Category: Environment

Playlist: All My Relations

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All My Relations, Religious Naturalism
and The Heart of a Faith for the
21st Century

UCV Podcasts

All My Relations

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All My Relations
by Aline LaFlamme
April 17, 2019

2

Living Within the Interdependent Web
by Martha Saunders
August 4, 2019

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Religious Naturalism
by Rev. Steven Epperson
March 24, 2019

4

Religious Naturalism: Take Two
by Rev. Steven Epperson
March 24, 2019

Speakers Bios

Aline Laflamme
Her name means the light (Aline) and the flame (LaFlamme.) She also carries the name Many Buffalo Running. Aline is a grandmother and Metis from Alberta. Among her many gifts she leads a drumming circle called Daughters of the Drum

Martha Saunders
joined UCV in the fall of 2018. She taught religious studies and women’s studies for many years at Concordia University, Montreal, and at the University of Toronto, specializing in religious and environmental ethics

Rev. Steven Epperson
was parish minister of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver for 19 years, retiring in 2020. Prior to entering professional ministry, Steven worked as a university professor in the history of religions, and as a museum curator

all my relations: photo of Aline Laflamme

Aline Laflamme

Martha Saunders

all my relations: photo of Reverend Doctor Steven Epperson

Rev Steven Epperson

Buy Nothing Groups Are Now All Over Vancouver

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Above: Meet your neighbours while buying nothing

Buy Nothing Groups are now in every neighbourhood in Vancouver, and many areas beyond the city as well.

They’ve been growing both in membership and number of groups since March 2020, many doubling in size in six months from the start of the pandemic.

Cayla introduced Mary to the Buy Nothing Project in early 2019, after meeting at the womens’ gathering.

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Above: Buy Nothing Champions Cayla (left) and Mary (right)

It began with one group and 81 members. Three years later, there are five groups in Kitsilano with nearly 3,000 members.

Cayla and Mary are now administrators on their respective neighbourhood Buy Nothing groups, Marpole and Kitsilano North East.

These are facebook groups where people give stuff away, ask for what they need, and express their gratitude.

Importantly, expressions of gratitude are what keeps community building in the forefront.

In 2019, CityTV visited a Buy Nothing “free store” that Mary coordinated. (You can view the Youtube video above.)

Kitsilano is the largest group in Vancouver and has recently helped to mentor volunteers and promote new groups in West Point Grey and Dunbar-Kerrisdale.

Do you want to declutter without contributing to the landfill?

If you’ve ever frequented, or have ever fantasized about, a “free store” here’s a way to try it out.

Janice Doyle with small cook set for hiking trips

Above: At Buy Nothing Kitsilano, Janice is happy her little camp stove (bought 40 years ago) will find a new home. Many years ago she and her husband purchased an outdoors cook set for hiking trips. It comes a part so you have a kettle, fry pan, sauce pan, and a little gas cooker

You can find a group in British Columbia by going to Buy Nothing BC on Google Maps.

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Google Maps / Buy Nothing BC

*Note: The story was first published in January 2021 and updated January 2022. Cayla and Mary have both stepped down as admins but remain enthusiastic members of their Buy Nothing groups.

A Victory in the Discovery Islands for Wild Salmon

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Contact the Enviro Team | Join the Enviro Email Group

Above: Drummers lead by Eddie Gardner from the Wild Salmon Defenders Alliance joined with the UCV Wild Salmon Action Team to engage in street theatre outside the offices of the DFO in downtown Vancouver. They were part of a broader province-wide coalition, this September, calling for the end to fish farms in the Discovery Islands.

A victory for wild salmon. Trudeau government to phase out fish farms in the Discovery Islands by June 2022

On December 17, 2020, the UCV Wild Salmon Action Team (WSAT) celebrated the federal government’s announcement of their decision to remove fish farms from the Discovery Islands.

The Discovery Islands channels is an area known to be a bottleneck area for migrating wild salmon and one of the worst places to put open-net pen salmon farms with their increasingly poor control over lice infestations and virus infections. The Cohen commission had been set up in 2012 when the Fraser River sockeye return fell to 3 million. In 2020 that number plummeted to less than 300,000 which resulted in unprecedented solidarity from over 100 First Nations, sport and commercial fishermen, tourism operators, and several environmental organizations calling for the total removal of the Discovery Island fish farms. On December 17, the government agreed.

