Doctors and nurses declare a climate Code Red for B.C.
Inspired in part by the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, who had called the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report a “Code Red for humanity,” we were there to declare a climate and ecological Code Red for B.C., noting: “The climate and ecological crisis is a health crisis. We stand in solidarity for a safe and equitable future for all living creatures and the planet.”
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Reflections from Fairy Creek
As Creatively United’s media person, I have spent a large part of the past year learning about all things old-growth and Fairy Creek. I follow all the essential accounts (see @fairycreekblockade and @rainforestflyingsquad for on-the-ground updates), I have gathered... Read more
Hawai’i Konea – A Story from the Future
It’s sunset, at the end of another beautiful day in Honolulu. The high tide is arguing with the seawall, which was raised another metre last year to protect the Capitol Building – but what’s new? They’re still not on good terms with each other. My name is Ben... Read more
November 10th Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This is the November 10th edition of the Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
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Elders for Ancient Forests Newsletter
The Elders for Ancient Forest Newsletter for the week of November 2nd.
Read moreNew Animated Film by Greta Thunberg
This 7-minute NYT cartoon from Greta Thunberg is excellent at showing how the political and economic systems we have are failing to face up to the existential crisis of the climate emergency. It is up to us to make sure that changes!
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Working toward a One Planet Saanich
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stated almost a year ago: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century. It must be the top, top priority for everyone, everywhere.” In my view, this can only happen if we recognize, as Barbara Ward and Rene Dubos’ 1972 book put it, that there is “Only One Earth” and we have to learn to live within and not beyond its bounds.
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Sadly, B.C. is still treating nature as resource to be exploited
In this series of columns, I am exploring the UN’s call for humanity to make peace with nature. Last week, I noted that B.C.’s government is failing to act, or is taking inadequate action, on climate change. This week, I look at B.C.
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Oct 20 Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
This week’s Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
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B.C. fails to take adequate action on climate crisis
By recognizing that “humanity is waging war on nature,” the United Nations arrived at the idea of making peace with nature. Regrettably, the B.C. government pays little heed to calls to make peace with nature, whether from the UN or its own citizens.
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Lead Educator Position Open at Rocky Point Bird Observatory
Rocky Point Bird Observatory (RPBO) – www.rpbo.org – is based in Victoria B.C. and is the only Pacific coastal station in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network. RPBO is a unique and important contributor to bird conservation; regionally, nationally and... Read more
Elders for Ancient Trees Newsletter
Weekly blog with the latest news and upcoming events from the Elders for Ancients Newsletter.
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Donate to Elders for Ancient Trees Fairy Creek injunction court case
Elders for Ancient Trees needs your help, your donations, to sustain their legal challenge against the injunction at Fairy Creek in the BC Supreme Court.
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‘System-wide transformation’ needed to rebalance ourselves with nature
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Amazon opened its first general store outside the United States in a mall near London this week, selling the online retail giant’s most popular products, including books, toys, games and consumer electronics. A UN report... Read more
Help the Elders in their battle to save Fairy Creek
The Elders for Ancient Trees are engaged in a tough legal battle with the logging industry to save the embattled forests around Fairy Creek. Please support them with a donation to their legal fund.
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Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests + Forest Protectors
Wednesday Rally for Ancient Forests+Forest Protectors October 13, 4-6 pm (Next week we will start winter hours 3-5 pm) 4 pm start at BCLeg Government+Belleville corner ~5 pm go for a walk to BellMedia building, home of CFAX, 1420 Broad St ~5:15 circle up for community... Read moreScience Must Trump Politics
This is an excellent statement from Dr. Suzanne Simard* re: Judge’s ruling opens window to save Fairy Creek as well as remaining old growth forests in British Columbia. Simard discusses the economic and ecological reasons, to which we might add eco-humanist values... Read more
Women’s History is Tree History
October is Women’s History Month, and the history of women’s activism in tree conservation (in wilderness & in cities) is particularly interesting, and a matter of ongoing urgency in the present. Women like Octavia Hill & Ada Salter still inspire us.
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Comment on BC’s Renewal Permits on the Wolf Cull by Nov.15, 2021
The 5-year permits for various helicopter wolf slaughters around caribou herds have expired and need to be renewed. Renewed permits are proposed for 12 caribou herds, along with one new permit for a 13th herd. In addition, there is a space for respondents
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How Do We Make Peace With Nature?
