May 2014

May 10 a critical day to defend our climate By Caitlyn Vernon and Torrance Coste • The science is clear: climate change is the greatest environmental challenge of our time. We are already seeing the impacts of climate change in BC, most recently with shellfish dying – and workers losing their jobs – due to ocean acidification. But our political leaders...

May 2014

by Bruce Mason • A revolution is underway. Under the umbrella of “The Commons,” a global grassroots movement is rising up and gathering together ancient and new forms of self-governance. Exciting economic models are being created and shared in response to the Market/State that’s overextended, horrifically inequitable and relentlessly consumptive....

May 2014

by Bruce Mason • Much is now being written on the Commons, including two new books outlined below from New Society Publishers, which prides itself on providing “tools for a world of change and books to build a new society.” (www.newsociety.com)   Think Like a Commoner: A Short Introduction to the Life of the Commons by David Bollier The challenge is...

May 2014

• The lengths that scientists will go to highlight the danger of runaway climate change is the subject of a new, short video by Vancouver-based icycle.ca productions ltd. The video, released on April 24, is part of icycle.ca productions’ campaign to raise $10,000 to help complete the hour-long documentary Running on Climate. View the clip and campaign at...

May 2014

DRUG BUST by Alan Cassels • The people’s briefing note on prescription drugs • The headline that landed like a drone strike on the medical world asked one simple question: “Time to stop mammography screening?” The editorial by Dr. Peter Gotzsche, a Danish physician and one of the world’s experts on the science behind breast cancer screening, was...

GE poplars condemned • On April 9, scientists and environmentalists condemned a press release by researchers at the University of British Columbia announcing they have created genetically engineered (GE) poplar trees for paper and biofuel production, opening the prospect of growing these GE trees like an agricultural crop in the future. The poplars were...

May 2014

by Bruce Mason • Jeremy Loveday’s video-poem, Masks Off – A Challenge to Men, garnered more than 820,000 views. It also sparked global debate and attracted media attention from Brazil to Zambia. The Victoria-based performance artist hopes his latest work will be even more successful. After all, Food for the Future: Stand up for Local Food Systems, is about...

May 2014

by Jeffery M. Smith   • What is a GMO? A GMO (genetically modified organism) is the result of a laboratory process where genes from the DNA of one species are extracted and artificially forced into the genes of an unrelated plant or animal. The foreign genes may come from bacteria, viruses, insects, animals or even humans. Because this involves the...

May 2014

Tell the government “Hands Off” by Vicki Huntington • Normally, CBC Radio’s Provincial Affairs segment consists of four minutes of free broadcast time given to BC’s “major political parties.”  Thankfully, CBC did not forget the people of Delta South. As your Independent MLA, I was pleased to take a few minutes and share with BC some of the...

May 2014

Part 2: Just a ride by Geoff Olson • Some years back, I hopped on a bus on the Vancouver west side and took a peculiar ride. “There may be some turbulence during the flight,” the driver announced as he pulled into traffic. “You’ll find an oxygen mask above you and a flotation device under your seat.” The half-dozen passengers on board went from...

May 2014

SCIENCE MATTERS by David Suzuki • We should really celebrate our small blue planet and all it provides every day, but recent events give us particular cause to reflect on our home and how we’re treating it. Through an amazingly ordered combination of factors, this spinning ball of earth, air, fire and water… provides perfect conditions for human...

May 2014

FILMS WORTH WATCHING by Robert Alstead • Spring is here and with it a new batch of top-notch, international documentaries at the DOXA Festival (www.doxafestival.ca), the west coast counterpart to Toronto’s world renowned Hot Docs. DOXA opens with Virunga, at the Playhouse on May 2. The documentary depicts the heroics of rangers protecting Africa’s...

May 2014

UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young • There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever have. And if you cannot hear it, you will all of your life spend your days on the ends of strings that somebody else pulls. – Howard Thurman Many of my clients who are on a...