Burns Bog Society Launches Lawsuit Against Feds

LAWSUIT LAUNCHED OVER ROAD CONSTRUCTION ON BURNS BOG

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 – Delta, B.C. – The Burns Bog Conservation Society announced today that it has delivered a statement of claim to Federal court office. The Society claims that the Federal Government has violated the conservation covenant to protect Burns Bog.

“The construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road will have a significant impact to the health and well being of residents, plants and animals alike,” said Eliza Olson, President, Burns Bog Conservation Society. “Our Governments have failed to conduct a thorough and credible analysis of the environmental impact of paving a highway through Burns Bog, over valuable farmland, and along the Fraser River.”

The freeway will cause irreparable harm to critical habitats of the Fraser delta including the bog, farmland, and the forests and wetlands located in Surrey and North Delta. As such, Burns Bog Conservation Society, with a grant from West Coast Environmental Law, has hired Vancouver lawyer Jay Straith to advocate on their behalf.

“The governments have failed to honour their commitment to protect Burns Bog under a Conservation Covenant and Management Plan signed by the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, the City of Vancouver, and the Corporation of Delta,” said lawyer Jay Straith. “They must be held accountable for their actions and negligence.”

Further, the Federal Government has violated public trust, and ignored their fiduciary duty to protect the environment, by carrying out the development of the South Fraser Perimeter Road. The development contravenes the laws outlined in the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act and the Federal Species at Risk Act in the following ways:

• Fails to ensure that the Federal Environmental Assessment of the South Fraser Perimeter Road was considered in a careful and precautionary manner, to avoid adverse environmental effects
• Fails to disclose the use of Federal lands for the purpose of enabling the project to be carried out
• Fails to protect endangered species such as the Pacific Water Shrew
• Fails to meet the legal requirement of assessing the overall cumulative effects of the South Fraser
• Perimeter Road, in combination with related Gateway Projects such as the Delta Port expansion and Golden Ears Bridge.

Eliza Olson, president of the Burns Bog Conservation Society, is one of ten finalists in CBC's Champions of Change contest. If she wins, Burns Bog will get $25,000 which would help pay for the lawsuit. If you haven't already, please go to CBC's Champions of Change and vote for Eliza. You can vote up to ten times, and can cast all of your votes today.

Cancer Society Applauds Delta's New Pesticide Ban

Editor:


The Canadian Cancer Society would like to congratulate the Mayor and Councilors and residents of Delta for their enactment of a Pesticide Use Control bylaw which will come into effect on November 16, 2010. We would also like to applaud the Corporation of Delta for their exhaustive efforts to educate the community on pesticide-free lawn and garden maintenance.

In Canada, more than 130 municipalities have taken a leadership role in banning pesticides in their communities. Many more will soon follow. By taking its first step toward becoming a pesticide-free municipality, Delta will be able to join this list of progressive communities and further enhance its image as a family-friendly and healthy community.

The Canadian Cancer Society would also like to congratulate the members of the Delta Pesticide Coalition, who for over three years have contributed their time and energy to raising awareness in the community about the risks of pesticide exposure and what we can do in our families, neighborhoods and community to make a difference.

The Canadian Cancer Society is a national organization, which along with providing community programs and funding research, advocates for cancer prevention and healthy public policies. The Canadian Cancer Society is very concerned about the use of potentially carcinogenic substances for the purpose of enhancing the appearance of private gardens and lawns as well as parks, recreational facilities and golf courses. We base this concern on the conclusions of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which states that some substances used in pesticides are classified as known, probable or possible carcinogens. Studies have linked pesticide exposure to both adult and childhood cancers.

The list of cancers includes childhood and adult leukemia, childhood brain cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, neuroblastoma, brain cancer, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, and some lung cancers. Further, the use of pesticides to beautify lawns and gardens is non-essential.

Therefore, because of the association between certain substances in pesticides and cancer, and because the cosmetic use of pesticides has the potential to cause harm, the Canadian Cancer Society calls for a ban restricting the cosmetic use of pesticides on private and public lands.

There are numerous non-toxic alternatives to pesticides, and research tells us that in regions where pesticide bylaws are in place, businesses have not only shifted successfully to non-toxic alternatives, but that sales and offerings of non-toxic alternatives are growing.

Once again, congratulations to the Corporation of Delta and residents of Delta!


Natasha Raey,

Health Promotion Coordinator - White Rock, Delta, Surrey
Canadian Cancer Society

Global Environmental Issues Can Distract Us From Local Problems

By Susan Jones - I'd like to share my current thoughts on the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming”. My comments are triggered after watching coverage of the excellent demonstration “Dig in for Climate Change” and while it appears to have been a great success, from my point of view, the use of the term, “climate change” distracted from the real issues of the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

I'm concerned about the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming” as it is my opinion that they are too broad in scope and are not good labels to consistently use. It is simple to call me a “climate change denier” and ignore this, however I request that you give me an opportunity to share my thoughts.

I think debating the truth about “climate change” and “global warming” is a way of distracting people from looking at specific issues. People are being “sucked into” using these terms. It prevents people from examining the direct impact of actions and developments that are destroying the environment. To me, the worldwide loss of habitat is devastating. The loss of species, farmland, and natural environments along with the pollution of soil, air and water are critical issues. In some cases, the causes are change in climatic conditions and these should be specifically cited as caused by warming or cooling conditions.

I suspect our governments, and “destroyers of the environment” like nothing better than to use “green rhetoric” to avoid the truth about what they are wilfully doing for power and money. They love to use the terms, “climate change”, “global warming”, “greenhouse gases”, “sustainability”, “alternate energy”, “green buildings”, “ecodensity”, “growth” and “balance”. It is my opinion that these terms have become green rubbish.

It is important to avoid the rhetoric and point out the specific impacts of actions and developments that are destroying the environment.

In the case of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, the Project will destroy some of Canada’s best farmland, habitat for species at risk, Burns Bog hydrology, transitional habitat, a highly-significant archaeological site and the quality of life. It will result in air pollution and over 50 kilometers of environmental degradation.

Prince Charles who in a recent interview declared his aim is to be a “defender of nature…, makes a more accurate statement as to what our goals should be.

