Is the cup half full or half empty? This question of philosophy and psychology plagues those of us in the environmental and social change movements. As Paul Rogat Loeb says in "What's wrong with cynicism," (Earth Island Journal, Autumn 2002) "too many activists almost delight in rolling around in the bad news, like dogs in rancid fish." Loeb proposes instead what he calls, "clear-eyed idealism," which recognises the bad times but "refuses to accept that the bad times are inevitable."

And so we garner the strength to keep some perspective on things. While citizens are lying down in front of spray trucks in Winnipeg, where mosquitos do pose some health threat, a wave of cities across Canada are moving to ban or restrict the cosmetic use of herbicides. This is in direct democratic response to citizen action at a local level, helped along by a sympathetic Union of Canadian Municipalities under NDP leadership candidate Jack Layton. This enormous progress would have been wishful thinking just 15 years ago.

Sure, the BC Citizen's Initiative on proportional representation failed to meet the bar for success this time, for all kinds of political and strategic reasons, including its de facto association with the Green Party. But most initiatives in the US take several tries before they finally succeed; it's getting the question on the table which is the first step.

And while we wait, and work, for more action to improve our democracy, we need to remember how far we have come from those days, not so long ago, when the State's right to torture its citizens was unquestioned, when the whim of kings sent millions to war, and only white, male, property owners could vote.

* Delores Broten, Whaletown, July 2002

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"If you had bought $1000 worth of Nortel stock one year ago, it would be worth $49. With Enron, you would have $16.50 of the original $1000. With the World-com, you would have less than $5 left. If you had bought $1000 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the 10 cent deposit, you would have $214."

* Letter to the Editor, Vancouver Sun, July 25, 2002

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* Jim Hightower on the disrepair of US municipal water systems, in "Stop the Corporate Takeover of our Water," Hightower Lowdown July 24, 2002

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Fifty four US environmental organizations warned the BC Liberals on Canada Day that their proposed approach to forestry, the "results-based" code which would free industry from environmental prescriptions, would put BC back on the green blacklist in the US market. US environmentalists also marked Canada Day by visiting several Canadian consulates with flyers headlined "Stop the Destruction of BC's Endangered Forests!"

Later in July a review reported the Code needed environmental standards but also that industry felt the Code did not go far enough in freeing them from paperwork.

The government has decided to hold more consultations, but is committed to legislation in the Fall.

* CBC radio, Forest Ethics, July 2002

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When her neighbours sprayed their lawn for dandelions, my sister had to move out of her own home for two days because the spray made her sick. No medical evidence can be cited to back up the experience of thousands of people like her, but now cities and towns in Canada are getting down to the grassroots and dealing with the problem. They are motivated by citizens' concerns about the health of children, pets and the environment.

Eleven years ago, the small town of Hudson in Quebec introduced a gradual ban on the use of pesticides, requiring permits except for exempt situations. (With a population of 4,000, the town now issues about 20 permits a year.) Hudson wound up in Supreme Court, and last year the Court said municipalities had the right to ban toxic substances in order to protect their citizens.

With that judgement, the work of pesticide activists across Canada began to jell, and now a wave of pesticide reform is hitting the ground.

Halifax was one of the first off the mark with a hotly-debated cosmetic pesticide ban, a phased approach which started in April 2001. The first phase makes it illegal to use pesticides, including lawn care products, within 50 metres of registered private properties, as well as any school, day care, park, playground, licensed senior citizens' residence, university, church or hospital. A total ban comes into effect next spring.

Thirty-six other Quebec municipalities followed Hudson's lead. In July the Quebec provincial government introduced an enforceable Pesticide Code which bans most pesticides from schools and day cares, eliminates a large number of synthetic pesticides from private and public lands, and has a short term goal to ban mixtures of pesticides and fertilizers.

Toronto's board of health has endorsed a bylaw that would end the use of pesticides on lawns and gardens within two years.

In September, Vancouver city council will discuss banning the use of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides on private property, to take effect in two years. The city's park board has recommended the move after 15 years of using Integrated Pest Management and no pesticides. Similarly, Victoria, as well as Seattle and San Francisco, have been using Integrated Pest Management and few or no pesticides for years.

In the meantime, Port Moody council, not wanting to wait for regional action, will begin a three-year education campaign, to be followed by a bylaw prohibiting cosmetic pesticide use. Port Moody has fought Canadian Pacific Railway track spraying all the way to the Environmental Appeal Board, citing concern for fish streams. The town lost, and this year the railway started spraying again.

Householders use between 5 and 10% of all pesticides, with no training. Up to two thirds of the households in the Vancouver area said they used pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides. One third used the popular lawn treatments which combine fertiliser and herbicides, usually 2,4D. Recently, studies have linked pesticide exposure to leukemia and immune disorders in children as well as liver and kidney damage, reproductive problems and some types of cancer.

* Files, Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Vancouver Sun, July 2002

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In July a US federal judge ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect endangered salmon from 55 pesticides. The judge ruled that the EPA had violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consult with the agency in charge of salmon recovery, despite EPA's own findings that pesticides harm salmon.

Scientists at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle have found that levels of pesticide between 1 part per billion and 1 part per 10 billion, commonly found in salmon streams around the West, can harm the nervous systems of salmon, particularly their sense of smell, used to avoid predators. Low levels of pesticides can also affect reproduction.

* Seattle Times, July 2002

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Within the next 6-12 months, British Columbians can expect a new "results-based" Water Act that, once again, abdicates the BC government from their responsibilities to the BC public. Modelled after the Forest Practices Act, the new changes to the Water Act will significantly alter the approval and notification process for changes to streams and waterways, such as bridges, culverts, piers, ditching or debris removal. In the meantime, they propose an "exit strategy" for the BC government that displaces responsibility for environmental quality on the applicants themselves and on an under-resourced federal government.

A leaked memo marked "draft," prepared for the Deputy Minister of Water Land and Air Protection and the CEO for Land and Water BC ), requested permission for the interim "exit strategy" due to limited staff resources within Land and Water BC. If implemented, such steps would be alarming and would include:

• A reduction in the waiting period for "Notifications" from the current 45 days to 5 days;
• A "substantially expanded" list of exempted works for "Notifications";
• The identification of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO ) as the lead agency charged with ensuring that works in and about streams do not adversely impact fisheries values;
• A self-regulation auditing and monitoring system, in which the applicant, while undertaking the work, is expected to maintain water quality, stream channel integrity, riparian vegetation and surface and sub-surface drainage systems while at the same time prevent erosion, mass wasting, and degradation to water quality at the water supply intake in a community watershed.

In essence, if there are fish in the stream, then hive it off to DFO to look after, and if there are no fish, then forget it, despite the fact that Water Land and Air Protection's mandate includes habitat, fisheries and flood protection.

Environmental, watershed stewardship, and First Nations groups are incensed.

DFO is already cut off at the knees with a deficit last year of $18 million and a freeze on travel, training and staffing. Directives from Ottawa indicate a 25% reduction in next year's budget for the Pacific Region. For the Habitat Protection Branch, this may look more like 50%. While DFO claims that they won't lay off any staff (they simply won't hire new staff), there is currently a 40% staff vacancy rate in some offices. The workload of staff is already suffering, and it would be next to impossible to respond to all applications throughout BC within one week.

