6 NEWS OVER THE EDGE NEWSPAPER. OCTOBER 27, 2006 Bongo Meets the Ambassador Pine Beetle Tree Research _ Island Gwa Haenas NLP,” Wan.ao BBN g BONGO NON-FICTIONAL SPACE CREATURE Well hello and welcome to the first edition of my column, don't you feel privileged to have scanned the page and magically have your eyes alight upon this gem of infinite wisdom? Yes, I know I am- as they so kindly outlined in last month's paper- pretentious, but stick with me on this one, today I be inter- viewing/firing questions at the British Columbia Ambassador. Since I am as- suming most of you have no idea who or what that is we will jump right in and let her answer the question... Bongo: Would you like to introduce yourself to the wonderful readers of this illustrious publication? Sarah: Certainly. Hello, I'm Sarah Pickett and in August I was crowned a British Columbia Ambassador. Bongo: So, what exactly is a BC am- bassador? Sarah: Well, there are three of us who are equally ranked and we travel the province promoting post secondary education, representing the youth of the province and forging links of friendship between communities in British Colum- bia. Bongo: Was that memorized? Sarah: Of course not, I'm just-always that witty and well spoken (laughs). Bongo: So-what did you have to'do to become the BC Ambassador?. Sarah: In August I participated in the British Columbia Ambassador Program which involves a weekof training cul- minating ina two day pageant. Bongo: Wait, a pageant? As in “Miss United States” pageant? Sarah: Yes and no. This pageant, and all the pageants the candidates were in- volved in to get to the provincial level, is not a beauty pageant. We were required to write a three hour knowledge of BC exam, perform two five minute memor- ized speeches, create a community dis- play, and participate in a panel interview. The only typical pageant components are talent, formal wear and impromptu question- none of which are worth very much in the final point tally. Bongo: So what was your talent? Sarah: A tap dance to “Roxie” from Chicago, and I won't lie to you and tell you I blew the audience away with my amazing skills (laughs). Bongo: And these speeches I hear so much about, why dont you fill everyone in? Sarah: My first one was about how insignificant we are in the universe, yes quite depressing but I wanted to convey rt St. John Sp awson Creek nN of my passion for physics. It involves a lot of neat facts, a few attempts at a joke and lots of numbers-which are the hardest things to memorize. Bongo: Sounds fascinating. Sarah: I try, my second one was about Summerland. Bongo: Why Summerland? Sarah: Part of the pageant is com- munity presentation. I represented Summerland as Queen last year and in the BC Ambassadors this year. I've lived there for quite awhile now, I have yet to acclimatize to the PG chill. Bongo: Yes, it is quite significant to say the least. So, did you know you were go- ing to win? Sarah: Everyone asks that (laughs). No, I was quite shocked. There were 16 girls and one boy in the competition and they were all amazing, I didn’t even think I had a chance until I was called as top three for knowledge and community presentation. I knew I was in the top five or so when I won top public speaker- that's a big one since public speaking is weighted so heavily. Bongo: Were you a crier? Sarah: No sorry to disappoint. Bongo: So does this mean you can do “Miss Canada’ now? Sarah: Yes, but that’s a whole new ball of wax that I don't have time to get into. Bongo: Well I think I'm satisfied. Anything else you would like to let the wonderful people-out there know? Sarah: Bongo isan amazing’ and tal- ented writer and I was not paid to say this. Well there you go ladies and:gentle- men, I hope you enjoyed this the first of many fascinating interviews with people around campus. If you feel you ate cool enough to be interviewed by the incred- ibly gorgeous and equally as talented Bongo, put your name in at the Over the Edge office. See you all next time. Vey Seas wae Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentle- men honourable judges, visiting and reigning ambassadors. When I was a little girl I had a fascina- tion with the stars. No, I did not ogle over which Jen Ben Affleck would be seen with next- I preferred the more long lived rela- tionships of Actual stars. ‘At the time I did not know very much about these cosmic giants, they simply twinkled gently as I watched them and found patterns hidden within their depths, But they made ‘me understand how utterly insignificant I was. To them I was less important than a | ; fleck of lint on a well worn sweater. To them I was as forgettable as an epi- sode Survivor. Let me see if ] can explain... First of all you, me and all the people in this room are a very small fraction of the 6.4 billion people on Earth. And we do not even begin to occupy our planet which has a radius of ap- proximately 40,000 kilometers. Our little blue marble can only sus- tain life because of the energy provided by the sun, which is so far away if you drove a car at 100 km/h, 24 hours a day it would take you 3 years to reach. Now if we leave of our galaxy, the clos- est star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.23 light year's away. A single light year, the distance light travels in one earth year, is 9.5 trillion | kilometers. Which is