Dear Friends and Family:

Some recent news from the ragged edge of Canada. Please feel free to pass this on to friends.

With love and hugs to you all,

Gary/Dad/Bumpa

https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/op-ed/comment-what-s-essential-about-old-growth-protests-1.24323561

What’s essential about old-growth protests?

Gary Geddes / .

The Times Colonist, May 27, 2021 06:00 AM

My wife accuses me of having a criminal mind because I always imagine the dark possibilities, or the way things might turn out badly.

Well, today she had a chance to see the real criminal in action. I deliberately crossed the police exclusion line at the old-growth logging protest at the Waterfall site near Port Renfrew, surrendered myself to so-called “justice,” and was whisked away by some very polite police ­officers downhill to the paddy wagon where they read me my rights again, did some processing of information, and escorted me to a five-foot metal cube to await my fate.

As a lifelong claustrophobe, this was the worst part until I found myself sharing that confined space with three young people wearing no masks and determined to sing their way to possible incarceration.

I arrived home the same evening no worse for wear, or war, thanks to my wife who followed the paddy wagon back to Lake Cowichan police station, where my offence was put on file and I was allowed to leave with no charge.

CBC news reported an “elderly gentleman” (no name) having been arrested and taken away by police. At least they were right about “elderly,” as I will be 81 in June.

Don’t get me wrong. Although the tents, beards and nicknames — Huckleberry, Shamboo, Poncho, Guiding Star — took me back to earlier protests against the U.S. war in Vietnam, deployment of cruise missiles in Canada, and the Contra war in Nicaragua, and my daughter arrested with her two small children at Clayoquot Sound, I did not take this catch-and-release experience lightly.

The RCMP officer who introduced himself as Rod and checked twice to see how I was faring in the cube, brought me a bottle of water, stopping briefly to chat.

He asked if I thought my activities today constituted “essential travel.” The question took me by surprise, given that Vancouver Island is part of my health zone for travel.

When I realized he was just curious about my motives, I explained that protests and civil disobedience have been essential activities in bringing about changes and improvements in governments, health care, labour relations, environmental protection, voting rights for women and the ongoing fight for racial and gender equality.

The dominant ethic in British Columbia and Canada since colonialism evolved into full-scale capitalism has been boom and bust.

Fishing the cod and salmon to extinction, trashing rivers and lakes in the process of extracting minerals and, now, skinning the land to send raw logs to Japan, which are being sunk and preserved in harbours for later use.

These attitudes need changing. Sustainable fishing and logging have been proven effective; so, too, restoring salmon spawning habitats.

Clear-cutting and monoculture destroy the diversity of the forests, deplete oxygen levels, reduce carbon sequestration and deprive future generations of the medicines and health-giving resources of a healthy forest.

I first heard the phrase “a moral equivalent of war” as a graduate student at Reading University early in 1964.

The phrase originated with William James, but was being used by Alfred North Whitehead, who lamented the current absence of the kind of solidarity that had brought his nation together during the Second World War. He longed for a moral equivalent that would heal the political and economic rifts in the country.

Surely, protecting the planet against the ravages of climate change is exactly the moral equivalent we have all been waiting for.

The Lakota people have an expression, mitakuye oyasin, all my relations, which reminds us that we are all part of an amazing family of trees, rocks, air, water, animals, the health of one dependent on the care and well-being of the rest.

That is what is essential about the current and ongoing protests.

Gary Geddes has written and edited 50 books, including Medicine Unbundled: A Journey Through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care.

Jürgen Theobaldy

  Stiller Vogel

Wie seltsam, von nichts

als der Luft getragen zu werden.

Man gewöhnt sich sogar

an geheime Stimmen

und webt von neuem das Blau

des Himmels in ein Lied,

das sich nicht grölen läßt.

Unten treibt das Gras im Wind,

und du wehrst dich nicht dagegen,

daß es die Haare der Erde sind.

Danke, kleine Tochter!

Ein Auto schlägt in den Graben

und erstarrt bis zum nächsten Termin.

Aus großer Höhe nimmst du

die Stille im Feld nicht wahr

und nicht das Gemurmel im Freibad.

Du kannst auch nicht mit allen

Mitleid haben wollen.

Du fühlst dich sonst wie die Hand,

die nichts von der Sprache weiß,

in der sie zum Urteil

an der Wand ansetzt.