The WSAT can claim a small part of that decision, perhaps by being an annoying sliver in the feet of the decision makers, (WSAT had been meeting and petitioning MPs and MLAs for months,) or by adding our bodies and loonies to support other wild salmon protection groups. The day before the December announcement, WSAT met with MP Terry Beech, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, and even though they knew the decision had already been made, added their voice to the chorus of demands for change. As well, they submitted information for the 2021 consultation meetings listing their demands that the remaining 100+ fish farms be taken out of all West Coast waters and be put on land, that scientists with research that disagreed with Industry publications be heard, and that Indigenous groups from the top of Vancouver Island to the headwaters of the Fraser River lead the planning and management of the wild salmon stocks.

WSAT is mulling over future actions which include public education, divestment campaigns, and working with Indigenous and local groups.

When fish farms are removed we find healthy juvenile salmon and a chance for wild salmon to rebound.

In April 2020, biologist Alexandra Morton found juvenile salmon free of sea lice leaving the Broughton Archipelago less than a year after just two fish farms in the area were removed by First Nations.

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Photo Captions
  1. April 2020, healthy juvenile salmon in the Broughton Archipelago
  2. Juvenile salmon in Nootka Sound infected with sea lice
  3. May 2020, juvenile salmon infected with sea lice (Discovery Islands)
  4. June 2020, juvenile salmon infected with sea lice (Discovery Islands)

Photos by Tavish Campbell

<!-- Tavish is a colleague of biologist Alexandra Morton. His film Blood Water, an exposé on the dumping of blood from farmed Atlantic salmon into Discovery Passage and Clayquot Sound went viral, created international media attention, sparked a CBC investigation, and lead to a BC government audit of 28 fish processing plants -->

Zero Waste Holidays 1 – Gift-giving tips

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Our annual zero waste event will be Wednesday December 16. I’ll be posting some blog posts prior to that to get you in the mood. Your contributions are very welcome on the zoom call or in advance. I can post here. This post is by Vivian Davidson who will be one of the speakers on December 16th — Mary Bennett

By Vivian Davidson

The holidays are often a season filled with gift-giving and consumerism and our wallets, the environment and emotional wellbeing take a huge hit. This does not need to be the case.  I and my family have long espoused the spirit of the holidays over the consumerist ethos that has overtaken what is supposed be festive occasions.  As such I have developed very sustainable practices when thinking about what and how I give.  Below are some examples that I hope will help you in your ethical gift giving journey. After all there is no reason not to spread joy and love whilst conserving our environment, sanity and creating beautiful memories and experiences.  

For starters, whatever physical gifts I give I prioritize local and sustainable.  I research companies in Vancouver that are committed to sustainable materials and processes so I forgo the ubiquitous big-name online shopping companies that mostly do not provide these choices. 

I will then wrap said gifts in things like newspaper or cool ads/pages from magazines that might be colourful to add some art to the wrapping.  Also, I tend to prefer what I have called “moments over tokens” which is to give experience-based items over ‘stuff’; for example, buying tickets for art events like theatre shows or art exhibits or a festival especially now to support local shops and the Arts and artists as much as possible. So, focusing on experiences rather than items. On that vein, I also like to get gift cards to local restaurants to support local businesses which again, is even more meaningful now.

I also like to find out people’s spirit animal or a favourite animal or flower or tree and sketch that for them along with a poem or short write-up about them and my relationship with them and what I treasure about knowing them.

Something not many people do which I highly encourage they do, is to give themselves a treat; some people call it a ‘guilty pleasure’ yet I like to call it ‘self care’, something we tend to overlook in our hyped and busy lives. So, for my ‘self care’ treat I like to gift myself a massage or anything body care related as during the year I really ask a lot of my body and giving back to it is something I never regret.

So, hopefully I have given you some inspiration and a way to give to others, to yourself and to mother Nature this holiday season and well, hopefully throughout the year as well. Stay calm, safe and happy everyone.

What are your zero waste tips?

Join our facebook group and share.

UCV Opposes the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project

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The Board has passed a motion to send the following letter, penned by John Boyle, to members of government in opposition to the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project. The letter was also copied to four Federal Ministers and 13 Members of Parliament

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Wilkinson and Minister Garneau

Re: Refuse permission for Roberts Bank Terminal 2

The Board of Trustees of the Vancouver Unitarians, a congregation with some 350 members, has unanimously approved a motion to oppose the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 Project and ask that you deny permission for it to proceed.

We are particularly alarmed that the Project would devastate the biological productivity of Roberts Bank. As a critical waypoint on the Pacific Flyway, millions of western sandpipers rely on its biofilm to fuel the next stage of their northward journey. The loss of this resource may well lead to their extinction. The Bank also hosts huge numbers of snow geese, shore birds and dabbling ducks, and its eel grass beds are vital rearing habitat for juvenile chinook salmon. As you know, chinook salmon are a vital food source for the endangered orcas (southern resident killer whales or SRKW). Project risks to these marvellous aspects of our coastal ecosystem must be avoided.

