LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD THE APRIL 2 2024 SHOW:
MLA Brittny Anderson held a special public event called Climate Leaders, featuring a question and answer period
with Josie Osborne the provincial minister for energy. Plus more information on LNG.
Local forest activist Joe Karthein broke the news of clearcuts planned for the Rixen Sproule Creek area and he gives us an update.
Stand.Earth, the EcoJustice law organization and two BC citizens have launched a lawsuit in BC Supreme Court against Fortis BC. They are claiming Fortis BC advertising about low carbon Renewable gas is greenwashing and misleading the public. Andhra Azevedeo a lawyer with EcoJustice explains the case.
LINKS MENTIONED
Stand.Earth and EcoJustice suing FortisBC for misleading citizens with greenwash advertising.
https://stand.earth/insights/fortis-natural-gas/
Joe Karthein local research and videos on proposed Kootenay clearcuts
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011436317859
How BC LNG emissions smash the Clean BC emission targets
https://www.policynote.ca/lng-gambit/
BC’s Climate Emissions inventory report
All gasoline cars: 2.8 megatonnes
All Semitrailer trucks 4.6 megatonnes
One LNG plant, local emissions only: 4 megatonnes
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/climate-change/data/provincial-inventory
EVENTS
Friday, April 19, Noon.
Zoom – registration required: https://www.westkootenayclimatehub.ca/
West Kootenay Climate Hub Webinar: Columbia River Treaty and Climate Change
How will the Columbia River Treaty negotiations affect ecological integrity, Indigenous rights, and climate resilience? What are the trade-offs between electricity generation and functioning ecosystems? Join Greg Utzig for our April webinar exploring the Columbia River Treaty.
Sunday, April 21, 10 am – 3 pm
5915 Taghum Hall Rd, just outside Nelson
EARTH DAY FAIR
Come celebrate Earth Day at Taghum Hall’s family friendly event, featuring 40+ vendors and information booths, full concession, entertainment in the gazebo, contests, kid zone! The Climate Hub invites you to share your love of the lake, mountains, trees and living beings of the Kootenays in activities for the whole family. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, April 21, 10 am – 2 pm
Outside Ripley’s, 8816 Slocan Rd S Trail, Village of Slocan
EARTH DAY FAIR SLOCAN
Climate Hub members in the Slocan Valley will have a table at the Earth Day event outside of Ripley’s in Slocan from 10am – 2pm on Sunday, April 21st. It’s free, but please bring food to share.
Sunday, April 21, 2024. 12pm-3pm
303 Vernon St. Nelson, BC
Trash to Fashion FUNshop
Come celebrate Earth Day weekend by turning some trash into treasures!
Gather your paper and fabric scraps and come make featherless boas, paper mache masks, and other upcycled costume items with artist Myra Rasmussen.
This Haute Trash event is meant to inspire your inner creative to come out and play with all manner of discarded fabric scraps and paper items and transform them into fun and wearable art.
Workshop is for everyone: 12 years to adult. Anyone under 12 years must be accompanied by an adult. There is a $25
May 1, 2024, 7 – 9pm
Nelson, Capitol Theatre
Lean in and Listen: Building Bridges in a World on Fire Tzeporah Berman
Hear renowned environmental activist Tzeporah Berman reflect on 30 years of advocacy for old-growth forests and climate justice—and the surprising lessons she has learned about finding common ground with logging executives and with the oil industry.
Tzeporah Berman is one of Canada’s best-known environmental activists. She made her name as a leader of the protests against logging in Clayoquot Sound over 30 years ago.
She has spent time in jail, won global awards, chaired government advisory committees and negotiated some of the most groundbreaking deals to protect the environment this country has ever seen, including the Great Bear Rainforest Agreement and the first climate plan in Alberta’s history.
In 2013, she was awarded an honorary doctorate of law from UBC for her work advancing agreements and policy to set a higher standard for protecting our environment.
Tickets are available through the Capitol Theatre.
It’s time again to send in nominations for the annual Suzy Hamilton award for a self-identified woman or non-binary environmental activist in the West Kootenay.
