One of the leading causes of deforestation right now is food production. As population levels grow we need more land to feed more people and this as resulted in the cutting down of forests for arable land. We’ve already seen that a simple diet change can protect forests and save
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The Common Sense Canadian: Neil Young dumps Starbucks over company’s Monsanto alliance, GMO secrecy
Read this Nov. 19 opinion column from the health blog Natural Society on socially-conscious rocker Neil Young’s decision to publicly boycott Starbucks over its support of GMO products. I used to line up and get my latte everyday, but yesterday was my last one. ~ Neil Young I, like Neil, have lined up
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: #LyingLeona Lets Them Eat Cake From The Dump
Conservative Minister Leona A. is a disgrace. That means she’s a fine representative of the Conservative Party of Canada. You may remember other Lying Leona blunders from such stories as Canada phasing out coal, and the Canadian government isn’t muzzling scientists.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Build The Change #skpoli #YXE
This is awesome. The 3 competing projects are all so great, it’s honestly hard to choose. I was just talking about being able to invest in solar power though, so I may go with the SES option. $1000 gets a future co-op membership too! BCBC GFJ
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Crazy Cats and Brain Parasites
It reads like a script for a scary movie: an alien parasite invading our brains, taking control of our minds, changing our behaviour silently, secretly; making us do what it wants. And it’s happening now, in homes across Canada and the USA. Alien puppet masters over-running the nation, one household
Continue readingThings Are Good: The Rise of Urban Agriculture
Industrial agriculture is not kind to the environment and has been attributed to deforestation of the rainforest to the massive bee die-off. Yet, we find ourselves attached to this 20th century model of centralized production. Lucky for civilization, this is changing! Small scale urban agriculture is getting large enough as
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: As California drought drives up BC food prices…a dam to flood our best farmland?
California’s Central Valley is facing record drought conditions As British Columbians share a meal this weekend, giving thanks for the food with which we are so blessed, year-round, let us pause for a moment to consider where so much of it comes from: California. Let us also say a prayer
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Perfect Cuppa
I was incited to blog about the “perfect” cuppa by an article in The Guardian titled, “How to make tea correctly (according to science): milk first.” As a user of many tea bags – a single bag per cup – I must protest. You cannot possibly get a decent cup
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Extra Virginity
For some time before I got this book, I’ve been aware that there is more to olive oil than meets the eye. Or tongue. How much more really was startling. When I started reading Tom Mueller’s 2012 book, Extra Virginity: the Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, I was simply
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC Hydro vastly underestimates loss of farmland to Site C Dam
At a recent press conference in Vancouver, renowned agrologist Wendy Holm and lifelong Peace Valley farmer Renee Ardill spoke to the vast, quality farmland that the proposed Site C Dam would flood or disrupt. “These soils are completely unique,” explained Holm, a past president of the BC Institute of Agrologists.
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Freegan Food Activist Exposes Grocery Industry Waste
You’ve got to hear about Rob. He’s an interesting guy, doing what I did last Summer except on a much larger and more successful scale.
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Site C Dam: Food for thought
Check out this short video from The Peace Valley Environment association and The Common Sense Canadian’s Damien Gillis on the extraordinary agricultural land that would be flooded by the proposed Site C Dam. The Peace River Valley, in northeast BC, provides much of the province’s energy needs from two large dams and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Site C: Damning the Peace…while US decommissions hydro projects
Damien Gillis and Kootenay Co-op Radio’s Suzy Hamilton discuss Canada’s plan to build a massive new hydroelectric project on the Peace River, while America is busy decommissioning dams. The Peace is home to some of Canada’s best farmland, 30,000 acres of which would be impacted by the dam – enough
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Avoid Brown’s Social House
Nicola Tee wrote: Hey! Just wondering why you have the archaic & sexist rule that your waitresses have to wear a minimum 1″ heel while they’re on their feet all night? The men don’t have the same rule. That’s terrible, and I actually won’t be back because of it. Please
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: Another fad bites the dust
The gluten-free fad took another major hit to its already weakened credibility this week when researchers who had first diagnosed “non-celiac gluten sensitivity” found out that, oops, they were wrong. It doesn’t exist. A story in Business Insider tells the tale. In one of the best examples of science working,
Continue readingThings Are Good: Save the Oceans!
What’s a marine biologist doing talking about world hunger? Well, says Jackie Savitz, fixing the world’s oceans might just help to feed the planet’s billion hungriest people. In an eye-opening talk, Savitz tells us what’s really going on in our global fisheries right now — it’s not good — and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Peace Valley farmland, ecosystems worth $8 Billion a year: study
The Peace River Valley is one of Canada’s most fertile regions (Damien Gillis) Keeping the Peace Valley’s farmland and ecosystems intact would be worth $7.9 billion to $8.6 billion a year, says a new study from the David Suzuki Foundation. The region, in northeast BC, is under threat from the proposed Site
Continue readingThings Are Good: You Can Lower Greenhouse Emissions With a Simple Change in Diet
Want to lower your impact on the environment by reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted to bring you food? Yes, you can ride your bike (or walk, or take the bus) to the grocery store instead of driving, but there’s an even simpler solution: adopt a vegetarian diet. Researchers
Continue readingThings Are Good: Supermarket Loves Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables
Just because it’s not good looking doesn’t mean it tastes bad. Growers take their odd-looking fruit and usually sell it to juice, soup, or canneries instead of grocery store. One grocery store chain in France decided to take the produce usually rejected by consumers and make something fun out of
Continue readingThings Are Good: LED Farms Could be the Growing Fields of the Future
As humans flock to cities and the surround them with suburban sprawl we have covered some of the most arable lands in concrete. This has caused problems of food security, access, and sustainability. Urban farming is nothing new and will continue to spread, but what about industrial-scale farming in cities?
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