environment – Page 2

A hippie homesteader in B.C.

“When I came to Galena Bay, I had been afraid of many things,” writes Ellen Schwartz in Galena Bay Odyssey: Reflections on a Hippie Homesteader (Heritage House Publishing Company, 2023). “Of the physical work I would have to do. Of trying new things I have never done before, like gardening and building and raising animals. Of living in isolation. One by one, I had attempted these things, and I had survived. I had even mastered some of them. Those fears had fallen away.”

This paragraph comes as Schwartz is atop a hill, “too scared to move,” and her skis start sliding. She survives the “ungraceful and disastrous” run, even pushes through a second one. But she can’t keep her vow to never to do that again because, in the 1970s, she lived in such a far-flung place that skiing was a necessary mode of transportation, not just a leisure activity.

It is easy to see why Schwartz chose to write a memoir about this period of her life. Born into a middle-class family – her father an internist-turned-cardiologist, her mother a teacher before becoming a stay-at-home mom to Schwartz, her younger sister and brother – and raised in New Jersey, Schwartz went to university in Chicago. There, she did all you might expect a young person with the new freedom of being on their own to do. And then some, as it was the late 1960s. She writes openly about her experiences with drugs and having sex for the first time: “I figured Ned was The One. I imagined that we’d go through our four years [at school] together and eventually marry.” That didn’t happen. Nor did Schwartz go on to lead the conventional life she imagined for herself at the time.

Instead, she went to join a close friend at a farming commune in Pennsylvania, the members of which ultimately wanted to move to British Columbia. Not intending to stay longer than summer break, Schwartz fell in love with one of the commune’s founders and, well, ended up in British Columbia with Bill, who would become her husband. The group didn’t last long, but the Schwartzes are still together, though no longer in Galena Bay, which is in the West Kootenays. They now live in Burnaby.

The young urban-raised couple faced many challenges homesteading, and Schwartz has many stories of taking on the unknown, whether it be camping along the route across the continent to British Columbia, building their own cabin (including chopping down their own trees), growing their own food, raising a child in a remote area (their second would be born in Vancouver), etc., etc. Not to mention finding work that would sustain them physically (keep them housed, clothed and fed), if not spiritually. She shares the details of her hippie days matter-of-factly, with humour and with the perspective of reflection. For example, after recounting her parents’ muted reaction to her and Bill’s homemade home, she offers potential reasons for their lack of enthusiasm.

Schwartz’s unique history encapsulates the overarching idealism of many in her generation. Her grandparents were “impoverished Jewish immigrants who had fled the hardships and pogroms of Lithuania and Poland” to give their kids a better life in the United States, so their grandchildren also were well set up for material success. The grandchildren – Schwartz and her peers – had an idea but no real understanding of the sacrifices that had been made to achieve the comfortable lifestyle they rejected, because of the racial and social inequality they saw around them, the environmental degradation and the war in Vietnam.

“Bill and I, part of the first wave of baby boomers, were in the privileged position of having enough education, enough wealth and enough leisure to be able to criticize our parents’ lifestyle,” she writes late in the memoir. “We were well-off enough to be able to turn our backs on materialism. We were prosperous enough to indulge in idealism and, idealistically, to define an entire new set of values. (At the time, I didn’t appreciate the irony.)”

But her desire to make the world a better place was – and is – genuine and remains a guiding force. Schwartz, who was a teacher for many years, began her subsequent career writing educational material. We find out in her memoir that the first fiction story she sold was released in 1980. She is now a celebrated children’s author, with almost 20 books to her credit directed towards younger readers, ranging from picture books to novels for teens to a couple of non-fiction publications. She is also a freelance writer and editor.

Galena Bay Odyssey is a wonderful glimpse into an integral part of Schwartz’s life. It also offers insight into North American hippie culture and the strength and ingenuity required to live in an out-of-the-way place like Galena Bay. That the “action” takes place in British Columbia will make the memoir of even more interest to local readers.

Love and concern for nature

Nathan and Sidi Schaffer at the opening of their photography exhibit at the Zack Gallery June 22. (photo from the artists)

Painter, printmaker and mixed media artist Sidi Schaffer has a new show at the Zack Gallery – a photography exhibit with one of her sons, Nathan Schaffer. Eye Love Nature invites viewers to see the beauty and wonders of the natural world, and for us to recognize the dangers we pose to it.

photo - Embraced and Loved” by Sidi Schaffer — Embraced and Loved” by Sidi Schaffer

Rather than nature as something separate, we see ourselves in the Schaffers’ photos. Sometimes, the animals are doing something that we enjoy doing, like the three whales in Nathan’s “Family Swim,” only their fins visible in the misty ocean. Other times, we can empathize with what a tree has endured, but also our part in hurting it, as in Sidi’s “Embraced and Loved,” which shows a gnarled tree not only tightly wrapped by a vine, but also scarred by the initials, including a pair in a heart, that many people have carved into it.

The titles of some of the photos bring a smile, but also a sense of responsibility. The overall feeling of the exhibit, however, is uplifting, hopeful.

“I have a fondness for word play and puns as a way of expressing humour. I find it helps keep a positive environment when interacting with others and, at times, deal with sensitive issues in a less threatening manner,” Nathan told the Independent. “Artistically, my goal is to engage the audience both visually and with language. ‘The Pepsi Challenge’ [in which two horses tussle over a Pepsi cup] in my mind ‘can’didly raises concerns about human garbage and pollution straight from the ‘horse’s mouth,’ so to speak. In ‘I’m Stumped,’ there is also a bit of fishing line on the stump under the bird’s foot – again a reminder that human pollution is unfortunately prevalent in the lives of wildlife and sometimes it can feel like we are stumped trying to deal with it.”

photo - “The Pepsi Challenge” by Nathan Schaffer — “The Pepsi Challenge” by Nathan Schaffer

Eye Love Nature is the first photography exhibit for both Schaffers. Sidi said, “as I age, I wanted to see my photos on a gallery wall and share our joy creating them with the people in the community.” Nathan writes in his artist’s statement: “I very much hope the viewers enjoy the photos and that positive emotions arise and carry forth.”

