large foreign-owned brewery would in a year or two.”

Four Magic Ingredients Craft brewers may experiment with flavours, but the actual brewing process remains sacred, and has been for 100 years says Henryk Orlik, brewmaster at Pacific Western Brewing Co. in Prince George.

Orlik studied beer brewing in the world’s best place for learning the art— Germany. He started his apprenticeship at the Scherdel Brau in Hof an der Saale 40 years ago, and 10 years later finished the master craftsman

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Barkerville Brewing's flagship brands are a tribute to the Cariboo gold rush and aim to help put northern BC on the map. Photo courtesy of Barkerville Brewing

program in Munich.

“Small brewers still use four main ingredients: barley, hops, yeast, and water,” he says. “The technique is essentially the same also; a few things may be automated, but it is basically the same.”

Orlik says some large scale brewers, however, are using as many as 50 ingredients including corn syrup, rice, oil, and starch.

“From a brewing perspective, using corn syrup and rice is more complicated,” he says, but big brewers often have no choice.

“In the 40s and 50s many of them were short of barley and so they went to alternatives,” says Orlik. “Now they can’t change their recipes because people want that light flavour that stays the same.”

Because barley is responsible for a big part of a brew’s flavour profile, and just about anything from weather to water can change a barley crop in subtle but important ways, maintaining a consistent flavour can be a challenge for any brewer.

“This is when it becomes science,” says Orlik. “Every year the crop is changing, creating a different size of kernel, a different colour, but customers want the

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same taste. So, when the barley changes you adjust the recipe.”

Pacific Western Brewing has its tried and true Pacific, Canterbury, Traditional, and Cariboo varieties and has gone in all directions with seasonal delicacies from a triple rye barley brew with oranges and coriander to make it smell and taste like Christmas cookies; lightly spiced pumpkin beer in the fall, and a light strawberry lager that offers summertime refreshment tasting like strawberry shortcake.

Green Brewing Some of the best news about craft brewing is that besides the exceptional range of flavours, it is an environmentally conscious industry and has been for centuries.

Beattie says all brewers recycle bottles and cans; all brewers take the spent grains from the brewing process and donate them to local farmers as feed for livestock; and, all brewers recycle the water used in the brewing process and treat it so it can be used in future brews, reducing the impact on the environment.

“The popularity of growlers is a

August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette great example of the environmental benefits BC craft brewers bring to our local markets,” he says. “Growlers are re-useable bottles purchased once by the customer, directly from the brewery, and filled at the brewery with the freshest beer directly from the tanks. In BC, the popularity of this product and the fact that every brewer accepts other breweries’ bottles to refill, make this a very eco-friendly program.”

Pacific Western Brewing Co. launched its Refresh and Reforest program in 2009, which commits to planting 50,000 trees annually in the Cariboo region to assist with the effects of the mountain pine beetle infestation. Each case of Cariboo beer sold sends proceeds to the Forests for Tomorrow program with an end goal of planting one million trees by 2020.

Get the Most from your Brew: Ken Beattie, executive director of the BC Craft Brewers Guild offers these little known tips for making the most of your craft beer experience.

1. Always drink beer from a “beer clean” glass, as it releases the CO2 in the beer and opens up the flavours and aromatics like wine.

Bubbly Future Craft brewing stacks up against the big brands relatively well with consistent growth and more of the same on the horizon.

“Based on its taxation classification, in 2009, craft beer represented nine per cent of the market share,” says Beattie. “The most recent quarterly report from BCLDB for March, 2014 had the share at 22 per cent. This is positive growth and the optimist in me sees the situation in the following way: as well as we have done in the past five years, we still have 78 per cent of the market to attract new customers.”

And they are well on their way. In July of last year the total number of breweries operating in BC was roughly 55—one year later 70 breweries call BC home, and another 17 are underway and expected to open within the next 12 months.

Brewmaster Henryk Orlik says you should always sniff the beer before you taste it, because the aroma will carry the full flavour profile.

Photo courtesy of Pacific Western Brewing Co.

August/September 2014

3. Beer and cheese pair great together because they are both original Farmhouse products, both are fermented and aged, and both balance sweetness and acidity with fruitiness and fermentation flavours. Sip beer, taste cheese, sip more beer, repeat responsibly.

Try these sure fire examples: •

• •

ew Kid on the Block Barkerville Brewing opened in February, 2014 by Victoria, BC native, Russ Ovans and brewmaster Troy Rudolph. The young brewery tells the story of the Cariboo gold rush with names like 18 Karat Amber Ale, 52 Foot Stout, Prospectors Peril Blonde Ale, Hound of Barkerville Brown Ale, Wandering Camel IPA, and Sternwheeler Scotch Ale, not to mention the company’s tag line—Stake your Claim.

“I think our story of the Cariboo gold rush gives us a unique way of branding and putting North BC on the map,” says Justine Pelletier, general manager at Barkerville Brewing. “We are the only microbrewery in the north distributing throughout the province, and we are the only growler filling station in the northern interior.”

Barkerville Brewery is committed to environmentally friendly practices, including reusing its grain bags for planters and garbage bags, and recycling or composting just about everything the facility uses.

“We donate all our spent grain to local farmers, and our Trüb and protein waste is mixed into other organic waste to create a nitrogen rich fertilizer,” says Pelletier. “We source all of our product as locally as possible. We installed new low flow toilets in our storefront and are looking into more water saving technologies.

“Our staff is keen to be green and always looking for new ways to cut down on waste.”

She adds that craft brewers have the benefit of being able to source more prod-

2. Most people drink beer too cold, and should never drink it in a frozen or chilled glass. Lagers should be enjoyed between 2 and 7 degrees C and ales between 7 and 14 degrees C.

Because craft brewers create small batches, they can produce more beers in a month than a large, foreign-owned brewery would in a year or two.

Photo courtesy of BC Craft Brewers Guild

ucts locally because of the lower demand on quantity.

“This industry does not use chemicals, preservatives, or pasteurization in the same way that large scale breweries do,” says Pelletier. “We go organic whenever possible.”

Barkerville Brewing may be new, but it is turning heads with its most unusual brew, the 52 Foot Stout, made with local birch syrup from Moose Meadows Farms in Quesnel, and its most popular beer—the 18 Karat Ale. “We had the honour of winning a silver medal at the Canadian Brewing Awards in the North American Amber Ale category,” Pelletier says of the 18 Karat Ale. “This was our first brand we launched after opening our doors in February.”

Find out more about these and other amazing BC breweries online at Pacific Western Brewing Co. http://www.pwbrewing.net/, Barkerville Brewi ng htt p:/ / barkervillebeer.com, or the BC Craft Brewers Guild http://bccraftbeer.com/.

Did you know: Beer is the world’s oldest written recipe. A tablet with the Hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of fermentation, dates back to 3500BC. The hymn was the recipe for making beer and therefore in an oral culture was past between the nomadic tribes. – Ken Beattie, executive director, BC Craft Brewers Guild Four thousand years ago in Babylon it was custom that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in law with all the mead or “honey beer” he could drink. This period was called the “honey month” or what we know today as the “honeymoon”.

There are only really two types of beer, Ales and Lagers. Stout, Pilsner, Hefeweizen, Bock, et cetera all fall under one of these two categories.

There are about 100 different styles of barley, each with its own contribution to make towards a beer’s flavour and profile.

There are also 80 to 100 types of hops and around 30 yeast varieties—it isn’t hard to see why brewing is very much an art and a science

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Wheat beer with a mild bloomy rind – a Brie or Camembert Pale Ale – medium to aged cheddar Strong Ale (above 8 % ABV) – Blue cheese, Stilton, and aged cheeses

Justine Pelletier of Barkerville Brewing adds that a slightly warmer ale will bring out more of the true characteristics intended by the brewmaster and provide a brighter hop character and a more prominent malt body.

Always sniff the beer first, cautions brewmaster Henryk Orlik, and if you don’t like the smell, don’t drink it. “You should be able to get the whole flavour profile from the aroma, and when have it in your mouth it’s too late.”

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TheGreenGazette

Confessions of a Farmer: The Story of Baby Goat

By Terri Smith

I

t would seem that readers miss Amadeus. I know, I know: I have said goodbye to that article half a dozen times and then started it up again, but what can I say about popular demand? Starting next issue, I will be submitting a short Amadeus article for each edition as well my new farming article. In the meantime, here’s a little something about Amadeus’ nephew-brother, Baby Goat.

