Revelstoke, in the Kootenays, BC, has signed up as an official Resort Municiaplity of BC, following Whistler, Golden, Rossland, Harrison Hot Springs, Radium Hot Springs, Kimberley, Osoyoos and Valemount have reached similar agreements with the Province; four other municipalities are currently eligible to enter into agreements: Fernie, Invermere, Ucluelet and Tofino.

This is part of the Province's ongoing commitment to meeting the goal of doubling B.C. tourism by 2015.

CivicInfo BC - New Resort Agreement Supports Revelstoke Tourism

Revelstoke is the most recent community to sign an agreement under the B.C. Resort Municipality Initiative with the Province, allowing it to share a portion of provincial hotel room tax revenues to invest in local resort-oriented projects and support a greener, healthier environment, Community Services Minister Ida Chong announced...

Under the agreement, it is estimated that Revelstoke and area will receive $2.5 million over five years. The funding is expected to result in a new conference centre, a tourism information centre and improved landscaping on the Trans-Canada Highway, enhancements to the city's museum, a marina/boat launch plan, public art projects, an outdoor performance space, multi-use trails including snowmobile trail development, and a bus to service the resort.
As a result of these investments, Revelstoke expects to see a significant increase in skier visits to Revelstoke Mountain Resort, a 20 per cent increase in annual hotel occupancy rates, a 10 per cent increase in local employment and a 20 per cent in increase retail sales over the five-year period.

This is great news for the residents that have been in support of the massive expansion to their local ski hill, which can now rightly be called a resort.

Not everything is rosy on the tourism front in many of these resort communities; with the desire for things to stay the same a pretty common theme, those feelings are usually not as popular as the idea of growing with a new tourism based economy and becoming a resort.

Having just visited Whistler, I can see what people are worried about, with everything and everyone in town working towards making the Whistler experience a positive one for tourists. Even there, I'm sure there are those who lament the "good old days".

Water is the giver of life. Clean water is the essential element in a sustainable society. For years, people all around the world have lived with poor quality water - and as a result infant mortality, sickness, disease were rife. In the past two centuries, the link between clean water and health was confirmed and shown again and again., yet even with that knowledge - the world faces an uncertain water future.

Having just returned from the BCWWA Conference in Whistler - and hearing the many stories of troubles, challenges, improvements, and interventions that water practitioners around BC are experiencing, it's refreshing to hear stories of sustainability and progress. But despite this. its troubling to see that in the West - clean water is seen as a right for those who can afford it (the "Global North") - yet for those who can't (the "Global South") well, too bad.

The Western Problem

Things are heating up on the North American water front - with global warming, increasingly intense agricultural demands, and populations growing in areas that simply don't have adequate water supplies. In my life-time, we will likely see whole cities run out of water in western nations such as America and Australia. Las Vegas draws water from Lake Mead, expected to dry up in 25 years or so. Toowoomba in Queensland, Australia is preparing to recycle effluent into drinking water. They simply do not have the water supplies necessary to sustain the city in dry times such as they are currently experiencing.

These are two examples of Cities that have been developed without a consideration for the sustainability of their water supply - and now they are paying the price.

The Canadian Problem

There are a number of rivers or lake systems that are in Canada, but drain to the South, the Columbia system, the Milk River in Alberta are two that come to mind. These and many other river systems are under threat from government agreements such as NAFTA, which have weakened national water security for Canadians.

All this water is looking pretty tempting to the States. These guys are considering building pipelines from Canada to the Southern States in mulit-modal corridors, "NAFTA Super-Highways", that will not only transport people and trucked goods, but will have pipes for water, gas, oil, cables for communications and electricity.

A group of Texan farmers are in the process of suing some Mexican farmers for using water in an Mexican tributary of the Rio Grande, which forms the border of Texas and Mexico. These Mexican's have drawn water from this river for their farms for ever, but these Texans claim that the water rightfully belongs to them, and are asking for 500 million dollars in damages.

This little group of Mexican farmers is not the real target - rather this is a test case to see how the law treats NAFTA agreements and how this will apply to Canadian water. (Source - Maude Barlow - Blue Covenant)

The Kootenay Problem

For all intents and purposes, we have a lot of water here in the Kootenay. Most of it ends up in the Kootenay-Columbia System, which threads it's way to the States, crossing the border for the last time just south of Trail, BC.

Taking a cue from the Mexican case mentioned above, it is possible to see a future where Canadian Municipalities will be sued by American corporations or governments for using, diverting, storing any amount of water. Cities such as Castlegar feel pretty safe with "all that water" flowing past our front door every day of the year. Cities such as Rossland feel relatively secluded from continental water debates. But neither of these Cities may be immune from the fights that could ensue as America runs dry and the NAFTA agreements are debated in court.

Water Wars

The next major wars in the world won't be religious, they'll be over water and/or food. It all comes back to water, who's got it and who needs it. There is an international perception that Canada has all this fresh water, but it's not as though it is accessible - either it flows north to where hardly anyone lives, or it's locked in lakes that would have their ecosystems destroyed if wholesale extraction of the water were to occur.

