Thank you for subscribing to The Dirt Gang! We are still developing the website and hope you will provide us with feedback and suggestions. Actually, this website will always be a work in progress.
We will keep you up to date with a monthly summary of events, activities, projects and news. We hope this will particularly be of help as the Meta boycott of Canadian news continues to restrict the information flow on Facebook.
So, without further ado, here is this month’s summary:
The Issue Map
When we set up this website, we felt that we first needed a list of all the issues communities are facing in our province – and there are so many. But a list just didn’t cut the mustard. To really understand what is happening in the province, we needed a map to give everyone a “birds eye view” of all the communities, projects, development and “pain” points. We called this the “issues map.” It shows all the information we have gathered so far. It’s a work in progress and is being updated regularly. Have a look here. If your community or group is not represented, let us know.
Dirt Gang projects
The Centre for Geographical Sciences (COGS) GIS project
The student project we submitted to COGS has been excepted! COGS is a department within the NS Community College Lawrencetown campus. Our project, “The Nova Scotia Integrated Natural Resource Inventory” would address the need for a comprehensive and integrated analysis tool developed through an interdisciplinary, multi-faceted, community based, life-long-learning system. Four COGS students have signed on to this project. We are very excited and will keep you updated.
Citizen Science
We have partnered with the Save Our Old Forests campaign (SOOF) to bring their successful citizen science project to HRM this spring. Citizen science is simply learning to recognise what you see around you and documenting it. The data then becomes an important addition to decision-making tools. Two areas of old growth forests in Annapolis County have been saved from the harvesters’ blades through citizen science and are now proposed wilderness areas. More on this as plans unfold.
Events
This link will take you to the Events page.
January 23, 25 and 27. Cooks Aquaculture has applied for a 390% increase in open pen fish farms in Liverpool Bay. Workshops are being organised to help folks write letters to the Aquaculture Review Board. Letters must be submitted before February 12.
January 23rd Public Hearing re: the proposed additional floors to the Dexel towers at the corner of Spring Garden and Robie Streets. What has this to do with the environment? The seemingly unfettered demolition permits that HRM has been issuing produces tonnes of hazardous and toxic waste that is being dumped in a landfill in Annapolis County. More on that issue here.
January 28 SOOF Public Meeting at the Bridgetown Legion regarding the areas targeted in Annapolis County for clearcutting and spraying. Also to be discussed are the 2 areas that SOOF has submitted for protection.
In the News
Please check out the News page for articles posted within the last few weeks.
Petitions and Surveys
Link:
The SOOF petition is asking the provincial government to pause clearcutting until old growth and mature forests can be identified and protected. The petitions are being rolled out per county and tabled at staggered intervals in the Legislature until, hopefully, all 18 counties have been represented. The petition is now available for Halifax County.
Ecology Action Centre letter requesting amendments to the Provincial Parks Act
BC North: Letter to the BC Government giving feedback on the draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework.
Other News
Jodie Turner has been providing support and information to community groups for a number of years through her Eco-Action.ca website. Illness has now made it impossible for Jodie to continue with the website and so she has asked us to migrate her information to The Dirt Gang site. We are very honoured to do so and will begin that daunting task in the coming weeks. Thank you Jodie, for all you do for Nova Scotia and for Mother Earth.
Please check back regularly for updates and community information. Feel free to reach out with comments, suggestions, news or just to chat.
Take care
Sandy and Lil
The Dirt Gang