Die Waldgeister sind motorisiert,

doch sind es die letzten ihrer Art.

Bitte tritt näher, - und hilf mir

zu entziffern. Heilig sein

und mit gleicher Entschlossenheit

arglos: Dies nennen wir wahre Einfalt,

und nun soll nichts mehr wahr sein.

Es ist nicht gut für uns,

daß wir von dieser Erde sind.

Es ist sogar sehr schlecht.

Wir müssen sie kämmen, kämmen

und eines Tags mit wenig Haaren

in sie zurückkehren.

Die Heiligen meinten nichts anderes,

diese heftigen Burschen und Mädchen,

die liebend gern mit ihrem Engel verkehrten.

Wie soll uns das, was allen

gewiß ist, unterscheidbar machen?

Hand ans Herz: Seit je hat der Tod

den tiefsten Fragen widerstanden.

Jeder Blick von mir ist ein Blick

aus einer Höhe, aus der ich

nicht herabfallen kann.

Streich mir die Haare aus der Stirn.

Danke, Engel.

Courtesy of Naomi Naomi

https://bcgovnews.azureedge.net/translations/releases/2021HLTH0136-001486/2021.07.28_
Heat_Warning_Chinese(traditional).pdf

卑詩省發出酷熱警告，敦促省民作好準備

維多利亞—加拿大環境部已發出警告，卑詩省大部分地區將有另一次熱浪出現，省府敦促 省民本周作好預防措施。

預期 7 月 28 日星期三至 7 月 31 日星期六天氣將極為酷熱。

衛生廳長狄德安（Adrian Dix）表示：「天氣極酷熱是很危險的，可以帶來破壞甚至致命 性後果。衛生局及卑詩緊急衛生服務處現正作好準備，以在熱浪期間協助有需要的人。卑 民省民亦要作好必須的準備措施，確保自己和親人安全。」

公共安全及法務廳長范和富（Mike Farnworth）表示：「卑詩省民需要提高警覺，留意警 號和採取措施，以在極端酷熱天氣下保持安全。遵守衛生指示，有需要時致電緊急救援號 碼。」

加拿大環境部稱，熱浪期間溫度高於正常，而晚間氣溫只會稍微舒緩但仍然酷熱，增加因 高溫導致身體不適的風險。

省衛生官 Bonnie Henry 醫生表示：「省民要在炎熱天氣中保持身體涼快，而了解和遵照 省府提供的衞生指引非常重要，這些指引包括限制戶外體能活動、尋找涼快有空調的地 方、保持身體水份充足等等。另外，要加倍留意較脆弱的人士，包括嬰兒、幼童和長 者。」

在酷熱警告期間，省府與衛生局及市政府合作，一同採取行動保護省民和社區。衛生局發 出聲明後，受影響的地區便作出連串回應，包括市內機關開放降溫中心，以及透過醫療護 理系統採取針對性策略，為較脆弱的省民包括長者等提供對準方位的支援，又透過卑詩緊 急管理處為市內社區及原住民提供支援。

卑詩健康結連(HealthLink BC)提供以下保持涼快健康的提示：

* 飲用大量流質： 如果你在酷熱天時做運動，即使不覺口渴仍要多喝水。如果你要服用去 水丸或要限制水份攝取量，可徵詢醫生意見以了解你在炎熱天氣時能飲用多少水份。

* 保持涼快。留在有空調的室內場所中，或作個涼快的沐浴或淋浴。在氣溫高達 30 度以 上時，單靠風扇並不足以預防因酷熱而引致的疾病。防曬霜可以預防太陽的紫外光但不能 防熱。

* 任何活動應該在上午 10 時前或下午 4 時後進行，即太陽紫外光最弱的時段。

* 避免在炎熱潮濕的環境下作虛耗體力的工作或運動。如果你必須要工作或運動，每小時 飲兩至四杯不含酒精的液體。於遮蔽處休息亦相當重要。

* 避免曬傷：皮膚外露之處要使用防曬指數較高如 SPF 30 或以上的防曬油。嘴唇則塗上 SPF 30 的潤唇膏，並要經常重新塗上。

* 穿著輕身、淺色和鬆身的衣服，並戴上濶邊帽或用雨傘遮擋陽光。

* 切勿將小孩留在停泊的車廂內。當外間氣溫高達 34 度時，車廂內的溫度可以在 20 分鐘 內升至 52 度。即使把車窗稍微打開，亦不能把車廂氣溫降至安全水平。

*定期觀察年長者、小孩和身邊的人，看看他們有否因酷熱而出現不適，確保他們保持涼 快和多喝水。對於那些無法出門、有情緒或精神健康問題以致判斷力受影響的人，你要多 加留意。

