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Letters to the editor for the week of September 20th, 2012

Thinking about thanks
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Gratitude. Defined in Webster's dictionary as, "thankfulness; conscious of benefit received." It's the conscious part that made me think. It's one thing to reap the benefits every day of never-ending summer days, unconditional love of your dog, a husband who makes the bed for you, a child who randomly shouts, "I love you mom" from her bedroom, but how many of us step out of the effortless into the effort of consciousness?

I have a bumper sticker on my car from a restaurant named Cafe Gratitude that asks "What Are You Grateful For?" It is a great sticker because it creates the conscious effort of thinking about your personal gratitude statement for the day.

When I picked up my car this week from Randy at Podium Auto Detailing in Function (yes, that's a plug for Randy — he is awesome and I'm grateful for him and the amazing job he did of making my 4X4 look brand new!), he said to me that he had enjoyed listening to people comment on the sticker and automatically make gratitude statements about their neighbours, the weather, etc.

Recently we were able to reap benefit from the "gratitude wall" posted in the village during the Wanderlust yoga weekend. Actually we all reaped benefits just from the presence of the yoga weekend taking place all around us.

And all this has brought me an idea that I'd like to propose to all of you gratefully living in Whistler.

Don't get me wrong, I too have beefs and write them into our beloved editor who allows us to vent. But what if we inundated our paper with one-liners of gratitude, enough to fill a page or two. And please — one-liners. Simple, sweet, kind gratitude statements. Wouldn't we all reap the benefits of gratitude to read an article filled with appreciation and thankfulness.

I know from doing this daily that it's hard to keep it to just one. I'm grateful for this never-ending summer. I'm grateful for the 20-foot putt I sank this week, and happy partners to play with. I am grateful that my husband makes the bed, helps unload the dishes, takes the garbage and even feeds "my" dogs. I'm grateful every time my daughter shouts from her bedroom "I love you mom." I am grateful for the local farmers who have provided us with a plethora of delicious and nutritious produce all summer. I'm grateful to live in a town that allows us all to be who we are and enjoy our lives to the fullest expression. I could go on forever with the gratitude that this town lets us consciously reap the benefits from.

What are you grateful for?

Beverly Lucas

Whistler

GranFondo Liquor Policy

I would like to thank the residents of Whistler and Squamish for hosting the GranFondo event on September 8, 2012. I am sure that the traffic disruption required to put on a safe, enjoyable event caused some inconvenience for local residents, and I greatly appreciate the patience and goodwill extended by the local community. It was a world-class event that Whistler should be proud of. Kudos to the organizers for a superb job.

This is the third year that I have ridden in the event — a beautiful day capped off with a swim in Lost Lake with my wife and 16-year-old son, who drove up that morning to cheer me on. It was a perfect day — almost.

I say almost because there was one aspect of the experience that I found extremely annoying. At the finish, I was looking forward to having some food and a cold beer, with my family. Unfortunately, I was forced to choose. I could have a beer, or be with my family — not both. To obtain the complimentary beer kindly provided by the event organizers, I was herded like a cow through a security checkpoint into a pen, but without the person I most wanted to be with, my son. I was obliged to huddle like a criminal with the other middle aged men in lycra gulping beer, while my family sat outside.

I appreciate the Liquor Control Board has legitimate concerns about allowing minors access to liquor served at adult-oriented events or venues such as concerts. Perhaps this policy even makes sense at jazz festivals.

But at a daytime, family, sporting event? Only adults are allowed to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages at this event. So, why is this venue treated differently from a restaurant or sports arena, or other venue where alcohol is sold in a public setting with mixed age attendees? I find it hard to imagine that many minors are willing to hang around with a bunch of sweaty, old farts wearing spandex (me included) on the off chance that this might somehow improve their chance of being served a beer (or, God forbid, a glass of wine!). Just what is the danger from which the regulators are protecting my family and I?

I love B.C and suck out the marrow of life as often as I can. I try to show off this area with great pride to visitors. But I question whether we aren't now being constrained by a legacy of archaic regulations that no longer serve any reasonable social purpose and prevents Whistler from taking the next step in becoming a world-class resort.

I would hope the regulators have the discretion and wisdom to make practical decisions to address this anomaly, without having to go through yet another lengthy process of review.

Divyesh Gadhia

Burnaby

Owning or sharing the podium?

Well, the Olympics and Paralympics are over and we have to wait another four years to watch athletes strive to better themselves, as well as each other. It is a privilege to watch sportsmen and women especially those with added disabilities compete against each other.

I had the honour to watch and participate in the 2010 Winter Olympics, as I live and work just outside Whistler and was able to see many of these athletes climb the podium to receive their well-earned medals from numerous countries.

I watched all recipients no matter what country they came from, a fact completely missed by the Canadian broadcasting companies during these past Summer Games in London, England.

