DEN Enews

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In this issue, our Coastlines take center stage

From the Ecology Action Centre Invite: The Houston government’s failure to proclaim the Coastal Protection Act is jeopardizing ecosystems and communities across the province. We cannot let them ignore this issue any longer!  

Join the Nova Scotia Coastal Coalition, The Ecology Action Centre, and Nature Nova Scotia on May 8 for the Rally for the Coastal Protection Act to demand that the NS government do the right thing and protect our coasts. Nova Scotians deserve to live in safe and climate-resilient communities.

The sea is rising — but so are we

Please bring your family, bring your friends, bring your passion for the coast. We need a big turnout of people to ensure the message is heard loud and clear! Handmade signs are welcome and encouraged. 

For more info, please contact [email protected]

Healthy Coastline Project : In a nutshell - _{Led by the Diocesan Environment Network, Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the project's objective is to establish community monitoring of coastal ecosystems and climate change events, with the goal of facilitating and strengthening local leadership in parishes on the Eastern Shoreline, while gathering standardized information on coastal parameters related to climate-related threats. Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/734509678868112}

More info in depth:

_{The project is based on the Anglican Church’s commitment to the 5th Mark of Mission: increasing awareness of ecosystem protection, safeguarding the “integrity of creation and sustaining and renewing the earth's life”.}

_{In rural communities where generational relationships are built on harmonizing with nature, the feeling of being submissive and vulnerable to the weather and climate change has become dramatic. Fishing families are not strangers to the power of the sea and the weather. They are now seeing dramatic changes to their lives and livelihood.}

_{Because of the intensity of storms, communities have rallied by way of volunteer support. Neighbours have helped neighbours, where and when possible, and safe centers have been created where community members can come and have a meal and obtain water for washing and drinking.}

_{In the context of increasing climate-related risks, the conservation of coastal ecosystems is crucial. Most initiatives related to climate change focus on adaptation of daily life to its effects and improving energy efficiency, but not much attention has been paid to the power of nature to defend us. Governments are doing as much as they can to monitor the health of coastal ecosystems, but we need sufficient and reliable information for timely decision making. Local communities and civil society could support the generation of knowledge related to the restoration or degradation of those key ecosystems and how we can reduce the effects of climate change on people. Citizen science can be a powerful tool to accomplish that.}

_{This partnership between DEN and the Parish of Port Dufferin will increase the capacity of the communities the parish serves to deal with climate change and its impact on their communities and coastal ecosystems. Working alongside the community, the church, in its effort to care for creation, can build a stronger relationship with the communities it serves, and the response so far is generating excitement in the community.}

_{The project has been developed to enable data collection for research that will contribute to healthy coastlines, engage people, and empower them so they can have a positive impact on climate change, and build stronger relations between the church and the communities they serve.}

_{As a result, the communities we serve on the Eastern Shore will be better prepared for extreme climate events.}

_{The project takes place over a 10-month period and has four stages. The first stage includes the characterization of the environmental assets of coastal sectors where the Anglican churches are located, including their parish communities (Months 1-3). The second stage focuses on training local groups as coastal monitors with simple but robust parameters (e.g. vegetation species, beach profile, coastal currents, pluviosity, etc. (Months 3-6). The third stage involves implementing a coastal monitoring network based on the online submission of data by each local group (Months 5-8). Finally, the fourth stage focuses on the design of communicative pieces for publication and presentations using internal and external channels for sharing results (Months 9-10).}

_{Thanks to our funders: the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, Hurricane Fiona Resilience Response Project, the Diocesan Environment Network of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Mission Outreach Project Grants and the Anglican Foundation}

_{Register for the Youth Climate Summit! Open to youth ages 14-24. Registration is now open for the first ever Nova Scotia Youth Climate Summit! This two-day conference will be hosted at the Alt Hotel Halifax Airport in the Halifax Regional Municipality on May 13 and 14. The Youth Climate Summit will bring together 50+ like-minded youth (ages 14-24) from across Nova Scotia for two days of learning and discussion about climate change challenges and opportunities in our communities. The Summit will include interactive activities, presentations, panel discussions and networking with other young climate leaders. Registration is free. All meals and overnight accommodations will be provided. Participants will also receive a welcome package with climate-related resources and sustainable gifts to take home. Spaces are limited. Please share this exciting opportunity with Nova Scotian youth with a passion for the environment or an interest in governance. Learn more at https://cleanfoundation.ca/youth-climate-council/ycc-summit/} 

Register now for this online forum at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/online-canadas-nuclear-future-renaissance-or-relic-tickets-867682109547

_{Nearly four acres of Amazon rainforest are lost every minute. With unchecked logging, mining, cattle farming, and oil drilling driving more and more deforestation,scientists are warning of the risk of irreversible destruction to the fragile ecosystem.Many parts of the once pristine Amazon rainforest are already turning into a savannah – plains with sparse trees and no lush rainforest tree canopies. A coalition of Indigenous leaders from the Amazon basin, together with a group of global environmental organizations, including Stand.earth, arecalling for the protection of 80% of the Amazon by 2025. We need to build global momentum to help protect the remaining intact parts of the Amazon Rainforest.Will you add your name to the Amazonia 80x2025 declaration and join in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples who call the Amazon their home?}

_{Right now, our government is in the final stages of writing policy to make Canada’s electricity grid cleaner and greener. We are closer than ever before to winning 100 per cent zero-emissions electricity across Canada by 2035.}

