Category: Environment


Free Dump Day May 12th 2018, Merritt.

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Bear deterrent: File Photo KDG

 

 

Free dumping 2018

The 2018 free disposal day is coming up on Saturday May 12th in Merritt. Dumping fees are waived for many items that are hard to dispose of. There is a limit of one pickup load or trailer of similar capacity there are similar events for the 17 communities in the Thompson Nicola Regional District, Check the website for days.

Dump day

The toxic waste pick up will be the same day but at the Merritt Civic Center parking lot:

Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) is material labeled, corrosive, poisonous, ignitable, or toxic. Examples include adhesives, paint thinners, chemicals, cleaners, mercury, antifreeze, herbicides, pesticides, paint, oils, and gasoline. This material should NEVER be put into the garbage. During the Household Hazardous Waste Round-Up, residents are welcome to bring these hard to dispose of items to the event nearest them for safe and environmentally friendly disposal. This event is for residential waste only. Business and commercial hazardous waste will not be accepted.

As an added service, sites that normally accept only bagged household garbage and recycling will also accept furniture, mattresses, scrap metal, tires on rim, and small loads of demolition/construction waste. Residents are reminded to tarp and secure loads before leaving home! Unsecure material is a hazard and fines can be issued for failing to secure loads. As per Bylaw 2465, an unsecured load may be penalized with a fine of up to $100.00 per incidence

The TNRD serves 17 communities in the south central interior of BC. Free dumping days apply to residential non commercial use.

On this Day: April 25th 1859

The Suez Cannel construction is begun by the British and French.

TGIF- $1.41.9 a liter

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Broken sign no contract…. File Photo KDG

The price of gasoline is back to the prices of 2016 , a dollar forty one. This with Trans Mountains  pipeline expansion coming under scrutiny and more  pressure.

Happy Earth Day on Sunday. This Earth Day will be the 48th since its start in 1970 over concern about pollution and limited resources with growth being out of control.

 

On this Day: April 20th 1908

Opening match of the New South Wales rugby League.

 

 

The Osprey are back.

The Highway 8 entrance to Merritt BC has a nesting platform on a hydro pole for the use of Osprey. ( to keep them off the power lines) There were 4 of these birds back  two asserted  preference to the platform over looking the river and an old CPR rail bridge, after circling over the area on Sunday, Tuesday fishing ,Wednesday they were collecting sticks to rebuild the nest.

Two Canada Geese had also been looking over the nest site and the species had raised a brood before in the nest however the nest had been cleared and the geese were not interested and don’t build nests.

The area has the joining of two small rivers and has many birds and creatures including domestic Lamas  behind private property fencing.

 

 

On this Day: April 19th 1927

Mae West, movie star , gets 10 days in jail for  obscenity.

TGIF- HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH

There can be up to 3 Fridays the 13th in a calendar year, 2018 has two one in April (today) and one in July.

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Moon has sharp lower crescent, File Photo KDG ,March 13th 2013

Friday the 13th is selected once a year as Accident Awareness Day in Finland.

Some studies show that about 20 million North Americans have mild fear enough to change behavior over moon and Friday the thirteenth events.

 

On this Day: April 13th  1742

Handles Messiah makes its world  debut in Dublin Ireland.

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The sun west of Merritt, Red from smoke, of the 2017 fire season in the Sothern interior of BC File Photo KDG

A book reading in part at he Merritt Public Library today was given by Geoff Strong, A retired meteorologist form Environment Canada. Geoff a person with a desire to keep the earth for his 7 granddaughters and future great grandchildren wrote a fictional novel about the pending release of a large amount of methane from a oil field development in a fictional land characterized as a middle eastern nation.

Fictional murder and plotting with intrigue is married to the state of the earth by global warming.
Geoff took questions about his understandings on climate change as developed with his career in government. ” I am free to talk now, he said in respect to the controls on him as an employee of a federal agency.

Fictional novel aside Geoff said that he has confidence in the earths magnetosphere to keep us from radiation and atmosphere loss to space. However at sometime in the future “a shift in magnetic poles may cause an extinction event.”

Geoff is writing a new novel based on the Merritt BC area, he fictional novel will be set water and the environment.

On this Day: April 10th 1970

Paul McCartney leaves the Beatles for stated personal reasons.

Nicola Naturalists host Joanne Hales

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The Nicola naturalists will have Jo Anne Hales on April 19th to present Habitat Selection of the Spade Foot toad.

Jo-Anne Hales is a professional agrologist and the Environmental Specialist for the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc. She is also completing a Master of Science degree in Environmental Science at Thompson Rivers University studying the Great Basin Spadefoot (an amphibian species at risk) on the New Gold – New Afton Mine site. Come and hear about these charismatic little critters. Her talk was postponed in May 2017 due to the floods – catch it in 2018.

Meeting time is 7PM all welcome, membership or donation requested, top of the hill Belshaw Avenue in Merritt. Free parking , no food or drink in the lecture theater.

On this Day: March 28th 1979

A reactor on Pensylvania’s Three Mile Island  has a partial meltdown.

