GreenWatch

B. McPherson Slag heaps from garbage incineration. Now you've got a real problem with toxic slag. Nanaimo was treated to a game of “Weakest Link” on Wednesday afternoon. You remember the game played out on British TV in which the hapless loser was eliminated as “the weakest link”. American corporations were seeking friends among the Nanaimo politicians who might be their friends or the weakest link in the general opposition to the construction of a garbage burner in the area. An event billed as a meet and greet was held at a local hotel. It was billed as an invitation only affair hosted by the Energy From Waste Coalition who would have a recognized expert in the field give a clear and unbiased explanation of the advantages to allowing a garbage burner built. Those politicians who have been outspoken in their opposition to importing Metro Vancouver’s garbage to Vancouver Island were not invited. The Energy From Waste Coalition is owned and operated by two multin...

B. McPherson This may be a Japanese tradition but it is not civilized behavior. An estimated 250 dolphins have been slaughtered in “The Cove”. For four days dolphins have been herded into the small bay outside of Taiji Japan. Those looking for dolphins for the captive market have now had their pick and the rest are being slaughtered. The favoured method is to jam a sharp spike into their blowhole to sever their spinal cord or at least, cause them to drown in their blood. Sea Shepherd Society has outed this barbaric practice since 2003 but has been unable to stop it. Their web site gives graphic detail of the bloody destruction of families. I was struck by the fate of an albino calf at the hands of the dolphin slavers who grabbed the youngster for selling to an amusement park. There is widespread speculation that the mother of the albino calf committed suicide after her baby was violently taken from her. Our volunteer Cove Guardians documented and witnessed the grieving mothe...

B. McPherson The Golden State is facing its worst drought ever. California is suffering from its worst drought in a century. Governor Jerry Brown has declared a drought emergency. Over 80% of the Golden State is suffering from severe to exceptional drought. Even in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, lack of snow cover has ski resorts closed. Wildfires in the state are expected to get worse as the vegetation becomes tinder. California is the leading agricultural producer in the US. Farming is being squeezed due to lack of water. Beef cattle, normally out grazing have to be fed hay instead, at a much higher cost to the farmer. That is, when the farmer can afford to bring in hay from out of state. Lack of water in the irrigation ponds means little water for the animals to drink. Many ranchers are sending their stock to slaughter early and at a loss. Dairy farmers are faced with low milk prices and higher forage prices. Much of the fresh vegetables that we enjoy in the Canad...

B. McPherson  Japan continues its whale slaughter pretending this is scientific research. Japan has begun its annual whale slaughter in the Southern Ocean. Summer there marks the summer slaughter of the cetaceans. While Japan claims that their killing of whales is purely for scientific purposes and have gone so far as to mark their factory ship, the Nisshin Maru, in large letters “Scientific Research” the evidence is to the contrary. Sea Shepherd Society Australia has documented their observation of the whaling fleet since they left Japan on December 7, 2013. A horrific description of finding three Minke whales still alive, bleeding and being pumped full of air lying on the factory ship. From the Society’s helicopter an observer reported watching the Japanese crew hacking the carcass of another whale into marketable pieces. The observer, Tim Watters, described the grisly scene and I won’t attempt to paraphrase him. Go to the Society’s page if you have a strong stomach. ...

B. McPherson Neil Young, Canadian songwriter and performer, has kicked off a four part concert tour in aid of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in their fight to defend their treaty rights. The tour, Honour the Treaties, held its first concert to a sold out crowd in Toronto. Winnipeg, Regina and Calgary will follow. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is front and centre in the ever expanding Alberta Oil Sands mining operation. Shell Oil, a foreign owned corporation, has been granted permission by the federal government to expand its mining operations in the Jackpine area in spite of an environmental report stating that it will cause irreversible harm to the environment. The damage already done to the delicate northern environment is already extensive. The strip mine that uncovers the tarry sands can easily be spotted from space. While ads by various oil companies mining the sands feature actors touting the reclamation successes, most of the area is a wasteland of to...

In a move that has opponents to GMs in food cheering, General Mills has announced that their iconic cereal, Cheerios, has gone non-GMO. While Cheerios in Europe have never had GM beet sugar added, those in N. America have. The switch back to pure cane sugar marks a triumph for consumers wishing to eliminate or reduce genetically altered sources of food. "This is a big deal," says Todd Larsen, corporate responsibility director at Green America, a green economy activist group. "Cheerios is an iconic brand and one of the leading breakfast cereals in the U.S." What's more, he adds, "We don't know of any other example of such a major brand of packaged food, eaten by so many Americans, going from being GMO to non-GMO." GM Watch This is an example of the consumers’ power to influence. While there is no direct proof that GM organisms are harmful to health, there is also no proof that they are safe to consume. Because foods, particularly ...

B. McPherson There are still some holdouts in the debate about the global climate, but the majority of objective scientists agree that change is happening. Non-professionals have observed local changes to migratory patterns and plant blooming. Locally, timber companies are planning ways to cope with expected temperature changes by planting diverse species of trees that they expect to better survive warmer years. Personally, I grew up able to skate on our old farm pond. That hasn’t frozen hard enough for many years now. Hummingbirds that winged south every winter are now spending the winter, cadging drinks from feeders, but finding enough tiny insects to survive. Extreme weather events are becoming more common. The most recent publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Summary Report is quoted by National Geographic: “Each of the last three decades has been successively warmer at the Earth’s surface than any preceding decade since 1850.” On averag...