We were shocked to learn that the Review Panel was prevented from seeing the report by Environment and Climate Change Canada which emphasized the dire environmental risks posed by the Project. Indeed, ECCC’s finding was that the Project constitutes an unmitigable species-level risk to western sandpipers and shorebirds more generally.

But even in the absence of this expert government advice, the Panel concluded that the Project would result in significant adverse residual and cumulative effects on:

  • wetlands and wetland functions;
  • barn owls, listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act;
  • dungeness crab and the local crab fishery;
  • juvenile chinook salmon originating from the Lower Fraser and South Thompson Rivers;
  • southern resident killer whales, an endangered population of orcas;
  • the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes, and cultural heritage, for
    First Nations of the area; and
  • human health due to exposures to NO2, other respiratory irritants, and noise.

And all the above, of course, in the absence of a major oil spill which the Panel concluded could result in potentially significant adverse residual effects for vulnerable species such as SRKW and marine birds; marine commercial and recreational activities; and current use, cultural heritage and health of Indigenous groups.

In our view, these environmental risks are more than enough to deny Project permission. We also understand that the business case for the Project is weak to non-existent. Independent analysis indicates that the Port of Vancouver has consistently understated actual port capacities for containers while at the same time over-estimating forecast growth. And there is sufficient operational or planned capacity on the BC west coast to meet Canada’s trading needs for many years to come. Indeed, the private sector stands willing to expand the existing container ports at both Roberts Bank and Prince Rupert as demand increases – if it ever does as supply chains adapt to the covid-19 disruption. The need for a massive, environmentally disruptive, publicly-financed expansion of container handling facilities at Roberts Bank thus seems to be a mirage.

Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Wilkinson and Minister Garneau, it is hard to imagine what public interest might conceivably over-ride the significant adverse residual and cumulative effects the Project would cause. Especially as the business case for the Project is weak to non-existent. We urge you to deny federal government permission for this Project.

Respectfully,

Diane Brown
President, Vancouver Unitarians

Cc: Hon. Joyce Murray, Minister of Digital Government
Hon. Bernadette Jordan, Minister for Fisheries and Oceans
Hon. Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability
Inclusion
Hon. Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of National Defense
Terry Beech, MP
Don Davies, MP
Sukh Dhaliwal, MP
Hedy Fry, MP
Gord Johns, MP
Peter Julian, MP
Jenny Kwan, MP
Elizabeth May, MP
Ron McKinnon, MP
Randeep Saral, MP
Jagmeet Singh, MP, NDP Leader
Patrick Weiler, MP
Jody Wilson-Raybould, MP

UCV Statement of Solidarity with the Mi’kmaq

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In accordance with the commitment in our Territorial Acknowledgement to shifting the colonial default, the Board has ratified Tamiko Suzuki’s eloquent letter to the Prime Minister voicing UCV’s pledge of solidarity with the  Mi’kmaq fishers in Nova Scotia fighting for their treaty rights and urging the Federal government to actively support these rights. The letter also denounces both the racist violence by non-Indigenous rioters and the hands-off stance of the RCMP.

UCV Statement of Solidarity with the Mi’kmaq:

The Unitarian Church of Vancouver pledges solidarity with the  Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia, who are fighting for their treaty protected right to catch and sell fish for a moderate livelihood. This right was written in the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1760/61, and reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada with the Marshall decision in 1999. We urge the Federal Government to actively support this treaty right.

We denounce both the racist violence  by non-Indigenous rioters and the hands-off stance of the RCMP. We strongly urge the RCMP to protect Mi’kmaq communities from any further mob violence or personal threats. 

Wild Salmon Rallies and Street Theatre — Sept 2020

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Contact the Enviro Team | Join the Enviro Email Group

wild salmon rally outside the offices of the DFO

Above: Rally and street theatre outside the offices of the DFO in downtown Vancouver calling for an end to fish farms in the Discovery Islands

From the constituency office of MP Terry Beech, to a Wild Salmon Die-in at the DFO, the Wild Salmon Action Team joined one hundred and one BC First Nations calling for the removal of fish farms from the Discovery Islands

(more…)

Forest Walk – September 2020

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Contact the Enviro Team | Join the Enviro Email Group

Photo:Pacific Spirit Park

Above: Pacific Spirit Park, Sept 12, 2020 | The haze in this photo is not a typical West Coast mist or fog in early Fall, but rather smoke from forest fires burning in Washington State, while California is experiencing its worst forest fire season ever, reminding us of the looming climate crisis and the need for climate action.

