Earth Hour Favourites Sechelt Photo

Earth Hour 2010 favourites photo from the Sechelt, BC celebration on their flickr site showcasing Earth Hour around the world!

The local Earth Hour 2010 Celebrations were put on my the District of Sechelt and Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club aka The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada Sunshine Coast Centre

Sunshine Coast celebrations included the Community Celebration in Sechelt, Candelight Meditation at St.Hilda's Anglican Church, and a Neighbourhood Gathering in Gibsons, BC

Sechelt went all out with a Lantern procession, music by Lynne and Reg Dickson and friends, Dance performance by Jean Pierre Makossa and the Sunshine Coast Dance Society, astronomy & displays by Sunshine Coast Astronomy Club, and more.

Earth Hour encourages people around the world on the third Saturday of March to turn their power off or down for an hour to show solidarity and reduce energy consumption. Hopefully it will encourage corporations and governments to actually support and invest in meaningful clean energies!


LINK: "favourite"
Duane Burnett with the giant "Turn it Off" breaker switch. http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/4469081966/

LINK:
Photos from Sechelt Celebrations by Duane Burnett

LINK: "Official"
Earth Hour photos around the world
http://www.flickr.com/photos/48230950@N03/favorites/


LINK: FAN PAGE
You can also JOIN the Earth Hour Sunshine Coast Sunshine Coast event page on facebook and click "attending" to add it to your profile event listings.



Its always a good day on the Sunshine Coast, BC

Yours for the planet, Duane Burnett

BLOGSPOT
http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com

Photos (C) Duane Burnett
All rights reserved
http://www.duaneburnett.com

Best April Fools Prank and Hoax ever on the Sunshine Coast?

SHARE full size PHOTO on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/4480484379/

Best April Fools Prank and Hoax ever on the Sunshine Coast?
story, fools press release, reader comments, photo.
http://www.twitter.com/duaneburnett

NEW FERRY TERMINAL FOOLS PRANK
Facebook lit up April 1st, 2010 with news a ferry terminal was being built at the Roberts Creek Pier by Georgia Link Ferries to provide a service to Nanaimo. The story quoting Captain Aprif Houles quickly spread and was re-posted and shared with friends.

SHARE on Facebook www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3908274&id=132243609016

The announcement was met with shock, horror, praise, disbelief and April Fools! Dozens of people commented and clicked “like” to show their approval of the prank by actor, television host, social networker and community spirit award winning photojournalist Duane Burnett on his facebook profile and twitter feed. http://www.twitter.com/duaneburnett

Several thousand people skimmed the story headline on facebook and over 430 went to read the full article and see the photo on Duane’s Flickr site in just one day alone. http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/4480484379/

The hoax was widely heralded and enjoyed by all.


See the fools press release and comments below.
Photo is an aerial view of Roberts Creek taken by Duane Burnett when he was invited to join the Fraser Blues during Gibsons Sea Cavalcade. Rest… well… April Fools!


APRIL FOOLS PRANK (fools press release)

Roberts Creek to Nanaimo Ferry Service Approved
For Immediate Release
Georgia Link Ferries announced today that their new green ferry service has been approved on the Sunshine Coast, BC, utilizing an existing pier in the small community of Roberts Creek.

The ferry, to be named the "Queen of the Sunshine Coast," has remarkable new "green technology" said Captain Aprif Houles, that will allow the engines to run on seaweed and driftwood washed up on the local beach and the waste by-product can be used as a nutrient rich compost for local gardens.

Recently installed traffic lights on Highway 101 are part of region wide infrastructure plans to ensure safe vehicle traffic access to and from the new terminal.

A company spokesperson said while it's true they are buying up all the land around the Roberts Creek Pier area for their environmentally friendly parking lot and terminal compound, local residents should not be alarmed.

Georgia Link Ferries plan to donate the compost by-product from the ferry fuel burning process to area residents free of charge. Construction blueprints show a beautiful new depot for people to load up their trucks with the compost.

Roberts Creek was not their first choice. Originally Georgia Link Ferries had plans developed for Gospel Rock in Gibsons, but the company owners felt that area was of more value as a natural area.

The new green ferry service is expected to begin in the summer of 2012, with its inaugural sailing on June 21st. It will run between Roberts Creek, on the Sunshine Coast and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Construction of wharf and docking facilities begin immediately once a final environmental impact study is approved.

A local resident said the area is the same location where the community has tried for years to purchase vacant lands around a popular park and meeting place for many community events.

Officials at Georgia Link Ferries are looking at swapping land near Highway 101 to donate to the community who will loose access to the waterfront facilities, which will be behind security fencing.

