Tag: earth day

Dialogue in Bee Time — May 20th is World Bee Day

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Photo: Bumble bee queen (Bombus sylvarum) on blueweed (Echium vulgare)
Photo Credit: Ivar Leidus CC by SA 4.0

Dialogue in Bee Time

We revisit a talk given by Dr. Mark Winston on his book tentatively titled, Dialogue in Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive

Dialogue in Bee Time, photo of Mark Winston

Earth Day
April 22, 2012

Dr. Mark Winston
Guest Speaker

Dr. Winston is recognized as the world’s leading expert on bees and pollination.

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Bees are in trouble today. And bees have something to teach us. It’s about the resilience of nature, human hubris, and the limits to our human ability to manage climate change

According to Dr. Winston, there are over 20,000 species of wild bees, many hundred species of wild bees in Canada, and 57 species of wild bees in Vancouver. Wild bees nest in the ground, in twigs and in abandoned mouse dens. Honey bees (domesticated bees) were introduced to British Columbia in about 1857.

Dr. Winston says, honey bees are telling us we can only push things so far. Wild bees are telling us that diversity is good. Providing space for that diversity is to our human advantage. Bees are not the same as people. But like us bees are social and live in communities that interact with the nature around us. …

Early Days of the Enviro Team

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Illustration: Karl Perrin (2014) dressed in character protesting the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline expansion — Illus. by AnneD based on a photo by Jennifer Gauthier

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Above: Hans and Margo Elfert

UCV has a long and rich history of environmental activism. If you have a story you’d like to share, please contact the Enviro Team Outreach Coordinator. — We’d love to hear from you!

When did the Environment Committee begin? At the 1995 retreat? Years earlier when recyling started at UCV? Both answers are correct? Two longtime Unitarians share their memories of the early days of the Enviro Team.

Margo Elfert writes:

I have my first record of an Earth Day Service in April 1997. We’ve held an Earth Day Service every year since.

— Margo Elfert

I have a memory of a conversation at the retreat, in 1995, with someone about starting up an environment committee.

The reply I got was “Who told you you could do that?” I was pretty new to the church, so I didn’t know the protocol I guess, but we did it anyway.

At that time the Social Justice Committee and the Refugee Committee were very strong, but it was a little “new” to have a separate committee on the environment.

One of the first things we did was to work with Building and Grounds in consultation with BC Hydro to determined possible energy savings that we could implement immediately. Light bulbs and weather stripping were things we could accomplish.

We would have fundraising lunches, showing what we were supporting on the menu sign. I think this is when our “Green Fund” started.

I have my first record of an Earth Day Service in April 1997. We’ve held and Earth Day Service every year since.

In 2002 we discovered the UUA Green Sanctuary Project, and it gave us more direction. We used it as a guideline, but I’m not sure if we ever jumped through enough hoops to get our “Green Sanctuary” plaque.

Karl Perrin writes:

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I’d been studying the abolitionist movement in the United States against slavery, and I thought of this phrase: Where Quakers lead, Unitarians will follow… I’m a Unitarian and Ruth Walmsley is a Quaker. So, when she got arrested… I decided that I would get arrested

— Karl Perrin

Yes it was Elaine Clemons. I recall Patience Towler (who did an historical sketch of enviro activities) said Elaine started recycling at UCV in about 1969

I respected Elaine as both an early environmental activist and a wonderful Vancouver School Board Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP).

When I was a therapeutic tutor (with a degree in Speech Therapy) I went to her for advice on a student with stuttering. She was very kind and supportive, since in those days stuttering was thought to be 100% behavioural. Now we know it is largely neurological.

At her memorial service, I remember her being lauded as a founding member of Burns Bog Conservation Society. I was one of a multi-faith group who went into the bog, guided by Don DeMill, on the first pilgrimage in 1999?

In 2007, Sister Cecilia and I revived it, with help from Rex Weyler and Ben West, as the Pilgrimage to Burns Bog, as a way to fight the Gateway project, especially Hwy 17, the South Fraser Perimeter Road.

We managed to get some amendment to the route to protect an eagle nesting site (Sherwood Forest on Nottingham’s farm), but lost the war. Nevertheless the Pilgrimage to Burns Bog, recognizing it as a sacred site, continues every Earth Day Sunday. UCV has a long history protecting Burns Bog.

And then there’s Noel and Joan Armstrong and their 1979 solar house in Dunbar.

Lots of stories !

Deep Green Change

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The looming threats of climate change and biodiversity loss are caused by human behaviour. To modify behaviour, we can use incentives and discouragements. But they won’t stick without deeper change – a profound shift in our sense of ourselves and the world.

As Christ harrowed Hell to free lost souls, as Orpheus dove into Hades to save his Beloved, so we must visit the Underworld to find the Deep Green Change.

In this homily, Dr. George gives precise directions to the entrance to the Underworld. The rest is up to you.

Earth Day Pilgrimage to Burns Bog

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Earth Day Pilgrimage to Burns Bog
Carpool from the UCV parking lot
After the service on April 23
Pilgrimage begins at 2:00 pm at the Delta Nature Reserve

This family event celebrates Burns Bog and global peatlands. Performers sing, drum, and dance as we walk through the Delta Nature Reserve. Recharge your spirits while surrounded by nature and good company. Join us in appreciating this natural green space in your community!

Burns Bog is the largest raised peat bog and the largest undeveloped urban land mass on the West Coast of the Americas.[1] Burns Bog was originally 10,000–12,000 acres (4,000–4,900 ha) before development. Currently, only 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) remain of the bog.[2] It is the only estuarine raised peat bog formed in a marine west coast climate.

Burns Bog is habitat to more than 300 plant and animal species, and 175 bird species. Some of these animals are listed as endangered (i.e. red-listed) or vulnerable (i.e. blue-listed) under the BC Provincial Government Species at-risk designations. The bog is also a major migratory stopover for various bird species on the Pacific Flyway.[3]

After decades of work by the Corporation of Delta and the Provincial Government, in 2012 The Convention on Wetlands recognized the bog as a “Ramsar Wetland of International Importance”. (Wikipedia) As in, it’s a big deal.

History of Earth Day

A U.S. senator named Gaylord Nelson came up with the idea for a “national teach-in on the environment” after witnessing the ravages of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, Calif. Hoping to mobilize the politically active student community, he chose April 22nd (falling between Spring Break and final exams) as the official date. On that day in 1970, more than 20-million Americans took to the streets — as well as campuses, parks, and other public spaces — to demonstrate in support of a healthy, sustainable environment. By the end of the year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency had been created and the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts had all passed.

Two decades later, in 1990, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage. Earth Day 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Now, Earth Day is the largest secular observance in the world, celebrated by more than a billion people every year.

— Earth Day Network