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Old Boys reveal calf-covering secret weapon

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Old Boys reveal calf-covering secret weapon

By FRASER HOPE

DRIFTWOOD CONTRIBUTOR

Readers may think that theories and conspiracies are only to be found in the politics of impeachment or Brexit, but don’t be too sure that their invidious tentacles have not wormed their way into the Old Boys organization. 

How to account for the obvious influences of the Dark Arts that excluded Old Boys reporter Fraser Hope from all team communication this last week? Casually sitting having a leisurely cup on Sunday morning it occurred to Hope that there had been no emails concerning the game scheduled for Sunday at Frances Kelsey against Duncan 48s. Curiosity led to panic as investigation revealed a kickoff time of 10 a.m. 

Yikes! It was a scramble to feed the cats, get dressed, find pen and notebook — never mind the socks — and still make the 9:25 a.m. ferry to Crofton. (Readers will be glad to know Hope was not fully “commando” in dress!) Made the ferry, drove to Mill Bay and was able to witness and record for posterity the final 10 minutes of the first half.

As I hurried over the rugby field from the parking lot it was instructive to witness how slow the movement of both teams appeared. When you run the line up close, every action seems a blur. We are talking about all the Old Boys, not just Ben Cooper.

Suitably embarrassed, Hope stood on the grassy knoll as a detached observer, not wishing to distract from the project in hand. Old Boys had 12 men. Wow! Somewhat unexpected on a foul weather day in the Cowichan Valley with memories of the last two Battles of the Kelsey enough to provoke fear in the Bravest of Men. 

At first the Old Boys looked different somehow. Yes, those were the same faces in the same bodies. Ah! New socks! What a change in outfit can have on the confidence of a team. There will be call for new team shorts at least. 

Old Boys seemed in command in contrast to the home team’s less nuanced approach to tactics. Several chances gave promise of greater things to come from a 0-0 scoreline. Half-time came and Hope was bombarded with team facts so ludicrous that they were obviously “fake facts.” By varying reports it appeared Old Boys had run rampant with scores ranging from 5-0 to 8 or maybe even 10-goal leads.

Tweddle’s team talk for the restart was “The Socks Will Provide For Victory!” (a slogan that could have emanated from North Korea, Soviet Russia or the Long March).

So it was to be as the Old Boys grew in confidence knowing that their valiant efforts would be reported back to the Good People of Salt Spring.

The passing-out defence for goalkeeper Richard Steel onwards through Scott Howe and Martin Thorn, complemented by the silky touches of Dennis Shaw, Tweddle and Donny Brown, gave ample opportunities for the acting midfield trio of Dave Eadie, Matt Johnson, Cooper and Mike Berndt to provide ample opportunities for strikers David Toynbee and Mike McCormick to find the net to open the scoring. As the rain and wind dropped in intensity, the emotions grew more heated and pushing and shoving took some piece of the action.

Rising above the pettiness, Old Boys maintained their composure and after sustained pressure a Duncan clearance fell to the feet of Tweddle, who, staying true to his exhortation, shot from 25 yards into the top corner for a fine sock-inspired goal lead.  A certain caution crept into the Old Boys play, which allowed Duncan to put some pressure on the Old Boys net and Steel in goal had to cope with a couple of fierce shots.

As if to say “enough is enough,” the Old Boys swept downfield and after successive corner kicks a Johnson weighted pass gave Brown the opportunity to emulate his manager Tweddle with another ferocious shot that gave the keeper no chance for a comfortable 2-0 lead. Even a late goal by Duncan could not induce the usual Old Boys panic in defence and the team ran out worthy winners 2-1 in the Third Battle of the Kelsey. It almost went unnoticed that Toynbee was advised by the referee to take “a rest,” a polite euphemism for a red card. It is to the referee’s credit that he managed to keep his red and yellow cards safely out of sight.

Post-game analysis centred on the new socks and the cooler fund was toasted all around for the generous funding of the new red and black snazzy socks. Everyone was of course exhorted to increase the consumption of the fruit juices and bottled water to save for new shorts! Any talisman in a storm. 