The new terminal loading compound and parking lot is designed to hold 200 cars. The new green ferry will run 2 sailings daily at 9am and 5pm, with a passenger license for 525 people, 4 crew and 127 cars.

"We are excited," said Captain Aprif Houles, "this is the missing link!"

He said they are also planning a ferry service between Squamish and Langdale by 2013, to open up a new circle route to boost green tourism on the Sunshine Coast, Powell River, and Northern Vancouver Island, which will also take the traffic congestion pressure off of Horseshoe Bay terminal. They already have 15 bus tour companies wanting to book.

- 30 -

© Copyright (c) Cannwest News Service


SOME OF THE COMMENTS:

heatherinbc
@DuaneBurnett April Fools! Lol - thanks for the wakeup smile :)

EToday_Province
@DuaneBurnett nice!

Caitlin Douchet
Ferry through Roberts Creek = kinda lame. Roberts creek is going to get a lot a lot of traffic. roberts creek beach will get destroyed with cars and garbage. it's not going to be a calm peaceful haven to go to. everyone is going to have to find somewhere else...

Fred Rink
You had both of us going over here. I only began having question marks when I tried to google the issue! GOOD ONE!

Marlene Toth
it was extremely creative wasnt it, one of the better ones me thinks

Kera Mchugh
you'll be an international celebrity sooner than you think!! congrats on the province follow! :D

Lois Vader
You are gaining some notoriety Mr. Burnett. Great April Fool's joke :-)

Mike Warren
I heard they were going to build a bridge, but this will do.

Diana Halter
Seaweed and driftwood fuel? RC parking compounds?

Teresa Eckford
Duane is very clever - if I ddin't know better, I'd have believed it too.

Marc Buzzell
lol, this is great i posted it thak goodness for capitan fhoules

April Qureshi
Is this for real? We spent 8 hours yesterday and then 7 hours today getting to Nanaimo to visit family. I hope it sticks!

Lani Murphy Ingram
Aprif Houles does sound alot like, April Fools!!

Lisa Houle
ugh...do you know how many calls Im gonna get at work about this!

Kera Mchugh
bahahhaa... brilliant.... and if only.

Amanda Saigeon
That Captain Houles will getcha every time!
Awesome Sauce!

Rhys Amber
almost had me

Sam Zimmerman
I was just wondering, is the new ferry for the coast going too be green? I saw one of your photos and it looked like the ferry was greeeen!

Sam Zimmerman
ohhh duane!
it was all a lie? I mean, It was an april fools prank! :O me and my friend were so stoked that there was a greeen ferrrry.

Teyjah Xaveriss
That's good! I can see the uproar now! Good one!

Melina Cassidy
i wish

Bee Jackson
So cool ! anyone know the formula they are using for the fuel....driftwood & seaweed pulp? just trying to wrap my head around it...

Tracey Burk Klein
Shopping!!!!!!

Rhoberta Shaler
Yippee! Bring it on...quickly!

June Poulsen
You really want to get Creekers going this would do it. My late husband and I spent alot of time getting those tanks off the pier..... good April fools gag

David Barbarash
HA HA HA!!! nice one duane! ;)

Debra Taylor
this is great news. Thank you for getting the word out Duane.

Heather Botsis
Hahahahahahahah

Cindy MacInnes
I know the Captain...super funny guy...big time! H.A.F.!

John Tenbear Thompson
HAA ha ha he HEEE !!!

Vicky Forest
Good one Duane. Thanks for the laugh.

Dave Cottrell
Now that is way too cool.

Michael Lacoste
There is a protest developing for March 27th....spread the word.

Rick Negus
Tickets for the inaugural run are sell fast, available at the Loto 649 booth in Trail Bay Mall, got mine can hardly wait, only problem is it is a one way ticket.

Stacey Sequoiawade
Holy Crapamoly!!!
Thinking of all the friends I'll be visiting

Stacey Sequoiawade
shit.....you got me :-)

Kelly Arnold
Is this true, or April Fool's???? April fools ends at 12pm, doncha know??? Please tell me this isn't true....

James Shaw
the ferry is entirely green in that picture... that was a first indicator for me lol.

Rick Negus
Sorry you are all out of luck the inaugural run tickets are a sellout just like the iPad

Laura Byrne Paquet
That's cool!
Teresa Eckford
Did you note the date on which it was posted??
Laura Byrne Paquet
Aargh, no! That's what I get for just reading the headline. LOL! :-)


Shad Light
....and then I realized that it's April 1st.....Lol!

Patrick Muncaster
Good one! :-)))))

Cory Highfield
Nice !!