only slightly longer than your average family road trip. Our Universe has 100 billion galaxies; each with 100 billion stars, is 10 bil- lion light years across and is 13.7 billion years old, or approximately the age of Bob Barker. ‘The sheer space that makes up the uni- | verse is so vast in relation to the stuff in it- it can be compared to a box 20 miles wide, 20 miles long and 20 miles high containing one single grain of sand. ’ And it is believed that 90-99 percent of that tiny grain of sand would be made of hydrogeh- which is pretty significant. considering every living thing on Earth is made mostly of Carbon. Now, we will add to our already grow- | ing feeling of insignificance the popular concept of multiple universes. Many scientists believe that our universe is just one membrane, a thin | sheet of space and matter rippling ever so gently with our own gravitational strength, nestled between one millim- eter and the width of one proton away from a neighbouring universe. Some scientists believe there are 10 such spatial dimensions waiting out there for us to discover. While many people consider the idea of multiple tissue paper thin universes drifting gently in an unknown dimen- - sion fantastical, I find it easy to believe when I have read that our universe is 25% dark matter, 70% dark energy and only 5% is matter visible to us. So we no little to nothing about how 95% of our universe functions. Scientists can not even agree upon how our universe began. / Which makes one ponder how little we understand about this enormous place we live in. Looking at the stars still gives me that profound feeling of insignificance, both of body and mind. But, it is comforting to know that what ever we are dealing with in our lives, including the stress of speech memorization, is minute com- pared to the cosmic mystery that sur- rounds us all. Everytime I look up at those twinkling beauties spread across the vast night sky my imagination wanders, but my heart is calm because I know that I am part of + something far greater than myself. Ladies and Gentlemen. i * One of BC's many beetle-ravaged trees. HAAKON SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER With the pine beetle ravaging the forests:of BC, businesses are struggling to find ways to cope with this major change to the lumber industry.:As part of the Mountain Pine Beetle Initiative, Dr. Kathy Lewis, with her UNBC :te- search team, set up a'research area south of-Vanderhoof to ‘investigate the status of trees which were killed -by the pine beetle. Dr. Lewis says that her research is sig- nificant to not.only the lumber industry “but also t6 the ecolégy, of BC's forests, This is because the current method of harvesting beetle killed wood involves salvage harvesting, where the beetle killed trees are cut down in large num- bérs. This is done because they may be hazardous due to the dead trees falling | down or wood quality. decreasing if the wood is left over time. This method de- stroys animal habitats and changes the ecology of the surrounding area, Her research shows that the reasons for the salvage harvesting are not quite true. Once the tree is killed, the wood prop- erties change significantly in the first two years. The blue stain fungus causes a blue color in the wood within the first year. This does not affect the fiber qual- ity (or “strength’) of the wood at all, but the blue color is what makes the wood unappealing to buyers. By the second year after death, the wood becomes dry and often cracked. So far, the research shows that the fiber quantity is minimally affected and its only the moisture content in the -wood that decreases over time. This lack of moisture makes it harder for mills to Dr. Lewis’ Significance HAAKON SULLIVAN process as this makes the wood really dif- ficult to cut properly. This leads to a lot of waste. The:moisture also affects pulp quality. because ‘moist wood is much easier fo process into pulp as the moist chips stay. submerged-during processing which results in:greater pulp quality. ‘The major reason -why -the beetle killed: trees fall down is because the heavy moisture in some soils rots the base of the tree faster than soil-with less moisture. This means that the policy of cutting the tree down because of safety ‘reasons should not be applied in all re- ‘gions of BC, It is still undetermined how long it takes before a beetle killed tree falls down, but so far it seems that it takes a number of years before the tree falls down due to the beetle kill. It seems apparent to Dr, Lewis that the current volume’ of salvage harvest- ing is excessive and may affect habitat of animals such as caribou. It has been suggested that the industry should slow down in this method of harvesting to save animal habitats and leave the trees to be cut down for later. There is no need to rush out and cut down all the trees in an area just because of the beetle kill. ‘The basis of this research is not for specific wood products, but for wood properties. If the research involved spe- cific products, the results could become - obsolete with new technology or pro- cesses. The information found from this study will be given to people involved in the lumber industry, so they can utilize it to upgrade their methods of harvest- ing and processing for years to come. This project is slated to end in the spring of 2007.