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Issues and Campaigns
The Great Annual Beach Clean-up
Sierra Quadra’s annual Earth Day event was a Beach Clean-up on Sunday, April 25th. All ages came out to help, and local businesses donated trucks and muscle power. We dragged out piles of plastic, styrofoam, fish/oyster farm trays, ropes and tires. We had fun too - Sierra Quadra members brought great food and refreshments.
Thanks to our collective efforts, huge amounts of discarded material that had washed up on our beaches were moved away to safe storage. Not only do our efforts beautify our Island but we are now learning that plastics — the majority of this detritus — break down into chemicals (bisphenol A and phthalates) that mimic hormones and compromise the health of both ourselves and the marine ecosystem.
Our Oceans, Our Future
Exciting, informative and awe-inspiring in turn, Sierra Quadra's Oceans event in January drew a full house - over 120 people from both Quadra Island and Campbell River.
- Sierra Quadra getting ready for kick-off
- The participants revived their energies with goodies baked by members of Sierra Quadra.
We kicked off with a Friday evening screening of Sea Change. On Saturday morning, Sierra Club BC's slideshow "Code Blue", a visually powerful overview of the state of the oceans, provided a framework for the films and presentations that followed. Finding Coral (by Living Oceans) and Wild Whale (by the Vancouver Aquarium) had the audience gasping with wonder at the beauty and majesty of sea creatures. The documentary "At the Edge of the World", a breathtaking anti-whaling adventure off Antarctica, sparked much discussion, as did Farmed Salmon Exposed and The End of the Line, with their dramatic indictment of the industries that are driving two iconic species - Pacific wild salmon and Bluefin tuna - to the brink of extinction.
- A family affair ... the state of the ocean.
- Can't believe this stuff! Display of flotsam picked up at Sierra Quadra's beach clean-up in 2009.
Bute Inlet Photo Contest
The results are in - the finalists of our Bute Inlet Photo Contest are: Michael Felber, Bob Morgan, Kent O'Neill and Jeremy Williams (ranked equally). Congratulations!
Read The Geologian: Honouring Bute and a Sacred Earth by Sierra Quadra's Ray Grigg.
Quadra Sustainable Energy Fair
A recent Sustainable Energy Fair organized by Quadra Island’s Sierra Club was a tremendous success. The island’s spacious community centre was crowded as hundreds of people from Quadra, Cortes and Campbell River came to see 15 exhibits and to hear eight presenters give illustrated talks on ways of living more sustainably on our beleaguered planet.
Quadra Island Forest Watch is active and operational despite all of the changes in forestry regulations. 20,400 hectares of crown forests on Quadra are in Special Management Zone (SMZ) 19, under license to TimberWest and Seven Woodlots. Quadra Island Forest Watch has been monitoring forestry operations within the SMZ for five years. More ...
Merrill and Ring Private Lands - Quadra Island Group continues to lobby the government to complete its commitment in the Vancouver Island Land Use Plan to acquire Merrill and Ring's private lands.