What are the pros and cons of using straw bales as skirting under a slightly raised cottage?—Name withheld, via email
Straw bales have plenty of pros: they’re energy efficient, inexpensive, eco-conscious, DIY-able…
“But straw bale insulation really doesn’t sound like the best choice for this application,” says Deirdre McGahern, the owner of Straworks in Peterborough, Ont. “Usually using bales in a retrofit situation doesn’t work.”
The bales would need to be 12″ to 18″ off the ground and supported in some way, she explains. “Chances are the floor wasn’t framed for them to fit between the joists. They would also need to be plastered on both faces to be effective insulators, and in order to be fire- and pest-resistant.”
Maybe you’re just looking for a quick-and-dirty solution for the cold season: shoving some bales around the perimeter of the cottage. Sure, people do it, but unfortunately, cons come with this insulation strategy too.
If your goal is to ward off frost heave by keeping the ground around the piers from freezing and being displaced, straw won’t deliver. With exposed piers, and no heat source, cold air will still blow between the bales and cool the soil’s subgrade.
Plus, “the bales will collect moisture and start to rot,” says Barrie-based home inspector Roger Frost. They’ll also collect rodents. “Over time, this can lead to an infestation in the cabin.” Also? The local fire department and your insurance company may not be wild about you sticking something flammable so close to your cottage.
“Straw bales can be made to work to some degree,” says former Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation building scientist Don Fugler. “But it’s not really good practice.”
What are the pros and cons of using straw bales as skirting under a slightly raised cottage?—Name withheld, via email
Straw bales have plenty of pros: they’re energy efficient, inexpensive, eco-conscious, DIY-able…
“But straw bale insulation really doesn’t sound like the best choice for this application,” says Deirdre McGahern, the owner of Straworks in Peterborough, Ont. “Usually using bales in a retrofit situation doesn’t work.”
The bales would need to be 12″ to 18″ off the ground and supported in some way, she explains. “Chances are the floor wasn’t framed for them to fit between the joists. They would also need to be plastered on both faces to be effective insulators, and in order to be fire- and pest-resistant.”
Maybe you’re just looking for a quick-and-dirty solution for the cold season: shoving some bales around the perimeter of the cottage. Sure, people do it, but unfortunately, cons come with this insulation strategy too.
If your goal is to ward off frost heave by keeping the ground around the piers from freezing and being displaced, straw won’t deliver. With exposed piers, and no heat source, cold air will still blow between the bales and cool the soil’s subgrade.
Plus, “the bales will collect moisture and start to rot,” says Barrie-based home inspector Roger Frost. They’ll also collect rodents. “Over time, this can lead to an infestation in the cabin.” Also? The local fire department and your insurance company may not be wild about you sticking something flammable so close to your cottage.
“Straw bales can be made to work to some degree,” says former Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation building scientist Don Fugler. “But it’s not really good practice.”
Photo Courtesy of Michael and Jewelle Schiedel-Webb
Here at Cottage Life, we realize how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has hit local businesses. To do our part, we’ll be highlighting the stories of different businesses in cottage country. This week, we spoke with Jewelle Schiedel-Webb, who runs Haliburton Highlands Brewing, a cottage-country brewery, with her family in Haliburton, Ont.
What is Haliburton Highlands Brewing?
Haliburton Highlands Brewing is a family-owned production brewery that we started in 2014.
Photo Courtesy of Michael and Jewelle Schiedel-Webb
How did the business get started?
My husband, Michael, and I have cottaged in the Haliburton area for many years and have always wanted to live and work up here. We spent many Friday nights in the car talking about what we could do that would let us live and work in the area. We’re both big foodies and very interested in the slow food movement. So, in 2010, when craft brewing was exploding, we were thinking about how Haliburton didn’t have a craft brewery.
We decided to open one because we thought it could add to the area. My husband has a culinary background, and I worked in product marketing and operations, so I explored all the regulatory and business aspects of starting a production brewery. At the same time, Michael did a couple of internships and learned how to brew.
