By Tyler McCreary
Briarpatch Magazine
February 2007

“Years ago, coal bed methane was known only to coal miners and their canaries.”

Photo by Pat Moss

THE PICTURESQUE BULKLEY VALLEY, nestled in northwestern British Columbia, presents an idyllic image of rural life. In these lands, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation maintain their livelihoods and governance on their traditional territory, while nearby, settlers have flourished in agriculture, forestry, mining and tourism over the past hundred years. Divergent interests have split these constituencies in the past, but now Aboriginal and settler communities have found common cause against a proposal promoted by the provincial government: coal bed methane development.

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By Richard Heinberg
Briarpatch Magazine
February 2007

“The energy transition of the twenty-first century is probably the greatest challenge our species has ever faced.”

Energy and agriculture are intimately linked. A calorie, remember, is a measure of energy. Food itself is energy. To truly understand the trends that will shape the future of agriculture, we need to understand our relationship with energy. In particular, we need to look closely at industrial agriculture�s dependence on fossil fuels, and our own dependence on industrial agriculture.

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By Darrin Qualman
Briarpatch Magazine
February 2007

We are now consistently consuming more food than we produce. The implications of this fact will shake the industrial food system to its very roots.

Illustration by Alain Goncalves

HUMANITY IS IN THE FASTEST, most sustained food supply drawdown in the 46-year period for which we have data. Moreover, excepting the World Wars, it is probable we�re seeing the fastest, most sustained drawdown in a century, maybe longer.

Worldwide, in six of the past seven years, we consumed more grain than farmers produced. We’ve cut supplies in half over that seven-year period, reducing our grain-on-hand from a 115-day supply to a 57-day supply.

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An Interview with John Miller, Families Against Radiation Exposure
Briarpatch Magazine
February 2007

Illustration by Aimee van Drimmelen

Port Hope, Ontario, has long been at the nucleus of uranium refining in Canada. In 2003, Cameco, the world’s largest publicly traded uranium company, proposed an expansion of its existing uranium refinery to begin producing enriched uranium—a process that increases both the risk of a criticality accident and the environmental risk.

Questions about these risks led citizens of Port Hope to form Families Against Radiation Exposure (FARE) in May, 2004. FARE launched a successful 16-month campaign against the plans of Cameco Corporation to introduce enriched uranium to Port Hope. Faced with unprecedented scrutiny and questions it could not or would not answer, Cameco withdrew its application.

Briarpatch’s Tyler McCreary and Ken Sailor caught up with FARE President John Miller to discuss the role that ordinary citizens played in the process.

“It shouldn’t be our job to prove that this is dangerous; it should be their job to prove that it is safe.”

Briarpatch: Can you tell us a little about FARE?

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Briarpatch Magazine
February 2007

HUNGRY FOR MORE?

Further reading

“Locked Dumpsters Full of Mangoes: Hungry people, wasted food, and the politics of dumpster diving”
Moira Peters
The Dominion
December 4, 2006

Unappeasable customers, bitter bosses and deserted lunch shifts; it is no secret that restaurant work can be soul-crushing. However, the most painful moments in the food industry — ask anyone who has worked in a cafe�, restaurant, bar or food store — are moments spent throwing away good food.

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