Wasting not
By Lys Morton Food banks in Canada find themselves playing a numbers game. In March 2019 alone, 2326 food banks across the nation recorded a total of 1,084,386 visits — down marginally from the previous year, but still a staggering statistic. Like other food banks, Nanaimo Loaves and Fishes has struggled to keep up with the demand. Founded in 1996, the organization initially used […]
Transition ambitions
By Patrick Wilson It’s 2020 and society is facing the reality of climate change. The effects can be felt daily around the world, including on Vancouver Island. Rising sea levels, heat waves, and other abnormal weather patterns are predicted by the B.C. government to continue. The outcomes feel closer than the 2050 date given. In […]
Out to Lunch
By Diane Bolt Dirk Becker’s farmhouse in the seaside village of Lantzville on Vancouver Island is warm and rustic, with weathered wooden furniture and a crackling fire in the background. It’s early November and the kitchen floor is covered in patches of squash being readied for distribution. The scene reminds me of the classic British […]
Out to Lunch (Part Two)
In the recently released documentary Genetic Roulette, Jeffrey M. Smith, founder of the Institute for Responsible Technology, an organization that educates policy makers and the public about genetically modified foods, says that GM crops in the US amount to 94% of all soy, 90% of cotton, 90% of canola, 95% of sugar beets, 88% of […]