We partnered with Abbey Gardens, a 350-acre site in Haliburton that used to be a gravel pit. Now it’s focused on building the local food community through sustainable energy and wellness. It was a perfect partnership because they were looking for something to add to their tourism appeal. We were looking for a location for the brewery that would allow us to operate sustainably.
We started with a pilot project to validate. I mean, we were making a considerable investment and a huge transition, so we wanted to be sure this was what we wanted to do. Fortunately, we loved it, and Abbey Gardens felt like the perfect location. We planned with Abbey Gardens to build a building for the brewery that enables our sustainable mandate.
What they came up with is amazing. We lease the building from Abbey Gardens, and it’s been our home for the last seven years. Since brewing is very water-intensive, we have a quality source, but we also responsibly manage our wastewater. We divert a bunch of our waste so that it never hits our septic, and our greywater is managed separately. In our equipment selection, we recover the hot water that we generate in our brewing process so that it recovers the heat energy and the water itself. There’s a lot of closed-loop systems.
What inspired the name?
We felt it was important to have the name of the brewery connected to the region. People who live here and people who cottage here feel a strong affinity for the region, so that was essential. It was always our vision to build the brewery in this specific community rather than anywhere else. We want it to be an integrated part of the community.
To ensure that, we incorporate local suppliers and local ingredients and sources as much as we can. The honey used in our beers, we buy from the farmers’ market. On the retail side, our t-shirts are manufactured in Montreal, and we have them printed at Up River in Minden. We have bottle openers made by local artist Mike Townsend from Twisted Twig Designs. If we can find a local source in the county, we will use it.
Photo Courtesy of Michael and Jewelle Schiedel-Webb
What are some of your most popular products?
We have a regular line-up, which includes five or six year-round offerings. Our Blue Line Blonde is a straightforward, approachable, easy-drinking blonde ale. It’s called Blue Line because it’s the signature beer for McKecks, a restaurant in Haliburton that former NHL player Walt McKechnie started. We partnered with them from the very beginning, before the brewery was even open. In the spring, we partner with Colour of Wood, a local maple syrup producer in Carnarvon. We use the syrup from them to make a beer that we call Cool Runnings. That beer is made entirely from sap, which we get 100 per cent locally. There’s no water.
We also always have Coffee Porter. It uses locally roasted cold brew from County Coffee. We love our dark beers. There’s always a large selection of dark beers that we cycle through in the wintertime. Otherwise, we do mostly ales. Occasionally, we’ll do a lagered ale. Even though we’re a small brewery, we have a lot of flexibility on the types of beers we make. We have a big system that we use for our year-round beers and our mainstream products, and we use our small system to do all these fun seasonal varieties.
How do you choose which types of beer to brew?
Our son, Keanan, and his fiancée, Sandra, are both certified master brewers. They went to Germany to train. So, while Michael was our original head brewer, Keanan does all of our brewing now, and Sandra manages our front of house. When it comes to deciding what we want to brew, we have the advantage of being in Haliburton and not in the GTA, where there are 20 or 30 craft brewers. We don’t have to differentiate ourselves by doing crazy things, like putting out a pink unicorn sparkle beer. We’re not in that crowded market.
When people come here, they’re looking for classic things, sometimes with a bit of a twist. We want to do classic beers inspired by local ingredients. That’s very aligned with the philosophy of our German-trained brewmasters. They want to do things traditionally.
Photo Courtesy of Michael and Jewelle Schiedel-Webb
What kind of events does the brewery host?
While we think of ourselves as a production brewery, we are also a destination brewery enhanced by our partnership with Abbey Gardens. We do live music on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons all of July, August, and September. We have a drive-in screen on the side of the brewery where we show movies. Abbey Gardens runs a program called Little Pit Drive-in. This summer was Wednesdays and Saturdays in August until just after Labour Day.
On Tuesday nights, we host radio bingo. Canoe FM broadcasts radio bingo every Tuesday as a fundraiser for the community. It’s always more fun to play in company, so we broadcast the game and have a regular group that comes to play. Last winter, we did trivia but had to go online because of the pandemic. We also offer guided brewery tours and tasting tours.
How has the pandemic affected your business?
