THE POWER OF R

A whole new season of The Power Of R is firing up this September and I'm taking bookings right now for free classroom and school presentations in the 2010-2011 school year. I'm looking really forward to making an impact together with the youth of School District 71 and 72 this year. Power Of R presentations and workshops can be specifically designed to work with your curriculum and PLO's so you don't fall behind schedule. Please ask about this option.  If you would like me to speak with your class please send an email to: powerofr@gmail.com. I'm looking really forward to booking with you soon. Photo by: Tash Baycroft

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

There's no question that Highland's Eco-Team has made massive progress this year in their school and around the community. They have mobilized and organized to effectively implement school-wide composting, recycling, battery collection, broom pulling (invasive foreign plant species destruction), fund-raising, and awareness campaigns. The Eco-Team has even created their own website to organize their efforts further and help new recruits become educated faster. The Eco-Team even has a delegation that sits in on Comox Town Council meetings to offer youth perspectives on environmental and development initiatives.  It has been a year of steady building and hard work but what they have achieved in such a short amount of time is remarkable. Well done team! Thank you for being community leaders who make a positive difference.

Highland's Eco-Team has become a family for me this year. Although I was unable to attend all of the meetings, after school, and weekend gatherings, the team was extremely motivated to push through some really tough challenges on their own steam. Initiating a compost program in a school is tricky because it requires students to pick up the compost buckets from classrooms each day and hand wash them each week. This year members of the Eco-Team rose to the challenge every single day to make that happen. The effort has paid off. Thousands of pounds of solid waste has been diverted from the landfill. In September there will be tons of fresh, homemade, nutrient rich dirt to play with. Everyday is Earth Day at Highland Secondary.

To send your best to Highland please leave a comment on this blog and then visit the team's website http://highlandecoteam.com where you can order a Highland Eco-Team shirt to show your support. Have a happy Earth Day today.

“Zac has been an inspiration to Highland's Eco Team. His support and ability to network with other organizations has been instrumental in our success as a group of individuals seeking action and systemic change. It is because of Zac we have a professional looking website, and it is because of Zac our fall school wide assembly was deeper in scope and more informative than it would have been without him.
Zac has been a coach, an advisor, our own special guru and a role model. We consider him an integral part of our Eco Team and are grateful he is such an active member of our community. It is the bringing together of such individuals that will catalyze the change needed to improve our world.”

"I am often telling people about Zac Whyte and what a great speaker he is, however, every time he presents, he never ceases to blow my mind. The students are simply captivated, resting on his every word.”

In late April I was invited to speak at Valley View Elementary School. My presentation  addressed issues of garbage and actions we could take locally to shift the growing consumer trend that has doubled our per-capita garbage output by 100% in only 10 years. I spoke about our responsibility as an educated and capable nation of individuals to lead initiatives that 'better the planet' in every sense of the phrase.  The presentation really resonated with the youth and teachers in the room that day because what happened next... well let's just say that it makes me proud to be surrounded by such an incredible group of community leaders.

The entire school rallied over the next two weeks to fulfill the schools 2009-2010 theme of "Making A Difference." Hours upon days of debate and discussion followed the presentation about the issues addressed in my talk. The school decided to hold a penny drive. " I thought the kids would raise about $80," teacher Andrew Ferneyhough told me after the fundraiser, "I was taken aback when they raise almost $100 per division." The week following the penny drive united the school in further discussions about the Comox Valley, Canada, and the rest of the world on the whole, as they rolled a staggering $1500 worth of pennies together. Students were led by teachers and explored the history of pennies, properties of copper, the significance of Queen Elizabeth II, and the origin of money among other topics. It was "applied learning, the best type of learning" Grade 6 teacher Jay Bridges commented.

On May 13th the students invited me back to the school because they had a surprise for me. I was presented a hand crafted cheque for $1400 and a wagon of neatly rolled and boxed pennies to endorse it. "We used a $100 to celebrate with pizza," one of the kids blurted out. "Was it fun to celebrate your accomplishments and make a positive difference in the world," I asked. The room collectively cheered "yes!" It was energizing. The school had chosen to donate the pennies to fresh water, education, health care and alternate income projects in Kenya through a Canadian child rights organization called Free The Children.

These are the moments that I love. I love to see the shift in the eyes of kids when they make a connection or realize the individual power they have to direct positive change in their world. It gives me chills, good chills. What's interesting, is when it happens for a majority of the kids - it's not during the talk, during the fund raising,  or during the learning, penny rolling (in this case) or in the camaraderie they feel with their friends united together in their common goal - it's when they reflect on their journey and see how their journey has impacted the world. Actions like this are outside of ourselves and I am grateful that today the earth has found over 400 new harbingers of her true spirit.