Both Schaffers thanked Zack Gallery director Hope Forstenzer and the selection committee, as well as their friends and family, “for providing guidance and supporting this,” said Nathan, who works as a psychiatrist treating adults at a community mental health clinic.

“The resilience of many patients inspires me to search for strength and marvel at beauty in nature,” he said. “I often recommend spending time in nature as a way of reducing distress from inner turmoil, both to patients and family. I also enjoy my photography as a way of expressing latent artistic interests, as I haven’t improved my drawing beyond a rudimentary level. It is a counterweight to the stress associated with my work.”

For Sidi, who is a career artist, the skills involved in painting/printmaking and photography overlap to some extent.

“The combination of a good eye and imagination can help in both forms of art expression,” she said. “[But] the trigger when taking a photo is coming from outside. It is your sudden surprise of what your eye sees in front of you at a certain moment, in a certain light or shadow. It can be a landscape, people or clouds in the sky. It can be a design that the power of nature created on a tree bark, or a gentle breeze moving the petals of a flower. You can be enchanted by a flower’s seeds that hide themselves from the elements.

photo - “Burst of Colour” by Sidi Schaffer — “Burst of Colour” by Sidi Schaffer

“As compared to painting or printmaking, with photography, it’s presented to you, you only have to look and explore,” she said. “When I am in front of a canvas or paper, it’s usually in front of a white surface that waits for my imagination, for my expression of freedom to choose the subject or design that comes from inside me. It takes me even more into my inner self, into a world that brings me satisfaction, reflection and peace. Physically, painting is more challenging; my whole body is involved in the making. I love both mediums and hope to combine them in my mixed media works.”

While Eye Love Nature is Sidi’s first photography exhibit, she has been a photographer since childhood. Sidi was born in Romania – her mother studied photography before the Second World War.

“After the war, coming back home from the camps, my parents opened a photo studio,” said Sidi. “From then on, even as a little girl, I immersed myself in their world. I assisted my father in the dark room; I helped colour the black and white photos with watercolour. I learned from my mom how to touch up the negatives. Today, we would call it Photoshop. In my later years, here in Canada, at the University of Alberta, in addition to painting and printmaking, I also studied photography. I will always be thankful to my parents, who exposed me to the magic of photography.”

It was Sidi who gave Nathan his first camera when he was young. “But the love of nature, the curiosity, his investigative spirit and his good eye, he developed through his life, step by step,” she said. “He was always surrounded by art and love of the natural beauty of our world.”

When asked if he had been lucky enough to meet his grandparents, Nathan said, “Yes, I have vivid childhood memories of helping them develop negatives in a darkroom with a red light and strong vinegar-like smell. I very much enjoyed spending time with them while watching photos gradually appear during this process.”

Of course, photography has changed much since that time.

“Through the years, I’ve worked on film and in dark rooms,” said Sidi. “With the explosive development in photography these days, I switched very happily to the digital camera. This way, I have a more direct and faster approach to picture taking. My aim is to stay true to what I see and not manipulate the image except maybe to crop or lighten/darken if necessary. We are surrounded by enough fake images and news these days. I want to be far from all that. The truth gives us freedom.”

More than 40 photographs comprise Eye Love Nature.

“Some Days I’d Rather Be Fishing” by Nathan Schaffer

“For this show, we picked images where we were primarily appreciative observers rather than creators,” said Nathan. “We only attempted to correct minor blemishes, in keeping with our parenting style,” he said with a smile.

There were many candidates for inclusion in the exhibit. “Like in nature, Darwin’s rule of survival of the fittest was the main guiding force,” said Nathan. “Some couldn’t compete due to technical issues such as file size or being unfocused; others lost out due to not being as captivating. Hope, the JCC gallery director, also helped in selecting the final choices.”

As for the choice of where to direct any profits made from the show, the Schaffers have decided to divide them equally between the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

Both organizations, said Nathan, “do their work in what appears to be very different areas; however, they share an important similarity. Cancer is essentially resident cells going rogue and taking over space and resources from the body, thereby putting it in serious danger. Civilization and humans can have a similar destructive impact on nature and wilderness by urban spread and taking of natural resources without limits. Controlling these rogue processes is needed in order to save and heal patients and nature. These organizations share in a mission of tackling some of the major problems we face.”

Eye Love Nature is at the Zack Gallery until July 24.

Eating locally and Jewishly

My family enthusiastically eats huge salads at dinnertime in the summer. We love to celebrate the fresh local lettuce and other vegetables we receive from our community-supported agriculture (CSA) share. A CSA is a membership/subscription service that allows farms to directly market to customers. A CSA membership pays the farmer in advance to buy seeds and cover other costs. In exchange, the member gets a share of the farm’s products. Most CSAs are for vegetables in season. There are also many other sorts of CSAs, including for grain, meat, cheese, eggs, and more.

We’ve had a farm share nearly every summer for more than 20 years. Some weeks, our share is huge, full of delicious seasonal delights. Perhaps we get tomatoes, basil, peppers and eggplant at the height of summer, or enormous heads of springtime lettuce. This membership model depends on relationships between the farmer, the customers and the growing season, with a bit of luck sprinkled in. Sometimes, the CSA enables us to experience the challenges of a farm’s drought or flood. Other years, we’ve eagerly distributed rhubarb, beets, or squash around our neighbourhood when we’ve been overwhelmed with produce.