Why was so little TV coverage given to the Paralympics? Even during the Olympics, few medal ceremonies were shown, and it seemed only if a Canadian was on the podium would it be shown, and they would show only that presentation of medal to the Canadian athlete and not of the other medallists (we used to call that "being a sore loser"). The TV coverage here in Canada at best left a bad taste in my mouth, and many of my friends felt that the other athletes were treated, with nothing more than bad sportsmanship.

Own the Podium? They wouldn't even show the podium most of the time.

What happened to the old days when it wasn't about winning, it was about the joy of taking part, representing your country, setting personal bests and winning when you could, but if someone else won, well, you try harder or have the honesty to admit that at the end of the day he/she was just that bit better than you on this day — maybe next time — but at least you showed respect as was shown to Oscar Pistorius at the end of the 400-metre semi-final by the winner of the heat Grenada's Kirani James.

I thought maybe it was just me, and that because I spent my childhood in the U.K. where we are used to trying to win but seldom succeeding (well what do you expect, when the whole of G.B. can fit into just this province) but at least no matter win or lose we always cheered the finalists receiving their medals, be it bronze, silver or gold, regardless of which country they represent.

I applaud the Canadian coach from the Paralympic team, who on his return from the Games at YVR had the guts to openly explain to reporters, his distaste and shame, for the lack of TV coverage and sportsmanship shown here in Canada by the TV Stations, as opposed to the 12-16 hours daily coverage, shown on U.K. television stations (Channel 4) during both Games.

Although France's Paralympians had the same treatment shown to them by their mainstream broadcasters, this is/was a snub that no one should be proud of, and I wonder what B.C.'s own Man in Motion, Rick Hansen thoughts were on the whole?

Here's hoping that in four years time we might see more coverage of all sports within the Games and see all the athletes receiving their medals and hearing their nation's anthem regardless of age, color, belief or disablement.

Jim Clark

Pemberton

Food for thought

Unfortunately the article "Food for Thought" (Pique Newsmagazine Sept.6, 2012) missed some points on mass feeding of people by big agricultural business. According to many statistics there is enough food to go around — we need to change the way we eat and how we use the food we produce. Consider these facts when you are making your food buying choices.

"If all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million," David Pimentel, professor of ecology in Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, reported at the July 24-26 meeting of the Canadian Society of Animal Science in Montreal. Or, if those grains were exported, it would boost the U.S. trade balance by $80 billion a year, Pimentel estimated.

The nearly five billion bushels of corn that will be cordoned off to create ethanol could feed about 412 million people for an entire year. Instead, it will be turned into 13.5 billion gallons of corn ethanol. Ethanol that will go into unleaded gasoline to feed cars, mandated by law by the U.S. government.

Resources used in the production of livestock:

• 33 per cent of world's fish catch;

• 38 per cent of the world's grain harvest;

• 50 per cent of all the water used in the U.S.;

• 60 per cent of Brazil's grain harvest;

• 70 per cent of U.S. grain harvest;

• 80 per cent of U.S. corn harvest

According to Earthsave:

• Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980;

• In 2008, more than 1.4 billion adults, 20 and older, were overweight. Of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese;

• 65 per cent of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight.

• More than 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2010.

According to the World Health Organization

• Five million children in the U.S. go hungry every month;

• Approximately 40,000 people die each day worldwide due to hunger or hunger-related causes;

• If Americans reduced their intake of meat by merely 10 per cent, 100,000,000 people could be fed using the land, water and energy that would be freed up from growing livestock feed;

• 10 billion people could be sustained from present croplands if all ate a vegetarian diet.

I really doubt that the small percentage of people who are demanding farm fresh produce from local producers is going to have much of an impact on big business agriculture.

I will bet a lot more people in Vancouver or elsewhere have a Costco card than people that actually shop at a farmers' market. After a summer of eating the abundance of fresh produce from our garden in Alpine Meadows and purchasing fresh fruit from B.C. producers at the farmers' market, I dread winter and the thought of having to buy produce that looks and tastes terrible and will go out of my way to continue to eat a diet of local produce.

By the way, eating local means eating seasonal, relishing the produce when in season, preserving some for later or just wait till it is in season again. All the energy that is wasted to produce a tomato in the winter that tastes like nothing is just a waste and gives us no nutritional benefit or pleasure if you have actually tasted a real tomato.

And... stop, or reduce, the amount of meat you eat. Enjoy more of the variety of beans, lentils and grains we grow in our Prairie Provinces fed directly to you, not animals.

Karen Kay

Whistler

Volunteering made easy

Never be afraid of stepping up to the plate in Whistler to offer to organize something... You'll always get the most amazing support in this town.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the staff at Whistler Secondary for being so community minded, as well as the Parent Advisory Council for funding the great tradition of the Welcome Back BBQ.