Carole Carlton
Yay

Desiree Lockhart
LOL. Wouldn't that be nice though...Especially since I'm on the Island. :-P

Carli Morgan Thomson
Way too cool!

Raquel Jor-For
Bahahah!

Trish Thompson
it was a good one
way better than the bacon jokes

Heather Pearce Lyons
ha ha ha ha ha

Carli Morgan Thomson
NO way that was awesome

gibsonsgolfer
Always wanted to get a direct connection to Nanaimo. Well done Aprif Houles and company.

BC Book Prizes
Yeah, when Aprilf Houles gets on the shtick, things happen! Creekrider 64

Sandy Prekratic
Is this a joke? I hope so......


Thanks everyone who re-posted the story and had a good laugh with me...

It's always a good day on the Sunshine Coast! Duane


LINK: Duane's Blogspot http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com


photos (C) Duane Burnett
All rights reserved
http://www.duaneburnett.com

__

New Sunshine Coast Ferry Terminal Announced

For Immediate Release

Roberts Creek to Nanaimo Ferry Service Ready to Set Sail

Georgia Link Ferries announced today that their new green ferry service has been approved on the Sunshine Coast, BC, utilizing an existing pier in the small community of Roberts Creek.

The ferry, to be named the "Queen of the Sunshine Coast," has remarkable new "green technology" said Captain Aprif Houles, that will allow the engines to run on seaweed and driftwood washed up on the local beach and the waste by-product can be used as a nutrient rich compost for local gardens.

Recently installed traffic lights on Highway 101 are part of region wide infrastructure plans to ensure safe vehicle traffic access to and from the new terminal.

A company spokesperson said while it's true they are buying up all the land around the Roberts Creek Pier area for their environmentally friendly parking lot and terminal compound, local residents should not be alarmed.

Georgia Link Ferries plan to donate the compost by-product from the ferry fuel burning process to area residents free of charge. Construction blueprints show a beautiful new depot for people to load up their trucks with the compost.

Roberts Creek was not their first choice. Originally Georgia Link Ferries had plans developed for Gospel Rock in Gibsons, but the company owners felt that area was of more value as a natural area.

The new green ferry service is expected to begin in the Summer of 2012, with its inaugural sailing on June 21st. It will run between Roberts Creek, on the Sunshine Coast and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Construction of wharf and docking facilities begin immediately once a final environmental impact study is approved.

A local resident said the area is the same location where the community has tried for years to purchase vacant lands around a popular park and meeting place for many community events.

Officials at Georgia Link Ferries are looking at swapping land near Highway 101 to donate to the community who will loose access to the waterfront facilities which will be behind security fencing.

The new terminal loading compound and parking lot is designed to hold 200 cars. The new green ferry will run 2 sailings daily at 9am and 5pm, with a passenger license for 525 people, 4 crew and 127 cars.

"We are excited," said Captain Aprif Houles, "this is the missing link!"

He said they are also planning a ferry service between Squamish and Langdale by 2013, to open up a new circle route to boost green tourism on the Sunshine Coast, Powell River, and Northern Vancouver Island, which will also take the traffic congestion pressure off of Horseshoe Bay terminal. They already have 15 bus tour companies wanting to book.

- 30 -

© Copyright (c) Cannwest News Service

SHARE on
Facebook www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3908274&id=132243609016

Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/duaneburnett/4480484379/

Duane Burnett Blogspot
http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com


Photos (C) Duane Burnett
All Rights Reserved

+

Champion of Slugs Bugs & Worms: The Road to Saviour

I'M LATE, I"M LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE!

In today's blog I try to understand why I am always trying to help people and save things my entire life?




STARTED WITH A WALK
Seen lots of early wildlife on my hikes and walks on the Sunshine Coast lately. Lots of song birds, garter snakes suntanning, and a squirrel fest! Not to be confused with this old photo I found of me playing the White Rabbit in the Trial of Alice in Wonderland during our Delta Secondary Genesis Studio production back in 1980 I thinks!





http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com


MET A SLUG OR 2
Lot of slugs too... which I have noticed trying to make this epic journey across a path that must seem to them like a trip across Canada. Poor things get all gummed up with cedars needles which seems to start sucking all the moisture out of them. So my solution is to safely escort the slugs to the other side of the path and leave them on some greenery where the night air will dampen the leaves.

I think to myself, "I am not to interfere," feeling the guilt of the Star Trek prime directive. Then I imagine for every slug I am saving in the forest, some lady has chopped three in half with a pair of scissors in her garden.


