By
Gabrielle Pope
| Image:
Monique Cheung |
Published: May 06, 2010
New vegetarian neighbourhood café breathes fresh life into otherwise sleepy Point Grey
By
Stephen Rees
| Image:
Oran Viriyncy |
Published: September 14, 2009
Share some of the transit love, Vancouver!
I am sorry to say this to a Vancouver audience, but I am afraid that I do not support the proposed subway to UBC. For one thing, Vancouver now has far better transit than anywhere else on the system, and the first priority for the region was always the
Evergreen Line.
By Hilary Henegar
| Image: iStock / rez-art |
Published: May 22, 2009
After giving the issue of complementary proteins in the vegan/vegetarian diet more thought and research, I’ve settled on this: Experts say the goal for all eaters is to get a variety of different types of (hopefully plant) foods into one's daily diet. Ensuring you've hit as many food groups as you can is essential for complete nutrition.
By
Lesa Dee Tree
| Image:
Courtesy UBC Farm and by Jeannette Ordas
|
Published: April 06, 2009
Lesa Dee Tree talks with the Friends of the UBC Farm’s Andrew Rushmere about the plight of the UBC Farm and how they plan to save it.
Learn about food security and organic gardening programs on the UBC farm, and understand the implications of the Official Community Plan on the farm. Plus, find out who’ll be speaking and performing at the Great Farm Trek of 2009.
Photos are by Jeannette Ordas and courtesy the UBC Farm.
By
Lesa Dee Tree
| Image:
Courtesy UBC Farm and by Jeannette Ordas |
Published: April 06, 2009
On April 7, the Friends of UBC Farm are organizing the Great Farm Trek of 2009. While this is an opportunity to celebrate the farm and its community of supporters, organizers of the event also hope to encourage the UBC Board of Governors to support the proposed preservation of the 24-hectare farm in its current location.
By Rob McMahon
| Image: Jenn Perutka |
Published: December 19, 2008
With their newly acquired charity status, the eatART collective brings energy awareness to the masses through its giant mechanical spider and other monster creations
By
John Bucher
| Image:
Massive Change |
Published: August 11, 2008
Everything is connected—Buddhism reduced to a sentence, according to an old professor I know—is an idea so obvious that we may just now be noticing it. A sign of the times (or of how far behind the times we are) is that the University of British Columbia is offering, for the first time ever, a course that takes a holistic look at the complex connections between human health and the environment.
The course is called Ecohealth, and, according to UBC, it "examines the interconnected nature of ecosystems to better understand issues that affect the health of individuals and the sustainability of their environment."
(The image above, "Tree of life," is a diagram of the evolutionary relationships between 3000 species. I found it at MassiveChange.com, where there are some other very cool visual representations of global patterns, human behaviour, etcetera. Take a look.)
More on Ecohealth from UBC Public Affairs:
Together professors, students, professionals, practitioners and researchers of various disciplines from seven provinces will explore ecosystem approaches to health in Vancouver through the lenses of food security, transportation and housing.This will include interactions with multiple community, academic, public and private sector stakeholders, as well as group presentations back to those involved.
The UBC farm will be used as a point of reference for learning throughout the course. “The farm is a microcosm at the rural and urban interface,” says Margot Parkes, a lead researcher for the pan-Canadian team based in the UBC Department of Family Practice and the College of Health Disciplines. “It is a great example of the interconnection between food, transportation and housing as important determinants of health in Vancouver.”
The course will also include a team project focused on the BC outbreak of cryptococcus gattii, “the killer fungus” as a learning scenario.
“A central theme for ecohealth is that health is determined at multiple levels with the whole being more than the sum of its parts,” says Parkes. “For any individual, health and well-being is embedded with the community, region, country and global ecosystems they live in however, we tend to examine these different components in isolation. Understanding the connections between these scales encourages integrated responses to health and sustainability issues.”
The inaugural Ecohealth course also marks the launch of the Canadian Community of Practice in Ecosystem Approaches to Health.
