Current Stories
Editor's Top Picks
Vancouver redevelopment as social experiment
New York Times
11/24/2009
Downtown Eastside, a notorious high-poverty neighborhood in Vancouver, BC, known for its concentration of homeless people and drug and crime problems is getting a massive makeover that some view as a panacea for the city's social problems.
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Truffles could help Island farms smell profits
Vancouver Sun
11/25/2009
On a farm north of Victoria, Grant and Betty Duckett believe they may have started something that could invigorate small farms on Vancouver Island. The retired couple own Duckett Truffieres, the site of Canada's first known black perigold truffle.
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Views: Vanc. Island flooding has manmade roots
Victoria Times Colonist
11/24/2009
I have followed the stories of flooding in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island and heard about the heavy rains, the high tides, and the dikes. What I have not heard about is the underlying reasons for this flooding: urbanization and forest clearing.
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In need of a plan for BC's children in poverty
Vancouver Sun
11/23/2009
BC needs to follow the lead of six other provinces and adopt a clear plan for reducing child poverty if it hopes to shed its reputation as the worst performer in the country, says a report due out Tuesday.
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Life in the slow city
Living on Earth
11/22/2009
With no fast food restaurants or big box stores, the bicycle and pedestrian friendly Cowichan Bay in British Columbia has become North America's first Slow City. An offshoot of the Slow Food movement, it's a quiet resistance to drive-thru homogenization.
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Frozen salmon better for the planet
Oregonian
11/22/2009
Frozen salmon is better for the planet than fresh, because it takes so much less energy to make it to your dinner plate than catching fish and flying them to markets around the world. The findings of a study by Portland-based EcoTrust may fly against conventional assumptions that fresh is always better.
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Waste Not Baskets ready for Winter Olympics
Vancouver Sun
11/20/2009
Rooms in the Vancouver and Whistler athletes' villages will feature recycling containers -- called Waste Not Baskets -- made from recycled plastic.
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BC First Nation approves private property rights
CBC BC
11/18/2009
A northwestern BC First Nation has approved a revolutionary land reform deal, making it the first in Canada to approve private property rights.
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Push on to turn BC pet cemetery into park
CBC BC
11/18/2009
The only pet cemetery in Vancouver could eventually disappear under a developer's bulldozer, but some pet lovers are trying to have the property turned into a park.
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Victoria eco-rally calls for action on climate
Victoria Times Colonist
11/19/2009
A thousand people who packed the Victoria Conference Centre Tuesday night called on the Canadian government to take a leadership role on climate change prior to a UN climate-change conference in Copenhagen next month.
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Vancouver choosing density over open space
Vancouver Sun
11/19/2009
Vancouver, BC, is opting for denser communities at the expense of open public spaces in its bid to become the world's greenest city by 2020.
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Vancouver endorses plan light on parks
Vancouver Sun
11/18/2009
Vancouver's city council has unanimously endorsed a plan to create a high-density neighbourhood with a civic plaza, residential and office space on the final undeveloped section of the former Expo lands. What it doesn't include is the 2.75 acres of park space per 1,000 people that city council holds as a goal.
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Study: Farm animals devouring the world's fish
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
Consumer campaigns that promote sustainable seafood fail to address the fact the world's fish resources are being gobbled up by chickens, pigs, fish, and other farm animals, a study involving the University of BC concludes.
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The mother tree
The Tyee
11/18/2009
How fate and fortitude in BC's Similkameen Valley combined to give us a new apple so good it had to be called Ambrosia.
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Official: Canada climate change laws years away
CBC BC
11/17/2009
The federal environment minister says it may be a few years before Canada tables regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Jim Prentice said the world has to first negotiate a new climate change treaty and Canada and the United States must finish their continental agreement on the same issue.
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First Nation sues government over 1851 promise
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
An allegedly broken promise from 160 years ago will be tested by a lawsuit filed against the federal and provincial governments.
The Songhees First Nation is claiming a large swath of land that takes in part of the Uplands, the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Cadboro Bay village, Gyro Park and a ribbon stretching across to Telegraph Cove.
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Views: Simon Frasier professors slam Campbell's energy plan
The Tyee
11/17/2009
Hobbling BC Hydro so private firms can profit big is bad public policy.
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Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world
Seattle Times
11/16/2009
Scientists believe climate change and the warming of the ocean has allowed some of the almost 2,000 jellyfish species to expand their ranges, appear earlier in the year and increase overall numbers, upending fishing practices and terrorizing beachgoers around the globe.
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Baby orca buoys hopes
Kitsap Sun
11/13/2009
A new killer whale calf has been born in J Pod, one of the three pods that frequent the Salish Sea, which includes Puget Sound and the waters off British Columbia.
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Newborn killer whale buoys hopes
CBC BC
11/13/2009
A second newborn killer whale has been spotted in the waters off Washington state's San Juan Islands and near Victoria.
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Saanich, BC, goes public with green plans
Victoria Times Colonist
11/13/2009
Getting people out of cars will be key to Vancouver Island's city of Saanich cutting greenhouse gases by a third over the next 10 years, as spelled out in its draft Climate Action Plan.
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Vancouver, BC, crafting growth strategy
Georgia Straight
11/12/2009
Metro Vancouver, BC, staff have made adjustments to a draft regional-growth strategy that will guide land-use policies in the region until 2040, and focuses on employment and population growth in urban centers.
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BC to remove gravel, despite salmon deaths
Vancouver Sun
11/12/2009
The British Columbia government plans to remove gravel from the Fraser River this winter despite a federal auditor general report that found the extraction has killed up to 2.25 million young pink salmon.
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Canada is last stop for naming Salish Sea
Toronto Globe and Mail
11/13/2009
British Columbia's cabinet is now the last barrier to officially renaming the body of water that lies off BC and Washington state the Salish Sea, finally recognizing the connection of the shared waterway.
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New orca whale calf spotted off BC coast
Vancouver Sun
11/12/2009
A new orca baby was spotted off the Victoria coast on Wednesday. The birth is the fifth this year for the three endangered resident killer-whale pods and brings the total number to 87.
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