The need for ferry sailings meant a virtual race to the terminal, a bit like in the movie The Italian Job (1969 and 2003) with three Minis being substituted by a Ford Focus, Dodge Ram truck and a Toyota Yaris. Readers will have to speculate which arrived at the terminal first.  

The winning car and driver came from Europe. Fifteen years of finding the short cuts that are not long cuts to reach the Crofton ferry in plenty of time paid dividends.  Ensconced in what passed for the Old Boys Executive Lounge on the MV Quinitsa (memo to BC Ferry Corporation: upgrade lounges), thoughts turned to the game and its influence on the rest of season. Yes, the “new socks” was indeed the MVP and the Thanksgiving break had given the battle worn a chance to heal, but once again rivalry between team units arose with the defence claiming all the glory and the attack complaining about the long grass making it difficult to get any power behind the shots, with the midfield suitably quiet, nodding their heads in silent approval.  

Reporter Hope kept requesting answers about the miscommunication. Had the Old Boys servers been hacked? Evasion and mumblings all around gave the conspiracy ever more credence that the whistleblower was being silenced. Reporter Hope suspects he is being fingered for the leaks from the dressing room. The Press will not be cowed! Truth Must Out!

The Old Boys try out their new socks next week at Victor Brodeur Field against Castaways 48s where it will be the usual clash with their nemesis Mr. Darcy. (The Castaways’ goalkeeper, not Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice character.) 

Hopefully Reporter Hope has been given the correct details and will not be sidelined as he almost was on Sunday. The black-tinted Cadillacs seem to be everywhere. Is reporter Hope overly paranoid or what?

Candidates vie for votes at GISS

Gail Sjuberg
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Candidates vie for votes at GISS

All five Saanich-Gulf Islands riding candidates put their best faces forward at Wednesday’s all-candidates meeting at Gulf Islands Secondary School.

The event organized by the Salt Spring Forum gave candidates a chance to make their pitch in opening and closing statements. They fielded about 10 questions from GISS students and members of the general public ranging from issues of climate change to First Nations reconciliation to debt management.

“I think the vote on Monday is a referendum on climate change,” said incumbent Green MP May in answer to a question about whether or not candidates felt Canada was facing a “climate emergency.”

“Tragically I hoped other parties would really up their game so I would not be standing here in front of you and saying only the Green party has a plan that has any chance of moving us to 1.5 degrees C,” determined to be the maximum temperature rise the planet can withstand without devastating impacts.

People’s Party of Canada candidate Ron Broda said he did not think the country faced a climate emergency.

“The climate is changing. It always has and it always will. Is it an emergency? I personally don’t think so, and even if it is, as a trained emergency responder in policing and as a licensed commercial pilot, I know the last thing you want to do in any emergency is respond in panic.”

Liberal candidate and Central Saanich mayor Ryan Windsor showed his green colours by stating he voted for May in 2015, that he drives an electric car and has made other environmentally sustainable lifestyle choices. He said the Green claim that Canada can achieve net zero emissions by 2030 is not realistic whereas the Liberal aim to do so by 2050 was achievable.

“There are a number of technological hurdles we will have to overcome. I am not certain . . . that we can overcome the technical limitations of the battery by 2030 that allows us to store renewable energy and power the world’s economy. Do I believe we can do that in 30 years? Yes.”

Conservative candidate David Busch referred people to his party’s brochure and website.

“What separates us from the other parties is that we are looking both domestically and internationally because at the end of the day we are all in this together, and even if we wave a magic wand and have our emissions down to zero tomorrow, if the rest of the world doesn’t do anything and it doesn’t get there, we are all in the same boat.”

Sabina Singh of the NDP responded that the NDP does believe a climate emergency exists and action needs to be taken now.

“Climate change and affordability for us are very related,” she said, adding that the federal government needed to fund all of the amazing organizations that are doing strong environmental work.

Candidates were asked how their party would move forward with issues of reconciliation with First Nations and the local Douglas Treaty, which has never been recognized.