Baby Goat’s real name is Caliban, from The Tempest, but he’ll probably be called Baby Goat forever. He was an accident. A few years ago I kept two black, baby goats from our friendliest doe. The Baby Goat (Caliban) at four months, healthy and happy and babies, Olivia and Othello, were almost normal. Photo: Terri Smith sweet little goats and it all seemed like a great idea until fall rolled around and it was time to let Peter, the Billy, out of his as silent. He was missing for 12 hours. We spent at summer pen so he could perform his manly duties. The least a few of those hours searching for him but to no problem was that Olivia was one of Peter’s offspring avail. That night I just about tripped over him when I and not old enough to be bred. My solution was to went out to feed the chickens. I reunited him with his keep Olivia, her mother, and her brother together in mother who, by this time, was experiencing some lacthe fenced area around the house and under my bedtation-associated discomfort and was quite relieved to room window. They thought this was a great idea, be given a solution to the problem. The next day he since the food was great and they had lovely places disappeared again. This time it was harvest day, and beneath the eaves to get out of the weather. However, while I gulped my lunch and then went out with two once a month with incredible regularity, Peter would helpers to search for the baby goat, we didn’t find him. be there, crashing his horns against the fence beneath I was sure he was gone. my window trying to get into the pen. Twice Olivia But we found him the next morning, snuggled and Othello escaped, but both times I was nearby to under a log. He was fine. Mother and baby were remarvel at their ability to walk up fences then return united and again she lost him before lunch. I had had them to the pen and increase its height. After they enough. I already had enough on my hands with Amaclimbed up the gate I put a ladder over it, they stopped deus. Frustrated, I went out onto the balcony after dinescaping and I forgot all about it. ner and looked at the young mama goat calmly grazing Spring came and the baby goats arrived, and beside her own mother and yelled at her, “Why don’t with them, Amadeus. Life took on its usual routine— you look for your baby, you horrible mother!?” She usual except for the addition of a physically-andturned her head and looked at me, and then kicked at possibly-mentally challenged goat that never left my her uncomfortable underside. side. Then during the heat spell in mid-July I walked I had an idea: “maaa-AAA-aaaa!” I cried. outside one alarmingly hot day and was confronted by Olivia (and three other mothers—I’m just that good) the sound of a crying baby goat. I was holding Amajerked up her head and called back. It was as if I’d deus so at least I knew he was alright, but I hurried to jogged a memory for her, oh yeah, where did I leave see if one of the others had somehow injured itself. I that little thing that makes me feel better? And up on looked at all the babies stretched out calmly in the the hillside I heard a small cry answer. shade, counted them, and wondered for there seemed And after that, life took on another new routine. to be no problem.

Each morning Caliban would nurse, lie down in the Then I heard it again: “maa-AAA-aaaa!” … the shade, and his mother would leave for the day. After unmistakable sound of a newborn goat. And sure dinner when the herd returned I would stand on the enough, there was Olivia behind a pine tree licking a balcony and make a noise like a baby goat. Olivia tiny, wobbly, all-black baby. In July. In 30 degree C would answer me and he in turn would answer her. He weather. Oh dear! I thought. I did not need another survived, and eventually turned into a regular, healthy, Amadeus. goat. Well, almost. But that's a story for another day.

But Baby Goat was tough. The day after he was born when all the other goats headed out to the Terri Smith is an organic vegetable farmer in the Carimeadow to browse with their three-month-old babies, boo with Road’s End Vegetable Company. She has a Olivia went with them; she seemed to have completely Bachelor’s degree in Literature and a diploma in Art. forgotten that she had even had a baby. The tiny black goat was no bigger than a shadow in the grass and just

correction notice In the story titled, “Let me Tell You a Story,” which appeared on page 23 in the June / July issue of TheGreenGazette, the quotation, “to touch the heart so that head may understand,” was incorrectly attributed to Waldorf education founder, Rudolph Steiner. The author of that quote is actually Ruth Sawyer, in her book, “The Way of the Story Teller.” TheGreenGazette apologizes for the error.

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August/September 2014

Changing Course

By Jenny Howell, CCCS

G

oing through some old magazines last week, I picked up a 2002 copy of Harper’s magazine, with an article by Tom Bissall about the demise of the Aral Sea in Kazakhstan. The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth largest lake, half the size of England, and supported a thriving fishing industry. The Soviets pursued an earlier Tsarist policy to irrigate Central Asia and grow cotton and wheat (both thirsty crops) in the desert, using water diverted from the Amy Darya and Syr Darya Rivers, which drained into the Aral Sea. As more water was diverted into the desert and away from the lake, predictably, lake levels began to drop until the lake was just 10 per cent of its original size and had in fact become four smaller lakes—the largest two became known as the North and South Aral Seas.

Port towns and cities were now many miles from the water, and you have probably seen the images of rusting ships sitting in the desert as far as 100 km from the remaining sea. Where the water receded, the soil was heavily contaminated with pesticides and toxins that the remaining trickles of river had accumulated from the agriculture and carried to the sea. Salinity levels in the water and soil soared as irrigation washed safely buried ancient salts from land to the sea and the fish died.

Human populations are part of the ecosystem too, and as the ecosystems died, so did humans; infant mortality soared, anemia and tuberculosis rates went up, and cancer rates massively rose as people breathed in the toxins stirred up by frequent dust storms from the dry soil. The climate changed in the area without the mitigating influence of the water, so summers became very hot (often 120 degrees C) and winters became colder, reducing the chances of survival for any remaining crops.

The author was looking for hope in the situation as he was using the Aral Sea as a metaphor for the issues we face with climate change, but his article ended on a note of frustration and despair as he saw no chance for the sea, and by implication, one assumes no hope for future generations on the planet.

With recent news stories, such as the Antarctic shelf breaking off sooner than predicted and the inevitably resultant rise in sea level, I wonder when or if politicians will really get the connection between collapse of ecosystems and collapse of human populations. Scientists have been trying to point it out to them for years, gently at first and now urgently. With the controversy over directly related issues such as the recent Enbridge decision, I decided to revisit the Aral Sea story and see what has happened there in the 12 years since that article was researched and written.

With some dread, I started Googling, expecting the worst. But as screens came and went, I didn’t find the worst. In fact, there were stories of hope and cooperation; governments, scientists, nonprofits, and banks began working together

August/September 2014

to solve a crisis. And once everyone worked together, they came up with a simple and (relatively) cheap plan.

The economic impact of the loss of the sea is estimated at around $1.6 billion. For $85 million they built a dam, so that all the remaining water coming into the sea from the Syr Darya River into the North Aral sea stayed there. Within months, sea levels rose four metres. The lake salinity went down and the fish returned. With reduced salinity, native plants re-established along shorelines, holding down the soil. There is even now a fishing industry again, so employment and food have returned to the area. There is talk of returning tourist towns. This is not an “everything’s fine now” story. The sea will never return to its former state of being one large sea and the South Aral is still expected to disappear as the Amu Darya River that once fed it no longer reaches it. However, if current trends and policies continue, the Aral Sea looks set to survive in some form, not to disappear completely as was predicted by most 10 years ago.

Tom Bissell’s article talked about the denial of the local populations, the wringing of hands that nothing could be done to save the sea and improve water management, all while leaky faucets ran all day and people still washed their cars in an area of severe drought. Yet somehow, enough people felt they could change the situation—and so they did.

Twelve years later, there is still a form of the Aral Sea around when it was predicted that by now there would be none. It is a damaged, massively diminished sea, but the fact that it still exists is key.

Can that happen with the overall climate change story currently unfolding?

Some factors are falling into place, for example, there are global leaders out there sounding the alarm; the World Bank just issued a report stating that tackling climate change will grow the world economy; insurance companies can provide data on the direct expense and increasing frequency of unusual weather events; people are beginning to question the traditional parameters of ‘success’; social scientists repeatedly show happiness is not linked to stuff but to interpersonal relationships and a sense of community; and, parts of Europe are able to produce up to 50 per cent of their electricity from renewable sources.

Humans usually work better together in crisis situations, so with both scientists and economists stressing urgency and more people directly affected by changing weather patterns, maybe enough people are starting to recognize the issues and will support the politicians who understand that the economy and the environment are the same thing.

With awareness, scientific knowledge, co-operation and a common will, rapid change is possible from what can appear to be an inevitable path.

For more information on Water Wise or Waste Wise and any of our school and community programs, contact the Cariboo Chilcotin Conservation Society at sustain@ccconserv.org or visit the website at www.cconserv.org.

