November/December 2007 Newstand Price $4.50 Environmental News from BC and the World Selenium Sulfide Formaldehyde Alpha-Hydroxy Acids Phthalates Petroleum Distillates Inside: Electrifying Future * Atlantica * Mountain of Ash Uranium Hunger Strike * Where Have the Boys Gone? Vol 17 No 5 ISSN 1188-360X Invest with Inhance, profit with conscience. At Inhance Mutual Funds, we help Canadians build wealth by balancing financial returns with sustainable values. To find out more, call us to order your free copy of our DVD about growing factors like climate change and its impact on the modern investment landscape. Support this independent publication Rates: per placement, depending on number of issues Full Page (6.88” x 9.25”) $485 to 388 1/2 Page (6.88” x 4.5”) $295 to 236 1 866 646-5850 | www.inhance.ca 1/4 Page (3.31” x 4.5”) $155 to 124 Commissions, trailing commissions, management fees and expenses may all be associated with your investment. Mutual funds are not guaranteed, their values change and past performance may not be repeated. Please read the Inhance Mutual Fund 1/8 Page (3.31” x 2.25”) $85 to 68 Prospectus and consult your financial advisor before investing. The Inhance family of Spot or full colour extra. Complimentary design Mutual Funds are available only to Canadian residents, excluding Quebec. WATERSHED SENTINEL NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 Watershed Sentinel November-December 2007 Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled process chlorine-free newsprint, with vegetable inks since 2002. Cover printed on 100% post-consumer recycled process chlorine free coated paper. The Land o matter where on Earth we live, we are all residents Nof a watershed. Throughout history clans, tribes 7 BC Forest Land Controversy and all organized groups have endeavoured to protect Is changing forests to real estate compatible with their home watershed or territory. Sentinels were the public interest? stationed throughout the highlands of a watershed to herald the coming of friends or of threats in the form of 7 Toxic Water, Empty promises encroachment, floods, fire or hostile armies. Far from best practises, the BC Liberals decide Threats to our watersheds exist to this day whether to grandfather dumping toxic CoalBed Methane they come from careless individuals or insensitive water – into trout streams corporations. The Watershed Sentinel keeps watch and informs. Society & Technology 8 The Future is Electrifying News and Regular Snapshot of the Future Take 3 - That future definitely includes all electric cars and hybrid 4, 14 Letters bikes. Printer Byron brags about his hot shot conversion, a dedicated biker tells all, and 3, 5, 7, 27 News Briefs there’s an e-bike shopping guide too. 6 MillWatch on the Mountain of Ash 18 Atlantica - the Rising Tide? Powell River mill plans to leave a legacy but the A proposed free trade area promises to radically neighbours aren’t so sure it’s fair. change Canada’s East Coast 31 Friends of Cortes Island Energy & Climate Beyond Buy Nothing Day 16 Why Nuclear Power is Not the Answer 32 Wild Times - It’s Our Nature Building nuclear power plants is a waste of time, Joe Foy on governments and environmentalists money and fossil fuels.Jim Harding explains why. 28 Nine Simple Steps for Saving Power Not a in your own home Subscriber Yet? Look for 30 Why a Quota for Electricity? the Subscription Could it drive a culture shift? Form Inserted for your Health & Toxics convenience! 12 Dealing with a Chemical Legacy - NOT Give a Gift! 22 A critique of the Harper Chemical Management Plan by two experienced activists Cover Design: 22 Beauty & the Beast Ester From lead in lipstick to sensitizers in hypo- allergenic products - What’s in your cosmetic bag, Strijbos where to look and how to find out, and what to do about it. 8 EDITORIAL Watershed Snapshots of the Future As we go to press here in Comox BC, we hear the rumblings of aircraft on military manoeuvres. The war in the Middle East grinds on Sentinel its inevitable and painful path to failure and fiscal chaos. Globally, the Editor Delores Broten Publisher Watershed Sentinel northern ice is melting. Droughts and floods are sure to be followed by Educational Society famine and disease, despite the heroic efforts of aid workers and local Associate Editor Don Malcolm governments to ease the pain. Cover and Graphic Design Ester Strijbos Meanwhile, here in Canada, the media, industry, and government Advertising Terri Smith apparently can only think about the opportunities this brings to burn Special Thanks to Horizon Publica- more fossil fuels. tions, Hugh McNab, Maggie Paquet, Jim It’s easy to respond to this medieval chronicle of folly with the Cooperman, Rob Wiltzen, Tammy Morris, deadly sin of despair. Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega, Gloria Yet everywhere one sees the seeds of hope, just sprouting, as in Jorg, Graham Kissack, Clara Broten, Kathy Smail, Ray Woollam, the writers, advertis- spring. Millions of people around the world have a clear vision of parts ers, distributors, and all who send infor- of the solutions, be it planting trees in China, banning cosmetic pesticide mation, photos, and ideas. This magazine use in Canada, or changing our economic system to one of equal oppor- would not happen without you. tunity. Those local pieces add up to an alternative future, a new civiliza- Published five times per year tion, perhaps even a new wave of human evolution, one still veiled from Subscriptions $20 one year, us all, trapped in the unpromising present. $30 two years Canada, $26 US one year The current western civilization is clearly past its “best by” date. Distribution by subscription, and to mem- New ways of living are hard to discern when riding the tidal wave of bers of Friends of Cortes Island and Reach history, but they can be glimpsed in our present time. That is why we are for Unbleached! Free at Vancouver Island sponsoring the Snapshots of the Future series. Last month, we showed and Vancouver area libraries, in BC col- leges and universities, and to sponsoring elegant Swedish sewage waste and energy engineering. This issue we organizations. show the somewhat more chaotic rebirth of electric transportation. Member British Columbia Association Delores Broten, Comox BC of Magazine Publishers ISSN 1188-360X For photocopy reproduction rights, contact To All Our Subscribers and Readers CANCOPY, 6 Adelaide St. E., Ste. 900, This is your magazine, with your ideas and interests, kept in print by Toronto, Ontario M5C 1H6 your generosity. We all want to thank those of you who saw the need and so Publication Mail Canada Post Agreement generously sent your financial help last issue, and most especially a certain PM 40012720 amazing lady at the GlassWaters Foundation. Whether you are sending a $10 low income subscription, an ad placement, or a donation, it all goes into the pot to keep the ideas percolating and the presses rolling. We are now embarking on a subscription drive, because subscriptions are the base of financial stability for any publication. We encourage you to pick up on our special gift offer – a Wil- derness calendar, a gift card announcement, and a one year subscription to the Watershed Sentinel – all for only $25 (Add $6 for International postage). If you Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: want your gift to arrive before Dec. 25th, we need to get the calendars in the Watershed Sentinel mail ASAP, so think of your friends who might enjoy a beautiful calendar and Box 1270, Comox the spirited discussion in this magazine, and help us grow our paid circulation. BC, Canada V9M 7Z8 Thank you so much for reading, and enjoy the winter holiday season. Ph: 250 339-6117 Email [email protected] http://www.watershedsentinel.ca Moving? Moved? Let us know. Email [email protected] WATERSHED SENTINEL NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 NEWS Around The World from across the country looking for the most successful laws and best practices. Municipalities have been asking for a provincial ban, such as now exists in Quebec. Mean- while, the issue is gaining ground on Prince Edward Island Compiled by Delores Broten where a backbench MLA has introduced a motion, and the City of Charlottetown has asked the province to pass legis- lation that would allow it to enact a citywide ban. Answer Still Blows in the Wind — Moncton Times & Transcript , CBC, October 31, 2007 Twenty-five American states now have standards re- quiring some renewable electricity standards with a dozen Global Food Prices Soar of them above 20 percent, including Minnesota, New York, Food prices around the world have increased dra- New Jersey and Connecticut. A growing number of states matically in the past year, triggered by soaring oil prices, are looking at meeting or beating 20 percent renewable drought, and US farmers switch of maize crops to biofuel electricity by 2020. In 2004, after four attempts, Colorado production from animal feed. The price of food has risen passed a law by voter initiative to require 10% of its elec- 18% in China, 13% in Indonesia and Pakistan, and 10% or tricity come from renewable sources by 2015. Thanks to more in Latin America, Russia and India, according to the wind power developments, it has met that goal eight years UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Wheat has ahead of time with no increased cost to consumers. Utili- doubled in price, maize is nearly 50% higher than a year ties that opposed the original requirement have found that ago and rice is 20% more expensive, says the UN. Global winds in different regions across the west can be used to food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years supplement each other, compensating for the intermittent — The Guardian, November 3, 2007 nature of wind power.