LISTEN TO YOUR (PENGUIN) HEART ~ HOW PRECIOUS!!!

LISTEN TO YOUR HEART ~ Mike Rowland, Film by Ruedi & Priska Abbühl Uploaded on Jan 29, 2011

Credit for this beautiful Emperor Penguin film goes to Ruedi & Priska Abbühl… And the Music … All glory goes to composer Mike Rowland from the album “My Elfin Friends,” who is currently compiling a book about the power of healing through music…I have the impression that to penguins, man is a different kind of penguin, unpredictable, occasionally violent, but tolerable company when he sits still and admires Nature and leaves it as he found it. ~Aetopus/AC

WHERE PENGUINS LIVE: Penguins do not live in the Arctic. They live on the shores of Antarctica and they also live in the south of Australia, New Zealand, America & Africa. The most northerly place that penguins live is on the Galapagos Islands which is near Ecuador in South America. Even though there is ice in Canada and the Arctic, penguins don’t live there or in the northern half of the world.

No other animal other than penguins can draw attention to the environmental damaged caused by oil and gas drilling (fracking and mountaintop removal), my reason for ending this video with the message “NO TO ARCTIC DRILLING!” ~Aetopus/AC
Please see my previous blog, “Fracking Hell ~ A Catastrophe!”                    

Here is a great YouTube video, “Birth and March of Emperor Penguins“, from Nature’s Great Events – In the coldest part of the planet, Emperor Penguins breed and give birth to their young, only to begin a great march toward the coast.

Links:
- PlanetSave: http://www.planetsave.com/
GreenpeaceUSA: http://www.youtube.com/greenpeaceusa

- Mike Rowland website: http://www.mikerowland.co.uk/
iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/mik…
Ambient Classical Mike and Jana Rowland: http://www.ambientclassical.com/

MOTHERS DAY ~ A TRIBUTE TO MOTHERS EVERYWHERE

I thought it would be interesting to check into the history of Mothers Day and also thought it would be nice to create a YouTube video with inspirational quotes on motherhood. I’d appreciate you watching it on YouTube and ‘liking it’. I dedicated my Mothers Day tribute to my amazing daughter who is the fabulous Mom of my 5 year old grandson and is my inspiration, ”my hero” and “the wind beneath my wings” ~ I hope you enjoy it and you are welcome to share with all the Moms near (or far) and dear to you.

EARLIEST HISTORY OF MOTHERS DAY:
The earliest history of Mothers Day dates back to the ancient annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to maternal goddesses. The Greeks used the occasion to honor Rhea, wife of Cronus and the mother of many deities of Greek mythology. Ancient Romans, too, celebrated a spring festival, called Hilaria dedicated to Cybele, a mother goddess. It may be noted that ceremonies in honour of Cybele began some 250 years before Christ was born. The celebration made on the Ides of March by making offerings in the temple of Cybele lasted for three days and included parades, games and masquerades. The celebrations were notorious enough that followers of Cybele were banished from Rome.

History of Mother’s Day in England:
The more recent history of Mothers Day dates back to 1600s in England. Here a Mothering Sunday was celebrated annually on the fourth Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter) to honor mothers… Custom of celebrating Mothering Sunday died out almost completely by the 19th century. However, the day came to be celebrated again after World War II, when American servicemen brought the custom and commercial enterprises used it as an occasion for sales.

Mother’s Day in the United States:
The idea of official celebration of Mothers day in US was first suggested by Julia Ward Howe in 1872. An activist, writer and poet Julia shot to fame with her famous Civil War song, “Battle Hymn of the Republic“. Julia Ward Howe suggested that June 2 be annually celebrated as Mothers Day and should be dedicated to peace.
Anna Jarvis is recognised as the Founder of Mothers Day in US. Though Anna Jarvis never married and never had kids, she is also known as the Mother of Mothers Day, an apt title for the lady who worked hard to bestow honor on all mothers… The hard work paid off. By 1911, Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state in the Union and on May 8, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day in Canada:
In North American country of Canada, Mothers Day is the most popular festival after Christmas and Valentines Day. Just as in USA, Mothers Day in Canada is celebrated in the second Sunday in the month of May. People pay tribute to their mothers on the day and thank them for their constant support and love.  Here in Ottawa we have the Tulip Festival which coincides with Mother’s Day.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Mother’s_Day

CIELAP REPORT ~ “EMERGING CONTAMINANTS”

WHAT MUST WE DO
TO PRESERVE

OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE???