_{This would improve overallenergy affordabilityand create thousands of new jobs, increaseenergy securityand community resilience, and join theglobal shift to renewable electricity. In addition Canada would be closer than ever to meeting our climate targets. The fossil fuel industry and its allies are working overtime to weaken the terms of the regulations and ensure their profits continue to soar. Meanwhile, communities are dealing with a cost-of-living crisis, rising inequality and accelerating climate impacts. People power can win against the money and influence of the fossil fuel industry. Please sign this letter to our leaders.}

_{We rely on pollinators like wild bees to pollinate a huge majority of our crops. They are essential to our survival! Neonicotinoid pesticide is detrimental to the environment. It contains a chemical called thiamethoxam which alters honey bee activity, motor functions, and movement to light. The UK government recently authorised the use of thiamethoxam, against the advice of its scientists who said it would pose a threat to bees. Add your name to support pollinators and show that we do not want a world full of toxic substances but of protection for our environment and wildlife.}

_{Right now, public transit funding coming from the federal government isn’t allowed to be used for running more public transit service or reducing fares. If it was, it would improve service frequency and reliability, so you could wait less, count on your ride to show up on time and pay less when you board. This kind of transit funding is crucial for the environment, because it helps more people choose public transit and keep their car at home. Transit operating funding can also stop the dreaded downward spiral of service cuts and fare hikes that impacts your ability to get to work, school, groceries, social services, and other daily essentials. Please sign this letter to the federal government.}

_{This is an email to BP’s leadership team, chairman and shareholders asking them to stop the practice of gas flaring. This practice not only releases huge amounts of methane, a very potent greenhouse gas but it makes people in surrounding communities sick and even die.`}

Plastic Pollution

It amazes me that most days of the week I come across that pop can or bottle and so many empty coffee cups. They are thrown out of car windows and magically appear on my property.

It isn’t because of the beach crew that comes for days across the road. In fact, in summer there is less trash blowing into my yard.

As a kid, we were all taught not to be a “litterbug”. All of the gas stops gave out “litter bags”. I admit they were plastic bags but surely the same could be made of paper.

Every spring there are crews out cleaning the sides of the roads. Why should they need to do so?

The only thing I remember throwing out the window was when that wasp came buzzing around us. Yes, he went out the window balled up in a biodegradable napkin. It was a better thing to do than to deal with my allergies.

Pictured below are containers for plastic. They are simply brilliant!

Now if we had one at every public beach in Nova Scotia and PEI and a business to collect and re-repurpose all that plastic.

Why not have them at every Trans-Canada exit’s carpools, especially those leading to beaches in summer? When travelers have a few minutes they may clean their car more environmentally.

Why not have Yoshis and Gobys at parks and picnic areas? I know my kids would have saved plastic for a trip in that direction just so they could put bottles in the fish.

Make recycling fun and maybe the litter won’t end up in yards

Guaymas Mexico. This one is just for the bottlecaps. Nova Scotia still needs a place that will accept bottle caps again. Parish of Blandford filled our cars three times and drove to Dartmouth when they could accept bottlecaps.

https://www.intelligentliving.co/yoshi-goby-fish-eating-plastic/

 Gardening

Tis the time of year to rake, rake and still more raking.

Planting peas and carrots in April satisfied my need to do some gardening. It is still too early to do much else.

There is nothing to stop me from getting the beds ready to plant. (Can you tell I am newly retired?)

I raked off the perennial flower beds, taking joy in seeing the new shoots coming up. Then I noticed the lilies. They are very thick this year.

Lilies are one of the easiest things to redistribute

Get your shovel and dig up an entire big clump of lilies. Cut the clump in half or quarters or more pieces if it is really big.

Dig a new hole for each clump. I like to throw a handful of fertilizer in the new spot. Stick the lilies in the hole and give them a drink

Maybe a friend has a different colour lily and you can trade some.

 Windsocks

Spring makes for many windy days. Why not use that wind for an activity for the young ones (the little ones or just a kid at heart)

This time I am using one-litre milk jugs. A juice bottle would work but the plastic is harder to punch.

Cut the jug about a third of the way up from the bottom. Save the top to make a cup and ball toy another day.

Cut a slit in the middle of the bottom to attach a string to hang your windsock. Punch holes around the cut-off edge.

The “socks” can differ according to what you can find to re-purpose. At the time of taking this picture,  _{I still had a few plastic bags. I cut them into strips that the children attached to the holes in the milk jug part.}

We have used a trash bag but it was flimsy and the sock strings tangled a lot. Ribbons worked well. Strips of cotton cloth or even strips cut from an old t-shirt have made a fine direction holder. This is where I like imagination to work

In the picture, you can see I ran a strip of tape around the edge in case of rough edges. The bottom of the milk carton can be decorated.

Something to eat

These are now called dump cakes. When I can buy cake mixes at a low price, I grab them and turn them into what we call “berry cakes”.

Using whatever I had in berries or fruit, I layer the bottom of a 9 x 12 cake pan. Often it is a tin of fruit with maybe a few frozen strawberries.

You will need

A cake mix

½ cup of chocolate (or other flavour) chips

¼ or more of butter or margarine.

You add each of these items in order on top of the fruit.

I add a cup of water (or the juice from a tin of fruit)

Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

We like our cream, so we add some to a serving of this fruit and cake. If warm, ice cream tastes so good with this dessert.

 _{Almighty God, who lived and worked with us in Jesus Christ: bless those whose life and livelihood are found around our coasts, all those who work upon the great waters of the sea, who make hospitable its shores, who help to keep us safe here and fed; Move us now to know our neighbours more, to welcome those who come to make this place their home, to all who hope for recreation here. Through Jesus Christ, who died and rose to make all things new. All say Amen. https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/loaves-fishes-blessing-on-the-beach-liturgy.pdf}