Blackened Ginger

 Funny thing happened on the way to the local Grocery store in Rossland BC, a couple of young children were playing outside our Cabin at Red Mountain , when I discovered them eating icicles from the heavily laden roof snow pack of 70cm. Now first of all, EVERY well educated Kootenay resident is accustomed to some epic snow fall, and rooftop accumulations over a 2 day period, but here’s the crux of Rossland’s epic atmospheric Teck Cominco scrubbing attempts using precipitation. Rossland and Trail BC have the dubious proximity of one of North Americas dirtiest mining companies by sheer size and default. I was present in 2007 when the Columbia River was the unwilling recipient of 80,000Litres of Toxic Lead sludge into the (swimming area) river basin just below it’s outflow doors. I remember the sirens going off in Trail as locals, who are used to having children NOT play outside, scramble to figure out the emergency. Only when the Americans alerted Canadian Environmental Protection Au...

 On a small plot of land near Tofino British Columbia, lies the 70’s land clearing experiment called Poolesland. Having a history of land grabs from Quebec youth all under the pressure of Pierre Elliot saying “go West “ and bring back the economic windfall that Disneyesque Tourism (see Airbnb prices and a 40% Business tax increase) , can reap from a Beach Town next to Ancient Coastal Temperate Rainforest lands once ALL owned by First Nations. So , after 30 odd years of smelly surfers invading Tofino every year and triple digit Capital Gains revenue, year after year..the Tax Haven called Tofino relegated Micheal Poole, to the outcast , transient, “end of the road” , self proclaimed Garbage Man of West Coast Dreams! Once touted as the ONLY 'pay what you can' lodging in the Clayoquot, a misguided man with a land clearing mission and a lot of drug revenue made a Prison Camp environment out of a low lying swamp, NEVER meant to be a toilet for 10,000 dirty drug addicts and experiment...

 Here we are 3 Years into a Global pandemic that has now infected household pets and wildlife with Covid-19 and it’s Variants! Please note at this time the general public STILL has an ostrich approach to a social Pandemic.The sounds of ignorance go like this, in conversation, "Yeah, the Virus isn’t that bad, it’s like the flu” or "I’m NOT wearing a mask because it diminishes MY FREEDOM"!? From ‘Karens’ calling the cops for being kicked out of Walmart to students passing around Covid like it’s Herpes at a Kegger...the sheer audacity of British Columbia’s Health Authority, to let an open Border and a money grab for the Ski industry , place the entire Province into a cyclical Hell of lockdowns, openings and rising case counts, that over 3 Years has put the economy and Tourism into a recession mocking downward spiral!  It’s Christmas 2021...NOBODY says Merry Christmas at the grocery store, due to possible social cross contamination, the Virus has EVERYBODY wearing a mask in ...