With Strength, and a Whole Lot of Heart
Read the first blog posting here, the second here and the third here and the fourth here.
GBR RAVE blog #5 - Sept. 10, 2010
The best way to understand what is at stake in the Great Bear Rainforest is to come here and experience it for yourself. But for those unable to make the trip, a photograph is the next best thing. For years Ian McAllister has been taking pictures, as he travels up and down the coastline, hikes deep into the rainforest, has encounters with bears and spends time in the company of wolves. Ian’s images have captured the imaginations of people around the world. By showing what is here, and what could be lost, his photographs helped mobilize the campaign to protect the Great Bear Rainforest.
A third of this region is now in protected areas and off-limits to commercial logging. But the rainforest is still in jeopardy. An oil spill in the ocean would have devastating impacts on the health of the rainforest and all the birds, animals and people that depend on it. And so, Ian approached the International League of Conservation Photographers to help bring this story to the world.
Some of the world’s leading conservation photographers are here in the Great Bear Rainforest, and their work is absolutely stunning. The world is going to wake up and notice.
The photos coming out of the Great Bear RAVE will tell the story of underwater kelp forests and the rare abalone that feed on them, the steep granite slopes and lush green floodplains of the rainforest, and the sharp rock piles on the outer coast that tankers would have to navigate. The photos will also tell the story of the people who live here, and the opposition to tankers that is getting stronger by the day.
People are speaking from their heart, and the message is clear. There is no way that tankers will be allowed to transit through the waters of the Great Bear Rainforest. Each day more people are taking action to stop Enbridge. More and more I hear from people young and old that they are willing to stand on the line and be arrested, to protect this coast. As Art Sterrit from Coastal First Nations said when they declared a ban on tankers last spring, “this is where Enbridge hits a wall.”
The groundswell of opposition to tankers is strong, and creative. A multitude of talented, determined and passionate people are showing up with all they have to save this coast. Here are just a few of the diverse ways in which people are speaking out and taking action:
A Gitga’at feast, the table loaded with seaweed and eulachon and cockles and smoked sea lion. Kids dancing in regalia, elders taking a firm stand against Enbridge, community members standing up to stress the importance of this fight and thank the RAVE photographers for supporting them. Strength and a whole lot of heart in people’s voices and in what they have to say.
- Photo: Marshall Maher
Hundreds of people on the streets with protests, marches, banners, costumes, songs and speeches in Kitimat, Prince George, Smithers and Vancouver. Greenpeace activists locked down inside the Enbridge office in downtown Vancouver with a mock oil spill staged outside.
Conservation photographers lending their skills to capture the awe-inspiring images coming out of the Great Bear RAVE. Films being produced. Watch Tar Sands to Tankers, the battle to stop Enbridge.
Outdoor adventure expeditions are bringing attention to all that is at stake. Frank Wolf and Todd McGowan arrived in Hartley Bay last week, after hiking, biking, rafting and paddling along the proposed pipeline route from the tar sands in Alberta all the way to Hartley Bay. Keep an eye for the upcoming documentary about their On the Line journey and what the people they met along the way say about tankers and pipelines. Norm Hann stand-up paddleboarded the proposed tanker route from Kitimat to Bella Bella (StandUp4GreatBear). The four kayakers of the Pipedreams Project paddled through Hartley Bay a couple days ago, on their way from Kitimat to Vancouver to raise awareness about tankers. Victoria cyclists are about to head out on a journey called Biking up the Mess. They are biking to the Gulf of Mexico to connect the devastation of the BP spill to what is possible for the BC coast.
All of these people care deeply about the future of this coast, along with everyone who has signed a petition, written a letter and talked to their friends and family about tankers. The astounding images coming out of the Great Bear RAVE will undoubtedly catalyze an even greater mobilization of opposition.
Together we can win this. Join us. Call your politicians and tell them to legislate a federal ban on oil tankers through the Great Bear Rainforest. Find other creative ways to make your voice heard. Take action at pipeupagainstenbridge.ca.