Chickens

TheGreenGazette

By Susan Tritt

The La Fleche is a French dual purpose breed that we brought in to work on the Le Merleraults. Photo: Susan Tritt Just a quick word to my readers to let you know life at Funky Fowl Farm has been far busier than I thought it was going to be this summer and we are making plans for better time management next year so that I will have time for the things I love, like writing my column in TheGreenGazette. I will be b a c k o n s c he d ul e wi th c o l umns s ta r ti ng i n t he ne x t edition. Until then I hope you enjoy a little picture of a new breed we have for 2015.

Speak up for Nature in BC’s Schools

By Jenny oble The big story of BC’s teacher strike has consumed a lot of media attention, but it masks another issue that may have much greater implications for the future well-being of our province and world.

The Ministry of Education wants to overhaul primary social studies and science curriculum in a way that would marginalize environmental awareness. Learning about plants, animals, habitats, communities, and ecosystems would be greatly reduced in favour of a human-centred focus on cells, molecules, and the human body, especially in grades 4-9.

The proposed new science curriculum would cover fewer concepts—which they’re calling “big ideas”—with less direction about content. This is supposed to allow students more time to delve deeply into topics and give teachers more flexibility. But as an article in The Tyee points out, “If you don’t identify in one of those ‘big ideas’ environmental science as a key theme, it won’t be taught. There won’t be materials provided for it. They won’t even teach it to teachers at university. They’ll just say ‘It’s not in the curriculum, why would we teach that?’”

The proposed social studies curriculum also reduces emphasis on individual responsibility for environmental stewardship. Instead, students will be taught about the relationship between communities and their environments. Investigate this link for more information: http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/01/10/New-BC-Curriculum.

According to long-time biology teacher Christie Mayall, in these years, “students are most open to and fascinated by [nature] exploration. This restriction will limit students’ fundamental and long-term interest in biology.”

Opportunities to experience nature first hand would be greatly reduced, if not totally eliminated.

Mayall further points out that these changes would put BC out of step with other jurisdictions in Canada and the world. BC graduates would be at a distinct disadvantage in terms of their knowledge base and awareness of the natural world.

The Ministry of Education is soliciting feedback on these draft changes. It is important that they hear from as many concerned British Columbians as possible. You can study the proposal in more detail at http://www.mheducation.ca/bc-science/2014/01/31/ curriculum-update-2014/ and offer feedback at https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/node/2314 More background is available at http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/05/10/Enviro-Ed-NotTaught/.

To sign a Sierra Club petition asking the ministry to retain nature education in our schools: http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/education/petition-requests-nature-education-bereturned-to-bc-curriculum.

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TheGreenGazette

Cariboo Growers Co-op Q&A

By Jessica Knodel

Wood Waste Part of the Cariboo Regional District’s Solid Waste Info Series: Becoming Waste Wise

E Fresh BC fruits at the Co-op (until late September, early October).

Photo: Jessica Knodel What is Cariboo Growers?

Cariboo Growers is the yearround local Farmers’ Co-operative in downtown Williams Lake. It is a not-forprofit market store that is owned by member farmers and ranchers from around the Cariboo and has a board of directors, a manager, and friendly staff.

They work as a big team to bring you the greatest variety available by multiple farmers under one year-round roof.

Organic? Is everything organic?

The store only sells healthy, happy food. By happy food, we mean fruit and vegetables that are non-GMO and grown with love and care in an organic fashion without the use of harmful chemical or pesticides; and, meats that have been raised locally in the Cariboo— and not given additional growth hormones or treated with antibiotics—and lived as nature intended, in the field and pastures eating grass and foraging. We label everything with either the “sustainable” or “certified organic” status. We also have non-GMO stickers on anything we are 100% sure is GMOfree. At the Co-op we encourage questions and have pictures and stories to share, so you can put a face to (or even talk with) the Farmer that grows your food.

What does not-for-profit mean?

This model was chosen by the members. It means the Co-op is not like most stores that want to make money.

Instead, members want the producers of the food to make money, and the community to benefit, not the store. Under this model, after expenses and infrastructure costs are met, any surplus is distributed to other not-for-profit community organizations, not members.

What local foods do you have availBut Cariboo Grower’s is still able? quite young. The initial start-up loan is • Meats (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, not quite paid off and store improvesalmon, lamb, duck) ments are still required. The present cus- • Seasonal vegetables and root crops in tomer base is very supportive and very the winter (onions, garlic, squash, much appreciated but we still need to potatoes, apples, shallots, etc.) increase sales. Please bring friends to the • Seasonal BC fruits including peaches, Co-op so we can reach our goals. When cherries, apricots, plums, pears, apyou shop at the Co-op, almost every dolples, and sweet frozen fruits and local lar spent stays in the community. apples over the winter.

• Other food such as honey, juice, bread What are prices like? (some of the most affordable in Our prices reflect the organic town), flour (including gluten-free), quality. Organic foods cost more to procheese and yogurt (100% grass fed), duce. This is especially true when you jams, nuts and nut butter, tea, canned are a small local farmer who tills and wild salmon, yummy baked snacks, weeds by hand, on an average of less and much more. We send out a than five acres. Each morning at dawn, weekly email if you are interested. until dusk or later, these nature-loving • Wholesale Buyers Club - visit the Cofarmers nurture and care for plants and op for details animals that will grow into healthy food, with only you in mind. Their food is When are you open, where are you, and guaranteed fresh, healthy, and never jet how can I learn more? lagged.

For your convenience we accept Alternatively, food that is mass debit and credit cards and are open all produced for profit is often done so on year long on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and hundreds or even thousands of acres, Fridays from 11 am to 6 pm and on Satwith heavy machinery, and travels up to urdays from 10 am to 3 pm. We are lothousands of kilometers to reach your cated at the corner of 3rd & Oliver table. Food that is grown conventionally Streets in downtown Williams Lake. (with harmful chemicals and pesticides) Visit www.cariboogrowers.ca, call 778is even cheaper to produce and buy... but 412-COOP (2667), or email at what cost? admin@cariboogrowers.ca for more information. See you at the Co-op!

Page 24

ver wonder what happens to your wood waste? It all depends on where you drop it off. If it’s not segregated out of your household waste, it will be transported to your regional landfill and landfilled. If you dispose of it in your local transfer station bin, it, too, will be transported to your regional landfill. If you dispose of it at a landfill in the demolition and construction zone, it will be landfilled. If you drop it off in a wood waste marshalling area it will either be ground up for fuel at a co-gen plant, or it will be incinerated on site.

Does it matter if wood waste is landfilled or incinerated? Landfilling wood waste contributes more to climate change than incineration, takes up valuable space in our landfills, and if it is disposed of at a transfer station first, costs to transport it.

Landfilled wood waste creates methane gas as it decomposes in the oxygen-deprived landfill environment. Methane gas is greenhouse gas 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide when related to climate change.

Wood waste disposed of in landfills takes up valuable landfill space. The lifespan of a landfill is measured in volume by how many years of waste will fit into the existing landfill footprint. If we are able to reduce the amount of waste going into each of our landfills, it gives us more years of use.

Wood waste disposed of in transfer station bins must be hauled to the regional landfill, which is paid for by the tonne. Wood waste in transfer station bins also causes operational difficulties as it doesn’t compact well and prevents maximum use of the transfer bins.

One of the strategies under the Cariboo Regional District’s (CRD) new Solid Waste

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Management Plan is to divert clean wood waste from landfills. This will require site users to segregate clean wood from other waste. Clean wood is suitable for grinding and incineration and includes trees, branches, shrubs, leaves, dimensional lumber, pallets, and pieces of wood. Small metals such as fasteners (nails and screws) and hinges are allowable, as grinders have magnets to collects these. Contaminants such as dirt, rocks, concrete, brick, porcelain, steel, and other metals cause costly damage to grinding equipment and are strictly prohibited from clean wood waste.

Painted or heavily stained wood, treated wood, plywood, particle board or oriented strand board (OSB), and railway ties all need to be landfilled. These materials are not considered clean wood because the chemicals present in the finish, preservative, or glue are harmful if incinerated. Many of these materials are costly to purchase new, and unused portions or pieces that are still in good condition are accepted for re-use at any of the CRD’s share sheds.

Waste Wise education is delivered to students in the CRD, but the CRD would like to make waste education available to everyone, as we all have the ability to change our waste handling habits for the better. For more info on Waste Wise call (250) 398-7929 or find details on Waste Wise activities and events at ccconserv.org.

