Helping Nature Heal | Sustainability

Sustainability

Quick link to our sustainability stories

HNH Species Stockyard - Enviro Commitment & Remediation Obligation

HNH will acquire native plants, seeds, cutting and root divisions from the Native Species Stockyard.
HNH will use plants and seeds which have originated locally along with "Adopted Heritage Plants."
HNH will make the best effort not to transport and plant locally adapted seed more than 250 km from a collection site.
Where tree seeds are used, HNH will grow on, in a zone-specific manner.
Where specific plants are not available at the Native Species Stockyard, HNH will purchase from reputable specialty native plant nurseries locally.
In cases where trained individuals collect wild seed, no more than 10% of a seed crop should be collected from a healthy population of many individuals, and from several plants of the same species. HNH will leave the remainder for natural dispersal and as food for wildlife.
HNH will give preference to regional native plant species in our garden and landscape plans, rather than exotic/ornamental species.
HNH will promote cultivation and propagation of local native plants as an educational and conservation measure to supplement the preservation of natural habitat.
HNH will keep accurate records of regionally rare flora we are growing to increase our understanding of the biology of the species, we will offer information to specialists/scientists regionally.

Helping Nature Heal Rescue Plan

Transplanting of wild native flora is only condoned when the plants of a given area are officially slated for destruction, e.g. road construction, subdivisions, pipelines, golf courses, etc. Obtain permission before transplanting.
Use natural methods of fertilizing the soil, controlling predators and eliminating weeds rather than synthetic chemical products.
HNH will consider planting native species that are attractive to native fauna, especially to those birds, butterflies and moths, which are regionally uncommon or at risk
HNH will exercise extreme caution when studying and photographing wildflowers in order not to damage the surrounding flora and fauna.
Co-operate, when possible with arboreta, botanical gardens and university department of biology and environmental studies in the propagation and study of regionally rare plant species.
Openly share your botanical knowledge with the public, so long as such sharing will not endanger native plant species or communities.

Sensible wildflower gardening does not involve disruption of native plant communities.

HNH sustainability stories:

December '09 - Not so green devastation - NS Power's foray into biomass
Report by Jamie Simpson, Forestry Program Coordinator Ecology Action Centre (EAC)

"On Friday I was given a tour of a biomass harvest site on Northern Pulp's land near Upper Musquodoboit.

"In my time as a forester, I have never seen such destructive forestry. Not to be overly dramatic, but the scene was amazingly horrific for anyone who values our native forest. Not only was the forest cover completely removed, but even the forest floor was destroyed over most of the harvest area.

"Aside from the clearcutting and whole tree harvesting, it was sad to examine the remaining patches (the small clumps that are legally required to be left); the patches I looked at contained 30-40% healthy, young red spruce, roughly 35 or 40 years old, with 50% healthy, live crowns. These red spruce had much potential to grow into large, high quality trees.

"[This photo doesn't] do the site justice - it can't capture the magnitude of the cutting, which stretches on and on. It would take a plane ride to get the full sense of what's taking place.

"Interestingly, Northern Pulp is certified by SFI, which claims to certify sustainable forestry."

EAC's aerial & ground photos of biomass destruction

More on biomass: Dan Leger, quotes from Chronicle Herald editorial - November 16/09

"CAN SOMEONE please explain how you can tear down millions of trees, burn them in a furnace and claim what comes out of it is "green energy?" Because that is what NewPage Port Hawkesbury and Nova Scotia Power Inc. want to do.

"NewPage, with the province's blessing, wants to strip millions of trees from the land, truck them to its plant and throw them in the fire. They're calling it green power, something NSPI needs to meet renewable energy standards.

"It's biomass. Can something that sounds so nice really be bad? Anything "bio" is good, right? And it's not scary nuclear, greasy oil or nasty old coal. When people think biomass, they think green.

"And it probably is greenish when plants use the waste from their paper-making operations to generate electricity. But NewPage wants to go way beyond that.

"NewPage proposes to harvest hundreds of thousands of tonnes of so-called "low-grade hardwood" every year to add to its plant waste. A related company will run the steam boilers and the generating plant, creating jobs in the woods and 60 megawatts of electricity to sell to NSPI."

December '09 - Wolfville's vital signs!

Sustainability-type community report for the town of Wolfville, Nova Scotia shows the "big picture" of how the community is doing in a variety of areas:

Thirty page report: Wolfville's vital signs!

November '09 - Sustainable Municipalities!

This November '09 newsletter is full of great information! It's by Debbie Nielsen, Municipal Sustainability Coordinator Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities:

Newsletter: The Green Toolbox
Website: www.sustainability-unsm.ca

Living within our means - Avoiding the ultimate recession

This 49-page (pdf) document explores:

The end of capitalism as we've known it
Causes and effects
Re-framing capitalism
A sustainable new deal

Click and download Living within our means

Global warming pace exceeds expectations

CHICAGO - The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday.

"We are basically looking now at a future climate that's beyond anything we've considered seriously in climate model simulations," Christopher Field, founding director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Click for the complete Washington Post article

Sustainable Bridgewater - Sustainability Priorities

Key sustainability solution areas for our community:

Move to renewable, efficient energy
Support healthy, affordable, local food
Educate for sustainability
Create transportation alternatives
Build a green local economy

Other areas such as health, natural heritage, climate change, youth engagement, downtown revitalization, etc. will still be part of the long-term plan for sustainability, but these five have emerged as the immediate priorities for the coming years.

Click for Sustainabile Bridgewater
Click for Sustainability poster
Click for Sustainability form to see how well you're doing at home, work or play!

The Death of Nature, Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution
Carolyn Merchant's "T," Harper Publish

1983, isbn#0-06-250595-5 page 295,

"The sick earth, "yea dead, yea putrified," can probably in the long run be restored to health only by a reversal of mainstream values and a revolution in economic priorities. In this sense, the world must once again be turned upside down.

As natural resources and energy supplies diminish in the future, it will become essential to examine alternatives of all kinds so that by adopting new social styles, the quality of the environment can be sustained.

Decentralization, nonhierarchical forms of organization, recycling of wastes, simpler living styles involving less polluting "soft" technologies, and labor-intensive rather than capital-intensive economic methods are possibilities only beginning to be explored.

The future distribution of energy and resources among communities should be based on the integration of human and natural ecosystems. Such a restructuring of priorities may be crucial if people and nature are to survive."