April - Editor's Fix

This month one of the columnists asked how many “green” editions we have published. “This will be our fifth,” I said. It immediately sparked an interest, resulting in me going through the four previous April Fix’s in an effort to pinpoint what I took away from each one.

2007. I was challenged with walking or biking over driving through our “Walk/bike to Work Week” campaign, so much so that I parked my car for the summer and realized how easy it is to get by in Fernie with a bike and two feet! Everything is close, and parking not an issue. Fortunately the weather complied, but regardless it was a great lesson to learn.

In 2008 we printed our first recycling guide with the help of Advocates for Local Living. All of a sudden it was very obvious that so much more than plastics, paper and tin could be disposed of environmentally in Fernie! The guide forever changed what I view as garbage.

2009 – I remember realizing the importance of the Flathead for the first time after interviewing Josh Marr for the “Feature Artist” column. He was working on a documentary to help the Flathead become a National Park, and his personal experience and passion not only inspired, but iniated an emotional attachment to this special area and all backcountry available to us in Fernie as well. I felt lucky. And scared.

In 2010 Kirsty Morris featured the individuals running the Fernie Bottle Depot in “Unsung Heroes”. Taisun Kim, originally from South Korea, saw a similiarty between Canada and his homeland after visitng one of our landfill sites. He admitted to feeling fortunate to be a part of preserving, “Canada’s natural beauty.” Having new Canadians provide such a fundamental service to our community and country, working diligently towards the greater cause made me realize how much more I could and should be doing.

So, here we are in 2011 having just finished putting together the April Fix - what big lesson was learnt? Water is a consistent theme flowing through this magazine and it’s been driven home how this precious resource is directly affected by our actions and lifestyles. Simple changes to my day-to-day life have been made in this regard. I hope it inspires you to do the same. Happy “Green” (or, as Lee-Anne Walker suggests, “Blue”) April.