Compounding the problem, joint funding by the Province and DFO for Habitat Stewardship Coordinators, who have been doing an excellent job of working with farmers and other landowners to protect streams, will dry up by March 2003. Coordinators have indicated the need for additional technical people in the field to help provide landowners with initial support and advice for these types of projects; yet WLAP••• Minister, Joyce Murray indicated that her ministry won't pay for "professional" help. With no incentives, many farmers and landowners are taking matters into their own hands and not bothering to contact the government for stream-related work.

If the changes to the Water Act are anything like the watered-down results-based procedures in the Forest Practices Code, then we can say good-bye to clear definitions of what it is that has to be protected, the ability to enforce, and ability for citizen-based groups to take legal action. Furthermore, without an overall body to oversee watersheds, the accumulative impacts of works upstream (where there may or may not be fish or other life of value to any level of government) may have serious impact on water quality, stream flow and channelization further downstream.

Given that both levels of government have made fish habitat protection a low priority, Joe Public and citizen groups will have to come to the rescue. Farmers, private-forest landowners, rural developers, and others need to be engaged along with stream keeper groups, stewardship organizations, First Nations stream guardians, and fishing communities to ensure that both the Water Act and other legislation won't endanger our fish populations or our drinking water.

* If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact: Sharon Chow at the Sierra Club of BC, Ph: (250)386-5255, local 207, sharon@sierraclubbc.org; or Keith Symington, Ph: (604)676-0329, keith@sierraclubbc.org

A US Federal jury has vindicated Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney. The jury awarded $2.9 million to the estate of Bari, who died of cancer in 1997. The balance of the $4.4. •••million award, one of the largest civil rights abuse settlements in US history, went to Cherney.

Cherney and Bari were targeted by police as terrorists after a bomb blew up in their car, seriously injuring Bari, during Redwood Summer in California in 1990. FBI and Oakland police refused to investigate the bombing. The accusations and subsequent political backlash led to a crucial loss of the Forests Forever citizens' referendum initiative which would have banned old growth logging.

The jury unanimously found six out of seven federal agents and police officers liable for violating the pair's constitutional rights to free speech and protection from unlawful searches.

The government, which had prevented the case from going to trial for 11 years, said it was likely to appeal the verdict.

* San Francisco Chronicle, June 2002. For more information see Earth Island Journal, Autumn 2002 or www.judibari.org

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Ontario has opened 7.2 million acres of northern boreal forest to logging, mostly for pulp, in a swath from Quebec to Manitoba north of the present "no cut" zone. The stated rationale is to give First Nations "meaningful work."

In this area of thin soil, it takes between 120 and 160 years to grow a black spruce to 6 inches in diameter. The massive old timber of the southern Ontario forest is long gone, and no new pulp mills have been built for 50 years.

In 1999 the government got industry acceptance of the "Lands for Life" 12% protected area network which removed 2.4 million acres of forest from company access. Now the northern boreal is to be clearcut, and the companies are demanding new laisse faire tenure agreements. These agreements would give them tenure for one growing rotation, with little or no supervision.

* Financial Post, July 2002

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Whether you live in the country, where wells run shallow and sometimes dry in the summer, or the city, where the cost of water treatment infrastructure is sky-rocketing, saving fresh water is in everyone's best interests.

And it is one of the small, practical things that you can do without even noticing it, just as you can waste thousands of litres without giving it a thought. In fact, the average Canadian household of 3 people uses about 472,000 litres of water a year, 326 litres per house per day. It is instructive to pause and consider that the United Nations considers the minimum water for human survival as 20 litres a day.

With a tiny bit of thought, you can reduce your water consumption by about a third, saving money on your water bill, on your electricity bill for hot water, and, saving water!

As well, saving water means saving wear and tear on the other end, whether that's a municipal sewage plant or a rural septic system.

Here's the simple scoop.

The bathroom

• This one is so simple - and like so many simple things, it's so easy to forget. Don't' leave water running while you brush your teeth or wash. You could run through 5 litres of water a minute uselessly down the drain this way.
• Get a low flow shower head for about $10, preferably one with a shut-off button while you are soaping or shampooing. You'll never notice the difference, but it's about 11 litres of water a minute.
• Replace a conventional flush toilet with an Ultra Low volume unit. Cost: about $150. Water savings: 12 litres per flush!
• Alternatively, get a toilet dam for about $10, which displaces some of the space in the tank and lowers the amount of flow.
• Check for leaks in the toilet seal, which can silently drain water, by putting a couple of drops of food colouring in the back. If the colour shows up in the bowl, the culprit is revealed. The problem is probably a valve that isn't seated properly, or a bent lift wire or corroded valve seals. These items can all be repaired cheaply with kits from building supply stores.

Kitchen

• Save those dirty dishes and only run the dishwasher when you have a full load.
• When rinsing vegetables or dishes, fill the sink or a bowl; don't leave the tap running. It can use between 15 and 20 litres of water per minute. Wash fruit and veggies in a sink half filled with water (about 12 litres). If your washing time takes 3-5 minutes, you'll save 33 to 48 litres of water.

All over the house

• Replace the filters in your taps with low flow aerators - cheap (less than $5), easy, effective. There are two types, so be sure to ask for the low flow one.
• And of course, fix those leaky taps. A tap leak of one drop per second adds up to a spectacular 10,000 litres of water a year!

Outdoors

• You don't need to water the lawn compulsively - aerate it, keep it cut long (at least 6 cm.) So the roots stay cool , keep it mulched, and give it 2.5 centimetres of water once a week or less. Delay sprinkling in the spring and encourage deep roots. Even if it turns brown it will survive to green up again once the rain comes. Plant shrubs and ground cover to replace some of your lawn; they take less water and provide wildlife habitat.
• Oscillating sprinklers can lose up to 50% of their output to evaporation; sprinklers that lay down water in a flat pattern are no more expensive and lose very little water. Better yet are soaker hoses so the ground can absorb all the water.
• A running hose can waste 20 litres of water a minute Use a spring-loaded nozzle. A forgotten sprinkler can waste over 1,000 litres of water per hour!
• Water in the early morning if possible; less water is lost to evaporation, but the plants will not be prone to diseases if they have the day to dry off.
• Don't wash your car too often, and when you do, use a bucket and do it on the lawn so the water gets re-used. Remember - A clean car is a sign of a sick mind!
• Make a rain barrel and use the soft water for your plants - and your hair!
• You can buy rain barrels from Lee Valley Tools or other stores, or you can make your own. You need a very large plastic container (food grade containers or garbage cans), an outdoor tap, two bolts and two washers. At the level you want the tap at the bottom of the barrel, drill a ¹/2" hole. Install the tap, with the two washers held on each side of the barrel by the nuts. Use a little silicon to seal it.

* Compiled by Delores Broten with the following sources:

Water: No Time to Waste, A Consumer's Guide to Water Conservation, Environment Canada, 1995. (800)668-6767 or www.ec.gc.ca/water/en/info/pubs/nttw/e_nttwi.htm
A Primer on Fresh Water, Environment Canada, Fifth Edition, 2000
Water conservation pamphlets from the Nanaimo and Greater Vancouver Regional Districts
City West Water's Conservation, Sunshine, Victoria www.citywestwater.com.au
For complete instructions on a do-it-yourself rain barrel, with mosquito screening, see Organic Gardening, July/August 2002

* Feature sponsored by Friends of Cortes Island Water Stewardship Project

In the early light of dawn, just before the mists begin to rise to meet the heat of the day, Pao Chen made his way across the family farm. Suspended across his narrow shoulders was a pole and suspended by that, were two buckets. Each bucket contained a life giving force, an elixir and soul of the earth. Pao Chen was very careful not to spill any of the "liquid gold" from the buckets, for to do so would reduce the force that provided him and those of his family and the village they lived in, with their fundamental existence. As Pao Chen completed his daily chore many people around the world have also done the same or similar task.