Please join us this year to become waste wise and make a difference. For direct access to our monthly topics “Like” us on Facebook at facebook.com/caribooregion, view us online at cariboord.bc.ca, or look for our articles in your local paper.

August/September 2014

Naturopathic Medicine and Cancer By Adam McLeod, ND, BSc

>

aturopathic medicine has a wide range of tools that can be used in conjunction with conventional medicine to effectively treat cancer. Many people have this underlying assumption that naturopathic treatments are not “evidence based” because otherwise their oncologist would have recommended them. The truth is that many of these therapies are extremely well documented by scientific studies and the mainstream scientific community does not dispute their effectiveness. The bottom line is that cancer patients do better when they have an integrative health care team and naturopathic doctors are an integral part of this team.

When dealing with a complex condition such as cancer it is very important to thoroughly review the entire health history of the patient, not just the diagnosis of cancer. It is essential that as physicians we actually take the time to listen to what the patient is saying. This allows us to develop a custom treatment plan for that individual which addresses the unique circumstances of that patient. Naturopathic doctors are experts at taking the time to listen to the patient and developing a treatment plan for each unique patient.

Chemotherapy and radiation are effective therapies and often it is a race between the death of the cancer cells and the death of healthy cells. Making sure the healthy cells are supplied with adequate nutrients allows patients to endure these harsh therapies with fewer side effects. Very often patients who are adequately supported with the appropriate nutrition and supplements will be able to tolerate additional rounds of chemotherapy and radiation. Ultimately, if healthy cells are more likely to survive, this helps stack the odds against cancer cells.

Patients are often reluctant to take any supplements during chemotherapy and radiation because of potential interactions.

This is a legitimate concern because there are many negative interactions if the wrong supplement is used. Any naturopathic doctor who regularly works with cancer is well aware of these interactions. When the appropriate supplements are used there are profound benefits to cancer patients. These supplements are well supported by scientific evidence and they have been consistently demonstrated safe when used in the right context. This is why the blanket statement of “avoid all supplements” is simply incorrect.

It is absolutely essential that you have professional guidance from an experienced naturopathic doctor when you are picking supplements.

The mainstream medical community is slowly becoming more open to collaborat-

August/September 2014

ing with naturopathic doctors because the evidence for the benefits of an integrative approach to cancer care can no longer be ignored. For years naturopathic doctors have been using high dose IV vitamin C as a cancer therapy and traditional medical doctors considered it to be a nonsense therapy. Recently they have changed their attitude and oncologists are jumping on to the vitamin C bandwagon. There is no doubt that when used appropriately this can be an effective integrative cancer therapy.

Patients who undergo this therapy tend to experience less significant side effects from the chemotherapy. IV vitamin C can vastly improve quality of life by increasing appetite, raising platelet counts, easing fatigue, and reducing pain. When patients are supported by the appropriate nutrients and supplements, the side effects from chemotherapy are less intense. Studies consistently show that at these high doses, vitamin C is toxic to cancer cells while protecting healthy cells from the adverse effects of chemotherapy. The evidence indicates that IV vitamin C is effective when used in conjunction with chemotherapy rather than as a stand-alone therapy. This is just one example of many different effective natural cancer therapies available. There is much more to integrative oncology than simply IV vitamin C. There is no question that there is often a strong emotional component to cancer and this must be addressed for optimal healing to take place. Patients will often be able to directly connect the formation of their cancer with a stressful event in their life.

This is not an imaginary connection; there are biological reasons why emotional stress can trigger the formation of cancer. Stress can cause cancer. It is important to point out that this is not a hypothetical concept. This is a statement that is well supported by scientific evidence. The link between cancer and stress is well established and is not debated by the scientific community. Many people are not aware how significant this connection is as medical doctors often disregard this connection despite the body of evidence. Naturopathic doctors not only address the physical components of health; they will also take the time to address the emotional and spiritual components that simply cannot be ignored in patients with cancer.

If you know someone with cancer, make sure you let them know about the potential benefits of seeing a naturopathic doctor who focuses on cancer. There are so many amazing tools that naturopathic medicine has to offer and the public needs to be aware that these therapies exist and that they are effective.

Dr. Adam McLeod is a naturopathic doctor (-D), BSc. (Hon) molecular biology, First -ations healer, motivational speaker, and international best-selling author. He currently practices at his clinic in Vancouver, British Columbia where he focuses on integrative oncology. http://www.yaletownnaturopathic.com

TheGreenGazette

Upper Fraser Salmon Sustainability

By LeRae Haynes

P

rotecting and conserving sustainable salmon stocks and supporting First >ations in becoming re-engaged with their traditional economy is the mission and the primary goal of the Upper Fraser Fisheries Conservation Alliance (UFFCA). In partnership with the Tsilhqot’in >ational Government, Xeni Gwet’in, and the >orthern Shuswap Tribal Council (>STC), the alliance is establishing an Upper Fraser commercial fishing enterprise base on the Sugarcane reserve near Williams Lake.

“At this point we’re working on governance and structure, offering support through equipment, research, and experience,” explains executive director Gord Sterritt, who worked in fisheries with NSTC prior to coming on board with the Alliance just over a year ago.

The Alliance was launched in 2005 under the Federal Department of Fisheries, Aboriginal Aquatic Re- A purse seine demonstration was held on source and Oceans Management pro- Quesnel Lake in 2010 - a training exercise where all fish were caught and released. gram.

Photo: Gord Sterritt “When I came on with NSTC in 2005 the potential for commercial fisheries was recognized in the Quesnel system. We started gearing up to do some beach seining, and employing other harvest methods to see what we could get from that area,” he explains.

“At NSTC we started using entirely selective fishing methods. You can return fish that aren’t targeted for harvest, sorting through them while they’re still alive and put them back. We’ve been gearing up A fish wheel similar to this one, patented by the since then to implement a com- Gitxsan Watershed Authorities, will be tested on mercial fishery on Quesnel the Chilcotin River this season.

Lake.”

Photo: Charlie Muldon Conservation is the number one priority of the UFFCA— the communities and provide them with protecting salmon stocks and supporting opportunities for employment and enFirst Nations groups in the Upper Fraser gagement,” he explains. in obtaining fish for food, social, and Rack cards have been developed ceremonial requirements each year. for the public so that when someone “We thought this was a natural fit buys fish in the area they can read about for UFFCA, and we will support the the source and the methods used. initiative with equipment and the re- The commercial fisheries enterprise will search of different fishing methods for provide seasonal employment and supthis area. It’s an important concept to ply locally-caught salmon to local marpractice primary principals of conserva- kets. tion and support First Nations access and “We feel that this kind of prorights to the resource,” Sterritt adds. gram lets us protect weaker stock within “There has been a shift in allow- the watershed and shape fisheries to able commercial catch, and approxi- ensure those weaker stocks return to mately 12 per cent of licences have been their natal streams to spawn,” he says. purchased back from the commercial “Our mantra is quality and sustainabilfishing sector and are now mainly ap- ity.” plied to inland fisheries in this area, as Sterritt says the recent environmental well as in the Thompson.”

He says that while he was work- disaster at Mnt. Polley mine is a reing with the NSTC, the NSTC, the minder that the conservation and protecTsilhqot’in, and the Xeni Gwet’in gov- tion of our salmon is of utmost imporernments saw opportunities to get sup- tance. port and equipment for a commercial "This is where we really have to profishing enterprise. mote precautionary management with “If we find out there’s a weaker fisheries and with natural resource exrun of one species of salmon, and a ploitation," he says. "Any place, any stronger run of another we can share the time there is an accident waiting to hapcapacity and experience to make an op- pen."“ portunity successful. This will support

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TheGreenGazette

Simple Green Home Design

By Wilf Geier

W

e recently finished building a house. Before we started, it seemed like the ideas and options were endless. In order of importance, we felt that a solid, well-built house was the most important. Following that we wanted it to be comfortable, highly efficient, unique, and well finished. The original designs were pretty lofty, but then reality set in and the budget dictated what we actually need in a house (what, no indoor pool and skate park?!?).

We ended up spending over a year on design, looking at many different layouts that fit our needs, trying to ensure that we weren’t building more than was absolutely necessary. All while we were keeping it simple for our first (and possibly only) build. We ended up with a simply designed home with an open concept main floor, three bedrooms upstairs, and a basement in law suite.

The next goal was high efficiency.

