Caitlin Johnstone – Notes from the edge of the narrative matrix

September 15, 2023

Crazy, Unrealistic People Vs Rational, Realistic People

SEP 15

Crazy, unrealistic people believe all our systems are rigged for the benefit of the rich and powerful.
Rational, realistic people believe all our systems happen to benefit the rich and powerful by pure coincidence.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe the mass media feed the public lies to manufacture consent for agendas which go against public interests.
Rational, realistic people believe the media are telling the truth, and the public just naturally enjoys supporting wars on the other side of the planet and domestic policies which make them poorer and sicker.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe drastic, revolutionary changes are needed to create a just society which works for everyone.
Rational, realistic people believe a just society that works for everyone can be achieved by participating in political parties that are explicitly set up to prevent a just society that works for everyone.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe drastic revolutionary changes are needed in our society to avoid an environmental collapse that is already well underway.
Rational, realistic people believe the environmental collapse that is already well underway can be avoided by making small, incremental changes over the next several centuries.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe the US empire has lied about its every war, and is also lying about the current one.
Rational, realistic people believe that while history has shown that the US lied about all those other wars, this time it’s definitely telling the truth.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe the US empire amassing war machinery on the borders of its top two geopolitical rivals is an extremely provocative act of aggression designed to advance the empire’s geostrategic objectives.
Rational, realistic people believe the US amassing war machinery on the borders of its top two geopolitical rivals is an innocent act of defense.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe government agencies are spying on us and working to censor the internet.
Rational, realistic people believe that too, but they think it’s a good thing.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe a status quo of nonstop war, militarism, nuclear brinkmanship, ecocide, exploitation, oppression and authoritarianism is untenable, and must be dismantled by any means necessary.
Rational, realistic people believe we can just ignore those problems and think about more pleasant things.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe that the only way to achieve desperately needed change in a society whose systems are rigged for the powerful is to disregard those rigged systems and use the power of our numbers to force the end of the injustices we face and the creation of new systems.
Rational, realistic people believe we can get the changes we need if we just vote a little harder in the next election.

Crazy, unrealistic people believe the definition of insanity is continually doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Rational, realistic people believe doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results just might work this time.

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Soupy Soap

September 14, 2023

BRICS

September 14, 2023

BRICS Sally Campbell

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa: What do they have in common? They comprise BRICS, the group we’d do well to keep our eyes on. Formed in 2009 after the global financial crisis, they jointly decided to pursue other ways to respond to the World Bank (WB)’s and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s grip on their economies/stringent policies on lending. Helena Cobban’s research on Globalities, a branch of her Just World Education site, shows that in the decision-making of the World Bank, the US vote counts for 15.64% of the total vote, while that of the original five BRICS nations combined Is 14.24%. No wonder BRICS is creating its own system of global finance. Their focus for their first decade was on trade, the dollar, sanctions, development and infrastructure finance.

They are part of what is now being called the “majority world”, and 40 other nations in that world are clamoring to join them. Of those, 23 countries have formally applied to join BRICS, including 7 of the 13 oil-producing countries. At their late-August summit in South Africa, they accepted six new members, (now becoming BRICS +). They are Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, & UAE.

How different an idea this is from the Western concept of the “3^rd world” or even the “developing world”. Remembering how language shapes thinking, it’s time to give our heads a shake and examine the myths we hold about Western superiority, the cultural conditioning many Westerners consider to be unshakeable reality, and how we define “developed”. Maybe our language needs to become more inclusive; certainly our thinking needs to.

Our ingrained, often unconscious racism may lead some to simply judge or fear BRICS as a threat or perhaps to dismiss its rapid growth by ignoring or minimizing it. So maybe this is a time to learn more about BRICS. Here’s a few things they are not:

They are not a socialist or even an anti-imperialist bloc.

They are not a military alliance.

They are not attempting to be a moral force in the world.

They are not trying to take over the world.

Their interests are geo-economic, related to having a sustainable way of life in the countries they live in. They are trying to cooperatively build their own economies, out from under the grip of US/Western hegemony.* For instance, they are offering loans to their member countries without the austerity provisions of the IMF. 30% of those loans are in local currencies.

The US, and to a lesser extent, the EU, currently have sanctions in place against dozens of countries. Naturally, Russia has been sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine. To the surprise of many, Russia’s economy only diminished by 2.2% in 2022 (John Power, Aljazeera, May 20,2023). After the 2022 sabotage and destruction of its Nordstream Pipeline to Germany, Russia diverted its energy exports from the EU to China, Turkey and India.

