Over the Edge - February 15

CITY OF PRINCE GEORGE CUTS ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION

What does this mean for Canada’s Green University?

HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR

n January 28th mayor Shari

Green announced the elim-

ination of 28 jobs in the city of Prince George including positions at the city’s Environmental Services Department. At the time no specific information as to which positions have been cut are given. However, it has now come to light that the city of Prince George simply no longer has an environmental department. CBC Daybreak’s Andrew Kurjata inves- tigated this issue and found that the organizational chart on the city’s website that outlines the divisions and positions of the city did not list an environmental section, a section that had been clearly listed the previous year in 2011. When asked why this was so Mayor Green, after addressing budget cuts and the need to shuffle

staff around, eventually came to state, “the environment department as its labeled is no longer.”

Citizens and organizations that are committed to the environmental stewardship are left to wonder what this means for Prince George in the future. Prince George is an industrial based town with levels of fine par- ticulate matter that sometimes like to give everyone a free bus ride and make senior citizens with breathing problems stay inside. While evidence exists that shows Prince George has made air quality progress, without city staff committed to ensuring that the environment remains a priority alongside pressing economic issues, can anyone guarantee air quality will continue to improve in the fu- ture? The Prince George Air Quality

Roundtable (PGAIR) might like to ask a similar question, but since their funding was also cut in January, they can no longer afford it. The city as of 2011, provided $70,000 dollars to the committee, which made up a sig- nificant portion of the organizations $275,000 dollar budget.

“Sometimes people are so driven by commerce, business interests that they don’t see the whole picture,” UNBC air quality researcher Peter Jackson told The Citizen in Janu- ary. “The city up till now have been very active participants...It’s going to leave a huge vacuum. I’m not sure the process can survive that. I think, that by making these quick decisions without any consultation, we could put the whole process in a stall.”

In response to Daybreak’s investi-

gation and the rumblings of concern from those environmentally conscious citizens, Mayor Green noted that there are still people at work in city hall and that environmental steward- ship is a multi-divisional issues that everyone can be working on. While almost everyone can sympathize with the need to cut non-essential services in order to cut back costs, others ask how “non-essential” is the environ- ment? Or more specifically, how non-essential are specifically hired and focused experts that are commit- ted to improving environmental stan- dards in Prince George? Cranbrook Hill Greenway Society Chair Robin Draper told Daybreak, “I think it’s very short sighted from a city point of view to lose that function. It’s not just a junior position that’s lost; these are

key professionals who have done a lot for the city. These are a lot of experts we are loosing.” Draper continued to say that, “these positions are key to building a community that people want to live in. It’s as simple as that.”

This decision by the city to no longer support a division or any specifically focused staff on environmental issues seems to put the city’s priorities at odds, at least on paper, with UNBC’s green vision. It is a little ironic that Canada’s trademarked Green Univer- sity, a university that is continually awarded for it’s sustainable initiatives and research, is now located in a city that does not even have an environ- mental department.

UNBC : BC’s top 100 employers

Poll Claims UNBC Is a Great Place to Work

HANNA PETERSEN NEWS EDITOR

C’s Top employers is an annual B competition that determines exactly

what it appears to - the top employ- ers in BC. The university has made its way onto the list, which ranks the best places to work in all of BC, and UNBC is one of only three organizations selected from outside the lower mainland. While these rankings don’t seem to give northern employers much of a reputation, UNBC has broken through as the university’s staff is considered to be as happy as any rain-loving Vancouverite. Mediacorp, the largest publisher of employment periodic- als, composed the list and to receive a place on this exclusive list eight criteria are con- sidered. The physical workplace is evaluated along with the work and social atmosphere; health, financial and family benefits; vacation time; employee communications; perform- ance management; training; and community involvement.

The Editors of Canada’s Top 100 Em- ployers found several benefits that UNBC provides for its Employees. According to the editors UNBC helps employees balance their personal and working lives with a variety of alternative working options like flexible hours and earned days off programs. The uni-

versity also encourages its employees to con- tinue their education by subsidizing tuition for courses. The Editors were further pleased with UNBC’s policy giving three week paid vacations to new employees with the option of earning up to five weeks throughout their employment with the university. The onsite daycare services and generous maternity leave policies which helps accommodate new parents and staff with young children were also positively noted by the editors.

“We have known for a long time that UNBC is a desirable place to work,” says UNBC president George Iwama. “I’m so pleased that our faculty and staff our receiving this recognition because it is largely their efforts and dedication that make it so. UNBC is a passionate hard working community and we are honored by this affirmation.” UNBC hu- man resource director Sheila Page adds, ““em- ployees regularly comment on UNBC’s mod- ern architecture and bright, airy work space, the community atmosphere, our development programs, the extensive benefits packages we offer and our ongoing commitment to being Canada’s Green University.”

People will be pushed into hunger and extreme poverty as food prices climb.

LAURA BEVACQUA FEATURES EDITOR

he world saw an extreme spike in rising global food prices since 2005, making a chal- lenging situation for the world’s poor to afford staple food items that much more difficult.

Last year, Oxfam reported that the average cost of key crops would increase by 120%

by 2030. World food prices have already more than doubled since 1990, according to Food and

Agricultural Organization (FAO) figures, and Oxfam predicts that this trend will accelerate over

the next 20 years. Oxfam predicted that half of the rise will be caused by climate change scen- arios which will not only affect the world’s most vulnerable, but the entire global food system.

In Oxfam’s report, Growing a Better Future, predictions indicate that the world’s population will reach 9 billion by 2050 but the average growth rate in agricultural yields has almost halved since 1990.

According to the report, the world’s vulnerable and poorest people today easily spend up to a ghastly 80% of their minimal incomes on food. For example, the poor population in the Philip- pines spend four times more than those in the UK.

Among the many factors that contribute to rising food prices in the coming decades, Oxfam predicts that climate change will have the most serious consequences. The World Bank has also waved red warning flags, warning that the spike in food prices will drive millions of people into extreme poverty.

Oxfam’s report suggested that “the power above all determines who eats and who does not”, and says the present system was “constructed by and on behalf of a tiny minority - its primary purpose to deliver profit for them.”

Oxfam encourages nations to agree to new rules that govern food markets in order to en- sure that the poor do not go hungry. Among other variables, the report stated that leaders must increase transparency in commodities markets and regulate futures markets, and invest and ad- vance in smallholder farmers, especially women.

Poor communities are farmers are the least capable to cope with the fluctuations. In 2008, the International Herald Tribune reported that “In Haiti, three quarters of the population earns less than $2 a day and one in five children is chronically malnourished. The one business boom- ing amid all gloom is the selling of patties made of mud, oil and sugar, typically one consumed by the most destitute.” The impacts of rising food prices should not be underestimated as it in- creases poverty and threatens food sovereignty, economies and the stability of the entire global food chain.