THIS TREE AND OTHERS LIKE IT JUST OFF THE SLOCAN VALLEY.
The BC oil and gas industry exporting BC’s methane gas, LNG, is ok because it’s lower in emissions than coal. That makes it a ‘bridge’ fuel to a carbon neutral future. But one expert is calling LNG a ‘bridge to nowhere’. Dr. Amy Janzwood from UBC who explains why methane gas bridge math doesn’t work.
19 people were arrested early this summer for supporting Last Stand West Kootenay’s campaign to protect the forest just south of Argenta from clear-cut logging. Now Cooper Creek Cedars has asked the judge to increase the charges from civil contempt to criminal contempt and this week Cooper Creek’s lawyers are asking the judge for access to the defendants’ social media accounts. Miguel Pastor from Last Stand West Kootenay explains.
Fox Forest from Last Stand West Kootenay tells us about ancient Slocan forests slated for the saw.
Back in August the Friends of Kootenay Lake Stewardship Society celebrated ten years of work for our lake. Kayla Tillapaugh tells us what Friends of Kootenay Lake has been up to.
LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD THE SEPTEMBER 20 2022 SHOW HERE:
EVENTS AND LINKS
Local groups concerned with planetary health have joined forces to organize a Nelson all-candidates’ forum on the future of the climate and environmental action in the City.
The Nelson Chapter of Council of Canadians, West Kootenay Climate Hub, and Nelson Doctors and Nurses for Planetary Health are sponsoring the evening forum on Wednesday, October 5th 7 pm at Nelson United Church.
The forum will be a chance for the community to hear directly from Mayoral and Council candidates on their commitment to the changes we need for a healthy future.
I am one of the crew that’s organizing the event and it looks to be a great chance to select your voting choices.
That’s the Nelson forum on Climate and Enviornment., 7 pm Wednesday, October 5 at Nelson United Church, 602 Silica Street.
Facebook: Nelson Chapter Council of Canadians
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Last week we heard from local artist Ron Robinson that is hold a special art show and sale of his work on Sunday, October 9th. Ron is going to donate half the proceeds from the sale of his original art works to the West Kootenay Climate Hub.
The show will be at The Big Brown House on Nelson AVenue. That’s 511 Nelson Avenue from 10 to 4 pm on Sunday, October 9th.
Details on WestKootenayClimateHub.ca
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Go By Bike BC is expanding its fall bike to work or school period to two weeks this year. Go By Bike Weeks are coming up October 3 to 16 and its a time to log your rides and join a team in doing so. You only need two bikes to form a team… but many more can join in.
There’s going to be an amazing prize for participation The Fall GoByBike Weeks GRAND PRIZE: “Cycling in Tuscany: Pisa to Florence”, a Self-Guided Cycling Adventure for 2 in
Italy sponsored by Exodus Travels!
All yoyu have to do to enter is register for Fall GoByBike Weeks.
And Log at least one bike ride during October 3 – 16, 2022 – ANY bike ride counts!
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The West Kootenay Cycling Coalition (WKCC) won a $50K grant to conduct a feasibility study for an Active Transportation Corridor from Nelson to Castlegar BC in the vicinity of Highway 3A. We will be conducting a series of public engagements with you, residents along this corridor. We want your feedback! View the proposed route, learn about our vision, offer ideas and complete a survey.
Session 1 – Taghum Hall, October 4th, 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Session 2 – Nelson Chamber of Commerce, October 7th, 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Session 3 – The Dam, October 11th, 6:00 pm to 8:00m pm
More session to be announced. Please visit and like our Facebook page for regular updates:
https://www.facebook.com/westkootenaycycling
7 pm Friday Oct. 7… NELSON BIKE RAVE
Join our family friendly, rolling dance party. Come in costume, brings lights, enjoy dance music and ride in our bicycle parade through Nelson. Meet at Nelson Railway Station (91 Baker Street) at 6:30 pm, ride departs at 7:00 pm sharp, rolling to Lakeside Park Rotary Shelter for a BBQ. Grab your friends and family, bring food to cook and bring it all on your bike.
West Kootenay Cycling Coalition
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS AND LINKS
The European Union expects to raise €140bn from windfall taxes on energy company profits to “cushion the blow” of the energy crisis.
The emergency levy will be placed on oil, gas and coal firms alongside a separate measure to cap revenues from renewable electricity generators at less than half of current market prices.
The EU is taking back 33% of taxable surplus profits for the 2022 fiscal year. But in the UK, new Prime Minister Liz Truss has announced they will not extend the UK’s windfall tax on oil and gas companies, which is set at 25%.
