Times They Are A Changing

4218 West 12th circa 1956

The biggest story by far these days in Vancouver is the real estate story.  It's all everyone talks about and it gets more and more outlandish by the day. Rising property values, bidding wars for any house coming on the market, and everywhere you look there is major construction under way. While it's great for the economy, indeed it seems to be the only one we have in this City, it's also having a profound effect on everyone's sense of place and commonly held assumptions about their own particular neighbourhood.

4218 West 12th circa 2016

The old Point Grey house I grew up in the late 1950's and early 1960's was originally built in 1918 and purchased for less than $9,000.00 by my father who at the time was a Safeway employee and a regular working class person like everyone else in the neighbourhood. It was a 1,600 square foot home on two floors with a finished basement suite that, like most of the other houses in the area, was rented out to students at UBC as a mortgage helper. Today that same house has an assessed value of over $2.3 million.

1723 - 1729  Pendrell Street circa 1958

It's sometimes hard to imagine that up until the 1950's the West End was also a working class area of modest single family dwellings and mansions that had been converted into rooming houses. But in 1957 the ban on buildings over 6 stories was lifted and for the next 15 years a construction frenzy was under way with houses being torn down and replaced with more than 220 high rise apartment buildings. With its 45,000 residents the West End became the most densely populated area in Canada and in 1973 Council put the brakes on further high density development.

Stratford Place 1725 Pendrell Street circa 2016

With its easy going lifestyle, proximity to downtown, and of course beautiful Stanley Park and English Bay it's no wonder people have always flocked to the West End. But, like all parts of Vancouver, the rapidly rising property values are making for profound change. On the Cambie, Oak, and Granville Street corridors entire blocks of single family houses are being torn down to build multiple family townhouse developments and, with the overwhelming success of new condo developments in Yaletown and the Olympic Village, the eyes of the developers are turning once again towards the West End.

Proposed development for 1750 Pendrell Street

Where there is money there is corruption or, at the very least, influence peddling and one can't help but wonder why City Council and the Courts would otherwise disregard its Community Plans and zoning by-laws to accommodate big name developers.  In federal elections and most provincial ones it is illegal for any corporation or union to make contributions to a political party but in B.C. it's the rules of the wild West that seem to prevail.  There is no provincial or municipal limit or corporate prohibition on campaign contributions and consequently the list of donors to either the Vision or NPA party is a Who's Who of developers, architects, and construction companies.

View of English Bay from my apartment - photo by Junie Quiroga

As a result, my view of English Bay is about to be ruined because Council decided to overturn its height restriction of 6 storeys and a density of 1.96 FSR to an FSR of 6.96, which is more than triple what has been in place for more than 40 years, and approve the construction of a 21 storey building across the street from my own apartment at 1725 Pendrell Street. The City says it is trying to increase the stock of apartment rentals but it doesn't mean they care about affordability. Because of the location and view these will be apartments with expensive rents. Once upon a time the West End was a place for the wealthy and, with all the new luxury buildings going up, it looks like things have come full circle.  The times they are indeed a changing and, while I'm not against development per se, it's the way the changes are handled that rankles.

More Power For The People

In spite of all the talk about global warming and air pollution the average consumer/taxpayer is not prepared to put their money where their mouth is.  When the price of gasoline is high people start to think wistfully about buying a Tesla but as soon as it drops they rush off to the car dealer and buy a new SUV or pick-up truck. With no incentive to change their way of thinking they are content to blissfully go about their daily lives and wait for someone else to solve the problem.

Tesla Model S

The great thing about electric cars is they produce zero air pollution, the not so great thing is the electricity comes from a battery and the battery has a limited range before it needs to be re- charged. In the case of the Tesla that means every 250 miles or so and for the considerably less expensive Nissan Leaf it's around every 100 miles. But just because you never have to buy gas again doesn't mean you don't have to pay for the cost of charging the battery, it's just that it's a lot cheaper. Not counting free car charging stations, the average cost of electricity in your home is $0.12 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and with the Nissan Leaf requiring 29 kWh per 100 miles this works out to $3.48 per hundred miles. By contrast the Tesla mileage is 38 kWh/100 miles or $4.56 per hundred miles but either way a fraction of what it costs for gasoline.

