EPIC News

  • Marks & Spencer Extends Warangal Cotton Project

    Project extended to 2015 to include 20,000 farmers

    Marks & Spencer (M&S) today announces phase two of its 'Better Cotton' project in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, India which aims to deliver an extra 21,000 tonnes of 'Better Cotton' fibre and help improve the lives of 20,000 farmers and their families over the next three and a half years.

  • Cutting food waste

    Most people have been brought up not to waste food - I guess few of us haven't.

  • Toilet chemicals and the environment

    Our toilets become dumping (excuse the pun) grounds for more than our own waste. In our efforts to create a hygienic environment, we're often killing not only the bacterial nasties, but beneficial organisms and poisoning our waterways.

  • Dealing with Cockroaches

    The sight of a cockroach would have my mother calling the exterminators post-haste. In fact, I don't even remember seeing a cockroach in the house we lived in for over a decade, although I'm sure they were there - just scared to death of my mother.

  • 10 Simple Actions that Reduce Your Environmental Impact

    There is a big difference between knowing how to live green and actually living green.  Being green isn't always easy and it isn't always cheap but the world you live in becomes a better place for your efforts.

Ocean Conservation at EPIC 2011

 

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The underlying theme for this year's EPIC event is 'ocean conservation'. Everywhere you turn - art installations around the show floor, on the Main Stage, in the KidZone - you'll see subtle references to this critical environmental issue.


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OCEAN GYBE:
Sailing the World with the Pirates of Plastic

In the summer of 2007, brothers Ryan and Bryson Robertson, along with their good friend Hugh Patterson, embarked on a three-year journey to circumnavigate the globe and raise awareness about the deteriorating state of the world's oceans. The project, called 'Ocean Gybe', kicked off on a sailboat in La Paz, Mexico and would document the levels and effects of marine pollution and ocean borne plastics on remote islands and beaches around the world. They traveled across the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, and what they discovered was disturbing - garbage, particularly plastic shopping bags and pop bottles, are piling up on the world's beaches and jeopardizing the lives of marine wildlife. Picture this - in one 50 metre stretch of beach on the Cocos Keeling Islands (an Australian territory about 1,500 km west of Bali), the Ocean Gybe crew found 300 flip flops and 200 plastic pop bottles, in addition to "every other imaginable piece of plastic you can think of."

Join us for a highly informative and inspiring hour with Ryan, Bryson and Hugh as they discuss the findings of their Ocean Gybe project, and talk about how each of us can lessen our personal impact on the oceans.


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BC Hydro AquaVan

The AquaVan is coming to EPIC! This award-winning classroom on wheels features live animals, cool props and fun activities. Touch a sea star, learn how a barnacle feeds, get up-close with a hermit crab, and discover the connections among animals, environments and ourselves. On location Saturday and Sunday.


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ING Direct KidZone

The BC Hydro AquaVan and the Wake Project Society will also be on hand to promote ocean conservation and educate the little ones about life underwater. Fintastic fun all weekend long!

wake project logo

Ocean Awareness Art Installations

Here in Vancouver, we're intimately familiar with water. There's the rain, the Fraser river, and the ocean. But when you look out over the water, do you really know what you're seeing? At this year's EPIC, four local artists show us the amazing life that swims beneath the surface. Check them out!

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Vicky Bowes
In her paintings, Vicky captures the evolutionary perfection and grace of species in their natural environment. She shows the immense diversity that lies beneath the surface of the world's oceans. (Vancouver, BC)

http://oceanroots.org

 

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Leanne Hodges
Images of wildlife, coastal landscapes, indigenous cultures, and environmental themes are expressively interwoven in Leanne's paintings and mixed media artworks. For more than 15 years, Leanne pursued her art practice while developing a remote charter boat company and raising her son. (Quadra Island, BC)

www.leannehodges.com

 

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Cam MacDonald
Cam's drawings explore human use of the natural world. He mixes humour, politics, art and science to stimulate dialogue about issues of over fishing, globalization and food security. His ink drawings feature fish that live in the Pacific Ocean off BC's west coast. (Duncan, BC)

www.cammacdonald.ca

 

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Robi Smith
Robi's paintings depict the beauty and mystery of local marine species in an ocean threatened by pollution, over fishing, and climate change. All of the fish in her paintings have, at one time or another, swum through BC's coastal waters. (Vancouver, BC)

www.blue-lantern.ca/studio