Earth Hour events in Calgary aimed at raising awareness of global warming
Calgarians asked to minimize energy consumption for one hour on Saturday night
By Amanda Stephenson,
Calgary Herald
March 30, 2012
Eco-minded Calgarians will join millions of people around the globe on Saturday night as they dim their lights in support of Earth Hour.
Organized by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour aims to raise awareness about global warming by encouraging individuals to reduce their own energy consumption for one hour on the last Saturday in March. This year’s Earth Hour will take place from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time.
The City of Calgary will be shutting off the lights at many of its facilities, including its Water Centre, Manchester and Whitehorn buildings, the Langevin Bridge, Prince’s Island riverwalk and all fire stations.
Many downtown businesses have also indicated plans to turn off all non-essential lights at 8:30 p.m.
Local non-profit organization Ecoliving Events will welcome the public to an Earth Hour celebration starting at 8 p.m. at the Calgary Area Outdoor Council facility at 1111 Memorial Dr. N.W.
Participants will sit in the dark, sipping hot chocolate and coffee made from power generated from an on-site solar trailer. In past years, the event has drawn as many as 500 people.
“It is symbolic, but it’s also a place for people to get together and talk about these (environmental) issues,” said Ecoliving Events executive director Judi Vandenbrink. “People want to come together and talk about solutions, and bring to light that global warming is a concern for them.”
The Nature Conservancy of Canada is partnering with Good Earth Coffeehouse and Bakery to put on a free candlelit concert by Calgary band Escape the Audience. The concert will take place at Good Earth’s 908 13th Ave. S.W. location, and a portion of proceeds from food and beverage sales will be donated to the Nature Conservancy of Canada.
This event was sponsored by: City of Calgary (host facility sponsor), Stantec Consulting, Amec, Alberta WaterSMART, CH2M Hill, Urban Systems, Stormwater Solutions, Westhoff Engineering Resources, ISL, Matrix Solutions, Klohn Crippen, Associated Engineering
The opening presentation "State of the Bow River" was by Mark Bennett, Executive Director of the Bow River Basin Council. Very good information.
The BRBC does great work, and their quarterly Education Forums are open to public.
Next up was Bert van Duin from the City of Calgary with "Low Impact Development for Stormwater Source Control".
Perhaps a bit surprisingly, this was a very interesting topic, with some great slides, showing what's being done in Calgary to mitigate the effect of stormwater runoff on the Elbow and Bow Rivers.
The final presenter was Chuck Slack, Principal and Senior Project Manager for Klohn Crippen Berger, the company that built the "Bow River Weir Project", now known as Harvie Passage.
Chuck told the story of the 'Weir Project' from the very beginning to the present.
Lots of great photos and videos, plus significant detail on every aspect of the project. Not surprising, coming from an engineer. :-)
Adam Rich ties us some of his well-tested rooster patterns and talks about his rooster fishing adventures in Baja. You won't find these in any fly bin.
Sun April 01 (1:00 pm): DIY Destinations with Matthew Sparrow
In recent years destination fly fishing has blossomed to the point where anglers can be overwhelmed with places to fish and lodges to stay. However, not everyone has the pocketbook or desire for a fully catered trip.
Matt Sparrow has spent years dreaming of traveling to distant fishing spots, and has gained experience DIY fishing in Montana, British Columbia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and New Zealand.
He will discuss how to go about researching, preparing, and packing for DIY adventures close to home and abroad.
Decision considered: Federal government proposal to remove habitat protection from the Fisheries Act.
The federal government of Canada proposes to remove the habitat protection provisions of the Fisheries Act RSC 2000, c F-14, s 35. Countless Canadians have vigorously spoken out against this proposal because removing these provisions would be a critical and fundamental change not only to federal legislative approach, but also to the management, protection, and well-being of fisheries in Canada.
The federal government’s proposed change is questionable for three reasons. One, as the federal government has exclusive constitutional authority over inland and coastal fisheries it would be unconscionable to remove the habitat protection provisions from the Fisheries Act. Two, the evidence shows that the habitat provisions of the Fisheries Act have not posed significant economic barriers to development. Three, we already have the legal tools to assure an appropriate level of regulatory requirements with respect to project applications that will impact Canada’s fisheries.
Saskatoon’s retro-rockers The Sheepdogs not only picked a leading four Independent Music Awards Saturday night in Toronto, but they got a special surprise guest in the form of British classic rock vocalist Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company and The Firm) who joined them on stage half-way through their set at the ceremony.
Free was apparently a big influence on the ‘70s-and-blues-inspired Sheepdogs, who also landed on the cover of Rolling Stone last year, becoming the first unsigned act to do so, and Rodgers happened to be in town to give a public chat at Canadian Music Week earlier in the day.
Reforms to the Fisheries Act that would end federal oversight over much of the country's fresh water are proving difficult for some provinces to swallow. (Canadian Press)
This topic has received very little coverage in the Calgary media.
