..weather’s good there in the… er.. early.. spring??? Please make it so.

I’m looking forward to seeing my Albertapals, and my whirlwind tour this week, including my class visit at the U of C, Wednesday’s reading at Red Deer College Library, what sounds like a fabulous food day on Thursday at the U of A’s Augustana Campus, and Friday’s reading with Bert Almon in Edmonton.

Here’s a movie I want to watch when I get home (thanks for mentioning it Tom!)

Yesterday’s Sustainability Fair in the town of View Royal was small but perfectly formed, with displays about waste & recycling, composting, water conservation, land conservancy and other plans, achievements and services. The town has also created a fabulous document called Steps to Sustainability. You can choose from a sprawling list of things to do to live more ethically and sustainably, with helpful links to sources of more information. There are, as in all such lists, a few items I’d disagree with, but a lot more things I hadn’t thought about which would be easy to do.

For example, even apartment dwellers can vermicompost their kitchen scraps in a worm bin, which comes in small enough sizes (like this Worm Factory) to can sit on a balcony or porch. I don’t know how well red wigglers would endure northern winters but you could even bring them inside, as one advantage they have over other compost bins is that they keep smells down.

(If the View Royal list isn’t long enough for you, another way to inspire yourself with new resolutions can be found in this book, Change the World for Ten Bucks. Or you could celebrate Buy Nothing Day on a weekly or monthly basis instead of confining it to an annual event; if you’re really tough you could do as others have done and try it for a year.)

One of the items I wasn’t sure about on the View Royal list was the suggestion to save power occasionally by using candles. I’d heard there was some kind of environmental issue around candles, but I was surprised when I looked it up to discover it’s largely to do with the wick, which may contain lead, which means you’re creating lead vapour when you burn candles. There’s no ban on using lead in candle wicks in Canada, so we’re advised to be wary when buying candles; most of those made in North America (or sold at Ikea, surprisingly) are considered safe. BC Hydro’s fact sheet can tell you more, including how to test the wick for lead.

Bruce has just reminded me to mention the other half of the candles issue: there are health concerns over the hydrocarbons (burned and unburned) in candles, which are not designed to burn clean like a modern car engine or EPA wood stove, so the pollutants go straight into the air in your home.

Just bought me a new cd by this young feller. How I wish I could catch his gig at the Borderline tomorrow, where once I saw young up-and-comer Sheryl Crow, and another time our own James Keelaghan.

No sooner do I post the entry on meat than it’s all around me, practically slapping me (as it were) in the face.

Merna had kindly sent me this interesting review of Mark Bittman’s book Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating, which is being billed as the natural extension of Pollan’s In Defense of Food – only with recipes. So I rushed out and bought it and the first page says:

Two years ago, a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) landed on my desk. Called Livestock’s Long Shadow, it revealed a stunning statistic: global livestock production is responsible for about one-fifth of all greenhouse gases – more than transportation.

So that caught my attention, as did the review’s praise of his simplified approach to cooking (he does after all write a column for the NYT called The Minimalist: he wants to teach you How to Cook Everything!). Then it turns out there’s an interview with Bittman in the Globe and Mail today as well.

Maybe you’d like to practice your French listening skills by watching this video which Jo-Anne kindly sent me, of people who risk man-eating tigers to harvest wild honey each year. Like all good eaters, they thank the forest gods for their bounty at the end.

In other more local news… I noticed a poster for a Sustainability Fair in the town of View Royal this weekend, on Saturday January 24 from 11-4; or you can catch Don Genova’s perky short course on coffee from 10-4; Lorna Crozier reads at the Planet Earth reading series, 7.30pm this Friday 23rd. It seems we’re also in a time of warming beverages: this weekend we have the Victoria Whisky Festival, complete with tastings and masterclasses. The more abstemious can hold off until February 14-15 for the Victoria Tea Festival. From February 19th to March 8th there’s an opportunity for serial dining with the Dine Around & Stay In Town Victoria event.

This course, about defending yourself from bear and cougar attacks, offers a whole new vision of locavore.

Our local continuing studies calendars are full of courses about sustainability, organic gardening, permaculture, vegetarianism and food issues: all very heartening. There’s an Introduction to Food Culture course, led by Don Genova, that begins this Wednesday night at UVic, discussing food safety, food security and sustainable food development among other topics. Don is also offering an Exploring Local Foods course starting February 25th, featuring tastings and education about seafood, wine+beer, foraging and dairy products. Check out UVic’s ‘Sustainability‘ offerings or, call 250-472-4747 or register online (click on “Nature, Environment, Sustainability”)

A reading coming up tomorrow: Open Word: Readings and Ideas, Open Space‘s downtown Victoria literary series, features Toronto poet Sue Sinclair reading from her new collection Breaker (Brick 2008). Following the reading, Victoria poet Steven Price will interview Sue Sinclair. Tuesday, January 20 at 7:30 pm, Open Space Arts Society, 510 Fort St.