Since salmon farms took the Sechelt area by storm 30 years ago, residents, First Nations, scientists, businesspeople, organizations and even government employees have tried to minimize the impact of this industry, but to no avail. Salmon farms crowd animals and they use vaccines, chemicals and engineered foods to speed growth. They are feedlots. Experience and the science of epidemiology are clear: feedlots must be isolated from the wild because they over-stimulate pathogen propagation and drug resistance. Sign the petition at www.salmonaresacred.org
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| Alexandra Morton with Komox paddlers in Courtenay. |
“Salmon Are Sacred” has spaces for 160 people in canoes and calls on experienced paddlers, Tribal Journeys canoe teams and kayakers to join Alexandra Morton, Elena Edwards, First Nations leaders and our flotilla in pulling together for wild salmon as we journey down the Fraser River. The paddle will finish in Vancouver with a rally on October 25.
The migration will be officially launched at a “Hope for Wild Salmon” event on October 19 in Hope with other events en route including Chilliwack (20th), Mission (21st) and New Westminster (23rd). First Nations will take a leading role and paddlers include Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Chief Bob Chamberlin and Grand Chief Saul Terry. John Cummins MP, Fin Donnelly MP, Vicki Huntington MLA, Spencer Chandra Herbert MLA, Michelle Mungall MLA and Peter Julian MP will also paddle various stretches.
October 25: Stand Up for Wild Salmon – at the end of the paddle, the “Stand Up for Wild Salmon” walk starts from Vanier Park in Vancouver, with a flotilla gathering in Vancouver Harbour between 10-11AM. The procession then departs Vanier Park at 11AM to walk to the DFO and the Cohen Commission to visit the opening day of the Cohen Commission’s evidential hearings. A rally takes place at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 12:30PM.
If you are interested in joining the paddle, please contact Elena Edwards and Don Staniford at 250-230-1172 or email oceananele@hotmail.com and dstaniford@puresalmon.org
From www.salmonaresacred.org/paddle-wild-salmon
Enbridge keeps spilling
Stephanie Goodwin, director of Greenpeace in BC, having recently returned from a research trip to the Gulf of Mexico, offers the following comment regarding the Enbridge spill near Buffalo, New York: “Enbridge seems to be working to make things easier for the environmental movement than the oil industry these days. With its third oil pipeline spill in less than two months, Enbridge is giving even its most ardent supporters a hard time finding reasons to stand behind its operations. Rather than expanding its oil pipelines into Northern B.C., Enbridge should focus on rapid expansion of its wind power production. That way Pat Daniel could start his day by checking rising winds rather than falling stocks thanks to his network of aging, dangerous pipelines.” The Enbridge spill happened near Buffalo, New York on Line 10, a 144-kilometre line that moves about 70,000 barrels per day from Westover, Ontario to Kiantone, New York through Buffalo, carrying synthetic oil from the tar sands along with condensate and other light crudes.
Liberation BC raises awareness of inhumane treatment of factory farm animals
Every day, millions of animals are caged, beaten, electrocuted, transported thousands of miles without water, force-fed, mutilated without pain killers, slaughtered, skinned, trapped and scalded. The goal of Liberation BC (www.liberationbc.org) is to end the suffering of animals and to be a voice speaking up for them. Make your voice count by joining one of Vancouver’s most active animal rights organizations. On September 25, people in Vancouver participated in the “Walk for Farm Animals,” which took place in 70 cities across Canada and the US. The “Walk” raises funds for Farm Sanctuary, a charity devoted to rescuing abused farmed animals and advocating for farmed animal protection. Vancouver walkers have raised thousands of dollars in donations each year. Stay up-to-date on animal issues with Vancouver Cooperative Radio. Listen live every Friday, Noon-1PM, 102.7FM www.coopradio.org
Listen to archives: www.animalvoices.org
Ancient Forest Alliance stands with unions to ban raw log exports
On September 16, in a seemingly unlikely event, the Ancient Forest Alliance stood in solidarity with members of the Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada and the United Steelworkers union in Nanaimo as part of the ongoing fight to ban raw log exports in BC. AFA forest campaigner TJ Watt spoke alongside union officials Nanaimo MLA Leonard Krog and Nanaimo-North Cowichan MLA Doug Routley to the hundreds of workers in attendance, denouncing the export of raw logs and calling for the protection of BC’s threatened forestry jobs.
“Under Gordon Campbell’s BC Liberals we have seen over 60 mills shut down across the province since 2003 while raw log exports have nearly doubled,” said Watt. “It’s time to ban raw log exports in BC, to rejuvenate local mills and to once again provide secure jobs for the thousands upon thousands of forestry workers who have been kicked aside by this backwardspolicy…Exported logs equals exported jobs.”
The AFA believes there can be a solution that works for both our ancient forests and our forestry workers. “The BC Liberal government needs to stimulate investment in the retooling of old-growth sawmills so they can handle second-growth trees. With 90 percent of the most productive lands on Vancouver Island having already been logged, the future of this industry is in sustainable second-growth forestry,” says Brendan Harry, communications director of the Ancient Forest Alliance.”
It is inevitable there will be a transition to logging of only second-growth forests in the not so distant future as the remaining old-growth forests become decreasingly accessible to the coastal logging industry in areas like Vancouver Island and the southern mainland. The Ancient Forest Alliance calls on the BC Liberal government to make this transition happen now, in a planned, rational way, allowing for the protection of what little endangered old-growth ecosystems are left and ensuring a smooth shift to sustainable second-growth logging instead.
“If the industry does not adjust in order to process second-growth trees, what happens down the road when that’s basically all that’s available? Where are the forestry jobs going to be?” Watt wonders. “The rest of most of the world is logging second, third, fourth growth and making it work. We need to be moving up the value chain, not down it. In the end, it’s about the long-term sustainability of a resource and an industry and right now we’re moving in completely the wrong direction.”
From Ancient Forest Alliance, www.ancientforestalliance.org
The story of Facebook and coal
The film about the founders of Facebook, The Social Network, premiered in September and Greenpeace has taken the opportunity to create its own short film, The So Coal Network, which tells the story of how Facebook has picked dirty coal power instead of clean energy. View the animation at www.greenpeace.org/coalfacebook
Facebook recently chose to operate its first data centre, located in Prineville, Oregon, US, with energy from Pacific Power, a utility that is fuelled primarily by coal. As part of its Cool IT campaign, Greenpeace is calling on Information Technology giants to become climate champions, but Facebook is heading in the opposite direction. More on Cool IT at: www.greenpeace.org/coolit