Dear Friends,
Of course, you must remember that SARS struck our main city of Toronto in the centre of the country last year, as well as Vancouver on our West coast. That finally came under control, but not before people died, and there was burn-out among doctors and nurses, as happened to you in even worse degree. We all hope never to see that plague again. Perhaps it was useful in that it made us find out how unprepared we were and set up conditions to take care of anything similar that happens in the future. I think it will happen again, with something new. And that is because of what "climate change" has caused here now.
The new thing is the Pine Beetle. It has always been around, but usually our cold winters kill it off. We have had too many mild winters and the beetle has multiplied by billions. They are killing off huge swathes of our Lodgepole pine forests. The huge old trees are turning red as they die, and there is no cure. Nothing can be done but to cut the trees. Now this beetle has managed to cross the Rocky Mountains and has appeared in Alberta just outside one of our National Parks. Without exaggeration, this is a true world catastrophe. It is the largest die-off of forests ever known anywhere in the world. We need these trees, not only for lumber, but also, forests are the lungs of our world. Now that it has gotten into Alberta it can begin to kill off all the Jack Pines. They are the pine trees that stretch across the rest of the country to the east coast. Canada is the second largest country in the world. Apparently every second pine tree is going to become infested and die. There is nothing that can be done except to hope for long cold winters to kill beetle, and cut down the diseased trees.The areas are so vast it is not possible to check through the forests for the early stages. These beetles are released in the billions now, and can each fly thirty kilometres....Maybe a pregnant one rode on the top of a car through the Rocky Mountains and set up housekeeping in Alberta with its brood?
This wasn't caused by monoculture. Pine trees have always been the great majority of trees that live on these thin lands. It strikes mature trees, 80 years old or so. One of the problems is that we haven't been allowing trees to burn naturally. There were always forest fires here, but we have been putting them out, so a lot of waste has built up that would have self-cleansed if the fires had swept through as they historically did. Now we have homes too close to the forests, too. And now with the lack of rain and the very hot summers and warmers winters by 2 degrees or more, water is becoming a problem. We grow crops under irrigation, you see. In my province there are many vineyards and wineries. There are bus tours to visit all the wineries to sample their fine wines which are world class now. We also have a lot of tree fruits grown under irrigation in the interior. It is nearer the coast on the other side of the mountains that we have most dairy farming and bird farming. In the interior somewhat further north we have cattle farms and they still have cattle drives, cowboys, and rustlers on the ranges.
On top of the troubles above we have had two majaor areas of trade troubles with the United States, our largest market. One was about lumber, the other about beef, because Mad Cow Disease was found on one farm here. Both situations were used by the producers there to block Canadian exports for their own advantage, even when everything was cleared up. The one about lumber had nothing to do with this beetle infestation. Those two things have gone on for years, and courts have ruled against the USA, but they do it again and again. It is a kind of trade war....
A couple of months ago another thing stuck. It was a different form of bird flu that you have in Asia, but it was bird flu, alright. They are still trying to stop it from comining with a flu that strikes people. In the main egg and poultry producing area of the country in the Fraser Valley across the mountains nearer the west coast, in my province of BC they are killing every domestic bird. Ducks, geese, turkeys, chickens, anything that isn't the canary in your household cage. Then all these 19 million birds need to be disposed of. That too is a great problem. They wanted to ship them to a land fill on our side of the coastal mountains but the people raised such a ruckus and threatened to lay down on the road in front of the trucks, and block the route to the disposal site with heavy equipment and cars, they guardedd the disposal site day and night, and now the government has backed down and is going to try to dispose of them on the farms where they are killed, which will be very difficult. Nobody wants them incinerated near their town, either.
The problem is that the bird flu keeps spreading to more and more farms. A new one every couple of days. They are doing everything they can to prevent spread and to disinfect, but somehow it has gone further each time anyway. The premier said it would be "state of emergency" because that is what it is, but he doesn't have to call one because everybody in the area involved is cooperating to the fullest extent and doing everything possible.
Now we have a strike of ferryboat workers in the biggest port, the Port of Vancouver. That could shut down stuff all over the country. We really have been taking a buffeting lately.
At least I hope it will cause people to think much harder about climate change.Industry has to make great changes, as well as individuals. It is hard for individuals to make all the necessary changes without the cooperations of everybody: industry, business, government, the people. This has to happen all over the world. If we lose half our vast forest it will be as bad as taking down the rainforests, and filling the air with smog. We all have to start somehow to pull together.
One of the reasons we have a compost, and I buy my clothes from a consignment store, and we have a small car that just sips gasoline, and we recycle all our packaging and paper and cardboard and plastics is to help the environment. Ben and I don't use pesticides or herbicides on our property, either. We are doing what we can, and know about so far. I hope more and more people will live lighter on the planet.
Warmly, Mary
There is a bug that is killing Maple trees on the east coast. It is also a terrible thing, but it was imported with some wood. They have had to cut down a whole park to try to stop it. Maple trees are also very beautiful and much loved trees, and are also part of an industry, that of Maple Syrup.