Congratulations Valley View Elementary on taking ownership of your home and becoming a powerful part of your global community. Let's celebrate that everyday from now.

I was upgrading all my computer bits the other day and got really down about the amount of electronic waste (e-waste) that I was creating. I posted something like 'upgrading my computer and creating enough e-waste to build a sailboat' on my Facebook account. To cool off my guilt I decided to take a walk with my family. A few blocks from my house, on a guys lawn, I saw an old Apple computer, a television and a blown-out stereo system. The items were free for the taking... and no one took them.

Even though the TV was free and worked perfectly - no one wanted it because it wasn't a 60" flat screen. The computer works but unless you live in Y2K (the year 2000) it's not even worth hitting the 'on button'. The computer parts I replaced on my computer were only five years old that day and even though they were the best parts you could buy five years ago, they definitely aren't cutting the mustard in 2010. Not if I want to stay in business.

Time is money  and our media tells us that "he who has the most toys wins."  Our combined obsession with consuming technology stems from staying ahead of the rest of the consumers out there. You can relate to this I'm sure. You need the latest cell phone to text faster and update your FB profile more regularly, or take pictures of everything (including junk on the side of the road), or how about a new ipod, or bike or video game system to out do your friends or create a better opportunity for yourself to buy some, friends that is? Do we buy this stuff to say to our friends "hey look at this cool new trinket" or do we buy this stuff to rub it in our friend's faces? "Haha wouldn't you love to be me right now," we secretly say. That is essentially it, right? Maybe I'm looking into this too deeply but I believe there is some truth to this mentality and it's filling up our landfills with electronics as a result.

Comox Valley Waste Management handles over 100,000 tons of waste every year and I have seen, with my own eyes,  television sets getting dumped directly into the landfill. That happens because some people couldn't be bothered to take it to a Encorp Return-It Depot or their local television supplier for recycling. By throwing a television into the landfill (of which there are thousands) we are exposing the earth to poisons in high concentrations. Monitors are full of lead. Lead can cause cancer in animals and in humans when it's mixed with ground water and consumed.

So here's the thing. We are going to be consuming in the future but now is the time to start thinking about how to minimize our consumption. The second priority that needs to be addressed is cradle to grave corporate responsibility for the products we buy. That means when we buy a product - an ethical disposal plan for that product is already in place. Whomever sells the product is responsible for it's earth friendly and sustainable disposal, reuse or recycling. Corporations would be freaking out and developing smaller, safer and more earth friendly products as a result. Selling a carcinogen (cancer causing material) like lead in a product would be too expensive to dispose of so manufactures wouldn't use it, period.

Some examples of this type of system are already in play. When you buy a new computer you pay a disposal tax. However, people still throw electronics in the landfill anyway. We need another law that says throwing away toxic hardware is illegal, or better yet, we just need more collective common sense.

Here is a link to your local Encorp Return-It Depot. Please take your e-waste/electronics there for proper disposal and recycling. :)

In Campbell River visit 1580-F Willow Street to recycle your electronics

In the Comox Valley visit 1255 McPhee Ave. to recycle your electronics

I've recently had the good fortune to produce a video about the Comox Valley Regional District's water system. The video personifies a rain drop as an average guy watering his lawn. The average guy just happens to be "The Murph" or as many people know him, Mr. Murphy from School District 71. Murph actually taught me way back when Courtenay Junior was in downtown Courtenay. We chose Celtic shirts for his wardrobe to represent (that's good luck) and my father in law donated his uber sleezy blue housecoat to complete the look. It was about 40lbs when it got wet so it really was like another character in the piece.

When I was writing the script and casting characters in my head Murph seemed like an obvious choice. My friend Kurt actually suggested him. I'm a big fan of Murph and so is everyone I know. He is a self proclaimed lawn freak, which makes him the perfect candidate for a rugged education in fresh water efficiency. Murph gets absolutely abused in this video but if it's any consolation we had a great time making it. I am really thankful for his help and his athletic ability.  He is the true Aquaman.

In the video Murph travels through the hydrological cycle from sky to sea in the Comox Valley visiting all the infrastructure that makes our fresh water possible.  I really pushed the envelope to get the shots I wanted and Murph was game the whole way. He didn't complain at all even after swimming multiple times in freezing cold water, nearly drowning after loosing his inner tube in the river and he even bordered on frostbite after losing his shoes in the snow. "I couldn't feel two of my toes for two weeks," he commented after with a smile on his face. What a guy. For the record this is my favorite kind of television production, right in the trench.

