PHENOMENAL ~ WORLD’S HIGHEST TIDES ~ CANADA

The Bay of Fundy tides are so dramatic that they are considered the highest tides in the world – a phenomenon that occurs nowhere else on the planet.  200 billion tons of water flow every single day!!!

“Bay of Fundy | Tides | New Brunswick, Canada“, uploaded Jun 4, 2009.  Come to the Bay of Fundy and watch the highest tides in the world and then, six hours later at low tide, you can walk on the ocean floor.  In July 2009, the Bay of Fundy was named as a finalist for the New 7 Wonders of Nature contest that ended in November 2011.  It was not chosen as a wonder.  The highest water level ever recorded in the Bay of Fundy system occurred at the head of the Minas Basin on the night of October 4–5, 1869 during a tropical cyclone named the “Saxby Gale”.  The water level of 21.6 meters (70.9 feet) resulted from the combination of high winds, abnormally low atmospheric pressure, and a spring tide.

From wikipedia.org:  The Bay of Fundy… is a bay on the Atlantic coast of North America, on the northeast end of the Gulf of Maine between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine.  Some sources believe the name “Fundy” is a corruption of the French word “Fendu”, meaning “split”, while others believe it comes from the Portuguese fondo, meaning “funnel”.      The bay was also named Baie Française (French Bay) by explorer/cartographer Samuel de Champlain during a 1604 expedition led by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts which resulted in a failed settlement attempt on St. Croix Island.

Bay of Fundy: Canada’s New7Wonders of Nature Finalist, uploaded on Aug 6, 2010

The Bay of Fundy, rivaled by Ungava Bay in northern Quebec, King Sound in Western Australia, Gulf of Khambhat in India, and the Severn Estuary in the UK, it has one of the highest vertical tidal ranges in the world.  The Guinness Book of World Records (1975) declared that Burntcoat Head, Nova Scotia has the highest tides in the world:“The Natural World, Greatest Tides:  The greatest tides in the world occur in the Bay of Fundy…. Burntcoat Head in the Minas Basin, Nova Scotia, has the greatest mean spring range with 14.5 metres (47.5 feet) and an extreme range of 16.3 metres (53.5 feet).”

In the following YouTube video you’ll see both high and low tides featured as the camera captures the panoramic expanse – ‘An afternoon over the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada. Featuring Cape Split, lighthouses, and the highest tides in the world, published on Aug 17, 2012.’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Fundy

EARTH DAY 2013 ~ OTTAWA, CANADA

The first Canadian Earth Day was held on Thursday, September 11, 1980, and was organized by Paul D. Tinari, then a graduate student in Engineering Physics/Solar Engineering at Queen’s University. Flora MacDonald, then MP for Kingston and the Islands and Canadian Secretary of State for External Affairs, officially opened Earth Day Week on September 6, 1980 with a ceremonial tree planting and encouraged MPs and MPPs across the country to declare a cross-Canada annual Earth Day. The principal activities taking place on the first Earth Day included educational lectures given by experts in various environmental fields, garbage and litter pick-up by students along city roads and highways as well as tree plantings to replace the trees killed by Dutch Elm Disease.

 Earth Day Canada (EDC) is a national environmental charity founded in 1990 that provides Canadians with practical knowledge, tools, and simple easy-to-accomplish actions to support a healthier environment through EDC’s year-round and award-winning programs. 

 

EcoKids supports teachers and students, grades K-8, with free educational resources, curriculum-linked lesson plans including ESL and FSL, and homework help and games for students. EcoMentors offers youth the training and resources they need to facilitate local environmental education workshops with their peers and other young Canadians…

Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program recognizes tomorrow’s environmental leaders providing twenty $5 000 scholarships to graduating high school students going on to post-secondary education in the discipline of their choice. The Hometown Heroes Award Program recognizes environmental leaders at the community level with an individual and a group award (each with a cash-prize of $10 000), and business leaders with a small business award. Earth Day Canada’s Community Environment Fund funds sustainable community projects in Ontario providing grants of up to $20 000 to schools and not-for-profit organizations.

The Diversity Engagement and Inclusion Initiative helps the environmental sector to better communicate with, engage and activate Canada’s diverse social and cultural communities. The Employee Engagement program works with employers to achieve business and sustainability goals through inclusion of best practices.