Prime Minister Trudeau, when pushed about the multi billions of extra profit made by oil corporations in Canada, said a windfall tax wasn’t going to happen.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Wednesday: “In our social market economy, profits are good. But in these times it is wrong to receive extraordinary record profits benefiting from war and on the back of consumers.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/14/eu-windfall-tax-energy-fossil-fuel-firms
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Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of outdoor apparel brand Patagonia, is giving away the company to a charitasble trust to fight the climate crisis.
Chouinard, who became famous for alpine climbs in Yosemite National Park and has a net worth of $1.2 billion US, turned over the company to a trust and a non-profit organization.
“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/patagonia-founder-trust-climate-crisis-1.6583492
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Air Canada recently announced a purchase agreement for 30 ES-30 electric-hybrid aircraft under development by Heart Aerospace of Sweden. The revolutionary regional aircraft, should be delivered and working by 2028. On shorter flights the planes will be completely electric emissions flying on battery power. For longer flights a hybrid system will produce far lower emissions that common turbojets or turbo prop airplanes.
Air Canada has also acquired a US$5 million sharein Heart Aerospace.
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Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder and billionaire Chip Wilson is donating $100 million to the B.C. Parks Foundation to help protect and enhance the province’s nature.
The commitment is part of the B.C. Parks Foundation’s launch of 25×25, a multi-year campaign to protect 25 per cent of land and waters, in partnership with Indigenous people. The foundation started in 2018 with the goal of improving and expanding the province’s parks system.
The donation is being put to work right away in three ecosystems: the Falling Creek Sanctuary, Teit’s Sanctuary and Bourguiba Springs.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chip-wilson-nature-donation-1.6584267
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In a long-awaited vote on Wednesday, MEPs voted to end subsidies for “primary woody biomass”, namely healthy, standing trees that are logged for fuel.
Increasing trees in BC are being logged for burning in so called bio mass electricity plants especially the Drax plan in the UK.
Bu the EU reps rejected calls for a complete phaseout of biomass energy generation that scientists have warned releases more carbon into the atmosphere than burning gas or coal.
The EU wants to expand renewable energy as fast as possible, as it seeks to accelerate the green transition and end dependence on Russian fossil fuels. MEPs voted for 45% of EU energy to come from renewable sources by 2030.
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A major lawsuit that seven young people in Ontario have brought against their provincial government got its first hearing in court last week. The young people charge that Ontario’s climate plan fails to protect them and future generations.
It is the first time a climate lawsuit aimed at changing government policy has had a full hearing in a Canadian court.
The plaintiffs, represented by EcoJustice area, want the court to order the province to bring in a new plan. The specifics would be left up to the government, but the plaintiffs want it based on science and to be compatible with the aims of the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 C.
“At current levels, the entire world is going to blow through the remaining carbon budget in five to 10 years, maybe even less,” said Nader Hasan, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs.
“Ontario is using a grossly disproportionate share of that carbon budget.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/ontario-climate-policy-lawsuit-1.6584416
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The BC NDP Standing Committee on Environment and the Economy has produced a Climate Justice Pledge that challenges much of the current governments climate and energy plans. The Committee calls for stopping all new oil and gas production including pipelines for gas in new buildings. They want a Climate Emergency Secretariat in the Premier’s Office and a fund for a just transition for workers and communities impacted by the shift from fossil fuel industries. Banning all old growth logging and raw log exports is also on their agenda.
The Committee’s pledge also says all legislation and policy must conform to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act
And they all call for an end to ocean-based fish farms, and expansion and electrification of public transit in the province. And make it FREE.
I’ll put a great image of the Pledge up on our website.
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Ottawa is promising up to $250 million over four years to help Canadians who currently heat their homes with oil shift to greener—and more affordable—sources like electric heat pumps.
Nearly half of the promised Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF) is earmarked for Atlantic Canada, where some 30% of households still depend on oil heat and have been hammered by the global spike in oil prices, reports Global News.
Early estimates are that the new funding will help 10,000 to 25,000 households nationwide switch over to greener energy, more than 40% of them in the Atlantic.
“We can help Canadians save thousands of dollars on yearly energy bills, all while fighting climate change,” Environment and Climate Minister Steven Guilbeault told media last week.
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The film, which is being premiered on the harbourside in Bristol on Tuesday evening, is Of Walking on Thin Ice (Camino to Cop26), which tells the story of a group of climate pilgrims who hiked 500 miles from the south of England to Scotland for last year’s climate conference in Glasgow.
More than 1,000 people joined the 2021 walk, some of them spending the whole 56 days sleeping on the floors of dozens of church halls, having conversations, making new friends and trying to find a way to make a difference. Much of the adventure was filmed on 16mm celluloid by the film-maker Benjamin Wigley using a hand-crank Bolex camera.
Wigley has produced a dreamy, black and white impressionistic vision of England and Scotland, full of flag-waving activists pounding the pavements, lanes and towpaths, with a haunting soundtrack of song and conversation, sometimes sad, sometimes optimistic.
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