Trans Mountain Pipeline, streams

Drill for dewatering

Drilling equipment for dewatering Photo KDG

The tripling of transport capacity from the oil sands via the Trans Mountain expansion to its Burnaby terminal and tank farm is a serious decision made. It  goes back decades to when permits to explore were let in good faith and standards for development were in place. Global concerns have made standards different now however good faith remains a valuable key to function in life.

Norm Hanson a registered professional forester (retired) said that there were 700 streams to cross. And some of note at Burnaby : Eagle Creek, Silver Creek, Stony Creek and others all have tributaries potently effected by a pipeline.

Trans Mountain has identified more than 1,000 potential watercourses along the Project footprint between Edmonton and Burnaby. Trans Mountain’s Environment Team has investigated every one to collect data, with the exception of a few locations where the team did not have access to the immediate site. source Trans Mountain Today

There is also the issue of water usage in the production of bitumen at source, some thing talked about in terms of a standard that can be civil.

To be frank the use of the term Warrior up by a prepared  First Nations youth, at the UN diminishes the credibility of  some of the arguments for the protection of the resource rather then enhancing it.

We are glad to see the concerns of the people and the expression of concerns by them, that is their right.  The amount of diligence being applied and published seems overwhelming and we hope that a broad agreement including living with,  on all sides, can be somehow be settled with out one side or an another dominating.

Good luck in all your  views , don’t hurt anyone.KDG

On this Day: March 27th 1980

Silver Thursday sees the silver market collapse after the failure of the Texas based Hunt brothers  to corner the market.

Consultation: Cyanobacterial Toxins in Water.

The Province of BC is seeking input on Cyanobacterial Toxins in Water.

  View points on assessing  for a protocol on managing cyanobacterial toxins in B.C. drinking water and recreational water. This protocol is intended to provide strategies and resources to assist local governments, health authorities, and water system operators to assess and manage risks related to cyanobacterial bloom formations. Source UBCM

 

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Pipe being placed Voght park Merritt BC, for UV treatment loop .     File Photo KDG

 

Feedback can be sent to the ministry of health, health protection branch by April 23rd 2018.

 

The development of harmful cyanobacterial blooms in eutrophic lakes, reservoirs and ponds has become a global water quality issue. Researchers are particularly interested in why cyanobacteria can exclusively dominate the plankton community during warm seasons. Source: Yoshmasa Yamamoto Kyoto University Japan

Editors note : the proprietor review does not represent any ministry only reports from sources.

On this Day: March 21st 1871

Stanley a British journalist begins his search for David Livingston in darkest Africa.

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A move to the right shows level of water tables, .File Photo KDG

Geoff Strong is coming to do a reading from his novel ” Convenient Mistruths” on April 10th at the Merritt Public Library at 11:AM. promising the inside scoop on Global Warming, he will read from a selection of the intrigue, danger and providing discussion on his next book. Free admission 1691Garcia Street Merritt BC.

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broken sign no contract….
File Photo KDG

On this Day: March 20th 1985

Rick Hansen begins his world wide wheelchair trip for spinal cord research.

TGIF- Last weekend of winter

MOON

Moon rising File photo KDG

The spring equinox is coming on Tuesday next week. Twelve hrs of light against 12 hrs of dark in the northern hemisphere will start the march to the 23 degree tilt of the summer solstice in June.

March 20th 2018, 9:15 pacific time in British Columbia is the crossover.

Astronomically speaking, the first day of spring is marked by the spring equinox, which falls on March 19, 20, or 21 every year. The equinox happens at the same moment worldwide, though our clock times reflect a different time zone. And, as mentioned above, this date only signals spring’s beginning in the Northern Hemisphere; it announces fall’s arrival in the Southern Hemisphere. Source Old Farmers Almanac.

Old Farmers Almanac

On this Day: March 16th 2014

Crimea has a referendum to succeed from Ukraine.

Fire in the ecology in the Southern Interior.

The Nicola Naturalists are having their monthly meeting on Thursday March 15th at 7PM. The meeting is in the NVIT lecture theater, top of the hill on Belshaw avenue in Merritt and features Don Gayton with a presentation Fire Ecology in the Southern Interior.

Don is a well-known ecologist who has worked on the roles that fire (accidental and intentional) has played in shaping our environment over the past centuries. How did Indigenous people work with fire before the arrival of Europeans? Why was 2017 such a bad year for wildfires? Don has explanations for these and many other questions about wildfires in our area. Not to be missed.
On this Day: March 7th 2007

The British House of lords in parliament becomes 100 percent elected.

 

Shortly after 2AM this morning an emergency alert was broadcast on Global BC telling people of a Tsunami and to go inland, this was all down the BC coast including Vancouver. Over time and expecting waves to reach lower BC by about 5 AM the alert was lifted before the expected time arrived.
The recently restored, agency NOAA National, Oceanic and Atmospheric  administration US (after the US Government shut down)  reported that there was no longer a danger.

Wave warnings on the coast are still in effect from tidal and wind actions.

On this Day: January 23rd 1846

Tunisia outlaws slavery.