Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

Ladybugs, wrigglers and bats – oh my!  The Comox Valley Regional District’s (CVRD) “Nature Works” program is offering free education events this month to find out how some crawling and flying creatures can help your garden grow, without resorting to the use of environmentally-unfriendly pesticides.

 “Nature Works” is an education and awareness program that encourages the use of pesticide alternatives by people in municipalities with pesticide bylaws, and by others who simply want to know more about creating pesticide-free lawns and gardens. 

Upcoming “Nature Works” events:
·        Saturday July 10 at 11 a.m. – compost education centre in Campbell River:  Elaine Jansen, CVRD compost educator, will hold a ladybug release party.

·        Saturday July 17 at 11 a.m. – compost education centre in the Campbell River:

Elaine Jansen, CVRD compost educator, will lead a worm bin workshop.
·        Saturday July 24 at 10 a.m. – compost education centre in the Comox Valley: Patty Rose, CVRD compost educator, welcomes Tyler Johns as he presents a session on good bugs versus bad bugs in caring for your lawns and gardens. 

·        Saturday July 24 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. – compost education centre in the Comox Valley:  Master gardens onsite for diseased plant identification.  Please bring all specimens in sealed zip lock bags.  

Working in concert with birds and bats, good bugs will help your garden become a healthy ecosystem. The most visible and beloved of all the good bugs, the ladybug can be a gardener's best friend. “Many gardeners enjoy releasing purchased ladybugs in their garden or on their patio containers,” says Patty Rose, CVRD compost educator.  “A single ladybug can eat as many as 50 aphids each day.”   And, says Rose, if you compost, wriggler worms chow down on kitchen scraps and quickly turn them into "black gold."

The events at the Campbell River or Comox Valley compost education centres will teach you how best to use the ladybugs on your plants, how to have wriggler worms do their best for your compost and more. With a little help from good bugs, worms, birds and bats, your garden can stay healthy all season long. You may never need to use a pesticide again.  

In addition to the special “Nature Works” information sessions at the compost education centres, the CVRD “Nature Works” display will be set up this summer season at the Comox Valley mid-week farmer’s market in the parking lot next to the I-Hos Gallery on Comox Road in Courtenay. 

The Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) is a partnership of three electoral areas and three municipalities providing nearly 60,000 residents with 85 services -- from parks to full-service sports facilities to a solid waste system that serves both the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District.

Media contact:
Koreen Gurak
Manager of communications

This  February and March I had the distinct pleasure of teaching an entire Social Studies 11 Environment Unit to Jouska Lockquell’s Mark R. Isfeld class. This experience was a real honour and thrill for me because I was able to work with youth for six consecutive classes and cover an intense survey of international, regional and local environmental issues involving solid waste, water and pesticides. By the end of the unit, we were taking individual action to better the planet in some way. There were letters written, phone calls made, projects planned and positive strides being made to heal the earth. The experience was amazing and I’m having a hard time finding the words to describe it. After looking over the feedback from the students, I think they say it best. Here are some comments.

“I thought your presentations were very effective and fascinating. There were many things that I learned that changed my point of view in many ways. The presentations definitely made me want to look at ways to make a change. I liked your sense of humour and the fact that you had everyone involved in the discussions.”

 “Your presentation has made me a bit of a paranoid angry mess, and I love that. I have never been so aware of what is going on around me. I have been recycling like mad, and spending my time more wisely. By that I mean not shopping when I’m bored or to make myself feel good. Thank you so much!!!”

“Your teaching style ensured that I will remember this for a long time.”

“I felt that your overall class lessons were superb.”

“I enjoyed the unit because it was presented in a way that made me understand. You definitely know how to get us thinking and get us excited to change something.”

“I enjoyed this unit immensely, thanks so much for coming! I quite enjoyed learning where my clothes were made and how I can shop smart and reduce cotton poison in India.”

“Thanks for sharing your knowledge and stories with us! I thought you did a great job sharing/showing all the different things that go on that we don’t know a lot about. I don’t really think there is much you could improve on. You were really easy to talk and listen to! It was really inspiring!”

“I really like how you could connect with us and keep us engaged. After your presentations I always feel like I have the power, and your personal experiences and movie clips you made showed me that everything is attainable.”

“You were really interesting; you have a good style of teaching.”

“I really enjoyed the story about the Air Jordans. It made me realize how even simple changes in our lifestyles can change the lives of people all around the world.”

