Carolyn Schramm’s long-term efforts for parks and conservation recognized with Suzy Hamilton Legacy Award. We talk with Carolyn about her many endeavours and her current one, protecting the slope on the north-east corner of Kootenay Lake. Find out more at willetwildernessforever.ca.
Fridays for Future West Kootenay, the youth climate action group continue with protests. We hear from Jamie Hunter about the latest.
Bill C-12 the Net Zero Climate Accountability Act is now at the amendment stage in Parliament and there is a national push on to strengthen the accountability aspects of the Bill.
One of the organizations pushing for a stronger law is the Council of Canadians. To find out more I spoke with Robin Tress the Climate and social justice campaigner with the Council.
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Environment News
Collated by Linn Murray
In Cambodia, 3 prominent youth environmental activists have been sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison for leading a peaceful march.
Thun Rotha 29, Long Kunthea 22, and Phuong Keo Raksmey 19 have been found guilty of “incitement to commit a felony or disturb social order”.
The young activists were with the NGO Mother Nature when they were arrested in 2020 after they organised a peaceful march to the house of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to express their concern about a plan to fill in Phnom Penh’s largest lake.
The Mother Nature arrests are part of a continuing government crackdown on all forms of dissent. Those arrested by the Cambodian Government include monks, rappers, a trade union leader and political opposition members.
The treatment of the 3 youth activists has been condemned by the United Nations, as well as local and international NGOs, which have urged the government to release the three from jail immediately and unconditionally.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/13/jailed-in-hiding-expelled-cambodias-mother-nature-crackdown
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Protesters in Michigan have delivered a symbolic eviction notice to Canadian oil transportation company Enbridge, after the company defied an order by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer to shut down its Line 5 pipeline.
The aging pipeline, built in 1953, carries 23 million daily gallons of crude oil and natural gas under the Straits of Mackinac. Michigan’s governor alongside many environmental and Indigenous groups are concerned about an imminent spill into the Great Lakes from the aging fossil fuel infrastructure.
The Canadian government has sided with the oil companies in the fight over the pipeline, as fears rise in communities like Sarnia Ontario over massive job losses in oil refineries if the pipeline is forced to close. Much of Eastern Canada’s fossil fuel infrastructure is dependent on Line 5, and the Canadian Government is arguing that shutting off the pipeline would pose a great risk to Canada’s economy and energy security.
The dispute between Enbridge and Michigan will likely be resolved in the courts, as Enbridge refuses to comply with the Governor’s order unless ordered by a court or regulator
https://www.democracynow.org/2021/5/14/headlines/protesters_evict_enbridge_after_it_defies_governors_order_to_shut_down_line_5_pipeline
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A new report from the Environmental Protection Agency shows the U.S. is facing unprecedented challenges from the climate crisis.
The report was delayed for 3 years by the Trump Admistration, which repeatedly attempted to dismiss and deny global climate breakdown. Now, the Biden administration has released the EPA report which starkly warns of bigger and longer lasting wildfire seasons, more frequent heat waves, and increasing flooding.
The evidence outlined in the report shows that climate change is having serious impacts to the United States today and is visibly driving extreme weather events and unprecedented ecological change.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/05/12/us-has-entered-unprecedented-climate-territory-epa-warns/
https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators
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Plastic is now considered toxic under Canada’s primary environmental law, the Trudeau government announced last week.
The decision, which comes despite months of lobbying by Canada’s $28-billion plastics industry, paves the way for a proposed ban on some single-use plastic items. A series written by Canada’s National Observer catalogued the sustained push by the plastics and food industries to stop plastic from being labeled “toxic.”
But it appears the Canadian government has held firm on the issue, clearing the way for a potential ban on certain types of single use plastic.
About 3.3 million tonnes of plastic is discarded in Canada each year, with less than 10 per cent being recycled. The remainder goes to landfills, incineration, or leaks into rivers, lakes and oceans, according to a 2019 study commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/05/13/news/canada-officially-tosses-plastic-toxic-bin
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Canadian banks, pension funds and insurance companies will all get to participate in a new public-private advisory body for climate disclosures in the financial sector, leading some groups to warn it could lead to industry self-regulation.