Here’s a wonderful video, ” A Photographic Tribute to The Ocean” from OneEarthOneOcean that I just came across ~ This Earth Day, One World One Ocean is giving the ocean the attention it deserves with a special video collection of ocean photographs from our online community. Here is the ocean through their eyes.

Let’s take up the challenge
to do our part as keepers of Mother Earth
- the need is great!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day#Earth_Day_Canada

FINDING JOY! ~ FRIDAY INSPIRATION

Simple secrets to a happy life . . . What a special treat to find another truly inspiring video from Simple Truths – “Finding Joy ~ Simple Secrets To A Happy Life” ~ sublime!!!  Naturally I want to share it with all of you.

When life brings complications, it helps to remember that happiness is simple. With its beautiful pictures, uplifting quotations, and inspiring tone, ‘Finding Joy: Simple Secrets to a Happy Life’ will put a smile on your face when you need it most. So, today, take three short minutes to watch this movie. Your heart will thank you for it.  Music – “Capture The Moment” by David London, uploaded on Jan 5, 2009 by Hafiz.

A difficult choice to make, but the following are a few of my favorites:

Nothing happens …but first a dream.

~ Carl Sandburg

The heart that gives, gathers.

 
 

~ Marianne Moore

Change your thoughts and change your world.
 
 

~ Norman Vincent Peale

The only things that stand between a person and what they want in life are the will to try it and the faith to believe it’s possible.

~ Rick Devos

Sometimes in the winds of change we find our true direction.
 
 

~ Author unknown

Joy is the light that fills you with Hope, Faith and Love.
 
 

~ Author unknown

To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.
 
 

David Viscott

Link to Simple Truths site where you’ll find an impressive selection of inspiring books.  Many of these books also have an accompanying video which you can preview.  Simple Truths offers frequent book sales.  This may be the next one I order for gift-giving.

http://www.simpletruths.com/canada/

Once again I hope that you enjoyed the video and will find joyful inspiration in many of the quotes, and of course share with others.   Have a great weekend everyone.

FATHOMS DEEP!!! ~ THE COUSTEAU LEGACY LIVES ON

FATHOMS DEEP ~ Protecting the Seafloor

“The future is in the hands of those who explore… and from all the beauty they discover while crossing perpetually receding frontiers, they develop for nature and humankind an infinite love.” ~ Jacques Cousteau

We have a great opportunity to watch an incredible video created by Alexandra Cousteau – YouTube Sep 13, 2012. I hope you  find this to be as educational and entertaining as I did.

In 2010 and 2011 Oceana partnered with SeaLife Conservation and their eco-research sailboat, the Derek M. Baylis, and the Monterey Bay Sanctuary to explore and document Monterey Bay and other incredible West Coast ocean habitats with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and camera  ~ “FATHOMS DEEP – Protecting the Seafloor”, narrated by Alexandra Cousteau.

“Mankind has had an affinity for the ocean since our earliest beginnings. Near or far, the ocean draws us in. The longer you stare at the ocean, the more you take in its wonder. The deeper you go, the more you appreciate its complexity.  Landing on the soft substrata of the sea floor is like arriving on another planet. It appears flat and barren, but in fact, it is teeming with life.”

Wikipedia web site has a lengthy bio on Alexandra Phillipe  Cousteau, the granddaughter of world famous French explorer and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau: “A member of the third generation of the Cousteau family to devote their lives to exploring and explaining the natural world, Cousteau first went on expedition with her father, Philippe Cousteau, when she was four months old, and learned to scuba dive with her grandfather, Jacques-Yves Cousteau, when she was seven. She grew up traveling the globe, developed a passion for adventure and learned firsthand the value of conserving the natural world. Of her father and grandfather, Cousteau says, “The best example they gave me was the importance of living a life of consequence, value, and meaning. I honor their memories by creating a legacy of my own in speaking out for the preservation of our blue planet and all its waters.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Cousteau

Learn more about the expedition and adventure @ oceana.org

WORLD WATER DAY 2013 VIDEO – A MUST SEE!

I came across a remarkable video, ”World Water Day 2013″, posted by Haruna Akashi to YouTube.  Nako Akashi, a young 15 year old student in Japan produced and narrates the video herself.  I’m so impressed with Nako’s work that I feel her insight on water’s impact on our world, should be shared.

Nako is a junior high school student who enjoys music, painting, designing and photography. The devastation of the March 11, 2011 tsunami in Japan had a profound effect on Nako and she says, ” It’s time for us to help the water. The power of just one person may seem very little, but it all counts – one for all – all for one. I believe this is the international rule for everyone.”

