Tag Archives: British Columbia

Warmer in Alaska Than San Diego This Week as Temperature Record ‘Pulverized’

“Climate change continues to push the envelope on what is possible all over the globe,” said one meteorologist.

By Brett Wilkins.  Published 12-29-2021 by Common Dreams

On December 26, 2021 the town of Kodiak in southern Alaska hit 67°—seven degrees warmer than the daytime high in San Diego—and shattering the December record for Alaska by nine degrees. (Photo: Scott Duncan/Twitter)

As parts of Alaska obliterated high-temperature records earlier this week, meteorologists and climate scientists warned that extreme heat and rainfall are the new normal in the nation’s largest state and other Arctic and subarctic zones.

On Sunday, the town of Kodiak in southern Alaska hit 67°F—seven degrees warmer than the daytime high in San Diego—and shattering the December record for Alaska by nine degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The town also broke the local December record by more than 20 degrees. Continue reading

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Oregon’s Growing Bootleg Fire is One of 70 Now Raging in US West, Where Another Heatwave Looms

“We are living through a climate catastrophe,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman. “We have to redesign our economy to respond to the current crisis and to ensure it doesn’t get much, much worse.”

By Kenny Stancil, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-17-2021

The Bootleg Fire – July 10,2021. Photo: Zach Urness/Twitter

Bolstering the case for meaningful action to address the climate emergency, the out-of-control Bootleg Fire that began on July 6 in southern Oregon has scorched more than 280,000 acres and is only 22% contained. It is the nation’s largest wildfire so far this year, and one of 70 large blazes currently torching the U.S. West, which is bracing for yet another heatwave.

To put Bootleg’s destructiveness into perspective, the fire—one of 10 burning in Oregon alone—has spread over 25,000 acres per day on average, or more than 1,000 acres every hour. According to CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller, “That’s an area larger than the area of Central Park each hour, or a rate of a football field burned every five seconds” for 11 days. Continue reading

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Scientist Says BC Heat Wave Caused Over 1 Billion Tidal Creatures to Cook to Death

The estimate follows record-breaking temperatures in the Canadian province.

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 7-6-2021

A mussel bed on Vancouver Island. (Photo: Stephen Bentsen/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

It’s “a frightening warning sign,” said one observer.

“Heartbreaking,” another commented.

“Can we now mobilize en masse to save all Earthly beings?” asked another.

Those were some of the responses to new reporting by the CBC on how last week’s extreme heatwave that gripped British Columbia may have led to the deaths of over one billion intertidal animals like mussels and starfish that inhabit the Salish Sea coastline. Continue reading

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Anger and Confusion After Facebook Suspends Environmental and Indigenous Groups’ Accounts Ahead of Pipeline Protest

“Facebook is actively suppressing those who oppose fascism and the colonial capitalists,” said one First Nations activist.

By Brett Wilkins, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 9-22-2020

Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Event – Rail Yard near Pioneer Village Station Blockaded – Vaughan, Toronto, Ontario – February 15, 2020. Photo: Jason Hargrove/flickr/CC

Environmental groups reacted with confusion and anger after Facebook temporarily suspended their accounts over the weekend, just days after the social media giant announced an initiative aimed at combating climate misinformation.

The Guardian reports some of the largest and most respected progressive groups—including Greenpeace USA, Rainforest Action Network, and Climate Hawks Vote—were among the hundreds of accounts of Indigenous, climate, and social justice organizations that Facebook suspended. Continue reading

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‘Against Colonial Violence and Land Theft,’ Indigenous Activists and Allies Target Mining Industry Convention in Toronto

Demonstration held “in solidarity with every community that has found itself staring down the barrel of a gun for daring to oppose Canada’s ongoing colonial project through resource extraction.”

By for Common Dreams. Published 3-1-2020

“From coast to coast we are rising up in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en nation and against colonial violence and land theft,” said Vanessa Gray, Anishinaabe Kwe Land Defender from Aamjiwnaang First Nation and one of the organizers of Sunday’s demonstration. “It’s clear that Canada is a state built on the removal of Indigenous people for resource extraction.” (Photo: Mining Injustice Solidarity Network/@mininginjustice)

Hundreds of people led by Indigenous land defenders and a coalition of environmental groups worked to shut down a large mining industry convention in downtown Toronto on Sunday, blockading the entrances to the building where the meeting was taking place as they protested against “the extractive industry’s violence, ongoing colonization, and complete disregard for the future of life on this planet.”

Sunday’s action—aimed at the Prospectors and Developers of Association of Canada (PDAC)—is the latest solidarity demonstration aligned with the Wet’suwet’en First Nation nation that remains locked in a fierce battle with the Canadian government over the controversial “Coastal Gas Link” fracked gas pipeline through unceded territory in northern British Colombia.
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‘Shameful Day for Canada’: First Nations Encampment Violently Raided, Land Protectors Arrested

“Is this a normal way to respond to Indigenous people who are peacefully protecting their drinking water from fracking pipelines?”