Windsor said reconciliation first required sitting down at a table with First Nations and understanding mistakes that have been made in the past. He said he had pressed the provincial government to force the Capital Regional District to recognize the Douglas Treaty and allow those nations to sit at the regional district table.

“Having a voice at the table is where real change starts to happen,” he said.

Busch said existing treaties need to be honoured.

“If we don’t honour the existing treaties, there can’t be any reconciliation.”

May said the Green party is fully committed to reviewing all Canadian laws to ensure they conform to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and having all calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that apply to the federal government implemented. She said the Greens also accept all recommendations from the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Commission report.

Singh said the NDP also supports aligning Canadian laws with UNDRIP, noting it was NDP MP Romeo Saganash who introduced that bill in the House of Commons, which was ultimately blocked by the Senate.

She added that “B.C. also has the highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women and that needs to end.”

Broda said Canada treaties should be honoured and the Indian Act outlawed in order to make First Nations people “full partners in this country and equal citizens before the law and in reality.”

The only real inter-party conflict of the afternoon arose when the NDP was criticized for creating brochure materials that paint May and the Green party as not being firmly pro-choice and as being willing to cooperate with the Conservative party in Parliament.

Singh was asked to provide her position on the matter.

“As my [party] leader has said, you can’t PhotoShop what is already there.”

May defended herself by saying, “The words that appear in that brochure in quotes are words that I never said. The NDP should be ashamed for this conduct.”

A video of the one-hour event is available on the https://www.saltspringforum.com/ website.

VOTING INFO:

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21.

On Salt Spring Island the three available locations are Gulf Islands secondary, Fulford elementary and Fernwood elementary schools. People should check the voter card they received in the mail for the exact location. One piece of ID with a photo is required, or two pieces of ID, one of which contains a current residential address.

More information about voting requirements is available at elections.ca.

According to Elections Canada spokesperson Andrea Marantz, some 25,107 people voted in Saanich Gulf Islands advance polls set up from Oct. 11-14, up from 17,618 who voted in advance in the riding in 2015.

CANDIDATE BACKGROUNDS:

• Ryan Windsor, Liberal, is the mayor of Central Saanich and a businessman.

• David Busch, Conservative, is a lawyer.

• Elizabeth May, Green, is an MP and was formerly a lawyer.

• Sabina Singh, NDP, is a post-secondary institution teacher and academic.

• Ron Broda, Peoples’s party, is a retired police officer.

Homeless shelter to open year round on Salt Spring

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Homeless shelter to open year round on Salt Spring

People experiencing homelessness on Salt Spring Island will have year-round access to shelter and services, following funding from the province to extend operations.

People experiencing homelessness on Salt Spring deserve to have a safe, warm place to go year round, said Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

“We are so thankful for our community partners on the island who are working with us to deliver the services people need. This type of partnership is what Homelessness Action Week is all about.”

Starting Nov. 1, the shelter operated by Salt Spring Island Community Services will be open all year, providing people with a warm, safe space to sleep. Located at 268 Fulford-Ganges Rd., the shelter provides 30 overnight beds, access to laundry and showers and two meals a day for shelter guests. The shelter will be open overnight from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. Staff will remain on-site in the morning to connect guests with community resources.

“Housing challenges experienced in communities across British Columbia are magnified on the Southern Gulf Islands,” said Adam Olsen, MLA for Saanich North and the Islands. “I’m thrilled that the government has responded to the calls from Salt Spring Island to expand shelter services. Homelessness is deeply impacting the community, and I’m happy to support the work of the incredible staff and administration of Salt Spring Island Community Services as they work to support the community’s most vulnerable residents.”

Previously, the shelter was open from Nov. 1 to March 31 every year and regularly operated at full capacity. By having a year-round shelter, staff will be able to strengthen their relationships with shelter guests, assist people with moving into permanent housing and provide support accessing other resources within the community.

“This is a most welcome and much-needed advancement of services for Salt Spring Island,” said Rob Grant, executive director of SSICS. “The community and our elected officials have been very active in making it known to the province that Salt Spring has a very significant homeless population and more services are required. It is to the credit of BC Housing that they have acknowledged that and recognized the need here.”