The debate about “climate change” is ongoing. I am alarmed about the information that is coming out. It is so easy to use the terms as if they are the “cause” of all evil. I haven’t read anything that would help me use these terms with comfort and have a sense that I know what I am talking about. Using these labels is a lazy way of avoiding doing proper homework on the issues facing us and sidetracks the debate about the real issues of willful environmental destruction.

I'd like you to consider the following article. It is articles like this that make me uncomfortable using terms that I know so little about. One can go on the internet and find excellent arguments on both sides of the debate. How many of us really know and understand the science? What we do know is that we need to continually speak up against deliberate environmental degradation.

-------- Begin Article

US physics professor: 'Global warming is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life'

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Here is his letter of resignation to Curtis G. Callan Jr, Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society.


Dear Curt:

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a half-century ago). Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as thirty-five years ago, when I chaired the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf, and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee, in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research, the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer you my resignation from the Society.
It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally) trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists, and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare. (Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word scientist.

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along with it. For example:

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the last year has been designed to silence debate

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it. One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics, certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer “explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific society is at stake.

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world. It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all. This is not science; other forces are at work.

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is, after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition, and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money, exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman) would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is not an academic question.

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.

Hal

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member Defense Science Board, Chairman of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books: Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a Coin (about decision making)

Sandhill Cranes and the SFPR

Join the Delta Nats for our November meeting on Monday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Cammidge House in Boundary Bay Park. Charlie Palmer will be speaking on understanding the presence and distribution of sandhill cranes in southwest Delta. Four years of field and behavioural observations will be presented. Charlie is a professional biologist who is now leading the biological monitoring of species that use areas in and around the road alignment for the South Fraser Perimeter Road. There is no cost and everyone is welcome. For more information, call Joanne at 604-946-2240.

Group Hike on the South Fraser Witness Trail This Friday!

See the South Fraser Perimeter Road on Foot

The South Fraser Witness Trail was begun in 2009 by volunteers from Surrey Environmental Partners and the Wilderness Committee. It follows the route of the proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road freeway through an urban forest in Surrey. Named as one of the city's five major natural area hubs in a recent study, it is home to deer, beavers, herons, owls, salmon, and endangered species such as the Red legged frog and Pacific water shrew.

Witness Trails are a time tested way of protecting natural areas from irresponsible development. Come on the hike to see the wildlife and old growth spruce trees. Find out what is at stake if the South Fraser Freeway gets built, and what we can do to stop it!

When: Friday November 5, 3:15 pm
Where: 168 St. & 108 Ave. in Surrey (meet at bus stop click on map for directions)

(The C74 bus runs direct to this location from Surrey Central Skytrain. Just get on the bus at 2:47 pm at Bay 12 under the tracks, and ask the driver to let you off at 168 St. & 108 Ave.)

The trail includes rugged sections. Bring drinking water, a snack, and water resistant footwear. The hike will proceed rain or shine and will only be canceled in case of high winds or dangerous conditions. For more info call 604 588 4203 (including day of) or email witnesstrail@gmail.com

More info including trail map and brochure at http://gatewaysucks.org/trail

Tsawwassen Area Plan Public Hearing October 26 & 27

Tsawwassen Area Plan Hearing Begins Tomorrow

The new Tsawwassen Area Plan (TAP) will be presented and discussed at a public meeting on October 26 & 27, 7:00 pm at South Delta Recreation Center. The public will be given an opportunity to provide feedback to Delta Council regarding the bylaw outlining the future direction of Tsawwassen. The proposed TAP recommends maintaining of the agricultural land use Designation for the Southlands.

This follows an 8-1 vote in favour of agricultural designation from the final TAPC meeting, an Ipsos Reid survey showing clear majority support (62%) for maintaining the designation of the land as agricultural, and an earlier staff recommendation from Delta’s Chief Administrative Officer in June to maintain the agricultural designation.

“I’m glad that Council is respecting the will of the public,” stated Dana Maslovat, one of the organizers of Southlands the Facts, “We hope this will be the last step to ensure the agricultural designation of the Southlands is maintained in Tsawwassen’s new Official Community Plan this fall.”

The potential re-designation of the Southlands agricultural land to accommodate a housing development is by far the most contentious component of the process undertaken to revise the existing Tsawwassen Area Plan. Any re-designation will change the Official Community Plan and open up the Southlands for a 1900 unit housing development by Century Holdings. This piece of farmland was the cause of the longest public hearing in Commonwealth history and a resident run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2000 unit development that was proposed for the same property.

Vegetarianism

At Brazil's O Cristo Redentor statue refreshment stand pop and chips have been replaced with fresh papayas

By Alex Sangha - Vegetarianism may be the moral and ethical way to go.

Imagine feeding South Asia's billion strong population if it was as obsessed with meat eating as North Americans.

The mass slaughter of cows, pigs, goats, and other animals to feed the West's insatiable appetite is destroying our environment.

A huge amount of grain and plant based food is produced simply to feed livestock animals. The animals are fed hormones to fatten them up. The end result is a product that may be of questionable value for human consumption.

Even the Ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, stated that society will need more doctors if it allows meat eating. That was over 2400 years ago.

Today, we suffer from heart disease, cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity. Our children may be the first generation that does not live longer than their parents in the history of humankind!

Imagine a vegetarian diet made up of fruits, vegetables, cereal grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and with or without dairy or eggs.

Don’t you think such a diet would be much less stressful on the digestive system and healthier overall?

It is important to get enough protein, iron, vitamins such as B12, and minerals when you’re on a vegetarian diet. You should always consult with a physician and get a medical clearance before embarking on a vegetarian diet.

The South Asian diet has evolved over centuries to produce delicious vegetarian food. You do not miss the meat when you’re eating curry. The spices of the Indian subcontinent add a lot of flavour and taste to any dish.

In Ancient India, some people practiced vegetarianism because they believed in non-violence towards animals. Little did they know that their beliefs would be better for the environment with less land degradation and air and water pollution and more biodiversity as compared to a meat eating society?