We also buy a “freezer lamb” and a quarter of beef (a quarter of a steer), along with farm-raised chicken. This is where our “eat local” mantra conflicts with traditional Jewish practice. Everyone used to depend on local butchers. Having a kosher butcher nearby meant eating local foods that were butchered according to the laws of kashrut. As modern health regulations and slaughterhouses developed, small-scale butchers, including local kosher butchers, became less common. Now, it’s nearly impossible to get fresh kosher meat anywhere outside of large urban areas with a big Jewish population.

In the Jewish community of Winnipeg, where we live, the city’s kosher butchers were well-known. According to historians Arthur Chiel, Allan Levine and Rabbi Moishe Stern, there was even a congregation here, Beth Judah, or “the Butcher’s Shul,” from 1937 to 1971. The butchers, and their Retail Kosher Butchers’ Association, had a lot of power in the 1930s and 1940s, occasionally running into conflicts with Winnipeg’s rabbis.

Given this history, it’s sad that there are no longer any kosher butchers here. A few years ago, a newcomer shochet (butcher) friend from Hungary collaborated with the Winnipeg Chabad. They butchered turkeys to provide fresh kosher meat. It was a difficult proposition, even though the provincial regulators tried to help. We were one of the families who tried to support him by buying a kosher-butchered turkey. It didn’t become an ongoing business venture.

Jewish diets worldwide have been shaped by what’s available locally, what’s affordable and how to make it kosher or maybe just “kosher style.” Traditional or noteworthy food choices change over time. Our diets are influenced by our families and communities of origin, even beyond issues of kashrut. Whether our relatives came to Canada from Russia, Ethiopia or Yemen, kashrut is part but not all of our cultural food choices.

As a younger married couple, we ate lots of local fruits and vegetables, even growing some ourselves. A few years after we married, we heard scary family news. My husband’s first cousin was younger than we were, but her (also young) husband had been rushed to the hospital for an emergency medical procedure. He had serious blockages in his arteries that needed immediate intervention. We lived far away and weren’t sure how to help. We discussed it over dinner and formulated a plan.

The family of this “cousin-in-law” kept kosher. He ate a steady diet of Eastern European specialities. Lots of holiday meat meals, plenty of dairy, very well-cooked vegetable side dishes. Salads were heavy on fattening dressings. This young guy also ate well. (Jewish grandmothers approved!) We looked at the summertime salads and vegetarian meals in front of us – as undergraduates, we attended Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y., where the famous Moosewood Collective has specialized in vegetarian cuisine for many years. I ordered a bunch of Moosewood cookbooks to be sent to this cousin’s house with a get well note.

Twelve years ago, we gathered in Florida for a family vacation meal. I was pregnant with twins and surrounded by this couple’s young kids. We heard that the medical intervention probably saved his life. They changed their diet entirely to be more “heart healthy.” The cookbooks helped.

Integrating a foodie’s enthusiasm with locally produced, healthy foods with Jewish practice can result in discord, though. I’ve been told that the “only way” to get some special items is to arrive at the farmer’s market early on Saturday morning. There’s no alternative if I’m going to synagogue instead. I shrug and suggest that they consider other sales venues, too. At the same time, my choice of locally raised (but not kosher-butchered) meat results in divisions around the Shabbat table, too, as some people won’t eat at my house, even if I only serve vegetarian foods to them.

For those whose level of kashrut is very strict, some won’t eat fresh berries or broccoli due to the chance of ingesting a bug, which would not be kosher. My husband is a biology professor who studies bugs. We’ve had some interesting conversations about this. One of our favourite consultations involves a busy Chabad rabbi and his wife who run wonderful youth programming. Occasionally, they send my professor husband photos of insects to ask, “What is this?” and “How should I get rid of it? Should I throw away the flour?” as they manage their kosher home.

Embracing ethical food choices can be an important expression of one’s Jewish practice. It goes beyond kashrut, whether it’s choosing to donate to Mazon Canada (the Jewish response to hunger) or foodbanks, growing a garden or buying local produce. We express our values through what we eat, as well as care for our health and the earth. That effort feels like an important (and Jewish) thing to do. Finally, the Israeli thing to do would be to wish you a hearty appetite or b’tayavon! May you enjoy whatever you eat!

Joanne Seiff has written regularly for CBC Manitoba and various Jewish publications. She is the author of three books, including From the Outside In: Jewish Post Columns 2015-2016, a collection of essays available for digital download or as a paperback from Amazon. Check her out on Instagram @yrnspinner or at joanneseiff.blogspot.com.

BGU moving to solar

(photo from BGU)

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will soon produce 20% of its energy needs on the Marcus Family Campus from solar energy. Recently, solar panels were installed on the roofs of three buildings on campus in the first stage of the initiative.

The project is estimated to cost NIS 2 million (approximately $736,000 Cdn). Once completed, it will replace more polluting fuels that are typically used to power buildings. The university is expected to recoup this investment within a few years as it reduces its energy expenses.

Dr. Daniel Farb has donated a small wind turbine called the Tulip, developed by his company, which will charge laptops and phones from wind energy.

In April 2022, BGU announced it would stop investing in companies that produce oil and coal and move those investments and all future investments into alternative energies and investment vehicles governed by ESG (environmental, social and governance) principles.

The university was awarded Green Campus status by the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection in 2010 and has been among the top universities worldwide in green rankings. Bike racks, electronic recycling and solar and wind-powered charging stations can be found all over campus.

BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research have been studying environmental issues for 50 years. Leveraging these strengths, the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change was dedicated in May 2022. It brings together more than 150 labs on the university’s three campuses to tackle these issues.

– Courtesy Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, BC & Alberta Region

Systemic change possible?

