CAF’s Megan Bennett and Environment Minister Barry Penner 3, originally uploaded by DBarefoot.

Tip from Darren Barefoot [db]:

If you’re looking for a few ways to be a little extra environmentally friendly this year one place to start is by taking a look at what’s in your garage. No not your car, that’s obvious, but your lawn mower. That’s right, if your lawn mower is an old gas powered model it can be doing a fair bit of polluting every time you trim your grass.

If you think it might be time to be getting a new mower, then this is a good time to trade it in since The Clean Air Foundation [caf] is running a trade-in program called Mow Down which is offering a $100 instant rebate if you bring in your old gas powered pollution machine to Home Depot and buy a “new push-reel, electric, rechargeable or low-emission alternative mower or trimmer.”

The program was launched with a photo-op staring Barry Penner, Provincial Minister for the
Environment on April 17th and is going on until the 27th.

port expansion Roberts Bank BC 2008_0412, originally uploaded by Stephen Rees.

It may be a really stupid idea, given that the US economy has gone into a tailspin, US freight and container imports in particular having been in decline for the last two years. It has also miserably failed any objective environmental assessment. And the port is actually under utilised at present. But the construction of new container berths at Deltaport continues.

IMPORTANT UPDATE Monday April 14

A story in this morning’s Vancouver Sun emphasizes why this development has to be stopped.

An international team has discovered why half the world’s western sandpipers touch down on a specific tidal flat just south of Vancouver every spring. The secret is in the mud, more specifically in the snot-like “biofilm” coating the mud.

The tiny shorebirds, weighing about 30 grams each, suck a remarkable 20 tonnes of the sticky slime off the mud every day as huge flocks swoop down to refuel during the spring migration, the scientists estimate.

This is not a trivial issue. The port expansion has always been dubious from an environmental standpoint. Now it stands condemned. The response from the federal government (ports are a federal not a provincial responsibility) should be firm and swift.

free room and board, originally uploaded by Rebelr@t.

Wired Magazine’s website has a very interesting article up on Vancouver’s long running bait-car program, which apparently is far more of a novelty than I thought [wm]. Truthfully I figured every major city had a program similar to it, but apparently it’s pretty cutting edge.

Sprawling, exurban Surrey used to be one of the car-theft capitals of North America, with 8,000 vehicles stolen in 2003. The government responded by forming the Integrated Municipal Provincial Auto Crime Team, or Impact, a squad armed with infrared-camera-equipped helicopters and license-plate readers that pick out stolen cars in traffic. Impact recruited detective Scott Cooke, who had started a bait-car program in Vancouver in 2002. Since he got this larger version running four years ago, auto theft in Surrey has declined 50 percent.

and I don’t just mean the weather. Quite unexpectedly, after an overcrowded protest meeting in Pitt Meadows, BC Environment Minister Barry Penner announced that there would be no transmission lines in Pinecone Burke Provincial Park. This put paid to a series of proposed run of the river hydro projects on the Upper Pitt river, and was widely applauded, except, of course, by its proponent. But if you thought that might indicate a change of direction in Victoria, you would be wrong. Equally controversial, and almost as unpopular was the province’s decision to use park land to settle an aboriginal land claim. Though this was a regional park and not a provincial park, the Metro Vancouver directors were not pleased to learn that they could do nothing. And not because the use of park land seemed to violate an earlier promise by the premier (we have all given up expecting him to keep his word) but the absence of any compensation.

We also learned this week that the Ministry of Transportation has responded to all those comments on the Environmental Assessment of the Port Mann twinning Highway #1 expansion. They did that in December, but kept quiet about it. No doubt because they had actually not responded at all, simply repeated stuff from the original submission. But the whole premise of the Gateway now seems to be in doubt as the US economy has tipped into recession, and railways, truckers and ports are all reporting a decline trade. Not in BC of course. In the US - whose trade we were supposed to be taking a bigger share of in the future. I don’t think so, Kevin

No surprise here really. As the accompanying opinion pieces made clear, the general feeling was that they had no choice. But perhaps is more interesting, simply because it is so unusual is that Linda Reid, the local MLA is taking an independent view. She has always opposed lands being removed from the ALR and this site, which is in her constituency, is no different. She even points out that for many of the things the City wants to do like parks and community gardens, exclusion is not even necessary, although the ALC would still need to consent. The problem is that the deal does not allow for the lands to be split - so it is all or nothing as far as exclusion goes. The other two MLAs for Richmond are busy distancing themselves from Reid, but I admire her for stickling to her guns and representing the wishes of the people who live here.

Food security is going to be a big issue here, as oil prices rise and water shortages start to threaten the areas in the US where we currently get most of our vegetables from. And many people who have no real choice but to live in high density apartments and town houses would love to have a small plot they could work. Their health would really benefit from fresh air, exercise and fresh vegetables. In fact if people became more physically active we might even begin to tackle the frighteningly rapid rate of growth in our “healthcare” budget which is about treating diseases which are easily preventable.

As you all remember the world ended in 2006 with the release of Rockstar’s Bully [mbv].  It had gay kissing, fighting, running from teachers and some more fighting and we all knew that it would destroy civilization, as it did.  Add to that the fact that it was made at Rockstar’s Vancouver studio and you had a recipie for disaster.  I for one have been living in a cave defending my stash of food with a stick and I’m pretty sure everyone else’s lives have been just as devestated.

Or perhpaps nobody’s lives were affected other than those people who saw a chance to get themselves some attention and appear on the television.  Now the teachers unions are wanting to get their screen time as Vancouver’s teachers are joining with seven other teachers’ unions from around the world to have the game banned [cbc].  Not just banned from schools, but banned from existing. 

