Climate action and Sooke’s Official Community Plan were significant topics at the Celebrate Sooke event Photo credit Lily Mah-Sen 

Transition Sooke in the Community

Volunteers from Transition Sooke set up a table at two recent community events — Celebrate Sooke on September 18 at John Phillips Memorial Park and the following Sunday September 26 for, Sooke Region Food Chi’s annual Apple Festival at the Sun River Community Gardens.

It was a great opportunity to meet and talk to the community, including many of our members and supporters.

Sooke Ban on Cosmetic Use of Pesticides

At the September 20 District of Sooke Council meeting, Transition Sooke member Yvonne Court asked Council to adopt a local bylaw to ban cosmetic herbicides and pesticides. She noted that as the Province has had four years to act and done nothing, it makes sense for local governments to proceed on their own.

Councillor Bateman responded that while such a ban is in the 2010 OCP, Council has chosen to advocate with the Province for such a ban and has met with the Integrated Pest Management division. As they had some success going this route with rodenticides, Council hopes that the cosmetic use of pesticides will be added to the Integrated Pest Management Act when general amendments are next scheduled. 

In November, Transition Sooke’s Pesticide Education Group hopes to make a formal presentation to Council encouraging them not to wait for the Province and to adopt a bylaw that draws on a model bylaw developed by CRD. Many municipalities in CRD have already adopted such bylaws.

Please go to this link if you are interested in becoming part of the Pesticide Education Group, If you would like to become involved send an email to us (sooketransition@gmail.com)
 

Water Group

Transition Sooke’s Water Group continues to seek new members. Contact Lynn for more information. Topics of discussion will include greywater management and water conservation. For more information, visit the new page on Transition Sooke’s website: Water Group.

In the News...

Transition Sooke has made it into the paper again. This time the Saanich News for our work on the non-essential pesticide ban mentioned above.

https://www.saanichnews.com/news/sooke-lobbying-for-ban-on-non-essential-pesticides/
 

Education on climate collapse isn't enough, according to one educator. They also need to hear that they are not alone in this struggle.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/first-person-climate-change-education-support-young-people-1.6186611

In a recent letter to the District of Sooke Council, Transition Sooke strongly supported Council’s unanimous passing of the Climate Change Mitigation strategy, the “7% Solution” at its July 26 meeting. Transition Sooke also applauded the excellent work of the Climate Action Committee.

We went on to say that implementing the 7% Solution will be challenging without major financial commitments. We also noted that Transition Sooke is ready and willing to assist in any way it can.

To see the entire letter link here
{https://transitionsooke.org/official-community-plan-and-climate-action-team/}

Throughout the OCP engagement process, Transition Sooke has argued that continued growth will destroy Sooke’s small-town feel and make it impossible to address climate change.

CLIMATE ACTION WEEK

The past week saw international attention and activism on the Climate Crisis. The youth around the world took to the streets as Greta Thunberg declared Friday for Future a day of protest worldwide. We saw a youth lead rally in Victoria starting at the Provincial Legislature marching up Douglas St to Centennial Square. It was well organized and well behaved The estimate was that 500 participated. A respectable turnout given these times.

International protests drew large crowds in Europe, with targets such as oil producers and financial institutions being the primary villains. The Climate Crisis week objective was to draw attention to the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow Scotland in November, where new Paris Accord limits on Emissions will be made.

Even in our small Sooke town, protests were evident and the local RBC was the recipient of a call to climate action. It is reported that RBC provided over $160 billion in financing from 2016 to 2020 to the oil and gas industry.

West Coast Climate Action Network (WE-CAN)  Tuesday Oct 5 WE-CAN launch 7 pm

A big public event, live-streamed on YouTube and Facebook, with speakers, poets, and musicians. We’re hoping to have several thousand participants to emphasize the urgency of the climate crisis and to engage more people in the push for rapid action.

To register, click here:

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/launch-of-the-west-coast-climate-action-network-tickets-178236328657

What is WE-CAN pushing for? West Coast Climate Action the 10 Actions: https://bcclimateactionnetwork.wordpress.com/2021/09/22/bc-climate-emergency-campaign/

Transition Sooke signed on to an open letter asking the Province for action on the climate crisis. Initiated by WE-CAN, both the letter and a complete list of signatories is posted on the Tyee webpage at:

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2021/09/29/Open-Letter-BC-Must-Act-Now-Confront-Our-Climate-Emergenc/