Photo of the Week

The utilidors travel all through Inuvik carrying the water and waste to and from each building. For more pictures visit EclecticBlogs

Back to the 1970's???

The big debate that was raised in the 1960's and 1970's about the culling of baby harp seals has again come to light. Pushed by the cod fisherman who are claiming that the increase in the harp seal population has seriously affected the cod stocks, the Canadian government has agreed to increase the numbers of young seals that are slaughtered. The increase this year to 350,000 animals from the approximate 15,000 that it has been was due in part to the fact that harp seal populations have increased to 5.2 million from the 1.7 million of the early 1970s. A management plan announced in 2003 by Ottawa will see up to 975,000 harp seals to be taken by 2005.

While the seal hunt has been a long-time tradition in Atlantic Canada, it has come under the scrutiny of many people, groups, organizations, and governments. The Canadian government claims that the commercial seal hunt is humane and well regulated, but animal rights groups and journalists who scrutinize the seal hunts and document the happenings often delivering evidence of probable violations of various regulations. Some fishermen, fisheries and politicians claim that culling more harp seals will help the recovery of the Atlantic cod stocks. Both the debate and the seal hunt continue.

In Toronto this week, the International Fund for Animal Welfare screened graphic videos they say were taken late last month. Rebecca Aldworth of IFAW said she has monitored hundreds of hunts on the ice floes and was especially disturbed by what she saw this time. IFAW has been campaigning against the hunt for decades. IFAW accuses Ottawa of allowing the hunt to gain political support in the Atlantic provinces. Some have argued the exploding seal population is one reason why the cod population hasn't recovered off Newfoundland, but IFAW claims fish only forms a small proportion of a seal's diet.

For some additional facts on the seal hunt visit here.

Am I in favor of the seal hunts? I am not really sure. I mean if they are hunting young seals to reduce the numbers and this reduction will help to raise the cod stocks, then I am in favor of it. There is much information out there both proving and disproving this point and I guess that this is something that needs to take place for several years in order to see the results. If the results don't prove out then we should outlaw it or reduce it again. I am also not in favor of the government subsidizing this killing. $15 million to the hunters for this? Aren't they already subsidizing the fish industry in the Atlantic provinces? I am sure the federal government has better places to use this money. It took them almost a year to announce relief funding to the beef farmers after the loss of business from last years “Mad Cow Disease“ fiasco yet they seem not to have problems subsidizing the fish industry because of the low cod stocks. The other thing that bothers me about this is the way that the hunts are conducted and the way the hunters deal with their catch. It has been described that the hunters are more worried about the numbers they hunt rather than making sure that their prey is killed in a humane way. Several onlookers described hunters as dumping a load of still moving seals so that they could go out for more. This is disgusting and needs to be better regulated by the federal government.

I guess this will be something that will be debated for a long time. Tell me what you think. Comment

Eating Ourselves to Death!

It was reported in March by the Centres for Disease Control in the U.S. that obesity is quickly catching tobacco as the leading cause of preventable deaths. There has been talk that governments need to levy higher taxes on junk food and fast food meals. They have also talked about regulating food ads and making sure that restaurants print the nutiritional values of all of the items on their menus. But somehow I think that the governments are making the same mistake that they made and continue to make with cigarettes. We all know that eating those carrot or celery sticks are healthier for us than that creme filled donut or that bag of chips or those fast food french fries, but most of us still eat those unhealthy items as a choice. Raising taxes on cigarettes hasn't really worked that well to prevent smoking...if you want to you will. The same thing applies to increasing taxes on junk and fast food. If we want that donut we are still going to buy that donut. It's the plain and simple truth. Are regulating food ads going to work? I don't know about you but I don't go to the fast food restaurant or donut shop because of the ads I see on TV or in magazines. I go because that is what I want to eat at that time. What about printing the nutiritional value of menu items? Ya right...I really care how many calories or how much fat the donut or french fries that I came to eat and enjoy have. But what is the solution?