The government says delivering affordable housing is a shared priority between government and the BC Green Party caucus, and is part of the Confidence and Supply Agreement.

Quick Facts from the B.C. government:

• The province is providing approximately $720,000 in funding to extend operations at the shelter.
• Through BC Housing, the province provides 10 rental supplements to people on Salt
Spring Island who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness to access rental

accommodations in the private market.
• To address the issue of housing affordability in British Columbia, the Province is curbing speculation in B.C.’s housing market and working with partners to build 114,000 affordable market rental, non-profit, supported social housing and owner-purchase housing through partnerships.

Donations to the shelter and outreach services to provide supplies, clothing and emergency supports for individuals in need are welcome. People can learn more by contacting SSICS at 250-537-9971.

Proposed CRD tax hike: 4.6 per cent

Elizabeth Nolan
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Proposed CRD tax hike: 4.6 per cent

Preliminary budgets for the Capital Regional District’s three electoral areas were reviewed by the Electoral Areas Committee and CRD Board last Wednesday, setting the stage for the regional district’s draft financial plan presentation at the end of the month.

The amount of money the CRD aims to collect through property taxes is set to rise by 6.08 per cent in 2020, although with a 4.42 per cent decrease to the Capital Regional Hospital District rate, the total increase comes to 4.6 per cent on average. Subscribers to some local water services on Salt Spring will actually see decreases to their service rates, including members of the Highland, Cedar Lane and Fulford water systems.

Key drivers for the Salt Spring budget increase include an added $35,000 to the Salt Spring Public Library contribution, $9,000 more toward transit, $20,000 more for public arts, a $198,000 increase to community parks and facilities expenditures, and a $60,000 increase for septage hauling/composting expenditures. The parks increase is significantly offset by an anticipated increase in revenue from programs for a net increase of only $58,905.

Not included in the budget at this point is a proposed safety service for Salt Spring, which director Gary Holman has suggested would start with a budget of $35,000 if approved by local residents. A meeting on the service was planned for Tuesday, Oct. 15. (See next week’s Driftwood for the report.)

Holman and CRD staff will host a CRD budget information meeting at Lions Hall on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 1 to 3 p.m.

Major capital project contributions for 2020 include $1.095 million to complete the North Ganges Transportation Plan, $1 million toward the Fulford-Ganges Road resurfacing project (contingent on public approval), and $415,000 for park, pool and trail improvements.

Other notable changes for 2020 include a 10.45 per cent increase to CRD regional services, which incorporates a 26 per cent hike for legislative and general government services.

“In my 11 years here I’ve never ever seen a 26 per cent increase … For our taxpayers, that’s $28,000 and that’s a lot of shing-aling for us,” Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Director Mike Hicks said, questioning the hike during the Oct. 9 Electoral Areas Committee meeting.

He added that it seemed hard to ask local services like fire departments to keep their budgets tight, when the CRD does not seem to be exercising the same restraint.

The CRD’s chief financial officer Nelson Chan said detailed information would be forthcoming at the presentation on the financial plan scheduled for a CRD committee-of-the-whole meeting on Oct. 30.

Southern Gulf Islands director Dave Howe asked whether it’s fair to say that 50 per cent or more of the electoral area budgets are out of local control. Chan said it was correct that around half of the SGI budget is related to local area services, and the other half covers regional, sub-regional and joint-electoral matters.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 16, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Health needs confirmed

Elizabeth Nolan
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Health needs confirmed

A health needs assessment of Salt Spring being released this week has determined mental health is the most pressing health-related issue on the island, with only half the people who need services able to access them.

The Salt Spring Island Community Health Needs Assessment was carried out from May through July 2019 by Fay Weller of Wave Consulting Ltd. for the Salt Spring Island Community Health Society. Community members were asked to identify the needs they felt were most important for the health and well-being of the community and for themselves.

The survey netted 562 respondents. Additional information was drawn from in-person interviews and focus groups.

The assessment results show islanders feel well-served by Lady Minto Hospital, and with the arrival of three new doctors a year ago, Salt Spring is now one of the few communities in British Columbia deemed not to have a shortage of family physicians.