Eleanor Boyle’s Mobilize Food! Wartime Inspiration for Environmental Victory Today offers concrete ideas for how food systems can be transformed. (Julie Doro Photography)

I plan to make the Honourable Woolton Pie. Just for fun, not necessarily because I think it’ll taste wonderful, though it might. Named after Lord Woolton (Frederick Marquis), who was appointed minister of food in 1940 Britain, it represents several of the British government’s goals during the war years: it was “meatless, thrifty, filling, and made use of domestically produced in-season foods.” The recipe is in Eleanor Boyle’s latest book, Mobilize Food! Wartime Inspiration for Environmental Victory Today (FriesenPress, 2022). The book is the only reason I know who Woolton is. More importantly, the book offers many reasons to feel less naïve for mostly believing that humankind can save ourselves and the planet before we kill ourselves and the planet.

Mobilize Food! is an optimistic examination of Second World War rationing and other wartime policies in England and how the lessons from that period could help us counter the climate crisis by changing our food systems, to start. Lest one think that Boyle is a pie-eyed dreamer, she has solid credentials – a bachelor’s in psychology, a master’s in food policy and a doctorate in neuroscience. The Vancouverite also has been a journalist and she taught for many years. She wrote the book High Steaks: Why and How to Eat Less Meat (New Society, 2012).

Despite all of Boyle’s education and experience, she still believes that radical change is possible. This is heartening in and of itself. But it’s the 42-page bibliography that I found more assuring. The recommendations Boyle makes in Mobilize Food! are based on extensive research. And they consider what individuals, governments and businesses are already doing, as well as what they could be doing more of (which is a lot). She is not arguing for a socialist utopia, or a utopia of any sort, though she does imagine more engaged, civic-minded communities than I think currently exist anywhere in the world. That said, she gives an example of a city that apparently has ended hunger – Belo Horizonte, Brazil, “which in 1993 declared access to food as every citizen’s right. It then implemented food price subsidies, supply and market regulation, supports for urban agriculture, education on food preparation and nutrition, and job creation in the food sector.”

How does this relate to Second World War Britain? As did Britain during the 1940s, Belo Horizonte set up state-subsidized restaurants that are open to everyone (to avoid stigmatizing people on lower incomes), it feeds kids in the public education system every day, it partners with private grocery stores so that they can sell cheaper fruits and vegetables, and it supports family farms, among other actions “that help democratize food.”

Boyle provides copious data and examples of how the food industry, as it stands, is contributing to climate change “by contributing at least a quarter of human-caused GHGs [greenhouse gases].” It does this through its use of fossil fuels, the cultivation of monocultures (“vast, unnatural acreages of single-species crops”) and destroying ecosystems by removing or burning vegetation, among other activities. One of the eye-opening stats is: “Some analysts calculate the contribution of livestock to overall anthropogenic GHGs as at least 30% and as high as 51%.”

Boyle argues persuasively that how we produce and consume food can be transformed. The first half of Mobilize Food! runs through all that Britain did to make significant changes, “from national agricultural policy to the family dinner plate. They didn’t wait for dire food shortages or society-wide agreement of exactly how to proceed. Even before war was declared, government set up a high-powered food committee to craft plans for making food systems crisis-ready.” They used multiple strategies and strived for general engagement using PR campaigns and other tools. “The programs were simple but transformational,” writes Boyle, “based on shifts toward domestically produced, plant-rich and minimally processed foods. Together those programs adequately fed the population – and, in many ways, better than prewar, by providing broader and more equitable access to food and enhanced health [reducing diabetes and heart disease, for example].”

The wartime measures also show that people can change how they eat and act, she notes. But leadership is key – Lord Woolton was very charismatic, it seems, and, on the larger scale, Boyle writes, “Only governments have the mandate for the public good, the oversight for national strategy and the legislative levers. Only public officials can do the necessary system-wide planning, coordinate sectors, forge agreements across regions, and make the tough decisions.” Lastly, such massive change relies on everyone participating: “We’ll need to think systems-wide and involve every segment of society, every community, every food-related business and civic organization, and every one of us.”

Boyle admits this all “sounds like fantasy. But, as the story of World War II Britain shows, such a transformation has occurred.” Am I personally convinced we have what it takes to mobilize so drastically? The larger whole is still too much for me to contemplate, but I can eat even less meat and fewer processed foods, buy more from local growers, invest in businesses that improve the environment and/or social outcomes, support politicians who are working toward a healthier and more inclusive society. No doubt, there is much more that I could be doing, but it’s a start.

I’m glad that I read Mobilize Food! Full of images (including awesome wartime PR posters), data and stories from people who lived through the war effort, it is engaging on many levels. It reminded me that what seems impossible may not actually be so. And the importance of hope – combined with action – cannot be overstated.

For more information, visit eleanorboyle.com.

Local heads CAPE crusaders

Dr. Larry Barzelai chaired the recent Canadian Physicians for the Environment climate conference. (photo from Larry Barzelai)

We can recycle everything possible, drive electric vehicles and take other steps to ameliorate our carbon footprints. At some point, though, says Dr. Larry Barzelai, we need to address our culture of consumption because we are simply using more resources than the planet can sustain.

Barzelai, chair of the B.C. branch of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), spoke to the Independent following a conference he chaired on climate issues. The third annual event, held entirely virtually, brought together doctors, nurses and other medical personnel to discuss climate and the environment from a specifically health-related perspective.

“It’s a physicians organization,” said Barzelai. “So people who tend to be most interested are doctors. But we’re always trying to expand it into other healthcare professionals.”

Interested people outside the profession are welcome to join, he said.

“It’s a general information conference to appeal to people that don’t know very much about environment or climate issues and people that are well-versed,” he explained. “We’re hoping there will be something in the conference for both those groups.”

Topics included “radical overconsumption, environmental genocide, economics and de-growth,” mobilizing climate action within the medical community, the impacts of food systems on the climate, and strategic approaches to successful advocacy campaigns. Canadian filmmaker, broadcaster and activist Avi Lewis gave a closing presentation.

Barzelai retired from his practice as a family physician in June of last year but still does work in seniors facilities including the Louis Brier Home and Hospital. He was pleased that, with the exception of Nunavut, the conference had representation from all provinces and territories.