This elixir has been used in agrarian society since it was discovered to have life giving properties. No, we don't drink it, eat it (it has been suggested that some do) or smoke it (again, conversations have referred to it as good but it hasn't been confirmed) In case you haven't cottoned on to the gist of this discussion so far, we are referring to night soil, human excrement, manure, pooh, crap, caca, SHIT! And it's really good shit too! Or is it?

Gardeners are faced with a constant dilemma, especially those gardeners who have a care and concern for the environment. What to fertilize with? After all, we don't use synthetic pesticides so we don't want to use synthetic chemical fertilizers either. So gardeners are constantly looking for alternatives, utilizing animal waste or manure, fish waste, plant waste in the form of meals, mineral dusts and just about everything in between.

North Americans (in fact northern people in general) have ignored one of the most available sources of nutrient to our gardens. The very essence for plant life we have been discussing is flushed down the toilet every day, to be forgotten forever. This waste enters a system of piping, not only from your neighbours but also from business and industry, finally ending up at a liquid waste remediation facility, or sewage treatment plant. The liquids and the solids it contains are put through various processes with the hope that either the end product is clean, or at least the public can be convinced it is.

In this case what you can't smell or see, won't hurt you. That's why municipalities (you can fill in a blank here with your favourite community but to be fair make sure it's your own) all over the world build nice long pipes into rivers, lakes and oceans - Go Long, Go Deep! If this treated waste came only from a residential source, part of the potential for contamination would be solved. But because the source is also industrial, serious questions must be raised about its safety to humans and ultimately, to the environment.

If we were just talking about using our own bodily waste for food gardening the discussion is somewhat moot. But look at a list of what can be contained in sewage sludge from the Greater Vancouver treatment facilities and you might well question whether you should apply it to your garden soil. Mercury, silver, cadmium, chromium, and nickel are highly toxic in even small doses. Cadmium is a recognized carcinogen; a developmental and reproductive toxicant and is one of the highest ranked compounds to effect human health and the environment. Mercury ranks along with cadmium and chromium in the top 10% of worst toxic compounds. One or more have been linked to endocrine disruption, cardiovascular and blood toxins, severe (or fatal) damage to organs like the liver, kidneys, and the skin. All are present in industrial and household products and hence, in sewage.

OK, you say, we have to do something about the waste we generate. Can't we use it safely? Not until we effectively remove highly questionable components should society be willing to embrace this type of waste as fertilizer in our gardens. It may be an effective way of dealing with waste from a bureaucratic sense, but the health of our selves and the environment is at high risk from their use. Until then, even emulating Pao Chen and his ilk, will be a tough row to hoe.

* Leonard Fraser is a garden consultant living in Kelowna, BC.

Milorganite, produced by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, contained dioxin at varying levels up to 65 parts per trillion (US EPA TEQ•••) in 2001. Nonetheless it is now promoted for home garden use, despite the fact that dioxins are taken up in some plants like cucumber. People, especially children, may ingest soil clinging to herbs or lettuces. Milorganite is a registered product that has been on the market for over 75 years. During most of those 75 years it had a warning label restricting its application to non-agriculture uses, not in the veggie garden. Seems strange, when we are producing and disposing of more and more toxic chemicals each day, that we would be relaxing controls that have been in place for so long.

Garbage

Last year Enviroco Energy Recovery, from Mill Bay on Vancouver Island, announced it wanted to build a 140 MW generating plant at Nanaimo's Duke Point, to burn 750,000 tonnes a year of "biomass" - wood waste, demolition waste, tires and municipal garbage. In May 2002 the company apparently began attempts to import Vancouver's garbage, which is currently shipped to Cache Creek.

All the usual assurances about peerless pollution control were issued, but neither the Georgia Strait Alliance nor Reach for Unbleached! ever received technical data promised to the two environmental groups on the plant's air emission specifications. During the 1980s and 1990s, burning municipal garbage was phased out through most of Canada because of hazardous air pollutants including dioxin and mercury.

In July the company announced it was putting its search for garbage on hold, since BC Hydro had decided to award contracts for independently produced power based on competitive, lowest cost, rather than a set price.

Natural Gas

Amid dire and increasingly strident warnings of imminent brown outs, BC Hydro itself presses ahead with its plan to give Vancouver Island an umbilical cord of natural gas pipeline, feeding into three gas powered electrical generators, to replace some of the hydro electricity currently imported by cable from the mainland. New power on the mainland is also to be gas-generated within five years.

• The Island Co-Generation Project in Campbell River finally entered commercial operation in April 2002, almost a year and a half late for its scheduled completion.
• The Port Alberni plant was first rejected for co-generation partnership by the mill, and then run out of town by the 5,000 strong Citizens' Stewardship Coalition. The site of the plant was moved to Nanaimo, where pre-zoned industrial land puts it beyond citizens' control. However, partner Calpine pulled out of the Nanaimo Gas Plant deal, leaving Hydro with a current $23 million bill for a plant which is not built, has not passed all its regulatory bars, and has no assured source of natural gas.
• The third 640 MW plant shows up near Duncan, or sometimes Crofton, in the original plans by Hydro but, being at least three years in the future, it seems to have become a bit of a ghost plant - now you see it, now you don't.
• The Georgia Strait Crossing pipeline project is stalled in National Energy Board hearings, specifically around the issues of First Nations Consultation. Citizens' groups won a stunning victory when the National Energy Board said it would consider the greenhouse gas emissions from use of the gas to be carried by the pipeline as part of its assessment of the pipeline's environmental impact.

Coal

In July, Quinsam Power Corp., owned by Hillsborough Resources Ltd., owner of Quinsam Coal, announced that they were planning to proceed with a 49.9 MW coal-fired electrical generation plant near Strathcona Park. The plant, not yet purchased, would burn 300,000 tonnes of coal a year, half from old mine fines and waste, and half Quinsam's low sulphur coal. Hillsborough President and CEO is emphatic that Quinsam coal has "almost no" mercury and is very low in arsenic "0.2 per cent."

A plant under 50 MW would not have to go through an obligatory environmental assessment review unless ordered by Minister Stan Hagen. Slater says they plan to spend $52 million on a second-hand "slightly pressurized" fluidized bed furnace made but never used to burn refuse -- industrial garbage, wood etc.

What gives this proposal some serious legs, despite the disbelief that it rouses, is that it has been four years in the planning, it deals with a waste liability for the company and the company rezoned a piece of land near the coal mine, on the border of Strathcona Park, for power generation over a year ago.

* With files from Howard Breen, Judy Johnson, Joan Sell, Myrna Boulding, Arthur Caldecott, Cowichan News Leader, Discovery Islander, Victoria Times Colonist, Gabriola Sounder, July 2002

Coal Bed Methane

One option which at least offers some flexibility in terms of a long-term transition to renewable energy, is filling the natural gas pipes with Vancouver Island's own coal bed methane, rumoured to be substantial by heavy metal types like the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines. In April, Priority Ventures held a celebratory flare for its coal bed methane well near Courtenay BC. Since then, the company hasn't had a lot to say about the test results, and they've stopped holding meetings around Vancouver Island to sell shares. They haven't managed to get Centra Gas to agree to buy the methane even if they can produce it, either. Coal bed methane reserves may be only optimistic estimates, and the industry has a dirty name for its lack of care for groundwater in the United States.