FLASHBACKS OF WORMS
So I am walking down the path with these thoughts in my head and feeling good I helped a slug out today and I have flashbacks about worms! Seems I have been rescuing worms too! Saving them from drowning on the roads after a rain, you won't believe this, since I was a kid growing up in Ladner, BC, and I still do it to this day.

Same with spiders, bees, bugs and moths caught in the house. I gently catch and release. ha ha. If I squash a bug, I say a little sorry and blessing for its Spirit.

I even figured out this way to save those annoying fruit flies that like to invade in the summer. Get a jar, put a piece of banana in it, pull some saran wrap over the the top as a lid, poke some holes in the saran wrap. The fruit flies go in, and can't figure out how to get out. Then I take it outside and release! Sure to be a snack for the birds and spiders!

I wonder if anyone else does these things or am I going mad? LOL

Why is Life as we know it about eating each other and dying? That's another blog subject altogether I think!




HISTORY OF SAVING THINGS
I guess I have a long history of savings things. Saving wetlands and farmlands, saving animals from leg hold traps, like the ducks that would be maimed accidentally stepping in one set up in the slough where we lived in Delta. That lead to a huge campaign I lead in the local Ladner Pioneer May Day Parade to ban leg-hold traps, an educational campaign at Delta Secondary High School and volunteer work for The Fur Bearers Ban the Leg Hold Trap Society also known as the Association for the Protection of Fur Bearing Animals. One year I mounted several huge Christmas trees on the office of their old Vancouver office, on Victoria Street, where they raised donations for each Christmas light turned on.






BURNS BOG
I even spent a lot of time saving Burns Bog! Every so often I google myself and found a link on the Western Canada Wilderness Committee website to a newspaper I helped write "Burns Bog Mega Project" with them which they printed 50,000 copies and distributed by mail in Delta. According to the web link, we did this newspaper back in 1988! Year's later, the Burns Bog Society has helped to raise terrific awareness about how vital this area is to the Fraser delta ecosystem and was spearheaded by Eliza Olsen and many volunteers. \


DON"T DUMP ON DELTA
Another "saving" I remember was the "Don't Dump On Delta" campaign to stop the landfill from being expanded on Burns Bog to take Vancouver's trash! Arguments being that the bog leaches into the estuary so anything you put on top of the bog makes it's way to globally vital estuarine habits and through the food chain. At least that was my reason!





VARIETY CLUB TELETHON
I didn't stop at the environment either, I remember my friend Jan Stewart and I doing fund raising for the Variety Club Telethon for several years. We started with door to door collections, then a big Tips for Variety Club campaign with restaurants in North Delta, Ladner and Tsawwassen and eventually we made it on to answering the phones on stage. Of course no annual telethon was complete without us spending the entire night cheering that total higher at the Queen Elizabeth theatre.








FRIENDS OF BOUNDARY BAY
Another project dear to my heart was protecting the remaining farmlands and wetlands in the Fraser delta, including Richmond. The Friends of Boundary Bay and Fraser for Life society I co-founded became an award winning wetlands educational success! We secured funds from major national and international corporations, foundations and regional governments to put several awesome projects together, including a mobile water quality testing unit trailer which toured the Pacific North West schools and festivals. The trailer had microscopes that hooked up to a huge big screen tv so the kids could see larvae in the water samples larger then life. We also did tons of interpretive nature events in Boundary Bay itself.

I also seem to remember that we helped to secure the funding and build the Greater Vancouver Regional (GVRD) trails at Centennial Beach in Tsawwassen. There was also a wetlands and water quality kit for teachers that was adopted into the British Columbia school system. I did a colouring book to raise funds and lots of concerts and events like the Boundary Bay Bik-Walk-Run A-thon. We had some great bands perform for us like Bob's Your Uncle, the late Amanda Hughes, and many others. I of course made sure to have Delta Cable TV there too do a show!


TV SHOW OUT TAKES 90's VIDEO
You can see some excerpts and clips from some of these shows on my youtube channel. This was back in the 1990's it looks like.

Duane Burnett TV Show Out Takes.


OLD FRIENDS CONNECT
So I just Google'd looking for links and references to the old Friends of Boundary Bay and discover my dear friend and co-founder Martin Keeley is in the Cayman Islands and the Educational Director for the Mangrove Action Project doing what he has always done so well! I lost touch with Martin when my depression and undiagnosed chronic illness wiped out a decade or two of my life, so I have sent him an email to say hello!


