Friends of Redtail

My half-hour documentary on the Friends of Redtail is online here.

This may seem like a story you've heard before: local group bands together to try and protect forest from clear-cutting.

But there is more to it than that. The Friends of Redtail don't want to create what they call "a tree museum" -- and they are looking to create a new model of local ownership and control of resources.

There are some great characters in this piece, including Billy MacDonald, who runs the nature camp from which the Friends take their name, and who is one of the only people in Canada to have successfully fought the National Energy Board; and Bernadette Romanowsky, a retired lawyer and mother of (I believe) 10.

Off the Grid in St. Margaret's Bay

I knew that my neiighbours Andrea and Shawn Redmond had built themselves a house way back from the road a few years ago. But when I heard it was also off the grid, and that they were raising chickens, goats and pigs, I wanted to get out there and talk to them.

Shawn does handyman and construction work, and Andrea is a painter (as in artist, not house painter) who also boards dogs. Shawn built most of the house, which is powered by solar panels and a 1-kilowatt wind turbine. In addition to the livestock they have now, they're hoping to add Scottish highland cattle, which are hardy and spend their winters outdoors.

Out of my visit came a five-minute radio documentary for CBC Radio's Information Morning in mainland Nova Scotia. You can listen to it here (in mp3 format).

Eating the Wild

Local food is all the rage -- and what could be more local and organic than something growing wild in your backyard or nearby?

I recently appeared on Information Morning in Cape Breton and mainland Nova Scotia to talk about edible wild plants with hosts Steve Sutherland and Bob Murphy.

Click here to listen to my conversation with Bob (mp3), featuring clips from a trio of local edible plant experts: Marian Munro, curator of botany at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, chef Michael Howell of Tempest restaurant, and herbalist and plant walk leader Savayda Jarone.

There were some great clips I wanted to use in the piece, but wound up cutting for space. My favourite was Marian Munro talking about making porridge from the root of the invasive Japanese Knotweed and using Chickweeds in salads: "I say, if you can't get rid of it, eat it."

The piece runs about 5 minutes.

Green gadgets

When I see green gadgets like this one, a water-powered clock, my first thought is to admire how ingenious it is and to have hope that we will somehow figure our way out of our various environmental crises.

My second thought is what a complete waste of time this is. What's the greenest gadget? No gadget. Or an old gadget that you keep using. The water-powered clock runs on water and lemon juice, with the lemon juice being replenished every 5-7 weeks. "Save on batteries" says the ad copy, and, at first, it's an appealing thought. 

But wait a minute. How much battery power does a bedside clock consume? Mine runs on one AA, which I have changed once in the last four or five years. Actually, I changed it for a battery that was too dead to run anything else, but has been running the clock for months now.

Replacing my current clock would wind up costing me more in lemons than I spend on batteries, plus there's the environmental effect of unnecessary manufactured goods (not to mention the carbon footprint from lemon transport).

Putting your money where your mouth is -- but not where your wheels are.

I was at a small-town farmer's market on a recent Saturday. It takes place in the local hockey rink, and features a mix of artisans with sea-glass jewellery, market gardeners with organic produce, fair trade coffee, and pleas for local causes. The crowd was mostly locals, with a sprinkling of tourists. Many of the tourists' cars sported Obama bumper stickers.

Near the entrance to the market, one bumper sticker caught my eye: "I buy local first."

The sticker was on a Japanese car.

Why doesn't God just create more oil?

Where to start with this?

Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.

Twyman - a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs - staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation's Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.

Yes, it's come to that.

"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don't seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring."

Bilcon seeks damages

A New Jersey-based company called Bilcon had plans to build a quarry on Digby Neck. This is a gorgeous, environmentally sensitive spot: a narrow arm of basalt sticking out into an ocean that is home to sensitive whale populations and a healthy lobster fishery.

The quarry would have seen tons of basalt ripped out of the ground and sent to the US for use in building roads. All-in-all, a Class A project when it comes to environmental benefits.

After much lobbying, those opposed to the quarry were able to convince the powers that be that the project merited a full panel review -- the most in-depth level of environmental assessment. The review ruled that the quarry should not proceed.

Now Bilcon is seeking $188 million in compensation for this "regulatory failure."

As Jim Meek writes in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald:

Mr. Appleton, a veteran international trade litigator who has written books on NAFTA, said Monday that the "wheels fell off" this regulatory process.

The Fournier panel "included novel, non-scientific criteria" in its decision, Mr. Appleton said.

"They used this concept of community core values, which they had no authority to invoke. Bilcon was never informed of these community core value criteria so it could address them."

Imagine! Looking at community values! Ludicrous.

I just hope my kids don't hear about this litigation. What about the time last summer they asked me for ice cream? And I said we might get some? But using the non-scientific criteria that it was getting too close to dinner time, I wound up saying no. Their expectations were shattered. I should have compensated them with brownies -- or maybe an increase in allowance -- instead.