The following excerpts are taken from a report, “There is No Away: Emerging Contaminants Detected in Water” which was published in the March/April, 2006 edition of Canadian Water Treatment magazine.

A report from the Canadian Institute For Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) released during National Pharmacists Awareness Week emphasizes the need for the Canadian government and industry to invest mores resources to research the effects of “emerging contaminants: in Canada’s waterways”.  The report makes 11 recommendations about ways to reduce the amount of, and their effects on, one of Canada‘s most valuable resources.

Anne Mitchell, executive director of CIELAP, said the release of the report was planned to coincide with the industry’s national convention because there are a number of issues related to increasing environmental contamination by pharmaceuticals and personal care products.  She was also careful to commend pharmacist for their efforts in keeping unused and wasted drugs out of the water.

The report, There is No Away: Emerging Contaminants Detected in Water, was written by Susan Holtz, a policy consultant to CIELAP who  writes on issues related to sustainable development, water and energy.  CIELAP is a not-for-profit research and educational institute dedicated to environmental law, policy analysis and reform.

In writing her  report, Holtz examined the issued of “emerging contaminants” – a term that originated in a U.S. Geological Survey report.  It refers to the  presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (collectively know as PPCPs) and endocrine-disrupting substances (EDSl) in the Canadian water system.  Holtz warns that the contaminants entering surface, ground and drinking water can have serious environmental and health consequences.  One of the biggest concerns is the issue of resistance to antibiotics and hormonal imbalances due to higher concentrations of EDS.  Of major concern, she says, if the increased use of antibiotics for both the human and animal population.  In Canada, there were 326.2 million prescriptions filled from July 2001 to August 2002.

In farming, Holtz notes that antibiotics are no longer being used singularly to treat sick animals; they’re also being used in the form of hormones, growth promoters and for illness prevention.  In her research, she determined the increased use of drugs in veterinary medicine, farming practices and aquaculture has decreased the effectiveness of the use of antibiotics.  The use of hormones in both animals and humans has had a negative effect on reproduction, causing the feminization of fish, wiping out an entire talhead minnow population in Ontario.  EDSs have also contributed to deformities in fish, birds and wildlife…Building on study results conducted in the U.S. and Europe, Holtz says it’s time for Canada to get more involved in the issue of contaminants in water.  She says the Canadian government and Canadian organizations don’t have enough information “even to develop a strategy that can effectively” determine the effects of contaminants in water… 
Here are a few YouTube videos relevant to this article:
~ Pharmaceuticals ~

~ Disposing of your Medications ~

~ Pharmaceutical Products In Our Water PSA ~

In addition to research, Holtz said a focus on human behaviour and providing more information to the public in order to encourage better choices are also important elements of social change.

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

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO – WATER INSTITUTE’S EXTERNAL PARTNERS PROGRAM

University of Waterloo - The Water Institute
Through collaboration among individuals engaged in water science, technology, management and governance, the Water Institute is an interdisciplinary hub that facilitates innovative research, education and training.  The Institute’s activities focus on the sustainable use and management of water resources to support healthy and prosperous communities and ecosystems at the national and international scale.  Throughout its history, the University of Waterloo has demonstrated a significant and consistent commitment to education and research on water-related topics and has garnered international acclaim for its innovative solutions to society’s water problems.

Launch of the The Water Institute’s External Partners Program

With over 125 faculty members and 400 graduate students, distributed over all six faculties, the University of Waterloo has one of the largest and most diverse water research programs in Canada.  Established in 2009 the Water Institute supports and encourages greater interdisciplinarity among our programs.  An important element in the strategy to achieve our goals is to encourage much closer association between the University and external organizations, including the private sector, government, civil society and other research facilities.