The Sustainable Finance Action Council, launched May 12, will draw upon “financial sector leaders” for help in transforming Canadian markets so that they properly measure, price and disclose the risks faced by businesses from the climate crisis. It will report to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
Large Canadian banks put $726 billion into fossil fuel firms since the Paris Agreement, according to the report Banking on Climate Chaos. None of Canada’s big five banks signed up to be founders of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in April.
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Greyhound Canada is shutting down all of its remaining bus routes in Canada, permanently.
The bus company says all of its remaining routes will cease operations as of midnight Thursday.
Greyhound’s decision to pull out of Canada follows its 2018 cancelation of bus routes in Western Provinces, a move which cost millions of people bus transportation options. Students, youth, and low-income Canadians are expected to be among those most heavily hit by the loss of affordable bus transit.
In places like the Kootenays, losing Greyhound has meant limiting transportation to airplanes and private cars, both high emitters of greenhouse gas.
Across the country, new companies are emerging to address the need for affordable, more sustainable transportation, however many are calling on the Federal Government to create a national subsidized public transit service.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7858947/greyhound-canada-end-operations-cut-buses/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/greyhound-closure-students-low-income-passengers-1.6027668
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On Vancouver Island, RCMP are moving in to enforce an injunction on activists defending Fairy Creek from logging.
Protesters have had blockades at the Fairy Creek watershed since last summer to block Teal-Jones, a Surrey-based forestry company, from logging the old-growth forest.
RCMP have set up checkpoints and an exclusion zone, and are warning people in protest camps that they have until Tuesday morning to evacuate or face arrests.
Fairy Creek old-growth activists are worried the RCMP will move into protest camps and make arrests with impunity while continuing to limit media and other legal observers’ ability to scrutinize their enforcement
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On Monday, British Columbia recorded 995 lightning flashes in 12 hours as a storm front moves across the province, sparking concerns over the threat of wildfires.
A BC Wildfire service map shows that most of the southern interior is between moderate and extreme risk of wildfires after a dry April and May.
In the West Kootenays, April precipitation was one third of normal, as dry conditions and hotter than average seasonal conditions drive up concerns about wildfire.
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Nelson Police said in a media release Saturday, that BC Conservation officers continue to investigate a wildlife hazing incident on Kootenay Lake on Saturday afternoon.
Police received a request from BC Conservation staff for assistance in a report of two boats observed harassing geese on the water on the west side of Nelson.
Witness accounts reported the boats were observed to be circling the geese, preventing them from flying as well as attempting to run the geese over.
No information has been given yet on whether anyone will be charged for the attack. BC Conservation staff attended the area and assumed the investigation once all parties were identified.
Police would like to remind boaters to avoid intentionally hazing wildlife while on waterways or they could face potential enforcement through the BC Wildlife Act.
https://thenelsondaily.com/news/bc-conservation-investigate-wildlife-hazing-incident-kootenay-lake
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In the Kootenays, Jade Osecki and Carolyn Schramm are being recognized as the recipients of the 2021 Suzy Hamilton Legacy Award.
Suzy Hamilton was a deeply impactful environmental leader based in Nelson, who was instrumental in countless local campaigns for conservation and the environment. She was a founder of the West Kootenay Ecosociety, Kokanee Creek Nature Centre, and the Ecocentric (the show which you are listening to right now!).
The annual cash award was set up to honour the legacy of Suzy Hamilton by being presented to a female-identified environmental activist in the West Kootenay region.
The first recipient Jade Osecki, a grade 12 student at LVR, is the youngest person ever to receive the award. She has helped to organize Fridays For Future West Kootenay, and has been highly involved in national organizations like Citizens Climate Lobby, Climate Strike Canada, and Stop Ecocide Canada.
Additionally, the committee is honouring Carolyn Schramm with a new extension of the award meant to recognize the enduring dedication of a female-identifying environmental champion. Schramm co-founded the organization Mt. Willet WIlderness Forever (MWWF), which proposes to add Agenta-Johnson Landing to the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy Provincial Park.
Additional nominees for this year’s award were Sally Hammond of the Wild Connection, and Lorna Visser who stewards the Snk’mip Marsh through the Vallhala Foundation for Ecology.
The Suzy Hamilton Legacy Fund continues to grow and with it, the size of the annual award. Donations are warmly welcomed and can be made through the Osprey Foundation.
https://thenelsondaily.com/news/osecki-schramm-2021-recipients-suzy-hamilton-legacy-award
Week of May 18th, 2021
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