That hasn't stopped the beginning of a mini-gas rush. In July, Hillsborough Resources, which owns Quinsam Power Corp., signed a joint agreement with Texas Canadian Ventures to develop the coal bed methane potential of the deep coal seams on their private land near Campbell River. Five test wells will be started within a year. The company points out that risks include: uncertainty to title of the coal bed methane, the ability to obtain all applicable permits, characteristics of the coal bed methane which would affect the recovery of the gas, and the price received for the methane. President and CEO David Slater is emphatic that the venture will not deposit harmful waters into surface systems, but will be dealt with by re-injecting into deep wells.

[See Coal Bed Methane: New Gas Wells Promise Vancouver Island a Blast from the Past, Watershed Sentinel, Dec. 01/Jan. 02]

The Island Cogeneration gas plant does not and cannot burn coal, but Elk Falls pulp mill is now burning 83 tonnes of coal a day and has just applied for a permit to burn even more. The mill claims the coal not only helps its bottom line, because the price of natural gas is too volatile, but it helps stop the formation of dioxin.

That Pesky Aluminium Smelter

Hydro's slightly shaky timetable for jerking out the electrical cables from Vancouver Island may be in even more danger from the proposed $1.5 billion Port Alberni aluminium smelter, beloved by some of the movers and shakers in that down-at-the-heels mill town. If the Alberni Aluminium Corp gets regulatory approval for the plant, Hydro must supply the power, which is the chief requirement for an aluminium smelter. Hydro's industrial rate is one of the cheapest in the world (homeowners pay three times more) but the plant would consume the output of a 640 MW generating station all by itself.

Even if the Georgia Strait Crossing pipeline were to be built, it wouldn't carry enough gas to supply a fourth gas plant on the island, so Hydro's memos on the subject suggest that they would build an extra gas generator, somewhat ahead of time, at Kelly Lake near Cache Creek. Oh yes, then they'd have to run more power transmission lines to Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island.

Ontario cuts coal

An Ontario legislative committee has recommended that Ontario phase out all use of coal to generate electricity within 15 years. In the meantime, by 2007 Ontario's coal-fired plants must cut nitrogen oxide emissions in half and lower sulphur dioxide emissions by a quarter.

The Ontario Clean Air Alliance, in Up the Stack: Coal-Fired Electricity's Toxic Impact, says pollutants from burning coal include:

• mercury, which can affect the brain and nervous system,
• cancer-causing substances such as arsenic and chromium and
• nerve toxins such as lead

The Alliance is demanding that Lambton, the huge 1,975 megawatt electricity plant on the St. Clair River downwind from London, Ontario, switch to natural gas, as Lakeview near Toronto has already been ordered to do, with its privatisation contingent on the conversion.

Ontario Power Generation's Thunder Bay and Atikokan coal-fired power plants were to be sold at the end of July. As a result of Ontario's new emissions trading system, the new private sector owners will be able to increase the plants' coal-fired electricity generation and toxic emissions by 35% and 51% respectively.

* Ontario Clean Air Alliance, Ph: (416) 926-1907

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For all the unsavoury energy options being whipped up for Vancouver Island and the rest of BC these days, reaction was, at best, muted to the announcement by Sea Breeze Energy that they planned to build about 1000 MW of wind farms in six locations on the BC coast. The company is focused on gigantic (240 feet) windmill platforms with 90 metre (290 feet) propellers, each slowly turning out 3.5 MW at 15 rpm.

The Gabriola Sounder, reporting on the community meeting in June, got the scale of the developments: "Imagine you are sitting in a boat and carrying on a natural conversation, while one of three blades of an offshore windmill whisks by, 90 metres above your head. The length of the blade is the equivalent of one and a half city blocks. Now, multiply by 50, or perhaps 75, and you have a sense of the scope of a wind farm being proposed in the vicinity of the Gabriola Reefs."

The company has received permission to test the wind at four of the sites, but the public reaction to a series of meetings held around the Straits over the last two months was variable. Wind power is in public favour, but each location had defenders who claimed the windmills should go somewhere else.

Probably the most enthusiastic reaction came from Gabriola Island, where residents see the alternative to air pollution from the pulp mill, the gas plant, and the garbage incinerator. In Delta, where the proposal is to build the windmills about 3 kilometres offshore, people noted that they would be in the middle of the Boundary Bay fly way. Reaction to the proposed site at the south end of Quadra was favourable to the concept of wind power, but included references to bird and fish habitat and damage to upland property owners' viewscapes. A tourism representative was quoted as saying the windmills would ruin the pristine view required for cruise ship customers.

On the other hand, the optics aren't good for Sea Breeze either. They are targeting some fertile marine refuges for development, they haven't done any wind measurements yet, and they are a private company, so the real state of their financial commitment remains a great unknown. Further, the success of their proposal would depend on selling the power to BC Hydro at a rate cheaper than any other power generation method. Clean doesn't count unless the government builds it into the bottom line.

In 1893, German inventor and scientist Rudolph Diesel published a paper entitled "The Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Engine." His theory described a new kind of combustion engine, which he later patented as the Diesel engine (1895). And the rest is history.

Diesel officially demonstrated his engine at the World Fair in 1900. Did you know that he first ran his engine on peanut oil? That's right, Rudolph was an environmentalist without knowing it! Unfortunately he died in 1913, before finishing his tests of many different vegetable oils.

The good news is that, with very little or no adjustment, most engines today which are based on Diesel's design, can run on vegetable oil as well, and because there are so many different kinds of vegetable oils out there, no formula has been patented for this fuel form, biodiesel.

Sounds too good to be true? Geoff Hill and Peter Doig do not think so. In fact, they have started making lots of biodiesel and would like to share their experience and savoir-faire with BC.

What is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is an eco-fuel that comes from separating vegetable oil into glycerin and 3 fatty acids. The glycerin by product can be reused to make degreasers and some soap. The three fatty acids go through a chemical reaction called transesterification, and become methyl esters or biodiesel. The methyl esters have to be filtered a few times before consumption by your engine.

Biodiesel is a sustainable, long overdue, alternative to gasoline and diesel. When compared to other fossil fuel guzzlers, an engine using only biodiesel spews much, much less toxic emissions.

In the US conventional diesel accounts for 2% of fuel use but is responsible for 40 % of polluting emissions. The most important environmental advantage of biodiesel is a marked reduction of greenhouse gases. Another is its capacity to biodegrade. Unlike fossil fuels, it doesn't pollute natural habitats or the ocean through spills. For toddlers and young infants, biodiesel is also less toxic than salt (although it might taste like old French fries).

Aside from its great environmental advantages, when compared to fossil fuels, biodiesel will not be responsible for world wars and the political instability of the "greed-economics" associated with oil. Biodiesel encourages economic decentralization because its components are easily available. Biodiesel reduces terrorism and envy from poor or disaffected nations or individuals. Biodiesel also reconnects individuals with nature (think recycling and restoration) and increases overall community health.

It also has economic benefits, including a reduced dependence on fluctuating fossil fuel and oil supply; it can be cheaper than fossil fuel because the energy expended in processing is only 30 % or so of the energy it takes to extract fossil fuels.

Biodiesel is much more than a fuel for vehicles; it is fuel for change. By increasing its use, communities can regain their political, social and economic autonomy and slowly move towards a more sustainable way of life without great investment or tumultuous restructuring. Biodiesel use is part of the necessary shift to an earth-friendly environmental paradigm.