Please join us for this year’s Water Institute’s Research Symposium to be held May 2, 2013 at the University of Waterloo. The 2013 symposium will showcase the breadth of Waterloo’s water research and provide an opportunity for organizations to interact with researchers and students.

Website: water.uwaterloo.ca

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

“THE DESTRUCTIVE POWER OF ICE” ~ VIDEOS!!!

The following excerpts are taken from: FIRE AND ICE: What happens when you tamper with ice? By Steven Willard – Canadian Water Treatment magazine, Mar/Apr edition, 2006.

Ottawa’s Ice Dam Busters – Human Planet, Rivers, Preview – BBC One -uploaded on Feb 24, 2011 When the frozen river starts to melt and large ice blocks start forming a dam, it’s time for extreme measures to avoid flooding in the Canadian capital.

Ice is a dangerous substance.  History is filled with examples of the destructive power of ice, from glaciers of pre-history to the modern sinking of an unsinkable ocean liner…  Often the destruction from ice can be so severe that action must be taken to prevent damage.  The city of Ottawa did just this thing.  Worried that the ice might form a dam and back up the spring run-off which would then lead to flooding of low lying areas, the city had a program in the spring of the year to cut up ice on the Ottawa River and blast it in to manageable pieces to prevent a build up of ice in the river; a program that eventually brought the City of Ottawa to Court in 1997.

You’ll realize the danger in ice blasting in the following YouTube video, “Winter Ice Break-up at Rideau Falls, Ottawa, Canada“.  Watch at 3:30 into the video to see the blasting take place – unbelievable that they’d blast so close to the bridge where people are standing and a van is damaged by the flying ice!!!

Every spring since 1887 the city has blasted the ice of the Rideau and Ottawa rivers into small chunks so that they could be flushed easily and safely down the Ottawa River before the ice could pile up and act as a dam, above which flooding would inevitably happen.  Downstream from Ottawa, Rideau Falls Generating Partnership operated a hydro-electric dam at the base of the Rideau Falls.  In 1992, the City of Ottawa conducted their usual ice removal program and, as a result, chuckes of ice floated down the Ottawa river, over the Rideau Falls, landed at the base of the falls and piled up. The ice piles up as high as the drop of the Rideau Falls.  In essence an ice dam had been created.  The water built up behind this dam and quickly flooded the generating station causing considerable damage to the station and it ceased to generate power for some months. In 1996, the exact same events occurred with more damage to the station.  Rideau Falls Generating Station sued the City for damages, and won.

On the face of it, this seems unfair.  The City of Ottawa had done this work every spring for many years to prevent people from being flooded from their homes.  The city could not control the pile-up of ice at the bottom of the Falls, which the Court even called “unnatural.”  But riparian law is very strict: if you tamper with the natural flow of water (and ice for that matter), then you will be responsible tor damages created by your actions… The city also argued that the Ontario Municipal Act allowed a municipality the right to pas a by-law to control flooding.  The court held that the by-law passed by the city would not relieve the city from responsibility for its actions.  Simply put, the Municipal Act did not confer on the city a right to damage property.  This case stands for a number of points of law.  It confirms that the owner of riparian land has a right to the natural flow of water.  Anyone who tampers with that natural flow needs to take actions to prevent damage, even to the extent of preparing for extraordinary situations.  And finally, downstream lands cannot be sacrificed to save upstream lands.

The following shows just how destructive ice flows on the Rideau River can be: YouTube video, ‘Ice Flow Takes Out Dock – Rideau River’ Uploaded on Feb 23, 2009 ~ “An ice flow took out the end of our dock on the Rideau River near Ottawa, Ontario Canada. The dock was 78 feet long; it’s much shorter now! “

WASTEWATER AND THE CANADIAN ARCTIC ~ DO THEY MIX?

