As I’ve watched the insects slowly emerge this spring and summer, I was somehow reminded of a time in my childhood when I was fascinated with bugs.  I remember examining the windshield and bumper of the car after a driving trip and being amazed by the variety of bees, butterflies and other bugs that were plastered to the car.  As morbid as it was, it gave me a chance to examine these insects close up and without fear. As I reflected on that memory, I realized that this is something that my children have probably not experienced.  I started to wonder why we see so many fewer insects these days.  I did some research and I was shocked by the results.   Within the last 20 years there has been a massive decline in insect populations world wide. Stanford University developed a global index for insect population which showed a 45% decline over the last four \ decades.  In the last 20 years, the population of monarch butterflies in the eastern U.S. has declined by ...

Recently I have been thinking about slowing down. Of course, say my friends, you have reached retirement and so that is a legitimate proposition. But then, when I connect with some of my retired friends, one of their complaints I hear most often is that they are busier than ever.  I conclude that busyness has become one of our culture’s virtues. We tend to think more highly of people whose calendars are chock-full than of those who have a few open spaces left.  A lot has been written in recent decades about margins and boundaries. How long would you stay with a book, for example, that had no margins. Most of the book would likely remain unread. Slowing down reminds us that we are most fully alive when we live within appropriate boundaries that allow some room for surprise and flexibility. A good cup of coffee is best taken slowly, as is a good quality wine! So why do we gulp down our lives so quickly? Beyond being better for you, slowing down is becoming imperative in our day ...

Altona CAN  Bye Bye Boomerang Bags Boomerang Bags Altona will be wrapping up and saying goodbye. If you had not yet heard about the Boomerang Bags program, it was a fleet of reusable cloth bags that were available in multiple retail locations to borrow and bring back when one forgot their own bags. It was a great idea, in theory.  The end of Boomerang Bags Altona is in part due to the pandemic as we don't anticipate a time in the near future where the public will be ready to use shared items. However, truth be told, the fate of Boomerang Bags was already in the works before the pandemic. The bags just simply weren't coming back at a rate that was sustainable. We couldn't in good faith keep asking volunteers to sew bags that were consistently disappearing, so COVID-19 just sped up what was inevitable. We learned a lot from this project. The countless conversations we have had in the community around plastic pollution are invaluable and ongoing. The community sewing bees allo...

Fighting for environmental justice also means fighting for social and racial justice. This statement needs unpacking, but for today I hope you can just trust it to be true. I heard Al Sharpton speak at the funeral service for Goerge Floyd in Minneapolis. As Martin Luther King, Jr. did 50 years ago, he proclaimed that this is the time for major changes in society; that the work begun in the 1860s to liberate black folks is still not done. Yes, he said, we have eliminated slavery, overcome Jim Crow laws, outlawed segregation, and now it is time to eliminate police brutality and social injustices that still remain. When Sharpton called for the congregation to stand for eight minutes and forty six seconds – the time a police officer’s knee was pressed against Floyd’s neck – I also stood up at my computer. As I thought about what George experienced as his life ebbed away while calling out, “I can’t breathe,” tears rolled down my cheeks. I grieved for the many people of colour who have suff...

If food waste was a country, it would be the 3rd largest emitter of greenhouse gases, right behind China and the US. Most estimates calculate that 40% of the food produced in the world never gets eaten, and as staggering as that number is, it’s even worse when you think about how many people go hungry every day. So what can be done about it? Let’s start with our own fridges. I recently asked my students why food gets wasted in their homes and the number 1 answer was that it gets forgotten at the back of the fridge. The average Canadian family buys $1100 of food each year that they don’t eat and when I asked my students what they would rather spend that money on, you can probably imagine the long list of fun ideas they had. No one likes to waste money, and wasting food is essentially wasting money. The average Canadian family buys $1100 of food each year that they don’t eat. Food gets wasted at many other points along our food system, from the field to the store. Consumer fickleness can...

As Manitoba moves into Phase 2 of opening up during the COVID 19 crisis, there is a solemn sense of optimism in the province that we have been careful, made sacrifices and  have come through this in a way that makes Manitobans feel proud and strong.  It is rare that society is asked to get on board with any one vision and in the larger picture has such a strong and unifying front.   At the time this article was written, there have been 7326 deaths in Canada due to COVID 19 -- which has tragic consequences that ripple across families and communities in this country.  The COVID-19 crisis is far from over, and during the next months and years the hope is that we continue to show a united front to combat this virus and ultimately keep ourselves, families and communities safe. The hopeful, underlying message in the COVID 19 pandemic is that when there is a crisis which affects our fellow citizens, we have the strength, ability and resolve to take the necessary steps ...

Not long ago I heard of a recently retired senior saying that he was bored with his new life. His complaint was that there are only a limited number of things one can do around the house. I know many seniors who feel this way. That is why some stay in the workforce as long as possible. On the other hand, some seniors stay occupied with the kind of things they did before retirement. Others pick up new challenges now that they have more time on their hands.  One meaningful, productive and interesting activity for seniors to engage in is growing their own food. Many baby boomers have memories of their parents growing their own food and some have even done some of their own gardening while raising their children. But sometimes they feel that by the time they retire they owe it to themselves to take it easy and just pick up their food at the store. And, of course, then they complain about being bored!  So if you are a retired person, I challenge you to get serious about growing you...