Nissan Leaf

While electric cars aren't contributing to air pollution directly it doesn't mean they don't contribute in an indirect way.  Just like any other electrical appliance, the electricity to charge them has to come from somewhere and that means a power plant of some kind which could be running on coal, which is very bad in terms of air pollution, natural gas which is only slightly better, or nuclear energy which emits no air pollution and is the best energy source of all in spite of misconceptions about its safety. Environmentalists point to a renewable energy source like solar, wind, or hydro as the cleanest and safest way to go but is it really?

Siemens Power Plant Turbo Generator

The trouble with wind and solar power is you need a steady source of either wind or sunshine for them to run properly and generally they run at somewhere between 33% - 50% capacity. To generate the 500 MW of electricity a typical medium size power plant would produce they also require tremendous amounts of space. The largest solar power plant in the world is the 579 MW Solar Star plant in California which occupies 13 square kilometres, and the Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm in the U.K. (one of the largest in the world) uses up 36 square kilometres to generate only 315 MW of power. Compare this to the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario that occupies 9 square kilometres and generates over 6,200 MW of power.

WAC Bennett Dam

In B.C. our electricity comes mainly from a seemingly inexhaustible supply of renewable hydro power that we think of as being clean if you choose to ignore what happens to all the flooded areas used for creating the reservoirs behind each of the dams. When the W.A.C. Bennett Dam was built on the Peace River it flooded 1,400 square kilometres of forested land, and displaced members of the Tsay Keh Dene First Nations. It also turned the existing Williston Lake into the largest body of fresh water in B.C. and created the 3rd largest artificial lake in North America, now known as the Williston Reservoir.

Dams Along The Peace River

The W.A.C. Bennett Dam, originally conceived as the Site A Dam, and built in 1967, generates over 2,700 MW of power and the Peace Canyon Dam, or Site B Dam, which was built in 1980, generates another 700 MW of power using the same water from the Bennett Dam. The latest plan is to build yet another dam on the Peace River referred to as the Site C Dam which is projected to generate 1,100 MW of power.  Once again flooding of First Nations, wildlife, and agricultural land is the issue with 22 square kilometres that will be lost in the process.

3 Gorges Dam

Not much to worry about in the grand scheme of things when compared to the disruption the 3 Gorges Dam caused in China when it was being built and 1.5 million people had to be relocated. But this dam, the largest power station in the world able to generate 22,500 MW of electricity, has also reduced coal consumption by over 30 million tonnes per year. That's a lot of dirty air no longer getting into the atmosphere and the potential to power a lot of electric cars. More power for the people.

Power For The People

Nuclear Power Plant in France

The good thing about the recent Paris conference on climate change is that all the countries in the world agreed they needed to do something about global warming, the bad news is they couldn't agree on a workable solution.  Everyone wants to move away from a world that is powered by carbon to one that is powered by renewable energy sources like solar, wind, water or geothermal heat and, while each of these certainly has potential, they also have many limitations that don't make them very practical.  There is however, one power source that is very practical and could quickly help us make the transition to a cooler planet, and that's nuclear energy.

Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to generate heat which is then cooled to create steam which in turn drives turbine generators that produce electricity. Nuclear power plants are almost identical to coal or gas fired plants in how they function with the critical difference being they don't send any nasty pollutants into the atmosphere, only harmless water vapour. Nuclear power plants with their ubiquitous water cooling towers have been in operation since the 1950's and currently supply the U.S. with 20% of it's electricity, 15% of Canada's and a whopping 80% of France's. It was high oil prices in the 1970's not fears of global warming that got France embracing nuclear power in a big way but the logic still applies if you want to reduce dependence on carbon.

