EKOS Communications, Inc.

For those of you not in the know, British Columbians go to the polls on May 12th to vote on the next government. As well, they are being offered a one-in-a-lifetime chance to change the way the voting is done. If sufficient numbers of voters cast a "Yes" ballot, BC could move to a single transferable vote system.

Earlier this week, Suncor and Petro-Canada announced plans to merger. This action will create Canada's largest oil company - almost big enough to join the ranks of the four largest independent oil companies consisting of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and BP. At one time, these four stood with three others and were collectively known as the Seven Sisters. But tough, competitive times have forced mergers and takeovers, reducing their number.

But if you think that the remaining four are the world's heavy-weights when it comes to oil production, guess again.

Last week I traveled up island to gather images for the next video in the BC Parks history series. I spent a morning going through historical photographs pertaining to Strathcona Park. I was especially interested in finding pictures of Buttle Lake prior to the building of the Ladore Dam which resulted in the flooding of Upper Campbell Lake and Buttle Lake.

After selecting some 28 images, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and drove out to the park to photograph some key features mentioned by a few of the people we have interviewed for the video.

Just got home a few minutes ago from the neighbourhood pub where I met several of the environmental education and communication graduate students from Royal Roads University that I'm currently working with. Although we are just over a quarter of the way through the ecology course I teach, this is the first time I've met some of them face-to-face. After a few hours together, I come away immensely enriched by the experience. Each of them vibrates with so much pent-up positive energy. They renew my faith and hope that humanity can and will change from being a rogue primate to being a compassionate collaborator within the planet's Web of Life.

Who would have ever guessed that our short video about an energy efficiency innovation installed at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, just north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, would become the most popular video on our site! Passively absorbing heat from the sun, the solar wall is another example of great Canadian environmental technology. But really, why the interest in it? I have no clue at this moment.