Sustainable Communities

get local – eat local food Metro Vancouver!

The average North American meal travels 2,400 km from farm to plate. Food transportation has a significant and growing impact on climate change, road congestion and air pollution. Buying locally produced food and beverages reduces ‘food miles’ that are harmful to our environment and our health.
Over 5,000 farms in the Lower Mainland — most of them family-owned — are growing fresher, tastier, and often more nutritious food than imported produce. Supporting BC’s growers and producers protects farmland, family farms, and contributes to a healthy regional economy.
When shopping for groceries or dining out, look for food and beverages grown and produced closer to home. Supporting BC’s food and beverage producers means strengthening our local food system and ensuring a supply of fresh, healthy food for your family — now and for future generations.

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Wind Over Water

Wind Over Water is a documentary chronicling the debate over the Cape Wind Project, an offshore wind farm proposed for off the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. With similar facilities spreading throughout Europe, many people were excited at the prospect of the first offshore wind project ever to be proposed for American shores.
However, since its plans were revealed in November 2001, many residents of the Cape have banded together to stop the project and prevent its developers from turning Nantucket Sound into what they categorize as an industrial energy complex. With a colorful cast of characters that includes Sen. Edward Kennedy and Walter Cronkite, this story has developed into an intriguing representation of people’s attitudes toward land, energy, politics and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard).
Supporters of the project maintain that the promise of wind energy is that it can produce clean, renewable power while helping to stem some of the 2.5 billion tons of pollution released into the atmosphere by traditional fossil fuel plants in the US. While this facet of wind energy appears appealing, its greatest liability is that exposed hilltops and shallow offshore waters, areas once immune to development, are now being sited as ideal locations for wind energy facilities.
Wind Over Water will attempt to address the question: Is the American public willing to grant the wind industry access to these lands in exchange for clean, renewable energy?

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Tribute Orchard Trees at FortWhyte Alive

This spring, FortWhyte is embarking on a whole new ambitious venture as part of its expanding FortWhyte Farms program that will generate lasting social and economic benefits for our community. Adding to its product mix of vegetables, raspberries, herbs, honey, beeswax candles, worm castings, and Shiitake mushrooms, the first phase of a planned 1500-tree Tribute Orchard will be planted in a deer-proof, 13-acre enclosure just north of our Bison Prairie. Our intent is to not only involve FortWhyte Farms’ at-risk youth in the care of Winnipeg’s first orchard, but offer its hardy plum, apple, and pear trees as a way for you to commemorate a life-event or pay lasting tribute to a loved one… a birth, death, wedding, graduation, retirement, anniversary… the choice is yours, and so is the fruit! A portion of your tree’s annual bounty would be your option to harvest and enjoy, while reflecting upon its special meaning to you and your family. A practical, lasting mode of inscription for each tree is currently being explored.

FortWhyte has been consulting with professional nurserymen at Shelmerdines, Aubin, and Jefferies Nurseries, to ensure we include only the hardiest of proven fruit tree varieties. We are also looking forward to having the ongoing advice of the ‘best practicing orchardist in Manitoba’ from the Baker Colony north of MacGregor!

Tribute Orchard trees are now available for a fully tax-deductible gift of $500, with $300 allocated to the critical early stages of nurturing. The remaining $200 balance of your gift will be endowed in perpetuity to cover yearly maintenance of the mature orchard. Fully subscribed, this one-of-a-kind living tribute project will have established a $300,000 Community Tribute Orchard Endowment, bearing annual ‘fruit’ for such maintenance… forever.

We sincerely hope that you and our extended FortWhyte Family embrace this project and join in the annual harvest of fruit and your memories of this special place.

If you would like to support this project today, please check out the FortWhyte Alive website: http://www.fortwhyte.org/

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Legislature, municipalities to vote on carbon tax

BC’s carbon tax is not yet law, and attention will be focused on the
measure in the legislature and at the North Central Municipal AGM in the
next few days.  This is a key time to show support for this tax, and
to press the province to provide support for local governments and
agencies as they gear up to lower emission from their
operations.

Tomorrow is the start of the North Central Municipal Association AGM in
Prince George.  Several municipalities and regional districts have
put forward resolutions opposing  the carbon tax, arguing that it
creates an unfair burden on their citizens because of  greater
travel distances and colder climate. The resolutions range from requests
for elimination, deferral, or exemption from the tax for north/central
municipalities, to requests that the province simply consider and
mitigate the economic impact of the tax on the Interior.  You can
view the resolutions here:

http://tinyurl.com/4lydw9

We think that a review of the available evidence doesn’t support the
argument that the carbon tax is an unfair burden on the Interior, as
emission related costs likely average across the province (information on
the fairness of the tax is provided on our web site).  VTACC is
encouraging citizens living in municipalities and districts which have
passed resolutions opposing the tax to contact their local governments to
express their support for the measure.  Email links and background
information are located at

http://tinyurl.com/4loqy4
. A list of
local governments and regional districts which have presented resolutions
opposing the tax is found at the bottom of this email.

On the other hand, it is clear that local governments and public agencies
such as school boards and health authorities all over BC will face higher
costs because of the carbon tax — and will not receive the corresponding
tax cuts delivered to individuals and small businesses.   While
we don’t think Victoria shouldn’t provide exemptions from the tax, we
think the province should use carbon tax revenue collected from local
governments and agencies to provide them with the resources needed to
lower emissions from their operations.  

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