The conference took place under the auspices of the continuing professional development department of the University of British Columbia and, while it is a national conference, most of the members of the steering committee are from the West Coast.

The October event was the third annual conference and Barzelai laughed about the fact that they had thought they were breaking new technological ground when they began planning for the first gathering. Believing that too many people spend too much time and resources flying, with deleterious impacts on the climate, they envisioned a virtual conference, or possibly a hybrid version with hubs in Vancouver and Toronto where locals could attend in person. By the time the inaugural event was nearing, the entire world had adopted virtual meetings (as well as religious services, seders and just about every other kind of interaction).

While Barzelai has thrown himself into the climate issue in recent years, he calls himself a “Johnny-come-lately” to the topic.

“I’m a late joiner,” he admitted. “A lot of the people in the organization have been doing this all their lives [and] are really dedicated people.”

Barzelai began reading and thinking more deeply about climate issues after encountering the American environmental author and activist Bill McKibben at a conference several years ago. He was particularly impacted by McKibben’s book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet.

Barzelai explained why McKibben spelled the book (and the planet) “Eaarth.”

“It’s changing and it’s changing rapidly and he says the expectations that seasons would be similar and that you would be able to predict rainfalls and temperatures on a fairly regular basis, with some exclusions, year after year – now that’s all gone out the window,” said Barzelai. “It’s a different world. That’s why he is calling it by a different name. He says, with a lot of work and a lot of luck, maybe we can create a new world that is somewhat akin to our old world, but it’s never going to be the same. We are going down a new direction here in a future that’s undefined and we’ve got to be careful and not let climate change get too far ahead of us.”

At the recent conference, Barzelai was struck by the message that, even as humans are taking these issues more seriously, we are still not getting to the core problem.

“Two of our speakers talked about consumption, that we can recycle as much as we want and drive as many battery-operated cars as we want but, at some point, we have to reduce consumption,” he said. “Even if we were as green as can be, we are still utilizing more resources than the earth can put out, so reducing consumption has to be a big part of this. It’s a tough topic because our whole society is based on consumption. But a lot of people think that we’re not going to get anywhere with climate change issues unless there is a general reduction of consumption in First World societies.”

Another issue to which Barzelai urged people to pay attention is corporate “greenwashing,” a topic addressed at the conference by Prof. Calvin Sanborn of the University of Victoria.

“That’s a big, big issue,” said Barzelai. “The fossil fuel companies are saying that they are greening and changing but, in reality, they’re just trying to find ways to keep doing what they’re doing and they don’t really want to change.”

Due to university copyright issues, recordings of the conference are not publicly available, but more information about CAPE is online at cape.ca.

Artist advocates for nature

Lori Goldberg’s artwork reminds viewers that “that which we discard doesn’t disappear.” (photo from Lori Goldberg)

If you attend a performance at Queen Elizabeth Theatre, you will see the artwork of Lori Goldberg. She is one of the artists whose creations are at the theatre for another couple of weeks. The exhibit opened Oct. 29.

“Queen Elizabeth Theatre has a program for exhibiting artwork by local artists,” Goldberg told the Independent. “There was a call that was sent out a few years ago and I responded. I was accepted and the work was to be installed just when the pandemic began, so it was postponed until this year.

“It is an ideal venue,” she continued, “as thousands of people a week attend events at the Queen E. My art has a message about climate change and it is important that it gets seen by as many people as possible. My pieces are on exhibit until Dec. 19, and people are only able to see it if they have a ticket to an event. Alternatively, I am available to take anyone interested on a private tour.”

The paintings in the exhibit come from three ongoing series: Plasticity, Poetics of the Discarded, and Reconstructing Nature.

“For many years, I have been investigating what happens when two opposing places – cities and nature – collide, connect and transform,” said Goldberg. “Through more awareness and experience firsthand, many of my works have ultimately been about the precarious relationship that we have with our natural world. Seeded in environmental advocacy, an animating factor in my practice has been reclaiming, recycling and reimagining refuse.”

photo - “Rogue Fish” by Lori Goldberg — “Rogue Fish” by Lori Goldberg *(photo from Lori Goldberg)*

In the description of Plasticity on her website, Goldberg mentions her discovery that ink can be transferred from, say, a plastic bag, to canvas. Her creative process invites such discoveries.

“I am a diverse artist and my ideas dictate my art,” she explained. “My practice has primarily focused on painting, but I have had to explore other mediums to adequately express my concept. Besides paint, I have explored photography, assemblage and sewing. I have worked with clay, glass, so-called ‘trash’ from my studio, single-use plastic bags that I fuse on canvas, and I have stuffed lost socks with fabric remnants given to me by tailors.”

For Goldberg, the camera is her “sketchbook” and a photo is generally the starting point for her painting.

“My work references the physical world at one point in my creative process,” she said. “When I research and gather information, I look for source material that is usually filtered through my own photo documentation. Other photo images can come from friends, the internet or by random discovery. I also use memory, dreams – and always my imagination. I take parts of photos that resonate for me and incorporate that visual language – usually recontextualizing and altering it – in my work.”

As an example, Goldberg spoke about the series Reconstructing Nature, which references nature/urban tensions found in Vancouver. “There is no lack of trees here and our city is in constant state of flux, with the demolishing of buildings and the construction of new ones, so I take photos of the nature that is all around me, but also of the scaffolding and cranes that are so prominent in the city as well,” she said. “In the Poetics of the Discarded series, I started by visiting a number of refuse sites, with an interest in memory and objects. Within the refuse, there were mounds and mounds of history: the detritus of days spent, life and death, business, conveniences used, sentimental things and so much more. I would photo-document these toppling heaps of refuse and re-contextualize and resurrect them as a visual reminder of the ongoing narrative between humans and their environment, reminding us quietly: that which we discard doesn’t disappear.”

photo - “Reconstructing Nature” by Lori Goldberg — “Reconstructing Nature” by Lori Goldberg *(photo from Lori Goldberg)*

While Goldberg does not paint on location often, she said, “My creative process is to go out into nature or the city, experience it, document it and return to my studio. Having said that, making work outdoors is becoming more interesting to me and it is a future direction that I plan to spend more time doing.”