And as so many countries are being sanctioned these days, BRICS members are trading in their own economies and gradually leaving the dollar behind. Their bank is called the New Development Bank (NDB), intended as a counterpoint to the WB & the IMF. The NDB has authorized capital of $100B, no small change.

In 2009, Head of Economic Research for Goldman Sachs’ Jim O’Neill described BRIC (before South Africa joined in 2010) as including the “largest emerging markets” in the world, growing faster than the G7. He stated that G7 should “be adjusted to incorporate BRICs representatives”. (Progressive International, No.34: Dismantling Northern Hegemony BRICS by BRICS, July, 2023) This didn’t happen, and now O’Neill’s research assistant, Roopa Purushothaman, is chief economist to India’s TATA Group, whose $106B market capitalization value is three times that of Goldman Sachs. The times they are a-changing. Speaking of which, thanks to Music from the Deep Dark Woods’ King Anderson for playing Frazey Ford’s stunning version of that Dylan song last week on Hornby Radio CHFR! Well worth a listen indeed, a fresh take on a song as relevant as ever. Back on topic: The G7 countries – Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, US, UK and the EU had a 70% share of the global economy in the 1980’s. That share has now diminished to 44% today. (Aljazeera, above) These are rather startling numbers, not ones we often hear in mainstream media. Will we pay attention and ride the horse the direction it’s going?

Here’s more from Progressive International’s 34^th weekly news bulletin: “The BRICS is not a moral force. But its development is part of a historical process that sees Northern hegemony wane and splinter. That process presents opportunities for progressive forces around the world to engage with critically”. That gives me hope.

We in Canada, a mid-size power, would do well to cease our sabre-rattling against China, lobby for an immediate cease-fire and negotiations to end the Ukraine War, and attempt to maintain and extend our economic ties globally. We have a global climate crisis to attend to, after all, and this summer has shown we are far from immune to the ravages of global warming.

* “Hegemony is the phenomenon whereby one group leads the whole by projecting its interests as the collective interests” (Progressive International, above).

Two Feet or a Saddle

September 14, 2023

Two feet or a saddle

by Mr. Unknown:

Back in the day

Before cars were in sight

People lived in community

A sustainable life.

People found ways to skedaddle

By foot or by horse

Two feet or a saddle

With no remorse.

They got by

Two feet or a saddle.

Phoenix Riting! – September 14th, 2023

September 14, 2023

373174-phoenix-wallpaper-1920x1080-for-macbook — Phoenix Riting!

Things have quieted considerably (as anticipated) with the advent of September. Most businesses remain open through the shoulder season with reduced hours, and we are tapering off more gently than in the past. The Farmer’s Market continues through Thanksgiving; a small core of hardy marketers will make their wares available in the Copse, but not I! After this next market, I’ll dismantle my tent and set it up for the Fall Faire, and then I’m finished for the year. I admit, I’m going to miss it.

After a busy and satisfying blur of activity, our winter leisure season, busy though it is in its own way, can be anticlimactic. “Is that all there is? Where’d everyone go?” There will be meetings, of course, radio shows, events, some semblance of social activity, but it’s a lonely season. We’ll settle in, adapt, adjust, as we do, but there is a pang. I personally love the cyclic nature of life on Hornby, not just the seasons of nature but the human seasons too, the rising of human tide over the summer followed by the ebb of winter. Walking the length of Big Tribune Beach in the off season when you’re the only living human around is quite the feeling, and I wouldn’t miss it, but adapting takes time.

On a more difficult subject, I’m struggling with a response to what I learned in last week’s Grapevine editorial, that I had been publicly accused of transphobia in the DIBB, without my knowledge. I never saw that conversation as I was not tagged in it. I don’t know what was said, nor the reason for such an accusation. The definition of ‘transphobia’ as I understand it is, expressing or inciting violence, fear, hatred or disgust toward trans people, which I have definitively never felt or done. My issue, as I have clearly stated, is not about trans people but rather the right to freely discuss changes and ramifications of the rule of law in this country, and the impact on other vulnerable groups who are not being considered.