When you start shopping for energy efficiency, the options are endless. This is awesome because it means people are taking notice and starting to care about green options. However, it can become quite daunting and there always seems to be some misinformation (just to make it fun).

After much head scratching, it was made somewhat simpler when my brother told me to just look at the numbers. Being a marine engineer, I tend to like numbers.

There are many green options out there, and we get bombarded by beautifully designed homes in magazines, but often they are complex to build and unaffordable.

After crunching the numbers, it was pretty obvious that the most important green choice that would produce the best results was a well-insulated, tight house.

To achieve this, we used several materials.

We used rigid Styrofoam insulation under the basement slab and in the basement walls. In the house we went with double stud walls filled with mostly recycled fibreglass, and in the roof we used 100 per cent recycled cellulose insulation.

A tight house can become uncomfortable, but the old “a house needs to breathe” technique needs to be put to rest.

Our house breathes through a heat recov-

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Our green home in the sunshine, overlooking the Skeena Valley in Terrace, BC. Photo: Wilf

ery ventilator (HRV). This device is a simple heat exchanger that replaces stale inside air with fresh outside air, but without a big temperature drop. It also helps with humidity, and keeps the house comfortable, all while using as much power as a light bulb.

For heat, we decided on an air to air heat pump with air handler. This involves ducting, but I liked the idea of air circulation. We also installed a wood-burning RSF Opel 3 fireplace on the main floor. It is installed in a central location and the heat distribution is excellent. Not only does it keep the house warm, but we love sitting in front of the fire in the (loooong) winter evenings in Terrace, BC. The design is our own, and though it is not extremely unique, it is simple and practical. This made the building of it much more manageable and kept our costs low. I sometimes see house designs with 16 or more corners in the foundation and shudder at all the added cost and build time (each un-needed corner means extra cuts on every piece, inside and out). Complicated usually equates to labour intensive and stress (both of which I’m allergic to).

If you are thinking of building a house, I think it is important to go through a planning process. I believe that these steps are very important in modern home building.

1. Don’t build more than you need: Not only does it cost more for material and labour, but every cubic foot needs to be heated, and the bigger the surface area the more heat loss and energy used for the lifetime of the house.

2. Keep it simple: Surprisingly, a small house can be more labour intensive than a big house if it is a complex design.

Each corner adds cost, and each roof pitch causes stress (it would for me, anyway).

Also a complex home is harder to seal and often creates more material waste.

3. Insulate, Insulate, Insulate: If you have completed the first two steps, insulating is not really that expensive and difficult. Especially when you see that by insulating you can buy a smaller heat pump or a smaller wood stove, it takes less energy to heat, and it stays cooler in the summer.

Insulation is the gift that keeps on giving, day after day, year after year.

4. Comfort: Make sure that the house is comfortable. There are many methods of doing this—look at the numbers to get what is best for you. If you don’t like getting firewood, then putting in a stove would be a waste of money. I could have put in geothermal rather than a heat pump and fireplace, but I really wanted the fireplace and, coupled with the heat pump, my cost is less per year than geothermal would have been. Though firewood can

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cost money, I usually get mine for free (though it sometimes incurs a trip to the chiropractor). HRV is a fairly cheap system to install and can make the difference between a stuffy house and one that feels fresh.

5. Use all of your space: One way to reduce your footprint is to build a basement. A basement used to be a cold dark, musty space that you stored things in. That no longer needs to be the case. I wanted a four-bedroom house so that we could have a spare bedroom. By insulating the slab and building with Quad Lock, the rigid Sytrofoam, we achieved a very comfortable suite (as well as some much needed storage space).

6. Materials: Try to use locally manufactured, recycled, and available materials. Often they are cheaper, more readily available, and involve less trucking.

Wood, recycled fibreglass, and cellulose insulation make up a good part of this house, and are all locally available and renewable.

In the end, we were able to prove that anyone can build green, without revolutionizing the tried and tested methods of current building practices, and with very little added labour or cost. Our house is very comfortable, suits our needs, and costs very little to maintain. As I stated above, there are many methods of green home design, and certain material prices are changing constantly. I believe that our choices were the best for us, and we are very lucky that we were able to achieve all of the items on our list and do it within the budget that we had.

For those about to build, enjoy the process. Take breaks when you need them and don’t stress the small stuff. Also, don’t worry when you feel like you are losing your mind; you might be, but it’ll come back after the finishing work is completed.

For those who are renovating, it’s a similar process; use the numbers to see if you are getting the most out of your dollar. This will save you heartache (or at least bankache) in the long run.

Wilf Geier works as a marine engineer and in search and rescue for the Canadian Coast Guard. He’s been living in and loving the northwest for many years.

August/September 2014

Five Sure-fire Fall Mushrooms for the Beginning Fungivore

TheGreenGazette

By Bill Chapman

T

here are many reasons to take part in the free bounty of wild mushrooms we have in the Cariboo. First and foremost is that wild mushrooms are to the farmed mushroom as the tree picked peach is to supermarket picked variety, that is, unbelievably more flavourful. Other reasons for picking fall mushrooms include the diversity of kinds and flavours available, the excellent nutritional and health properties of wild mushrooms, and the very reasonable price (free). There is nothing that justifies a walk in the woods in the crisp fall air like a basket of delicious and free mushrooms to accentuate your fall feasting.

One of the major obstacles facing the novice mushroom picker is overcoming the fear that your first harvest might be your last. The fungiphobic British Isles have instilled an unreasonable fear of mushrooms in many Canadians. While there are a few mushrooms in this area that can make you sick or worse, there are as many berries that will do the same. While most of us have a vague sense that poisonous berries do exist, we still feel quite comfortable eating our well recognized favourites such as Saskatoons or huckleberries.

With that in mind, I have described five fall mushrooms below that are easy to recognize and very difficult to confuse with anything dangerous.

Familiarize yourself with these mushrooms in a good book or online and you could have a great fall mushrooming season this year. Leisure Services in Williams Lake will be organizing a fall foray and at that time you can get an experienced picker to confirm your identifications so that you are safely on the path to long years of enjoying another one of the bounties of rural life.

1. Shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) - Delicious, plentiful, unmistakeable. This mushroom grows on buried wood or other organic matter along logging roads, in old landings, in lawns, or on fields.

As with all mushrooms, cut the dirty base off when picking to avoid getting grit in the close-packed gills, which are impossible to clean after the fact. Discard specimens that have started to turn pink, a precursor to turning black. Cook with salt in a medium pan to allow the water to come out. As the water starts to boil down, add cream and perhaps a few diced onions, and cook until the cream thickens. It does not get any better than this.

2. Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) Arrives with the first fall rains when day length is around 12 hours, and fruits again in the spring during the same photoperiod. Photoperiod triggers fruiting in this mushroom. This flavour-charged cousin of the supermarket delicacy can be found growing in abundance on dead aspen in this area. When you find a producing tree it may yield for years, hence creating your first secret mushroom patch. This is a perfect illustration of the important role that dead trees play in the life of a forest (remember that many forest creatures eat mushrooms so leave some for them).

Discard the tough stems, which won't be dirty be-

cause they are growing on dead wood. Rip the mushrooms into half-inch-wide strips. Put in a hot pan with several tablespoons of peanut oil. Add salt and a little garlic. The heat should bring the moisture out of the mushroom to form a lovely, viscous broth, rich in umami taste and similar to a good chicken broth. Serve as a soup with mushrooms floating in the clear broth.

3. Honey Mushroom (Armillaria ostoyae and others) - Delicious, but so abundant around here that there is a tendency to overdo it. The honey mushroom comes out last of all, and is often found peaking through the first snowfalls of the year. It grows in clusters around the base of dead trees, which are the flag you look for to signal this mushroom’s presence. They can be found within minutes of Williams Lake in many locations, but not west of the Fraser.

Discard the tough stems and use as a substitute for shian gu, the black mushroom ubiquitous in Chinese cooking. Dries well for later use.

4. Hedgehog (Dentinum repandum) - We don’t have chanterelles close to Williams Lake, but this little beauty tastes and looks similar—but better.

It is found in mature pine stands, which the mountain pine beetle made scarce in the last few years. Look for it in the most mature (live) pine stands you can find. It starts in the summer and continues until midautumn. The pale to dark orange top and white spines instead of gills make this tasty morsel impossible to mistake. On those days when you don’t get your moose, pick a basket of these and come home to a warm welcome. The best way to cook all mushrooms is to sauté in butter with salt to taste. Nice, clean and simple; let the mushroom do the talking.