With her art, Goldberg said, “I would like to think that I am creating work that is impactful to the viewer and especially the younger generation, that they will be empowered to take action towards making a difference as they engage with the world.

“The works are meant to be educational and I hope that they impart to the viewer a sense of personal responsibility – that they put to action what they feel and be one small ripple of change to create a better future for themselves.”

An educator for more than 30 years, Goldberg has taken her classroom outside and into the public arena, where, she said, “I create hands-on workshops using materials that address repairing the planet and healing ourselves. I created a project titled Lost Socks, where the public stuffed and sewed lost socks together to create a long tubular form that stood for connection, diversity and difference. Recently, I have used single-use plastic packaging to create wearable art. What I enjoy about these workshops is that they attract all ages and so it is intergenerational and accessible to all.

“Artists are essential in our communities,” she stressed. “Some of us choose to create work that challenges topics that are highly charged and sensitive, but, without venues in which to work and to exhibit, the messages cannot be passed on. I appreciate the exhibits I have had over my life at the JCC – I cannot imagine what would happen if we lost such a significant public space as the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery. It is a venue for Jewish artists and Jewish content. It reinforces Jewish identity, conversations and connections. It is a gallery that has assisted me in my journey as an exhibiting artist and has given me opportunities to work with preschoolers, seniors and poets.”

Goldberg believes in giving back and donates her work frequently to different organizations, such as Big Brothers. “My recent donation was to Tikva Housing,” she said. “I gave them three paintings from my Judaica series. There is a satisfaction that is hard to explain, but it is a joy to be able to offer something of value to make others feel uplifted.”

Goldberg is currently applying for artist residencies in different parts of the world.

“I am interested in responding to the environment that I would be in and allowing it to dictate the direction of my work,” she said. “I want to contextualize my work in such a way that I am creating awareness about our healing of our planet but indirectly, through healing ourselves. Artist residencies offer opportunities for new perspectives and fewer distractions, so you can shed the restraints and discover what is there, but has been hidden.”

For more information, visit lorigoldberg.ca.

Reuse, recycle, make anew

I was driving down the back lane, kids in the car, when I saw a neighbour. I stopped and rolled down the window for a chat. The neighbour’s children lived nearby and they were looking for flooring to refinish the landing on their stairs. Our family, through an ordering snafu, ended up with more flooring than needed. In fact, we’d avoided using any new flooring at all. We had asked our clever contractors to help us reuse 110-year-old quarter-sawn oak flooring from elsewhere in the house and the floor refinishers hadn’t needed any of the new “special order, not returnable” flooring. I asked the neighbour if her kids were still interested in it, because we had a lot. She said she’d ask.

The neighbour then asked me if we were doing serious “purging.” I smiled and said it was more like “redistribution.” She laughed, saying she’d have to remember that. She liked this way of seeing things.

We like to think of ourselves as a family that reuses, recycles and repairs things. While we’re not purists, we try to limit what ends up in the trash as compared to the compost. We try to give away or repurpose the things we no longer can use for their original purpose.

If one imagines three kinds of models for one’s household economies, there are sometimes three terms bandied about. A linear economy involves “take, make, use and waste.” A recycling economy involves something like “take, make, use, recycle, make, use … on repeat and eventually … waste.” A circular economy has a much more complicated chart or trajectory, involving words like “take, make, use, repair, make, reuse, return, make, recycle” but very little becomes waste. Everything is used.

The talmudic-era rabbis were part of a circular and recycling economy. We know it wasn’t entirely circular (most ancient civilizations weren’t) because archeologists keep finding the detritus of all those communities. Ask anyone interested in history about this. They wax rhapsodic about pottery shards, bone fragments, mosaics and more – these are essentially the great finds that finally broke completely. These trash bits were thrown down a privy a hundred to couple thousand years ago. Even that ancient trash has its use now: it tells us a lot about societies long gone.

I thought about all this as I began to study the talmudic tractate of Ketubot as part of Daf Yomi. In the practice of studying a page a day, it takes 7.5 years to finish reading the whole Babylonian Talmud. Nevertheless, this page-a-day approach is superficial. It’s just too much text for me to study in detail, so I try to explore one thing every day that I find interesting.

In Ketubot 4, there is a discussion about what to do if a death happens right when a wedding is supposed to take place. The short version is, well, it depends, according to the introduction offered by Rabbi Heather Miller for My Jewish Learning. However, in many circumstances, the wedding is supposed to happen even if someone has to leave a dead body nearby in another room. Why? There are several reasons.

One important reason is that there was no refrigeration. If a wedding feast was prepared and it couldn’t be sold to someone else, the food shouldn’t be wasted. It can’t be assumed that there was enough food to just waste a whole wedding feast. The rabbis really valued “bal taschit,” or “do not waste,” which comes from the Torah, from Deuteronomy 20:19.

Also, if the bride’s mother or the groom’s father died, it was essential to continue with the wedding. These parents had important roles in the planning of the wedding. Canceling the event would take away from their children’s opportunity to benefit from that work. A bride depends on her mother to help her get ready and setting up a wedding later, after a mourning period, would mean a do-over. The bride’s mother wouldn’t be alive to help then, either.

In a discussion with my online Talmud study group, it was pointed out that, in many cases, rabbis throughout history will find every way possible to help people not waste. If a poor family makes a potential kashrut mistake, asks the rabbi what to do and the rabbi knows they will be hungry without the food, the rabbi finds a way to enable the family to eat the food.

