You haven’t seen any bullfrogs on Gabriola, have you? I’m hoping we’re still free of them. UVIC’s Bullfrog Project explains the problem: Introduced Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) have replaced native amphibians from large areas of southeastern Vancouver Island and the lower Fraser Valley. Bullfrogs are voracious predators that can easily eat our native frogs – the [...]
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You all know That Guy who apparently hasn’t washed his clothes in years. Yuck, right? But maybe his habits are better for the environment than yours, you laundry-doing human. From Science Daily: Home Washing Machines: Source of Potentially Harmful Ocean ‘Microplastic’ Pollution. Scientists are reporting that household washing machines seem to be a major source [...]
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From the Nanaimo News Bulletin: Tidal energy proponent hosts public meeting. Residents with questions about a proposed tidal energy project at Dodd Narrows will have an opportunity to ask them Friday (Sept. 9) from 2-4 p.m. at Silva Bay Pub on Gabriola Island. [continue] Did you see anything about this meeting in the Flying Shingle [...]
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From the Nanaimo News Bulletin: Dodd Narrows scouted for tidal power project. Sitting on a park bench overlooking Dodd Narrows waiting for a call to come through on his iPhone, Tony Irwin noticed considerable tidal energy was moving through the narrow channel. Not far from where he was sitting, he looked up to see 138 [...]
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Gabriola’s brickyard was quite the industry in its day. Here’s a fragment of what’s left: a piece of Gabriola brick, soon to be swamped by the rising tide.
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I’m talking about people who come over on the Quinsam in the morning, pick a huge amount of salal in the Gabriola forest, load it all into a truck, and take it back to Nanaimo at the end of the day. They’re after the money, because they can sell salal to the floral industry. How [...]
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Oh my, Gabriola. Did you see this? From canada.com: From cows to plastic car parts. Using steam and pressure, a U of A research lab is extracting protein material from waste animal carcasses that is eventually converted into a variety of plastics. While a mooving car may sound like science fiction, David Bressler and his [...]
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Wouldn’t it be great if Gabriola didn’t need power lines, power poles, or BC Hydro? If we could all generate our own power or use some techno-magic to obviate the need for power lines, I’d be a happy camper. So I do like articles like this one from MIT: Sun-free photovoltaics. A new photovoltaic energy-conversion [...]
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Do you remember the boat that washed up on the rocks at Drumbeg a few winters ago? It was near the Stalker Road end of the park, and it came in after a storm. It stayed right where it landed for a very long time, because apparently we lack the legislation to get rid of [...]
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Some time ago I blogged about soap nuts, which is what we use instead of laundry soap. Back then no Gabriola stores were selling soapnuts, although there were sachets of soapnut powder for sale at Village Foods. The other day in Village Foods I noticed these packages. Soapnuts! Well, at last. I order these in [...]
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It’s been years since coal mining stopped in Nanaimo, but now there’s a proposal for a coal mine at Fanny Bay in the Comox Valley. (Info at NoCoalMine.net, Coal Watch Comox Valley, and in this newspaper article.) Of course this is a serious matter. Those who work to prevent coal mines and related industries could [...]
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From the Victoria Times Colonist: Talks gear up to protect southern Georgia Strait. A protected area for southern Georgia Strait could be on the fast track to reality, after almost a decade of talks. Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent said in an interview he discussed the Southern Strait of Georgia project with provincial Environment Minister [...]
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Huge numbers of things have been dumped in the Gabriola woods over the years. Other than the grow-op trash, I’d thought we were mostly past that. Apparently not. Somebody’s taken rather a lot of broken glass and left it smashed at the side of the road, where it’s spilling into the forest. Rats.
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Residents of Gabriola Island have a reputation for generosity in supporting a good cause, but have you ever wondered why? There are probably many reasons, but here’s one you might not have considered: looking at nature can make you a more caring, community-oriented, and generous person. A study published in 2009 by researchers at the [...]
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Just a few hours south of Gabriola, an elementary school is giving us all something to think about. From sfgate.com: Urban buildings unplug from water grid. In one of Seattle’s most urban neighborhoods, a small elementary school is trying to wean itself off the city’s water grid. The classroom toilet composts and treats waste on [...]
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I won’t have the heart to go to Whalebone, Drumbeg, Sandwell, or any of Gabriola’s beaches this weekend. My guess is that there’ll be people camping on the beaches again (and in the woods, too, by the way) and I just don’t have the heart to see the trash, toilet paper, chicken wings, and broken [...]
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There was wheat growing at the Gabriola Commons last year. Can you imagine having a windmill like this on Gabriola to grind locally grown wheat?
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I’ve found crazy numbers of golf balls on Gabriola beaches in the last few years, and have already mentioned why I worry about golf balls on the beach: what happens when birds and sea creatures eat those golf balls? And even if the golf balls aren’t eaten, they don’t biodegrade, do they? But wait, here’s [...]
Filed in environment,Gabriola Island,sea creatures One Response so far