* 酷熱亦會影響寵物。切勿把寵物留在停泊的車廂內。限制寵物的運動量，確保牠們有充 足的水份和遮蔽的地方。

若因酷熱而造成身體輕微衰竭，可以在家自行處理，包括：

* 轉移到較涼快的環境中；

* 飲大量涼快但不含酒精的飲品；

* 休息；並且

* 作個涼快的沐浴或淋浴。

如果徵狀並不輕微，且維持多於一小時，或出現變化、惡化或到達令人憂慮的狀況，便要 與醫生聯絡。

溫度上升亦會增加山火危機，省府敦促省民要盡己本份防止人為山火，保持社區安全。如 要報告山火、無人在場的營火或露天燃燒等情況，請致電免費長途電話 1 800 663-5555， 或用手機撥打*5555。

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-heat-dome-sudden-deaths-revised-2021-1.6232758

British Columbia

595 people were killed by heat in B.C. this summer, new figures from coroner show

Social Sharing

More than 231 died on June 29 alone, during 'heat dome' that caused record temperatures, data says

Nearly 600 people died due to extreme temperatures in British Columbia over the summer, according to new data from the provincial coroners' service.

New figures released Monday said the deaths of 595 people between June 18 and Aug. 12 were related to the heat. The majority of those deaths — 526 — happened during the "heat dome" that created temperatures above 40 C from late June to early July.

The service said 231 people died in a single day on June 29 — nearly 10 people every hour.

The staggering tally comes as health-care advocates, first responders and politicians try to determine what kind of action — or inaction — might have contributed to the number of people who died as a result of the incessant heat.

"The impacts, as we see by today's report, were tragic, and the loss of life devastating," Health Minister Adrian Dix said during a news conference Monday. "It's vital that we learn from these events."

https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2021/10/05/canada-limpact-desastreux-de-la-chaleur-extreme

5 octobre 2021 6:00AM EDT

Canada : L’impact désastreux de la chaleur extrême

(Ottawa) – Un soutien inadéquat de la part du gouvernement a aggravé les risques encourus par les personnes handicapées ainsi que par les personnes âgées, lors de la récente vague de chaleur extrême et prévisible qui a causé la mort de centaines d’habitants de la province canadienne de Colombie-Britannique, a déclaré Human Rights Watch aujourd’hui.
Du 25 juin au 1er juillet 2021, la Colombie-Britannique (CB) a connu un dôme de chaleur, c’est-à-dire un système de haute pression anticyclonique qui retient la chaleur comme sous un couvercle, produisant à travers la province des températures record, qui sont allées jusqu’à 49,6 °C. Mais la Colombie-Britannique ne dispose pas d’un plan d’action face à la chaleur et le manque d’accès à des systèmes de refroidissement et de soutien spécialement adaptés aux populations vulnérables a contribué à des souffrances inutiles et, peut-être, à des décès.

(...)

Bodo Morshäuser

Der Gesang der Wälder

Dieser Kanal kann mich nicht mehr beruhigen

diese stille Baumreihe, der Grüngürtel um die Stadt

die Naherholung auf gemieteten  Quadratmetern

wo nichts beruhigend ist als einfache Wahrnehmung und

ich habe nicht mehr die Augen eines Kindes.

Du sagst, ich soll endlich abschalten, alles fallen lassen

und das eben noch mal erleben.

Dabei bin ich die Geschichte des Falls

meine Ahnen sind gefallen und keiner der fällt

hat den Wunsch danach. Heute setze ich mich nicht mehr

auf den Schoß einer alten Frau und kratze ihr nicht

nit erotischem Genuß den trockenen Lack von den Fingernägeln.

Und dieser Kanal ist ein anderer gewesen

so wie ich ein andrer geworden bin.