Martin brings 12 years of experience as a teacher and over 18 years in environmental education to his work developing and implementing MAP's Mangrove Curriculum with teachers, NGOs, and Education Ministries worldwide. Before joining MAP, Martin was the founder and Executive Director of a wetland education project called the Friends of Boundary Bay/Fraser River for Life Communications Society for 8 years. With more than 40 years of experience in communications and education, he has developed extensive and award-winning environmental education programs on wetlands. Martin lives in the Cayman Islands.



Well I think that is enough writing for tonight. Thanks anyone who reads this! I find that blogging is helping me and helping a lot of other people too, even though some of what I say is deeply personal and putting it out there.

Yours for the planet! Duane Burnett

photos (C) Duane Burnett
All rights reserved


http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com


+++

Duane Burnett: Adventures of Bog Boy! Saving Ladner, Tsawwassen & Delta, BC farmlands and wetlands

Rumour has it they found me floating down the slough in a wicker basket but that's a different story!

In today's blog I reminisce about farms, bogs, wetlands, parades and growing up in Ladner, Tsawwassen and Delta, BC.


ADVENTURES OF BOG BOY!

The South Fraser Perimeter Highway wasn’t the first controversial highway over Crescent Slough, in Ladner and Delta, BC. Nor was the ongoing Southlands (formely known as Spetifore lands) property development proposal/debate/protests in Tsawassen, BC along Boundary Bay the first urban sprawl gone mad. I recall fighting and working to protect farmlands, wetlands, estuaries and wildlife ever since I was a kid. Little did I know that growing up as a Ladner Bog Boy would impact the way I see the world for the rest of my life.

Back in the 1959 not long after the construction of George Massey Tunnel, Highway 17 cut Crescent Island farmland in half to service the Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal which began service in 1960 and widened from two to four lanes in 1973.




My mom Jackie Burnett would later spearhead a group of parents to have a pedestrian walkway built over Highway 17 for kids to get across the dangerous intersection. They first built a wooden staircase over-pass which was next to impossible to take your bike over, and as the traffic volume magnified, and parents protested more, they eventually built the cement pedestrian overpass you still see connecting Ladner and East Ladner.

While I was oblivious to the controversy around so called "progress" of build more and build some more, my memory as a child that I remember was the Highway 17 construction created this huge pond near the intersection with Trunk Road that froze over in the winter offering a spectacular and huge outdoor skating rink.






When my family moved from Gibsons Landing, BC to Ladner I was only a couple years old. We first rented a home near the Sacred Heart Church on Arthur Drive abutting the slough while waiting for our new house to be built. Five months later we moved to Crescent Drive in East Ladner which ran parallel to Crescent Slough. Back then there were only six houses in East Ladner and plenty of open fields and farmlands for kids and wildlife.

We lived about three houses in from Highway 17, and while the constant drone of vehicles and progress encroached on our lives I was more fascinated with the muddy waters and wildlife of Crescent Slough. Yes some would call it a big ditch but growing up as a young boy it was anything but!

My parents moved into a bungalow at 6021 Crescent Drive in East Ladner on May 1st, 1968. Back then there were 6 houses between Highway 17 and 64th Street. Highway 17 was really just a two lane road to the new Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal which opened in 1964. When the highway was enlarged to four lanes it cut off direct access between the subdivision on each side of the highway. The only means to get from Crescent Drive on one side of the highway to the other was to double back and detour to Trunk Road or take the boat through the tunnel under the highway on Crescent Slough.






It often turned out to be a nightmare for emergency vehicles who often showed up on the wrong side of the highway.

As I think back to sleepy Ladner and Tsawwassen in the 1960’s and 1970’s I remember the old Paterson Park Race Horse Track which slowly fell into disrepair. but didn’t stop us from exploring its decrepit grand stands where I remember finding a 20 dollar bill and spending it all on candy with my visiting cousins at the convenience store across from Delta Manor Elementary school.



For me the slough was a source of creativity which inspired me to build a “Jaws” ride to scare the neighbourhood kids at only five cents a ride. I also held lots of puppet shows, magic shows, variety shows, haunted houses and even started producing my own special effects films including Earthquake and my own version of the Hindenburg that nearly burnt the house down. Please don’t tell my Mom!


My love for movies and film and special effects would later lead to me producing around 15 shows about the environment and AIDS with Delta Cable Community Television which were broadcast throughout the Lower Mainland, and today I continue to host shows, auctions and telethons on the Sunshine Coast, BC with Coast TV.





Mom tells me that the crop dusters flew so low across the Burr family’s farmland that it singed her laundry out on the close lines one day. Later we would notice a steady decline in wildlife contaminated by the pesticides including the complete loss of the giant bull frogs as big as a side plate. One time a crop duster got too close to the underbelly of a giant jet heading to the Vancouver International Airport, and got sucked up in the vortex, smashing the tiny crop duster into the huge plane and causing the duster to plunge straight down into the slough! I heard the tip of the plane's tail wings were 12 feet in the mud. Urban legend?