This tradition gives me hope for Jewish sustainability in the future. Here are legitimate Torah and Talmud references that encourage us to avoid waste and to reuse and value others’ work. It gives me extra motivation to recycle when it’s difficult to do so, or to patch and reuse a pair of pants yet again.

In some Jewish situations, these notions of avoiding waste are not always followed. Think of a big holiday meal or Kiddush, where everyone used disposable paper products and plastic utensils and, afterwards, it all went in the trash. Consider some well-to-do congregations where holiday services are a fashion show, and where being seen in new clothing is more valued than just being appropriately dressed. These are instances where perhaps we’ve fallen prey to a consumerist, linear economy.

It’s still possible to dress up or wear something new or different on a special occasion. It’s OK to occasionally make more trash than usual, too. However, doing it on a regular basis is not just bad for the earth now. It also affects us in terms of climate change. It’s probably also a violation of the rabbinic obligation to avoid waste.

It’s true that cleaning, decluttering and renovation trends these days are all about how much can be discarded. Maybe it’s time to save the old growth lumber. Reuse something really good. It’s also good to pass along that new flooring so it, too, can be used sustainably rather than discarded. Don’t just throw everything out and produce more waste. Reuse, recycle, make anew … the rabbis said so.

Still time to save earth

Indigenous activist, scholar and farmer Dr. Randy Woodley was the keynote speaker on May 24 for the Vancouver School of Theology conference Religious Responses to Climate Change. Based in Yamhill, Ore., Woodley addressed the assembled Zoom audience on the topic Indigenous Spirit: Weaving Justice and Peace in a Wounded Land.

“The West has largely failed in its mandate to till and keep the soil; that is, to serve the community of creation, the whole community of creation,” Woodley began, introducing the concept of humankind’s responsibility to assure the well-being of those in its care, namely, the land and all the creatures that reside on it and in it.

Humans are co-sustainers of the earth, he stressed, showing a slide that highlighted the billions of bacteria, millions of protozoa, metres of fungi and thousands of nematodes in just one cup of soil.

Woodley gave examples of the unflattering views Western scholars have often had of Indigenous cultures and how such scholars (and others) have overlooked “many things that ‘primitives’ still know.” While North American curricula contain lessons on Greek, Egyptian and Chinese civilizations, for example, education on ancient American civilizations is lacking.

Indigenous American societies brought about such things as micro-agriculture and macro-environmental management, including botany, agronomy, forestry, raised beds and naturally self-sustaining fertilized gardens, said Woodley. Further, there was sustainable architecture that incorporated passive solar design, solar heating, water capture systems and mass water transport.

“I would argue that the Western worldview has been a failed experiment,” he said. “We need to dump it and we need to adopt a more Indigenous approach.”

He said the “faster, bigger, cheaper” method of food production in the Western world is depleting soils and leading to the loss of crop varieties. At the same time, forests are shrinking, species are going extinct and droughts are increasing. Blame for water waste could be placed on big agriculture, he asserted.

Meanwhile, Indigenous people have lived in North America for more than 20,000 years without permanently endangering the land. He said, “The earth has had enough and is not going to let humans get away with knocking things out of balance forever.

“Nature’s chaos, which we’re understanding now, is actually stable because it continues to adapt. If there’s one thing true about all of creation … it will adapt. Human beings are the only ones who resist that. Adaptation is stability.”

The nature of a closed system is to collapse in on itself or be consumed by other more adaptive systems, he argued. Therefore, he said, the religious response to climate change should be to adapt as well. Within adaptation, there is an order that builds open systems of unity and diversity. The West, on the other hand, introduced chaos and continues to maintain it.

“Lots of different diseases we have are because we have not lived in the way we should with the animal kingdom. We only have a short time to come back from our own unsustainable chaos and back to the Creator’s sustainable order,” Woodley said.

A handful of human generations has accelerated consumption exponentially. Mother Earth is now trying to rebalance the overuse through “random acts of nature,” he said. The planet is reclaiming its territory and “spitting out the inhabitants in order to restore harmony, the top of the food chain temporarily is now Mother Earth herself.”

It was a particular kind of human being, Woodley reiterated – the Europeans and Americans, and not the species itself – that brought us to this perilous stage. Woodley sees a connection between the way Europeans and Americans treat both creation and people, especially women, immigrants, the poor and other marginalized groups – with respect to nature and fellow humans, they have a need to control, exploit, expect production from and objectify, he said.

Practical steps forward, in Woodley’s view, include a critical examination of the Western world approach, the shedding of unhealthy paradigms, and the adoption of a more Indigenous perspective, such as sustainable ecosystems, a respect for the wisdom found in nature and an acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of all living things.

Woodley quoted environmentalist and economist Winona LaDuke as saying, “Food for us comes from our relatives, whether they have wings or fins or roots. That is how we consider food, food has a culture, it has a history, it has a story, it has relationships.”

And he cited a Shoshone elder: “Do not begrudge the white man his presence on this land. Though he doesn’t know it yet, he has come here to learn from us.”

Together with his wife Edith, Woodley runs Eloheh Indigenous Centre for Earth Justice, an organization that focuses on developing, implementing and teaching sustainable and regenerative earth practices. Eloheh is a Cherokee word meaning harmony, wholeness, abundance and peace.

Woodley has written several books, including Indigenous Theology and the Western Worldview: A Decolonized Approach to Christian Doctrine, and Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision.

Director of the VST conference was Rabbi Dr. Laura Duhan-Kaplan.

Sam Margolis has written for the Globe and Mail, the National Post, UPI and MSNBC.