Aber welche Handlungen sind jetzt die verkleidete

fortgeschriebene Kindheit? Ich ziehe dir gern

ganz langsam die Kleider vom Körper.

Du schaltest ja auch nicht ab, sage ich

du bist ja noch da. Da lachen wir beide

wie ich hier selten gelacht habe, und das liebe ich

denn keiner will traurig sein, wenn er nicht die Wahl hat

zwischen Trauer und anderem.  Ich komme aus dem Denken

nicht raus, aber das Denken ist jetzt auch ein Gefühl.

Was heißt hier abschalten

wo alle noch einmal kräftig aufdrehen

im Endspurt der Geschichte? Nie war es so deutlich:

die Beruhigungspillen sind zerstört

die Wälder singen den Umsturz

die Kanäle zeigen, was Erstarrung ist.

Die Kampfform ist offen im letzten Schlagabtausch.

Wer noch nicht zerrissen ist, wird irgendwann platzen.

Als ich ein Kind war, war hier Frieden

weil ich beschützt wurde. Jetzt ist Krieg, da kann ich

nicht wählen, da rufe ich auf, jetzt noch, zum Krieg;

diese Art der Vernichtung vorzuziehen

der Vernichtung aller!   

Bodo Morshäuser, born in 1953 in Berlin, was a recipient of the
Ernst-Willner-Award in 1983 and of the Förderpreis des Bremer
Literaturpreises in 1984.
In 1988 and 1990 he was a recipient of an Alfred-Döblin-Scholarship.
He is a member of PEN Germany.

                                             Andreas Weiland

                                          The  Magpie Bush

                                           The Magpie Bush

                                          this small forest

                                                                disappeared

                                             and with it

                                               the bird hearth

                                        The people who rule

                                             they don't love them

                                      the birds that remain

                                                 Magpies they hunt

                                               and thus, kill them

                                                                   at any rate

                                          and not only

                                             the Magpie Bush

                                               had to give way

                                   The holder of office commanded

                                           the big willow tree

                                                            to be felled -

                                        that living May Tree

                                            on the city’s meadow

                                      whose name reminds

                                                     so much of history -

                                             the protests

                                                  on the 1st of May

                                               with the flags

                                                that the emperor

                                                                       hated

                                          Even today you rarely see

                                                     this red

                                                 flutter in the wind

                                           The green is already turning

                                                           to brown         

                                                     and black swamp

                                               and at the Bolldamm

                                                         the trees

                                                     loved so much

                                                            by the owl

                                                      that, as if veiled

                                                           looked at us

                                                       in a moonlit night,

                                                          the bailiff

                                                               had felled

                                                      It bothers him

                                                           that storms

                                                        can topple them

                                                         just as any tree

                                                        and as the people

                                                                someday

                                                              him, too

                                                                      Jan 10,  2022

https://restor.eco/

New map shows many old-growth forests remain in Europe

by Joshua E. Brown, University of Vermont

"What we've shown in this study is that, even though the total area of forest is not large in Europe, there are considerably more of these virgin or primary forests left than previously thought—and they are widely distributed throughout many parts of Europe," says Bill Keeton, a forest ecologist at the University of Vermont. "And where they occur, they provide exceptionally unique ecological values and habitat for biodiversity."

Keeton was part of a team—led by researchers from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany—who created the first map of Europe's last wild forests. The map identifies more than 3.4 million acres in 34 European countries—and was published in the journal Diversity & Distributions on May 24, 2018.

Precious patches

"It is not that these forests were never touched by man. This would be hard to believe in Europe," explains Humboldt University scientist Francesco Maria Sabatini, lead author of the study. "Still, these are forests where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities. Maybe that's because they were blurred by decades of non-intervention, where ecological processes follow a natural dynamic."

The compilation of the map was a huge task. "We contacted hundreds of forest scientists, experts, and NGO activists from all over Europe asking to share information on where to find such forests in their country," says Sabatini, a post-doctoral researcher at Humboldt. "Without their direct engagement, we could have never been able to build our database, which is the most comprehensive ever compiled for Europe."

The study highlights that primary forests in Europe are generally very rare, located in remote areas, and fragmented into small patches. "The European landscape is the result of millennia of human activities, so it is not surprising that only a small fraction of our forests are still substantially undisturbed," explains Tobias Kuemmerle, director of the Conservation Biogeography Lab at Humbolt University and the senior author on the study. "Although such forests only correspond to a tiny fraction of the total forest area in Europe," he says, "they are absolutely outstanding in terms of their ecological and conservation value."

