Botanical Garden to Bring Further Beauty to Campus 2S eo ‘ é [ee 4 wide ach Seatitees shite >> continued from Botanical Garden to Beautify Campus (see Front) area will be the garden’s central wetland where the society has already been busy planting native sedges, grasses and shrubs along the shoreline in an attempt to inte grate the natural ecosystem of the location with the species to be planted. _— “We want it to ‘find its own tua way, said Grace Morrace, President of the Society, The cen- tral area is to be framed on both sides by flourishing alpine style gardens. The final product will overlook a picturesque vista of the city of Prince George, making it the perfect spot to view the stars over the city on one of our cold but clear winter nights. Some exciting displays to look out for will be the collection of Preston-Skinner lilacs - world renowned lavender flowering lilacs which will bloom the whole winter through - the evergreen Swiss stone pines which are now on display around the central pond, as well as displays of sterile crab trees. The trees‘will bloom in the spring but will not produce fruit, which is an appropriate choice to consider when planning to landscape in bear country. In this same spirit the society plans ‘to experiment with many other trial species in order ‘to gauge how these species will hold up in our rugged northern climate. The society hopés to’ one day establish a full partnership with the university, and integrate the study of botany and local flora with hands on experimentation and research in the UNBC cirrucu- lum with the aid of the newly developed botanical garden area. As well as working on the devel- _ opment of UNBC’s botanical gar- den, the society is constantly at work within the community sup- porting the work of local garden- ers. Along with their annual Seedy Saturday event which celebrates horticulture within the Prince George area, the society also orga- nizes UNBC’s annual plant sale, and participates in the Communities in Bloom competi- tion where municipalities compete to be the most aesthetically beauti- ~ ful: The society is always looking for fresh hands and further support. Anyone interested in further infor- mation or volunteering with the David Douglas Botanical Garden Society should visit their website at www.ddbotgarden.be.ca or con- tact Grace Morrace, president of the society @ 563-8924. More changes to bus service in the works >> continued from Bus Scheduling Mistakes Fixed (see Front) “That bus wil head down- town,” explained Hall. “It will leave the hill and make all the nec- essary connections, so nobody will be stranded.” The number 16 route will not be affected by the changes, and the last number 16 bus will still leave UNBC at 9:30. As Transit Analyst, it was Hall who redesigned the bus routes last year in an attempt to meet the changing needs of a system that serves thousands of people, most of them students, every year. “When you start to rebuild a transit system from top to bottom, you're going to make a few mis- takes, and we’ve made our share,” said Hall. “However, I think that was the orily. mistake on the latest schedule, and we're getting close to perfect.” In order to get the new transit system perfect, and make sure that it’s accessible to students, Hall is in the process of building a transit advisory committee which will be made up of UNBC students, NUGSS members, and Hall him- self. The Transit Advisory Committee’s main job will be to discuss what changes and improvements can be made to the schedule to best meet the needs of UNBC students, and Hall is already thinking big. “Tm interested in talking about extending the busses much later on Friday and Saturday nights,” he explained. “I'd like to see buses that tun up. to the university hourly, to midnight or 1:00 a.m. if * students will use it.” “If we had a system like that, students could go downtown, hit the pub scene and come back to residence, all without getting in their cars,” said Hall. “It would be _anicte option, but it would need to be supported. I’ve been talking to NUGSS about the bus service, including the Friday and Saturday night service, and so far they’ve been very helpful.” For more information on the new bus schedules, phone the bus info line at 563-0011. To suggest changes or improvements to the bus service, call City Hall at 561- 7600 to speak directly to Hall. 3 SEPTEMBER 15, 2004 How the government did something good Tens of millions spent on northern environment yield positive results. by Charles Thrift we» Staff After more than a decade of lobbying by northern indigenous groups for international action on arctic contamination, an interna- tional agreement to ban persis- tent organic pollutants came into effect on May 17th, 2004. The Stockholm convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) was originally signed in 2001, to ban the production, trade, and use of POPs, but couldn't come into effect until 90 days after the 50th state ratified the agreement. France ratified the agreement in February. This convention is a major achieve- ment for northern indigenous peoples, who have suffered the worst from POPs due to the high levels of contamination in the Arctic environment. The Federal government took notice of the issue of Arctic conta- mination in the early 1990s, after reports that the breast milk and blood of arctic indigenous’ peo- ples were extremely contaminat- ed with POPs. Since then, tens of millions of dollars have been invested by the federal govern- ment into researching the extent of the effects of contaminants in the Arctic, and communicating these results to indigenous peo- ples and the international com- munity. Though few people are aware of the issue; POPs are con- sidered by many experts to be the most dangerous group of chemi- cals released into the environ- ment by human activities. POPs are a group of chemicals including dioxins, DDT, PCBs, and approximately a dozen other chemicals. Most of these chemi- cals have been used for many years as pesticides (e.g. DDT) or used in industry (e.g. PCBs), Asay ¥ BS HEE though others, such as: dioxins, are mostly unintentional byprod- ucts of industrial processes. Many POPs interfere with hor- mones. In some cases the human body cannot tell the difference between these chemicals and nat- ural hormones created by the body (such as estrogen). In other cases, these chemicals prevent natural hormones from working properly. These chemicals are especially dangerous (even at very low concentrations) to fetus- es, and can lead to major repro- ductive, behavioral, cognitive, neurological, and immune dys- functions. ; Though most POPs were banned in Canada and the US decades ago, they are still used in many developing countries. Unfortunately, these chemicals can be carried in the atmosphere all around the world, and accu- mulate in cooler regions (i.e. Canada, and especially northern Canada). Since most of these chemicals remairi in the environ- ment for a long time, dangerous chemicals used on the other side of the world are accumulating to dangerous levels in Canada. In Arctic Canada, where there has been little use of these chemicals, the contamination is the worst. Polar bears, marine mammals, and other species at the top of the Arctic food chain are at the great- est risk of harm from POPs. Increased rates of infection, reproductive difficulties, and developmental problems have been related to high levels of con- tamination. The Stockholm POPs conven- tion is expected to significantly reduce the quantity of POPs in the Canadian environment, and will allow the addition of new chemicals that are found to have similar environmental qualities. Attention! Are you young and sexy? Do you want to be young and sexy? Maybe just get some sex? Well, write news for Over the Edge. | We're. mostly. young: and Se around