DEN Enews

You are warmly invited to an online presentation on Thursday, May 1st at 7:00pm to learn about the unique and important Sandy Lake Park, a vital green space at the head of the Bedford Basin and in urgent need of protection from proposed development.

Located in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Sandy Lake is a richly biodiverse area that includes old-growth forest, provides habitat for 15 rare and endangered species, with waters that support the endangered Atlantic Salmon. Despite its ecological importance, the area is under threat from development that would fragment this sensitive landscape. The presentation will explore what’s at stake and highlight the work being done by the Sandy Lake-Sackville River Regional Park Coalition, the Ecology Action Centre, and Our HRM Alliance to protect this special place.

This conversation speaks directly to the Diocesan Environment Network’s mission to care for creation and uphold environmental justice, as protecting Sandy Lake is not only about conserving biodiversity but also about fostering a healthy, equitable relationship with the land and future generations.

The evening’s speaker will be Jillian Ramsay, Sustainable Cities Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre. Jill leads urban nature programming and policy advocacy across the HRM, with a focus on protecting green spaces and promoting sustainable development.

We hope you’ll join us for this important conversation on Zoom :

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87493315840?pwd=GRaXk5jA6tpbq5by2l5gnCS6wyVqNg.1

April Green Burial Café - Online

You're invited to our regular monthly Green Burial Café on Wednesday, April 30th, at 7:00pm ADT. This is an open conversation space for all interested in talking and learning about green burial.

Join us virtually on our Google Meet video call link at:
https://meet.google.com/ond-mwti-zjg
Or dial: ‪(CA) +1 647-736-6174‬ PIN: ‪452 167 355‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/ond-mwti-zjg?pin=4501217959222

Check out Save Our Old Forests newsletter and see how you can help those at the Lichen Camp 2025

Lecture 1: COMING HOME TO EARTH: From Dominion to Kinship
Lecture 2: REVERENCE FOR LIFE
Lecture 3: RECLAIMING OUR ROLE IN ECOSYSTEM
Lecture 4: COMING HOME TO EARTH: the Call of Creation
Lecture 5: COMING HOME TO EARTH: Life Together in Community
Lecture 6: THE MEETING OF WATERS: Transfiguration & Rewilding
Lecture 7: TAKING IT HOME AT A TIME SUCH AS THIS: Key Considerations.

to Register: https://atlanticseminarintheologicaleducation.ca/

In the beautiful Ulu Belaga forest in Malaysian Borneo, Indigenous Forest Defenders are putting their bodies on the line to blockade encroaching palm oil plantations. They are being arrested and forced to sign documents agreeing to their arrest. Indigenous Kenyah and Penan communities depend on the Ulu Belaga forest for their livelihoods, as a source of traditional medicines, and for fish and food with the pristine river that runs through it. Sin Heng Chan is a company growing palm oil plantations that have already destroyed more than 14,000 football fields worth of forest. They publicly said all new deforestation has been stopped, but satellite data and footage from drones shows forests are being destroyed at breakneck speed. Villagers have been fighting back and are being bullied and threatened. Please show and share support by signing this petition telling Sin Heng Chan to stop chopping down the Ulu Belaga forest.

Greenpeace is asking advocates to keep up the pressure on world leaders to stand together against deep sea mining. We are at a crossroads with the choice to let another extractive industry damage the global oceans in the same way fossil fuel companies have done to the climate. On 24 April, US President Donald Trump announced an executive order asserting his country’s right to exploit international seabeds. A US government agency will give firms permission to mine, and a Canadian company called The Metals Company is pushing to be first in line to open our oceans and commit irretractable destruction. June 27th is when this company said they would lodge an application for an exploitation contract. There is much global chaos around these developments, but one thing we can do is ask leaders to be firm and clear in the need to protect our shared oceans.

In 2006, large oil reserves were discovered in the heart of Murchison Falls, a protected natural park in Uganda. Almost 20 years later, a giant oil company is about to build the biggest heated oil pipeline in the world in the same place as some of our planet’s most important elephant, lion, and chimpanzee reserves. TotalEnergies, a French company that likes to masquerade as a climate leader, has partnered with the Chinese company CNOOC and UK-based Tullow Oil. They have been searching for funding to destroy precious biodiversity hotspots, wildlife habitats, and displace tens of thousands of people. Environmental defenders, including many students, are in detention centers for participating in non-violent disruptions. Murchison Falls National Park is one of Africa’s jewels, and it’s about to change to 419 wells drilled that extract 200,000 barrels a day, with a refinery, an industrial zone, and a massive pipeline. There are at least 500 species who call this region their home. Human rights are being violated, climate and environment is being endangered. Sign the petition to tell the corporations, banks, and governments to stop the exploitation and keep the oil in the ground.