  

The following excerpts are taken from WaterCanada’s magazine article, “Breaking the Ice” – The trouble with implementing national wastewater standards in our country’s coldest climates, by Rob Jamieson and Wendy Krkosek

Managing sewage in Canada’s Arctic communities is very different than in the more populated southern regions of Canada. Arctic communities tend to have small populations of 100 to 2,000 people and many can only be accessed by air or by sea during the brief summer season. The cold climate and permafrost conditions generally prevent the use of underground pipes for transporting sewage from homes and buildings to a centralized sewage treatment plant. Therefore, people living in the Arctic often have to rely on a trucked system for water delivery and wastewater collection. Homes and other buildings are often equipped with two tanks: one for potable water, the other for wastewater. Drinking water deliveries and wastewater collection are usually conducted around every one to two days.

[Here is a very short YouTube video featuring the Sewage Lagoon and Windmills at Hooper Bay, Alaska, uploaded on Mar 18, 2010 ~ Temps +8F and 15 kt wind. 360 deg panorama of sewage lagoon and windmills, cemetery, and parts of Old Town.]

In the majority of communities in the Canadian Arctic, the collected sewage is then transported to lagoons (or waste stabilization ponds) located on the outskirts of town. The lagoons are typically designed to hold a full year’s worth of sewage and are frozen for approximately nine months of the year. The lagoon contents thaw during the short summer season, which is approximately two to three months long. At the end of the summer, around early September, the water in the lagoon is pumped out into a natural tundra wetland, or directly into a lake, a river, or the ocean… The main advantages of these types of systems, and the reasons why they are used in small Arctic communities, are they are simple to operate and maintain, do not require energy inputs, and do not use mechanical equipment that would be susceptible to malfunction and failure in extreme cold climates. The problem, however, is that while these types of treatment systems have been well studied and tested in temperature climates, very little research has been conducted on how they perform in extreme arctic climates.
The impact of new regulations  Environment Canada has recently implemented new Wastewater Systems Effluent Regulations (WSER). The regulations include National Performance Standards (NPS) for municipal wastewater facilities, and specific timelines for upgrading facilities based on an environmental risk assessment framework. However, Environment Canada has specifically acknowledged the challenges that remote, northern communities will face in complying with the WSER. It was recognized that little information exists on the performance of wastewater systems operating in Canada’s far north, and the risk they pose to human and environmental health (CCME, 2009). Therefore, the regulations do not immediately apply to wastewater systems located in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and north of the 54th parallel in the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. A five-year grace period (ending in 2014) was provided to conduct research on northern wastewater system performance, and to propose alternative effluent quality guidelines….

In response to the impending federal wastewater regulations and the need to identify cost-effective approaches for sewage management, the Government of Nunavut and Dalhousie University have developed a long-term research program focused on municipal wastewater management in Nunavut. The goals of the five-year project, currently in its third year, are to characterize the performance of existing lagoon and wetland wastewater treatment systems in Nunavut, assess the risks these systems pose to both human and environmental health, and identify and test strategies for improving the performance of passive treatment systems in Arctic climates. This work is also meant to provide the information needed to develop appropriate wastewater treatment standards for northern regions…

To address this issue, Dalhousie University has collaborated with the Nunavut Research Institute to establish a water quality laboratory in Iqaluit. The lab is equipped to analyze for all primary wastewater parameters, and is also used to provide training to students enrolled in the VThe research conducted to date has produced some very interesting results. The unique summer arctic climate, where some communities receive up to 24 hours of sunlight, can have a number of advantages.

For example, extended daylight can stimulate a tremendous amount of algae growth in sewage treatment lagoons. These algae populations are capable of adding considerable amounts of oxygen to the lagoons through photosynthesis, which helps facilitate biological treatment processes. Trying to understand and harness the natural processes that occur within lagoons and tundra wetlands will be key to predicting and optimizing the performance of these systems.

