Thousands of people from all over Vancouver Island and the Mainland braved the cold to show their support for protecting and preserving British Columbia’s at this week’s Old Growth Forest Rally. Douglas and Government Streets in Victoria were closed down for more than 45 minutes as people streamed in filling the streets from the length of City Hall to the Parliament Buildings.
C-IRG emulates and supports a structure of quasi-fascism within Canadian government and policing, however many citizens are unaware of this government funded group. This post hopes to raise awareness and gain community support.
Many people are either contributors or beneficiaries of one or more of the pension plans reviewed by Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health in their inaugural Canadian Pension Climate Report Card and as presented in their webinar – Report Card 2022 —... Read more
This event, featuring Anjali Appadurai, Seth Klein, Naomi Klein, Juan Vargas Alba (& others to be announced), will be a place to learn more about this campaign and plans to win a Climate Corps (nationally and in BC and Alberta). Plus, we will be debuting an... Read more
The stakes for old growth forests in British Columbia couldn’t be higher. The old growth forest ecosystem in BC is the most biodiverse ecosystem in Canada. Yet today, very little of the original old growth remains, due to the practice of clearcuts, TFLs (Tree Farm... Read more
The Community Trees Matter Network is asking anyone who lives, works, studies, recreates, or would like to help the urban forest in Saanich, BC, to please consider sending this letter to council@saanich.ca, or write your own. This letter could be used as... Read more
Please watch and share our new BC Old-Growth Policy Update by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Executive Director Ken Wu. Note: it was filmed just before the positive new forest policy announcements by BC’s new Premier David Eby last week, which we... Read more
United For Old-Growth March & Rally February 25 Walk: begins at Noon, Centennial Square (lək̓ʷəŋən territories, Victoria) Rally: 1:30-3:30 pm, BC Legislature Dear Friends of the Forests, We’re now moving into the final phase of coming together for the United We... Read more
FortisBC and Woodfibre LNG are beginning construction of a pipeline without the proper permits to house their workers safely. The process is an indication of their poor commitment to ensuring the safety of the community and the human rights of Squamish residents.... Read more
An ancient forest is a home to more life than we can imagine. The project of colonization has left less than 3% of what once stood. On February 25 a united movement of thousands of people will be sending a clear message to the provincial government: Keep your promises... Read more
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Students at a rally in California in February 2021 call for in-person learning. Young people who wrote a recent report for the UN called Our Future Agenda aim to “unleash a new generation” by engaging young people as... Read more
As a climate champion you are no doubt aware that BC’s logging industry continues to cut down old-growth forests despite government promises to protect them. While new Premier David Eby has made encouraging statements, there is so far scant evidence to contrast his... Read more
Together with the Goethe-Institut, we are excited to announce the 2022 Mentorship Award for Cultural & Artistic Responses to Environmental Change! Floods and forest fires, storms and disappearing species: the climate crisis is being felt everywhere around the... Read more
We set out early in the morning. A wintry sun grudgingly appeared as we piled into the car. Mom and Dad, siblings and cousins made up our party. The roof-rack was securely in place on which to bring home the quarry: the perfect Christmas tree which we’ll flush... Read more
The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, the materials and energy we use — they all come from nature. We are part of the web of life, and as the Duwamish elder Chief Seattle is recorded as saying more than 150 years ago: “Whatever we do to the web of life, we do to ourselves.”
North Cowichan is conducting a consultation to determine the fate of our community forests — to log or protect our Six Mountains. No matter who you are, or where you live, near or far, our Council invites you to participate, to give perspective, to fill out our... Read more
From nature’s perspective, human civilization has been a disaster. It has caused the loss of 83% of all wild mammals and 50% of plants. Between 1970 and 2016 alone, humans wiped out 68% of the world’s mammals, birds, fish and reptiles. The world’s governments support this destructive activity with subsidies…
The Great Transition scenarios, detailed in the 2022 Great Transition essay, stand the test of time. All six are alive and well, not as scenarios but as realities. In the two Conventional World scenarios, market forces still determine almost everything, regardless of... Read more
Courtesy of the Times Colonist Photo: Young activists lobby world leaders at the COP27 United Nations Climate Summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this month. NARIMAN EL-MOFTY, AP Although I intended to continue my examination of Earth For All, the astounding hypocrisy... Read more
WHAT IS BLACK FRIDAY / CYBER MONDAY? The term “Black Friday” had been used in the mid 1800s to indicate a decline in gold prices that caused a market crash The term became associated with this time of year, right around American Thanksgiving, in the 1950s when... Read more
As hope to substantially delay a 6th extinction fades it is, for me, being replaced by deep curiosity as to how it will all spiral down. How much, if at all, that impacts lifespans is in itself another matter for curiosity. And for what as well as how intensely the... Read more
How best to speak of our society’s ongoing self destructiveness in a way that our eyeballs, ear holes and heart might get it? How to “fool” us into a little unlearning of our learned disconnect from the watery animally earth? How to tease out a thread, a rope, an... Read more
More than 40 years ago, in my major paper for my master’s degree, I sought to identify the fundamental principles underlying public health. I concluded there are two: ecological sanity and social justice. The pursuit of these principles has defined much of my work to create a healthier society ever since.