Zac - What was your favorite part of this experience?
Murph - the scene at Comox Lake - the long walk in and swimming over the camera - like Jaws - was 'cool' really cooooooool.

Zac- What did you learn about our water, yourself, etc.?
Murph - Lot's of things go on before we can get water. It is quite a process. Perhaps I'll think twice before watering my grass... Acting is fun - Zac you're a real pro!

Zac - What was the scariest part of this production and why?
Murph - When I lost the tube (inner tube) in the river. I thought about trying to get it back - but no way. I jumped off instead of riding it to the beach. I guess I was a chicken. hahaha

Zac - Has this project changed your perspective on how you us water - why or why not?
Murph - I will think twice about long showers, washing the car and truck... As well, I'll mentor kids and friends about the importance of water efficiency. This is an awesome experience - making a funny film about water efficiency. Thanks for including me.

Now is your chance to get rid of those hazardous materials in your house. 

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management service (CSWM) is hosting household hazardous waste drop off days in both the Comox Valley and Campbell River.  The events will be held on Saturday, May 29th in the parking lot of the Driftwood Mall in Courtenay from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and in Campbell River on Saturday, June 5th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the parking lot behind the Ironwood Mall.

CSWM will be enlisting the services of HAZCO Environmental Services to manage these events. Acceptable materials include household hazardous waste items such as solvents, pesticides, gasoline, cleaners and batteries. For full details on the hazardous waste drop off events visit comoxvalleyrd.ca.

Items that can be diverted to other locations will not be accepted at the hazardous waste clean up event.

·         Residents can return paint in its original container to the Comox Return Centre – Paint Exchange at 678 Anderton Road, Comox or to the Campbell River Bottle Depot at 1580F Willow Street.  However, paint that is not deemed acceptable by these facilities will be accepted at the clean up events. 

·         Electronics can be returned to the Courtenay Return Centre on 1255 McPhee Avenue, and also to  the Campbell River Bottle Depot

·         Oil and oil containers can be returned to locations that are listed on www.usedoilrecycling.com

For more information on recycling other material and to find the closest recycling location to you call the Recycling Hotline at 1-800-667-4321.

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service is a function of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) and is responsible for two regional waste management centres that serve the Comox Valley and Campbell River, as well as a range of transfer stations and smaller waste-handling and recycling facilities for the electoral areas of the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District. The CSWM service manages over 100,000 tonnes of waste and recycled material and oversees a number of diversion and education programs. 
Media contact:
Koreen Gurak
Manager of communications
Comox Valley Regional District
Tel: 250-334-6066

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service invites residents to the Comox Valley compost education centre this month for free workshops covering a variety of gardening and lawn care topics.    

The Saturday workshop topics will cover creating healthy soil for healthy plants with Ron McNaughton from Trumpeters Landscaping and container growing with a demonstration by Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) contract educator Patty Rose. Wrapping up the month, the centre will host guest speaker Anthea Kennelly from the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) who will discuss the nutritional importance of fresh produce for a healthy community.   

Each workshop will start at 10 a.m. at the compost education centre located at 4795 Headquarters Road, Courtenay.   

In addition to the workshops, Megan Halstead A. AG., from the Garden Institute of BC Urban Agriculture project, will be on-site on Saturday May 15 and May 22 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to answer any of your gardening questions.   

Workshop Dates and Topics 

May 15 – Ron McNaughton of Trumpeters Landscaping shares his knowledge on amending your soil organically as part of the CVRD Nature Works pesticide awareness education program.   

May 22 –Patty Rose, CVRD contractor educator will discuss how to grow vegetables and herbs in small spaces.  No garden is too small try container growing.   

May 29 – Anthea Kennelly from VIHA will discuss nutrition in fresh produce and participates can receive a free package of organic vegetable seeds when they join the pledge to “Plant A Row – Grow A Row” for the local Food Bank.  Master Gardeners will be on-site throughout the day to assist in planting techniques of seeds and seedlings.  

For more information on workshops and presentations delivered through the CSWM’s compost education centres including this month’s features visit www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/backyardcomposting .

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service is a function of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) and is responsible for two regional waste management centres that serve the Comox Valley and Campbell River, as well as a range of transfer stations and smaller waste-handling and recycling facilities for the electoral areas of the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District. The CSWM service manages over 100,000 tonnes of waste and recycled material and oversees a number of diversion and education programs. 

Media contact:
Koreen Gurak
Manager of communications
Comox Valley Regional District
Tel: 250-334-6066

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service welcomes Vancouver Island author Carolyn Herriot to the Comox Valley and Campbell River this weekend for an engaging presentation on her personal experiences as written in the release of her new book ‘The Zero-Mile Diet’.    