The Legacy Fund was established at the Osprey Community Foundation in 2016 after the death of well-loved and dedicated West Kootenay environmental activist and journalist Suzy Hamilton, founder of the West Kootenay EcoSociety and the woman who co founded this radio show.
As the cash value of the Suzy Hamilton Legacy Fund endowment grows, the award amount increases. The award committee encourages donations so that Suzy’s legacy continues to grow. Please check out the Osprey Community Foundation to make a donation, so that we can continue to honour women and non-binary environmental activists in a financially meaningful way.
Please send nominations through the Osprey Community Foundation.ca before April 30.
https://ospreycommunityfoundation.ca/
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
The Fraser River has almost completely dried up as it runs through Prince George. People are walking across the river bed.
It’s a dramatic reflection of drought in Prince George, and of the dry conditions that have plagued much of the province since the summer of 2023 in what B.C.’s emergency minister has called “a sleeping giant of a natural disaster.”
Next week on The EcoCentric we’ll be speaking with local water scientist Martin Carver about the signs and impacts of the drought here in the Kootenays.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/dry-nechako-riverbed-in-prince-george-1.7159123
Last November, a coalition of climate groups commissioned a provincewide poll of 1,000 British Columbians from Abacus Data on the subject of gas in buildings. The results are very heartening.
With respect to new homes and buildings, when asked “Do you support or oppose the following policy in B.C: ‘By the end of next year, all new homes and buildings should be required to heat and cook using electricity, and not with gas or other fossil fuels,’” 45 per cent of respondents expressed support, while a further 23 per cent replied they could accept such a policy. Only 23 per cent were opposed.
Notably, while 14 municipalities across B.C. have adopted policies that will meet this goal in the next year (such as Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Burnaby), the province itself has only committed to enact such a policy for new buildings by 2030, a date that is at least two political mandates into the future and certainly does not signal urgency.
The final survey questions sought to determine the B.C. public’s level of climate literacy. Stunningly, when asked if the following statement was true or false: “The largest cause of climate change is the burning of fossil fuels, such as the gas we use to heat our homes and buildings, and the gas and diesel we use in our cars and vehicles,” only 49 per cent of respondents correctly knew this statement to be true; meaning less than half the public understands this vital and central fact about the climate crisis.
Even fewer (29 per cent) correctly knew that the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in most cities is the burning of methane gas in homes and buildings. In other words, the strong support we found for getting our homes and buildings off gas came even in the absence of widespread understanding of the problem.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/03/29/Most-People-BC-Want-To-Get-New-Buildings-Off-Gas
Here is another Poll report, this one from Canadians for Tax Fairness. According to this 2021 Abacus poll, 88% of Canadians supported a wealth tax. While everyday Canadians struggle to make ends meet, the wealthiest among us have seen their fortunes grow exponentially. Over the past 10 years, the richest 1% in Canada gained almost seven times more wealth than the bottom 50%.
According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a straightforward tax of 1% on wealth over $10 million, 2% over $50 million, and 3% over $100 million would generate $32 billion annually.
Canadians for Tax Fairness says its time for a wealth tax. You can support the push at Canadians For Tax Fairness. https://www.taxfairness.ca/en
The chief along with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation have laid a $500 million lawsuit that claims the Alberta’s Energy Regulator failed to inform the First Nation about the leaks from tar sands waste ponds. The lawsuit alleges “negligence, nuisance, breach of the duty to consult, breach of the Honour of the Crown, breach of fiduciary duty, and unjustified treaty infringement.”
Last year, Fort Chipewyan officials, alongside those from several other affected Indigenous communities, learned of a 5.3 million litre spill from Imperial Oil’s Kearl Mine (located about 75 kilometres upstream of the community). Soon after, they found out about another spill at the same mine site that had been leaking for at least nine months before they learned about it.
In Fort Chipewyan, there continues to be documented elevated rates of cancer and other diseases with no official explanation as to the source. For the community, the tailings spills have heightened existing local concerns over contamination.
theecocentricradioshow.ca 