Some people argue that you need to eat meat in order to pack on muscle and be competitive in sports or become a professional athlete. Well, I‘ve got news for you!

Brendan Brazier is a professional Ironman triathlete who is on a 100% plant based diet. Brendan has finished first in numerous races. In 2006, he set a course record in the Canadian 50 km Ultra Marathon Championship. Brendan is proving everyone wrong!

We live in an era today, where food information and knowledge is widespread. It is possible to create balanced meals based on a plant-based diet.

This does not happen overnight. Change is all about taking baby steps. I have made small changes to my eating habits and lifestyle.

I have cut out all meat except burgers. One day I will exclusively eat vegetarian burgers to fill my burger craving! I have cut out all juice and pop and sweetened drinks in order to control my blood sugars. I also walk an hour a day six days a week.

It is never too late to take control of your health. Everyone should jumpstart their health today! Talk to a dietitian, personal trainer, and physician and put a health and wellness plan in action.

Alex Sangha, BSW (UBC), MSc (London School of Economics)
Registered Social Worker
Author - The Enlightened Society Blog

Food For Thought

By Debbie McBride - There is a lot of debate going on worldwide regarding the preservation of agricultural land currently in use and rehabilitating formerly productive lands. The debate has many facets to it and one thing that no one seems to disagree on is that we need to have land we can grow food on.

Without arable land there is no way to grow crops that will feed people or livestock. It should be a no-brainer that in order to secure our ability to feed ourselves and the upcoming generations, that we should be doing everything we can to ensure that the arable land is protected.

Yet everyday it seems we are inundated with proposals to build residential or industrial areas and the roads that feed them on the very agricultural land we profess to want to protect. Why is that?

To answer that question we need to take a look at those who own that land and their reasons for wanting to dispose of it rather than farm it. Unfortunately, a great number of "farms" and the land they sit on are owned by multi national corporations or numbered companies. The land was likely bought or optioned for purchase from the original owners in the latter half of the 20th century. This was the time when development was rampant and little thought or regard was given to the massive spread of suburbia or what the unintended costs to the world would eventually be. Agricultural land was flat and cheap and there seemed to be an abundance of it. No one really gave any thought as to the reasons that cities were located near rich and accessible soil. That reason of course was because those lands could feed the city dwellers. Unfortunately, like the Aztecs and other cultures before us, we kept expanding into the land that fed us until we ended up having to bring our food in from further and further away.

Whenever mankind imposes his will upon the natural world the laws of unintended consequences push back. The rising price of agricultural land came about because the land was worth more built upon than it was to grow things on. This was not lost on land owners and speculators and we saw our farms and farmers become developers. Who could blame them? Their land was worth considerably more growing buildings rather than crops. Especially when they were forced to compete against the multinational food corporations that had put a stranglehold on the agricultural marketplace.


Not every farmer saw things that way. There have been generations of farmers who resisted selling out and they have tried desperately to keep working the land they love and understand. Those generations who didn't sell found themselves in a precarious position , garnering very little support from the various levels of government and having their lands encroached upon by a public who didn't understand that you just can't create farm land from lava rock, sand and old growth forests that had been logged. No, those areas where food was now being grown could not be fertilized and irrigated into being forever productive. The piper would have to be paid and we are only now recognizing the cost.

Arid lands cannot be irrigated forever as they have learned in California and Arizona and the use of man made chemical fertilizers have been proven to be unhealthy and are causing terrible illnesses and draining the medical system.

We are now seeing a movement to desperately try to reverse the mistakes made in paving over what has fed us by a new generation who recognize that we cannot continue as we have. So why do we still see governments unwilling to take firm and solid stands to prohibit development on the agricultural land? Why do we see development proposals even being considered that promise to give us "some" farmland forever, in exchange for paving over most of it? They try desperately to greenwash their developments to the public using made up phrases like 'New Urbanism' or 'Urban-Ruralism' and print pretty pastel brochures depicting an urban-rural utopian community. The other tactic is the infamous game of 'tradesies'. Developers will give twice as much farmland somewhere else, such as mountainous areas only suited for growing sagebrush, if they get to develop the viable farmland which happens to have the misfortune of being close to a city. Developers will convince governments, usually easily purchased municipal politicians, that the farmland in question is no longer any good for farming. The reasons for this are numerous and erroneous and it's awfully hard to argue with those who have contributed so much to their election campaigns.

This brings us to the saddest of situations and that is the developer/farmer syndrome. As agricultural land has continued to rise because of development pressures and weakened protection laws, farmland became one of the best investment plans around. The dramatic increase in land value brought with it the advent of the developer/farmer. The developer/farmer is usually not actively involved in farming the land themselves and will lease the land for other large food producers to seed, grow and harvest with corporate machinery. This keeps their land productive with little cost to them. This allows them to bide their time until it's possible to development. Or conversely, there is the developer/farmer who sits on the land that their ancestors farmed and lets it go, farming nothing but weeds and allows dumping of all sorts to take place. This of course results in the degradation of the land and soils and, after time, the cost of replenishing the land becomes uneconomical and they can apply pressure to the community to develop. While developer/farmers live on the farm, they have other occupations and careers that enable them to wait for the change of land use designation. You'll often hear them say they had to give up farming because it just wasn't profitable and that's likely very true.


Neither model is a good option for those who would like to buy the land and actually farm it. The possibility that the land could more than quadruple in value once it achieves a higher use zoning such as residential or commercial is just too good a chance to pass up. Who among us would be altruistic enough to turn that down and willingly sell off the land at $50,000 an acre when the land it's worth 10 times that amount developed? Granted, there are some out there, but in all honesty would you be one of them?

So where does that leave us? Can we blame the multi-generational farming families for wanting to be developers instead of farmers? No. Can we sympathise with their plight and the difficulties inherent in farming? Yes. Can we say no to more destruction and paving over of agricultural land? Yes and we must and we must do it now.

At the same time we need to insist that governments make it policy that there are hard lines drawn that will no longer allow for the side deals and trading off of some good land for a lot of mediocre land someplace else. What is agricultural land now stays that way. We need to see tax policies and laws that will favour and help small private farmers to compete against the huge corporate farms that make it difficult for them to buy seeds for their fields and feed for their animals.

