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Coming up in Cowichan: Cancer fundraisers, Leaders of Tomorrow, bee talk, LNG: pipedream or reality, Humpback Comback

Nominate a youth for Leader of Tomorrow
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Jackie Hildering will be speaking about the Humpback Comeback. (submitted photo)

Nominate a youth for Leader of Tomorrow

Nominate a youth for a Leaders of Tomorrow Award.

Youth aged six to 24 are eligible, as long as they have demonstrated leadership through volunteerism.

Organizers say the event is as all about the nomination, acknowledging the efforts made by each volunteer.

The awards ceremony will be held on April 27 at the Island Savings Centre in Duncan.

The deadline for nominations is April 21. For more information email gotoallthingsvolunteer@gmail.com

Bee event at Jubilee Community Garden

The Jubilee Community Garden Society is sponsoring a bee event April 22 to establish a pollinator garden to benefit bees in the Cowichan Valley.

It is open and free to the public, and runs from 10 a.m. to noon.

The Society’s resident bee expert, Ted Leischner, will give a presentation about the importance of properly planted gardens for bees, and how and what to plant for their health and survival. An area 14 feet by 10 feet has been set aside for a pollinator garden to be planted.

The Society, formed in 2004, has several goals: horticultural education, a communal garden for local food security, promotion of backyard food production as a basic life skill, providing 40 plots for members and a significant communal garden whose produce goes to local organizations. Last year 100 bags of produce were donated to Cowichan Women Against Violence, Cowichan Food Basket and cancer patients.

The Society’s community development activity is happening on April 21 when a group of teens from Queen Margaret’s School visit with Society seniors in the garden from 12:15-2:30 p.m. Besides time with the seniors they will learn and work with compost, both finished and forming, and learn about garden friendly and unfriendly weeds.

Later, on April 24, from 1-3 p.m. a large contingent of teens from Island Oak School will visit the garden and work with seniors. They will weed in the plots and help them with composting. This is the day when the students will help establish the Bee Pollinator Garden bed and seed or set plants in the communal area for the Society’s community donations.

The Society is grateful to the City of Duncan for the use of the land adjoining Centennial Park at the end of First Street for this work.

Everyone is invited to visit the gardens at any time but are asked not to take produce from the members numbered plots.

Researcher to talk natural gas coming to Duncan

LNG: Pipedream or Reality?

This is the topic of an upcoming talk on April 26 with speaker Ben Parfitt, a researcher for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Parfitt previously worked as an investigative journalist with numerous magazines, including The Vancouver Sun. He is author and co-author of two books on forestry issues and currently devotes much of his policy research to natural resources, with special attention paid to energy, water, and forest resources and climate change.

The event will address such questions as: the British Columbia government has made extravagant claims about the benefits to British Columbians regarding LNG development — but were they just election promises? What will the consequences be for our environment and for Canada’s climate change commitments? What are the effects of fracking on our fresh water supplies?

Everyone knows that water is our most precious resource. Right now, the gas industry is being allowed to pump millions of gallons of fresh water out of lakes, rivers and streams to be used in the fracking process, contaminating the water with toxic chemicals and injecting it underground to force the gas out.

The B.C. government is saying that LNG is a “clean energy” but with all the methane gas released, the waste of water and toxic contamination of land and water, LNG is anything but clean, say event organizers.

The talk begins at 7 p.m. in the Duncan United Church Hall at 246 Ingram St.

Sponsored by the Cowichan Valley Chapter of the Council of Canadians and the Duncan United Church Social Justice Committee. Admission is by donation.

Humpback Comeback at VIU Cowichan campus

The Cowichan Valley Naturalists, Cowichan Watershed Board, and Vancouver Island University – Cowichan Campus are co-hosting Humpback Comeback!, a talk by Jackie Hildering, education director and humpback researcher with the Marine Education and Research Society.

On Thursday, April 27, starting at 7 p.m. Hildering will talk whales.

They’re big, they’re beautiful, and they’re back from the brink of extinction, a press release for the event trumpets, but there is still need for increased awareness from coastal British Columbians.

There will be information on humpback feeding and the rate of entanglement for these huge mammals, and what to do if you do witness entanglement. There will also be discussion on how to avoid collision.

The event is free, and takes place at the VIU Cowichan campus in lecture room 140.

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Who are the next Leaders of Tomorrow? You can nominate someone. (submitted)