Read the latest from our Environment section
Water bottling project raises aquifer concerns
The B.C. government has approved a controversial groundwater licence for a water extraction and bottling operation on a two hectare property on Sackville Road in the Merville area. They did it despite a strong objection from the Comox Valley Regional District and without public consultation or regard for community concerns.
Comox Valley lags the world without ban on plastic bags
The Comox Valley uses and discards between 9,000 and 19,000 plastic shopping bags per day. While other Vancouver Island communities are following the worldwide movement to enact bans of the non-biodegradable bags, most Valley elected officials don’t seem interested.
Could Kus-kus-sum go coastal?
The importance of the planned restoration of the Fields Sawmill site may well go beyond repairing a blight on the Comox Valley’s image. It’s likely to influence the prospects of a coast-wide approach to replacing multiple forest industry eyesores with ecological assets.
Waste to energy discussion missed the GHG point
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed Canada to aggressive reductions in our annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. It will take a coordinated national effort to get there, and that means small communities across the country, like the Comox Valley …
CVRD internal tension builds over waste to energy report
The tension between staff and elected officials of the Comox Strathcona Waste Management board (CSWM) ramped up another notch this week. The friction has increased since directors openly criticized Comox Valley Regional District staff at a full CSWM board …
No boil-water advisories in Cumberland
Cumberland residents have avoided boil-water advisories with their own water system, which they are improving with additional levels of treatment and rebuilding some 100-year-old infrastructure …
Ruth Masters — environmentalist
Ruth Jessie Masters was a war veteran, avid hiker, historian, naturalist, environmentalist, protester but maybe most importantly she was one of ours – born and raised in the Comox Valley. She was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital …
Should the north Island bury its garbage or convert it to energy?
The next time you drag your trash bins to the curb, think about what happens next to that garbage. If you have conscientiously reduced, recycled and reused, you will have sent just a small amount of waste to the Pigeon Lake dump, now known by the gentrified title …