As these types of “open” treatment systems are heavily influenced by environmental factors such as ambient temperature and solar radiation, it will also be important to understand how their performance may be influenced by climate change. Initial findings also indicate that the characteristics of the water bodies which receive the treated effluent must be carefully considered in the establishment of appropriate treatment standards for the Arctic.

Interesting factoid for you all–did  you know Canada is has more kilometers in distance North-South than East-West…..

WORLD WATER DAY ~ CIRQUE DU SOLEIL EXTRAVAGANZA ~ WOW!!!

WORLD WATER DAY
2013

DON’T MISS:
1) the opportunity to watch online Cirque du Soleil’s incredible, “One Night for One Drop” for a donation of $5.00 or more!!!

2) the remarkable video – ‘One Drop – A Poetic Tale’ at the end of this blog.

Coinciding with World Water Day, ONE DROP will host its inaugural ONE NIGHT for ONE DROP in Las Vegas, NV, USA, on March 22, 2013. For one incredible evening, international leaders, neighbours, philanthropists, and global citizens will come together to make a dream a reality – a world where every human being has access to water and can live in dignity and health.

In celebration of World Water Day on March 22, we will present One Night for ONE DROP, sponsored by Lamborghini and MGM Resorts International. This original production will feature more than 230 Cirque du Soleil artists and guest performers. We’ve announced today that the event will be filmed with 12 cameras and a 90-minute special will be created. The broadcast will be available for online viewing at onenight.ONEDROP.org from March 25 to 31 with a donation of $5 or more.

With a donation of  $5.00 or more we can all be a part of this gala performance!!!  The broadcast will be available for online viewing at onenight.ONEDROP.org from March 25 to 31.

LINK TO REGISTER FOR ONLINE VIEWING
http://www.onedrop.org/en/default.aspx

Jackie Evancho, the 12 year-old singer is reaching ever greater heights, it appears. She’s giving a one-night benefit in Las Vegas with Cirque du Soleil and it involves a good deal of high-wire stuff. Watch, if you dare. Yes, this will be part of the finale. She is singing “Hymn For The World” which Cirque has previously recorded, so the music is likely the backing track from the prior use. Jackie will also be performing another piece, but that’s being kept secret as of now. She swims well, so chances are that it will have some involvement with the pool underneath the giant elevating stage of the “O” Theater.

ONE DROP – a non-profit organization established in 2007 by Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil – supports access to water and raises individual and community awareness of the need to mobilize so that safe water is accessible to all, in sufficient quantity, today and forever. ONE DROP USA, a 501(c)(3) public charitable organization, is its American counterpart.

GAIA—a creative project designed by Guy Laliberté for ONE DROP—is a body of work bearing witness to the beauty of the planet, as well as the fragility of Earth with regards to the universe. In September 2009, Guy Laliberté became the first Canadian private space explorer. During his 11-day stay on board the ISS, Laliberté carried out his Poetic Social Mission (see remarkable video below) and chose to use this unique opportunity to raise individual and community awareness of water-related issues and to help achieve sustainable change in terms of universal water access and protection.

The artistic core of the Poetic social mission event was a poetic tale written especially for the occasion by renowned novelist and Man Booker Prize winner Yann Martel. The tale is gradually revealed by personalities from all walks of life as the program takes us through 14 cities around the world on a journey that begins in Montreal and ends in Moscow.

Let’s all celebrate World Water Day

and enjoy online viewing of Cirque du Soleil’s “One Night for One Drop” extravaganza by donating to One Drop’s cause to use this unique opportunity to raise individual and community awareness of water-related issues and to help achieve sustainable change in terms of universal water access and protection.

THE DEADLY CANADIAN GOLD RUSH!