We think it’s an important issue deserving of more attention. We hope you agree.
Otto Langer, a retired federal fisheries biologist, released two weeks ago a leaked internal information spelling out planned changes to the Fisheries Act.
Two former Progressive Conservative cabinet ministers (both also former Fisheries Ministers), Thomas Siddon and John Fraser, have spoken out very strongly against the proposed changes.
The Canadian Society For Ecology and Evolution, representing 1,000 ecologists and evolutionary biologists, in a letter to Ashfield from president Jeffrey Hutchings, said "In the interests of transparency and accountability, and in the interests of Canadian society, we respectfully request that the science advice received in this regard be made publicly available without delay.”
However, your most effective course of action (in our opinion) would be to write to your MP, Minister Keith Ashfield and Prime Minister Harper at your earliest convenience.
An important part of the debate over the Northern Gateway Pipeline revolves around the tanker traffic that would be required along our West Cost to move the oil to off shore markets.
On the other side of the debate is the Dogwood Institute. They responded to that report in a blog post, saying in part: “All in all, John’s essay serves up little more than platitudes that do nothing for our marine environments or the communities and jobs that depend on them.”
Still with the Dogwood Institute: About a year ago, they produced a video “From Tar Sands to Tankers”, which is inserted below.
Connect: What do you know. A video with a message.
Are you getting what you need with your ad dollars in video? In Connect you do.
Posted on February 8, 2012 by Greg Thomas
There are a lot of dollars being sprinkled around fly fishing today, mostly to support video projects that may or may not give a company some air time at one or more of the film tours that roll across the country each year. Their presence on the tour, of course, depends on whether they are even good enough to make the cut. And many of them aren’t.
This support of video isn’t bad news because the potential for that market—and more importantly the potential to reach outside our core people and draw newcomers into the sport—is huge. I’m just waiting for some consistently good material to rise to the top, if it hasn’t already. What I’m getting at is this: fish porn is ok—and some people don’t need anything more than that—but just showing a guy or gal catching fish doesn’t make the cut with me, unless your showing it around a group of guys, fueled by some hard stuff, with music pumping out of high-decibal speakers. Don’t get me wrong. I’m down with that crowd and I’ve attended enough of these things to know that watching jumping fish vids can be fun. I’m just asking, what are you going to do the rest of the time? Rest on the couch by yourself or invite a new girlfriend to sit down and watch? Can you say death sentence. Going to whip up some popcorn for the kids and let them listen to a procession of f-bombs and watch a bevy of scenes where anglers are throwing back the whiskey shots after landing an 11 inch trout, celebrating as if it’s the birth of their first child?
I’m a print media guy and I believe in it to the core. I’m not really enjoying this paring down of ad support for magazines that have carried this industry for decades and continues to do so today. Old, tired? I buy that argument, but myself and others are trying to fuel our pages with content that hasn’t been seen before. And we’re still the best vehicle for manufacturers and service-oriented operations to reach fly fishing’s buying crowd—how else are you going to reach 80,000 really hard-core anglers on a regular basis? With articulate words and sweet imagery? You want to sell product? Go to the trade and consumer shows and peddle your wares and buy advertising in print magazines. And don’t base your decision on whether you are or are not included in the actual text. If that’s a prerequisite and a magazine acquiesces (can you say Fly Fish America) you just flushed your credibility, and any merit of that text for the reader, right down the toilet.
Sun Mar 25 (1:00 pm): Stonefly Focus – Nymphs and Dries
Join Jeff for this session focused on the order of Plecoptera in the insect world; the common stonefly.
Jeff writes: ”since they’re a major food source for our fishy friends across most western streams and rivers they deserve some special attention. We will go over there life cycle as a whole, different species and their habitats. And then most importantly after we understand them, how to imitate them. Hope you can join me!”
There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050.
Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.
When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’.
In response to concerns of Trout Unlimited Canada members and supporters across Canada regarding potential changes to the fish habitat provisions of the federal Fisheries Act, CEO Jeff Surtees wrote to The Honourable Keith Ashfield, Minister of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
A press release by a former Department of Fisheries and Oceans biologist, Otto Langer has been widely reported in the media. That press release stated that Mr. Langer had been provided with a leaked government document which says that Cabinet is planning to water down the habitat protection provisions of the Canada Fisheries Act by deleting the habitat protection provisions of section 35 of the Act and replacing it with a new section which does not mention or protect habitat.
The story, as reported by CBC News, can be seen here
TUC’s letter of concern to Minister Ashfield can be viewed here
TUC CEO Talks to Lets Go Outdoors
Trout Unlimited Canada CEO Jeff Surtees talks to Lets Go Outdoors radio regarding potential changes to the fish habitat provisions on the federal Fisheries Act.
Please visit the Lets Go Outdoors websiteto listen to this interesting interview.