Primary forests are often the only remaining harbor for many endangered species, Kuemmerle says, and scientists consider them as natural laboratories for understanding people's impact on forest ecosystems. "Knowing where these rare forests are is therefore extremely important," he says, "but, until this study, no unified map existed for Europe."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/old-growth-logging-protest-
bc-legislature-victoria-1.6199304

British Columbia

Old-growth protesters gather outside premier's office as minister promises legislative change

Organizers brought old-growth tree stump they say is 1,200 years old

Dirk Meissner - The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 04, 2021 12:58 PM PT | Last Updated: October 5, 2021

Forest reform legislation is set to be introduced this fall by the New Democrat government, but the promise of change can't come soon enough for old-growth logging protesters who gathered outside Premier John Horgan's office Monday.

Forests Minister Katrine Conroy said Monday the legislation the government will introduce intends to bring changes to the Forest and Range Practices Act and the Forest Act, but she couldn't guarantee the new laws will end protest actions such as the friction at Fairy Creek over old-growth logging.

"We're going to do this and we're going to do this right,'' she said in an interview.

"It's about our forestry, significant changes."

Conroy could not provide details of the changes but said it goes beyond the issue of old-growth logging and relates to forest workers, communities and Indigenous groups.

"I hope that people will see we are moving forward,'' she said.

A spokesperson for the group known as the Rainforest Flying Squad said the people seated at legislature entrances were sending a message to the government on the first day of the fall sitting over deep concerns about old-growth logging

The organizers brought a slice of old growth, known as a cookie, to block an entrance to the legislature.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested this year for breaching a court injunction for protesting logging of old growth in an area north of Port Renfrew on Vancouver Island, although a judge refused to extend the injunction last week.

"We are essentially bringing the front lines to the legislature to put the onus on government to protect the old-growth forests,'' said group spokesperson Robert Arbess, as he sat outside the premier's office at the legislature.

Arbess said the government needs to move quickly to address the old-growth issue.

"We're trying to get the premier's attention to let him know that 1,100 people were not arrested for nothing."

Some people seated on steps outside Horgan's office were dressed up in costumes to resemble trees and they brought along a large slice of an old-growth tree that the protesters said was 1,200 years old before it was brought down.

Teal Jones also looking for change

While the company trying to take logs out of the woods on southern Vancouver Island and the protesters trying to stop them may not see eye-to-eye on much, both parties want the B.C. NDP to take definitive action on forestry issues.

"The protesters have been saying that the province has been doing nothing. I agree they've been doing very little," said Conrad Browne, director of Indigenous partnerships and strategic relations for Teal Jones Group.

             Sandra Lee Scheuer

(Killed at Kent State University, May 4, 1970 by the Ohio National Guard)

'You might have met her on a Saturday night,
cutting precise circles, clockwise, at the Moon-Glo
Roller Rink, or walking with quick step

between the campus and a green two-storey house,
where the room was always tidy, the bed made,
the books in confraternity on the shelves.

She did not throw stones, major in philosophy
or set fire to buildings, though acquaintances say
she hated war, had heard of Cambodia.

In truth she wore a modicum of make-up, a brassiere,
and could no doubt more easily have married a guardsman
than cursed or put a flower in his rifle barrel.

While the armouries burned, she studied,
bent low over notes, speech therapy books, pages
open at sections on impairment, physiology.

And while they milled and shouted on the commons,
she helped a boy named Billy with his lisp, saying
Hiss, Billy, like a snake. That’s it, SSSSSSSS,

tongue well up and back behind your teeth.
Now buzz, Billy, like a bee. Feel the air
vibrating in my windpipe as I breathe?

As she walked in sunlight through the parking-lot
at noon, feeling the world a passing lovely place,
a young guardsman, who had his sights on her,

was going down on one knee, as if he might propose.
His declaration, unmistakable, articulate,
flowered within her, passed through her neck,

severed her trachea, taking her breath away.
Now who will burn the midnight oil for Billy,
ensure the perilous freedom of his speech;

and who will see her skating at the Moon-Glo
Roller Rink, the eight small wooden wheels
making their countless revolutions on the floor?