Fukushima Nuclear Meltdown

Critics of nuclear energy point to the accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima as reasons to avoid going this route but the actual number of people who died has been greatly exaggerated by urban myth. Nobody died in Three Mile Island, 31 people died in Chernobyl and, while 6 workers died in Fukushima, none of the deaths were from radiation. While there was some radiation in each of these surrounding areas, the cancer rate for the population is only expected to increase marginally over the years. Just like people feel safer travelling by car instead of by airplane, even though the risk of accident and death is much greater, the same irrational thinking applies to nuclear energy, even though hundreds of these plants are operating around the world without incident.

Currently only 2.5% of the world's energy consumption is supplied by nuclear power in spite of  438 nuclear power plants in 30 countries, but there are another 70 under construction with China leading the pace with 24 of the total and another 60 in the planning stages. Likewise for India which has 6 under construction now and another 50 in the planning stages. Even still it's hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of energy supplied being supplied by fossil fuels.

Coal-fired power plant

It's a good thing countries like India and China are switching as fast as they can from coal to nuclear power.  Coal has been the cheapest way for them to get started but it's the worst offender for pollution and the smog it produces is making the entire country ill.  But while we point our fingers at developing countries and their impact on global warming we conveniently overlook our own bad habits if it's going to make things inconvenient. And our worst habit is the suburban lifestyle in general and the automobile in particular.

Coal loading facility in North Vancouver - photo by Junie Quiroga

We aren't going to reduce global warming if we don't reduce the amount of C02 we put into the atmosphere and we aren't going to reduce the amount of C02 we put in the atmosphere if we don't reduce the amount of gasoline and diesel we burn by driving our cars. In the meantime, our economy depends on selling fossil fuels to the world. But we have also developed the CANDU nuclear technology that we use here and have sold abroad and perhaps this is the perfect time to accelerate those efforts. In fact the CANDU Bruce Nuclear Generating Station on Lake Huron is the largest nuclear power plant in the world.  So what's it going to be, coal or nuclear power for the people?

Bruce Nuclear Power Plant

Another Day In Paradise

Grey whale off English Bay seawall - photo by VPD Marine Unit

There's nothing like a whale to stop Vancouverites dead in their tracks and take their minds off the high cost of housing, a boring Federal election, and the incessant beeping of their smart phones. Mind you the phones were quickly put into gear taking photos, texting, and calling everyone to come and see the latest wonder in paradise. It was a warm and sunny afternoon, the last day of September and the seawall was full of folks enjoying another perfect day.

Vancouverites watching the grey whale in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

Vancouverites following the grey whale along the seawall - photo by Junie Quiroga

For some reason this whale has taken a shine to the Vancouver harbour and has been spotted along the beach in West Vancouver, in and around Coal Harbour, and all along the Stanley Park seawall over the past week or so. It also likes to stay close to shore for some reason, which makes it easy for everyone to follow its progress. Whether it's the same whale that appeared earlier in the summer, or is one of the many passing through on their annual road trip between Alaska and California that detours here for a pit stop and some tasty munchies hasn't been determined, but grey whale sightings seem to be a more common occurrence these past few years.

Grey whale in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

Hard to believe we nearly hunted these creatures to extinction back in the day when we refined their blubber into oil to light our lamps and make soap. Vegetable oil and electricity have saved the day and the grey whales, along with the humpback whales and others, are making a dramatic comeback, in spite of Japan, Norway, and Iceland, that continue to defy the worldwide whaling ban that went into effect in 1986. While the whales are normally spotted off the west coast of Vancouver Island they are frequently now making their way into the Salish Sea (Georgia Strait) as they seek to re-establish old migration routes.

Grey whale tucking into bed at sunset in English Bay - photo by Junie Quiroga

It's been 5 years since I started writing this blog after suggesting to the local papers they write a column about the waterfront and was told there wasn't enough material to write about or readers that would be interested. Our waterfront is connected in so many ways to all the things in life that really matter and I've always found something of interest to write about, averaging over one posting per month and 1,500 readers around the world logging in.

Grey whale

When I went for my swim this morning the whale was waiting for me, having spent a comfortable night sleeping in our cozy bay, and I couldn't believe I had such a magnificent swimming partner to start my day with. A little intimidating when he got too close but otherwise magical.  I think I'll name him Stanley. Another day in paradise.