The ‘Zero Mile Diet’ follows a year of sustainable, home-grown food production – growing healthy organic food, eating seasonal recipes from the garden, saving seeds for future harvests and preparing food for the winter.  She teaches audiences that growing the ‘Zero Mile Diet’ is a fun way to increase food security and an opportunity to contribute to regional food production while taking a load off the planet to grow more food.   

Carolyn will be visiting the CSWM’s Comox Valley compost education centre (4795 Headquarters Road, Courtenay)Saturday May 8 at 10:00 a.m. and will present an afternoon session starting at 2:00 p.m. at the City of Campbell River’s community centre (401 - 11th Ave.).  The session in the Comox Valley will be presented outdoors whereas in Campbell River it will be in the lounge at the community centre therefore pre-registration is required by contacting Strathcona Gardens at 250-287-9234 ext. 0. 

Carolyn Herriot is also the author of ‘A Year on the Garden Path, a 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide’.  She is a well-known columnist for GardenWise and CommonGround magazines.  After 20 years operating The Garden Path nursery she now grows certified organic ‘Seeds of Victoria’ at The Garden Path in Victoria. Carolyn’s new book ‘The Zero Mile Diet – A Year-round Guide to Growing Great Organic Food’ (Harbour Publishing) was released in April 2010.

For more information on workshops and presentation delivered through the CSWM’s compost education centres including this weekend’s feature the ‘Zero-Mile Diet’ visit www.comoxvalleyrd.ca/backyardcomposting .

The Comox Strathcona Waste Management (CSWM) service is a function of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) and is responsible for two regional waste management centres that serve the Comox Valley and Campbell River, as well as a range of transfer stations and smaller waste-handling and recycling facilities for the electoral areas of the CVRD and the Strathcona Regional District. The CSWM service manages over 100,000 tonnes of waste and recycled material and oversees a number of diversion and education programs. 

Media contact:
Koreen Gurak
Manager of communications
Comox Valley Regional District
Tel: 250-334-6066

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So I've given these re-useable produce bags a try the last few times I've been grocery shopping. They definitely work well and turn a lot of  heads in the broccoli isle. I'm actually very impressed with these little bags called TazzyTotes. I use them for a majority of my shopping in the produce section and I even put a couple  Chorizo sausages in one to see how well it worked for deli stuff. The woman behind the deli counter was confused, "can we use this... is this legal... is it food safe?" "That's an interesting question," I replied. "I promise I won't sue you for living on the edge."

It's really amazing to look around the grocery store and see all of the packaging, I mean, actually see it for what it is. It's insanity. When I got home with my reusable bags and put them in the fridge, I went out to the garage and perused my overloaded recycling bins. About 95% of the stuff in my bins is food packaging. I'm not sure what to say about that except I think something is wrong with this picture.

Food security is a huge issue in our country and you only have to contract dysentery once to figure out why. Clean food is not something we really have to think about every day, save the listeria outbreak last year in Maple Leaf meat products.  The thing that bothers me the most though is our obsession with wrapping foods, even vegetables, into a state of total plasticity. Fancy plastic packaging is taking over what used to be a very natural and  "organic" daily routine.

When the woman at the deli counter contemplated the possibility of being fired for giving me two pieces of dried meat in my own bag, I had to give my head a shake. Our society is so safe that we can walk around like a bunch of lemmings and never really worry about falling over a ledge. It is possible to go through the day to day in Canada without actually being present until American Idol comes on and you need to wake up and become an expert singing judge for an hour. The Canadian legal system has done a very efficient job of separating our own consciousness from reality. Especially when it comes to grocery shopping.

For me, the grocery store is like a zombie land most of the time. I walk around there, buy stuff, and I don't really know where I've been until I arrive home. It's at that point I snap out of my consumer hypnosis and remember the organic green onions in the thick plastic bags saying ,"buy me I'm organic and pretty," the cauliflower saying "I can double as a bowling ball and I promise that I'm tasty," the California strawberries saying "we're flavorless and watery so that's why we need a plastic fish tank to keep us together in shipping... buy us anyways"  Really, where's the choice when the produce talks to you. Our brains are being buried in synthetic marketing.

We just need to wake up and make the experience of shopping a discerning process again. At the very least, talk back when we're being told what to do by a pile of plastic wrapped cucumbers. Maybe if we peel all of the plastic off the vegetables before we buy them, the stores will put pressure on the suppliers to stop sending veggies wrapped in petroleum products.  The grocery store would amass so much garbage that things would have to change. Give a reusable bag a try next time you go shopping, they don't talk back I promise.