TIG has been criticized in the past for airing controversial opinions, ‘anti-vaccine,’ ‘conspiracy theories’ and the like, while the editor has, quite correctly, defended the right to free expression within the limits of clear editorial guidelines. Nothing printed in this paper has so far engendered the punitive reaction that my little column from July has. There have been real-world repercussions to the editor for publishing my words of ‘hate,’ while at the same time I’ve received several private expressions of heartfelt support for my ‘sane, fair and balanced’ approach. For these, I am grateful!

Laws passed swiftly can and do have unintended consequences. The punitive silencing of public conversation about feared or actual consequences does not suppress the conversation, but forces it underground, where it festers, distorts and can become real hate on both sides. I fear the potential backlash to our current extreme ‘zero-tolerance for opinions’.

Most ordinary Canadians are confused and full of questions which have no answers except top-down definitions and slogans. Folk are told, in effect, “Because we say so, now shut up.” It’s shocking, the vehemence with which these new rules are enforced, not only by law, but by social pressure and public opinion. Simply raising the subject for discussion is not only discouraged but actively forbidden and punished. What on earth is going on? Questions merely amplify when they go unanswered.

Here’s one problem: we are arming the CPC with exactly what they need to step in with a change of government which would bring sweeping changes in the law. For those of us who are not political conservatives, this is frightening. Remember the Harper regime? The rollbacks of environmental protections and rights? We need to talk.

No law is written in stone in a democracy, and suppression of expression merely empowers the pendulum to swing hard and far. Nobody wants that except actual bigots, who obviously exist. But broad brushstroking anyone with an opinion or questions as a ‘transphobic bigot’ does no one any favours, most especially trans folk. Cognitive dissonance is the rule these days, but pretending the issue away will not prevent a backlash.

I have faith in the power of community. I believe in inclusion, which means everyone, not just the people who agree with me. Real inclusion is not possible without speaking and listening. There is a middle ground between extremes, and I believe that is where the truth lies, but it takes work to discover and implement it. I don’t know how we can manage that, but we have to start opening our minds to people we believe are wrong and listen for the common ground.

That’s what I think. What do you think? Seriously. Email me at phoenixonhornby@gmail.com

Letter to the Editor – Michael Dillon

September 14, 2023

Dear Editor,

Over the few years I’ve lived on Denman I’ve written but never sent letters-to-the-editor in a volume at least equal to the length of the novel I’ve not written, so I am most appreciative of the recent work The Island Grapevine (TIG) has done to remove that particular writer’s block. (A gentle side note here – the writer’s style manuals unequivocally insist one write an organization’s name in full prior to using acronyms, otherwise things get a bit incestuous when only one’s intimates know the secret. I‘ve met people from Saskatchewan. They know about that stuff.)

I’m curious about a number of things, but starting the list with asking how long it was before you stopped laughing about the appellation “Team TIG” before you appended it to your article seems rude. Instead, I’ll get to the heart of the matter. Will there be t-shirts?

I’m pretty sure if I was to look into the family closet amongst the skeletons, I’ll find Team Edward and Team Jacob t-shirts despite my in-laws’ protestations. Near as I can tell, the controversy then was either forbidden love or Vamp night at the high school. It was equally confusing, but I do know Edward got all sparkly whereas poor Jacob just got furry. The sparkly bit was much easier on the wardrobe. Ed even got the girl in the end. Seems to me that with a few belly rubs she could have kept the dog too, but relationships are complicated.

The moniker Team TIG (henceforth Ttig as on Denman we acronymize everything) bestows about as much anonymity as Donatello’s mask. I’m no smarter than the average bear, but even I could tell he was a turtle. Even so, your move toward anonymity is still concerning. I have enough problems without the local paper encouraging my neighbors to throw rocks at me from behind their shrub. Just doesn’t seem very sporting in my book.

That the Ttig attributed articles may have been written by a committee is not belied by the evidence, but even then, I’d urge courage. “Claim your own!” is the cry. Of course, the lady was pointing at her children at the time, but it’s the same idea. Sort of.

This being the Island Grapevine, it’s entirely possible Ttig is actually a guy named Klaus who you’ve warned us is behind every single nefarious plot on the planet. I note that Ttig doesn’t rhyme with COVID, so that’s reason to be suspicious right there. I’m just a confused little primate, but between imaginings of wicked, syringe wielding “health professionals” and fears of being EMFed all night long by someone with a really big, pointy antenna, it’s just hard to get a good night’s sleep sometimes. (See, I do so read the paper before I start the fire.)