The Biodiesel Project

Geoff Hill started making biodiesel in January 2002 at a laboratory at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Soon afterwards he found himself overwhelmed with demand and posted a message in Canadian universities to find another committed individual to help him run the project. Peter Doig enthusiastically responded and they have been grease buddies ever since.

Geoff and Peter go around collecting vegetable grease from restaurants and pubs on UBC campus and in Vancouver. They then bring the grease to their lab and separate it into fuel. At the moment they have the capacity to make about 200 litres a week. They plan to increase that figure to 1000 litres pending a bigger facility, and to 5000 litres, pending grants, donations and grease supply.

"We don't have any clean clothes any more, " says Geoff showing me a bucket of prime deep fryer grease. "You must get intimate with the process," Peter tells me. "Put your finger in there," he adds grinning.

On a hot afternoon in July I am making biodiesel under their instructions. It is so simple to make it boggles the mind why production hasn't started everywhere. "It costs about 30 cents a litre to make," says Geoff, "way cheaper than the pump." "Seattle already has a pump station running, and in Montreal the city schools have a 155 bus fleet running on this stuff," says Peter looking determined, and wiping grease beads off his forehead.

"And now the glycerin will separate when you heat it," begins Geoff. "The fatty acids will be transformed again into methyl esters," he continues, holding a transparent flask under the fluorescent laboratory lights, "As you can see now the glycerin has separated and is stuck on the bottom of this jar."

Peter joins in, "On this board here you can see the chemical reaction. Hydrocarbons in fossil fuels have a long carbon chain," he says scribbling madly with a chalk on a green board. Peter is the scientist behind the Biodiesel Project, whereas Geoff is the public relations coordinator and promoter. "And here we have the biodiesel chemical structure, there are less emissions because there are less hydrocarbons in biodiesel," he continues.

The room is now boiling hot and smells like fish and chips mixed with vegetable tempura. Geoff and Peter pass around a sheet with the biodiesel recipe.

And we proceed to make biodiesel. "We are already running all the UBC plant operations' vehicles with this," says Geoff, "and when funding comes we want to expand to 5000 litres a week and start selling locally."

I ask, "Is this stuff dangerous, could it explode in an engine?" Peter answers, "Biodiesel has a higher flash point than regular gas, it needs way more heat to catch on fire." Mmm... I think to myself, "Why are we still using fossil fuels?" Once our biodiesel reaction is done we examine the glycerin left at the bottom and Geoff and Peter bring out some already clean biodiesel. They put it in little jars and we make some biodiesel fuel lamps to take home.

You can email, write or phone Geoff and Peter to book biodiesel-making seminars, help them with vegetable grease and donations, or to find out more about the project.

* Geoff Hill, Biodiesel Project Coordinator; Ph: (604)323-4311; email: biodiesel@Canada.com
* Peter Doig, Biodiesel Project Scientist, Ph: (604)225-0735; address: 4553 West 11th., Vancouver, BC, V6R 2N5. See also www.biodiesel.org. The Biodiesel Project thanks Nic's Garage, 120 W 1st Ave, Vancouver for their donation of "much time and energy."

* Feature sponsored by Friends of Cortes Island Watershed Sentinel Sustainable Education Fund

Travelling to Tibet is a controversial issue because of the turmoil created by the Chinese occupation of 1949. Done for strategic military reasons, the occupation provided a 'buffer' between democratic India and the communism of China. Over 300,000 troops and one quarter of China's nuclear missile force are now in Tibet. London's Free Tibet campaign estimates that over 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of the occupation and over 6,000 monasteries have been destroyed. Because of this situation, and the continuing human rights abuses in Tibet, many organizations advocate a complete tourism boycott of the area. They believe tourism supports the Chinese regime and their actions.

Despite this, I travelled to Tibet. That doesn't indicate my support of the Chinese government. After living in Asia for 12 years, I just don't believe that China will give Tibet up soon, tourism boycott or not. I'm sure most people have an idea of why the situation in Tibet is a serious issue, so I don't want to dwell on the past. Instead, I want to talk about the future. After travelling to Tibet, I strongly feel that tourism can provide a positive impetus for the equitable treatment of Tibetans.

In fact, most human rights groups encourage visitors to make the trip. The Canada Tibet Committee states that: "most Tibetans support tourism because it constitutes a means by which the outside world can learn of the conditions in Tibet and the aspirations of Tibetans." The original travellers to Tibet, allowed in after the border opened in the 1980s, began the large scale 'free-Tibet' movement when they returned home. The Dalai Lama himself strongly encourages tourism that involves conscious involvement and understanding of the situation, rather than glossed over tours run by sanctioned Chinese tour guides.

Such tours, designed to solidify China's claim to the area, only highlight places that present Tibet as a peaceful, harmonious colony of China. They prevent dialogue with the local people and seeing what life is really like.

By making a small effort, a traveller can see the true story and bring it back home, perhaps increasing support for the freedom of Tibet. All foreign journalists are banned from entering Tibet, and even tourists who behave suspiciously can be harassed. However, if observations are made discreetly, the Free Tibet Campaign suggests that: "such reports by responsible travellers can be an important source of information to support organizations outside of Tibet." In fact, the lack of news from Tibet means that the most common source of information is from returning travellers. Discretion is the key. Arousing the suspicions of Chinese spies can spell trouble for tourists and Tibetans. Having a private conversation with a Tibetan guide, restaurant or shop owner is not suspicious. Acting like a journalist is.

So, what other efforts does a traveller need to make? First of all, choose a Tibetan travel agency. They are interested in being more socially and environmentally aware. There are a number of Tibetan-owned agencies in Kathmandu, Nepal. Next, try to take the trip as an individual or with a friend or two. This gives you the greatest amount of flexibility. I travelled with my father, and we were allowed places that tours never go. Finally, make sure that the agency you choose uses Tibetan guides, even if you cannot find a Tibetan travel agency. Many different travel agencies in the Vancouver area will try to fulfil your request, and each request reduces the chance of Tibetan guides being banned. Such guides cannot easily be censored, and they provide an honest perspective, without the risk of interference from spies, as they can't possibly eavesdrop on your private conversations. Our guide was not shy about telling us his thoughts, and most Tibetan guides see it as their responsibility.

For example, he told us that his son was now in Dharamsala, India, where he could finally learn Buddhism and the Tibetan language, unhindered. "What I earn as a guide allows me to visit my son" he told us. Tibet is one of the few places you can go where the local guides are not being exploited through their role in the tourism industry. Instead, tourism provides Tibetans with perhaps the only safe way to tell the truth about their situation. Based on the friendship we formed with our guide, I believe that guides take a great deal of pleasure in their work, and the opportunity it affords them.

Our guide explained that tourists are making a difference through their presence alone. The Chinese government realises that it cannot have a lucrative tourism industry while continuing to stifle the culture of Tibetan people and wreck the environment. Many cultural sites have been recently reopened, for the benefit of tourists and Tibetans alike. Other sites are being rebuilt and repaired, and the beauty of the natural environment is starting to be preserved. When China first occupied Tibet, the removal of Buddhism from Tibetan society was a goal, and resource extraction and industrial expansion were the only uses for the environment. Now, partly thanks to tourism, this is no longer the case. Furthermore, a gentleman from the Red Cross explained to us that the increasingly open borders initiated by tourism now allowed him to work in rural areas, improving the conditions of the indigenous population, and reducing the environmental damage caused by Chinese industry. A French graduate student told us about her experiences cleaning up garbage-strewn monasteries. "I would not have been allowed to do this ten years ago," she said. "Opening up to tourism means opening up to everything else as well."