I remember all the muskrat, ducks, geese, carp and swans that lived in the slough year round that often got caught in the leg hold traps and snares set out along the slough by trappers. In later years when I moved on past University life the Delta Optimist covered a story about my mom Jackie’s cat being nearly choked to death by two snares around its neck. I even remember swimming in the slough and getting covered in the thick black smelly muck. It was the time of our lives!


One of my childhood friends David Van Rheenan and I loved to test the limits of the ice that use to turn the slough into a skating rink each year but I understand that it doesn’t freeze much anymore.



We would often walk across the farm fields and laugh at the giant mud slippers that sucked us into the earth on our way back and forth from exploring the bog and garbage dump. Later my parents would get an aluminum boat which we would row out to Burns Bog when the water level was low and we could get through all the tunnels installed under the farm roads and highways.

I remember this one time finding a robins nest amongst the hundreds of spider webs lining the inside of the tunnel and taking an egg home to incubate against the squawking protests of the mother. Unfortunately I cooked the egg with a heat lamp and have felt terrible about it every since. Lesson learned!




The garbage dump and bog was always a great adventure. We would see deer and all kinds of strange plants and birds. The dump itself, was like finding a hidden treasure chest full of wonderful junk and giant pumpkins. One time at the dump there was a seagull with its leg hopelessly caught in some fishing line. We finally managed to set it free but not after a few nasty bites from its beak.

We had a beaver move into the neighbourhood and it chopped down the birch tree I had so proudly planted as young boy.

My stepfather Ed use to buy feed from the old Co-op store in Ladner for the ducks and squirrels who became so friendly and welcome in our back yard that they often came into the house for treats. The hunters would shoot the ducks along the slough and right from the side of the Highway which really upset me.

Mom worked at the Gillnetter Café in the Ladner Hotel (way back when.. who remembeers that coffee shop? It had a long coffee counter and this clock with advertising that flipped over and over again) and the police station was in what is now the Delta Museum and Archives. I was always fascinated with this clock at the 50’s style café.


The crop dusting and continued growth of housing in East Ladner eventually led to the demise of many muskrats, carp and and most tragically for me the giant bull frogs which have since become of mythic proportion in my inner child’s minds eye.

My mom later worked at the Cassiar Cannery in Richmond on Rice Mill Road. She would come home wreaking to high heaven of dead fish smell.

I remember this colouring book some friends and I created year's later, after going to the University of British Columbia to get a B.A. in Political Science, called The Adventures of Fraser about Fraser the duck who returns to find his home is now a golf course. Saddened he finds solace in Crystal the fish who’s underwater home is polluted. The pair are befriended by a couple of kids who clean up their back yard and declare it a protected habitat for wildlife.

When I think back on it, I realized that cartoon colouring book mirrored my own life. Funny my studies in politics, environmental science and the fraser delta estuaries would be succinctly summed up by a children's colouring book. I would love to see it re-published. It really is a gem.

I was very active in high school volunteering and doing theatre and stuff where I honed my skills on trying to ban leg hold traps showing films and having discussions about humane trapping methods. I would also get involved in the Don’t Dump on Delta committee, and started my career in the media writing a story about the campaign for a local publication, it was the "South Delta Now" or "Sunshiner" I think.




I also took my environmental message to the Ladner Pioneer May Day parades where I would build floats about banning the leg hold traps and protecting wildlife. I won many awards for best Novelty float and volunteered year after year to help put the event together. One year a reporter from the Delta Optimist took my photo with a local business person while judging the best decorated store window contest and another year a photo of me pulling a float of a pioneer wagon scene loaded with real dirt! Man was that heavy to pull through the entire parade route! I held on to the float in front of me quite alot! LOL

One of the strangest things, is the chronic dreams and nightmares I still have to this day about the slough and Ladner, and BC Ferries where I was hired as an Expo 86 kid at Tsawwassen Terminal. The severe sleep apnea probably doesn't help much and no doubt the real fear of loosing such a critically vital area for global populations of waterfowl. Estuaries are the most unique and productive ecozones on earth and it saddens me greatly to see them chipped at and destroyed by pollution and urban sprawl.