My comments to Nako on her video: ‘Congratulations, Nako, on your remarkable video.  I feel your work is award worthy!!! I’m so impressed that I am going to present your video on my blog to celebrate World Water Day 2013.  Best of luck in all your future endeavours.  You are a wonderful ambassador for Japan as a young person with deep-felt compassion and vision.  You will find my blog on WordPress as Rainsoftottawa.’

Nako’s twitter page ~
href=”https://twitter.com/superduperpuper”>https://twitter.com/superduperpuper

Nako’s website where she has posted her photos ~ http://bitterbutter123.deviantart.com/

DEATH OF CANADIAN FORESTS – MOUNTAIN PINE BEETLE

A natural disaster that is
going to occur across all of Canada!

I decided to take the time to Google “pine beetles in Canada” and now realize just how serious a threat the pine beetle is to our environment just from reading headings such as: ‘death of a forest’; ‘the threat of mountain pine beetle‘; ‘pine beetle threatening new B.C. tree species’; ‘pine beetle contributing to forest smog’;  ‘pine beetles contributing to climate change’, etc.

Pine beetle damage extends from forests to drinking water.  The deep green pine trees of British Columbia’s great forests are turning a rusty red, thanks to the mountain pine beetle’s increasing resilience to warming winter temperatures. The grain-sized critter, which lives in the bark of mature trees, kills the trees within months, leaving the wood an ash grey colour once the pine needles fall out years later.  The mountain pine beetle’s devastation has spread over 20 per cent of British Columbia’s total area, costing the province $884 million. By 2014, it is projected that 80 per cent of the province’s pine forests will disappear, an outcome with unprecedented economic, social, and environmental consequences.

Here is a CBC News: The National video from Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, presented by Chris Brown - uploaded on Apr 24, 2008

The mountain pine beetle’s infestation in western Canada is turning forests into a new source of greenhouse gases, according to new research published in the journal Nature

A recent study by the Colorado School of Mines shows that Colorado’s quality of local drinking water is also affected by the beetle.  Driven by climate change, mountain pine beetles are infesting pine wood in Colorado and releasing more carbon into watersheds. This changes how disinfectant chemicals interact with water during treatment, and in turn creates potentially harmful by-products.

What does this mean for Canada’s west coast?  “The vast majority of British Columbia’s population lives far away from the pine beetle crisis,” says Brennan Clarke, media representative at British Columbia’s Ministry of Forests, Land and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO). It’s unlikely that pine beetles will interact with drinking water resources, but FLNRO continues studying the beetle’s impact on regional hydrology.

The damage to the ecosystem is already done with over four million devastated acres of forest in Colorado and Wyoming, where studies show changes in water chemistry and nitrate levels in watersheds, which can cause algae growth in downstream drinking water reservoirs. Risk of wildfires is another hazard to drinking water as water-resistant soils prevent water penetration.

Jim Bouldin, a research ecologist writing for RealClimate, says there is a “complex relationship between the beetles, weather, forest conditions, and tree chemistry.” - Erin Pelhivan, WaterCanada Jan/Feb. 3013 magazine ~ “Critters and Carbon“.

Here is a link to an alarming award winning video I found on YouTube that points out the devastating effects this invasive insect will have on our economical and ecological future: Death Of A Forest – Pine Beetles kill millions of trees in US & Canada ~ uploaded by Wild Visions, Inc . on Feb 14, 2011
http://youtu.be/KTHXPJwaLTc

OTTAWA RIVERKEEPER ADVENTURE FILM FESTIVAL

Ottawa’s First Wild and Scenic Film Festival

Join Ottawa Riverkeeper for an evening of adventure-packed films that celebrate our natural world while raising funds to protect the Ottawa River.

The evening includes a silent auction, door prizes and the opportunity to speak to the Ottawa Riverkeeper herself, Meredith Brown!

When: Thursday, February 21, 2013 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm
(Doors open at 6:30 pm)

Where: Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa

Why: All proceeds from this evening support Ottawa Riverkeeper initiatives, including the purchase of water quality test kits for our Riverwatch Program. Swim. Drink. Fish. It’s your river, it’s your right!

Tickets: $12 General Admission, $50 VIP pass (1 ticket with reserved premium seating and admission to our prescreening reception)

Hosted by Ottawa Riverkeeper, this year’s Wild and Scenic Film Festival features award-winning environmental documentaries with a focus on freshwater.

