magazine / nd07
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November/December 2007 issue |
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Reverberations
Mackenzie’s French curves
Lisa Gregoire and Patrice Halley
(“People
of the delta,” Sept/Oct 2007)
captured those small details that bring a
place and its people alive.
My attention was piqued by the words
“they barged men and machines up the
Mackenzie.” [As a number of readers have
pointed out, that should have read "down
the Mackenzie” - Editor.] In 1947, my
father, Malcolm Matheson, a hull surveyor
with the British Corporation, was
sent to survey all the new barges that had
been put into service on the Athabasca-
Mackenzie river system after the war. He
flew from Vancouver to Fort McMurray,
Fort Smith, Fort Chipewyan, Hay River,
Fort McPherson, Norman Wells, Aklavik
and Tuktoyaktuk. He spoke about "the
beautiful French curves” of the river as it
flowed through the delta. I think it was
almost a holiday for him. He loved the
North and perhaps felt some kinship with
Alexander Mackenzie, who was born in
the same town as he was: Stornoway on
the Isle of Lewis, Scotland.
Flying was not as easy then as it is
today. Passengers were given oxygen
masks as they crossed the Rockies. Dad
didn’t consider himself a pioneer, but
I think he would have been pleased to
know that he played some small part
in the future of the North.
Marion Shirley
Castlegar, B.C.
If the Mackenzie
Valley Pipeline were to
proceed, it would ruin yet another of
this country’s glorious beauties, because
the construction companies would have to
tear up the land. Canada is seeking more
efficient ways to heat homes and produce
energy, but allowing Shell, ExxonMobil,
Imperial Oil and ConocoPhillips into the
area will undermine the attempts Canada
is making at conservation. We need to say
no to this proposal, to help do our part in
preserving the natural world around us.
Jeff Koscik
West Lorne, Ont.
Missing flavour
In your interesting article on the
tomatoes of Leamington, Ont.,
("Vineland,” Sept/Oct 2007), there was
no mention of flavour. I find that in all
the scientific advances in the cultivation
of tomatoes, which includes early ripening,
pest control and ease of picking,
flavour is never on the list of priorities.
When I occasionally get a tomato that
tastes as a tomato should — and could
— it is like striking gold. The present
generation doesn’t know how a tomato
should taste.
E. Augusteijn
Orangeville, Ont.
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I read with shock your story about
tomatoes
and greenhouses in southern
Ontario. What is the true cost of these
greenhouses? For each calorie we receive
from a tomato, what is the cost of the
fuel, concrete, glass, plastic, metal and
technology that go into its production?
In a world where half the people are hungry,
why tell us about greenhouse owners
and their fears about maybe not being
able to buy new Jeeps for their teenagers
or take trips to Florida? What about that
rich, black soil? Was it removed, or was it
buried under tonnes of concrete? Surely
such a loss of soil is a crime against life
and all of creation.
Ian Moul
Comox, B.C.
Is it a coincidence that articles on
tomato
greenhouses and green roofs
(“Queen
of green,” Sept/Oct 2007)
appeared in the same issue? I have long
believed that all buildings, including
single-family homes, apartments and
commercial structures, should have:
- Rainwater storage in the basement.
This would provide humidity, act as a
heat sink, and the water could be pumped
into the hot-water tank to provide water
for washing. The water could also be
pumped to a roof garden or a greenhouse.
- Full or partial glass roofs. Instead of an
attic, there would be space to raise not only
vegetables but perhaps lemons, grapes,
apples and even bananas.
These two innovations would substantially
reduce the impact of transporting
food halfway around the world.
Apartment dwellers could have their own
garden or could co-operate with their
neighbours. Fuel consumption would be
reduced because of the heat-sink storage,
detergent consumption would be reduced
through the use of soft water, and urban
infrastructure would have a reduced load
with the use of rainwater for drinking
water and less runoff being directed into
storm sewers.
Of course, this would not preclude the
use of solar- and wind-generating systems
for heat and electricity.
Just a pipe dream?
David Cowan
Edmonton
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Sarah Scott wrote a captivating, lively
and illuminating portrait of Cornelia
Hahn Oberlander ("Queen
of green,”
Sept/Oct 2007). Oberlander sets an
example that should encourage municipalities
and architects to build more
green roofs in Canada and elsewhere.
Readers might be interested to know
that more information about green roofs
and Oberlander and photographs of her
works by Etta Gerdes are available at
www.goethe.de/landscape. This website,
presented in both English and German,
is operated by the Goethe-Institut in
Montréal, which organized an exhibition
about Oberlander in 2006 that has been
presented so far in three Canadian and
four German cities.