Thank you to Bruce at Nesters, you do great at making things seem simple. Nesters, thanks again for all of your support –—you never fail. Thanks to Whistler Cooks for doing the barbecuing — taking all the stress out of cooing for a crowd. Thanks to the Four Seasons for graciously keeping paper out of the landfill and offering us their plates. Thank you to Senka, who not only donated the flowers, but actually came to the school and arranged all the pretty centerpieces. As usual, Slopeside came through and generously donated the drinks, as did Starbucks supply the coffee... thanks!

Lastly, I'd like to thank the gals who each took on a specific task, and made the whole evening a blast. Thank you Caroline, Sandy, Sarah, Lisa, Tracy, Kerri and Sheilagh — you guys are great.

Margot Murdoch

Whistler

Say no to cell tower

Regarding the notice of Intention to Apply for a Disposition of Crown Land, land file #2410784. This Land Act notice was in the Pique on page 24, Sept 12, 2012.

We as residents of Alpine Meadows are very concerned with the application for an addition of yet another 40-metre tall cell tower above our neighbourhood.

We have researched many studies including one by a Professor of the Electrical Engineering Department IIT in Bombay, Girish Kumar's 2010 research report on cell tower radiation. Please Google "Cell Tower Radiation Report 2010-DOT India" as well as many other research reports listing the health hazards of living or working near cell towers.

In Professor Kumar's December 2010 report, prepared for the Department of Telecommunications in India, she states in her conclusion on page 29: "Cell operators continue to claim that there are no health issues. The cell phone industry is becoming another cigarette industry, which kept claiming that smoking is not harmful. In fact cellphone/tower radiation is worse than smoking as one cannot see it or smell it, and its effects on health are noted after a long period of exposure. ...It is imperative that stricter radiation norms must be enforced by policy makers."

According to an article by The Center for Safer Wireless in Selbitz Germany, a study of 251 people concluded "the current exposure limit regulations basically do not provide sufficient protection against health risks."

If you would like to see the alarming list of health risks please look them up on the web under effects of cell tower exposure.

Henry Lai Ph.D Professor Electromagnetic Research Lab Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington Seattle stated, "It's one thing to be on a cell phone for one hour per day, but if you are exposed to a cell tower you are exposed 24/7 so the effect is cumulative."

We are wondering why an independent, third-party research group cannot test the effects of radiation etc. within the Alpine Meadows neighbourhood at various home locations? If we recall, the past measurements for exposure was done at the base of the tower where no one actually lives! The radiation is sent out from the towers and not directly down, so we feel that for the health and well-being of our community, further tests should be done before allowing more towers to be installed.

If as a citizen of Whistler you have any concerns regarding this application please contact www.arfd.gov.bc.ca/ApplicationPosting/index.jsp by October 12, 2012.

Ed and Marta Hollander

Whistler

Thank you for an Active Sunrise

I would like to thank everyone who made last weekend's "Active Sunrise" charity event possible. Special thanks go to Chloe Thomas at Nicklaus North for securing the space and being such a gracious host, Mark Coates from Innovative Fitness for giving up his only day off and chasing us around the golf course, Devon Sockett from Früv who lead us through a beautiful yoga session in the sunshine, and to Tracey Higgs the star nutritionist from Nesters who taught us new ways to fuel up before and after a workout.

Most of all I want to thank the ladies who took part and came down early on a Sunday morning when their breath still hung in the air to join us in raising money and our heart rates!

We raised $400 for the Peaks Foundation, which is a non-profit organization funding women based initiatives in third-world countries. Both Hannah Mason and myself will be travelling to Peru in 2014 to do the 3 Peaks, 3 Weeks Challenge. We are aiming to raise at least $5,000 each, which will go towards two different charities the Peaks Foundation have chosen to support; The Mountain Institute and GirlSportWorks.

If you'd like to see what else we'll be doing in the build up please LIKE us on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/3Peaks3Weeks

Dee Raffo

Whistler

Becoming The Home Of Extreme Sports

Knowing Whistler now for over 40 years I am a little surprised by what has become the Whistler of today. Over the past two years that I have been living in Whistler it has become clear that "Destination Whistler" is consciously or unconsciously branding itself as a go-to destination for extreme sport events.

This has been demonstrated by the various race and challenge events offered throughout the year, which is all great. If this is the aspiration of Whistler then it should embrace the future of Ironman Canada and other sporting events that do not cause duplication but expand the venue of participant offerings and spectator interest.

Whistler is still a beautiful place to hang out and to participate in various other leisure and recreational activities, and one does not have to be an extreme athlete to enjoy the Whistler scene, but it is continually moving in a direction of being on the edge.

I'm looking forward to seeing what evolves in the future for Whistler, the world's favorite four-seasons, outdoor, sporting and recreation playground. But I'm not sure I will be there to see it unfold day-to-day as new opportunities are currently keeping me here in the Vancouver Lower Mainland.

Thank you Whistler for the past two years. It's been fun watching the locals, and our visitors from afar have fun, and enjoying a little bit of it myself from time to time along the way.

Cheers!

Brian Wolfgang Becker

Whistler