Stop the gas-powered gardening
Recently, I saw a groundsperson using a gasoline-powered power washer to remove
tiny plants from the cracks between the pavestones, near the First Peoples’ House.
Seriously?
Is this use of internal combustion, i.e. carbon emissions, justified?
Is this use of water justified in our current drought conditions?
This ranks up there with the time I saw a gasoline-powered mower cutting the “green roof” of the First Peoples’ House . . . or any time we have to listen to leaf blowers through classroom windows, interfering with a lecture.
What about using rakes? What about letting leaves decompose where they fall? How do any of these activities jive with the campus sustainability goals?
Robin Rombs
BSc Geography undergrad
Transit strike? Swarm the politicians!
How about a student tent city where all those buses gorge and disgorge the masses? A little peaceful sit-in at Hon. Mary Polak’s constituency and legislative offices would help, too. As would a group of engineering student sardines at Transit’s HQ.
T.L. Pedneault-Peasland
Saanich
UVic’s rabbits are gone but not forgotten
As an outsider I have watched the rabbit story over the years. I have not visited the campus nor do I ever plan to. The attitude of certain management types regarding the rabbits has left more than a bad taste in my mouth. To many of us it seems the primary concern for this university is making money. Let’s rape the landscape at Queenswood to put in more dorms to house more students to bring in more money. The parkade will be a money-maker. And I am surprised they have yet to dispose of the hotel left to them in downtown Victoria. Many people ignorant to the university’s thirst for cash think it is a beautiful place. And it is or will be until more trees come down for buildings and more fields are paved for parking lots.
Bernard J Scripps
Seattle, WA
