by Victoria Stirling
Canada

"It's not the fact that one day I will die," Joan said, ” The problem I have is wondering just how it’s going to happen!"

• The author in her early nursing days. Photograph courtesy of Victoria Stirling. •

I’m aware that this is a highly sensitive subject for a lot of people, but it’s one I feel needs to be talked about openly. It's often been said that taxes and death are two inevitable facts of life; this reality applies equally to every one of us, no matter where we reside. Well, our taxes change, but dying remains the same singular experience it has always been. Each of us has to face that final end of life; no one else can do it for us.

From the late seventies up to the end of the nineties I worked as a staff nurse in an acute care hospital. My primary clinical experience was working on a respiratory, cardio-vascular unit. Sadly during that time I was witness to many patients' demise. Some patients went peacefully to sleep, while others endured rigorous resuscitative measures before finally expiring. A number of them suffered much pain, and often prayed or pleaded for release.

by Victoria Stirling
Canada

• A boy winces at the smoke rising from the computer motherboards being melted over open fires in a recycling yard in New Delhi, India. Photograph courtesy of Greenpeace India/Hatvalne •

I first became aware that the Western world is shamelessly dumping its problems on those less fortunate when I read an article by Mari-Len De Guzman in a 2005 issue of Computer World Canada. It detailed the unconscionable disposal methods that some in the Western world employ today to get rid of electronic litter.