LISTEN ANYTIME TO THE JANUARY 9 SHOW HERE:
Wayne McCrory tells us how he came to write his new book The Wild Horses of The Chilcotin which topped BC bestseller lists before Christmas. It’s an incredible biological story and Wayne is now a staunch defender of wild horses on the landscape.
The West Kootenay Climate Hub’s monthly webinars continue this month with a talk about local action on climate change adaptation and mitigation from Craig DeLong from Rossland. Climate Hub volunteer Becky Quirk tells us about the webinars coming up.
The BC government has promised to finally implement the 2020 recommendations for a paradigm shift in land and forestry management in the province. Consultations are now underway for what is supposed to be a major step forward in protecting nature across the province. Jens Wieting from the Sierra Club of BC is back to tell us how we can join the consultation.
LINKS
Part of the proceeds from McCrory’s book go to the
Valhalla Foundation for Ecology.org
Check the EVENTS page on the West Kootenay Climate Hub
BC’s draft Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework
Sierra Club of BC’s ACTION page on the Framework.
Send in your support for a fast and strong implementation of the protections of BC forests and nature here: biodiversity.ecosystemhealth@gov.bc.ca.
COMING EVENTS:
Wednesday January 10, Noon
Online Webinar
Briefing on participating in the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework consultation
The BC government has released its Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (BEHF). It is meant to guide a public consultation process that should lead to a law protecting BC’s biodiversity and ecosystems. We want to make sure the framework is as strong as possible. Organizing for Change (OFC) is offering a technical briefing to groups wanting to make a submission by the January 15th deadline. Register here.
Saturday, January 13, 2024 6-9 pm
Nelson United Church, 602 Silica Street
Letter Writing, Film Night, event on the BC Biodiversity and EcoSystem Protection Framework, presented by Neighbours United and Last Stand West Kootenay.
This legislation, known as the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Law, has the potential to drastically change how BC manages our forests and natural resources.
This is your chance to dive into the details, share your thoughts, and make a difference by providing feedback on the draft framework before January 15th.
Well known local forest ecologist Rachel Holt is going to be speaking at the event.
https://neighboursunited.org/news-and-events/
Friday, January 19 Noon Hour
Webinar
The West Kootenay Climate Hub noon hour webinars are starting up January 19th hosting Craig DeLong, from Kootenay Outdoor and Environmental Learning Society.
His presentation will be focused on adaptation and mitigation strategies for smaller communities. Learn how we can better protect our communities from the increasing threat of wildfire. He’ll also be suggesting how individuals and communities can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by focusing on changing how we drive and initiatives to reduce supply chain contributions.
Find out more and register for the event on WestKootenayClimateHub.ca.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS BITS
The trial of three Wet’suwet’en land defenders started Monday, January 8, and runs until January 19, in Smithers. Yintah Access has asked for donations for Wet’suwet’en Yintah Defence Legal Funds.
In July of 2022, the province’s legal team told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church it would prosecute Sleydo’ Molly Wickham, Shaylynn Sampson (Gitxsan Lax Gibuu Wilp Spookxw), Teka’tsihasere Corey ‘Jayohcee’ Jocko and Hannah Hall.”
On October 30, 2023, Hall pleaded guilty to the charge of criminal contempt for breaking a court order. On November 2, 2023, Justice Michael Tammen sentenced Hall to 225 hours of community service.
For Wickham, Sampson and Jocko, the Narwhal notes: “[This is] the first time land defenders could face prison sentences for their actions [in relation to the Coastal GasLink pipeline].”
https://pbicanada.org/2023/12/21/three-defenders-of-wetsuweten-territory-face-criminal-prosecution-and-prison-sentences-in-trial-beginning-january-8-2024/
Doctors in Canada are using billboard campaigns and a newly-published toolkit to warn policy-makers and the public about the health hazards of burning fossil fuels, as well as the deceptive tactics Big Oil uses to dodge these issues and delay change.
While clearly designed to pull the heartstrings—its image depicting a tearful girl wearing an oxygen mask over her face against a backdrop of haze and smoke—a billboard in downtown Ottawa paid for by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) communicates a fact that multiple research studies have confirmed: “Rising childhood asthma rates: Brought to you by Oil & Gas.” Below the bold headline, CAPE adds in smaller lettering: “Burning fossil fuels is causing a health emergency. Doctors are calling on the government to protect our health.”
The BC Utilities commission has ruled against a Powell River Energy Inc. motion to exempt it from public oversight. The power producing company is a subsidiary of corporate giant Brookfield that runs two hydroelectric dams on BC’s upper Sunshine Coast. The company, which exports electricity to the United States, had argued that it shouldn’t be regulated as a public utility.
Along with local ally Energy Democracy for BC, the Powell River (qathet)council of Canadians Chapter intervened in the investigation, arguing in favour of public oversight. \
A new study shows that where logging has occurred in Canada’s boreal forests, there are fundamental characteristics of the forest that have not returned. That’s according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which helped finance the research.
The team of researchers found that 140,000 square kilometres of the Canadian boreal forest have been logged since 1976—an area roughly the size of New York State, and about 28% of the total study area. Another 212,000 square kilometres of older forest with no records of logging appears as a vast scatter of patches embedded within a highly disturbed forest landscape structure.
Only eight patches remain that meet the threshold of more than 500 square kilometres that defines Intact Forest Landscapes (IFLs), which are important for preserving biodiversity and ecological processes.
Of 21 possible ranges identified for caribou habitat, two are at risk of being disturbed to an extent of no longer being able to support caribou, 16 are considered at high risk, and three at very high risk, the study found.
The results are “shocking,” Peter Wood, a forest resources management lecturer at the University of British Columbia who was not involved in the study, told the New York Times. The study highlights “what is at stake as we focus our logging on some of these older and more intact areas,” he added.
In British parliament, the Conservative Party whip Chris Skidmore, the former energy minister who signed the country’s 2050 net-zero plan, has resigned his House of Commons seat. He resigned in protest of the decision by the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to issue a new round of oil and gas leases in the North Sea.
The government’s proposed Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill was due for second reading Monday, but UK media reported late in the day that it had been delayed, ostensibly due to a lack of time for Commons debate.
For the world’s five largest oil giants, 2023 again marked record profits and the approval of several major new fossil fuel projects, allowing the companies to lavish their shareholders with payouts that are expected to exceed $100 billion—signaling that executives have little anxiety that demand for their products will fall, said one economist.
The companies—BP, Shell, Chevron,ExxonMobil, and TotalEnergies—spent $104 billion on shareholder payouts in 2022, and are expected to reward investors with even more in buybacks and dividends for 2023, The Guardian reported.
Shell announced plans in November to pay investors at least $23 billion—more than six times the amount it planned to spend on renewable energy projects
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