Shark Attack

Nelson & dogfish shark - photo by Mistin Wilkinson

Shark attacks make for some of the most dramatic news stories around the world and this summer was no exception with Australia, Florida and South Africa continuing to be the most common locations where they seem to occur though there were also reports from Hawaii and California. But, as dramatic as they are, on average only 75 attacks are actually reported each year and only 1/3 of them ever end up being fatal.  This is because most of the time the shark attacks are unprovoked and, in a case of mistaken identity, referred to as "hit and run" or "bite and run" the shark does a quick test and quickly determines the human isn't worth eating.

Not all sharks are created equal and out of nearly 500 species in the world it's really only the Great White Shark, Bull Shark and Tiger Shark that are responsible for fatal unprovoked attacks. On the other hand thousands of people die every day by drowning and that of course hardly ever makes the news. While there are 14 different shark species found in B.C. waters, including the Great White, there have never been any recorded shark attacks and encounters of any kind are rare.

Salmon shark - photo by Andy Murch

Not surprisingly the salmon shark is one of the most common sharks in B.C. and, while they can be up to 10 feet in length and 450 lbs in weight, they are fortunately primarily only interested in salmon. The rare and intriguing 6 gill shark can get up to 15-20 feet in length but, because of the great depths in which it normally dwells, it's usually only encountered by scuba divers and it prefers to eat small fish and crabs. But the most common shark of all is the dogfish shark and this is what came across my path the other morning as I was about to start my swim.

Nelson petting a six gill shark - photo by Peter Mieras

Called the dogfish because they hunt in packs like dogs, this shark can travel in schools of hundreds of individuals and is the most abundant shark in the world. Typically around 3-4 feet in length it only eats small fish and is not considered dangerous though it does have slightly poisonous dorsal fin spines. In England they are very popular for fish and chips but here they are labelled trash fish and usually thrown back in the water by fishermen because there's little or no demand for them.

Dennis & Nelson with dogfish shark - photo by Mistin Wilkinson

A little bit of trick photography and positioning made the dogfish shark look a lot bigger than it actually was which I suppose feeds off the drama these creatures continue to attract when in actual fact they are under severe threat of extinction thanks to the wasteful and horrific practise of "finning" that goes on around the world.  How this dogfish ended up on shore is a bit of a mystery but at least its fins were still intact and Dennis and I weren't in any mortal danger going for our swim. Ironically it's fear of shark attacks that keeps people out of the ocean, where of course they could drown without the right training or equipment, so perhaps we should thank the sharks for keeping us safe.

Fly Little Purple Bird Fly

Purple Martin in Silva Bay, Gabriola Island

At selected moorages, predominantly along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, there's a delightful little bird that can be observed constantly flying around and going in and out of little nest boxes that have been mounted on pilings.  It's called a Purple Martin, and it has a remarkable story that I have to share with everyone simply because these birds are so captivating.  In fact I was so charmed by them I built one of the nest boxes just for something to do one day without even realizing I was unwittingly participating in a program that had been established to bring them back from near extinction.

Nesting pair of Purple Martins in Silva Bay

Purple Martins are the largest swallow in North America and, while their range extends throughout most of the continent, the extreme range of the western sub-species is the Georgia Strait basin. Historically Purple Martins nested in woodpecker holes in old trees and old pilings but, as all these habitats slowly disappeared, along with competition from European starlings and house sparrows, their numbers began to rapidly decline until, by the 1980's, there were less than 10 breeding pairs in the area. In 1986 a volunteer based nest-box program got started and the population has steadily increased since to where there are now 1,000 nesting pairs in the Georgia Strait basin.

Incredibly agile, high speed acrobats, these birds have been a favourite of farmers and Native North Americans since day one thanks to their voracious appetite for insects. In the 1960's a conservation movement to promote the Purple Martin as a natural insect control agent, instead of using pesticides, got the nest box program started with a slogan "Two thousand mosquitoes a day" and there are now over a million nest boxes in North America. In the 1980's the invasion of non-native European starlings and house sparrows caused a severe population crash across North America as the Purple Martins got pushed out of their own habitat and they are now almost completely dependant on the artificial nest boxes for their survival.

