i!

pareve,

B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 30, 2006

MARGARET SPEIRS |

SKEENA. NG LER
ROB BROWN

_ Frogs and the BIG
- picture — :

- Some of us are driven to despair. Some of

delusion:

It’s been over'a decade since I heard an alarming y
talk given by eminent climatologist, Keés Groot, at _

the Annual General Meeting of the Steelhead So-

‘ciety of B.C., then flew home and wrote about his

dire warnings in this column.
» Since then winters have got warmer and shorter,

_ just as Dr. Groot, underscoring his message with

satellite imagery and data provided by NASA, said

they would. He also said we would see accelerating ,

polar melt.
_ An e-image that. was: sent to me last week had
a walrus, surveying the open seas of the Bering

‘Strait, perched precariously atop a column of ice -
_ only. a few centimetres larger than his: circumfer-
- ence. The image provides ic iconic ic proof this melt has
_come to pass.

, ‘More substantiation came s fiom Yvon Chouinard
who just the other day told. me what the biologists

‘in Montana told him — namely the fauna there is

moving north and moving higher up in response to

: the warming trends caused by truncated winters.

Casualties attend such Diaspora. In this one it
was the young red tailed hawks, who, in their un-
fledged’ state, couldn’t stand the.predation of the

’ swarms of deer flies that had hatched well in ad-
- vance of the time they usually do.

Unable to cope with the unnatural phenomenon,
the adult hawks were driven from their nests leav-
ing their young exposed to the relentless flies.

Naked, and even more vulnerable, the chicks
crawled from their nests, fell to the ground and
died as flies dined on their corpses. Biologists, said
Yvon, fear none of this-year’s chicks survived.

Kees Groot predicted this kind of scenario. He
pointed out, animals can move, and, hopefully,
adapt to gradual climatic shifts, but added this de-
fence was unavailable to plants. The giant swaths
of dead red-lodge pole pines that'scar the landscape
from Burns Lake to the Cariboo Country are mute
proof of the truth of that observation.

I’m an unabashed frog lover— have been since an .
“early age when my pals and I began hunting them in

the sloughs and ponds in the Brunette Creek drain-
age.
There was no freeway bisecting those marshes

- then and ‘they were wild and free as a result and
so full of frogs that their song filled and dominated —

competing noises on spring nights.
Their eggs ~ like peas suspended in clear Jell-O
big ‘enough to fill a kid’s hand and stuck on sticks

“= amazed us, We hatched them, and watched the

resultant tadpoles and their metamorphosis with
unending fascination.

_ When they were grown we chased down ‘flies
with jars and waited enthralled for our, amphibious

captives to nail them with their fly paper tongues.

When scientists began noticing the decline in

frogs on this continent 20 years ago, I started to |

worry. Was exposure to UV radiation as a result
of ozone depletion the cause, as some biologists

speculated, or was the frog die-off somehow due... }

to global warming? Thanks to Tyrone Hayes, a bio
from Berkley California, we have the answer.

* Hayes was testing the effects of Atrazine frogs
of the Xenopus clan. Xenopus is the amphibious
equivalent of the white rat. Atrazine is used glob-
ally to stop pre- and post-emergence broadleaf and
grassy weeds in majorcrops. .

The maker of Atrazine, the Swiss- based corpo-
ration Syngenta, funded Hayes’ study as part of the
process required by the US Environmental Protec-
tion Agency to reregister the pesticide for use in
America:

Hayes discovered the frogs exposed to Atrazine _

had puny voice boxes. This is a big deal to a crea-
ture that relies on the strength of its voice to attract
mates.

But this was not ‘all A third of the male. speci-

mens Hayes exposed to .] parts per billion of Atra- :

zine had abnormal reproductive organs. Some were
hermaphrodites. —

_ Hayes characterized the effect of the pesticide on
his male frogs as chemical castration. Since many |

of the genes and hormones in frog reproduction are
similar to those in human reproduction, frogs are
good proxies for humans when it comes to testing
chemicals:

The accepted standard the US EPA sets for At-
razine in drinking water is 30 times more than the
levels to which Hayes exposed his frogs. Atrazine
is an endocrine disrupter, you see, it screws with
reproduction and metabolism.