We are very fortunate that our bottle shop is considered essential. There was a quote in an early press release from the provincial government that said something like Ontarians have a complicated relationship with alcohol, which is why the LCBO, Beer Store, and bottle shops like ours were allowed to be open throughout the pandemic. We went to curbside and online like everyone else. We had to close our patio, and we couldn’t do any of our in-house stuff.
One other fortunate thing—and this is another reason we chose to operate the brewery in Haliburton—is that the businesses and people here are great about supporting each other. We had a lot of cottage customers who normally would have shut down their cottage and headed back to the city for the winter move up here. They stayed local, locked down, followed the rules, but they spent the pandemic at their cottage rather than in the city. We and a lot of other local businesses benefited from having a larger population over the winter during the worst parts of the lockdown.
Photo Courtesy of Michael and Jewelle Schiedel-Webb
What does the future look like for Haliburton Highlands Brewing?
We’re always looking at opportunities to change and grow. Abbey Gardens added a large tent to our patio this summer, which was tremendous. It enabled us to extend our programming and support private events. That’s given us the opportunity to really think about how to improve and expand our offering.
This summer, we changed the license on our patio so that we can offer wine and cider in addition to beer. Now we feature cider from Uxbridge, and our wine comes from a family-owned winery in Niagara. We’re also looking at expanding our food offerings. Right now, we offer locally sourced charcuterie boards with meats, cheeses, and breads. Those are the areas we want to continue to expand so that we can offer a better onsite experience throughout the summer and the winter.
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Every Canadian should recognize the belted kingfisher—this guy’s been on the $5 bill since 1986. The Canadian Bank Note Company printed the cash as part of the Birds of Canada series. (Since now you’re probably wondering: the $2 note featured the robin and the $10 bill, a flying osprey. Fifty dollars went to a snowy owl, and $100, a Canada goose. The popular, and probably most coveted spot went to every cottager’s favourite bird: the common loon.)
But the belted kingfisher—with its huge beak and spiky crest—is easy to ID regardless of its monetary claim to fame. Although kingfishers migrate, they tend to stick around cottage country longer than other birds, often until mid-November. It’s only once lakes start to ice over and their food supplies dwindle that they’ll hit the skies. Some don’t go farther than Southern Ontario; others head to Central America and the West Indies.
The belted kingfisher has a big, sharp beak for two main reasons. One, to dig. These pigeon-sized birds don’t build nests; instead, they excavate burrows into high sandbanks or beside lakeshores. It’s slow, hard work. It takes a pair three weeks to tunnel in, kicking sand out of the hole with their feet.
The second reason for the massive headgear…er, facegear? For fishing, of course. (King. Fisher.) A belted kingfisher will hunt, flying low, over shallow water. Once it spots prey—young fish, frogs, or tadpoles—it dives face-first into the lake. Ow! Except no: that large beak is designed to withstand the impact.
With a meal in hand, the bird will head back to a nearby perch (usually a standing, dead tree). It stabs the prey, flips it in the air, and swallows it whole; great blue herons use a similar, violent trick. Sometimes a fish is too big for the kingfisher to swallow in one go. In that case, the bird lets the unfortunate prey sit partway down its throat so that digestive juices can start to dissolve the swallowed portion. Sounds…uncomfortable. For everyone involved.
Belted kingfisher babies are gone by the time late fall rolls around. They’re born in May or June and only stay with their parents for about six weeks. But you can still find evidence of adult kingfishers in November. Look for piles of small bones and fish scales on the ground. The belted kingfisher regurgitates this stuff after it eats.
Whether you’re looking for a set of vintage jelly glasses or searching for a mate for that mid-century modern lamp your grandma had, there are lots of spots to search and possibly find something you didn’t know you were looking for. Here are some of the best antique stores in Ontario:
This spot, which is visible from Highway 400 in Innisfil, shares a lot with the popular (and busy) 400 Market—so if you want to avoid crowds in the parking lot, go during the week. Once you’re there, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in 32,000 square feet of retro, vintage, and antique collectibles, furniture, clothing, art, and a whole lot more. And if you’re looking for a specific piece, they’ll keep an eye out for you—just sign up on their website.