The last protected stands of accessible old-growth redwood trees in the world are facing an imminent threat. There are 1,000-year-old redwoods in Northern California about to be cut down to widen a highway so there is more room for oversized trucks. The plan is to cut into and pave over the root systems of the thousand-year-old trees in Richardson Grove State Park, causing dieback of the canopy and possible loss of parts of the grove. There is no replacing these trees, but there are other cost-effective and environmentally sound solutions. Canadians can sign this petition asking decision-makers to save the ancient trees of Richardson Grove.

Is WATER important to you. Supernaturegirl, aka Jesse Hamilton, has added a new page to her website all about petitions focused on water. While you are there, check out the rest of her website and her beautiful digital art.

 AI Writing

Easter was wonderful! My daughter, hubby and three children arrived Saturday to have an early Easter. Like all families, we sit around with snacks close by and talk, talk, talk.

Our eldest in this family is graduating from community college (mechanics and collision) but has decided he also wants to study history. He brought me information he found in the National Archives about the Zinck family. I happen to know “our” history from when they boarded a river boat in Bonn, Germany that took them to Rotterdam when they boarded the Ann that arrived in Halifax (slightly before the Pearl and the Gail) on September 5, 1750. (Yeah, we are George Casper’s {Zinck} offspring).

I enjoyed the essay my grandson brought me and was congratulating him on how his writing had improved when he said, “Oh Grandma, I used AI to write it.”

“AI? As in Artificial Intelligence?” I choked out.

“Yeah. Once I got the facts on a page, I gave them to AI and told it to write me a one-page essay.”

“Told it to write you a one-page essay! Like you did not choose the words, construct the sentences and build up your story to sound at least interesting to your readers?”

“Naw, that’s too hard. It is legal to use AI as long as you fact-check your info. Teachers don’t want more than a certain size article. This is easier for both teacher and student.”

“Of course, they want a certain size article! You rewrite, over and over, to say the same thing but with fewer words while sounding decent. Writing is work. I can see a spell check or grammar check according to the style guide a publisher wants to be used but beyond that, this feels, well, cheating.”

Let’s put that last paragraph in an AI helper.

"Naturally, they expect the article to fit a certain length, so you revise it to say the same thing with fewer words while still keeping it sharp. Writing takes real effort. I understand using spell check or grammar tools to align with a publisher’s style guide, but anything beyond that starts to feel a bit like cheating."

It does sound better and after my usual 4-proof rewrite I may have reached that level (may have). My question is, who feeds these AI bots? I asked AI to sharpen that last paragraph which it did. So let’s pretend I have nothing written this time and ask AI to write one paragraph on, oh, square-foot gardens.

Square foot gardening is a method of growing vegetables and herbs in a highly efficient, organized way by dividing a raised garden bed into small, square sections—typically one foot by one foot each. Developed by Mel Bartholomew, this approach maximizes space, conserves resources, and simplifies planting by assigning specific crops to each square based on their size and growing needs. It’s ideal for beginners and urban gardeners, as it reduces waste, minimizes weeds, and promotes healthy soil through intensive, yet manageable, planting. Square foot gardening is both practical and sustainable, making it a popular choice for those looking to grow more in less space.

That is not my voice.

The difference is that AI took my earlier paragraph, analyzed what tone I had and then changed my paragraph using my tone. It is different but still conveys how I said the same thing (my voice). I hope I never bore you with info on square-foot gardening and all the benefits listed so precisely above.

One more AI point I learned. This one is scary. You can tell AI to make your article “dumber” such as:

"Square foot gardening is a way to grow veggies and herbs by splitting a garden box into little square spots, each about one foot big. A guy named Mel Bartholomew came up with it. It helps you use space better, saves stuff like water and seeds, and makes it easier to know where to put each plant. It’s great if you’re new to gardening or don’t have much room. You don’t waste as much, there’s less weeding, and the dirt stays nice. It’s a smart way to grow a lot of plants without needing a huge garden."

