Unemployment currently stands at 24%.
The violence has had a knock on effect in the rest of the continent. Some employers are making preparations to repatriate S. African workers to avoid reprisal attacks. Malawi has called for a boycott of S. African goods and shopkeepers there have been threatened. S. Africa has a long and troubled history of hostilities against those perceived to be foreign. Shortly after democratization in 1994 riots blamed on Bantu hostilities to immigrants from other areas of Africa and Europe. Riots in 2008 killed more people. 2013 and 2014 thugs killed Somali immigrants and looted their properties. Source: News Day BBC News Wikipedia
1 Comment
The source of contamination may come from the unwashed hands of field workers, from non-composted manure or from contaminated irrigation water.
It may be a cop out on the part of suppliers these days, but I have noticed that even those washed and packaged greens for salads often bear a warning on the container to always wash the produce before eating. E. coli bacteria are easy to kill with heat. They can be washed off smooth surfaces quite readily, but bumpy and frilly vegetables present greater challenges. Sprouted seeds present real difficulties in ensuring non-contamination. Other ways to kill E. coli without heat include exposure to ultra-violet light and/or ozone. Sources: CBC News Canadian Digestive Health Foundation
Other people were jogging, throwing sticks into the water for their dogs and generally enjoying the beautiful scenery that Vancouver is known for. That is until sticky black globules started landing on the sand. There is no death count so far on the number of shore birds and harbour seals that got hit with this poison.
Many people in BC have been speaking up and opposing increased oil tanker ships in the coastal waters. There is a proposal by the American Kinder Morgan to double or triple oil capacity to the harbour. An increase of hundreds of mega-tankers to Vancouver harbour would result if approved. Also proposed is a scheme by the consortium known as Enbridge to force a heavy oil pipeline to the Central Coast of BC which would attract hundreds more supertankers each year. The coastal area is sparsely populated and has wild weather as the norm. I leave it to you to guess the consequences of one tanker disgorging its cargo into those pristine waters. Sources: Vancouver Sun Radio station CKNW |
Barbara McPherson
Blogger, gardener, farmer. Working toward food security and a 30 foot
diet. Addicted to reading. Love this planet, especially my little corner
on Vancouver Island, Canada Archives
October 2016
Categories
All
|