A family business for more than 20 years, Freelton Antique Mall has gone from a small-ish market with antiques and handcrafts to a bustling two-level antique mall with more than 200 vendors. There’s definitely something for everyone, particularly if you’re looking for smaller collectibles like toys, kitchen items, tools, and ceramics or pottery. Beware, Google Maps has been known to send people to the wrong address, so make sure you’re heading northwest on Freelton Road and you’ll get there.
With 80,000 square feet of antiques, this old knitting company warehouse in Woodstock makes for a fun day of exploring. The first two floors are devoted to smaller items and the third floor to furniture. There’s really no end to the possibilities of what you might find, including more modern items, like handcrafts and gadgets. One of a Kind is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.
St. Jacobs is a fun day trip for many reasons, and one of the best is Market Road Antiques. Check out more than 100 vendor booths, including fascinating showcases with estate jewellery and pretty much every Royal Doulton figurine you can imagine. If you’re looking for larger historic items, check out Artefacts Salvage and Design, just down the street—they’ve got old doors, stained glass windows and anything else you could want to restore an old house or add character to a new one.
Antique Alley is really in an alley (and check out their website for specific directions), but, as their website points out, once you find it, you won’t forget it. It looks small from the outside, but inside there are 4,000 square feet of antiques, including silver, china, glassware, and furniture. There’s also a great selection of vintage clothing, jewellery and accessories.
Well, the name tells it like it is. A collection of eclectic antiques and vintage finds—courtesy of chief buyer Sue Herlihy—welcomes visitors, who can browse through carefully curated finds to their heart’s content. Those who get a real kick out of the name can also buy Dead People’s Stuff merchandise. Just note: during the winter season, the shop is open on weekends only.
Franni’s Attic features an acre of antiques and unique finds in the historic Howey Hardware building in Port Rowan. Folks who visit remark on the wide selection that changes frequently—meaning no two visits will ever be the same. Along with antique and vintage finds, there’s also a selection of more modern home decor.
Canada’s largest outdoor antique market is closed for the season now, but make sure to check them out when they open back up next June. Running on Sundays and select Saturdays during their season, Aberfoyle features more than 100 vendors and a huge selection of folk art, furniture, and other interesting finds. And if you find that perfect 19th-century buffet but can’t fit it in your Smart Car? They offer delivery service as well.
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I was washing my hands at the cottage this morning using antibacterial hand soap after returning from a trip to town. While silently singing “Happy Birthday” to myself two times, I was also looking at a little poster prepared by the Redstone Lake Cottagers Association about the dos and don’ts relative to the septic system. Antibacterial soaps and other compounds are on the septic Don’t list, but such soap is now de rigueurin today’s COVID-19 environment. Is there any amount of antibacterial soap that a septic can tolerate, or should we sing “Happy Birthday” three times with good old bar soap?—Kevin Lengyell, Little Redstone Lake, Ont.
Well, there’s good news and there’s…actually, there is no bad news. It’s all good news! You can safely wash your hands with any kind of soap. Studies haven’t found added health benefits from soaps containing antibacterial ingredients when compared to plain soap, says the CDC. Both are equally effective. More important is washing your hands thoroughly and correctly for at least 20 seconds. (But no need to sing Happy B-day a third time. Unless you just really like the song.)
“It’s also worth noting that while manufacturers happily add an ‘antibacterial’ label to things, the reality is that pretty much any soap has some antibacterial properties,” says David Evans, a professor in the department of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Alberta. “But if you’re worried about the soap’s impact on the septic system, switch to something without the label. You’ll still be fine. And you’ll probably save some money.”
“How much negative impact it can have is hard to determine,” says Bill Goodale, the sewage system inspector for the Township of Tiny, Ont. “There are a lot of different variables from one cottage to another.” But if you switch to regular soap, “and you’re doing everything else right with the system, then the bacterial action should return to normal levels.”
See? Good news!
Got a question for Cottage Q&A? Send it to answers@cottagelife.com.
This article was originally published in the August/September 2021 issue of Cottage Life magazine.