As with any war, the people who survive are those who are prepared. Setting up households and whole communities to be self sufficient and not just water-wise, but water-misers.

We are all vulnerable, because our water supply is uncertain - through drought, climate change, over extraction of groundwater, pollution of water sources, cost of water supply, or water wars.

While driving across BC this last week, one things that stands out in my mind is the removal of rails. Sure, in some corridors there are rails on both sides of the river; but in others, all that is left is the rail grade and a walking trail to commemorate an old mode of transportation.

I recently came across this celebration of all things Rail, (if you're in the States, its on May 10th. 2008)...

Home | National Train Day

The first-ever National Train Day is on its way, and there’s never been a better time to celebrate. With passenger ridership growing every year, more and more people recognize that trains are the best way to relax and enjoy the ride. To read, talk, work or snooze the time away. Which makes traveling by train the nicer way to get there.

From Amtrak's perspective, there's never been a better time to get on a train to travel across the country, which is a view in stark contrast to that of the automobile powered society we inhabit.

Canadian Train Day?

Canada doesn't have a day to commemorate trains, but just like America, Canada was built on the backbone of a transcontinental railway network. Until the end of WWII, the train was the main mode of long distance travel in Canada. These railways today provide almost no passenger travel, but exist solely to transport goods to factories and major cities. The main passenger network is run by ViaRail, who's network is shown below:

The days of short route trains may return one day. In my area, is would be possible to run a passenger train from Nelson to Trail via Castlegar on existing tracks. Currently these tracks are only used for freight - so with some investment into new stations, carriages and efficient locomotives, this route has the potential to revive rail travel outside of the large cities.

With the rising cost of gas and car travel, an efficient train network is not out of the question.

Some interesting news out of the Australian Agriculture scene this month...

A fresh new innovation in Australia’s urban agriculture - Free-Press-Release.com

The launch of Urban Ecological Systems (UES) on Wednesday April 2nd 2008 will include a public information session on “The Future of Food" - a view to urban agriculture and feeding our cities via sustainable food production systems.

If you've never head of UES, here's a one minute primer, sounds like a name to keep your eyes on, (they won the episode round on the ABC Australia program New Inventors...

UES is responsible for the innovation of Ecocity farms in Australia which have received world-wide attention with their new prototype of a farming system developed in Australia, since winning a recent episode of ABC-TV's The New Inventors program with Technology & Innovation Award judge, George Lewin describing Ecocity Farms as "an idea whose time has come".

ecocityfarm - About Ecocity Farm

The ecoCity Farm is a water, energy and space efficient commercial aquaculture/plant production system packaged into a turn-key, IT supported farm-gate operation, suitable for use where conventional agriculture is not viable - including urban areas, and remote or environmentally sensitive locations.
It integrates both technological and marketing aspects to provide a total business solution to many of the major issues plaguing modern food production.

The Bigger Food Picture

Many people I talk to are oblivious to the potential food crisis that could befall the Western World as much as the Third World. Others insist that Oil will be replaced with a viable alternative before there are any ripple effects on food production or supply.

Vacant urban land, foreclosed properties, reclaimed industrial sites are all potential farm land sites with a technology like this. Sustainable food is a catch phase we haven't heard the end of yet.

Seth Godin, has a great idea to help market the greenliness of a product or service - and a way to avoid the usual greenwashing that plagues our supermarket shelves...

Here's what's missing: a number. When you buy a fridge, there's a big yellow sticker with a number about relative energy consumption.

Now, we could argue all day long about how to figure out the right number (should the number on the fridge include data about the amount of energy needed to make the fridge in the first place?) but an imperfect number sure seems better than no number at all.

Drive to Philadelphia: 150. Take Amtrak: 22.

Stick with the lightbulbs you have throughout your whole house until they burn out: 175. Replace them all now with something better: 142.

Organic strawberries from California: 88. Frozen strawberries from California: 80. Apple from Dutchess County: 4.

Seth's Blog: The coming backlash over green marketing

A couple of generations ago, having Chickens was a key part of your family's health and food security. However, in recent generations, many cities have enacted bylaws to prevent chickens or other farm animals from being raised in an Urban or Suburban area.

This article from today's Toronto Star....

Toronto bylaws forbid keeping poultry, for health reasons. On the other hand, pigeons raised for sport are allowed, provided they rest, roost or perch only on their owner's property.

Oddly, by raising a few chickens in the city, Alice is in step with a do-it-yourself food movement that is thriving in cities like New York, Portland, Chicago and Seattle. It's legal to keep chickens in those cities and dozens more in the United States.

TheStar.com | GTA | Poultry in motion: Chickens adopting urban lifestyle

The gentrification that leads to banning farm animals is finally being reversed in many cities, we're waiting for it to happen even in Rural Canadian Cities. For all the talk of a 100 mile diet, not much is being done to promote local food security from a provincial stand point, (see the BC meat regulations). At a local level - for those who want to try Urban Farming, if it's not permitted by your City's bylaws, try petitioning council to remove or amend the bylaw to allow chickens and miniature goats as a starting point.

Check out this video from the Wall Street Journal - there's also an article to go with it here.