Which of course is the best advertising that Rockstar can buy, better in fact from their own PR.  I mean until I read about their attempt to have it banned I didn’t know that Rockstar had released a special edition version of the game this month.  It also proves that local teachers are shockingly stupid and kind of mini-Nazis. 

Stupid in that the game’s not going to be banned, because at its core Bully is a fairly innocent game.  Compared to most games it’s so light hearted, I mean you get into trouble you go to detention.  You fight bullies.  You don’t murder, kill or cut anything off of anyone.  These people are supposed to teach our children, and part of that is to teach them about freedom of speech and not that freedom of expression is only meant for when we agree with what’s being said.

Vancouver teachers, enjoy your time on television.  I won’t be watching, I’m in my cave trying to survive the apocalypse brought forth by a game with kids punching each other.

From Metroblogging Lahore [mbl]:

Eye-witnesses claim to have heard the blast from at least a kilometer away and that it shook office blocks, shops, GPO and the Lahore High Court building in the vicinity.

City’s emergency service, Rescue 1122, claims to have picked up 22 dead bodies while at least 70 of the critically injured have been shifted to the Mayo, Services and Ganga Ram Hospitals.

It seems not a month goes by when I don’t link to our sister blogs in Pakistan as some horrible event shakes their lives. In a part of the world where we have the luxury of being fairly certain that we will never face something so devastating it’s hard to understand how anyone could live with such ever present danger.

As much as people in Vancouver might bitch about the little inconveniences that the city throws up at us, from high rental prices to an idiot mayor or not being able to turn onto or off of Cambie Street, things like this regularly make me grateful that it’s Vancouver that I call home and that I was born into a comfortable, bomb free life in Canada though no merit of my own.

If praying is something you do offer one up for the people of Lahore this morning.

Bhutto assassinated….

Originally uploaded by Mig_R.

Metroblogging Islamabad [mbi] & [mbi]:

We never thought 2007 will say its final goodbyes on this note. On and off, I & many other bloggers shared our thoughts on the suicide bombings and massive killings. The prominent figures were never hurt and commoners lost their precious lives to such attacks. Today was an altogether different case though. We liked her or not, that’s an altogether different rant, Benazir Bhutto was a prominent and influential lady. The two times PM of pakistan is no more. Seems like legacy of Kennedy family has shown its face in Pakistan. May Allah bless her and the many others who have lost their precious lives.

Metroblogging Karachi [mbk]:

It is without doubt that an entire nation actually sheds a tear on the death of Benazir Bhutto, she was a hero to many, and rival to others, but the bottom line is that she was a brave leader of our nation and her struggles for democracy will not go unremembered. May Her Soul Rest in Peace.

Metroblogging Lahore [mbl]:

On the evening of 27th December 2007, Ms Benazir Bhutto died due to injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack on her life. I feel like repeating this to actually believe it. I feel that almost everything within the Pakistani political makeup will change. There is already incident reports of people ransacking offices of political officials, of protestors burning vehicles and the subsequent sense of fear that things will turn for the worse. I, unfortunately, also feel that the same unjust rule, the same all-consuming lust for power, the same indifference that seems to be root cause of everything evil and the same ‘wheeling and dealing’ associated with the politicians of today will continue unabated.

Pakistan

Originally uploaded by drmvrbr2000.

I go to bed complaining about the giant floodlight that Hollywood installed outside my bedroom window, and I wake up reminded that there are bigger problems than what we get riled about here in the western world. In Pakistan the media has been shut down by President Pervez Musharraf and 11 judges on their Supreme Court have been confined to the Supreme Court building over the potential verdict in their decision over Musharraf’s election vicotry in October [bbc].

Since Metroblogging is a world wide network of blogs there are bloggers we know affected by this. Some important Metroblogging posts to check out if you’re following this story and want a local on the ground perspective come from Metroblogging Karachi [mbk], Metroblogging Lahore [mbl] and Metroblogging Islamabad [mbi].

Currently the only media sources in Pakistan seem to be the BBC and Al-Jazeera English. Internet connectivity still seems to be working. What Metroblogging will be doing is if the bloggers at our sites in those cities do not feel safe in posting material under their own names to their own MB city sites, they hopefully will be able to forward information to Metroblogging proper. Any such reports will be posted Metroblogging.com [mb].

From the thread by Sean Bonner on metroblogging.com:

“We are all safe here in Karachi. All news channels are blocked & so [are] all news sites like cnn.com. Local calls are also blocked. I have heard from relatives abroad that it is being reported that traffic in karachi is bleak & Martial Law has been enforced. I want to clarify that there is nothing like that. Yes the traffic is a bit less but only because the president is to address the nation anytime. Also there is no Martial Law announced yet!”

I’m currently talking with a few of our bloggers via IM and things seem calm though they are confirming the news/phone block however the net it still up and running so far. More soon.

We’ll do out best here to keep you updated as things happen. Also we’re all hoping our fellow Metrobloggers, and everyone else, are okay.

If you haven’t heard the news, for the first time in over 30 years, the Canadian Dollar reached equivalent value to the US Dollar.

Soon it will be the Canadians, not the Americans, tossing out the other country’s change. “Damn worthless american nickels — I *hate* when I get these things.”

But other than that, and the pride and bragging rights of phrases like “The Almighty Dollar” now having a truly ambiguous reference, what does it mean to every day Vancouverites?

A disclaimer that calling myself any kind of financial analyst would be a stretch at best, there are still the less esoteric effects:
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