Here at Cottage Life, we realize how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has hit local businesses. To do our part, we’ll be highlighting the stories of different businesses in cottage country. This week, we spoke with Joshua Goodwin, who runs Canadian Candles out of Cobourg, Ont.
What is Canadian Candles?
I make handcrafted timber torches. A lot of the business had to do with the pandemic. I wanted to help bring families together during such a hectic time. I wanted to create something where people could still sit around a campfire, still have marshmallows, still have that spring and summertime feel, even in the fall and wintertime, too. That was the main driving force.
Photo Courtesy of Joshua Goodwin
How did the business get started?
I learned about the concept when I was growing up. The idea has been around for a while. But what prompted me to start the business was that I needed to pay a phone bill. So, I reached out to a friend who had some logs, and he was kind enough to cut them up for me. That same night, I made a post on Facebook, just on my own personal page, advertising the first 12 candles that I made. They sold within two hours. That’s when I thought, Okay, I think there’s something here. And it just literally went from there. That was around April of 2020.
What inspired the name?
The name comes from the original product developed in the 1700s: a Swedish torch. I knew the history of the product, but there was nothing here in Canada. I only ever saw firewood. Everyone made bonfires. So, when I started the business, I figured, well, we’re Canadian, and another name for a torch style is a candle.
I went and checked the patent office, and I checked websites, and I bought the website. I checked Instagram, and the name checked out. So, I snapped it up and just kind of ran with it. It seems to fit.
Photo by Matt Azzarello
How do you make a Canadian Candle?
I use cedar or pine logs, so a softer wood. I don’t cut down green cedars or pines. I try to find stuff that’s already decomposing, but to the point where it’s still usable lumber, so it’s not just a waste. I try to help out the environment that way. And I try to reuse as much as I can.
I cut down 15- to 20-foot trees, or I go to farmers who have these trees already cut down. I purchase the logs and bring them back to my property. I measure out my 20 inches, and I cut all of the orders by hand. Then I put the log on my pedestal, and I eye where I want to cut it. I make eight individual cuts into the log.
Once I do that, I blow off all the excess sawdust and move it over to what I call my dressing table. My girlfriend makes fun of me all the time for it. She’s got her makeup table, but I’ve got my dressing table. I bring it over, and I clean all the outside of the log. I clean all the burrs and potential slivers as best as I can. Then I slide a hemp rope down the cuts I made with the chainsaw. Next, I flip the log over, and I tie the hemp rope together so that you have a handle when you flip the candle upside down to carry it.
To help start the candles, I also add a wax and sawdust firestarter in the top. All you have to do is light it with a lighter. It’s just like a regular fire, so the kids can have fun with it and add some branches and twigs and paper and stuff like that.
How does the candle work?
Because of the chainsaw cuts, you’ll end up with a directional fire. The oxygen flows from the bottom, causing the flame to travel down the centre of the candle, which helps create that directional upward burn.
It’s all an internal flame, but I still recommend people put it in a fireplace or a firepit because after about two hours, the candle will start burning from the inside, and it will start crumbling a little bit. But because it’s an internal flame, it’s great for the kids.
Photo by Matt Azzarello
How long does it take to make one candle?
From start to finish, you’re looking at probably about 15 to 20 minutes. And that includes cutting it, the rope, adding a disclaimer, my card, the wax on the front, everything. And then it sits on my porch or in the back of my truck for delivery. I have some work to do if I have an order of 10, 15, or 25 like I did two weeks ago.
How has the pandemic affected your business?
I’m grateful because it’s been pretty positive. In the beginning, I did porch drop-offs because I knew people didn’t want to get too close to one another. So, I tried to cater to that, and I still try to be respectful about it. In terms of supplies, some farmers don’t have an issue with me coming to their property and picking up the logs, but it’s a mixed bag. Overall, though, it’s been very positive.
What does the future look like for Canadian Candles?
This past year was my first season, and I sold about 400 candles. I didn’t expect that. And this year, the business has been picking up by word of mouth. But to take it to the next level, I’ve spoken to a couple of antique stores and local businesses. I want to start getting into more stores, and hopefully into Airbnbs or camping resorts, stuff like that. That’s where I’d like to go.
Photo by Matt Azzarello
Where can people buy your candles?