That isn’t my voice either. I think my AI dumber scale is halfway between the two. To continue this dark road of writing, I could then take the dumber paragraph and tell AI to make it friendlier, simpler or funnier. Isn’t that what a writer is supposed to do in the first place?

If you want to play with AI writing tools look up https://openai.com/chatgpt/overview/

Grandma wrote and won her first essay contest when she was 16. Since then, she has had wonderful teachers and mentors. Every time Grandma feels she knows what she is doing, someone or something comes along and teaches her more. Maybe AI is another teacher. Now what happens if the computers go down?

 Gardening

The greenhouse is up. Looks cute. Guess what it originally was?

My neighbour got a new dog last year and bought this cute little canopied dog run. Then a hurricane came through and sent the whole thing tumbling across her lawn. Since she knows I'm always battling deer around my gardens, she offered me the kennel so I could reuse the panels as fencing.

Guess what? It went back together fine, with a few extra tucks here and there. Using 6 mil plastic I covered the unit and there was a greenhouse.

My favourite re-purpose story is that I needed shelves, and you can buy them online. However, with a few S hooks I changed former freezer baskets  (turned them upside down) into shelves.

It is time to start those plants for the Seed and Plant Exchange in Blandford on May 10^th, 10 to 1 PM, at the Community Center on Fire Hall Rd. Hope to see you there.

Pop Bottle Fire Fly

I tried, just tried, asking AI to write the “how to” article for this new craft using a glow stick, plastic water or soda bottle, some pipe cleaners and googly eyes. I recognize I need to be a better “technical writer”. I can tell tales, but I do better “showing” than “telling” how to do something.

I can’t do it! AI turned such a simple thing into two pages of directions. Two pages!

This is so simple. Get glow sticks and an empty pop or water bottle. Use the cap for the face and add googly eyes and maybe a dot from a black marker for a mouth.

Wrap a pipe cleaner around the cap to be their antenna. A bit further back twist another pipe cleaner to be wing support. Finally, a third pipe cleaner becomes legs.

Now we get fancy. Cut wings from foam or cardboard and glue them to the first twisting of pipe cleaners. Want fancier? Glue tissue paper to the bottle or colour with a marker.

Crack a glow stick and slide it into the bottle. Screw on the cap and play outside after dark.

Something to eat

It is hot chocolate weather. It may be so much warmer but still not hot. There is a lot to work going on in the yard. A hot chocolate with cookies makes your “forced labourers”, (otherwise known as grandchildren) happily working with you.

This week our 10-year-old Ben brought Grandma a peanut butter cake he baked and Grandma had their “best ever chip” cookies waiting. It all started with a “Stephen’s Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe a few years ago. Someone asked, “Why does it have to be chocolate chip?” We tried butterscotch chips, then cream cheese chips, holiday-shaped chips, white chocolate chips and so on. The nuts have changed from almonds to peanuts to walnuts to whatever we have. In our family they are known as the “Best Ever Chip Cookies”, that never fails.

Best Ever Chip Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup brown and 1 cup white sugar (reduce or sub with honey or maple syrup to your taste)

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

In a second bowl add

2 ½ cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

Dash of salt

2 cups of whatever chips

1 cup of whatever nuts

Mix and roll in balls. Press down with a fork and cook for 8-10 minutes in a 350 F oven.

No picture as they disappeared too quickly. Even Ben’s perfect egg-shaped cake didn’t stay long. Yeah, we like food.

 In the lengthening of days,
Snowdrops emerging,
from winter's frozen ground.
A. WE SEE THE CREATOR'S HAND

In the sight of a tiny lamb
joyfully bounding
across hillside farm
A. WE SEE THE CREATOR'S HAND

Creator God, forgive our moments of ingratitude,
the spiritual blindness that prevents us
from appreciating the wonder that is this world,
the endless cycle of nature,
of life and death and rebirth.
Forgive us for taking without giving,
reaping without sowing.
Open our eyes to see,
our lips to praise,
our hands to share,
and may our feet tread lightly
on the road that, together, we travel. https://www.faithandworship.com/Prayers_Spring.htm#gsc.tab=0