Honestly though, speaking for the vast number of Islander’s I usually ignore on the ferry, it could be that this whole affair of bent egos and stubbed toes might have ended well when Ms. Schuster publicly fell on her sword point right there in the Island Grapevine in front of everyone. I fell on my front porch. Nobody was around and I’m not sure there was a point, but it still hurt. I’m certainly not going to try harder next time.

However, this could be like second grade. I had everybody else’s favorite teacher, Miss C, that year. She was constantly giving me advice. Loudly and with feeling. Usually it was, “Stop hitting Billy!” Being a second grader, I immediately interpreted that as “engaging in conflict for purpose of attention might be considered a poor executive decision. Please reconsider.” She was backed up by Mrs.Leadbeatter down the hall. In the office. Let’s just not go there. Not again.

Ttig is smarter than I. If not, we need to warn Billy. He’s dead now, so the warning won’t help much, but his mama would have appreciated it. She thought he was a bit thick and needed all the help he could get, but she still had such high hopes of Billy and me becoming gentlemen. (Sadly, but as you might expect, she died a disappointed woman.) She used to say that a gentleman does not do what he wants, but rather what he ought. Perhaps Ttig and some other fine folks might spend a stretch of time thinking about the meaning of the word ought instead of traveling further down this pitted road together. I suspect the meaning has something less to do with righteous indignation and more to do with an open heart. A rather contented friend of mine says the key is to just be kind. Everyday. It’s a tall order I know, but seems it’s worked well for him. Now, of course, one can always continue to fuel blame and feel put upon because others are fueling blame and feeling put upon. My dog chases his tail too. I do wonder what he’s going to do when he finally catches it.

I’d hate to pass on advice from my imaginary Uncle Bob (relations are relative), but what he used to say about his time as a cook down in the bayou was “if you ain’t on the menu, don’t climb in the pot.” He liked my mother’s gumbo recipe, so his wisdom is suspect, but there’s a bit of truth there anyhow.

That’s what I think. I think. Caitlin’s got both of me so confused we’re constantly looking over our shoulder. Reading dirty minded narratives can do that to you I’m told, so I can’t be sure I’m sure. What do you think? Here’s a quarter.

Sans wax,

Michael Dillon

PS – I don’t know any of the parties involved. I think Mr. Van Santvoord takes rather nice photos. Ms. Schuster has a first name I’ve never actually heard pronounced. I’m sure it’s pretty. Anyone else involved might as well be yet another unnamed co-conspirator. I do know if you’re wrestling alarm clocks you might just need to sleep in.

Shortages in the Land of Plenty – Helen Grond

September 14, 2023

Shortages in the Land of Plenty

Bombshells are dropping on Hornby Island

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”–Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

On Friday, September 8^th, a Hornby Island regular Islands Trust meeting took place. It should have been business as usual but it wasn’t. In the course of that meeting, the mask dropped and the inner workings of the Islands Trust were revealed for all to see. It wasn’t pretty. It will take time to unravel all the details but suffice to say that the reputation of the Trust will forever be tainted by the revelations of that meeting.

First of all, the despised two minute rule for speakers was soundly smashed by Elspeth Armstrong, who challenged the arbitrary rule and calmly made a good case for abandoning it. Thank you Grant Scott for backing her up and telling us to take all the time needed to express ourselves. That in itself is huge. Let’s never again allow bureaucratic controls to censor our voices. They don’t get to shush us.

The cell tower consultation process between Rogers and Hornby Island has been a sham from the get go. The corporate giant started communications with the Trust head office in June of 2022. The community never heard a thing until November, 2022. According to our local Trustees (not totally clear), they weren’t informed either. It was a big surprise to everyone, even though the IT planners were in secret communication with Rogers for five months. How interesting that the five month covert consultation process happened to coincide with our Trustee elections. I wonder how the elections would have played out if this contentious issue was allowed to be an election issue? We would have had a chance to be fully informed and the entire community would have had a voice. Why did the Trust head office choose to take away this right?

