LISTEN TO NOV. 30 EcoCentric here:
A first-person account of the violence and initimidation of RCMP actions against land defenders in Wet’suwet’en Territories from Sabina Dennis, who was arrested on November 18th. Lawyer Pam Palmeter explains the unlawfulness of RCMP actions. Still 10 days left to have input on BC’s Natural Gas Royalty Review, Nelson activist Judy O’Leary explains why it’s important.
LINKS:
You can see Andrew Nikiforuk’s full talk at U
EVENTS:
Friday December 10 to Wednesday 15, British Columbia Environmental Film Festival
The British Columbia Environmental Film Festival bridges science and film to promote environmental awareness. Through this annual festival featuring films and documentaries with an environmental focus, and with the help of a diverse community of experts, it aims to bring people together to address the environmental issues that affect us all. The $39 Festival Pass gives you access to 46 Documentaries, Shorts, and Feature Films. One of its founders, Pezhma Hadavi, says “The world of cinema is my passion and planet earth is my home.” https://bceff.org
ENVIRONMENT NEWS FOR NOVEMBER 30th
The Narwhal online magazine reports that the combination of climate change, clearcut logging and poor forestry practices are contributing factors to much of the province’s flooding and landslide catastrophe.
On the Sunshine Coast, Elphinstone Logging Focus (ELF) has kept meticulous records of logging in controversial areas.
ELF Forest campaigner Ross Muirhead says
“Just last year they completed 60 hectares of clearcutting in about six blocks all connected by 1.3 kilometres of new logging road. The road is at the bottom of the clearcut, so all the water was peeling off the clearcut,” said Muirhead, pointing out that, even in such an extreme event, an intact forest would have intercepted much of the groundwater.
Peter Wood, wrote a report earlier this year for Sierra Club BC that looked at the relationship between forest management and severe climate impacts, such as droughts and fires. Wood has recently looked at satellite images showing several of the hard-hit areas were heavily logged.
“I don’t want to jump to conclusions right away, but I think, at the very least, the Forest Practices Board or another government agency should look into this,” he said.
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More than 20 environmental organizations are calling on the government to reintroduce and prioritize the Environmental Racism Bill that was partly approved, but died when the election was called. w
Bill C-230 would require the federal government to collect data on links between environmental hazards, race, socioeconomic status, and health, and compel the environment and climate change minister to develop a national strategy to address the harms caused by environmental racism.
On Oct. 19, the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice and partner organizations wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking the government to reintroduce the bill as reported by committee and seek the agreement of other parties to proceed to third reading before the end of the year.
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Many European cities are bike-friendly, but cars often still dominate the roads. Now, Paris, France is investing 250 million euros ($290 million) to make the city entirely bikeable.
That means if you want to bike from the Arc de Triomphe to the Viaduc des Arts, you’d be able to do so safely.
The updates, called Plan Velo: Act 2, are slated to make Paris completely cyclable by 2026. The proposal stems from mayor Anne Hidalgo, who widely won re-election in June 2020, in part thanks to a focus on more measures for biking.
The pandemic and a recent transportation strike in 2019, have made more people start biking to make their way around. During the pandemic alone, more than 50 kilometers (31 miles) of what were temporary bike-only lanes, called coronapistes, have now been made permanent.
Under Plan Velo: Act 2, which spans from 2021 to 2026, Hidalgo aims to add another 130 kilometers (over 80 miles) of bike-safe pathways, in addition to the coronapistes, throughout the city. The plan will also add more cycling facilities, transform some car parking spots into bike parking and boost maintenance measures, like snow removal and cleaning, for cycle paths.
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The Transmountain Pipeline has clearcut a 30 metre wide line of destruction through unceded lands & waters from “Jasper” to “Burrard Inlet” subsidized by the BC & federal governments and backed by militarized RCMP.
This clearcutting has destabilized the land & water. This clearcutting has destroyed natural carbon sequestration. A survey of the TransMountain pipeline route has turned up many instances of severe erosion. As we reported last week, the pipeline itself was dangling in a river. But no leaks were reported.
Activists at StopTMX.ca continue to occupy treesits along the pipeline route in Burnaby. Earlier this month the RCMP moved and removed several of the tree houses that were blocking clearcutting the pipeline route.
But in the early morning hours of November 23/21 yet another tree-sit went up! It is located near the intersection of Lougheed and Gaglardi in Burnaby and is directly on the proposed TMX pipeline route. Land Defenders are there to protect the Stoney Creek riparian zone but the tree-sit is being threatened and they are making an urgent appeal for support.
To find out more STOPTMX.ca
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Canada has become “the worst performer of all G7 Nations” in the fight against climate change and keeps going from “failure to failure” as it plays a “large role in the dangerous accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
That condemnation came last week from Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Jerry V. DeMarco.
in his latest vitriolic report on the country’s “action and inaction” on climate change over three decades, and particularly since the Paris Agreement in 2015.
Canada’s current targets commit to reduce emissions by 36 per cent compared to 2005 levels by 2030, although the Liberal government has committed to increasing that target to 40 to 45 per cent.
“Will Canada finally turn the corner and do its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?” the commissioner asks at the beginning of his report, which he describes not as an audit but as a “historical perspective” on the country’s actions to mitigate climate change.
In his analysis, DeMarco points out a host of recent decisions by the Liberal government that he considers to be make it harder to meet Canada’s climate commitments. Investing in the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion or applying only “minimum” requirements for carbon pricing throughout the country are two he pointed out.
The commissioner notes that Canada’s “growing” oil and gas production is a “key barrier” to the country’s climate targets.
Longest running Enviro News show on the Radio! 
The provincial NDP shamefully bends to the will of big business interests, as I believe even their federal counterpart would eventually do if elected into power. And there’s a lot more of this bending yet to come. The Green party essentially is focused on the natural environment rather than wealth inequality/inequity and therefore redistribution (in some form or another); and vice versa with the NDP. Of course both parties will CLAIM they’ll whole-heartedly support both causes, especially at election time.
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