Serve these with a grass-fattened beef steak or with your favourite shape of noodle.

5. Short Slippery Jack (Suillus brevipes) - I had to include one in the list that is a bit of an acquired taste. Like all Suillus, the short slippery Jack must be eaten in the button stage when it is firm and worm-free. Fortunately, this is easy to do because these babies are abundant under young pine stands, which can be found pretty much anywhere around Williams Lake right now thanks to the mountain pine beetle. These can be sautéed, but Polish people love to pickle this butter mushroom (as Europeans call it). Pickle in vinegar, pickling salt, and boiling water. Add varying degrees of onion, peppercorns, bay leaves, or garlic, as you wish. Eat these on their own or with herring salad for Christmas.

If you familiarize yourself with the mushrooms above, for as much as it is possible to guarantee anything in this life, you will have a successful fall mushroom season this year and will go into the winter well fed and happy. Good mushrooming.

Bill and his family have lived in Williams Lake since 1992. They are frequently the only mushrooms pickers to be seen on the vast landscapes of the CaribooChilcotin. Bill learned to pick mushrooms at his mother’s knee and Bill and Louisa’s kids all started picking mushrooms while still in diapers.

Photos from top to bottom: Photo 1: Hydnum repandum, commonly known as the hedgehog mushroom, is an edible mushroom with no poisonous lookalikes. Source: en.wikipedia.org Photo 2: Suillus brevipes is commonly known as the stubby-stalk or the short-stemmed slippery Jack.

Source: en.wikipedia.org Photo 3: Coprinus comatus, or Shaggy mane mushroom. Photo: Anneli Salo Photo 4: Honey mushroom growing beneath the “honey mushroom flag” (a dead tree). Photo: Bill Chapman Photo 5: Oyster mushrooms nicely displayed in nature's supermarket. Photo: Julia Pope

August/September 2014

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Page 27

TheGreenGazette

Featured Green Business

Thoughts on Rivers

A

s I tossed around ideas for a river poem, I thought about the rivers in the sky, narrow bands or corridors of concentrated water vapour in the atmosphere.

These powerful weather systems called atmospheric rivers have been getting wider and longer as Earth’s climate warms, and are causing more frequent and catastrophic picgifs.com floods on our planet.

I also thought about the ancient rivers on Mars. The Mars rovers that have been sending back evidence since 2012 have convinced NASA scientists that millions of years ago there existed oceans, lakes, and rivers—rivers that would have almost certainly been drinkable.

They are no more, of course. Now the atmosphere of Mars is most noticeable for its gigantic dust storms—the biggest in our whole solar system—and they sometimes envelop the whole planet.

When I was born, seventy years ago, much of the Earth’s water was still sweet and pure. Now, some of it is so polluted it cannot even be used for industrial purposes.

Listen to Me Said the River I will listen said the fish, the frog, the whale and even the canary I am listening, and I think I understand said the seeker I seek to understand said the scientist I am too busy to understand said the CEOs of Syncrude, Monsanto, Cargill, and the head of the World Bank The river laughed and roared I have not a mean spirit it sang I will flood you with love I will love you with floods I will magnify your ignorance and idiocy Then I will go away And the river stopped speaking -Betty Geier

Di’s Honey Garlic Salad Vinaigrette & Vegetable Marinade Complime nts of Bee Happy Honey, Dunaway Ranch, Soda Creek, BC This recipe is very healthy, versatile, and is open to change! People of all ages seem to enjoy it, and it’s a great way to encourage kids to eat raw vegetables. I often marinate the hard vegetables (peppers, carrots, red onion, etc.) for a few hours before mixing everything with lettuce and adding a few soft vegetables (tomatoes, cukes, etc.) and/or fruit (e.g. pears, apples) to the salad. Raw sunflower seeds also make a nice last minute addition to this base recipe.

Ingredients 1 cup good olive oil 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/2 fresh lemon juice (or other citrus fruit) 1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar (the trick is to use sparingly) 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard 2 Tbsp. good, local honey 2 (or more) cloves of local, organic garlic, crushed 1 tsp. fresh cracked pepper Dash of salt Fresh finely chopped seasonal herbs to taste (basil, cilantro, parsley... whatever)

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Photo: epSos.de Wikimedia Commons Sometimes the honey needs time to dissolve – Mix this recipe up in a jar and give it a good shake. If you don’t use it all at once, store in the fridge and set on the counter at room temperature for a few minutes before use, as it does congeal. Shake well before drizzling.

Tasty variation: add 1 tsp. of sesame oil, a Tbsp. of freshly grated ginger root, and a dash of soya sauce instead of the balsamic vinegar. Toasted sesame seeds can be added just before serving.

Enjoy!

Adorn and Beauty Naturally—Loving the planet and being your most beautiful ‘you’

Tracy Dale, Mikaela Gainer, Jo-Ann Lang, Danielle Barrette, and Tanya Seland from Adorn and Beauty aturally in Williams Lake are committed to providing friendly, professional customer service and high quality products that are kind to the environme nt and help you look and feel your best. Photo: LeRae Haynes

By LeRae Haynes

H

ealth and beauty treatments go hand in hand with protecting the environment at Adorn and Beauty >aturally. The salon offers pedicures, manicures, facials, waxing, reflexology, a range of massage treatments, eyelash and eyebrow tinting, gel nails and polish, and more. What sets the salon apart, according to owner Jo-Anne Lang, is its commitment to high-quality green Canadian products with no preservatives, toxins, or harmful additives.

Lang has been in the health and beauty industry for 14 years, and says that what people expect has really changed.

“People know more and care more about the products they use and where they come from,” she says. “This is so positive and encouraging.

“I starting using organic skin care myself years ago—I’m allergic to everything—and that has always motivated me to find the very best for my customers,” she says.

“I don’t know if allergies have increased, or if our awareness of them has increased. People may have had allergies for a long time without knowing it.”

Adorn offers product refills to reduce waste and uses all-natural cleaners and cloths for cleaning instead of paper towels. The salon also features local artists, displaying paintings, photography, and local jewellery, and creating a beautiful, peaceful, welcoming atmosphere for clients.

“I’m so thankful for the incredible local artists who bring their beautiful work to hang on our walls,” she says. “We have many talented artists here; I love being able to support them.”

Another important thing at Adorn is supporting the local community. “We do-

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nate every chance we get, providing gift certificates at silent auctions to raise money at school events, local galas, and non-profit events,” says Lang. “If it’s local, we’re in.”

Adorn customers are women, men, children, seniors, and families. Lang says customer service is why she started this business: to make her clients feel like they’re number one. “That’s why we’re here. I want them to feel that while they’re here they learned a little bit about being healthy and feeling happy. In this business it’s important to be personable and connect with people,” she says.

“I am very proud of my staff. They inspire loyalty and appreciation from customers. When I hire I look for ‘friendly’ and for someone willing to learn how to use natural, organic, green products.”

Sometimes it can be hard for people to get in the door of a salon, says Lang.

“Sometimes people are of a generation where it’s hard to look after themselves—they see it as an indulgence. We offer a warm welcome, a warm comforting soak for your feet or your hands: it feels like coming home.

“Our facility is accessible for everyone and our services are affordable,” she says. “We explain all our products and procedures and offer information and support about all our treatments, as well as helpful ideas and suggestions.

“You don’t have to sacrifice feeling beautiful to protect the environment. I think every woman is naturally beautiful, and it doesn’t take chemicals to look and feel your best.

“I don’t believe in putting the earth in peril for our own beauty: we should teach our children that you don’t have to ruin the earth to be beautiful.”

August/September 2014

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August/September 2014

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Page 29

TheGreenGazette

August / September Calendar of Events

NOURISHING OUR CHILDREN

By Jasmin Schellenberg Recently we had two Swiss beekeepers visiting our ranch. They were amazed at our bee hives’ health. “How do you do that?” they were inquiring.

“We manage for good health versus against disease,” was my answer.

This also is possible in our everyday lives. Stay away from GMOs and MSGs, manage for a strong immune system, and you will not likely need vaccination. Educate yourself before exposing your child to shots (check the ingredients: ethylmercurythiomerosal, for example, has terrible side effects.)

Since the 1930s, ethylmercurythiosalicylate, also known as thimerosal, has been used as a preservative in vaccines and injection compounds worldwide due to its antifungal and antibacterial properties. Comprised of 50 percent mercury, thimerosal is an organic mercury compound that breaks down in the body into ethyl mercury and thiosalicylate and is thought by many parents and scientists to be primarily responsible for the epidemic of autism and other neurological disorders in children over the last 20 years.