Most importantly, we as consumers must make it a hard and fast rule stop buying industrially farmed food and to buy our food locally or as close to home as possible. Most importantly, we need to stop complaining about the cost of our local food. Imagine the cost savings to tax payers when we as a society begin to make the right nutritional choices.

This will require huge policy shifts in governments and as we all know, the only way to get huge policy shifts is to make huge changes to the governments we elect. There will be opportunities to change these government policies by how you vote and who you vote for. Make it your business to find out what your candidates views are on food security. Find out if they are willing to 'draw the line in the soil' and put the brakes on development of all agricultural land no matter what sort of incentives are offered. Our future as a self-sufficient nation depends upon it. Our children depend upon it. Their children depend upon it. At one time Africa was a continent that could not only feed itself but others as well. What will we do as a nation? Food for thought don't you think?

Get Your Tickets for the Burns Bog Gala

Celebrate British Columbia's environmental successes at the 2010 Gala hosted by the Burns Bog Conservation Society. Enjoy in a magical evening of live music, fine art, local and organic cuisine, and inspirational speakers to recognize some extraordinary people who help keep our planet healthy.

The Burns Bog Conservation Society is proud to announce that Ray Zahab will also be sharing his inspirational stories and experiences at the Burns Bog Gala, taking place on September 24th 2010 at 7778-152 St. Surrey. Tickets are $75 and include a dinner based on the 100 mile diet, a silent auction and entertainment. All proceeds will go to educational programming at the Society

Want to get involved? The folks at the Burns Bog Society are currently looking for artists, performers, sponsors, volunteers and donations for this event. If you are interested in this fantastic opportunity please contact the organizers at communications@burnsbog.org or phone 604.572.0373. You can download a ticket ordering form here. For more information visit www.burnsbog.org/gala

Then, strap on your running shoes and join Canada's ultra - marathoner and adventure athlete, Ray Zahab, for the 'Jog for the Bog' on September 26th 2010.

Mr. Zahab has competed in adventure racing challenges all over the world including the grueling 250km Gobi March and Libyan Challenge as well as expeditions to Baffin Island, Tunisia and the South Pole. In 2007, Zahab's love of running brought him to the Sahara Desert. After witnessing and experiencing the water crisis and malaria epidemic in Africa, he decided to dedicate his future to raising awareness and funding for causes that he supports and believes in. Zahab is a member of the board of Directors of the Ryan's Well Foundation He is the official Athletic Ambassador to the ONExONE organization and a representative of SpreadTheNet. In 2008, Ray founded impossible2Possible (i2P), an organization that aims to inspire and educate youth through adventure learning, and inclusion and participation in expeditions. Zahab will be participating in this year's Jog for the Bog, showing his support to conserve and protect Burns Bog, by running the 40km bog race route. All race participants will be able to run with Zahab for the last 10km of the race and a few lucky runners who are able to raise $2,000 in pledges will get the opportunity to run with Zahab for the entire race.

For more information on the Jog for the Bog race and Gala dinner visit: www.jogforthebog.org

Email: info@burnsbog.org

Oil (Enough Said)

Who's To Blame For Gulf Oil Spill?

By Alex Sangha - The Gulf oil spill is a wake up call for all of us.

The public is quick to point blame at British Petroleum. BP is partly to blame but so are we. It is our demand for oil that drives oil tankers into harbour cities. BP is responding to our thirst for oil.

If we want to protect our waters and marine life we need to turn to alternative energy sources. Solar, wind, and water based energy needs to be developed and put into mass usage.

The technology is out there but the market is failing to respond to the needs of our eco-system. If oil companies can continue to make a profit through the use of oil why would they turn to cleaner burning fuels?

The oil basically has to run out or the planet has to turn black for any transformative change in consumption and production to happen.

This is where the government needs to play an active role and create incentives for the energy sector to produce clean, safe, and toxic-free alternatives.

The fact is an oil tanker is a floating disaster waiting to happen!

The pollution and toxins that come from oil use is threatening our existence.

Millions of birds and marine life are put at risk with oil spills. The oil covers the bodies of these creatures. This affects their temperature levels. Some creatures die of hypothermia. Others ingest the oil and this does potentially fatal damage to their vital internal organs.

We must remember we are all connected.

As one part of the food chain starts to fall apart; it leads to the deterioration of another.

Oil spills reduce how much sunlight can reach the ocean waters. This limits photosynthesis and other essential life giving processes which depend on sunlight.

Coastal communities depend on the oceans for fish and seafood. Our fish is now filled with mercury and toxins.

There is only so much that nature can do to clean up our environment if we keep on polluting it.

So how can we live more in harmony with nature?

The corporate world can start by thinking longer term about the impact of their decisions. It would be great if the fiscal year was based on a three year cycle instead of a one year.

Companies can be encouraged to invest in the research and development of alternate energy sources.

Maybe we can turn our trash into energy.

Oil tankers can be banned from entering major harbours and sensitive coastal habitats.

Citizens can demand that their governments legislate and enforce stringent environmental protection rules and regulations.

Our dependence on non-renewable resources has to end.

We cannot sustain our lifestyle the way it is. The rest of the world is becoming more developed and is demanding more of the Earth’s limited resources.

It is essential that we come up with more sustainable solutions.

It is worthwhile to protect our planet so we are healthy and our future generations inherit an eco-system that is as pristine as possible and secure.

Alex Sangha, BSW (UBC), MSc (London School of Economics)
Registered Social Worker
The Enlightened Society Blog

Winners of the Best Green Photos Contest of Summer 2010 Announced!

Alouette River at Dusk by Kyle Falconer

Delta, BC – Greener Steps Sustainable Living is proud to announce the winners of its first annual Greener Steps Photo Contest held throughout British Columbia.

This year’s theme was the ‘Best Green Photo of Summer 2010’ and the first prize was claimed by Kyle W. Falconer of Pitt Meadows, B.C. Kyle submitted a beautiful photo of Alouette River at dusk.

