Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Earlier this summer, I invited people to participate in the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy consultation and engagement on plastic waste and recycling. British Columbians are good re-cyclers, but we need to do better and the Ministry is working to that end. I’ve discussed recycling, packaging, and plastic waste a few times in the pages of this blog, always with the perspective that the absolute best recycling we can do is none at all. By that I mean: first reduce consumption, then reuse items, and only after all that, recycle. Unfortunately, our recycling system has been designed and marketed to have us all believing that we do not need to reduce consumption because you can just recycle the product. This is reinforced by the next product you buy proclaiming in bold print that it was made with X% of recycled material. Congratulations! Well done! ... we have all contributed to creating a more circular economy rather tha...

I came across an interesting story this morning, from the BC governments Environment Ministry.   To me, this is the ‘real’ stuff that can happen to make a change to the environment around us – not forced or pretend stuff that makes some people feel good, while there’s not real change actually being made ... The first time Chloé Dubois saw a remote beach littered with plastics; she was struck by the grim reality of how big the problem had become. It was 2012 and Dubois was participating in a shoreline cleanup along the coast of Alaska. Within five days, the dedicated group had picked up 18,000 kilograms (40,000 pounds) of plastic pollution. Dubois has also been active cleaning up British Columbia’s coastlines. “ It completely transformed my plastic usage and I knew I had to do something about it ,” said Dubois, who is co-founder and executive director of the Ocean Legacy Foundation. “ I think there’s a misconception that because we live in Canada, o...

Conservative MP Dan Albas This Prime Minister (Justin Trudeau) has a habit of making promises. It appears this plan to reduce single use plastics is well intended but short on details As the Official Opposition, it is our job to hold the government accountable and at the same time to provide information to citizens that the government may not widely share or present in great detail. An example of this can be found in the recent media headline “ Trudeau announces ban on single-use plastics by 2021 ”. This was an actual media headline quoted directly from a Global news story. I believe most Canadians are supportive of the idea of taking action on the growing problem of plastic pollution that can have devastating impacts, particularly in sensitive marine habitats.   Often these sensitive marine habitats are polluted by developing countries that do not have proper waste disposal and recycling systems, or rogue fishing operations that break maritime waste management protoc...

Frank Leonard asks, "Family first, or at least a close second?" A year after getting elected Saanich Alderman in 1986, I was elected to the Capital Regional District Board, and one year after that I became Chair of the newly minted CRD Environment Committee.   The environment was becoming a key political issue and we were struggling with two key issues: the need for sewage treatment; and the need for more landfill space.   Becoming Chair of the Committee that owned these files was a great opportunity and an incredible responsibility. My first weekend in this new position witnessed quite the setback.  Not only did we have a meager recycling effort but the one facility we had to receive recyclables burned down.  I recall driving to the Borden Street location as only smolders remained thinking that I really did have to tackle the reduction of waste from the ground up. My instincts told me that in order to expand the landfill we ne...