Maybe the solutions that need to be considered with both the cigarette and obesity related health problems are through our health care system. Maybe those that have to go to the doctors or hospitals because of these problems need to pay more to the health system that they are continuing to deplete. Maybe it requires those people to pay higher premiums than the rest of the people. Maybe it will require mandatory yearly or bi-yearly physicals to ensure we are healthy and not smoking. I am not sure how this would work but I think that those people who are taxing the health system need to pay higher stakes. Maybe it is a combination of higher taxes on the cigarettes and junk food and higher health care costs to those that use the system because of preventable diseases. The ultimate solution lies there somewhere. There has to be a way to change the bad habits of the chain smoker or couch potato (or both). Making both cigarette and junk food expensive through taxation may work in helping us curb our bad habits. Knowing it is going to cost us or our loved ones a huge price to fight our sicknesses might also help. Maybe the combination of both will help. Maybe subsidizing healthier items such as fruits, vegetables, fitness centres etc. is also part of the solution. It is obvious though from all the reports we read, if we don't find a solution to preventable diseases soon and change our lifestyles and choices, we will kill our health care system. And the last thing we want is a health system that is available to only those that can afford it (assuming anyone can after we pay the increased taxes on our cigarettes and junk food). And don't get me wrong...I fit into the bad choices when it comes to eating so I am at fault as much as anyone.

What do you think??? Leave me a comment

Is Technology Harming our Children???

I have been reading lately about the many risks of children watching TV. How can this be you ask? TVs are safe these days, not like the old days when they gave off a small amount of radiation so how can the idiot box be harmful? Well, according to a recent study done in the US as little as 1 hour of TV for those children aged 1-3 can have harmful effects.

This most recent study found that 1-year-olds and 3-year-olds who watched just one hour of television daily had a 10 percent greater risk of attention problems by the age of 7 than children who watched no television at all. And the more television watched, the greater the risk. One year olds who watched three to four hours of television had a 30 percent to 40 percent increased risk of attention problems compared to children whose parents kept the TV off. How can this be?

Previous studies cited detrimental aftereffects of excessive television viewing, including violent behavior and obesity. Now add to that attention problems. This recently published study of 1 year olds and 3 year olds demonstrated that it wasn't the content of the programming that was causing attention span problems rather it was the unrealistically fast paced images on the screen. Those images, the researchers suggested, may alter normal brain development in very young children. Apparently the television has lasting negative effects on the developing brain and may actually permanently "rewire" youngsters’ brains with all the fast paced imagery. They went on to say that children 2 years of age and younger should not be allowed to watch any TV. Their brains aren't developed enough to handle what they are seeing.

So what can we do about this? First of all parents need to stop using the television as a babysitter. Up until the last 10 years or so most families only had the 1 or 2 TVs in the house along with the stereo and possibly a VCR and those were in the livingroom or family room. Recent studies have shown that 26% of parents are putting TVs, VCRs and DVD players right into their children's bedroom. This is not acceptable. How are children's brains supposed to develop when all they do is watch TV? The children should be allowed to free play to stimulate their brains, they should be read to in order to enhance their imagination. These are the things that we were allowed to do as children. Many children now are just plunked down in front of the TV. This is all that many children know. How are they supposed to develop properly?

ADD or ADHD are attention problems that have increased astronomically in the past 15 years amongst school age children. Much of this is probably due to the increase in television watching of toddlers. Many children are being prescribed Ritalin and other drugs to help control these problems. You know we look at mothers who drink while they are pregnant and whose children are born with FAE or FAS as irresponsible mothers. Same with mothers who do drugs while pregnant or parents who do drugs around their children. This even borders on criminal at least in my mind. So why are these things bad when they affect the mental growth of our children yet it is fine for us to damage our childrens brains and let them watch endless hours of television? Is society that 2 faced or do we not understand the damage we are doing? Dammit people, these children are the future of our society and if we continue to damage their brains how is our society going to succeed?

It is high time that we turn off the idiot box for our children and spend quality time with them. Instead of turning on the tube when we get home from work, talk to your children as you make supper or do the dishes or whatever. Read stories in the evenings instead of watching that television show. Instead of buying that DVD player or TV for the kids bedroom, buy them books to read or imagination stimulation toys such as Lego to build those brains. Any toy or book that allows the imagination to do its' thing within the child's brain will benefit them more than you know. And spend some time talking and asking about their play. Get to know what they like to pretend, even get involved with it and play pretend with them. Also, since most families have both parents working, do your research when chosing a daycare. Make sure that they are stimulating your child too, you don't want to take them to a place that is just going to plop them in front of the TV either. These are your choices...let's make the right one's for our children.

Let me know what you think about this. I am always interested in the views of others. Leave a comment at EclecticBlogs.

March Blizzard and Today's Aftermath

This is the result of yesterday's blizzard. This is a picture of the side of my driveway. There is actually a commercial garbage bin under that drift somewhere. To view more pictures of the blizzard or the aftermath visit the gallery.