The Greener Steps Photo Contest is the idea of Greener Steps founder and Delta resident Alex Sangha. The contest aims to generate greater public interest about the environment, sustainability and greener living, through a series of thematic photo contests.

The contest generated a lot of public interest and drew in over 43 quality photo entries from locations as far as Harrison Hot Springs, Duncan, Nanoose Bay, Buntzen Lake, and throughout the Lower Mainland.

The 2010 Summer Contest was sponsored by local companies Metropolitan Aromatherapy and Kiss My Flash Photography, both well known eco supporters.

A panel of judges were selected from the Greener Steps Team to shortlist finalists who included website developer, Evanson Bess, of Webbchief Internet Solutions.

Catherine McLaren of Kiss My Flash Photography was brought onboard to help with the final decision making.

“We are very excited about the response and the support from the community in our inaugural contest. We hope next year the contest will be even bigger and better. And of course a special thanks goes out to our sponsors Metropolitan Aromatherapy and Kiss My Flash Photography whose support was invaluable, and to all those who participated”, says Alex Sangha.

Dragonfly on Blackberries by Mia Paisley

Mia Paisley of Maple Ridge captured second place with her photo of a dragonfly resting on a blackberry bush.

Ryan Rose of Surrey captured third place with his photo of Hyland Park in Newton. Ryan Rose was also the recipient of a $400.00 photo shoot or photo workshop from Kiss My Flash Photography. This prize was randomly drawn from all the entrants in our first ever Greener Steps Photo Contest.

Hyland Park by Ryan Rose

Says Ryan, “I'm 17 years old, who just graduated high school and took media arts in grades 11-12. I'm hoping to get into Emily Carr University of Art and Design to get my BFA and major in photography. All my photography skills where self-taught ...Nature/environmental photography is important as it can really show how beautiful the Earth really is, and in contrast it can also show how ugly our Earth is. It always keeps our eyes open though ...”

The winners all received a Greener Steps Certificate; cash prizes of $200, $100 and $50 respectively; the chance for their photos to be displayed on the Greener Steps website; and $100 gift certificates from Metropolitan Aromatherapy. Each winner also received Greener Step’s latest offering: Greener Steps Biodegradable Ballpoint Pens made from 99% organic materials.

Greener Steps is already preparing for next year’s contest in Fall 2011, which will run from September to November of the same year.

For media and company sponsorship opportunities contact Alex Sangha at info@greenersteps.com or visit their site at www.greenersteps.com

South Fraser Perimeter Road to destroy Fraser River Environmental Reserves

Dear Editor,

RE: Artificial Reef Project Runs aground (Article in Vancouver Sun Aug. 28, 2010)

It surprises me that Environmental Stewardship Manager Jennifer McGuire would prevent the sinking of an artificial reef in Halkett bay, since it would bring life to an otherwise barren and muddy area and would boost its biodiversity. Someone very powerful must own property in Halkett Bay to be able to convince the Ministry of the Environment to stop a project that would enhance the amount and types of species in the area with a project that has been a year and a half in the making at a cost of nearly half a million dollars. I suspect that they don’t want divers and other boaters to be using their bay and would like to keep it for their own personal use.

Ms. McGuire was of no help when we asked her to protect the Norum Place Park Environmental Reserve that is not only home to many species at risk but is made up of plant and animal species that are said to be the last of their kind in the Province. This small park on the banks of the Fraser River in North Delta will be totally wiped out by the construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road, along with a critical section of nearby Collings Way Ravine Environmental Park Reserve, separating it from the Fraser River and the wildlife corridor that connects it to other important green spaces.

These two parks are part of a 2 1/2 km. long wildlife corridor that connect six other environmentally sensitive ravine parks with Burns Bog, the Fraser Heights Wetlands, Surrey Bend Regional Park and the upper Fraser River, an essential wildlife corridor that would be replaced with a highway.

Despite the fact that these reserves are Red- and Blue-listed habitat, home to threatened and endangered species, and are made up of habitat that are some of the last of its kind in the province, we were told there was no protection. Well now it seams there is a protection rule, and both of these parks qualify.

The Artificial Reef Society will no doubt find another location to sink their Warship to improve some other area of Howe sound, but we could never replace the loss of habitat nor the species at risk that would be lost by the construction of the South Fraser Perimeter Road through this section.

The Mission statement of the Ministry of the Environment, Environmental Stewardship Division is to “maintain and restore the natural diversity of provincial ecosystems and fish and wildlife species and their habitat” So what about it Ms. McGuire?



Don Hunt

Sunbury Neighbourhood Association

Delta BC

Sustainable Immigration

Is There a Right Mix?

By Alex Sangha - An effective immigration policy can lead to a renaissance of ideas, initiative, and investment throughout Canada.

The five pillars of an effective immigration policy can include strategies to fill labour shortages; attract investor immigrants; reunite children and families; provide humanitarian relief for people escaping persecution; and help populate and develop socially and economically depressed areas.

My principle of “sustainable immigration” basically means that Canada should aim for the right mix of the above five pillars to maximize the net benefit to the country while taking into consideration the needs of the global immigrant community.

The recent boatload of Tamil refugees leaves Canada in a delicate situation. The Canadian government needs to apply its immigration policy equally and fairly for all refugees without damaging its international reputation as a caring and compassionate nation.

The tone coming from the Harper government is playing on racist elements in society and is not helping the situation.

Canada after all is a country largely built by immigrants. The early European settlers all arrived here by boat just like the Tamil refugees.

In order to reduce public opposition to the arrival of the Tamil refugees, the South Asian and Tamil community in Canada can sponsor the refugees.

The upwards of $50,000 that was paid by the Tamils on the ship and their families, most likely from abroad, should have been paid to the Canadian government to process legitimate immigration applications and help with the transition of the refugees into Canadian society.

The root source of the problem is that there is an inequity of resources and opportunity in the developing world. People want to leave to find a better life.

The solution is to help the developing countries improve the quality of life of their citizens. Canada can play a role in improving systems of democracy, justice, human rights, multiculturalism, and social infrastructure such as universal health care and public education.

The basic needs and fundamental rights of people all over the world have to be protected, enshrined, and guaranteed in international treaties and enforced by local laws.