Purple Martin colony in Tod Inlet

Without the nest boxes the Purple Martins wouldn't survive and without the Purple Martins we would have to put up with a lot more insects than we would like, especially in an anchorage. On the west coast the the preferred location for these boxes is over open water on abandoned pilings in groups of five. They make for a very photogenic installation and, all day you can watch the parents darting in and out of their house as they take turns providing fresh food for the insatiable babies inside.

Purple Martin pair and fledgling in Silva Bay

In the winter the Purple Martins migrate to South America where they soak up the sun east of the Andes in Columbia, Bolivia and Brazil.  They roost in large groups with as many as 5,000 reported on one site in Brazil. There was already an established colony on the dock at Silva Bay on Gabriola Island but, at the end of the nesting season, I decided to put up a nest box to see what would happen. Sure enough when I returned to Silva Bay in late spring I was pleased to see it had been occupied and the parents were busy teaching the babies to speak Spanish.

Nelson installing a Purple Martin nest box in Silva Bay

A symbiotic success story between Mankind and Nature isn't something that happens very often so it's nice to be part of something that's good for everyone, except of course the insects!!! The birds are heading back to South America now after a great summer of warm weather and feasting. Over the winter people are invited to build more nest boxes and wait for the little purple birds to fly back. Check the link below for more information.

http://www.georgiabasin.ca/puma.htm

All Purple Martin photos by Junie Quiroga

All Washed Up

Another washed up sailboat on Sunset Beach - photo by Junie Quiroga

A little stronger than usual northwester blew into town in the past few weeks keeping gale force winds going for quite a few days. The end result of course was a few more sail boats being washed up on shore and more headaches for owners and the coast guard to deal with. Sometimes the boats can be salvaged other times not.

Washed up Q52 buoy on wrong side of False Creek channel - photo by Junie Quiroga

Proof that it was a little nastier than expected was the washing up of starboard navigational buoy Q52 to the opposite side of where it's supposed to be at the entrance to False Creek These indispensable aids to mariners are specially designed and installed to never move so it was quite a surprise to see this happen, not to mention the fact the buoy itself was now creating a hazard to boaters not familiar with what side the hidden rocks are actually located.

Washed up English Bay slide - photo by Junie Quiroga

But strangest of all was to see the English Bay summer slide (that had just been put in place) washed up on the high water mark of the beach. Somehow it had torn free from all 4 of its moorings. Fortunately these things eventually all got fixed but you could definitely say the start of summer was all washed up.

Wishin' & Hopin'

Mother Goose & her goslings - photo by Junie Quiroga

Every spring Mother Nature brings us fresh evidence of her endless effort to ensure survival, regardless of species, in both the plant and animal kingdoms. Baby seals appear in the ocean, flowers start to bloom, and recently hatched little ducklings wander about under the careful watch of their mothers.  Nothing is more adorable than a baby and nothing is more upsetting than a mother whose baby is being threatened.

Mother Duck and her ducklets - photo by Junie Quiroga

While some mothers in the Lagoon are happily enjoying their new offspring there's a mother swan left all alone to wonder yet again what has gone wrong in her world in spite of having done all the right things. Every year Mrs. Swan carefully builds a nest with her mate and lays a few eggs but every year they either don't hatch or else simply disappear. Everyone else in the neighbourhood has a spring baby why can't she?

Mute Swan alone on her empty nest - photo by Junie Quiroga

The culprit isn't any of the other creatures in the Park or surrounding waterways but the Parks Board staff themselves. They have taken it upon themselves to single out the swans for systematic extinction and they do this each year by either addling/shaking any eggs that are laid or simply removing them, causing incredible stress to the birds in the process. From the dozens of pairs of swans that used to exist in Lost Lagoon there are only 2 pairs now remaining.

Mute Swan - photo by Junie Quiroga

These beautiful birds (properly known as Mute swans) are the most photographed creatures in Lost Lagoon, but have been deemed an invasive pest by Environment Canada. Introduced to North America in the 19th century Mute swans have rapidly expanded their population to the point of displacing the native Trumpeter swans, which the Parks Board would rather see in the Lagoon. Both are roughly the same size with the main difference being the colour of their beaks; the Trumpeter's is black while the Mute's is orange.

