What will happen to the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to Houston, Texas? Will it finally be a go after the November presidential election, or will it be tubed?

President Obama announced he would not approve Keystone XL. Now it appears that it only received, as Bill Tieleman says, a "flesh wound." The global environmentalist in me rejoiced, but the British Columbian in me was disappointed.

An arctic-like cold snap comprising snow and freezing temperatures gave MLA Jagrup Brar an even colder, unkind welcome to Vancouver’s Down-town Eastside on Jan 17. Brar moved into the final two weeks of his quest to see if he could live on the monthly $610 welfare payment issued by social services.

The Surrey Fleetwood NDP MLA began his month long experiment with the poverty action group Raise the Rates on Jan. 1. After living in a rented room in a house in Surrey for the first two weeks and scrimping by on a meagre food budget, Jagrup was already down to $55 last week. $475 has already been allocated to rent with a food budget of $108 to last him 31 days. By Tuesday he said all that remained of his welfare payment was $21.45.

Next Thursday, Victoria city council will reconsider an amendment to bylaws that would allow the keeping of miniature goats within city limits. The motion was first proposed in the light of ever increasing concerns over food security.

Many living in the Greater Victoria area and beyond, believe that our chain of supply is a fragile one—one that could easily be broken (especially in the event of a catastrophe such as an earthquake, leaving thousands in a crisis of hunger).

Are these fears well founded? Are we, on Vancouver Island, under threat of imminent food shortages or should such anxieties be put out to pasture?

In a new feature Miniature Goats and the Quest for Food Security, Matt Whelan looks for an answer to this question.