The idea of the sovereign nation state with the power to make or break any laws it wants opens the door to absolute corruption. Countries need to abide by a set of internationally agreed upon rules and regulations if we want to see some peace on this planet and stability on the immigration front.

Canada and Australia are a couple of the relatively wealthy and developed countries that have a huge territory and small population. They can absorb many more immigrants.

We need visionary leaders to come up with new ideas.

Canada can develop new well-planned, eco-friendly, hi-tech cities.

These cities can have no cars except hybrid taxis, electric buses, and emergency vehicles; support a vibrant local organic food market; implement extensive reduce, reuse, and recycling programs; and be located in beautiful, natural scenic settings with ample parkland, forest, mountains, beachfront, lakes, and harbour areas.

Vancouver is close to this ideal and it is not surprisingly one of the most livable and beautiful cities in the world. It is better to plan beautiful sustainable cities and let the people come settle instead of responding with piecemeal measures to control an expanding city with no overall or coherent design.

In other words, lets prepare for an influx of immigrants and population growth in Canada before social, economic, and political conditions in the world deteriorate and more and more people want to immigrate to Canada.

Where there is a will, there is a way. The immigrants will find one way or another to escape to better off lands whether legally or illegally!

The right mix of immigrants in Canada can lead to a larger domestic market and increased independence from the United States.

The added diversity to the population also helps Canada build social, cultural, economic, and political ties with the immigrants’ mother countries.

Immigration, helps, Canada be more globally competitive and be representative of the people of the Earth.

Alex Sangha is a Delta Resident and Registered Social Worker in BC. He is the Founder and President of Greenersteps.com For column ideas contact alex.sangha@deltafreepress.com

Committee Votes 8 to 1 to Protect Southlands From Developer

By Elvis Glazier - The Tsawwassen Area Plan committee has recommended that Delta’s municipal council retain the current agricultural designation on the Spetifore Farmlands now known as the Southlands and adopt it as such into the official community plan. The committee met yesterday evening for a final discussion on how the recommendations in their report would be presented to city council.

The meeting had to be diverted to the main council chambers to accommodate the influx of people wishing to attend. The contentious nature of the proposed Southlands development has been a rallying point for the battle hardened citizens of Tsawwassen. Land developer, Sean Hodgins was in attendance as the committee deliberated over the parcel of land that his family has held for over 20 years.

A unanimous consensus couldn’t be reached as one member of the committee spoke out against maintaining the current agriculture zoning. Helen Kettle, who served on the Century Groups community planning team, was alone in voicing her concern that people in favour of the development weren’t being represented in the document. In the end it was agreed that staff would add a disclaimer to the policy statement:

“The Southlands: The existing Tsawwassen Area Plan has policies related specifically to the lands known as the “Southlands”. It is recommended that the existing land use designation of AGR be retained for these lands. (added)A consensus on this policy issue was not reached among Committee members.”

"While it is certainly a positive step forward, it is unfortunate that a single dissension results in a statement about a lack of consensus,” said Dana Maslovat, co-founder and spokesperson of the group Southlands the Facts. “Another section of the TAP was not unanimously supported but no statement about lack of consensus was put into the Committee report."

The Tsawwassen Area Plan Committee may have one more gathering prior to being struck but their heavy lifting is done. The document will now be prepared by staff and presented to Delta council on August 30th for ratification. It is expected that the public hearings will take place sometime in the early fall.

Southlands Designation to be Decided at Meeting Tonight

Delta Staff members have released a draft of the new Tsawwassen Area Plan (TAP) that will be discussed and ratified at a final Committee meeting tonight (Thursday, August 19, 7:00 pm, Annacis Room, City Hall), including policies regarding the future use of the Southlands.

Although the TAP recommends agricultural designation be maintained for the Southlands, it notes that this statement may be amended after the August 19th meeting due to several members of the Committee encouraging residential development on these lands.

Results from the Ipsos Reid survey commissioned by Delta Council in June of this year showed clear majority support (62%) for maintaining the designation of the land as agricultural. It is expected that there will be a large public turnout for this final TAP Committee meeting.

“Given the clear direction from the community at all stages of public consultation, I cannot understand why this issue is still being discussed,” stated Dana Maslovat, one of the organizers of Southlands the Facts, “Although I am optimistic the right decision will be made and Southlands will remain agricultural, it appears that some members of the Committee are trying to push their own agenda rather than representing the will of the people.”

The potential re-designation of the Southlands agricultural land to accommodate a housing development is by far the most contentious component of the process undertaken to revise the existing Tsawwassen Area Plan. Any re-designation will change the Official Community Plan and open up the Southlands for a 1900 unit housing development by Century Holdings. This piece of farmland was the cause of the longest public hearing in Commonwealth history and a resident run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2000 unit development that was proposed for the same property.

Southlands the Facts Wins Award for Best Community Activists’ Group

Photograph by : Les Bazso, PNG

On Thursday, the South Delta Leader Newspaper revealed the Award Winners in their Annual “Best of South Delta” Competition. Local residents voted in a variety of categories and Southlands the Facts won for best community activists’ group while co-founder Dana Maslovat was runner-up for best community leader. In addition, the Southlands was voted best green space in South Delta.

“We are honoured to have received such strong support from the community,” stated Dana Maslovat, one of the organizers of Southlands the Facts, “it speaks to the passion that the residents of South Delta have to ensure the community’s valuable green space is maintained.”

Southlands The Facts is a community based grass-roots organization, which was formed earlier this year in order to provide all citizens with the facts regarding Southlands development. It is made up of a number of volunteers from Tsawwassen who strongly believe in ensuring a fair democratic process is used to guide the future of the community.

Tsawwassen has currently been undergoing a review of their Area Plan, which involves the future of the highly controversial piece of land known as the Southlands. A recent Ipsos Reid poll of the community showed clear majority support (62%) for no development on the Southlands and the maintenance of the agricultural designation.

This piece of farmland was the cause of the longest public hearing in Commonwealth history and a resident run plebiscite in 1989, which prevented a 2000 unit development that was proposed for the same property.

Local Troupe Spoofs BP in Music Video

You Down with Oil BP?