Trumpeter Swan

Regardless of how the Mute swan got established, they are here to stay, just like the Red Eared Slider turtles, another so-called invasive species that have taken over in the Lagoon. I don't see the Parks Board doing anything to wipe out these professional sunbathers and, even more ironic, is the Parks Board's active participation in a breeding program for Beluga whales which are definitely not a native species to Vancouver.

Red Eared Slider Turtles sun-tanning in Lost Lagoon - photo by Junie Quiroga

Managing Mute swans is one thing and now that we are down to only 4 I think we could allow a few cygnets to see the light of day. People need to register a protest with the Parks Board. In the meantime it's another year of wishing and hoping on the part of the mother swan and another year of wishing and hoping the Parks Board comes to its senses.

Mute swan with baby cygnets

Cum On Feel The Noize

Dead Fin whale in Vancouver harbour - photo by Belle Puri

A fin whale arrived in Vancouver harbour last weekend but unfortunately it was already dead when it was discovered floating around the docks. According to officials it had been struck by a luxury cruise ship somewhere off the northern end of Vancouver Island, and carried all the way back on the bow of the boat. Ironically, this cruise ship, Seven Seas Navigator, bills itself as a wildlife sightseeing vessel that takes passengers on tours in the waters between Vancouver Island and Alaska.

Seven Seas Navigator

Strange as it may seem this is apparently the 3rd time since the 1990's that a fin whale has been dragged like this into the Vancouver harbour and you wonder how many other whales have been hit and simply sank or washed ashore. While I appreciate the difficulty captains of these large ships have in avoiding objects not in their size class you would think something as large as a fin whale would show up on their sonar before they collided and that someone would have noticed a whale stuck on the bow as they cruised along. After all a fin whale is the second largest animal after the blue whale and grows to a length of over 80 feet.

Fin whale on the surface

Conversely, how is it these gentle giants aren't able to stay out of the way of a cruise ship? Long and sleek, these baleen whales are often referred to as the "greyhound of the seas" for their shape and speed which can exceed 20 knots. Like so many other species of whales they were hunted nearly to extinction (after close to a million had been killed) until the 1975 ban on whaling came into effect and, while they have since somewhat recovered to a worldwide population of around 100,000 they are still considered an endangered species.

Fin whale under water

Perhaps the most logical answer is the unfortunate whale didn't even hear the ship coming and just happened to be in the wrong place while taking a nap.  There's growing evidence the increase in ocean noise from modern shipping and naval activity is affecting the hearing of all marine mammals, particularly whales, and even affecting their ability to mate. Fin whales in particular transmit long, low frequency mating calls that in earlier times could be heard thousands of miles away under water but are now reduced to a much shorter distance due to all the background noise in the ocean.

Hearing Damage Chart

Much more serious however is the effect of U.S.& NATO naval sonar testing which is causing death and mass strandings wherever this testing is being conducted.  For humans any noise level over 85 decibels requires hearing protection, 140 decibels causes hearing damage, and at 150 decibels your eardrums would burst. Anything over 185 decibels could kill you, and for marine animals anything over 170 decibels can injure them.  The low frequency active sonar being used by the Navy is 250 decibels and carries for hundreds of miles. The navy has acknowledged this sonar testing is responsible for the deaths of whales in the Bahamas, Canary Islands, Tasmania, Hawaii, New Zealand and other places where whales have turned up with massive haemorrhaging around the ears or stranded on beaches.

Dead beaked whale in the Bahamas

Marine animals rely on sound far more than sight, as it's their way of communicating, hunting and mating.  Sound travels 12 times faster and much further through the water than the air and the combination of commercial marine traffic, seismic surveys, and naval activity is creating so much noise the animals can't hear themselves and it's changing their patterns of calling, foraging and migration. If we care about these animals we need to make a more conscious effort to avoid making noise where they live because they don't need to feel it as well.