Stanley – hello! I wondered if we’d see you here.

I wish you all the best with this event. I hope it will bring joy, delight and satisfaction to you and to all the participants. Totally not my kind of thing, but I hope by blogging about the race I will have sent you some enthusiastic runners.

But there are other goals here too. First is that the run is organized as a fund raiser for the Gabriola elementary school lunch program. All proceeds from the event will be directed there.

Secondly, the run has been scheduled to coincide with the grand opening of the new Gabriola Health Clinic and is an attempt to show the benefits of physical fitness to a persons overall health while promoting Gabriola Island as a healthy community.

In addition to the above the organizers are attempting to utilize another avenue to showcase the little piece of paradise we call Gabriola Island. Let’s hope that insanity “runs” rampant for that weekend and lends itself to our fine restaurants, B&B’s, stores, shops and all the other establishments that benefit from visiting tourists. Yes, even those that by some could rightfully be considered insane.

If you are interested in becoming insane visit http://www.brickyardbeast.com

Some of us are talking about re-activating the GSA Shorekeepers’ group for Gabriola, which could bring together the work done here lately on eelgrass mapping, fish habitat and oil spill prevention, to name a few good causes. Give Deb Ferens a call (don’t think she reads this blog very often) if you want to weigh in on that idea. Or come to Oceans Day June 3 at the Descanso Bay campground and meet like-minded islanders who’d like to work together on local marine issues.

There may be more similar projects. This isn’t really an activist response, but is maybe closer to your (shared) desire to be wealthy enough to rehire these scientists and those from the Arctic centre too.

We are indeed lucky to have Nancy on the island. I’ve seen her studio, quite a few of her carvings, and I’m in awe of her skill.

I’m upset over this, too.

But what will happen? Letter-writing, protests, a bit of media coverage, and then the government will ignore all that and move on.

If I had pots of money I would hire the nine marine scientists and staff myself so that their work would continue. But I don’t have pots of money. So what’s the next best thing? Which environmental groups are doing the most work in this area, and what do they suggest? How much can ordinary people help, say by taking water samples or something? If I want to donate what I can to charities that work to protect our seas, which ones should I consider?

Laurie – regarding charities that the government regards as too political – I wonder if environmental groups will eventually have to give up on the idea of charitable status altogether and function without it, as the Council of Canadians does.

The cuts that the Harper government is making are deep, appalling, potentially very long-term in effect, and highly politically-driven. They are nothing to do with the need for belt-tightening and everything to do with removing all impediments to resource extraction and full-steam-ahead industrial development – and science is exactly this, an impediment. As is public safety (witness the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard station and other cuts to the Coast Guard)…and disaster prevention (Environment Canada’s BC centre for oil spill response is being closed)…and a whole lot more.

It’s interesting to note that one department that is actually getting MORE money is Canada Revenue Agency – they’re getting an extra $8 million to beef up their investigations of charities that might be too “political” (i.e. environmental charities).

Sigh.

I don’t listen to the radio over radio airwaves much anymore – not even CBC, which is becoming Radio Stupid much of the time. I stream radio over the internet, too, and thank God for European radio stations and the BBC’s wonderful Radio 4. The number of independently-produced podcasts I can download is a delight, too.

I like your idea of having a trial run for a bus service.

>Options besides the radio and the bus are bound to come up in the future.

That’s a worry, isn’t it? There are always worthy (and not so worthy) project ideas, but requiring everybody else to pay for what one wants does give cause for concern. One of my favourite islanders is on a very limited income, and I worry that she’ll find tax increases like this to be more than she can afford.

I read in another article that The federal government has confirmed it will close three coast guard communication centres in Vancouver, Comox and Tofino by 2015. I wonder how that will affect boater safety.

A general aid in organic pricing can be accessed via– Cyber Help for Organic Farmers at–
http://www.certifiedorganic.bc.ca/rcbtoa/services/prices.html

Keeping in mind that this is for “Certified Organic” farms and reflects the costs of certification as well as other factors—so it is just a baseline–

I wonder how many consumers are really aware of the true cost of production– including a reasonable wage for the farmer who now not only needs to grow in a sustainable manner but compete in a market against commodities that– appear to be cheaper and educate the public at the same time

Best of luck to all of our local growers–they all deserve every penny they earn. The “ART” of agriculture is growing!