A talented group of performers from the Sunshine Coast recently collaborated on a music video in an effort to draw more attention to the environmentally devestating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by oil giant BP. Lampooning the 1991 hit song 'O.P.P.' by Naughty by Nature, videographer Marc Buzzel wrote all new lyrics and changed the iconic tagline, "Who's Down with O.P.P." to "Who's down with Oil BP".

Shot in two days, Marc enlisted the help of John Jamin a local musician and recording artist and Johanna Renee a very talented hip hop artist to provide the vocals along with Caitlyn Turcotte. The video features the three of them performing the parody with former longtime Delta resident Duane Burnett, who plays BP CEO Tony Hayward's alter ego named 'Tony Haywire'.

Filmed entirely on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia this video has been getting a lot of attention on the Internet garnering over 5000 views in under 3 days. A number that is likely to increase exponentially over the next few weeks.

Discovery Workshops in Burns Bog

Learn about the environment while having a great time

Join the Burns Bog Conservation Society this Saturday (July 10) for a day of fun events and informative workshops. Registration is required for this day of family oriented activities. A minimum $10 donation is suggested to help cover costs.

The day starts at 9am for an exciting walk through the Bog while being shown all the best bird watching techniques from Tom Bears, the President of the Delta Naturalist Society.

11am-1pm treat your children to an educational session with seasoned educator Roberta Price on First Nations culture and the importance of their heritage, while completing a craft to take home.

1pm-3pm join Ursula Easterbrook, a member of the Delta Naturalist Society, for a lesson on ‘environmentally conscious’ photography and take your new skills for a test drive in the Delta Nature Reserve. This workshop is great for youth and adults of all skill levels.

3pm – 4pm join Dr. Holly Fourchalk for a ‘Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise’ seminar. With a simple and effective style of providing innovative leadership, 'Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise' provides a number of integrative learning options to maximize each of these important aspects of life.

The walk and sessions are being held at the Delta Nature Reserve/Burns Bog located at 10388 Nordel Court, Delta. For more information and to register, contact Katie (604) 572 – 0373.

Adventures of Bog Boy!

Rumour has it they found me floating down the slough in a wicker basket but that's a different story!

The South Fraser Perimeter Highway wasn’t the first controversial highway over Crescent Slough, in Ladner and Delta, BC. Nor was the ongoing Southlands (formerly known as Spetifore lands) property development proposal/debate/protests in Tsawwassen, BC along Boundary Bay the first urban sprawl gone mad. I recall fighting and working to protect farmlands, wetlands, estuaries and wildlife ever since I was a kid. Little did I know that growing up as a Ladner Bog Boy would impact the way I see the world for the rest of my life.

Back in the 1959 not long after the construction of George Massey Tunnel, Highway 17 cut Crescent Island farmland in half to service the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal which began service in 1960 and widened from two to four lanes in 1973.

My mom Jackie Burnett would later spearhead a group of parents to have a pedestrian walkway built over Highway 17 for kids to get across the dangerous intersection. They first built a wooden staircase over-pass which was next to impossible to take your bike over, and as the traffic volume magnified, and parents protested more, they eventually built the cement pedestrian overpass you still see connecting Ladner and East Ladner.

While I was oblivious to the controversy around so called "progress" of build more and build some more, my memory as a child that I remember was the Highway 17 construction created this huge pond near the intersection with Trunk Road that froze over in the winter offering a spectacular and huge outdoor skating rink.

When my family moved from Gibsons Landing, BC to Ladner I was only a couple years old. We first rented a home near the Sacred Heart Church on Arthur Drive abutting the slough while waiting for our new house to be built. Five months later we moved to Crescent Drive in East Ladner which ran parallel to Crescent Slough. Back then there were only six houses in East Ladner and plenty of open fields and farmlands for kids and wildlife.

We lived about three houses in from Highway 17, and while the constant drone of vehicles and progress encroached on our lives I was more fascinated with the muddy waters and wildlife of Crescent Slough. Yes some would call it a big ditch but growing up as a young boy it was anything but!

My parents moved into a bungalow at 6021 Crescent Drive in East Ladner on May 1st, 1968. Back then there were 6 houses between Highway 17 and 64th Street. Highway 17 was really just a two lane road to the new Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal which opened in 1964. When the highway was enlarged to four lanes it cut off direct access between the subdivision on each side of the highway. The only means to get from Crescent Drive on one side of the highway to the other was to double back and detour to Trunk Road or take the boat through the tunnel under the highway on Crescent Slough.

It often turned out to be a nightmare for emergency vehicles who often showed up on the wrong side of the highway.

As I think back to sleepy Ladner and Tsawwassen in the 1960’s and 1970’s I remember the old Paterson Park Race Horse Track which slowly fell into disrepair. but didn’t stop us from exploring its decrepit grand stands where I remember finding a 20 dollar bill and spending it all on candy with my visiting cousins at the convenience store across from Delta Manor Elementary school.

For me the slough was a source of creativity which inspired me to build a “Jaws” ride to scare the neighbourhood kids at only five cents a ride. I also held lots of puppet shows, magic shows, variety shows, haunted houses and even started producing my own special effects films including Earthquake and my own version of the Hindenburg that nearly burnt the house down. Please don’t tell my Mom!

My love for movies and film and special effects would later lead to me producing around 15 shows about the environment and AIDS with Delta Cable Community Television which were broadcast throughout the Lower Mainland, and today I continue to host shows, auctions and telethons on the Sunshine Coast, BC with Coast TV.

Mom tells me that the crop dusters flew so low across the Burr family’s farmland that it singed her laundry out on the close lines one day. Later we would notice a steady decline in wildlife contaminated by the pesticides including the complete loss of the giant bull frogs as big as a side plate. One time a crop duster got too close to the underbelly of a giant jet heading to the Vancouver International Airport, and got sucked up in the vortex, smashing the tiny crop duster into the huge plane and causing the duster to plunge straight down into the slough! I heard the tip of the plane's tail wings were 12 feet in the mud. Urban legend?