“Despite this, the needs assessment shows many islanders cannot get needed health services when they need them, and some people cannot find them at all,” said Community Health Society president Jennifer Williams.

With 50 per cent of those who indicated they needed mental health services stating they were not able to access them due to availability and affordability, this easily stood out as the top community need.

“The report tells us that we need to focus on helping to address the needs of people who experience significant barriers to accessing health care on Salt Spring,” said Martha Taylor, the community health needs assessment project lead. “And the area of greatest need, across all age groups, is mental health. This is the area we want to focus on first.”

Dementia care and youth services were also unavailable to the majority of those needing the service. Access to specialists and diagnostic testing was another challenge for many, due to the need to go off-island for services as well as long wait times.

While many respondents commented positively about access to emergency care and the quality of care from local doctors, paramedics and hospital staff, changes to the health care system and service structure were recommended. Many people suggested a clinic with walk-in service and/or a community health centre with co-location of services. A team-based approach to primary care has been suggested as the best way to improve access to specialists, diagnostic tests, monitoring and complementary care such as social services.

The full report can be found online at saltspringcommunityhealth.ca. A printed hard copy will also be available at the library.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 16, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Fogo arts innovator shares thoughts

Elizabeth Nolan
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Fogo arts innovator shares thoughts

The Salt Spring National Art Prize month can be an exciting time for people who like to think about questions of art and community. In addition to hosting the main exhibition and associated shows, SSNAP organizers strive to keep the dialogue going through art talks by the finalists and other events.

In the first two years, panel discussions were on the program; this year a presentation by just one amazingly charming philanthropist created more than enough to chew on. Zita Cobb’s Sept. 28 illustrated talk at ArtSpring discussed some of the history behind the Shorefast Foundation and the Fogo Island Arts Corp., both based on her rocky and windswept home island in Newfoundland.

Cobb’s strong accent and warm personality are matched by an endearing commitment to her community. She returned to Fogo 12 years ago after cashing out early on a successful career in finance and technology, exercising $69 million in stock options from JDS Uniphase. She created the Shorefast Foundation with two of her six brothers to revitalize the community in ways that foster cultural resilience.

Among its charitable programs, the Shorefast Foundation has created a contemporary art gallery, fully supported artist and academic residency programs, and programs for heritage restorations, boat-building and micro-lending. To help support these programs they run three social enterprises: the inn, a furniture business and a hand-line cod fishing business.

“You can do anything with money. You can turn money into fish. You can turn money into fresh air. You could fix the ocean if you want to; we just have to turn the money into those things,” Cobb told the Driftwood. “And that’s what we try to do, is turn money into things that actually help us make meaning.”

Fogo Island may seem dramatically opposed to Salt Spring in many particulars. Before Cobb created the Fogo Inn as a luxury destination and dotted the landscape with architect-designed artist studios, there was little reason for anyone to make the trek. When Cobb introduced her idea for boosting the economy with art, she said, people on Fogo weren’t too sure what art was, but decided it probably wasn’t harmful. 

Fogo’s blank slate and desperation may have created the perfect vacuum into which a well-intentioned multi-millionaire with time on her hands could step in to create a new reality. Our island has many people interested in growing local potential, but perhaps lacks that singular vision (not to mention the $10 million of personal funds that Cobb spent to get the project up and running).

“I think part of the problem on Salt Spring, if there’s a problem at all, is you have too much — we have so little,” Cobb said. “We have 2,500 people and a bald rock in the North Atlantic. It wasn’t like we had a lot of options.”

Cobb feels we could perhaps learn from the exercise her group put into play to determine what would best suit Fogo’s gifts, called Asset Based Community Development. Developed by John McNight as a way to build community resiliency, Cobb breaks it down to a series of questions about what the community wants and what strengths it has to offer.

“If we went through the process of Asset Based Community Development to try to understand what the inherent capacities and dreams of the people here are that we could now coalesce into something that’s going to give new energy to the island, what might that be? That would be an exciting thing to do here — I mean, you have a tyranny of riches here,” Cobb said. “Because otherwise you’re just waiting for the next developer to come up with some idea that he or she wants to do.”