          From:   The Acid Test, 1980

Jürgen Theobaldy

Quiet bird*

How strange to be carried

by nothing but the air

You even get used to

secret voices

and weave anew the blue

of the sky into a song

that cannot be roared.

Below, the grass drifts in the wind,

and you don’t ward it off

that it’s the hairs of the earth.

Thank you, little daughter!

The car bumps into the ditch

and freezes till the next date.

From a great height you don’t

register the stillness in the field

and the murmuring in the swimming pool.

Neither can you want

to have compassion with all.

For otherwise you feel like the hand

that does not know about the language

which it starts to employ on the wall

for the judgement.

The silvan spirits are motorized,

but they are the last of their kind.

Please step closer, - and help me

to decipher. To be holy

and with equal determination

guileless: That’s what we call true simplicity

and now, nothing shall be true anymore.

It isn’t good for us

that we are of this earth.

It even is very bad.

We have to comb it, comb it

and some day, with few hairs,

we will return into it.

The saints meant nothing else,

these vigorous guys and gals,

who loved to have intercourse with their angel.

How shall that which is certain

to all, differentiate us?

Cross your heart! Death has always

resisted the deepest questions.

Every one of my looks is a look

from a height I cannot

fall down from.

Until the end.

Stroke those hairs off my forehead.

Thank you, angel.

                                   Transl. by AW

* The colloquial expression "Stiller Vogel" (Quiet Bird) may also be translated as "A Quiet Guy" in English. The polysemous aspect of the poem's title gets lost when one opts for "Quiet Bird."

Juergen Theobaldy was the recipient of a Villa Massimo scholarship in 1977. In 1983, he was writer in residence at the University of Warwick, England, He war awarded the Grand Literature Prize of the City or Berne in 1992. In 1994, he received the literature prize of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. http://archiv.poetenfest-erlangen.de/archiv/2005/c_autordetaila805.html?AutorID=53&VonSeite=c_autor.asp

https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021HLTH0136-001486

Health

Heat warning for B.C., people urged to take precautions

British Columbians are being asked to take precautions this week, as Environment Canada has issued another heat warning for most of the province.

The extreme heat is predicted to last from Wednesday, July 28 to Saturday, July 31.

“Extreme heat is dangerous and can have devastating and deadly consequences,” said Adrian Dix, Minister of Health. “Health authorities and BC Emergency Health Services are preparing to assist people in need during the heat wave. British Columbians must also make any necessary preparations ahead of time and take steps to ensure the safety of yourself and your loved ones.”

Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, said, “British Columbians should be vigilant, watch for warnings and take steps to stay safe during extreme heat. Follow health advice and call for emergency help if you need it.”

Environment Canada notes the higher-than-normal temperatures will provide little relief at night, with elevated overnight temperatures, increasing the risk of heat-related illnesses.

“It is important to be aware of and follow the health guidelines provided to keep your body cool while temperatures outside rise,” said Dr. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer. “This includes limiting physical activity outdoors, finding a cool, air-conditioned place and keeping hydrated, and taking extra care to check in with people most at risk, including infants and young children and older people.”

During heat alerts, the Province works together with health authorities and local governments to take action to protect people and communities. Health-authority declarations trigger responses in affected regions, including the opening of cooling centres by local authorities, focused action throughout the health-care system with targeted support for vulnerable British Columbians, including seniors, and support for local communities and First Nations through Emergency Management BC.

HealthLink BC has these tips for keeping cool and healthy:

• Drink plenty of fluids. Drink extra water even before you feel thirsty and if you are active on a hot day. Ask your health-care provider about how much water you should drink on hot days if you are on water pills or limiting your fluid intake.
• Keep cool. Stay indoors in air-conditioned buildings or take a cool bath or shower. At temperatures above 30 C, fans alone may not be able to prevent heat-related illness. Sunscreen will protect against the sun's ultraviolet (UV) rays, but not from the heat.
• Plan activity before 10 a.m. or after 4 p.m., when the sun's UV radiation is the weakest.
• Avoid tiring work or exercise in hot, humid environments. If you must work or exercise, drink two to four glasses of non-alcoholic fluids each hour. Rest breaks are important and should be taken in the shade.
• Avoid sunburn: Use a broad-spectrum sunscreen with SPF 30 or higher on exposed skin and an SPF 30 lip balm, and reapply often.
• Wear lightweight, light-coloured, loose-fitting clothing and a wide brimmed hat, or use  an umbrella for shade.
• Never leave children alone in a parked car. Temperatures can rise to 52 C within 20 minutes inside a vehicle when the outside temperature is 34 C. Leaving the car windows slightly open will not keep the inside of the vehicle at a safe temperature.
• Regularly check older adults, children and others for signs of heat-related illness, and make sure they are keeping cool and drinking plenty of fluids. Check on those who are unable to leave their homes and people with emotional or mental-health challenges whose judgment may be impaired.
• Heat also affects pets. Never leave a pet in a parked car. Limit pets’ exercise, and be sure to provide them with  plenty of water and shade.

Home treatment for mild heat exhaustion may include:

• moving to a cooler environment;
• drinking plenty of cool, non-alcoholic fluids;
• resting; and
• taking a cool shower or bath.

If symptoms are not mild, last longer than one hour, change, worsen or cause concern, contact a health-care provider.

Elevated heat also increases the risk of wildfire, and British Columbians are urged to do their part to prevent human-caused wildfires and help keep communities safe. To report a wildfire, unattended campfire or open burning violation, call 1 800 663-5555 toll-free or *5555  on a cellphone.

Light, Severe and Extreme Drought Periods in the US, Jan. 2001 - Jan. 202

(Source: US government)

Bodo Morshäuser

The Chant of the Forests

This canal can no longer calm me

this quiet row of the trees, the green belt around the city

the local recreation, on rented square meters

where nothing is calming but simple perception and

I have no longer the eyes of a child.

You say I should switch off now, let everything fall off

And experience again what has just been.

After all I’m the history of the fall

my forefathers fell and no one who falls

has the desire to do so. Today I don’t sit down anymore

on the lap of an old woman and scratch

with erotic enjoyment the dry varnish off her fingernails.

And this canal has been a different one

just like I have become different.

But what acts are now the disguised

continuing childhood? I like to pull

very slowly the clothes off your body.

You don't switch off either after all, I say

you are still there. We both laugh

the way I have rarely laughed here, and I love that

because nobody wants to be sad if he doesn't have the choice

between grief and other things. I can’t stop

thinking, but thinking is now also a feeling.

What do you mean, “switching off”  

when everyone is vigorously revving up once more

in the final spurt of history? It was never so clear:

the tranquilizers are destroyed

the forests sing of overthrow

the canals show what paralysis is.

The mode of the fight is left undecided in the final exchange of blows.

Whoever is not yet torn apart, will burst at some point.

When I was a child, there was peace here

because I was protected. Now it is war, thus I can

not choose, thus I still call for war now;

and to prefer this kind of annihilation

to the annihilation of all!

                                          A.W.

                       Der Elsterbusch

                                Der Elsterbusch

                              dieses wäldchen

                                                          schwand

                                   und mit ihm

                                            der vogelherd

                           Die leut die regieren

                                                sie lieben sie nicht

                               die noch bleibenden vögel

                                  Elstern bejagen

                                            also töten sie

                                                                allemal

                                  und nicht nur

                                             der Elsterbusch

                                                      mußte weichen

                              Der amtsinhaber befahl

                                      die große weide

                                                              zu fällen

                                 den lebenden maibaum

                                       auf der wiese der stadt

                                deren namen so viel

                                       geschichte erinnert –

                                          die proteste

                                                    am 1. Mai

                                      mit den fahnen

                                               die dem kaiser

                                                              verhaßt

                                 Auch heute sieht man selten

                                              dieses rot

                                        flattern im winde

                                   das grün verkommt schon

                                          zu braun und zu

                                               schwarzem sumpf

                                        und am Bolldamm

                                               die bäume

                                                  die die eule

                                                            so liebt

                                       die wie verschleiert uns

                                                   ansah

                                          in mondheller nacht

                                             auch sie ließ

                                            der amtmann fällen

                                                 ihn stört es

                                              dass stürme sie

                                                 stürzen können

                                               wie jeden baum

                                                 und das volk

                                                          eines tages

                                                    auch ihn

                                                           10.Jan.2022

democracy
as a permanent,
unfinished
process

                                          



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