I do still have many memories of growing up in Delta to share! Like the award winning international wetlands education society the Friends of Boundary Bay and Fraser for Life society I co-founded with Martin Keeley, where I went after major corporation sponsorship, knowing that business must lead the way to saving the planet, but they wil have to wait for another day. (teaser)

I must say I probably wouldn't recognize Ladner anymore, or Tsawwassen. Where childhood fields and wetlands once supported child hood fun but now are drowning in concrete, asphalt, urbanization and kids bored out of their skull with X-Boxes and Guitar Hero.

Many thanks to the Delta Museum and Archives for kindly helping me with some back ground details and jogging my memory banks!




I am now living on the Sunshine Coast, BC Canada and I continue to help be of service to the community and do whatever I can to help the Earth.

Photos (C) Duane Burnett
All rights reserved

Duane Burnett Blogspot
http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com

*******

Prizes, Prizes Prizes oh my!!! Enter to WIN!

DUANE'S WORLD EXCELLENT!
Today's blog.. More great NEW prizes I am giving away on my facebook profile with the help of my community partners. THANKS!



WIN $300 AT BOARDWALK MEN"S WEAR!
Hey Class of 2010... Come on in to Boardwalk Men's Wear!
Boardwalk and Duane Burnett are offering you a chance to Win yourself a NEW Suit with a $200. gift card PLUS 2 additional random $50 gift cards (just for posting!) see contest rules, easy, quick & simple. Contest ends April 23rd, 2010. Open to EVERYONE!


OH THE HORROR!
WIN 4 Tickets to Little Shop of Horrors! Shows April 2-17th
Driftwood Players and Duane Burnett are giving away 2 sets of TWO Tickets to see the smash hit musical sensation Little Shop of Horrors!!! Please see contest rules & dates. Contest DRAW DATES April 1st & 14th.


MOVIE TICKETS
WIN 2 FREE Movie Tickets to the Gibsons Cinema!
Duane Burnett and Gibsons Cinema are giving away 2 FREE Movie Tickets EVERY MONTH! Click here for contest details and how to enter.


WIN $200 in AWESOME designer fight apparel from Darkhorse Athletics and Duane Burnett.
Post the facebook Contest to your profile to win an additional $50**
DRAW every Friday. ENDS April 16th! Read da Rules! They are easy!


WIN 10 Tickets to Vancouver Fashion Week! April 7-11th, 2010
Be a part of the excitement! Vancouver Fashion Week and Duane Burnett are giving away 10 tickets. Five sets for TWO (2) to the VFW Opening Gala "After-Party" on April 7th AND the "Runway Fashion" show April 9th! Please see rules below! Contest Ends Sun, April 4th, 7pm. ENTER HERE





New MOON DVD Winners! Team Werewolf or Team Vampire?
Congratulations Jill-Marie Wilson and Stacey Seabrook who have won a double disc new release of Twilight New Moon from Sid's Vids in Wilson Creek, BC!!!! Previous Winners Terra Daniels + Kate Hergott + Tara Duffy + Megan Fraser. Thanks everyone! Hope you enjoyed the facebook contest. Sid's Vids & Duane Burnett


HAVE A CONTEST WITH ME!
I love giving stuff away and my facebook friends LOVE it even more! It is tremendous and excellent social networking marketing, branding and exposure for you!

Thanks to these wonderful local businesses who have made our little piece of Sunshine Coast facebook heaven even more fun by offering prize contests with me:

Past prize participants include Kera McHugh and Ian Backs owners of the Wild Bistro in Gibsons, April Qureshi owner of the Sweet Chef Bakery, Nicole Josh owner of Pack Ratt Louie's now known as Benjamin's, Deb Proby at the Raven's Cry Theatre, Kimm Belisle owner of Gel-Ous Hair & Nails Salon, Daphne's Greek Restaurant in Sechelt, Lynette LeGault owner of Loumidees Consignment Clothing store in Gibsons, Melina Cassidy owner of Sundance Massage, and last but not least, Break Water Bakery!



PAY IT FORWARD EASTER BASKET!
I was given this virtual Better Basket Blog Hop for Charity by the lovely Heather in Beautiful BC, a social net worker extraordinaire.

Need help at your next conference? Heather is wonderful assistant, liason, hostess or ‘go-fer’, and she love's to be useful help wherever needed! I have seen events Heather has been involved with to help our local community and she puts the bells and whistles that makes it soar from an average hum ho event to awesome!

HELP CHILDREN"S MIRACLE NETWORK
* Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
* Create a blog post of giving a virtual Easter Basket to another blogger – you can give as many Virtual Baskets as you want.
* Link back to person who gave you an Easter Basket.
* Let each person you are giving a Virtual Easter Basket know you have given them a Basket.
* Leave your link at http://betterbasket.info/bloghop/ where you can also find the official rules of this #betterbasket blog hop and more information about Better Basket with Hershey’s.
* Hershey’s is donating $10 per each blog participating to the Better Basket Blog Hop to Children’s Miracle Network (up to total of $5,000 by blog posts written by April 4th, 2010).
* Please note that only one blog post by each blog url will count towards the donation.