I remember all the muskrat, ducks, geese, carp and swans that lived in the slough year round that often got caught in the leg hold traps and snares set out along the slough by trappers. In later years when I moved on past University life the Delta Optimist covered a story about my mom Jackie’s cat being nearly choked to death by two snares around its neck. I even remember swimming in the slough and getting covered in the thick black smelly muck. It was the time of our lives!

One of my childhood friends David Van Rheenan and I loved to test the limits of the ice that use to turn the slough into a skating rink each year but I understand that it doesn’t freeze much anymore.

We would often walk across the farm fields and laugh at the giant mud slippers that sucked us into the earth on our way back and forth from exploring the bog and garbage dump. Later my parents would get an aluminum boat which we would row out to Burns Bog when the water level was low and we could get through all the tunnels installed under the farm roads and highways.

I remember this one time finding a robins nest amongst the hundreds of spider webs lining the inside of the tunnel and taking an egg home to incubate against the squawking protests of the mother. Unfortunately I cooked the egg with a heat lamp and have felt terrible about it every since. Lesson learned!

The garbage dump and bog was always a great adventure. We would see deer and all kinds of strange plants and birds. The dump itself, was like finding a hidden treasure chest full of wonderful junk and giant pumpkins. One time at the dump there was a seagull with its leg hopelessly caught in some fishing line. We finally managed to set it free but not after a few nasty bites from its beak.

We had a beaver move into the neighbourhood and it chopped down the birch tree I had so proudly planted as young boy.

My stepfather Ed use to buy feed from the old Co-op store in Ladner for the ducks and squirrels who became so friendly and welcome in our back yard that they often came into the house for treats. The hunters would shoot the ducks along the slough and right from the side of the Highway which really upset me.

Mom worked at the Gillnetter Café in the Ladner Hotel (way back when.. who remembers that coffee shop? It had a long coffee counter and this clock with advertising that flipped over and over again) and the police station was in what is now the Delta Museum and Archives. I was always fascinated with this clock at the 50’s style café.


The crop dusting and continued growth of housing in East Ladner eventually led to the demise of many muskrats, carp and and most tragically for me the giant bull frogs which have since become of mythic proportion in my inner child’s minds eye.

My mom later worked at the Cassiar Cannery in Richmond on Rice Mill Road. She would come home wreaking to high heaven of dead fish smell.

I remember this colouring book some friends and I created year's later, after going to the University of British Columbia to get a B.A. in Political Science, called The Adventures of Fraser about Fraser the duck who returns to find his home is now a golf course. Saddened he finds solace in Crystal the fish who’s underwater home is polluted. The pair are befriended by a couple of kids who clean up their back yard and declare it a protected habitat for wildlife.

When I think back on it, I realized that cartoon colouring book mirrored my own life. Funny my studies in politics, environmental science and the Fraser delta estuaries would be succinctly summed up by a childrens colouring book. I would love to see it re-published. It really is a gem.

I was very active in high school volunteering and doing theatre and stuff where I honed my skills on trying to ban leg hold traps showing films and having discussions about humane trapping methods. I would also get involved in the Don’t Dump on Delta committee, and started my career in the media writing a story about the campaign for a local publication, it was the "South Delta Now" or "Sunshiner" I think.

I also took my environmental message to the Ladner Pioneer May Day parades where I would build floats about banning the leg hold traps and protecting wildlife. I won many awards for best Novelty float and volunteered year after year to help put the event together. One year a reporter from the Delta Optimist took my photo with a local business person while judging the best decorated store window contest and another year a photo of me pulling a float of a pioneer wagon scene loaded with real dirt! Man was that heavy to pull through the entire parade route! I held on to the float in front of me quite a lot!

One of the strangest things, is the chronic dreams and nightmares I still have to this day about the slough and Ladner, and BC Ferries where I was hired as an Expo 86 kid at Tsawwassen Terminal. The severe sleep apnea probably doesn't help much and no doubt the real fear of loosing such a critically vital area for global populations of waterfowl. Estuaries are the most unique and productive eco-zones on earth and it saddens me greatly to see them chipped at and destroyed by pollution and urban sprawl.

I do still have many memories of growing up in Delta to share! Like the award winning international wetlands education society the Friends of Boundary Bay and Fraser for Life society I co-founded with Martin Keeley, where I went after major corporation sponsorship, knowing that business must lead the way to saving the planet, but they will have to wait for another day. (teaser)

I must say I probably wouldn't recognize Ladner anymore, or Tsawwassen. Where childhood fields and wetlands once supported child hood fun but now are drowning in concrete, asphalt, urbanization and kids bored out of their skull with X-Boxes and Guitar Hero.

Many thanks to the Delta Museum and Archives for kindly helping me with some back ground details and jogging my memory banks!

I am now living on the Sunshine Coast, BC Canada and I continue to help be of service to the community and do whatever I can to help the Earth.

Photos (C) Duane Burnett
All rights reserved

Duane Burnett is a "community spirit" award winning Master photographer, photo journalist, television host, actor, social networker and more. His images have been seen extensively on the Sunshine Coast and around the world in numerous newspapers, websites, brochures, map guides, magazines and on the big 50ft screen before the local movie theatre starts.

http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com

Assault on Annieville Home

Before Demolition

This morning, residents of Annieville were woken by heavy machinery being moved in to demolish the 100+ year old house at 10345 River Road. Machinery pulled in early this morning and the house was completely gone by 8:40AM. Many local residents voiced their dissatisfaction with the way the vacant properties are being left by the government. "There are numerous properties that now belong to the Ministry of Transportation that have garbage dumped on them and down the riverbank," said one of the bystanders watching the demolition.

It's an easy to understand point of view. Driving through this part of historic Annieville one would think they were in a ghetto. Vacant homes sit empty with the siding half gone and doors boarded up, garbage litters the lots, and even the once busy Tide Water Pub is behind construction fencing after a recent fire shut it down.

After Demolition

This isn't the first old home in the area that has been destroyed by the provincial government to make way for the South Fraser Perimeter Road, a 40 kilometer highway linking Deltaport to the Trans Canada Highway. There are 64 homes/buildings slated for demolition in Delta to make way for what most people in this neighbourhood see as an unnecessary highway.