Steffanie Seneff said at a recent Wise Traditions conference, today 1 in 50 children is autistic and if we don’t change something very quickly, by 2025 it will be 1 in 2. That’s only in 11 years from now.

Many of our children get 26 doses of nine different vaccines by the first birthday and a total of 70 doses of 16 different vaccines by age 18. Please check the ingredients and then some websites on these issues including westonaprice.org, Dr Andrew Wakefield, greatergoodmovie.org, and there are many more.

But what can you do if you already have gluten intolerance, a leaky gut, or an autistic child?

There are several ways to help improve these conditions. First of all, a nutrient dense diet is a must. Check out http:// www.gaspsdiet.com. That includes diets to improve celiac, lacto intolerance, ADHD, etc.

Many naturopathic doctors also have great results with fermented cod liver oil high in vitamin A and D and K2 (the one from Green Pastures is the best). All fermented foods are high in probiotics and enzymes and will help in getting your gut flora back on track. Last but not least, the good old bone broth is easy to make, gentle on your digestive tract, and gives you all the nutrients, vitamins, and proteins needed to get you better fast.

“Thy food is thy medicine.”

“Good broth will resurrect the dead,” says a South American proverb.

A cure-all in traditional households and the magic ingredient in classic gourmet cuisine, stock or broth made from bones of beef, chicken, and fish builds strong bones, assuages sore throats, nurtures the sick, puts vigor in the step, and sparkle in love life, say grandmothers, midwives, and healers. For chefs, stock is the magic elixir for making soul-warming soups and matchless sauces.

Rich homemade broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons—stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

Gelatin was universally acclaimed as a most nutritious foodstuff, particularly by

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the French. Although gelatin is not a complete protein, containing only the amino acids arginine and glycine in large amounts, it acts as a protein sparer, helping the poor stretch a few morsels of meat into a complete meal. During the siege of Paris, when vegetables and meat were scarce, a doctor named Guerard put his patients on gelatin broth with some added fat and they survived in good health.

Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including healing a leaky gut, peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice, and cancer. The amino acid glycine found in bone broth can be very calming. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk.

The American researcher Francis Pottenger pointed out that as gelatin is a hydrophilic colloid, which means that it attracts and holds liquids, it facilitates digestion by attracting digestive juices to food in the gut.

Even the epicures recognized that brothbased soup did more than please the taste buds.

“Soup is a healthy, light, nourishing food,” said Brillant-Savarin. “Good for all of humanity, it pleases the stomach, stimulates the appetite, and prepares the digestion.”

Beef Stock—Ingredients 4 pounds beef marrow and knuckle bones • 3 pounds meaty rib or neck bones • 4 or more quarts cold filtered water • 1/2 cup vinegar • 3 onions, coarsely chopped • 3 carrots, coarsely chopped • 3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped several sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together • 1 teaspoon dried green peppercorns, crushed 1 bunch parsley •

Directions Place the knuckle and marrow bones in a very large pot with vinegar and cover with water. Let stand for one hour. Meanwhile, place the meaty bones in a roasting pan and brown at 350 degrees C in the oven.

When well-browned, add to the pot along with the vegetables. Pour the fat out of the roasting pan, add cold water to the pan, set over a high flame, and bring to a boil, stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen up coagulated juices. Add this liquid to the pot.

Add additional water, if necessary, to cover the bones, but the liquid should come no higher than within one inch of the rim of the pot, as the volume expands slightly during cooking. Bring to a boil. A large amount of scum will come to the top. Remove this with a spoon and reduce heat. Add the thyme and crushed peppercorns.

Simmer stock for at least 12 and as long as 72 hours. Just before finishing, add the parsley and simmer another 10 minutes.

Remove bones with tongs or a slotted spoon. Strain the stock into a large bowl.

Let cool in the refrigerator and remove the congealed fat that rises to the top. Transfer to smaller containers and to the freezer for long-term storage.

Brought to you by Jasmin Schellenberg Come to our Wise Tradition Chapter meetings held every second Tuesday of the month, 5 p.m. at Kinikinik in Redstone Village and learn more about nutrient dense food.Inspired by and resourced from http:// www.westonaprice.org

August 11–15 - Nature Fun at Scout Island Nature Center, Williams Lake. Outdoor exploration, nature-based games, arts & crafts. All about: Reptiles and Amphibians. Mon–Fri 9:30–11:30 a.m. or 1–3 p.m.

Ages 3–13. $10 per session. Ages 8–13 Special All Day Tuesdays. Art in Nature 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Includes learning to sketch with a local artist. Call (250) 3988532 or contact scoutisland@shaw.ca for more info.

Aug 12 - Wise Tradition Chapter meeting at Kinikinik in Redstone Village at 5 p.m.

Call (250) 394-6000 for more info.

August 18–21 - Nature Fun at Scout Island Nature Center, Williams Lake. Outdoor exploration, nature-based games, arts & crafts. All about: Mammals Inside and Out. Mon–Fri 9:30–11:30 a.m. or 1-3 p.m.

Ages 3–13. $10 per session. Ages 8–13 Special All Day Tuesdays. Art in Nature 9:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Includes learning to sketch with a local artist. Call (250) 3988532 or contact scoutisland@shaw.ca for more info.

August 19 - Night Life at Scout Island Nature Centre, Williams Lake. Listen for bats, visit beavers at work, watch underwater invertebrates with flashlights (they’re very active!). 7:30-9:30 p.m. Free. Call (250) 398-8532 for more info.

August 23 - Flea/Farmer’s Market in Horsefly. 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call (250) 620-3575 for more info.

August 23 & 24 - 15th Annual Garlic Festival, Lac La Hache – For a ‘Stinkin good time!’ Master garlic chef cook-off, live music and performances, shopping, demonstrations, and all sorts of garlic treats. Saturday 9 a.m.–5 p.m., Sunday 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Info at www.garlicfestival.ca.

August 24 - Open House/Information Session and Registration for the Chickadee Early Childhood and Learning Centre Programs beginning September, 2014. 1p.m.– 4p.m. at Miocene Hall. Call (250) 2963265 for more info.

August 27 - Women’s Spirituality Circle outing with Thea Fast and her horses in Beaver Valley. Meet at Cariboo Mental Health Association at 5 p.m. to carpool to Beaver Valley. 6–9 p.m. For more info visit humanbeherd.com.

September 6 - Churn Creek Protected Area Field Trip with Williams Lake Field Naturalists. Moderate, full-day hike (12 km) onto spectacular grasslands of Churn Flats and canyon views of Churn Creek. Meet at A&W parking lot at 6:45 a.m. Call ahead to Ordell Steen at (250) 398-5017 for more info.

September 6 - Tour de Cariboo sponsored

by Williams Lake Big Brothers and Big Sisters. 87 km bicycle ride from Williams

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Lake to Gavin Lake. Pledges online. For info or to register as single or team, visit www.bbswlake.com or call (250) 3988391.

September 9 - Wise Tradition Chapter meeting at Kinikinik in Redstone Village at 5 p.m. Call (250) 394-6000 for more info.

September 10 - Women’s Spirituality Circle at Canadian Mental Health Association meeting room, Williams Lake. 12 p.m. Potluck and sharing circle. All women welcome. For more info contact margaretanne.enders@cmhawl.org or (250) 398-8220.

September 14 - Shifting Gears Mountain Biking Event. Race starts at 10 a.m. sharp at Snakes and Ladders trail head. Shuttles available. Family friendly, intermediate level, non-competitive course. Prizes and BBQ to follow. For more info call (250) 392-5730 or find us on Facebook (Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake).

September 24 - Women’s Spirituality Circle evening meeting at Canadian Mental Health Association meeting room, Williams Lake. 5:30 p.m. Potluck and sharing circle. 7 p.m., song sharing from different faiths and cultures. Participate by singing or listening. All welcome. For more info call (250) 398-8220 or margaretanne.enders@cmhawl.org.

September 26–28 - Compassionate Conversations discussion during BC Culture Days with the Venerable Tenzin Chogkyi and Fr. Derrick Cameron. Exploring intersections between Buddhist and Catholic thought and practice. Contact Sharon Taylor, Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society for more info at sharont@imss.ca or (778) 412-2999. Visit www.facebook.com/ CompassionateConversationsContact for more details.