Reconnecting To Why We Are Environmentalists

by Tamiko Suzuki

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A dozen Enviro Team members met on a cool, smokey September morning and followed a path into Pacific Spirit Park …

It started with a callout by the Sierra Club to organize a Forest March to protest the loss of old growth trees. After some discussion, a trio from the UCV Environment Team decided they would organize a visit to the forest but it would not be in protest of anything. Rather it would be a meditation on Nature and our love of her.

A dozen Enviro Team members met on a cool, smokey September morning and followed a path in Pacific Spirit Park, specifically chosen for its beautiful views. As was planned, the first and last part of the walk was a socially distanced time to chat and reconnect. The middle part of the walk was done in silence and alone to awaken the senses, re-energize zoom-fatigued brains, and re-connect with our thoughts and feelings.

The ancient trees are long gone (logged in the 1940’s according to Hanno) but stumps and nurse logs remain to remind us of what was lost. Haze from forest fires in Washington obscured the sun reminding us that Climate Change is a looming threat despite our preoccupation with COVID. Still, the forest filtered out a lot of the smoke and traffic noise and brought a sense of calm and peace. It felt so good to get outside and be among friends again.

The walk was organized by Hanno Pinder, Tara Bonham and Tamiko Suzuki.

Proposed: Recreational Forest Walks
Join us for a walk thru Pacific Spirit Park
email Hanno at the Enviro Team

NOTE: At present, the Walking Group is not officially part of the Enviro Team, but we share an appreciation for trees and forests

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Photos by: Tamiko Suzuki and Mary Bennett

Early Days of the Enviro Team

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Contact the Enviro Team | Join Our Email Group

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 !

Reflections on Plastic-Free July from UCV Zero Waste

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You may have heard of the initiative “Plastic-Free July.” It is a global movement and a challenge to reduce plastic waste. Local zero-waste shops like Nada Grocery have been at the forefront of promoting this important work in our community. While it is nice to have a special month to “zero” in on the consumption of single-use plastics, we also know the work is year-long.

This year poses a particularly difficult challenge because the safety measures used to protect us from COVID often come with more packaging, less opportunity to use our many-use items.

Vancouver Unitarian’s Zero Waste team members reflect on how they are navigating their commitment to being plastic-free and zero waste in a pandemic. We asked: Has the pandemic shifted your habits with plastic? Why or Why not? and What are some examples of steps you’re taking to be both safe AND plastic-free? 

 

“My habits with plastic have changed slightly because I strive to live a sustainable and plastic-free life as possible I have endeavored to abstain from activities that require me to introduce more plastic into my life. At the grocery stores, I refuse to use plastic bags and even if I have to carry out my items and later put them in my own bag I won’t use plastic bags. The one thing I had to do which hurt more than I thought was to use disposable cups when having coffee outside as we cannot use our own mugs.
In addition, I have not ordered take out except once and I asked them to have as little packaging as possible. Yes, it came in a container but I asked for compostable.

In order to be safe and plastic-free I wash my hands and avoid touching my face rather than using disposable gloves which research has proven is a false positive anyway. I made my own mask and use that.”

– Vivian Davidson
“Yes.  Instead of going to NADA (way too scary) we’ve been ordering from SPUD.  There’s much more packaging, including non-reusable large cardboard boxes.  Last week one such box contained only 1 loaf of half frozen bread.  Now that NADA has an on-line system, I am back to using it instead of SPUD.  Throughout the pandemic I’ve been getting my produce at farmers markets which are generally good about reducing packaging but even they are using more plastic bags.
I used to be much more pure about getting my bread in paper bags, not plastic but was so desperate at various points in the pandemic to find gluten-free vegan bread that I lowered my standards.  Hoping now that the g/f bakeries are opening up I can insist on bread in paper, or at least bread that hasn’t been frozen in plastic.
Shopping at farmers market feels safe since it’s outside.  Online orders from NADA is now an option.  Stores like the East End Food Coop have taken good steps for safety but sadly their bulk area has been removed.
PS Also very sorry that London Drugs is not doing plastic recycling anymore.”
– Mairy Beam
“The pandemic has shifted my ability to stay committed to plastic-free to the degree I had been committed before. I think moments like this really test us in ways we don’t anticipate and it’s interesting to notice where the motivation to use packaging “for safety” feels different than using it “for convenience.” I am trying to focus on the fact that things won’t always be like this.

I am visiting places that are supportive of zero-waste even in the face of pandemic. The Safeway at King Ed has been allowing reusable shopping bags if you pack your own, and the JJ Bean on 16th and Cambie (and assuming all over too) is now allowing clean travel mugs. I am ordering take out from time to time but we got to places that use compostables like Beetbox Vegetarian. I love to feel our community pull together and remain committed to our values by making our environmental practices as safe to continue as possible.”

-Marie Witt