The best way is through social media. I’ve had one person show up at my house to buy a candle, but most people order through Instagram or my company’s Facebook page. People can also message me personally through my business card, which has my Instagram, cell phone number, and email. But close to 100 per cent of my orders come through social media.
Do you have a local business in cottage country? Fill out this survey for your chance to be featured.
The humpback whale has made a comeback once again! This fall, the Pacific Whale Watch Association announced an unprecedented humpback whale baby boom in the Salish Sea. The start of the season is known to mark the final peak of humpback whale sightings as they look for their last feeding opportunities before heading south for the winter—and the end of October brought with it a pleasant surprise for west coast whale watchers.
This year, 21 humpback whale calves were recorded throughout inland Washington and British Columbia from April to October. This sets a record for the highest annual number of humpback whales in the area ever, according to Mark Malleson, a field biologist with the Center for Whale Research. The number has close to doubled in the Salish region this year as compared to the 11 documented humpback whale calves in 2020’s peak season. Researchers can only hypothesize about the cause of the recent boom.
“We’re not sure why there were so many calves this year,” says Erin Gless, the executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association in a recent news release. “It’s possible the last two years had an abundance of food for the whales, or it could be as simple as the fact that as the number of adult whales in the population grows, so too does the number of calves we can expect to see each year.”
The association notes that the species did see a drastic depletion in the early 1900s from commercial whaling. By the 1920s, the North American west coast had few humpback whale sightings. And according to the latest Periodic Status Review from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the number of global humpback whales had decreased by more than 90 per cent. It was only until the termination of whaling that the global number of humpbacks was able to slowly climb to more than 80,000. Currently, the Pacific Whale Watch Association confirms that there are more than 500 humpback whales recorded in the Salish Sea.
This year’s abundance of humpback calves is great news, given the many human activities that still affect the species’ livelihood. The WDFW recognizes entanglement, vessel collisions, increased disturbance of marine noise and communication, climate change, oil spills, and harmful algal blooms as the leading threats to humpback populations going forward. Despite these environmental conditions, the humpback whale calves spotted this season have nodded to a hopeful and fruitful future for marine life in the North American Pacific.
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The Great Lakes hold one-fifth the standing freshwater on the Earth’s surface and more than 34 million people live in the basin, supporting an economy worth US$5 trillion—if it were a country, it would be one of the largest economies in the world. And yet shoreline communities are faltering under the weight of billions of dollars in damages—and are worried that climate change will continue to make things even worse.
With the UN climate conference in Glasgow (COP26) underway, world leaders are discussing what must be done to address the climate crisis and making pledges to take specific actions. Adaptation features heavily in the COP26 agenda, including the Glasgow Adaptation Imperative to assess action taken and action needed to meet the Paris Agreement goal on adaptation and promote a more climate resilient future for all, particularly the most vulnerable communities and ecosystems.
Climate change impacts
In the Great Lakes, climate change is considered a threat multiplier, meaning it exacerbates other threats to the ecosystem.
The Great Lakes have lost more than 70 per cent of their total winter ice cover over the past 50 years. That means more open water during winter, thinner ice and less of the ice fishing that is so popular with basin denizens. Less ice cover will, however, lengthen the commercial shipping season.
Ice fishing is popular among those living near the Great Lakes. But as air temperatures rise in the winter, the ice is thinner and is in place for a shorter time. (Photo by Marianne Danielsen/Shutterstock)
Overall, warming of the lakes will alter the seasonal patterns of warm and cold water layers and the dynamics of the lakes’ food webs, and it will lead to greater shoreline damage from strong winter storms.
In some areas within the Great Lakes basin, water levels have risen by two metres, eroding shorelines, washing away houses, destroying roads, threatening infrastructure such as water treatment plants and disrupting age-old traditions of Indigenous Peoples.
Climate change is one of the leading threats to birds in the Great Lakes and North America. The 2019 Audubon Report “Survival by Degrees” found that 64 per cent of bird species (389 of 604) across breeding and non-breeding seasons were moderately or highly vulnerable to climate change. As indicator species, birds are telling us the time to act is now.
