First, the light, in the form of knoend’s minimalist Lite2go, which is designed so the packaging is part of the shade. Lite2go comes with an energy-efficient bulb, in a range of colours, and can function as either a pendant or table lamp.

As for the scallops, in Japan over 200,000 tons of scallop shells are binned every year as industrial waste. Aimori Corporation has developed a process to convert the shells into zero-VOC wall plaster. Aimori’s Zen Ocean Plaster is formaldehyde free, breathable, and mildew resistant. Aimori is searching for a distributor for Western Canada.

Thoughts of scallop shell plaster reminded me of my recent perusal of Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook, “Passion for Flavour”, in which he writes about scallop coral powder.

Being a bit of a seafood luddite. I assumed coral was just another word for shell, especially as he writes about how brittle the corals get after they are baked, and how noisy they are when they are ground in the food processor. Wrong. They are actually the bright orange bits that we North Americans leave behind when we shuck scallops, mainly because the corals are very perishable. Waste not, want not in Gordon’s kitchen. And no, I will never forgive him for the puffins.

We don’t yet know how much the budget for the 2010 security costs has increased. The original estimate of $175 million was laughable, considering Salt Lake City’s security costs in 2002 were close to $500 million. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day is being coy, but plans to release the adjusted estimate soon.

Plenty of discussion at the Pacific North West Economic Region’s annual summit, here in Vancouver this week, including the aforementioned Olympic security costs, and the announcement that the road from Vancouver to Whistler will be closed to non-Olympic traffic during peak Olympic times. If you aren’t on a bus going to an event, then you can pretty much forget trying to drive the Sea-to-Sky Highway, or to Horseshoe Bay to catch a ferry. Does this mean BC Highways Minister Kevin Falcon will finally get that helicopter he’s been coveting?

BC Ferries will be increasing their fares by as much as 17.6%, depending on the route, starting August 1. Considering that gasoline prices have increased by 26.9% over the past year, the ferry increase could be worse.

It does lead one to wonder whether cost increases like this will discourage tourism, which is experiencing zero growth, according to Candice Gibson, manager of consumer marketing at Tourism Vancouver.

The cure for flat tourism numbers is lesbians, according to Gibson and Vision Vancouver councillor Tim Stevenson, who has been mysteriously quiet for the last year. Lesbians, says Stevenson, have plenty of money and no children, and would spend more time in Vancouver if Vancouver bought a $33,000 advertising contract with Curve magazine.

Meanwhile, it’s also been revealed by Candice Gibson, that Vancouver is already a top spot for gay and lesbian tourism, based on a survey done by San Francisco-based Community Marketing. It’s hard to fathom how $33,000 and four print placements in Curve mag would make a discernible difference in our travel destination cachet.

If you’re too poor to travel this summer, you can always take in the Victory Square block party this Labour Day weekend.

Or check out the new Cactus Club at Bentall 5, which along with food concept architect Rob Feenie’s new menu items, Veuve Clicquot by the glass, and three Basquiats, a Warhol, and a Brent Comber hanging on the walls, still offers many reasonably priced “pre-Feenie deep-fried pub standards.” All that and a minimum 1 hour wait. Globe and Mail food critic Alexandra Gill’s review is here.

While we moan about declining tourism numbers and decide where we’re going out for dinner tonight, Monsanto et al are having their way with South African farmers. Over the past decade, South Africa has entered trade agreements with large, multi-national agricultural biotechnology corporations, such as Monsanto, which promote the subsidisation of patented GM seeds. Through an incentive system supporting monocultures, small-scale farmers are systematically integrated into commercial agriculture. Small-scale farmers who sign up for GM deals quickly lose control over seed management, production, and eventually their land.

Perhaps because of its unfunny, tasteless July 21 cover, New Yorker reporter, Ryan Lizza, was not given a seat on Obama’s press plane.

Not long before the cover hit the streets, New Yorker editor, David Remnick, went out for lunch.

Dickson Despommier, a professor of public health at Columbia University, is a passionate advocate of “vertical farms” in skyscrapers that provide food for the surrounding urban population.

Thirty stories, he thinks, would be sufficient to feed 50,000. though in a city centre where real estate is as expensive as it is in Manhattan, it’s likely an investment banker would outbid a tomato.

Use of industrial and human waste as a soil amendment component, once it has been processed into sludge or biosolids, is becoming an increasingly acceptable agribusiness practice.

Last September, the BC Government approved a new Soil Amendment Code of Practice. Permitting use of biosolids on agricultural and forest lands, says the government, has many benefits, not least diverting sludge from landfill sites and incineration facilities. It seems our government is so keen on agricultural use of industrial and bio waste, that the only requirement for its use is the filling out of a simple form.

There are doubts about the benefits of spreading sludge over agricultural and forest lands. According to this article in the Toronto Star, large food processors including DelMonte, Campbell’s Soups, and Gerber Baby Foods won’t use produce grown on sludge-treated soil. This is because of their concerns about toxic metals, particularly cadmium, which can hurt kidney function, and mercury, which harms the brain and nervous system.

BC’s Soil Amendment Code includes standards for permissible levels of heavy metals including cadmium and mercury. It also requires a 30 meter buffer between sludge and a water source. Once the sludge has been spread, signage must be posted for 38 months to warn life forms who can read to stay off the fields. Hopefully the vomitous stench would be disgusting enough to dissuade small children and wildlife from hanging around.

Sludge-amended soil cannot be used to grow food crops for 18 months if the edible portion is above-ground, or 38 months if below-ground. Domestic grazing, strangely, is permitted after 60 days. Murray McBride, from Cornell’s Waste Management Institute is just one soil scientist who was concerns about the impact this practice could have on our dairy and meat supplies.