I find myself increasingly drawn to the United Nations’ framing of our current situation as being at war with nature, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it in a landmark speech at Columbia University in December 2020. For an organization that is, after all, intended to be the world’s peacekeeper, the response was obvious: “Making peace with nature is the defining task of the 21st century,” Guterres said.
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PARKS AND CLIMATE ACTION – CRD Parks Needs Course Correction
In a climate emergency our elected representatives must adopt these 5 actions immediately to make real the protection of nature and the conservation of biodiversity in our parks as the top priority promised.
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Suzanne Simard and the Understory
When I logged onto Suzanne Simard’s presentation last Wednesday, my picture of old-growth forest was of huge, towering trees, draped in lichen and moss, sheltering birds and animals – a beautiful picture from the ground up. At the end of Suzanne’s one-and-a-half hour... Read more
The Global Ecological Crisis is also a Global Health Crisis
Something extraordinary happened in mid-September: 231 medical journals around the world all published the same editorial, titled “Call for emergency action to limit global temperature increases, restore biodiversity, and protect health.” Led by a group of chief editors from world-leading journals…
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Student Climate Strike, Friday, Sept. 24
Students will walk out of class late morning and arrive at the Legislature at about noon. Speakers, music and more. Let’s get out and support the students as they struggle for a sustainable future. Organized by Our Earth Our Future. Details Date: Friday, September 24... Read more
A Tree Poem A Day
For the 30 days of September, I have been sending a tree poem a day, written by myself and others, to protect our ancient forest ecosystems to the Premier, Prime Minister, select ministers, MLAs and party leaders. Here is my letter, followed by a poem I sent on day... Read moreCoastal Forestry Video
This video, written and narrated by Ken Wu, and edited by Darryl Augustine, looks at incredible forest ecosytems, including the charismatic and endangered Garry Oak and Arbutus forest ecosystems found on eastern Vancouver Island, the Gulf Islands, the Sunshine Coast... Read moreTrees Matter – A Creative Collaboration
Through music, dance, song and stunning visuals, the importance of protecting, preserving and planting trees is artfully expressed in this unique collaboration involving members of the Victoria Symphony, the Victoria Philharmonic Choir, the Emily Carr String Quartet and Ballet Victoria.
Read moreCity of Victoria Tree Opportunities
Join the Trees in Cities Challenge The City of Victoria is working with the community to plant 5,000 trees on public and private land in the United Nations Trees in Cities Challenge. In 2020, the City increased tree planting by 40 per cent and planted 500 new trees in... Read more
Being a Voice for the Forest: A Guide for Taking Action
As human beings we are an inseparable part of the natural world. Our existence depends on a good relationship with our non-human relatives. Unfortunately, the current model of forestry practiced in this province breaks the relationships between ourselves and nature.... Read more
The Right to a Healthy Environment is a Vital Election Issue
Last week, I noted that none of the main parties — those likely to form the next government — have yet recognized and accepted the scale of the global ecological crises we face, to which Canada contributes disproportionately. Nor have they recognized the implications for Canadians and the rest of humanity, including the threat these crises pose to our human rights.
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Sign Up Today for an Old Growth Lawn Sign / Window Sign
Do you want a lovely Protect Old Growth sign for your lawn? Of course you do! Sign up today for an Old Growth Lawn Sign / Window Sign! We are focusing right now on distribution of signs to households in Greater Victoria, to get the message out to the Premier and his... Read more
Weekly Climate Action – September 7th Deadline
Urgent, before September 7th: FortisBC, the province’s gas utility, tried to sneak one by us From The Wilderness Committee: It split the expansion project at its Tilbury LNG plant in Delta into two. We’ve got until Sept. 7 to tell the province to reject a key part of... Read more
Scientists Call for Urgent Protection of Fairy Creek Biodiversity
Many endangered species inhabit the remaining old-growth forests that lie within and just outside Fairy Creek on the southern end of BC’s Vancouver Island, as well as nearby in areas like Eden, the Walbran, Bugaboo and Caycuse, say a group of scientists. The... Read more
101 Acres of Waterfront Forest Needs Protection
Did you know that nestled between Goldstream and Gowlland Tod Provincial Parks on W̱SÁNEĆ Traditional Territory there is a parcel of land for sale? It consists of 101 acres of mature forest with blankets of wildflowers, intact ecology, stunning waterfront on the... Read more
How Much Is Enough?