In addition, climate change will likely alter the range and distribution of certain fish species, increase the frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms, exacerbate wetland loss, create new threats from invasive species, diminish beach health and, in some cases, displace or extirpate native species.
Urban impacts of climate change
The effects of climate change are heightened in urban areas and impose a high financial burden to municipalities. Detroit is a good example.
Detroit is an old city with combined storm and sanitary sewers that overflow stormwater and raw sewage during heavy rainfall events. It also has plenty of impervious surfaces that promote runoff.
Extreme rainfall events have flooded highways, streets and neighbourhoods. High water levels have frequently flooded Detroit’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighbourhood. In response, the city spent US$2 million in 2020 on “tiger dams,” large, temporary, water-filled berms, to keep the water from flooding houses.
On the 398-hectare Belle Isle State Park, high water levels closed roads, flooded picnic areas and postponed 60 weddings at the popular Boat House, a more than 100-year-old rowing facility, in 2019. They have also delayed a US$5-million habitat restoration project on Blue Heron Lagoon and forced the redesign of the one-hectare, US$4.2-million Oudolf Garden, designed by Piet Oudolf, an internationally renowned Dutch garden designer.
Detroit is also projected to experience a significant increase in the number of very hot days by the end of the century, reaching as many as 65 days above 32.2 C. The burden of heat and poor air quality accompanying the climate threat will disproportionately affect the city’s most vulnerable residents.
Adapting to climate change
Many municipalities, provinces and states around the Great Lakes have been developing adaptation plans to address local impacts of climate change at a high cost. This decentralized approach comes with its own problems, like unintended cross-border effects of local adaptation or duplication of efforts. The United Nations has shown that flood risk reduction strategies in one part of a basin may increase flood risks in another portion of the basin that is located in another country.
A small home along Lake Michigan’s shoreline toppled down a bluff in January 2020.
An integrated, basin-wide ecosystem approach could allow for cost-sharing of scientific studies and co-ordinated policy action at national and sub-national levels, leading to better adaptation. Because the Great Lakes are a shared resource among many governments, including those of Canada, the United States, eight states, two provinces and tribes, First Nations and the Métis Nation, transboundary co-operation is needed.
The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement calls for strengthened measures to anticipate and prevent ecological harm, by following the precautionary principle—when human activities may lead to unacceptable harm that is scientifically plausible but uncertain, actions shall be taken to avoid or diminish that harm.
There is enough scientific evidence that climate change poses a threat to the entire Great Lakes region—and the 38 million people who live there. As is being discussed and pledged at COP26, all must work together to limit global warming to 1.5 C, including the Great Lakes region, and all must immediately advance climate adaptation and resilience.
This story is part of The Conversation’s coverage on COP26, the Glasgow climate conference, by experts from around the world. More.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
I need to insure my powerboat, and my current company will not insure craft over 55 hp. Are there companies that will do this?—Mark Wakefield, Apsley, Ont.
Yes. Some seasonal-home insurers offer boat policies as a separate product. And some companies are marine specialists and insure nothing but boats and PWCs.
It’s normal for home or seasonal dwelling policies to have limitations with respect to watercraft, says Bev Mitchell, a special risks underwriter with Johnston Meier Insurance Agencies Group in Maple Ridge, B.C. Length and horsepower restrictions are very common. “It makes sense if you think about it,” says Mitchell. “You’re more likely to injure a third party if you run into them in the water with a motorized boat than if you run into them with a kayak.”
“A lot of companies will say, ‘No, we’re not going to touch that,’ ” says Jared Chartrand of Northstar Marine Insurance in Barrie, Ont. “They’ll say, ‘We’d be doing you a disservice.’ ” But for a company that deals in boats, it should be no problem. Fifty-five horsepower “is not a lot of horsepower,” says Chartrand. “We’ve insured boats that are 1,000 hp.”
Even if you have only small, motorized boats that fall under your cottage policy, it may be worth paying for a stand-alone marine policy—you’ll get more robust coverage. “The primary reason that you take out a policy to cover your cottage is to cover the building and its contents,” says Mitchell. “Not to insure your boat.”
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