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 1-8-2019

Reacting to footage of the “invasion” by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday, author and activist Naomi Klein said it was “a shameful day for Canada, which has marketed itself as a progressive leader on climate and Indigenous rights.” (Photo: Michael Toledano/@M_Tol)

More than 50 protests have been planned for across the globe on Tuesday in solidarity with a First Nations group fighting against the construction of TransCanada’s Coastal GasLink through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, with the number of protests rising overnight after Canadian police broke down a checkpoint gate erected by Indigenous land protectors and arrested more than a dozen people.


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#ProtectTheInlet: Massive Protest in BC as Thousands March to Stop Kinder Morgan Pipeline

“In our opposition to Kinder Morgan, we are many people paddling in the same direction.”

By Jon Queally, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 3-10-2018

“For Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the People of the Inlet, it is our sacred obligation to protect the water,” the tribe said in a statement ahead of Saturday’s protest. And while they said they will continue their legal battle against the pipeline company in the court, they added, “In our opposition to Kinder Morgan, we are many people paddling in the same direction.” (Photo: ProtecttheInlet.ca)

Disregarding an injunction won by the pipeline company a day before the planned protest, thousands of people marched in Burnaby, British Columbia on Saturday to protest the expansion of a Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline and export terminal that First Nations and climate justice campaigners say would threaten local waterways, erode Indigenous rights, and increase planet-warming carbon emissions.


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In Blow to Enbridge, Canada to Ban Oil Tankers Off Northern B.C. Coast

Moratorium on oil tanker traffic off British Columbia’s North Coast could be last nail in coffin for Northern Gateway Pipeline

By Nika Knight, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-7-2016

Diesel leaches into tidal pools after a spill in the Great Bear Rainforest last month. (Photo: April Bencze/Heiltsuk Nation)

Diesel leaches into tidal pools after a spill in the Great Bear Rainforest last month. (Photo: April Bencze/Heiltsuk Nation)

Canada Transportation Minister Marc Garneau made headlines this weekend when he announced that by the end of the year, a long-promised ban on oil tanker traffic will be put in place off the North Coast of British Columbia—weeks after the government was harshly criticized for its bungled response to a spill in that same region.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to institute such a moratorium before the Liberals won a majority of votes and put Trudeau in office in 2015, but as of a mere three weeks ago Trudeau appeared to be backtracking on that promise, after months of refusing to offer a timeline on the ban. Continue reading

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Water Over The Dam Revisited – Now With Added Graft

Christy Clark. Photo  by CityCaucus.com - Christy Clark. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Christy Clark. Photo by CityCaucus.com – Christy Clark. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this month, we wrote about the Mount Polley mine disaster in British Columbia. And, as seems to be the case with most stories along these lines, a pattern’s emerging of greed and corruption among the agencies and politicians who are supposed to be looking out for their constituents’ welfare.

Last week, the Vancouver Sun reported that N. Murray Edwards, the controlling shareholder of Imperial Metals, helped organize a $1 million private fundraiser for B.C. Premier Christy Clark and the Liberal Party at the Calgary Petroleum Club last year. Edwards is the controlling shareholder of Imperial Metals, which operates the Mount Polley mine.

He was one of several Alberta power brokers involved in the fundraiser. At the time, Clark’s Liberal Party was losing to the New Democrats in the polls leading up to the British Columbia election, and Edwards and the others wanted a continuation of Clark’s “free enterprise government.” Hmmm – that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Since 2005, Imperial Metals has donated at least $149,890 to the B.C. Liberals, with half of the donations made after Christy Clark was sworn in as premier. The Mount Polley mine as a separate entity added another $46,720. In total, Edwards is linked to six corporations contributing $436, 227 to the Liberal Party over the last nine years.

Clark, needless to say, is grateful for the backing. Three months before the fundraiser, in a address to the University of Calgary’s school of public policy, she hailed Edwards as a “great Calgarian.”

“Mining is an area where we have set some pretty ambitious targets. We’re planning to build 17 new and expanded mines by 2015. Mining revenues have grown by 20 per cent to $8.6 billion since we introduced our Jobs Plan last year, and we’ve done it with the highest standard of sustainable mining in the world, A significant part of our progress in British Columbia comes from people like Murray Edwards, it comes from investors and people who are located right here in Calgary.”

What did Edwards get in return? A streamlined mining application process, an easier environmental review for new mine projects, and extending the new mine allowance and other credits allowing new mines and mine expansions to receive depreciation credits of up to 133 per cent until 2020. Oh, and no PST on capital investments for mining companies.

With the weakened approval process and environmental standards, more Mount Polley style disasters are very likely in British Columbia. The First Nations are fighting back, though; the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council evicted Imperial Metals from their proposed site for the Ruddock Creek Mine after the Mount Polley spill contaminated the Fraser River and sickened the salmon; their major food source.

I remember my first trip through British Columbia very well; it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I’d like to think that future generations will be able to experience it in all its beauty as I did so many years ago. There’s a petition on Change.org asking for the resignation of Christy Clark; if you feel that the First Nation treaties and the environment are more important than profit, please sign it.

People and planet over profit!

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