Through stellar filmmaking, beautiful cinematography and first-rate storytelling these films inform, inspire and ignite solutions to restore the earth, build strong communities, and create a positive future for the next generation.

Award Winning Films

White Water, Black Gold
Follows David Lavallee on his three year journey across western Canada in search of the truth about the impact of the world’s thirstiest oil industry. This is a journey of jarring contrasts, from the pristine mountain icefields that are the source of this industry’s water, to the Tar Sands tailings ponds. White Water, Black Gold is a sober look at the untold costs associated with this unconventional ‘oil’. Take a sneak peak!

Chasing Water
Follow the Colorado River, source to sea, with photographer Pete McBride who takes an intimate look at the watershed as he attempts to follow the irrigation water that sustains his family’s Colorado ranch, down river to the sea. Check out the trailer

For a full listing of films…

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Amazing Prizes

A Stand Up Paddle group lesson for six from Paddlefit

An Ocean Wise five-course menu by Executive Chef Walid El-Tawel with Restaurant e18hteen

Buy tickets online or at Delilah (in the Parc), Delilah (in the Glebe), Mountain Equipment Co-op or Trailhead

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“Like” Ottawa Riverkeeper on Facebook and share this contest for a chance to win 2 VIP passes to the festival!

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Not already a member? Join Ottawa Riverkeeper today!

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Forward this message to a friend

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Ottawa Riverkeeper is a charitable organization. Our business number is 862697059RR0001. Please consider making a donation to support our work.

Concerned citizens like you are part of a watershed network of people committed to the protection and conservation of our river. Thank you for helping to keep our watershed healthy!

Copyright ©2012 Ottawa Riverkeeper Inc.
301-1960 Scott Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1Z 8L8
Phone 613-321-1120 1-888-9Keeper
Privacy Policy Website Contact

CANADIAN ROMANCING THE WIND ~ VIDEO GONE VIRAL!!!

When I began work on this blog I had a link to an absolutely fantastic YouTube video that I received in an e-mail, but unfortunately I can’t use it in this blog in Canada.  I hope that some of you in other countries may be more fortunate and will be able to watch it ~

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nr9KrqN_lIg

The second video features the World Multiple Kite Flying Champion – Canadian Vancouverite Ray Bethell.
You will be amazed by his mesmerizing and seemingly impossible art of bringing life to his kites.

In the following video Ray Bethell shares a very personal insight into his life from approximately 60 years to the present.

Life in a Day – Bob and Ray in Vancouver – Ray’s favorite practice park

 

BUDDY’S RESCUE ~ HEARTWARMING!!!

The puppy insert photos in the above collage are not of Buddy.  I searched Google for ones that I thought he might have looked like when he was a pup.

Buddy- Abandoned dog rescued from field in Bakersfield, published on YouTube on Jan 12, 2013

I’m really happy to be able to share the following with you :

~ to date, $680.00 has be contributed for Buddy’s care

~ Great news!  Buddy is in a foster home today.

FOLLOW BUDDY‘S STORY http://www.Vet24Seven.com OR ON FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/BuddysFriends?fref=ts

I hope you enjoyed this and will share with friends.

OIL SHOWDOWN IN THE AMAZON

Posted: 24 January 2013 by AVAAZ.org

There is one area of the Ecuadorian Amazon that is so pristine that the whole ecosystem has been preserved and even jaguars roam free! But the government is now threatening to go in and drill for oil.

The local indigenous people have been resisting, but they are afraid that oil companies will break up the community with bribes. When they heard that people across the world might stand with them and make a stink to save their land, they were thrilled. The president of Ecuador claims to stand for indigenous rights and the environment, but he has just come up with a new plan to bring oil speculators in to 4 million hectares of jungle. If we can say ‘wait a minute, you’re supposed to be the green president who says no one can buy Ecuador’, we could expose him for turning his back on his commitments just as he is fighting for re-election.

He doesn’t want a PR nightmare right now. If we get a million of us to help the Sani Isla Kichwa community defend their ancestral land and challenge the president openly to keep to his word, we could start a media storm that would make him reconsider the whole plan.

PLEASE sign the petition now and tell everyone (everyone!) ~ let’s help save this beautiful forest.

 http://www.avaaz.org/en/oil_in_the_amazon_8/?clTFScb