Hello Elders, This is a very short callout, mainly to let you know about what’s coming up in November. As BC’s new Premier is being sworn in, we Old-Growth Supporters need to raise a bit of a ruckus to encourage David Eby to implement old-growth deferrals immediately.... Read more
Since CTMN began, in 2018, our various passionate members have been involved in a variety of projects: Educational Outreach to the Public via technology: We created a website filled with information about trees and ways citizens can protect them, at... Read more
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned last month the world is in “a life-or-death struggle” for survival as “climate chaos gallops ahead,” while the World Health Organization calls climate change “the single biggest health threat facing humanity.”
The interview process for this part-time position will take place over 2 phases during December 2022: Phase 1: an invitation for application based on high-level aesthetic qualities required for an ED position: leadership; team player; innovative; creative; ability to... Read more
What is COP27? COP27 is the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference aka the Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC, the 27th COP conference since 1994 The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a treaty through which signing nations agreed to... Read more
One of the five great turnarounds proposed in the recent Earth For All report to the Club of Rome is the energy turnaround. So with COP27 — the annual UN conference on climate change — opening in Egypt, this is a good time to look at this issue.
Dear Elders,At this time of the year, some of us may identify with the Latin American tradition of Día de los Muertos or with the Celtic tradition of Samhain. Día de los Muertos honours and remembers the Dead. Samhain marks the end of the harvest season and beginning... Read more
This should not be a battle between supportive housing and the urban forest canopy. Everyone should have access to the mental and physical health benefits provided by mature trees. Every neighbourhood should gain from the carbon sequestration and enhanced biodiversity... Read more
Symbolic Gift was written in an attempt for me, to brake away from our hectic world and to slow down take a breath and just see, taste, smell, feel the wonderful gift that is around us, and to, LIVE LIFE FOR EVERYTHING IN THAT GIFT AND IT’S FUTURE!
The new Club of Rome report Earth For All addresses the two greatest challenges facing humanity: the massive and rapid ecological triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution — to which I would add resource depletion — and the social crisis of massive inequality.
Way back in 1977, the World Health Organization declared the goal of achieving Health For All by the Year 2000. This should be understood in the way the U.S. Public Health Service defined a goal in 1980: “a timeless statement of aspiration.” learly, Health For All was not achieved, and is still not achieved today. But nonetheless…
In Saturday’s local elections, out of 256 confirmed results, 148 climate champions candidates were elected. 57.5% of the candidates who were either endorsed by a local climate action group, or who self-declared as a climate champion with WE-CAN, were elected to... Read more
Too often, municipalities seem to think mature trees are just in the way. That needs to change, because those trees benefit public health and even save lives. Like every municipality, Saanich needs bike lanes, safe sidewalks, and up-to-date utility pipes. But were any... Read more
There is an apocryphal story of a mother taking her young daughter out into the backyard. The child looks up from her iPad and says: “Where are we?” Her mother replies: “It’s called outside.” The point is obvious: We have become so screen-oriented that we…
“If you go down in the woods today, you’re sure of a big surprise.” In fact, if you do go today, you may have to go in disguise! For the de facto owners of every old growth tree that ever there was may not want you to see that they are destroying those woods.
Icel Dobell has just released The New Old Growth: Voice of Promise. Through beautiful images and storytelling, this fourth video in the Sovereignty of the Six Mountains series reveals the nature of the giving Six Mountain Forest, rare and endangered ecosystems— our... Read more
Your grocery bills are skyrocketing. Your favourite restaurant put up a sign warning of increased menu prices. You’re dipping into your savings to make ends meet. This is the reality of the cost of living crisis facing Canadians. But not so for fossil fuel executives... Read more
Our municipal election could determine the future of the North Cowichan forests. Or at least for the next few hundred years while evolution sets a new course. For four years, public consultation about the future of the Six Mountain Forest has unfolded as the North... Read more
With the municipal elections just around the corner – October 15th – those of you on Southern Vancouver Island that may not as yet have completed your selection of Mayoral or Council candidates (let alone those for school and park boards) may find the following... Read more
With so many candidates running and so many vacancies on Council, I’ve been asked many times over the last month for “my list” – who will I be supporting in the upcoming election. Having completed our final Council meeting last night, I now feel free to make my... Read more
We are concerned citizens who urge Saanich Council to pause implementation of Phase Two of its Shelbourne Valley Action Plan until after October 15, 2022 election. We wish the new Council to review the plan before proceeding. Click here to sign the petition The... Read more
The science is conclusive, trees matter! Not only can trees help regulate weather, filter smoke and pollutants, absorb stormwater runoff and prevent floods, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide beauty, shade, and shelter for thousands of needed insects,... Read more
I wish there were simple answers to some of the big issues Victoria is facing re: affordable housing, density, as well as crises like drug overdoses and doctor shortages. Here are some deeper dives into housing affordability, as that’s my main focus this... Read more
Dear Friends of the Ancient Forests, Fall is upon us. Sweet. Beautiful. Crunching leaves and intense fall colours touch our senses. Too dry. The promise of moisture is in the air as we lean towards the rainy season. My gratitude is all wound up with grief. On this... Read more
This article, written by Community Trees Matter Network co-founder Grace Golightly, was recently published in Focus and speaks to what’s at stake with Victoria’s urban trees and livability.... Read more
This event is coordinated by the Lafayette String Quartet and will be its final health forum before the Quartet formally disbands after 37 years. The forum on Our Planet and Our Health will involve three extremely qualified speakers Katila Lafferty, Canada’s first... Read more
2022 Local Government Elections – Climate Champions Registration Are you a climate champion who is running for council, school board or regional government? We are here to support you, and connect you with a climate group in your municipality. Use this form to... Read more
