Wild Blog
Spot Prawn Fever
To be fair, the BC Spot Prawn isn’t just any old shrimp. Touted by local chefs and internationally renowned for its sweet taste and buttery-tenderness, the Spot Prawn is quickly gaining notoriety as a scrumptious – and highly sustainable – seafood option.
Grizzlies go on strike to push for fair deal in the Flathead
Grizzly bears from across British Columbia gathered outside the Legislature building today in downtown Victoria to protest the relentless cuts to their habitat, food sources, and mating areas, particularly in the Southeastern portion of the province, where some of their last undeveloped lands remain.
The Business of Ocean Management: Reflections on the World Oceans Summit
Ocean leaders gathered in Singapore to assess ways forward that might simultaneously allow our seriously threatened oceans to recover and provide increasing services to humanity as demands increase with growing population and appetites.
A Train, Some Water, and A Little Blue Jug
We are travelling by train so we can stop along the way and talk to people about this pipeline and supertanker project and build support for our battle. First Nations and Canadian, including the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union, have supported and joined our fight.
The Sun Always Shines on Earth Day
My grandpa, a jovial man, used to say that the sun always shines – if only for a brief moment - on Saturdays. I plan to tell my (hypothetical) grand-kids something similar: that the sun always shines on Earth Day. Last week, in Victoria, the sun was shining bright enough to light up the next century of Earth Days.
The Tale of Rocky the Raven
One day, as he was flying around Fanny Bay watching people doing the usual things, Rocky read a sign that said, The Future Home of Raven Coal Mine. Rocky was a bit upset, someone using his last name like that, so he decided to investigate...
We are far from alone, and we know it
“It was incredible – you should have come!” That’s what I told my roommates when I returned to our home in Victoria on Sunday, after an inspiring Saturday at the No Tankers rally in Comox. I went there to join concerned citizens from across western BC – which included a busload from Victoria, and outstanding representation from our Sierra local groups on Quadra Island, in Powell River and Comox.
Toxic Chemicals in Household Products - You Have the Right to Know
On October 26, 2011, my husband and I made a mundane household purchase - or so we thought. We went to a well-known mattress gallery in Vancouver and purchased a mattress and some solid wood bedroom furniture. We have not been able to set foot in the bedroom since.
Speaking for Earth Part Two: From Stewardship to Relationship
As I suggested in the first part of this blog, we need to move beyond stewardship—seeing Earth as our home, to relationship—seeing Earth as part of us and ourselves as part of Earth. We must constantly make the point that when we damage Earth we damage ourselves. I saw this connection illustrated brilliantly in a poster developed by Sierra Club U.S. for their very successful battle against coal burning plants.
Speaking for Earth in a Resource Extraction Culture
Recently there has been a great deal of controversy about pipelines, coal mines and gas wells. In the age of global warming this issue has profound ethical and moral implications and must be examined within three contexts: a scientific context, a political context and the context of relationship. Addresses Keystone Pipeline, Enbridge's proposed Northern Gateway, Raven Coal Mine and the creation of a resource extraction culture.
Getting shot not a sport for bears
Even after a number of encounters I am still in awe every time I get to see bears, like for example last May, when I had a chance to watch this black bear sow with two cubs from a quiet road near Whistler.
Herbicide spraying of BC forests shows no sign of ending
With the continuation of unsustainable levels of harvesting across the Central Interior and the proliferation of more and more clear-cuts, an increasing number of people are coming face to face with a practice one would hope was in its sunset phase. It's not, and that practice is herbicide spraying. In some places the spraying campaign continues to be of a Vietnam-scale intensity
Environmental Assessment "Missing in Action"
How does the upcoming CETA trade agreement between Canada and the European Union impact our oceans? The EU is expected to request concessions to open up Canadian fishing waters by increasing the percentage of foreign ownership in commercial fishing licenses. In addition there is a suggestion that in exchange the EU may concede to open up genetically modified (GM) salmon imports to the EU.
The Great Bear Rainforest puts B.C. on the map
As human populations have grown and unsustainable large-scale economies have taken root, most of the earth's temperate old-growth rainforests have disappeared. Increasing protection of the Great Bear Rainforest is one of the most effective actions we can take to prevent carbon loss and increase carbon storage, and is as essential as preserving Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and Brazil’s Amazon rainforests.
Northern Gateway: Pipeline to Problems
Enbridge's proposal to build a 1,172 km Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta to Kitimat through some of the most challenging and remote territory on the planet exposes wild rivers, landscapes and a pristine BC coast to inevitable oil spills. This is the most obvious argument against building this project. But a closer and deeper scrutiny reveals more fundamental flaws that are not immediately obvious.
At the heart of the struggle
As they make the journey, the Panel members will be traveling into the heart of the rainforest. They will fly over snow covered mountains, steep granite slopes where trees barely hang on, and lush river valleys below.
A Letter to Our Government
Super tankers would not only have a disastrous affect on coastal aboriginal peoples' ability to harvest traditional foods, but would aid in the demise of flourishing tourism in their traditional lands.
A new climate for the Great Bear Rainforest Agreements
The Great Bear Rainforest Agreements are not just a blueprint for healthy ecosystems and healthy communities. Once fully implemented, they will also help to ensure the Great Bear Rainforest continues to act as a crucial carbon bank and increase survival rates of species that would be unable to adapt to climate change in landscapes fragmented by clearcuts. But time is not on our side. That’s why we’re asking the provincial government to fully implement the agreements by March 31, 2013.
World Oceans Summit 2012
The agenda is comprehensive, the cast of speakers inspiring, and while it is laudable that the Economist has convened this summit – for the oceans are clearly in need of high-level attention – there is a seed of concern.
If the Great Bear Rainforest is already protected, why this campaign?
Six years ago, our environmental organizations and logging companies worked with the B.C. government and First Nations to create a groundbreaking agreement to save the Great Bear Rainforest. Reached after years of protests and market campaigns aimed at protecting this region from industrial logging, the agreement made headlines around the world for being remarkable in many ways.
