Just wrote this thread about it on twitter so I might as well put it up here and encourage y’all to come along. We will walk down Johnston to Scott Fraser’s office.
Ready for a good old fashioned protest march! #forestmarchbc Public watersheds should not be privately controlled! March starts 10AM at Cherry Creek Rd Forest office in #portalberni or… https://t.co/xBHQIuR7Is
For those not familiar, section 21 refers to the Private Managed Forest Lands Act which in sec 21 prohibits communities from enacting any bylaw that would prevent companies from say…. clear cutting inside community watersheds. Like they have done in #PortAlberni ! #bcpoli
Restriction on local government authority regarding uses of private managed forest land 21 (1) A local government must not do any of the following in respect of land that is private managed forest land if doing so would have the effect of restricting, directly or indirectly, a forest management activity: (a)adopt a bylaw under any enactment; (b)issue a permit under section 8 (3) (l) [authority in relation to buildings and other structures] of the Community Charter or Division 1 [Building Regulation] of Part 9 [Regional Districts: Specific Service Powers] of the Local Government Act; (c)issue a permit under Part 14 [Planning and Land Use Management] of the Local Government Act. (2) For certainty, this section applies if the bylaw or permit would have the effect described in subsection (1) even though the bylaw or permit does not directly apply to land referred to in that subsection.
The #PortAlberni system supplies water to @cityportalberni (17,000), the district of Beaver Creek (3000) and the main reserves of both @Tseshaht and @HupacasathFN. Beaver Creek joined the City water system in 2013 after multiple years of boil water advisories due to logging.
The #PortAlberni system is one of the largest left on South Vancouver Island that does not have either a protected watershed like Victoria, or require filtration plants like Comox and Nanaimo which spent tens of millions due to persistent turbidity or BWAs from logging practices.
But every year #PortAlberni has to switch from China Creek river to Bainbridge Lake because of runoff from logging roads and clear cuts. Bainbridge has just enough buffer left around it that it doesnt get too cloudy, yet. Pic is 2015 u can see the lake through the trees. #bcpolipic.twitter.com/eVq5dybL7T
This can’t go on. I will not pay $30-$50 Million to filter water so a forest company can clear cut. It is time communities are given back control of what happens in watersheds. Logging should not be allowed in a watershed. Period. #bcpoli#forestmarchbc
Here's some data up to 2015. I haven't seen more recent data. The first is from the China Creek water supply @VanIslandHealth mandates a turbidity level below 1.0NTU to avoid a BWA. You can see NTU spikes to 10x that during rain events. #forestmarchbcpic.twitter.com/cMLyq0NnE7
If you haven’t listened to the interview between Canadian conservative talk show giant Charles Adler and United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP) leader Jason Kenney last night, you should. (Podcast listings here – Direct MP3 Download here). It is a barn burner, and it is exactly what there is too little of right now in all political media. I sent him the letter below. We can only hope that his interview is a watershed in the media, *all* media, questioning leaders much more directly and purposely.
Update: Mr. Adler has taken some heat for his interview. More on that after the letter.
Dear Mr. Adler,
First I must say that I write to you as a dyed in the wool leftist. I have never been a member of a political party and I do my best to keep an open mind but also do not shy away from taking a partisan position. I have listened to your radio show on and off for years. I have rolled my eyes in leftist despair and derision on more than one occasion. That said, I hope you can take this as a deeply sincere comment on your interview last night with UCP leader Jason Kenney.
I want to thank you for proving that Conservatism can today include compassion and deference to fact, and that it can evolve with society.
I want to thank you for laying bare the fact that too many mainstream Conservative politicians today, including Kenney in Alberta, Sheer in Ottawa, and Wilkinson in BC are increasingly giving a pass to hateful, vitriolic, and downright obscene behaviour and rhetoric emanating from and growing on the far-right wing of western society and too often finding a quiet home in those supposedly mainstream conservative parties.
Human thought is not a monolith, as much as I or any of us might wish that his or her opinion is the only true and righteous one, and should be the only one in force across the land, that is simply factually incorrect. What’s more, humanity has progressed furthest and fastest when diversity of opinion and search for evidence was respected and used as a path to find and settle on the best rather than the most popular solution.
Your interview gave me hope that Conservative media and commentators will recognize the danger of allowing this tacit acceptance of bigoted, antiquated, and destructive views to flourish within mainstream parties.
I hope you continue to call a spade a spade or to be more blunt, a bigot a bigot, a racist a racist, and a Nazi a Nazi. I look at the world, especially the world of political discourse that we live in today and I can’t believe how far we have fallen. Ten or even five years ago, me mentioning the word “Nazi” in a letter to a media commentator would have rightly been a stamp for the letter to go straight into the round file. Yet today, we have actual nazi and other far-right groups legitimately lurking within the very heart of our political discourse.
It is an incredibly dangerous time and it won’t be solved by the “Left” screaming at the “Right” to smarten up. That will only further the divide. The change has to come from within. I believe that people are generally good. I believe that Canadians are generally progressive and tolerant, whether they identify as Tory or Liberal or whatever else. We need more trusted Conservative voices to speak up for and stand for basic human values of kindness and respect.
We need more Conservative media to hold Conservative politicians to a higher standard. We need media of all stripes to question more regardless of their editorial or ownerships bent. Thank you for doing just that last night.
Sincerely,
Chris
Chris Alemany 3854 6th Avenue Port Alberni, BC V9Y4M2 Unceded Traditional Territory of the Tseshaht and Hupacasath. h:250-723-0889 m: 250-731-7930
You can see his explanation of why he was so persistent with Kenney on Twitter here. Or I have reproduced the thread in the images below.
Top seaplane airline Harbour Air switching to battery-powered aircraft
Seaplane operator Harbour Air, which regularly shuttles B.C.’s political class to and from Victoria, is looking to become the first all-electric fleet of commercial planes in Canada…
Greg McDougall, founder of the company that bills itself as North America’s largest seaplane airline, said Monday that “I’ll be the first guy to fly one. I’ll be the test pilot of it.” He was referring to an electric-powered prototype the company will test within months as a prelude to electrifying the fleet within about two years.
It is incredibly exciting to see this finally happening. I am not surprised that it is Harbour Air leading the way. They have touted a carbon neutral operation for 10 years.
Flying over Newcastle Island
But the importance of this leap to actual prototyping and testing of an all electric sea plane can’t be overstated. World air travel represents a relatively small (less than 5%) portion of CO2 emissions, however, it represents one that is full of hurdles to find alternatives.
Planes can’t easily stop mid-way for recharging like we can with a car. There are no wires or electrified rails to install to electrify the entire system like railways or buses.
So to see this innovation literally “taking flight” is very positive for our future and what it proves is that the big changes that we must make in order to actually achieve the reductions required can’t come solely from people at home turning off their lights or choosing a local lettuce instead of a Californian romaine.
It has to come from the business sector that actually create the systems that we all rely on. It has to come from the government sector that provides the services we all depend on.
Those are where the big emissions reductions are and there is low hanging fruit (much lower than this seaplane effort) that can be picked like electrification of our public transportation networks and rail networks.
Huge congratulations to Harbour Air for proving business and climate can go hand in hand. They have seen the opportunity of being a leader rather than a follower.
I wish them clear, and quiet, skies!
And hey, if you want to calculate your own carbon footprint. This is a good website that takes a good stab at getting everything in your household, you might be surprised what comes out on top!