Well, at least the poor amphibians are not being
wiped out by global warming — cold comfort. —

“Whe portents of global ‘environmental col-°
lapse are ineluctable. They affect us all. -

us are driven to that form of despair called

e,

- By SARAH ARTIS

AMB ER PIPE'S last name

is fitting. Because this girl's .

arms are toned and strong.
Pipe's got pipes, and the
rest of her body, is fit.and
healthy too.
That's not surprising giv-
.en she teaches eight kickbox-
ing-aerobics classes a week

- and trains with a master for

two hours twice a week.

But it is surprising to find

~ ‘out she’s disabled — although
‘| she wouldn't consider. her-

4 self that,
“Tt'’s a state of mind,”
-. Pipe says.
‘Almost 10 years. ago,

- Pipe, 33, was in a car acci-

- dent in which she almost lost

her right arm.

She didn’t get,out of bed

for five weeks ‘afterward ‘and

~ was in major pain.’ .
She had ‘about 30 recon-

structive surgeries.
Doctors moved a bone

from her left leg as’ well as

a vein and nerve from her

right leg and put them into

her damaged right arm.

'. They also’ replaced- the

muscle in the arm with a.
muscle from her back, the:

first ever successful muscle
transplant at the University
of British Columbia.

Even so, the medics told

“her she would never be as
active as she once was:

Pipe, however,

" them wrong.

“All the things they said
I'd never do, I’ve done,” she
says. |
_ In fact, she’s doing more
and better than ever.
Before the accident, Pipe

occasionally played volley-

bail and basketball.
“T was a little blubber-

shakes before,” she says

laughing. “I definitely wasn’t
an elite athlete.”

Now, after seven years of
kickboxing training under

‘high level black belt Marwan

Abu Khadra, she’s more fit

and feels better about herself

Proved .

TERRACESTANDARD

”

ickboxing changes lives _

638-7283

i

F :

LORI Filtziakis (lef and Amber Pipe pose in a Kickbo fighting position. Though her right arm is injured from a

major car accident in 1987, Pipe teaches eight Kickbo classes a week and trains in kickboxing. Filtziakis is one

of her Past students and has lost 60 pounds. since starting and now helps ' teach.

SARAH ARTIS PHOTO

‘than ever before.

She’s also got her brown
belt and is on her way to

. black.

In a sense, kickboxing
saved her life, she.says, and
not just physically.

“It gave me self-esteem
and purpose.”

The
she received in her training
helped her grow and learn.

She had a “haywire” rep-
utation when she was young,

’ Pipe says.
Pipe started kickboxing.

because her dad practised

- martial arts and she’d always

wanted to be part of it.
Also kickboxing was the

only martial art without.a -

started practising.

= Kick save

Dawson Kluss, 11, from Terrace attended the
Northern Goaltender Development training camp |
‘in Smithers last week in anticipation of this year's
upcoming hockey season. As of last week, the
ice is back in the Terrace Arena and players have

RYAN JENSEN PHOTO

regular feedback .

THORNHILL

2006 Northern B.C.
Challenge Cup schedule

-@ » Friday, Sept. 15 — Terrace River Kings vs. Kitimat
Tce Demons at Tamitik.Arena in Kitimat 8 p.m.
* Saturday, Sept. 16 -
_ Smithers Steelheads at Smithers Arena 8 p.m.
« Saturday, Sept. 23 — Smithers Steelheads vs.
Terrace River Kings at Terrace Arena 8 p.m.
e Sunday, Sept. 24 - Finals Teams TBA — | p.m. at
- Tamitik Arena in Kitimat

itimat Ice Demons vs.

religious component and she .
‘didn’t want to be involved in

a sport that interfered with

- her Christian beliefs.

She started _ teaching
Kickbo classes a year ago.
Kickbo, short for kick-

boxing, is a cardio workout

to music for the general pub-
lic that incorporates kicking
and punching moves.

For about an hour, par-
ticipants work up a sweat

“through various combina-—

tions and strength exercises.
Pipe’s trainer felt she
had the right talent and atti-
tude to take over his Kickbo
classes, so she did.
The first few classes Pipe
taught, she was really ner-

‘vous and not many people

came, she says. But now

' Pipe’s,classes “are full and’

she is having a blast.

