Balancing the Canoe
Balancing the Canoe is a reflection and statement of accountability from Sierra Club BC, part of our process to better understand the historical and ongoing impact of our work as experienced by Indigenous peoples.
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Electrification of fracking and LNG will fuel climate change, not solve it
Sierra Club BC released the following statement from campaigns director Caitlyn Vernon in response to today’s joint federal-provincial announcement about electrification of fracking and LNG:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 29, 2019
“Electrification of fracking and LNG is not effective climate action. It’s the opposite: it locks us into ongoing carbon pollution that will worsen the climate emergency, at a time when we have very few years to rapidly phase out the use of coal, oil and gas.
“Whatever gas is saved by electrifying fracking operations will still be burned when the gas is exported overseas. Today’s announcement has no net benefit for the climate. By facilitating the expansion of fracking, it will make things worse.
“Electrification of fracking keeps us on a path to more frequent extreme weather events, bigger, more destructive wildfires and less reliable supplies of food and clean drinking water.
“Our health and well-being will suffer more. Our children’s future will be further compromised.
“Sierra Club BC supports the provincial government’s CleanBC program. We agree that rapid electrification is at the core of an effective response to the climate crisis, but electrification must transition us away from the use and export of fossil fuels, not lock us into ongoing carbon pollution.
“The 2019 B.C. budget announced $107 million for cleaner transportation, and $58 million for improving the energy efficiency of buildings, creating good jobs in the process. Yet this investment pales in comparison to today’s announcement of $680 million in taxpayer dollars to support the fossil fuel industry whose carbon pollution threatens our health and security.
“Kids around the world have been taking to the streets calling for governments to defend them, their future, and the places they love from the threats posed by the climate emergency. And yet the day after Greta Thunberg arrives in North America on a sailboat, our governments are crushing the hopes of young people by subsidizing oil and gas corporations rather than investing in renewable energy solutions.
“The Amazon is burning. The Arctic is burning. Salmon are dying from the heat.
“We are in a climate emergency. For our children and grandchildren, we must rebuild an energy system based on renewable energy, not fossil fuels.”
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Media contact:
Caitlyn Vernon
Campaigns Director
Sierra Club BC
250-896-3500
caitlyn@sierraclub.bc.ca
EVENT: Sierra Club BC Annual General Meeting
Please join Sierra Club BC at our Annual General Meeting in Vancouver.
Conservation groups applaud federal commitment to support Indigenous land-use visions in Clayoquot Sound
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 23, 2019
Members of the Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance (CSCA) are congratulating the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations for securing a key federal commitment to advance their land-use visions in Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia, which will conserve the remaining ecologically-rare old growth forests in this iconic region.
Earlier this week, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna announced that the federal government is committing to partner with the two Nations on land-use visions for their territories. This commitment includes funding through the Natural Heritage Conservation Program and will safeguard the remaining old-growth forests in Clayoquot Sound.
The Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht Nations, along with Nature United, put forward an inspiring and innovative proposal to achieve long term community well-being and ecological integrity in their territories and result in a lasting conservation solution for one of the most iconic rainforest regions of the world. The proposal is part of the Nations’ broader plans for economic, social, and ecological well-being — safeguarding the ecologically intact temperate rainforest valleys of Clayoquot Sound is a key part of that vision.
The members of the Clayoquot Sound Conservation Alliance – Canopy, Friends of Clayoquot Sound, Greenpeace, Sierra Club BC, Stand.earth and Wilderness Committee – fully support the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations’ visions. The federal announcement is an important step toward making the conservation of Clayoquot Sound’s globally rare old-growth rainforests a reality. We commend the federal government for their commitment to partner with the Ahousaht and Tla-o-qui-aht Nations on this vision for a sustainable future, and encourage all levels of government to fully support Indigenous-led conservation initiatives.
We look forward to hearing more details from both the federal and provincial governments about the scope and scale of their support for this work to safeguard Clayoquot Sound.
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For more information, please contact:
Lee-Ann Unger, Corporate Campaigner, Canopy (604) 874-5049
Jeh Custerra, Campaigner, Friends of Clayoquot Sound (250) 725-4218
Eduardo Sousa, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada (778) 378-9955
Tegan Hansen, Forest Campaigner, Stand.earth (250) 354-3302
Joe Foy, Co-Executive Director, Wilderness Committee (604) 880-2580
A Green New Deal for Canada? (Season 2, Ep. 9)
Mission Transition: Clean Energy and Beyond
A podcast from Sierra Club BC
Listen Now:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:00 — 42.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS | More
The midterm elections in the United States brought a new kind of politician to Washington. Young people from all walks of life who are determined to use the transition to clean energy as a means to secure a better life for all.
They’re calling it the Green New Deal.
What does this emerging movement look like north of the border, and how can we tap it to get politicians onside as champions for more ambitious climate action? How is job security a central piece of this puzzle? In this episode we explore this movement for a just transition and what it could mean for you.
We interview Cree activist, writer and 350.org campaigner Clayton Thomas-Müller and Vancouver-based organizer Nayeli Jimenez about the campaign for a Green New Deal for Canada.
This was the final episode of Season 2! Listen to Episode 8 or find all of our previous episodes here.
Find links for more information on the initiatives mentioned in this episode below.
(L-R): Clayton Thomas-Müller at a Green New Deal Town Hall and Nayeli Jimenez.
Mentioned in this episode:
Sierra Club BC – The Pact for a Green New Deal
Video – Canada: Green New Deal Town Halls
Video – Our Time Green New Deal Video
Learn More
The urgency and ambition of the Green New Deal
A primer on the Green New Deal in the U.S. and Canada
The Canadian Green New Deal and migrant justice
Neil Young, Evangeline Lilly And More Canadian Stars Sign The Pact For A Green New Deal
Riding into the Future (Season 2, Ep. 8)
Mission Transition: Clean Energy and Beyond
A podcast from Sierra Club BC
Listen Now:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:41 — 43.5MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RSS | More
We’re entering a brave new world with the transition to clean energy—one of challenge and opportunity. Few places is this more visible than in the world of transportation. While some people see the future as being primarily about electric vehicles, others are questioning our whole approach to getting around.
In this episode, we explore what transportation could look like in the future.
We’ll revisit the 2010 Olympics with Vancouver’s Transportation Planning Manager Dale Bracewell to hear how this temporary experiment in a mass shift of people out of cars showed what’s possible when we collectively point toward a common goal. We take a leap with Gordon Price, professor of transportation planning at Simon Fraser University, into a possible future where commerce, transportation, technology and the service economy could come together into a single transportation service provider.
Listen to Episode 9 next or find all of our previous episodes here.
Find links for more information on the initiatives mentioned in this episode below.
Sue Elrington with Vancouver’s Transportation Planning Manager Dale Bracewell.
Mentioned in this episode:
City of Vancouver Transportation 2040 Plan
Learn More
Douglas Magazine: Yes, We’re Still Smart
What’s It Like Living in a City Without Uber or Lyft? Ask Vancouver.
This Is the Year Electric Car Racing Gets Real
The rise of mobility as a service: Reshaping how urbanites get around (2017)
Dalhousie University Connect Smart – What is Mobility as a Service (MaaS)?