The most uncomfortable moment in the meeting was when a staff planner tried to make the defense that the planning staff actually had no clue about the due process for cell tower placement on Hornby; a process that they themselves had developed. In spite of creating the protocols in the first place, including them in a regular LTC meeting agenda and witnessing our Trustees pass a motion to adopt the model strategy for the cell tower approval process in September, 2022, they claim they didn’t have any idea that any of the above occurred. The air was literally sucked out of the room at that moment and the realization that something very extraordinary had just been revealed was clear for all to see. The feeble attempt to cover up the situation was exposed. The Trust was clearly in the process of selling us out to a massive corporation and it is a miracle that this came to light in the way it did. Every man, woman and child in the Trust area contributes $300 annually to keep this monstrosity alive. “Preserve and Protect” seems to be nothing but a farce……

There were other important revelations that came from that meeting. We must demand accountability. Stay tuned.

Ode to the Big Dawg

September 14, 2023

March 26th, 2007

Ode to the Big Dawg

Tonight is Sean’s final night here at Camp Cuddles for tomorrow he will be freed. In what for us was a dubious introduction, he laid down guidelines and rules of conduct he expected adherence to. Further to that, he expressed a willingness to enforce such credo if necessary. I remember it well. To emphasize his stance he declared himself the ‘Big Dawg’ and our shared prison range his ‘doghouse.’ Furry, or Fur Dog as he has come to be known, is a nickname birthed from that initial altercation. It’s a name that he has worn well. As for this place being a doghouse, I never really looked at it that way but the food that the keepers of this place insist on giving us isn’t too far off of dog food, so I can’t be too quick to dismiss his allusion!

Influenced by my rocky start with him, I’ll admit to thinking that his personality clashed with that of the others here. But understanding there is always a period of adjustment to new surroundings and new arrivals, I’ve been witness to the Fur Dog’s assimilation to the pack and over time his acceptance by the pack. Knowing ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,’ the authorities wisely took the precautionary measure of placing a twelve foot high razor wire topped fence around the lot of us! (Woof! Woof! Woof!!) This place will be less lively and less entertaining for those of us he leaves behind.

During the course of his stay here I’ve learned snippets of his past. Empires are built over time but, sadly, they can fall all too quickly. I’ve also gleaned snippets of his present beyond these jailhouse walls for during his time in the doghouse, he became a father for the second time. A daughter by the name of Ava came into this world March 7th. I must say that while it was odd to see the Big Dawg doing the ‘expectant father’ pace in jail instead of the hospital waiting room, it was a nice reminder that life is still happening out there for at times it can seem like it’s not in here. And while the future can be a vast and unknowable proposition, one snippet of Furry’s future beyond these gates that he’s shared, is his intent to go and smother himself in his kids. Leaving Camp Cuddles to cuddle his children will make him a happy camper, no doubt. I imagine he’ll revel in such a role, for having gotten to know him I detect a hint of teddy bear in his gruff, ‘Fur Dog’ persona.

In the days leading up to his discharge Furry was roving the range bartering away all his prisonly possessions. I myself landed his rechargeable battery pack, though if he had his way I’d also have his wooden cross, empty tobacco pouch (used by Furry himself), his pillow and popcorn too. He’s still walking around in his prison togs, so he may not have yet finished his dispersal. But as the days of his incarceration have dwindled down to mere hours, I suspect that ‘Fur-Bay’ has now gone off-line. There is little left for him here now. Save for a sleep and a coffee.

This evening the Big Dawg offered an apology and explanation to me over our tumultuous start and for that, I’m appreciative. I’ve always preferred making friends over enemies. That being said, the time has come for your release. Your future, and the rebuilding of your empire awaits. Best of luck and have fun with your son and daughter, Sean. Someone else will have to take over the role of Big Dawg now.

Epilogue: I read to Sean the passage above in honour of his release and, of all things, it elicited a hug from the Big Dawg! And to think that when we first met he expressed little reservation for punching me out. To have him hug me all these weeks later is nothing short of a miracle. So there you have it. The pen IS mightier than the sword!

Shucking Oysters: Marine Heatwaves…tearing me apart

September 14, 2023

Shucking Oysters: Marine Heatwaves…tearing me apart

Alex Allen

There seems to be a pattern here. We read and hear about some horrible or surreal event elsewhere in the world and then just like that, it happens in our “world” too. Thankfully, the United States has held off attacking Canada. But, with their insecurities and love for the absurd and vulgar, you just never know.

Wildfires. Floods. Drought. Heatwaves. It shows how interconnected we all are in this world. If a tree burns in Tenerife, the world will not only hear it, they will feel it.

Now we have marine heatwaves. In July, water off the tip of Florida reached 39°C (101°F)! To put it into perspective, a comfortable soak in a hot tub is 101°F, the optimum temperature. Above 104°F can lead to heatstroke.