September 27 & 28 - Horsefly River Salmon Festival. Celebrate BC Rivers Day in Horsefly. Interpretive talks, Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans info booths, and arts & crafts. Saturday entertainment at Commu ni t y Ha l l a t 7 p. m. Se e www.horse fl yriver. ca/sal mo nfes tival/ index.html for more info.

September 30 - Annual Walk for Harmony through Williams Lake, joining the Orange Shirt Day event in Boitanio Park at 10 a.m. See www.facebook.com/ orangeshirtdayeverychildmatters for more info.

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August/September 2014

TheGreenGazette

Your Green Shopping Directory

Distribution Details

The Green Collective “Thinks, Creates, or Sells Eco-Friendly Products.”

Bean Counter Bistro & Coffee Bar, 250 3052326 180B 3rd Ave. North, Williams Lake Organic Coffee, Fair Trade, Local Foods

Juice Bar, -atural Products, Essential Oils, Teas, Crystals, Gemstones, and more.

Potato House Sustainable Community Society 250 855-8443 or spuds@potatohouseproject.com Body Health 4 All, 250-297-0089 In an age of apathy and a sense that change is all ola Carter njretrac@gmail.com talk and no action, The Potato House Project is a www.bodyhealth4all.com Better health by balanc- friendly bastion of doing, sharing, learning and ing body PH. Independent Distributor of LiPH playing. Call us with your ideas and to find out Products ways to get involved.

Canadian Tire, 250 392-3303 1050 South Lakeside Dr., Williams Lake Recycling Initiatives, Renewable Energy Solutions, Organic Cleaning Products: Blue Planet, Green Works, Method, -ature Clean, Seventh Generation

Rona Home Centre, 250 392-7767 298 Proctor Street, Williams Lake "ECO" cleaning & gardening products, LED bulbs & energy-efficient building products. Responsible disposal available for recycling of paint, stain, CFLs, batteries, saw blades & more.

Cariboo Growers Coop, 778 412-2667 San Jose Cattle Company, 250 296-4592 3rd & Oliver St., Williams Lake. 100% -atural & Clint and Karen Thompson Organic Foods, -on-Profit Farmer’s Coop Sustainable Agriculture, Raised -aturally/Local Beef, -o antibiotics, hormones, chemical fertilizers Cleanway Supply, 1-800-663-5181 or herbicides.

275 South MacKenzie Ave., Williams Lake Organic Cleaning Products Scout Island ature Centre & Williams Lake Field aturalists, 250 398-8532 Dandelion Living, 778-412-9100 www.scoutislandnaturecentre.ca 271 Oliver St., Williams Lake www.williamslakefieldnaturalists.ca Local & Original, Reclaimed & Repurposed, 1305A Borland Rd, Williams Lake -atural & Organic Products -ature on the city’s doorstep. Bird sanctuary, arboretum, trails, -ature House, natural history Day Spa Champagne, 250 305-1249 programs for children and adults.

124A North Second Ave., Williams Lake Quiet, relaxing, personalized atmosphere. A Zen Smashin’ Smoothies, 778-412-2112 experience. Four Types Massage, Reflexology, 102-41, 7th Ave North, Williams Lake Manicures/Pedicures & More.

Juice, Smoothies & Expresso Bar Fresh, Organic, Whole Food.

Debbie Irvine B.Sc. (Agr.) RH Registered Holistic Nutritionist Sta-Well Health Foods, 250 392-7022 250-392-9418 or dirvine@thelakebc.ca 79D 3rd Ave. North, Williams Lake SPRI>GHOUSE GARDE>S - Organically Organic Foods, Water Distillers, -atural Medigrown market garden veggies; Grass fed/finished cines, Emergency Freeze Dried Foods. beef - no hormones, no GMOs. Enquiries welcome.

Williams Lake Food Policy Council 250-3025010 earthRight Solar, 1 877 925-2929 GROWI-G THE SEEDS OF CHA-GE! 3rd & Borland, Williams Lake foodRenewable Energy Solutions, Eco-Friendly Prod- www.facebook.com/WLFPC policycouncil@hotmail.com. Building a strong ucts, Composting Toilets local food economy and promoting a healthy and Flying Coyote Ranch, 250 296-4755 sustainable community Ingrid Kallman and Troy Forcier Grass-fed Angus beef Williams Lake Water Factory, 250 398-5201 No shots, no hormones, organic fertilizer Pure Bottled Water. Home & Office Delivery.

By the quarter or side, hamburger .

955 S. Mackenzie Ave, Williams Lake, BC. Come see us on Toonie Tuesday!

The Gecko Tree, 250 398-8983 54 N. MacKenzie Ave. Williams Lake Zed-Tech Electric, 250-267-4868 Serving healthy, local foods For all your residential and commercial needs.

Joe Zombori zedtechelectric26@gmail.com Halls Organics, 250 398-2899 107 Falcon Rd. (North Lakeside), Williams Lake Zirnhelt Ranch, 250 243-2243 Indoor and Outdoor Organic Gardening Prodwww.zirnheltranch.ca or ucts, Alternative Traditional Products, Teas ansusanzirnhelt@yahoo.com Herbs, Hemp Body Products Producers of Grassfed/Finished Beef. Pasture Raised Pork.

The Hobbit House, 250 392-7599 71 First Ave. South, Williams Lake Contact us today to list your Green business - info@thegreengazette.ca or 250 620-3419

August/September 2014

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Green Locations TheGreenGazette can be found in print at the fine locations below, as well as online, or by subscription .

100 Mile House Donex Canadian 2 for 1 Pizza Chartreuse Moose Higher Ground Nat. Foods KFC Nuthatch Books One Another Coffee House Safeway Save-On-Foods A&W 108 Mile House 108 Mile Esso 108 Mile Mall 108 Mile Supermarket Hills Health & Guest Ranch 150 Mile House 150 Mile Mall Husky Station Marshall’s 150 Mile Store Alexis Creek Alexis Creek General Store Anahim Lake Anahim Lake Trading Mclean Trading Bella Coola Coast Mountain Lodge Kopas Store Moore’s Organic Market Valley Inn & Restaurant Big Lake Big Lake General Store Clinton Clinton Coffee House Dog Creek Mount View Handy Mart Red Dog Pub/Liquor Store Hanceville Lee’s Corner Store Horsefly Clarke’s General Store Post Office Horsefly Hardware Horsefly Service Station LacLaHache Race Trac Gas & Convenience Red Crow Cafe

Redstone Kinikinik Wildwood RaceTrac Gas & Store Williams Lake A& W All-ways Travel Amanda Enterprises Barking Spider Mountain Bikes Bean Counter Bistro Beaver Valley Feeds The Book Bin CanWest Propane Cariboo Growers Coop Cariboo Ski Concrete Fitness Conservation Society CJ’s Restaurant CRD Library Creative Scissor Dairy Queen Dandelion Living Day Spa Champagne earthRight Elaine’s Natural Foods 4 Sure Bistro Factory Direct Furniture Flavours & More Good Guys Gardening Greyhound Bus Stop Haines Office World Handi-Mart Joey’s Grill KFC Halls Organics The Hobbit House Husky Restaurant Karamia’s Donairs Kornak & Hamm Pharmacy

The Laughing Loon The Legion Margetts Meats McDonalds Mohawk New World Coffee Oliver’s Bar & Grill Porky’s Deli Quality Tax Solutions Red Shred’s Bike & Board Shed Rona Home Centre Safeway Save-on-Foods SBL Liquor Store Scout Island Nature Center Senior Citizens ActivityCenter

Prince George Ava Maria Gifts and Health Foods Books and Co. University of Northern BC College of New Caledonia

Shopper’s Drug Mart Spa Bella Staples Station House Gallery Sta-Well Health Foods Subway Sutton Cariboo Realty The Gecko Tree The Open Book Tim Hortons Tourism Info Center Trattoria Pasta Shoppe TRU Tsilhqot'in National Gov`t Walmart WL Veterinary Hospital Williams Lake Water Factory

Quesnel The Green Tree Bliss Cafe Booster Juice Carryall Books Good For You Market Holistic Health Care Clinic Karin’s European Deli Granville’s Coffee Shop Quiznos Safeway

*please note that we are in the process of revamping our distribution process to better serve our clients. If TheGreenGazette is not being displayed at any of the above locations give us a call so that we may rectify the situation.

250 620-3419

Likely Lakeside Service Valley General Store McLeese Lake Deep Creek Service Station The Oasis Motel Cafe impo Lake Nimpo Lake General Store

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August/September 2014