Mechtild Manus
Director, Goethe-Institut
Montréal
Top those treetops
It was a joy to walk again, this time
with Roch Carrier, on Mount Royal
(“In habitat,” Sept/Oct
2007), at the
foot of which I lived and worked for
several years. On a visit two years ago,
I came to a lookout with a stone parapet
in which brass arrows were embedded
that pointed to places in Montréal
and across the river. But there were
no sights to see. Trees had grown up
from below and completely obscured
the view.
The same thing has happened in
West Vancouver. The municipality has
erected a lookout on the
side of Cypress Mountain,
but trees hinder the view.
And in Vancouver itself,
the view from Little
Mountain, also known
as Queen Elizabeth Park,
is losing the battle with
foliage. There is even some
talk of building a tower
there to provide a view.
Some city people need to
do some treetop clipping.
Jack Hannan
North Vancouver, B.C.
Marrying a country wife
A large part of David and Charlotte
Thompson’s lives didn’t make
it into your story (“Travels
with Charlotte,” July/Aug 2007). Some years
after they left the West in 1812, they
bought a farm in Williamstown, Ont.
The house in which they lived, now
called the Bethune-Thompson House,
is owned by Ontario Heritage Trust.
The Thompsons were finally forced to
move from there when they were unable
to pay the mortgage.
Aritha van Herk writes that the
Thompsons were the model couple
of the great Canadian romance, and
that Charlotte was “possibly the besttravelled
Canadian woman of her time.”
I want to alert you to the fact that John
Macdonell — son of “Spanish John” of
Glengarry — and Magdeleine Poitras
from Qu’Appelle, Sask., shared much
the same story.
Macdonell was a partner with the
North West Company (he and David
Thompson knew each other) and took
Magdeleine as his country wife when
she was 13 or so. She travelled with him
while fur trading on the western trails,
aiding his very survival and bearing six
children along the way. When he retired
in 1812 and moved East, he married her
in the Catholic Church, had six more
children and built a mansion on the banks of the Ottawa River, which is
still standing today. It is also owned by
Ontario Heritage Trust and is gradually
being restored. As co-president of the
Friends of the Macdonell-Williamson
House (we have 250 members), I would
like to invite you to check out our website
at www.mwhouse.ca.
Valerie Verity
Chute-à-Blondeau, Ont.
Icebreakers and frigates
I read Rick Boychuk’s interview with
Patrick Toomey (“Polar voices,”
Sept/Oct
2007) with great interest.
Toomey’s argument that Canada needs
new icebreakers to support her increasingly
visible Arctic communities and
the navigation that sustains them must
ultimately be persuasive. Frigates, however
stoutly built, cannot break or clear
ice, and ice will be a fact of life north of
60 for many years, no matter how fast it
may be melting. Alas, things are not as
simple as your cover headline "Frigates
or icebreakers?” suggests.
As the ice retreats, nations and multinationals
are looking northward, at the
Northwest Passage and at untapped
mineral wealth on land and on the continental
shelf beyond. In the years
ahead, Canadian sovereignty in the
Arctic will be challenged, and because
icebreakers are as ill-prepared to defend
against encroachments as frigates are to
break ice, Canada also needs an icestrengthened
component in her navy.
It is easily forgotten that during the
late 1930s, my country tried to escape
becoming a world power, but events
oceans away made that impossible, and
reluctantly, we accepted the challenge.
Canada stands similarly: events beyond
her control are pushing her to centre
stage. There will be the usual hesitation,
but in the end, I have every confidence
that Canada will step forward and find
a way to afford icebreakers and frigates.
George E. Sollish
Syracuse, N.Y.
Spilled light
I particularly enjoyed the May/June
annual environment
issue of
Canadian Geographic, with its inspirational
stories about so many Canadians
working in their communities to reduce
our ecological footprint. I would like
to add another dimension to the story
of one of the winners of the Canadian
Environment Award for Climate
Change: Project
Porchlight.
We could work toward reclaiming
dark nights and starry skies by also
making our porch lights dark-skyfriendly.
Light pollution — defined as
“any adverse effect of artificial light,
including sky glow, glare, light trespass,
light clutter, decreased visibility at
night and energy waste” — disrupts the
ecology of nighttime animals, can cause
crop damage and has significant deleterious
effects on humans. All the wasted
light (which goes zinging off into the
sky or spills onto neighbouring properties
and objects that weren’t intended to
be illuminated) costs energy to produce,
and is therefore a significant contributor
to greenhouse-gas emissions and
climate change.
To solve the problem on one’s own
doorstep, one simply needs to make
certain that the porch light is of moderate
brightness and that the fixture is fully
shielded so that the light is directed down
toward the porch. The International
Dark-Sky Association (www.darksky.org)
has an informative webpage that, among
other things, describes a wide variety of
dark-sky-friendly lighting fixtures, as
well as proper placement and use of
nighttime lighting.
Rebecca Tyson
Kelowna, B.C.
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* Letters may be edited for length, accuracy and liability.
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