In order to find the 'real Tibet,' we consciously strayed off the usual tour-group route - that is, we left Lhasa and got as far away as possible. Away from the overt Chinese control in the capital, it is possible to experience the richness of the culture, do some research, and stay in Tibetan monasteries, or Tibetan-owned hotels. In more remote areas, there are few Chinese migrants or businesses, so tourist money is going where it should.

Environmentally, this is the only sound option. Tibetan hotels or monasteries are small-scale, and have been built with an understanding of the environmental limitations of Tibet. They often are small, with limited electricity and running water, unlike the large and harmful Chinese developments, built to create short-term economic gains regardless of the environmental effects.

In the Tibetan countryside you can see the constant military presence, looming with the ever-present threat of force, the constant stream of army trucks moving through the landscape, surrounding each monastery. You can see the expansion of the Chinese industrial machine taking its toll on the fragile high-altitude environment - clearing the forests to such an extent that erosion and flooding are becoming ever-present threats to local villagers.

Seeing monastery life, yet knowing it is at risk, truly brings home the consequences of China's actions. Hearing monks play their long horns at dusk, or seeing them practicing a traditional song and dance, and realizing that this is luxury to them, rather than a right, makes one feel the need for change. That is why the Dalai Lama and so many others support the kind of tourism that this article advocates. Tourism does make a positive difference; not only because of the benefits that local Tibetans receive, but also because it creates the motivation to find out more about Tibet, and to do what you can to help. Travelling in a socially conscious way can create a positive outcome.

* Tejas Ewing is an Honours Human Geography student at the University of British Columbia. He has been interested in social and environmental issues ever since he can remember and has tried to keep these in mind whenever he travels.
* Sponsored by Youth Talks at the Watershed Sentinel with thanks to Friends of Cortes Island and the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Were the recent G8 protests in Calgary effective in affecting positive change? Is summit hopping, the practice of activists travelling to globalization summits in large numbers, a now defunct strategy? Where is the anti-globalization movement going? Does the movement have a unified vision to keep its momentum? These are difficult questions for activists to answer in these times of repression.

I am left pondering these questions after Canada spent $300 million to build Fortress Kananaskis, a military "bunker" consisting of 21 checkpoints spread along the road to a small resort town 90 kilometres west of Calgary. Canada and the G8 administration guaranteed that no one would ever get close to the leaders of the eight richest economies in the world by deploying 5000 soldiers, tanks, anti-aircraft defences, missile launchers and fighter jets patrolling a wide-reaching no-fly-zone above the resort's territory.

These incredibly brutal measures, coupled with a $300 000 bribe to the Stoney Nation to prevent activists from erecting a temporary Solidarity Village on their land which is a mere 25 kilometres away from Kananaskis, ensured that no protesting took place near the G8 leaders. Activists, being persistent individuals, decided to relocate the action to Calgary.

Two main events occurred in Calgary, a counter summit, the summit of the group of six billion (G6B) from June 21-25 and the usual Labour marches and public protests throughout the week and during the actual summit (June 26 & 27). The G6B was by far the most effective in addressing critical issues such as the African AIDS crisis, environmental deterioration, the anti-terrorism agenda, global recession, social justice and the rise of poverty brought on by one-way globalization trade. The G6B main recommendations can be found online on Alberta's Independent Media Centre: www.alberta.indymedia.org/news/2002/06/3402.php

The marches and protests were successful in defeating public opinion about protesters and violence. For the entire duration of these events the media wasn't able to report any violence, except from the odd isolated act from yahoos. For the first time in North American protest history they had to report on what protesters actually do at protests. This included a reported family march of 3000, various rallies ranging from 2500 to 7000 participants, a massive improvised street soccer game to paralyze an intersection, a symbolic Die-in, in which 100 protesters "died" on the pavement to symbolically relate the ongoing suffering of Third World countries, and a gigantic knitting circle, another tactic to paralyze traffic, and the 3000-strong police presence unnerving everyone. All these actions happened during a tactic called snake marching in which the goal is to constantly march around the economic district of a given city in order to paralyze traffic and prevent workers getting to work, in essence to shut down business and hit them where it hurts, the profit line.

The most radical action of the entire week was a 100-car caravan, including approximately 400 activists, which went to the first checkpoint on the road to Kananaskis Fortress. They were greeted with army personnel hiding under nearby foliage and a platoon of bicycle cops, obviously stationed there to present a positive image to tourists and unknowing travellers, to create a positive and goodwill image of Canada to the rest of the world. After much negotiations and nerve-racking deliberations the caravan was sent back to Calgary. (See Alberta Independent Media centre for amazing pictures of K-country and the scary checkpoints: www.alberta.indymedia.org).

In retrospect, the Calgary actions were both a failure for the anti-globalization movement and a victory. On one hand the actions were not successful in getting the attention of the G8 leaders; they went ahead with their meeting bunkered away in K-country. On the other hand, the use of successful non-violent civil disobedience in the face of harsh repressive measures showed the G8 leaders, and the world, the absurdity of spending so much taxpayers' money to defend against democracy; the actions of the G8 leadership are in all truth an admission of guilt and inefficiency; why did they have to wall themselves in if they are working to better the world? In just and fair democracies, transparency, openness, and consent are key to decision-making. The G8 leaders again absurdly showed their contempt for democracy.

Were the recent G8 protests in Calgary effective in truly delivering positive change? Beyond a great PR coup the anti-G8 organizing in Calgary didn't deliver on those promises. Summit hopping as it is now practiced does not fulfil the aims of the anti-globalization movement, mainly to hold Western governments and globalization accountable to the Earth citizens, politically, socially, economically, and environmentally. Except Seattle and some recent European protests (500,000 in Barcelona!) summit hopping has been systematically analyzed and defeated by the authorities in question. Does that mean that summit hopping is dead? Yes and no.

Summit hopping, especially for North Americans, is for many protesters very costly and arduous to plan and organize, due in part to the vastness of our countries and to the amount of coordination and communication it requires. This last point also plays in the hands of the authorities; it is much easier for the authorities to have a central focus on a single city and their organizing committee to demoralize, instill fear and sabotage our organizing efforts. These last observations are pointing to the birth of a new era in the anti-globalization movement, and to the strengthening of our vision(s); the local-to-global protest strategy.

An auspicious development for the anti-globalization movement happened in two Canadian cities during the G8. In Ottawa a simultaneous, yet independent campaign was organized to concur with the Calgary actions. It was called "Take the Capital!!" and brought together 3000 or so activists to act locally and replicate the Albertan scenario of snake marches and mass non-violent civil disobedience. Apart from a little property damage there was also no violence in Ottawa. But the protesters succeeded in hurting Big Business for 2 consecutive days. The same scenario, although on a much smaller scale with approximately 300 protesters showing, happened in Vancouver. It was called "Connecting the Dots" and made links to Gordon Campbell's repressive regime, the G8 and globalization. In both cases the protests made the headlines and sent shivers to Neoliberal business executives everywhere.

A great many activists think the local-to-global organizing is the way the movement is evolving. They can no longer justify using their already scarce resources for a few days of heroic, but most often symbolic actions at mass counter summit protests. They feel that staying in one's city or going to one's closest regional metropolis is much more effective because it speaks to one's regional targets and local issues, pinpointing to the direct effects of the globalization architecture at home. This last point also addresses the search for a vision for the movement; there is nowhere better than home to practice and promote the change we want to see in the world, whether it touches environmental issues, better and more meaningful employment, the investment of regional profits, the management of our regional conflicts, or our involvement in addressing global social justice issues through locally focused efforts.

There has never been a better time than now to unite in our communities and find the Enrons, Xeroxes, Tycos, Andersens, WorldComs, Bushs, Campbells, Kleins, and all other criminal individuals and multinationals and show them that without our consent they are nothing. It is time for all the concerned citizens from all walks to unite in each city and work locally to create local visions of how they want to live and be the change they want to see, individually and collectively.

There is no need to search for a new global ideology that will unite the movement when human life is based on a diversity of views and philosophies, but we can apply locally oriented and positive environmental, social and economic principles to empower ourselves as free individuals and regain our communities and then let creativity and spontaneity rule. But first we must act in concert locally to paralyze the profit-maximizing and greed-driven machine that is capitalism as we know it. This is our common purpose and vision: to experience self-empowerment anew in a new paradigm in which each of us knows and acts according to what s/he sees as positive and fulfilling, and in harmony with the Earth.

* Martin Fournier is an up-and-coming anti-globalization/ enviro-activist writer and a student of environmental philosophy and ethics, sociology and economics. He resides in Vancouver, BC and can be reached at: mfou1@hotmail.com

After years of controversy, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment has launched a $250,000 study to determine if paper sludge berms are harmful to the environment. Paper sludge from recycling is mixed with sand to make "Sound-Sorb" used in berms at gun clubs and composting sites. Deb Vice, Protect the Ridges Co-Chair, is encouraged by the planned bioaerosol study, sampling and testing at various stages of decomposition. However, she wonders how to make sure the testing is done properly, and says, "I honestly never would have believed it would take this much work to get our government to simply do the right thing! The 'rose tinted glasses' are long gone."

The production of recycled paper uses up to 60% less water and about 65% less energy than paper made from virgin wood. The production of recycled paper generates nearly 75% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution. Nonetheless, it also generates huge amounts of waste fibre, containing inks, fillers, anti-fungal agents and whatever else was used to make and print on the paper.

* Voice of the Farmer, July 2002, and files.

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A team at England's Warwick University has developed a method of pulling hydrogen gas for fuel cells from wet sludge and manure. The European Union has given $3.6 million to build a pilot reactor, which even strips the hydrogen from methane. The plated membrane reactors, no bigger than a large room in some cases, could be added directly to sewage plants or paper mills.

* University of Warwick, April 2002

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Wildcanada.net's new Media Mentor tool, at www.wildcanada.net includes about 800 community, regional and national newspapers in Canada that are organized roughly by electoral ridings. There is also a tutorial on how to write a good letter to the editor, and talking points on the endangered species issue. Letters can be sent to multiple papers, so you can send one to your local newspaper, to the regional paper of record and to a national paper all with the click of your mouse. Wild Canada will also provide an icon for other groups to post a link to the Media Mentor.

The Non-Proliferation Treaty was created to achieve complete global nuclear disarmament.

Now the US proposes to develop a new generation of nuclear weapons to perform specific tasks like "bunker busting," and that nuclear weapons could be used to respond to chemical or biological attacks or to other "surprising military developments." - In other words, the US reserves the right to target any nation with nuclear weapons whenever it chooses to do so. The US Nuclear Posture Review is in direct opposition to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The National Missile Defense system, intended to protect the USA against attacks by "rogue" states could further threaten global security by expanding the defence field to outer space.

We must let our government know that the muscle-flexing, unilateral plans made by the USA are unacceptable to Canadians. Our representatives at any international forums on disarmament need to give a strong, clear message that Canada does not support the US in any of its revised plans to expand its nuclear capabilities.

CONTACT: Right Honourable Jean Chretien, Prime Minister, House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6, Ph: (613)992-4211 Fax: (613)941-6900

20/20 Vision 20-20 Vision is a non-profit advocacy organization which makes it easy for citizens to communicate with targeted decision makers. Each month, since October 1990, 20/20 Vision 'Core Group' members contact peace and environmental groups to find out what issues need immediate attention and then send a monthly action-alert postcard to subscribers. The postcard provides clear and detailed information on one issue. 20/20 Vision subscribers use the cards to write, phone or fax the key policy maker. To Join and receive the full information card, send $20.00 to 20/20 Vision, 103-2609 Westview Drive, North Vancouver BC, V7N 4N2; Phone/Fax: (604)983-2525, Website: www.2020vision.bc.ca

Attended a meeting at the Knights of Columbus hall in Powell River BC on Wednesday evening. The Norske pulp mill here wants permission to "test" tire derived fuel. A woman from what ought to be the department of environmental PROTECTION was present and seemed about as informed as any of them usually are. I felt some of the questions from the floor were either difficult for her to answer or next to impossible for her to grasp.

The mill claims the softwood lumber tariff has drastically and negatively impacted their ability to find and buy "good quality" hog fuel and this inferior hog fuel which is available is increasing the amount of natural gas they must burn to keep things bubbling away at the requisite and desired rate. We heard a lot about their natural gas bill and the woes it entails for them. They say if they can add chipped up tires at a rate of either 2% or 5% of the hog fuel mass they can achieve and maintain the temperatures they need. They also suggested that right now they can't burn any greater amount of tires because, I take it, their incinerator won't be able to handle the heat.

When the question was asked why it was undesirable for the average citizen to burn any kind of waste whatsoever in this town, why a special permit is required, and why it will only be granted at certain times of year, but it's okay for the mill to burn tires, we were told there is a difference between me burning the kids' old tire swing and the mill burning tonnes of chipped up tires. Well, I'd have to agree with that. I might burn one worn-to-hell tire swing every twenty years, and they're going to go for tonnes per day. Yes, that is a difference. A significant difference

Each time any sort of protest was voiced we were told in glowing terms how well this whole thing is going in Port Alberni. Why to hear the Norske guys talk about it, the project there is an actual boon to the economy, the environment and the profit margin of the mill. Nothing but blue skies from now on, it seems.

Would that it were so. When asked about the bottom ash and what would be done with it some of the previously happy faces became blank and the verbiage which ensued could possibly be construed to mean either none of your business or possibly we don't know, or maybe we'll just dump it in Wildwood again. Nobody seemed completely sure what was going to happen although we did get one jolly elf to admit that yes, there would be increased metal content in the ash. However, we were all assured that the mill is going to "look at" this. It made me think of the statue of Rodin's "Thinker," you know, the stone guy who has been pondering for hundreds of years without changing position OR coming up with an answer of any kind.

Further research has unearthed some facts the Norske guys didn't present. I would advise everyone to go to tire derived fuel on the Internet and for gods sake READ what is there. It takes a bit of time but hey, this is, after all, the only Earth we have.

The lady from the environment department, which isn't really any such thing any more, and which seems to certainly not be there to protect anything, said she didn't make policy, she only enforced provincial rules and standards. She seemed to become progressively uncomfortable as the meeting continued. She was asked right out who it was she was supposed to protect, "Norske or me?". She did not choose to answer the question, so I would suggest each and every one of us put it to her again at just about any kind of meeting you'd like to attend. It seems a very relevant question to ask any of them, whether the meeting is supposed to be about fish, fowl, herring, water, air, earth or fire. In this case, particularly, fire, because that's what they want to do with the tires.