Coral bleaching. Marine mammal die offs. It’s like someone keeps turning the climate knob higher and higher.

And then in August, just like that, a marine heatwave hit the BC coast, bringing with it temperatures five degrees warmer than normal. It started in the waters off California in May, then grew to an area covering about four million sq. km. (twice the size of Alaska), before moving towards Oregon, Washington and BC coasts. This not a new event, apparently. Heatwaves form offshore in the Pacific every spring and grow early summer. The difference, is that they don’t always reach the coast. And that’s the scary situation.

Warmer ocean temperatures can affect every living thing in the ocean, from the smallest phytoplankton to marine mammals. Some species are directly affected by heat, becoming stressed, while others experience a loss of food, because the animals they eat are dying, warned Julia Baum, biology professor at the University of Victoria. It can also lead to more marine mammals getting caught in fishing nets or hit by ships while they’re migrating along the coast, with the narrowing travel corridor of cool water, pushing them closer and closer to shore. Read the news lately?

In June, field teams near Denman Island studying long-term change in kelp forests noticed “extremely warm” waters, measuring 21°C, Baum said, when the historical average summer water temperature is about 14°C to 15°C.

Fish that prefer cold water, like cod and salmon, are particularly vulnerable to heatwaves. Warm water forces them to work harder, which means they need more food to sustain themselves. At the same time, it can make prey less accessible — keeping the zooplankton from rising to the surface.

In 2021, BC closed 60% of its commercial Pacific salmon harvests. As many as 30 million sockeye salmon migrated up British Columbia’s Fraser River in 2010. A decade later, only 291,000 salmon returned. The fish are declining for a number of reasons, but studies say extreme ocean heat is a major culprit.

Scientists predict more fisheries will collapse in the coming years as climate change — and the ongoing El Niño weather pattern warming the Pacific — causes more marine heatwaves. “I’m really worried,” said William Cheung, director of the Institute of Oceans and Fisheries at UBC. “This year we already know the temperature is crazy high.”

Conditions are not yet as dire as they were in 2014 and 2015, when a huge marine heatwave, affectionately titled, the Blob, took hold in the Pacific, leading to seabird die-offs, record numbers of whales caught in fishing lines, starving sea lion pups washing up on beaches and plummeting salmon returns. With forecasts showing El Niño looming next winter, a worst case scenario could see the heatwave sticking around and rolling into warm El Niño conditions, which could lead to a similar situation.

The Blob was first spotted in the Gulf of Alaska and grew and grew until it covered an area about the size of continental United States. But as Max Graham wrote in the Grist, you could have easily missed it. “A heat wave in the ocean is not like one on land. What happens on the 70% of the planet covered by saltwater is mostly out of sight. There’s no melting asphalt, no straining electrical grids, no sweating through shirts. Just a deep-red splotch on a scientist’s map telling everyone it’s hot out there, and perhaps a photo of birds washed up on a faraway beach to prove it.”

Like “canaries in the coal mine,” dying seabirds are often the first alarm bell of a struggling ecosystem. Their deaths are considered a warning sign of how warming temperatures are affecting the environment as a whole.

Birds Canada’s David Bradley and other BC scientists were part of a eye-opening study released in July by the University of Washington. Eye-opening because it is the first study that shows a clear link between bird mortality and marine heatwaves. The group examined 90,000 seabird deaths along 500 km of the Pacific coast and discovered five massive die-off events between 2014 and 2019. They caution that ocean warming is indirectly causing mass mortality among seabirds, not directly. “The exact cause of each die-off is different, but all seem to be related to warmer waters … thus affecting the whole marine ecosystem.” It could be algae blooms, increased disease outbreaks, or changes in the quality and abundance of prey, which can lead to starvation. After the 2021 heat dome that hit the province, a UBC scientist found that over a billion seashore animals likely died as shoreline temperatures reached 50°C.

Birds Canada is looking for volunteers. If you want to participate in the Birds Canada “Beached Bird Survey” [say that quickly], you can become a coastal guardian by contacting Rémi Torrenta at: rtorrenta@birdscanada.org. You will identify and tag the dead seabirds you encounter. Go to their website or email: bcvolunteer@birdscanada.org to get your free tool kit. The concept is simple and anyone can take part: simply walk your favourite beach every month to report and identify all the bird carcasses you found, or the absence of. Happy beachcombing!