Investing in the climate

Martin Thibodeau, RBC’s B.C. region president, will be honoured at the Ben-Gurion University Gala Dinner June 14. (photo from RBC)

On June 9, Ben-Gurion University president Daniel Chamovitz and members of the Canadian Associates of Ben-Gurion University (CABGU) will visit Vancouver to recognize the launch of its new School of Sustainability and Climate Change (SSCC) and the local supporters who have helped make its opening possible. In particular, Royal Bank of Canada and Martin Thibodeau, RBC’s B.C. region president, will be honoured at the event.

SSCC opened last October at BGU’s Be’er Sheva campus, where its growth has been rapid. Seven months old, the school currently offers two undergraduate degrees and four graduate-level environmental science-related degrees. Its two graduate fellowships, which have supported work in renewable energy and smart city design, were funded by RBC.

“The RBC Research Fund at BGU’s School of Sustainability and Climate Change [is] being established in Martin’s honour, [and] will enable undergraduate and graduate students to be trained as, and pursue meaningful careers as, climate change innovators, entrepreneurs and policy experts,” said David Berson, who serves as CABGU’s executive director for the B.C. and Alberta Region. The funding that is raised at the gala will help further SSCC’s research programs.

SSCC’s mandate isn’t just to address environmental concerns at home in Israel, said Chamovitz. It will have a global reach, as well. BGU is currently working to cement research partnerships with universities and countries that have similar interests in addressing climate challenges. Chamovitz said RBC’s investment in its new school will provide a pathway to meeting that global need.

“RBC was one of the early supporters of SSCC, and this support was essential for leveraging subsequent support,” he said. “The Royal Bank of Canada believes in us,” and that support has served as an encouraging model for other companies to invest in BGU’s programs as well, he said.

Lorne Segal, president of Kingswood Properties and director of the Vancouver Board of Trade, who is an honorary co-chair of the June event with his wife, Mélita Segal, said corporate sponsorship is crucial to startup programs like SSCC. He said corporate support is also vital to finding answers to environmental challenges like global warming.

“Sponsorship from leading businesses and industry leaders does provide imaginative solutions to complex issues impacting our people and the planet,” he said. “Without significant and generous sponsorship support, this crucial work, simply put, would not be possible.”

Segal said supporting initiatives that bring about positive change is part of Thibodeau’s nature.

“Martin Thibodeau truly is a lifelong builder of community,” said Segal. “He is deeply praised by Ben-Gurion University for his commitment to the cause of finding solutions to climate change. It is truly remarkable how much he and RBC Royal Bank have done to enhance the capacity of the Ben-Gurion University community programs and agencies, and advance the conversation on Canada’s transition to a net-zero economy.”

Thibodeau’s support of Canadian Jewish communities and of Israel goes back decades. Originally from Quebec, he served as RBC’s regional president in Montreal until he moved to Vancouver. He oversees some of the largest – and smallest – branches and more than 4,000 employees.

In 2015, while working in Montreal, Thibodeau volunteered as a co-chair for Quebec’s largest multi-day walk for women’s cancers, held by Pharmaprix, to raise money for research at the Jewish General Hospital. “I have been involved with the Jewish community for almost my entire RBC career,” he told the Independent.

He is a strong supporter of the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver and their community initiatives, and he has been to Israel several times. It was in 2014, said Thibodeau, that he and his wife, Caroline, visited Be’er Sheva and learned of BGU’s environmental research. “[I was] so inspired by the research [and] the innovation,” he said, noting that it wasn’t hard to get behind the creation of a school that was working to find solutions to climate concerns.

“It’s right there in front of me every day,” he said. “I am a proud father of three children and I believe we have a responsibility to make sure that our climate can continue to thrive, and well beyond my lifetime. It is my personal belief that we need to do that today more than ever.”

Thibodeau said it’s been an interesting journey since that first visit to BGU in 2014. “It’s become such a tough priority for the world,” he said of climate change. In Canada, among other things, he supported RBC’s Blue Water Project, which helped provide clean water access to Canadian communities.

Still, Thibodeau is a reticent honouree. He admits that he is uncomfortable with the idea that he will be the guest of honour at a gala, even if it is for a cause he loves. “I’m very humbled,” he said. “I don’t like to have that kind of spotlight on me.” But, he said, raising money for research that might one day create a safer and better environment, that is something he will gladly get behind.

photo - Mélita and Lorne Segal, honorary chairs of the BGU Gala Dinner for Sustainability and Climate Change — Mélita and Lorne Segal, honorary chairs of the BGU Gala Dinner for Sustainability and Climate Change. *(photo by The Collective You)*

The gala will also acknowledge Lorne and Mélita Segal, who are well-known for their philanthropy and other work. Both have been recognized by Capilano University with honorary doctor of letters, and Lorne Segal has a doctor of laws (hon.) from the Justice Institute of British Columbia. He was inducted into the Order of British Columbia for his work as founding chair of Free the Children’s WE Day Vancouver and as chair of the Coast Mental Health Courage to Come Back Awards. The Segals regularly open their home to fundraising galas.

“When Lorne and I built our home, we didn’t really do it for ourselves but, rather, to share it with the community,” said Mélita Segal. “Whether it was Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation, Arts Umbrella, Chor Leoni, JNF [Jewish National Fund] or WE Charity … it has been a great joy for us and very fulfilling to give back and share in this way.”

Berson described the Segals as “tireless builders of community, leading by example while creating opportunities for people in the business world to make a difference in the lives of others. Ben-Gurion University, Canada, is genuinely fortunate to have their leadership for this event and for our organization.”

The Ben-Gurion Sustainability and Climate Change Gala on June 9 takes place at Fairmont Pacific Rim. Tickets and tables can be purchased at bengurion.ca/vancouver-gala-2022-tickets or by contacting Berson at [email protected].

Jan Lee is an award-winning editorial writer whose articles and op-eds have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism and Baltimore Jewish Times, as well as a number of business, environmental and travel publications. Her blog can be found at multiculturaljew.polestarpassages.com.