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),

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¥ 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.

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