SSNAP’s official events wind up this Saturday, Oct. 19 with the awards gala, which runs from 6 to 10 p.m. at Mahon Hall. Islanders will also have the chance to meet with 2017 SSNAP grand prize winner Judy Anderson and her son, artist Cruz Anderson, at a reception at The Point this Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. The final day to see the SSNAP finalists’ exhibition is Monday, Oct. 21.

For more on this story, see the Oct. 16, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Pass It On celebrates 10 years

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Pass It On celebrates 10 years

SUBMITTED BY SWOVA

SWOVA Community Development and Research Society is marking an exciting milestone this fall as the Pass It On mentorship program enters its 10th season in local schools.

Pass It On started in 2010 as an after-school program that provided structured and individual mentorship between high school youth and Grade 8 students  throughout the academic year.

In the 10 years that the girls’ Pass It On has been going, approximately 400 young women have gone through the program — as mentors, as mentees, or sometimes as both. Kate Nash was hired as the program facilitator in 2010, after a four-month pilot of the program.

Ten years later, Nash is still with the program and a trusted, outspoken advocate for young women. She shares some of the program’s impact: “In the beginning of the year, girls come into the program with a lot of judgements: judgements they harbour about themselves and judgements they have about the other participants. There’s little-to-no trust. They’re not in their regular friend group. They’re the nerds, jocks, arts students, and so on. By sitting in circle week after week and having the opportunity to share openly and be heard, they develop a deep sense of trust for each other. That’s huge, life-changing stuff.”

Nash added that she’s “constantly connecting and reconnecting with the female participants as they become women, watching them grow into their leadership skills and continue on in life at school and in work, pursuing environmental issues, working with youth, and being caregivers within their community. By the end of the year, I have seen growth in confidence to some degree in all the participants.”

SWOVA now runs programs for girls and for boys (cis, trans, binary inclusive). The society is currently working with program facilitators to evolve and improve the program. 

The impacts of the program are often gradual but with lasting effects. Students themselves attest to the transformative aspects of the year, claiming it helped with anything from stress, anxiety, self-confidence, abusive relationships, substance abuse and more.

One participant said, “I think that it just helps me learn to be a better person. It’s a time — after a whole school day of putting up a front — to sit in a group of people and peel off the masks and actually just have a genuine conversation without any sort of filter or agenda behind it. It’s super special to me because I get to connect.”

For more on this story, see the Oct. 16, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Tempest skaters on a roll again

Driftwood Staff
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Tempest skaters on a roll again

Salt Spring’s junior roller derby term — The Tempest — has started its fourth season.

“Roller derby is a strategic, physical and unique team sport played on roller skates,” explains information from The Tempest. “Not only do young athletes learn to be amazing skaters, learning skills and endurance, but they also become quick thinkers, keen strategists and, of course, learn how to get back up after taking a fall. The sport builds confidence and physical fitness, while embracing self-expression and all body types. It’s a sport made for anyone: small speedy types, solid strong types, and everyone in between.”

Roller derby practices will be held on Tuesdays from 4:45 to 6:15 p.m. Kids can try it out for a week or two to see if they are interested. Gear and skates are provided for people trying out the sport.

A roller disco has also been organized for Saturday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at Fulford Hall.

The team also wants to change things up by adding teen drop-in roller skating on Mondays after school. Organizer Kate Richer explains that the idea would see kids aged 12 to 17 invited to pay a toonie to skate around Fulford Hall to music, play games and get familiar with roller skates. The drop-in fun skate would continue for a few months, and then those who want to transition into learning about roller derby would be welcome to keep coming.

The team has roller skates to lend, although participants would have to bring their own helmets.

Richer said insurance options to accommodate the new program are currently being investigated and more details will be available soon. Check the team’s Facebook page for updates.

Viewpoint: What legacy will we leave?

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Viewpoint: What legacy will we leave?

