I would like to write about a crisis we are and probably will experience sometime in our lives. Something many of us takes for granted, that of water availability and purity. There are 37 nations globally that are experiencing extreme water stress today. Seven of these nations are Caribbean. Water Resource Groups estimate that by 2030, if no action is taken, with the projected population and economic growth rates, water demand will outpace global supply by 40%.
There is a dire situation existing today, affecting every aspect of our lives, but not fully explained to the citizenry for many reasons. The commodity known as natural clean fresh water(H20) may join the dodo bird on a list of rare things. What’s going on here you may ask. World Droughts have expanded in time and history throughout the world.
In Africa, the northern deserts expand southward while droughts and lack of rain create massive regional dead zones where man and beast cannot survive. The very shores of North Africa are eroding by 50 meters a day, with the salt waters of the ocean winning the day. South Africa is attempting to drill over 5,000 freshwater sources to supply their citizenry with needed water, finding out that the water table has been depleted due to lack of rain. Wildlife is under siege from both the natural elements as well as the encroachment of humanity. There have been attempts to apply technology to find a solution to this continent’s problems, but desalinization of the surrounding seawater is far too expensive. A poor continent will continue to ship farther into the poverty of its people and natural resources. The United Nations has found many examples of criminality in Africa, where Toxic and man-made wastes have been buried in the sands of Africa illegally, and where these toxins have and continue to poison whatever freshwater Africans have. Interpol points its fingers at corrupt corporations and their criminal partners in France, Italy, China and the EU. Since corruption cannot be dealt with by corrupt national organizations these illegal environmental threats continue.
EU has experienced unheard-of droughts so extreme that major rivers are drying up revealing Europe’s history and denying Europeans fresh water. Massive forest fires burn presently in Spain, Portugal and southern France, destroying historic forests and many people’s livelihoods. Extreme Heat has been with us always, but with a population explosion as Europe has experienced in the past hundred years, the demand for mere basics of life such as water has put the EU under great pressure. The very water Europeans drink has been affected by aged pipes, low water sources and the introduction of microplastic pollution. Is the water Europeans drink safe to consume? Statistics tell us the portion of plastics is well over the accepted levels. The public domain tells Europeans their water is safe, yet control measures throughout the continent to limit drinking this water have increased annually.
Latin and Central America have some of the most freshwater supplies in the world and yet are the most threatened. Criminals inject toxic waste into the Amazon, and burn both legally and illegally the forests of the Amazon in mass burnings, creating farmland for crops and livestock. The freshwater of Brazil is being depleted, while in Argentina a decades-old drought continues to grow. Chile is thinking about selling its waters to its neighbours suffering from drought while attempting to create some form of water conservation system. Many of these nations are too poor to initiate water purification and maintenance programs.
The Caribbean has prime examples of small nations taking water maintenance seriously. There is a movement within Caribbean Governmental Organizations to unite their efforts before it is too late to do so. Caribbean nations have been introducing and expanding upon their water supply pipelines, and further water technologies. Social efforts to teach and encourage protection and conservation of their water supply continue. The Caribbean faces a future of water scarcity, demanding creative investments in its conservation methods.
Asia has been badly hit by water depletion and historic droughts bringing about the destruction of its regional farming communities in Afghanistan, China, Mountain Highlands and The Middle East while the climate damages India, Pakistan and other nations with Monsoon like flooding. Pakistan is lacking clean water while 1/3 of its landmass is underwater presently. The schizophrenic nature of Climate Change has placed this continent in peril. Lack of or far too much water damages this area’s freshwater system, the population and its environment for a long period of time.
North America has an abundance of freshwater while certain regions are lacking and in historic drought situations such as Mexico, California, Arizona and the midwest. Various attempts to conserve what water they have has failed due to extreme weather patterns annually applied. To further threaten water supply is the historic challenges of ageing pipelines, microplastic pollution and regional governments who let their population down by not investing in new water technologies and distribution methods, from source to home. America has shown a true lack of imagination and planning with regard to its future water and resource needs, failing to invest multi-billions of dollars into aged systems that simply do not work. While Lake Mead evaporates, Arizonian Citizens fear the loss of their fresh water supply. American corporations and their government have eyes on Canada’s freshwater supply. Water supply was a speed bump in the Free Trade Conversations of the past, where Canadians attempted to protect their precious water supply and America attempts to trade off one commodity for another.
It has become obvious to many that the very way we view our water supply must change. Australian Citizens have dealt with a lack of fresh water for decades, putting rain collection systems on each roof, showering and flushing toilets only once during the day, and watering lawns sparingly. Waist not-Want not. At a time when washing your hands is essential(Pandemic), the very thought of managing how long your tap flows, showering instead of bathing, filling your pool, watering your lawn for hours, flushing your toilets often(1.6 gallons, but depending on the manufacturer as much as 5-7 gallons). Thinking about the water you drink, its purity(?) and what are you also swallowing along with that water?
1. How can we collect the water mother nature throws at us in hurricanes, monsoons and floods?
2. Can safe water be synthetically created?
3. Can the science of weather creation be developed, where a rain cloud can be introduced to a drought-filled area?
4. How can we clean and purify salt water economically?
5. Is regional desalinization an essential service?
6. How can we maintain natural sources of water such as the Arctic, and South Poles? Can we manipulate water into energy? A dream not yet realized. One can only hope.
The five nations with the largest freshwater supply are Brazil, Russia, the USA, Canada and China. All these nations face massive water management challenges of their own while attempting to assist other nations in need. One can only help oneself before extending their hands out to others in need. Will water become the new world currency of the future? One can live without money, but without water, life ends. Some nations are globe-trotting buying up large sources of natural resources, be they mineral or indeed water. Water is becoming a tool of diplomacy and military strategy. Water is going to become the new politic in the near future, wait and see. Or perhaps do not wait, but start conserving your water reserves before it’s too late. National and Regional Governments must make water management, conservation and sourcing a political necessity, and a public goal.
Despite its growing scarcity and preciousness to life, ironically water is the most misgoverned, inefficiently allocated and wasted natural resource globally.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