This recent article in Yes! Magazine is very timely, as is the invitation to the event on Sept 9th. Stan Cox’s proposal for achieving fair shares for all through rationing managed by local governance is, to say the least, provocative in our current society... Read more
Saanich Naturescape Program
Support Nature in Your Neighbourhood Naturescape is a program and concept to protect, maintain and enhance wildlife habitat and native biodiversity. It encourages creating diversity, layers and edges and using native plants on your property and in the re-design of... Read more
If We Lose the Carbon Sinks, We Are Sunk
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Firefighters battle the Dixie Fire in Plumas County, California, this month after a burning tree fell across a road. Forest fires and other forms of deforestation worsen climate change because they impair the planet’s... Read more
Come to Fairy Creek Friday, August 13 – This is an Urgent Request
The RCMP have now invaded HQ – 50 arrested Monday, 35+ on Tuesday. They are stealing people’s belongings, smashing car windows to get inside, towing vehicles. Folks are still finding ways to resist and have set up a new camp. Meanwhile the court written... Read more
A Wooden Stake – A Poem
I was affected by the May 27, 2021 article written by Justine Hunter in the Globe and Mail and in turn wrote a little rhyme. I’m a Delta, BC resident who writes poetry as a way to explore and understand myself and the wider world.
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Could lichens and bats help bring real protection to Fairy Creek?
Fairy Creek is home to a number of species at risk, and should be protected, say several scientists. At-risk species sighted in recent months include a variety of birds, little brown bats, and a lichen described as “cute” and sensitive. Could these species help Fairy Creek find true protection — beyond its present two-year deferral of logging?
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Ada’itsx/Fairy Creek Blockades, One Year Milestone Event
Voices from the Ancestral Forest Frontlines This gathering is in honour of the 1 year milestone of the Ada’itsx/ Fairy Creek blockades, began one year ago on the night of August 9th on the ridge into the headwaters of the unlogged Fairy creek watershed, where... Read more
Climate Health, Science and Politics in the Headlines – Early August 2021
Physicians, lawyers call on BC to investigate thousands of Heat Dome injuries From WCEL: The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and West Coast Environmental Law Association today warned that BC’s recent Heat Dome may have caused an estimated five... Read more
An Open Letter from John Cashore to Premier Horgan
John Cashore spent 15 years as the elected MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, serving as Minister of Environment (1991-1993), Aboriginal Affairs (1993-1998), Labour (1997-1998), and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier (2000-2001). He introduced the “Zero AOX” pulp pollution regulation requiring pulp mills to completely eliminate their organochlorine discharges and has been a tireless advocate for the environment.
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Phoenix Rising – A Poem
This poem is a reflection on our annual plague of forest fires and a consideration of what truly must change.
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Upcoming Climate Action – Have Your Voice Heard!
July 31 Deadline for Public Input: BC Hydro’s Completely Inadequate 20-year Plan From the BC Climate Alliance: BC Hydro is asking for public input to their draft 20-year Integrated Resource Plan (the 111 page report is here). This plan is completely inadequate for the... Read more
ON FIRE Climate Action Campaign
With climate catastrophes erupting daily, hundreds of people from coast to coast visited over 40 MP offices across the country and called on them to take emergency-level action on the climate emergency by stopping fossil fuel expansion and delivering Just Transition... Read more
Highlands association asks Supreme Court of Canada to weigh in on threat of mining to climate change
The Highlands District Community Association (HDCA) is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to decide whether B.C. officials issuing mining permits can ignore climate change as a factor in deciding whether a project goes ahead. The move follows recent cases brought by... Read more
A ‘SLAPP Suit’ – Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation – to protect the Old Growth Forest in Qualicum Beach
In Qualicum Beach, the 200-acre rural Estate Residential forest contains a highly-productive and rare old-growth Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem, that’s known as the scenic gateway to our village. So when a plan for residential development threatened this iconic treasure, the community rallied.
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