By SHEILA HARRINGTON

Recent enormous participation in climate marches led by young people around the world have been portrayed by some as primarily ignorant children who haven’t the capacity to understand, who are instead escaping school or even being led by alarmist groups and/or educators.

Some of our society’s current level of discourse and critical thinking rates failing grades. As a B.C. educator, I know that what these young people today are learning (required in B.C.’s new curriculum) is now up to date but may be disturbing to us older generations. Taking to the streets to object to political inactions — in fact continued actions — that destroy nature and these young people’s hopes for a future is an understandable response.

The latest International Panel on Climate Change’s report, which looked at the impacts to oceans from melting glaciers, notes that waters have soaked up more than 90 per cent of the extra heat generated by humans over the past decades. When CO2 is dissolved in water it forms carbonic acid. This impacts fish, coral, and of course humans. Greenland and Antarctica’s rate of glacier loss has doubled and tripled over the last 10 to 20 years.

“The blue planet is in serious danger right now, suffering many insults from many different directions, and it’s our fault,” said Dr. Jean-Pierre Gattuso, a co-ordinating lead author of the IPCC report. “This will have widespread consequences for low-lying coasts where almost 700 million people live and it is worrying.” The only chance of averting the worst of the looming consequences of unfettered economic growth, addiction to fossil fuels and massive waste, according to the IPCC, is “deep, rapid cuts in carbon emissions that require 45 per cent reductions by 2030.”

These young people are taking to the streets because many of our politicians, supported by voters, are still insisting that addressing the causes of climate change is not as important as continued economic growth. The federal Conservative party leader couldn’t be bothered to attend or respond to the marches. The Liberal party leader, and current PM, was booed by a record 500,000 protesters in Montreal, for among other things, forcing a tax-paid pipeline on an unwilling populace, claiming that the impacts of continued economic growth in the oil industry will help fuel climate actions, but of course in the wrong direction. Voting for either of these two parties is a vote to condemn our children and other species’ futures. Is that the legacy we want to leave?

As Pope Francis asserted, it’s time to “leave behind the modern myth of material progress.

“It is not enough to balance, in the medium terms, the protection of nature with financial gain, or the preservation of the environment with progress. Halfway measures delay the inevitable disaster. Put simply, it is a matter of redefining our notion of progress. A technological and economic development which does not leave in its wake a better world and an integrally higher quality of life cannot be considered progress.” (Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical)

The writer is a former Salt Spring resident who now lives on Lasqueti Island.

Editorial: Info central

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Info central

Trying to find answers  in an era of online-dominant communication can be frustrating.

Website information is often unclear and no obvious routes to clarity are offered. Fewer and fewer agencies answer phone calls without the caller having to first hold the line indefinitely or leave a message and hope the call is returned. Email queries are not necessarily answered, or not in a timely fashion.

That’s why the new Ask Salt Spring initiative of the Salt Spring Community Alliance is a rather brilliant effort. With a tag line of “Neighbours Helping Neighbours Find Answers,” the service relies on volunteers as well as participation by local politicians.

Volunteers are willing to take islanders’ questions via email about any number of topics related to island life and will help find the answers, using a team of people who are experts in particular fields to provide the requested information. Alternatively, people can come to the Friday Ask Salt Spring sessions in the flower shop space of Thrifty Foods from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. There’s nothing like a back-and-forth conversation to really get to the bottom of an issue.

The Ask Salt Spring initiative has its roots in discussions that occurred during and after the 2017 incorporation referendum. Islanders complained that without a central “town hall” or similar one-stop shop it was difficult to find answers to questions about government procedures and how things work here. General ignorance about those processes was evident through the referendum process, and not without reason. Not much is simple on the island.

Coincidentally, the Fulford Seniors group has organized an information blitz on the topic of health and wellness for today (Oct. 16). From noon to 4 p.m., people can learn how to access services of specific relevance to seniors. While the hope is that south-end seniors will take the opportunity to acquire some valuable information closer to home, any islander can drop in to see the displays, hear short presentations and ask questions.

Once again, with both the Fulford Seniors and Ask Salt Spring initiatives, island volunteers have stepped up to fill gaps in service and make the community a better place for all of us.

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