The following are excerpts taken from the Jan/Feb issue of Water Canada magazine, “How is mining’s legacy affecting water in Canada’s north?” by Mia Bennett

With pickaxes and pans in hand, tens of thousands of people flooded the Yukon in 1896 in search of gold in its snowy creeks.
I’ve included two really great videos on the Alaska (Klondike) gold rush at the end of this blog.
Three years later, the rush came to an abrupt end as miners left for Alaska. Fast forward to 1991, when diamonds were discovered in the Northwest Territories’ (NWT’s) Slave Geological Province. This discovery set off a mining boom in northern Canada that continues today. According to the Mining Association of Canada, companies are expected to invest $140 billion over the next ten years in search of minerals like diamonds, gold, and iron, primarily in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, but also in the Yukon. In the barren, remote expanse of Canada’s circumpolar region - only 100,000 people live across the three territories – oversight and regulation is difficult. This is particularly problematic as climate change renders many current mining standards inadequate. Lakes and streams scattered across the tundra are vulnerable to destruction, leachate, and tailings. As the rush for northern metals and minerals continues, good planning and tough oversight by mining companies, indigenous stakeholders and government are necessary to protect water resources.

Damage done – Mine construction can wreak havoc before the by-products of mining even have a chance to pollute the environment. In 1998, BHP Billiton opened the Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada’s first combined underground and surface diamond mine, in the NWT’s Lac de Gras area. To reach the diamond-strewn kimberlite pipes sitting underneath shallow crater lakes, the company dewatered and fully or partially impacted nineteen lakes and additional streams. The company was also permitted to store rocks and manage pit water in Desperation Pond, used by Arctic grayling (a freshwater fish) for spawning, rearing, forage, and overwintering.

While the company paid Fisheries and Oceans Canada $1.5 million to recreate lost lake habitat, the new lakes did not equal the original ones in health and biodiversity. In one artificial habitat, colder stream water and paltrier vegetation resulted in Arctic grayling that had, on average, less than half as much mass as their counterparts in natural streams. Northern fish species reproduce and grow slowly and are especially sensitive to pollutants, making lake destruction even more harmful than in the south. Moreover, many fish stocks provide commercial value to fishermen and nutritional value to indigenous peoples…Randy Hart, Mining Watch Canada’s program coordinator, suggests that an alternative, though more expensive, way to deal with tailings might be to store them on land in a cement-like, hardened form. “This allows you to have a close to walk-away situation, where you aren’t also destroying a lake ecosystem,” he says.

Changing paradigms -  Indigenous pressure has helped enact stricter oversight of mines. During negotiations over Ekati, First Nations organizations got BHP Billiton to agree to fund the creation of an Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency (IEMA) to oversee their management of the surrounding environment. BHP Billiton also developed a Watershed Adaptive Management Plan. When the IEMA discovered that nearby Kodiak Lake had begun eutrophying due to sewage deposition, making oxygen levels dangerously low for fish, the company was asked to aerate the lake. The fish were able to survive another season. When oxygen levels dropped a second time, the company began depositing its sewage elsewhere. While adaptive management requires consistent environmental monitoring, problems can often be stopped before they get out of hand… Regulations are nothing without enforcement. “Recently, we discovered that Capstone Mining was told by Yukon Government Client Services & Inspections that they were allowed to contravene their water license,” says Karen Baltgailis, executive director of the Yukon Conservation Society. She doesn’t think that any environmental damage occurred, but still has worries. “The fact that our regulators can’t be depended upon to ensure that mining does not cause impacts to our water is a really big concern.” Hart observes that in Nunavut, while the land claims agreement specifies a regional monitoring program, instead there is what he calls a “hodge-podge of project-specific monitoring that goes on based on company needs as opposed to broader, territory-wide needs.” He adds that the same could be said largely for other regions of the north. Hart believes that if a regional baseline monitoring organization were instituted, that would actually provide a “huge advantage” to companies, which otherwise have to start from scratch each time when considering cumulative impacts and regional issues. While weak enforcement is a harder problem to tackle than the lack of monitoring, even when violations are discovered, the fines are often not very high. In 2008, 4.5 million litres of processed kimberlite overflowed a containment wall at Etaki, flooding the nearby tundra and frozen Fay Lake. CBC News reported that BHP Billiton might have to pay “hefty fines of up to $100,000”— pennies compared to the company’s profits…The dangers – Mine drainage -  A bigger hazard to aquatic ecosystems is acid mine drainage, which occurs when water comes into contact with sulphide bearing rocks or tailings. The resulting sulphuric acid oxidizes metals like copper and zinc, rendering the water metal bearing and acidic. Acid mine drainage is especially a problem in underground mines. These are often located below the water table, so water has to be continually pumped out. Once a mine is abandoned, pumping often ceases and allows leachwater to flow out. Pollution of groundwater sources is risky in places like Yukon, where aquifers underlay two-thirds of the territory. Whereas pollution of surface water can sometimes be contained, contaminated groundwater can spread extensively. Fortunately, in many northern underground mines such as Nunavut’s closed Polaris Zinc Mine, permafrost prevents acid mine drainage, as all the surrounding water is frozen in the rocks and soil. But as temperatures climb, intrusion of water into underground mines with sulfuric rocks could become problematic… Threats to oceans  – At the same time as melting permafrost is hindering mining on land, melting sea ice is creating new opportunities – and risks – at sea. On Baffin Island, Nunavut, the planned Mary River Iron Ore Mine would use nine ice breaking freighters year-round to transport iron ore through the Northwest Passage, potentially disturbing the shore, icepack, and marine mammals. Hart asserts, “It’s the most significant marine transportation project that’s ever been proposed for the Canadian Arctic, massively increasing shipping traffic. Along with shipping comes chronic low-level pollution from small oil spills and bilge water. We often focus on massive spills and shipwrecks, but from my understanding, a significant amount of oil and contaminants is released into the marine environment on an ongoing basis outside of major catastrophes.”…