“I very much enjoyed these presentations. Your passion is contagious, and many conversations with my friends have opened from the issues you raised in this unit. I can honestly say that I am more knowledgeable now…”  

It’s the middle of December and I'm infatuated with lettuce. Romain, Green Leaf, Red Leaf, I’ll eat it all.  In fact, I try to eat lettuce on a daily basis because it’s healthy, full of fibre, full of vitamin C, and fun to eat! It’s crunchy and it can hold an infinite number of other vegetables or dressings in salads. I can roll up my lettuce leaves to make quazi taco’s, or put it in a sandwich. There’s no questioning that lettuce is awesome and I am obviously pretty amped (excited) about it,  but lettuce is also on my mind for other reasons lately. I'm rethinking how I go about things. How I waste, what I waste and what I can do to stop wasting natural resources. At lunchtime I thought about how amazing it was to be eating fresh lettuce in December with snow on the ground.  I can't grow lettuce at this time of year and yet, I'm eating it. Then I thought about how insects like to eat lettuce and that my lettuce leaves were flawless. They were actually so perfect that my attentioned then turned to the plastic box my lettuce came in. I knew right then that this would be no ordinary lunch and rethinking a simple head of lettuce was about to get complicated.

Some lettuce comes from the USA, Mexico or other countries warmer than Canada during the autumn, winter and spring months of the year. Amazingly, lettuce can be harvested, refrigerated, shipped thousands of kilometers, and put on the shelf for us to buy in one week or less. It’s incredible really and it’s all because of oil. Burning oil is the reason we can eat lettuce all year round. Big ships can carry tons of lettuce quickly. If we tried to ship lettuce from Mexico without burning oil or gas, it would be rotten before it left the country. Even if we could ship it by bicycle, we would only be able to carry a few heads at a time. That means that burning oil is essential to my consumption of lettuce over 250 days each year. Crazy. That equates to over one hundred thousand kilometers of gas burning transportation and tons of global warming gasses in the atmosphere just because I eat lettuce almost every day.

All around the world lettuce is difficult to grow because critters, insects, slugs and molds love to eat it too. That means farmers are forced to use poisons and pesticides to keep it looking perfect so we’ll buy it in grocery stores. Anyone who’s grown lettuce in their own garden knows that it can become a leafy hotel for earwigs, spiders and all sorts of whacky bugs. Most of these bugs don’t eat the lettuce but they do enjoy living on, in or around it. Bugs are natural though. It seems really strange to put poison on our food to get rid of those bugs, doesn’t it? Sure a few bugs might be creepy at first or holes in the lettuce might seem imperfect but really, poison, is that the only solution?

Recently I’ve been purchasing organic lettuce. It’s more expensive than regular lettuce but I trust that there’s no poison on it.  When I was making a salad the other day, I noticed that my head of lettuce had six dried up, crusty, dead lady bugs in it. At first I was taken aback, but then I thought it was pretty cool. Lady bugs are predatory. They eat other bugs – especially aphids. That means that the organic farmer who grew that lettuce was using insects instead of pesticides to keep the lettuce protected from other insects. Wow! Lady bugs are cool. I still wash my lettuce well before eating it but I feel good knowing that lady bugs are in my lettuce instead of disease causing pesticides.

Organic lettuce is now being packaged in fancy plastic containers or bags. Plastic is made from oil. I’m happy to see that the plastic boxes that lettuce comes in is recycled but something still seems weird about taking an organic product and wrapping it in oil based packaging. Doesn’t it? Sure the package keeps my food clean, the label looks really fancy and the lettuce comes out of the box all fluffy and delicious but ethically, I still feel like I’m hurting the earth when I eat it. The box goes into my blue box recycling bin; I eat the glorious lettuce, and then I feel bad for eating it. Why does lettuce have to be so complicated?

When I go to the grocery store I am still mystified that the grocery store looks almost exactly the same in December as it did in the July. The fruits and vegetables that I love are all there. Rethinking how I shop has become an interesting project. I want to reduce my eco-footprint every day so now I rethink the things I buy. I am rethinking food that’s wrapped in plastic or wrapped in non-recyclable packages. I am starting to use reusable containers for store bought bulk items. I am purchasing more locally grown produce and meat because it’s not packaged in plastic and it isn't shipped great distances before I eat it; that alone saves the atmosphere from tons of greenhouse gas. Naturally, I walk or ride a bike to the store to buy food whenever I can to reduce waste, energy use and keep my car off of the busy roads. I am looking for lightweight biodegradable bags made from organic materials to put my vegetables in - do you know where I can get some?  I'm doing what I can to lower my eco-footprint but even lettuce has become intertwined with my demanding "want it now - get it now"  lifestyle. I’m used to eating it all year round because it’s available all year round. Something doesn't seem right about that.

Lettuce isn't really that complicated but our lifestyles certainly have changed how we grow, transport, package and purchase foods like  lettuce.  What do you think? How are you rethinking actions in your life to reduce your ecological footprint? Send me your stories, suggestions and ideas about local solutions to global problems. Email powerofr@gmail.com and put “RETHINK - Beyond The Blue Box” in the subject line.