Last September, a letter was sent to Barry Penner, BC’s then-minister of agriculture and lands, from a group of environmental and labour organizations, urging him to consider wiser approaches to managing biosolids, instead of spreading it “by the truckload throughout the province.”

For now, there is no way of knowing whether conventinal food has been grown or raised on sludge-amended soil. COABC standards do not permit the use of sludge or biosolids. “Organic” food sold in big box stores is grown in parts unknown, and under less rigourous standards that might permit the use of sludge.

Not a Leader? B.C. Minster of Transportation Kevin Falcon, was not too happy on Canada Day. He was caught up in the traffic gridlock that resulted in Vancouver when police shut down the Second Narrows Bridge to assist a distraught woman who was contemplating suicide.

From Falcon’s perch, this sort of inconvenience is unacceptable, and we should be more like San Francisco. Maybe so. Maybe their politicians don’t throw hissy fits when they are inconvenienced. Maybe they think people are more important than roadways, too.

Speaking of Stuff that Sucks: Darren Barefoot succinctly analyzes the Canucks’ immediate future. From my perspective, it looks like it could be their long term future, too. Then again, it’s possible that Sundin could be the perfect Canuck catalyst, or that Roberto could be sold for a few hot prospects, or that Gillis knows what he is doing.

Buyers’ Market: Vancouver real estate prices have moderated slightly, and some price reductions are even being noted. Some say this is just a hiccup in an ever-upward price spiral. Others say that Canada has finally followed the US and European property markets down the hole. Consumer spending is also slowing down , but maybe not for Tom and Steve.

Family Planning–Extreme Edition: 70-year-old Omkari Panwar gave birth to twins recently. She wanted a male heir, so underwent IVF treatment and a C-section. I guess she can die happy now?

Bush Face: The Guardian reports on a confidential World Bank report that traces the steep rise in world food prices directly to the lust for corn and vegetable oils to manufacture biofuels. According to the Guardian “Senior development sources believe the report, completed in April, has not been published to avoid embarrassing President George Bush.”

Muhammad Yunus has a six-point plan to address the growing global food crisis. His six point proposes that “each oil-exporting country create a “poverty and agriculture fund”, contributing a fixed amount - perhaps 10% - of the price of every barrel of oil exported. This would be a small fraction of the windfall they have been gaining from higher prices.”

Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez is already on board, offering $365 million of Venezuela’s oil income to produce, buy, and distribute food and medicines to the poor.

And the Americans have passed their $290 billion farm bill, which has been roundly criticized for cutting international food aid while extending generous subsidies to domestic sugar, dairy, timber, and salmon producers.

Wheatboard, made from wheat chaff, is becoming a significant eco-friendly building material.

Frank Schavio, San Jose-based sustainability activist, has remodeled his modest tract house. By focusing on conservation instead of features and fads, he’s developed a comfortable, green home.

It’s been a cold spring, and before last week’s snow we put out a few things that seem to be growing reasonably well–arugula, chives, dill, sage, chard, thyme, chervil, tarragon, and Italian parsley.

Despite a southern exposure, the basil and oregano seem to be struggling, and may have to be replaced, once we are sure the weather and soil have turned warm.

Strawberries in the backyard, which we planted last weekend, are doing well despite limited afternoon sun and a northern exposure.

Our precious Sungold tomatoes are still indoors, enjoying what sun there is, from their perch at a south facing patio door.

Avalon Dairy, the family business that started in Vancouver back in 1906 with six cows, has prospered ever since, and was the first dairy in BC to produce certified organic milk.

Glass bottles, home delivery, and support for local dairy farmers are just some of the reasons why people want to buy Avalon products, whether conventional or organic. In the next couple of months they will open a new 40,000 square foot plant in Burnaby. Avalon’s long term goal is to produce 100% organic products.

So what’s with Vitala? It’s Avalon’s newest product–milk from Abbotsford cows that have been fed wild tuna meal to boost the DHA Omega-3 in their milk.

Let’s assume for argument’s sake that the Vitala tuna meal comes from young Albacore that have a relatively low mercury content. Cows are not omnivores. Cows eat grass. Feed a cow eat grass and it will produce milk rich in Omega-3’s. Cows do not need to eat tuna to do what cows are intended to do.

And humans who choose to drink cow’s milk don’t need that milk to come from tuna-fed cows.

First I heard of Canada’s new meat inspection regulations was when Herb Barbolet commented during the Q&A after Naomi Klein’s presentation at the Writers Festival last week. Then Tim Pawsey wrote about them in the Courier, and today Don Genova posted about them on his blog.

Since September 1, the federal food inspection agency has required centralized slaughtering and processing of meat and poultry. These new regulations suit the aims of big agribusiness, while threatening to put the boots to small local producers, for whom transporting produce to these centralized facilities is cost prohibitive.

Lyle Young of Cowichan Bay Farm, which is renowned for its pasture-raised poultry, has faced financial risk and operational challenges since establishing Farmhouse Poultry in 2004. Farmhouse Poultry is a local slaughtering facility established to provide small scale poultry farmers on Vancouver Island a fully compliant local facility to which they can take their poultry for processing. In this six-minute mp3 format interview with Don Genova, Lyle describes the difficulties he has faced in operating Farmhouse.

We live in an age of disconnected government policy, not least here in BC. The Liberals cut social programs, telling us it would increase prosperity. They introduced Gateway, telling us it would decrease vehicle emissions. Touting the benefits of local agriculture while pandering to the scaled-up needs of agribusiness is just another example. We elected a two-headed monster, represented in the caricature of Gordon Campbell on the cover of the most recent Georgia Straight.