We each of us pay three bucks per tire when we buy new ones. This fee is supposed to off-set the "recycling" costs. Now I would agree that making, oh, road sealer or rubber mats for horse trailers or blasting mats or even roofing is "recycling" but I don't consider burning to be recycling. If it is recycling why can't we all just go burn our garbage in the back yard. Hell, we could throw the blue boxes on the fire, too! Just recycle it all, no problem.

The government is going to pick up the tab for transporting the tire chips to the Norske mill in Powell River. This will be pricey because whichever direction you choose, you have to take a ferry to get here and if they're going to be burning tonnes per day those trucks will be sure to be "over height" vehicles and they pay extra! The government not only is going to pay for the transportation of the tires, they pay SOMEONE one hundred fifty dollars per tonne to lug away the tires. Norske says they are not being paid. SOMEONE is getting paid.

And all this because Norske claims they cannot get high quality hog fuel. In the meantime their good buddies at Weyerhaeuser are busy sawing up the forest, leaving behind mounds and masses of ugly "waste." I guess we'd have to talk the government into providing free transportation to get all this waste wood shipped to Norske so they could burn it in the incinerator. But hey, if they'll pay to transport old tires, why not ... then there's all this construction waste...you know the old two by fours, four by sixes, six by eights and such that "code" regulations won't allow us to re-use or re-cycle in any way when we repair the damage to the leaky condos. I can see why nobody is suggesting anybody burn gyproc, I don't think it would burn but if it is, after all, "just chalk" why does it get treated like toxic waste? You'd think they didn't know the difference between that and asbestos.

And what about all the tar-based roof shingles being ripped off so repairmen can get at the walls below? They burn like go to hell.

Up until recently Patty Gibbs, a Powell River environmental activist, repeatedly asked the mill if they had plans to burn tires. Time and again they said no, they had no plans to burn tires. And now, suddenly, as if out of the blue, yes, we want to TEST whether or not this would be "economically feasible" for Powell River's Norske mill. So now Patty Gibbs is asking them if they have plans to burn medical waste, human waste, municipal waste.

SO I was wondering if they couldn't have a kind of sideline here and take over the cremation duties because we don't have a crematorium in Powell River so the deaders have to be shipped down to Vancouver, then the ashes shipped back. If we could just chuck Uncle Jared into the mill furnace I'm sure they'd give us back about four pounds of heavy metal enhanced ash to scatter on the floor of the pub near the foosball game Uncle Jared enjoyed so much.

It is all such complete and total bullshit. Of course they have plans in the future to burn all manner of waste. They'll be burning municipal garbage, they'd burn your first born if it was allowed. They might burn their own first born if it saved them money!

So I guess we'll just have to trot down the appeal board process again. We know that's a rigged game, you can guess which of three walnut shells hides the pea but you aren't going to find the pea no matter which shell you pick because the pea isn't there! It's up Norske's sleeve.

Living on a semi-remote island means adapting to a lifestyle that is unique to island life. We all arrive filled with enthusiasm for our bit of paradise. Some new inhabitants desire the space to build, expand, and develop as suits their interests and pocketbooks. Others are thrilled with the idea that the rural location means less regulation and more freedom, that land and sea are there to be molded into a "countrified" image. For many more visitors the summer escape means trading the daily drudgery of home and work for carefree play time.

Once the honeymoon is over, especially for those of us that choose to stay, what becomes increasingly apparent are the needs of the island, of the land and water that support us. Hand-in-hand with island life are the continual reminders that we live in a watershed. Almost every piece of property fronts on, or contains, a water source, be it stream, lake, marsh or ocean, all of which are interconnected and interdependent at some point.

After the well has run dry from summer drought or a sprinkler left on, or an ineffective septic system has made a rude appearance in the bathtub, lake, or your neighbour's drinking water, you begin to realize that certain natural, regulatory influences are kicking in that have nothing to do with bureaucracy-bound government agencies.

Watersheds demand that we adopt a respectful approach and a thoughtful set of good manners. As simple as this sounds, the "how-to's" are not always obvious.

The Living By Water Project has been working for the last four years to inspire, educate, and support waterfront residents and visitors in mending and maintaining shorelines. They offer a variety of engaging and informative printed material, "how-to" programmes, and workshops that give residents and groups valuable tools for assessing home sites and habits, taking positive action, and encouraging "shoreline-friendly" activities.

Because many of Living By Water's activities and ideas complement the objectives and programmes of Friends of Cortes Island's Water Stewardship Initiative, we have invited one of Living By Water's founders, Clive Callaway, to give a presentation to our island community in mid-August. We hope also to inspire Cortesians to join The Living by Water Project in its goal of designating 200,000 "Shoreline Ambassadors" by 2005.

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* For more information contact: The Living by Water Project, Ph: (250)832-7405, www.livingbywater.ca
* Friends of Cortes Island Society, Phone/fax: (250)935-0087 Email: foci@island.net

Years since we started consuming oil	140 years
Worlds total supply of oil	2000 - 2800 billion barrels
Quantity of oil consumed up to 2000	900 billion barrels
Quantity of oil consumed in 2000	28 million barrels
Quantity of oil discovered in 2000	6 million barrels
Number of days US oil supply in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge	152 days
% of the worlds carbon emissions that result from burning oil	33.3%
Years since we started consuming natural gas	110
Worlds proven reserves of natural gas	5,146 trillion cubic feet
Current rate of consumption of natural gas	83 trillion cubic feet a year
Forecast consumption of natural gas for 2020	167 trillion cubic feet a year
% of new US electricity planned to come from natural gas	96%
% of the worlds carbon emissions that result from burning gas	16.3%
Main ingredient in natural gas	methane
Factor by which methane is a more potential greenhouse gas than CO2 over 100 years	23 times
Factor by which methane is a more potential greenhouse gas than CO2 over 20 years	62 times
Years since we started to destroy our planets forests	3,000
% of worlds carbon emissions that result from forest loss	22.5%
Years needed before a clearcut Douglas fir old growth forest recovers its lost carbon	150
Quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere before the industrial revolution	288 parts per million
Quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere in 2000	370 parts per million
Amount spent by oil and gas companies in 2000 Presidential campaign	$30 million
% given to Democrats	20%
% given to Republicans	78%
Amount spent by transportation companies in 2000 Presidential campaign	$51 million
% given to Democrats	27%
% given to Republicans	72%
Daily subsidy given by the US government to the oil, coal and gas industry	$50 million
Estimated daily worldwide subsidy given to fossil fuel industry	$643 - $959 million
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimation of reduction in CO2 emissions if subsidies were removed	4% - 18%
Primary energy needed for sustainable world in 2025	500 quads
Renewable energy needed by 2025 if 80% is renewable	400 quads
Land needed to generate 400 quads if all was from solar energy	330,000 square miles
% of Earths total land area that this represents	0.57%
% of North African and Middle East deserts that this represents	5%
Global wind energy potential	341 quads
Global geothermal energy potential	468 quads
Global tidal energy potential	72 quads
Global biomass energy potential	254 quads

Publisher and Editor Delores Broten; Associate Editor Don Malcolm; Computer Graphics Yendor

Circulation 3,000; Published six times per year; Subscriptions $20.00 Canada $26 US; Distribution by news stand sale,
by subscription and to members of Friends of Cortes Island, free at Vancouver Island Regional Libraries, and through Doormouse Distributors, Toronto

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