“Kickbo is my true love,” -

Pipe says, adding she and
her participants laugh a lot
together.

“We are one big team.”

“J can be very pushy in
my classes,” she says, but
adds “they are there pushing
me as well.”

Pipe now has about 90
students and leads up to more
than 35 people per class.

It’s important her students
feel comfortable as well as
get a good workout and see
the benefits, she says

Kickbo, like most ex-

‘ercise,:
- health.
___, It can. lower cholesterol, -

help people lose weight and

Strengthen muscles includ-
ing those of the heart.
. One participant, Lori Filt-

-ziakis, has lost 60 pounds

since’ she started working
out with Pipe.

She now helps her teach
Kickbo and leads her own
Sculpt and Tone classes.

Both Pipe and Filtzia-

kis teach their classes in~

the basement of the Trigo’s
Lifestyle building as part of
Shogun Dojo.

The name of their pro-
gram is Figure Fighters Fit-
ness. °

Fire chiefs battle for

FIRE
Department Chief Wes
Patterson announced last
-week that he’s joining
the Highway 16 Firetruck

. Challenge.

That brings to five the

‘number of fire chiefs who

are competing to see who
can raise the most money

for the. Canadian Cancer
Society's Cops for Cancer

Tour.

“I wouldn't. enter if I

“didn't think I could win this
- challenge,”
“noting the real winners will

be kids with cancer in B.C.’s

Patterson said,

north.
_ The Firetruck Challenge
‘got province-wide media

attention three weeks ago, |

when Houston Fire Depart-
ment chief Ken Thomson
challenged first the chiefs of
the Smithers and Burns Lake
departments to top his fund-
raising effort, then all of the
fire chiefs between Vander-
hoof and Prince Rupert. -
The winning chief will
enjoy the opportunity to sit
back and have their own fire

truck washed and polished |

by. the other departments’

fire chiefs.

- “Getting those guys to
come to Thornhill to wash

my truck will be pretty satis-_

fying,” Patterson said.

The fire chiefs are com-
peting in support of the Cops
for Cancer Tour, which will
see 23 police officers from

- 14 northern B.C. commu-

nities ride more than 820
kilometers between Prince
George and Prince Rupert

' Lake,

‘Wes Patterson

Sept. 8 to 14.
Cops. for Cancer team
members rely on communi-

ties along their route to help

them raise money for the
Canadian Cancer Society's
B.C. and Yukon Division.
which uses ‘funds for pedi-
atric .cancer research and
programs for children living
with cancer and their fami-
lies.

Patterson, who will be
competing with fire chiefs
from the communities of
Smithers, Houston. Bums
and Fraser
traded barbs with Smithers
fire chief Keith Stecko last
week.

Stecko had earlier sug-
gested he'd graciously of-
fer a milk crate to stand on
so the fire chiefs washing
his truck can reach the high
places.

But Patterson just
laughed. “We won't have to

Lake.

cancer, clean trucks.

rely on milk crates,’ he said.
“Here i in Thornhill. we have

alittle higher tech: equip- ||
ment than they do in Smith-_

ers.”
_ Patterson said he looks
forward to grilling hamburg-
ers while the other chiefs
wash his truck: “Because
when we're through making
them work hard. they're go-
ing to be tired and hungry.”
Houston fire chief Ken

~ Thomson, who won last year

by raising almost half of the
$11,000 raised by three fire
chiefs. is thrilled that’ Pat-
terson, and also Fraser Lake
fire chief Joe Pacheco, have
thrown = their helmets into
the ring.

“More. funds will mean
northern B.C. kids won't |

have to fight cancer alone,”

he says. “But more competi-

tion will also make my win
even sweeter.”

The -Firetruck Challenge °

chiefs are also planning to

_ Shave their heads in honour.

of the tour when it passes
through their communities.
The Canadian Cancer So-
ciety Cops for Cancer Tour,
Which is sponsored by Re-
Max Realty, is one of four

_that take place around B.C.

Last year, the four tours
raised $2.8 million. ° In ad-

_ dition to cancer research and
. cancer information services.

the funds help northern B.C.
children through free, medi-
cally supervised
short-term emergency aid,
and transportation to and
from cancer-related medical
appointments.

is good for overall

camps, |