After the gold rush – Like the gold rush a century ago, the current boom will end one day, too, and proper de-commissioning plans need to be prepared. There are 10,000 abandoned mines across all of Canada in various states of disrepair. The grandiose names of contaminated sites in the north represent ghostly boom towns of decades past: Discovery Mine, Giant Mine, Port Radium Mine. At various sites, mining has left behind a wasteland of radioactive tailings, cyanide-laced water, and sediment plumes…The Canadian Arctic is so sparsely populated and so far from most people’s minds that the adage, “out of sight, out of mind,” too often rings true, especially once a mine is closed. If an operator declares bankruptcy, however, the costs of decommissioning can be passed on to the taxpayers, hitting closer to home…The mining industry has demonstrated a more progressive approach to water management than in the early twentieth century. This is in part thanks to the involvement of indigenous people’s and stronger government regulations. For all its faults, Agnico-Eagle serves as an example of one company that has put forth some efforts to reduce its impact on the environment. Connell notes that all of its operations now require water management strategies…

Harmonizing economy, environment, and technology - Given the region’s low population base and lack of alternative industries like agriculture or manufacturing, mining plays an important role in northern economic development. Profits and water quality, however, do not need to be a zero-sum game. Technology now exists to make operations safer for the environment.

Moreover, in the territories, development has generally proceeded hastily without an eye towards long-term sustainability. It’s easily forgotten that mining is temporary, while both humans and nature will rely on surrounding waters indefinitely. One day, the temperature could rise high enough that even precautions like Meadowbank’s “worst-case scenario” tailings cover are inadequate. But in the near future, if the right balance is struck between conservation and development, we can avoid a legacy of overflowing tailings ponds and acidic rivers and instead enable clean, productive northern waters and fisheries. The consequences of not doing so will far outlast any profits.

1898 Alaska Klondike Gold Rush Story, Dawson City, Yukon River, published on Oct 26, 2012 by Jeffrey Martin ~ Segment of a short 1950s film that was called ‘City of Gold’ about Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush in the Alaska / Yukon Canada area. This is the first half of a prior posted segment that can be used with the Alaska Goldmine ice-breaker class exercise.

The Klondike Gold Rush: Photographs from 1896-98, uploaded on Apr 17, 2008 ~ This spectacular video is based on the best-selling book “The Klondike Gold Rush: Photographs from 1896-1899.” by Graham Wilson. This is the mother lode of the north – a stunning record of the last great gold rush.