Thanks everyone!


Good Luck! It's always a great day on the Sunshine Coast! Duane

You Can Follow my BlogSpot here >>
http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com

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My Chronic Life, Business Champion Award Nominations & Living Life in Public

In today's blog...
Chronic Illness Health Blog Spotlights Duane Burnett, Small Business Champion Nomination, and Putting your life story out there?

U.S. HEALTH BLOG SPOTLIGHTS DUANE BURNETT
Many thanks to Connie Roberts who wrote a story about my issues with chronic illness and all I do to help the community.

Connie's popular website "My Chronic Life: A Health Blog By Someone Who Knows" spotlights the issues I have with getting out of bed each day and keep on keeping on despite chronic fatigue, pain and depression.

She really turned my gritty life into a nicer more empowering story and also gave a shout out to her online fans on facebook, twitter and her website to visit the Sunshine Coast, BC.

Connie grew up in the Bronx and now lives in Florida. Her popular blog is a way for her to help others. She says "In 2003 I was diagnosed with a major chronic illness that has changed my life. Now I can say it’s for the better. At first I was miserable, but not any more. I still have my bad days but I hope to help others from what I’ve learned."

She calls herself the Autoimmune Queen saying "My chronic illnesses are: Ulcerative Colitis, Myasthenia Gravis, Fibromyalgia, Sjogren’s Syndrome, Anemia, Mitral Valve Prolapse and Rhuematoid Arthritis. Most are autoimmune diseases that run in my family. I’m known as the Autoimmune Queen."

What an inspiration she is. I am so blessed that my online friend from Egmont, "Heather in Beautiful BC" put us in touch with each other. The two of them seem to be mad crazy facebooker and twitter fiends like myself, and social networking has brought us together from all corners of the Earth. You can find us all on facebook or twitter!

http://www.twitter.com/duaneburnett

http://twitter.com/ConnieFoggles

http://twitter.com/heatherinbc


SMALL BUSINESS CHAMPION NOMINATION
I was just nominated for a BC Small Business CHAMPION of the Year Award for all the work I do on the Sunshine Coast! WOW thank you so much! This is a HUGE honour!!! The award goes to a small business that has demonstrated a commitment to promoting small business in their community and/or B.C., including volunteering time and services to small business interests and groups, and advocating the cause of small business!

Several people have nominated me, and if you would like to as well, it only takes about one minute to do so... here is the link http://www.successfulyou.ca/nomination-form Submissions Deadline: 12noon, March 31, 2010.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT WINNER
This is a province wide award for British Columbia different from the "Community Spirit" Award I received from the Sunshine Coast Business Awards of Distinction last year in 2009. I also have received an award of recognition from the Town of Gibsons "The World's Most Liveable Town" 2009 and just recently an award of recognition from the District of Sechelt and the "Faces of Sechelt." I try to remember and remind myself that I am grateful for the awards and recognition, but more then any award, it is most important to be an instrument of love, peace, kindness, generosity and forgiveness and to be steadfast in being these and not rocked back and forth like a roller coaster by awards and praise on one hand, then criticism and dislike on the other. Growing up bullied kinda made me a huge people please'er so I am glad I am understanding this more and more.



PUTTING IT OUT THERE? Living Life in Public
I was kinda wondering whether it was a good thing to blog about my health and life issues online, it turned up my anxiety a little higher to say the least. What I have found though, is amazing and empowering itself. It is bringing me together with other people struggling with similar issues, helping me to learn and understand more, and giving hope I think for others who often may feel as isolated and alone as I do. I find that I am liking the idea that I am helping people and they in turn help me. Curious to know what others feel about this?


LOOSING A PET
I know that my dog Tundra passing away has really brought a lot of people together as almost every day someone shares their stories, sometimes tears, and their praise for Tundra's Accessible Dog & People Friendly Drinking Fountain Fund As I mentioned in my last blog, the fund received a $500 donation from volunteers who work at the Gibsons Wildlife Rehab centre.

It's Always a Good Day on the Sunshine Coast! Thanks so much for reading my blog, and being facebook friends, following my twitter tweets, and all the LOVE! Back at ya!!! HUGS Duane

http://www.duaneburnett.blogspot.com

Photos Copyright (C) Duane Burnett. All Rights Reserved.
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