A letter to the premier and relevant minister of British Columbia

No paintings today, though I am working on several. Instead, I am posting a letter that I sent to several members of the government of British Columbia. It is my hope that others in the my area and the province, if reading this, are inspired to write, to voice their feelings. And perhaps others around the world will be  inspired as well. I believe our world, our home, is in a sad way, and we all must do something to rectify the problems. Here is the letter ...


I am writing to express my very deep concern about how the destruction of agricultural and greenspace land has been allowed to take place over the past twenty years, all done in the professed attempt to create affordable housing. It is happening without care and thought to ecological sustainability. The availability of affordable and attractive housing has not appreciably increased, and available agricultural land has decreased alarmingly.

Living in South Langley, I am saddened and angered to see the proliferation of unattractive tracts of housing developments of inadequate environmental quality. Housing developments should be an integral part of a healthy community, but what is being built all over Langley bears little or no connection to the existing communities. Furthermore, these concentrated areas of tract housing are being constructed at the expense of viable and valuable farmland which, once lost, is gone forever.

The time of unplanned and mindless use of resources should - must - be a thing of the past. I find it unthinkable that your government is so myopic as to continue to allow short-term financial gain for a few to prevail over long-term concern and responsibility for the sustainability of agriculture and environment.

To summarize, it is my feeling that you are obtusely mismanaging a beautiful and rich land. I hope you have the vision and wisdom to correct this deleterious situation.


Please feel free to paraphrase or copy the letter. And thank you so much for dropping by!!

Nutrition and health in agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers

A few years ago, I became quite interested in the question of the "beginning of civilization". From my reading, I gather that somewhere in the area of the Tigris and Euphrates River area - the Fertile Crescent - a change was made over from hunter-gatherer to cultivator, and with it, the development of larger social groups of an hierarchical nature. The archeological site in Turkey, at Gobleki Tepe, is proving to be a fascinating find. It is over 11,000 years old, and appears to be the first organized effort at building a large community site.
The development of larger social groups could only come about with access to a food source. That's the connection to cultivated grains, especially wheat. From there, I have been following an information trail to the effects of a largely wheat-based diet, and on to the hybridization [and other modern manipulation] of our food crops. It really is quite fascinating, and a bit frightening, too. Along with our large consumption of wheat products have come a host of ailments, and with "modern" wheat, the effects are not even known.
Anyway, I thought I would take a diversion from painting. I hope you enjoy the read and the mind-jolt.



Nutrition and health in agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers