Salish Sea News Week in Review February 4 2022

 

Aloha Hemp Friday!
National Hemp Day was started in 2019 to increase awareness of the entire hemp industry, to support hemp farmers, and to encourage people to research what type of hemp products are right for them. Hemp and marijuana both come from the Cannabis sativa plant. Whereas marijuana is high in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), a psychoactive cannabinoid, hemp contains less than 0.3 percent of it. Hemp has numerous uses: hemp fiber can be used to make rope, string, yarn, cable, canvas, bioplastics, and clothing. Hemp seeds consist of approximately 30 percent oil, and the oil can be used to make paints, soaps, biofuels, and varnishes, and can also be eaten. The seeds themselves can be eaten and be used to make milk. Hemp also contains cannabidiol (CBD), another cannabinoid, which can be taken in the form of tincture drops, capsules, gummies, vape oils, topicals, bath bombs, and more.

Bans on fossil fuel heating in new homes gain steam as world aims for net-zero emissions
Vancouver and Quebec recently banned certain kinds of fossil fuel-based heating in new home construction. Similar — and, in some cases more extensive — bans are happening around the world, from Norway to New York City.

Canada’s biggest emitters are paying the lowest price on carbon
Oil and gas producers pay among the lowest average carbon costs of any sector – and it’s threatening Canada’s climate targets.

Anticipated Salish Sea vessel traffic increases spark calls for more environmental protections
Fossil fuel and terminal expansion projects up and down the Salish Sea are estimated to boost annual shipping vessel traffic by at least 25% in the near future, and the projected increase has raised concerns about increased risk to the environment.

International research team to probe salmon mysteries in North Pacific
An international team of more than 60 scientists on four vessels is headed out on rough winter seas to investigate West Coast and Alaska salmon in the North Pacific.

US plays catch up with Canada to quiet ships for endangered orcas
Canada’s ECHO Program setting the benchmark for protection of southern resident killer whales, with the US said to be five years behind in its efforts

Executive Sidhu: County Remains Committed to Partnership in Cross-Border Flood Planning Efforts
"Whatcom County does not and has no plans to “send” Nooksack floodwaters north to Canada." Whatcom County Executive Satpal Sidhu.

B.C. extends aerial wolf cull for five more years
A controversial wolf cull in B.C. has been extended for another five years, according to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development. 

Scientists deploy buoy in Puget Sound to measure noise, risks to orcas
Scientists aboard the King County research vessel ‘SoundGuardian’ Tuesday deployed a buoy that will monitor underwater noise in Puget Sound – which poses risks to our southern resident orca population.

Green aluminum? Complex deal seeks to restart the last aluminum smelter in the NW and cut pollution
A complex deal is taking shape to revive the Pacific Northwest's last remaining aluminum smelter. Alcoa idled its Intalco Works smelter near Ferndale, Washington, a year-and-a-half ago and laid off virtually all the workers there.

Think 85,000 invasive crabs is a lot? Wait 'til you see Vancouver Island
While 85,000 invasive green crabs—a record number—were captured near Bellingham last year, trappers have scooped up more than 107,000 European green crabs in Clayoquot Sound, the traditional territories of the Tla-o-qui-aht and Ahousaht First Nations, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

There's a tree seed shortage in Washington state. What does that mean for our beloved forests?
As wildfires grow in size and regularity, those millions of acres are going up in flames. Normally, there's an ecosystem of public and private tree nurseries that reseed our forests. But a seed shortage now threatens their future.

To save Western US forests, cut them way back, study suggests
A new study proposes a radical prescription for the ailing health of dry U.S. Western forests: cutting back trees by as much as 80%.

These news clips are a selection of weekday clips collected in Salish Sea News and Weather which is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe at no cost to the weekday news clips, send your name and email to mikesato772 at gmail.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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