fbpx

Tag Archive for: Sierra Club BC

Posts

New threat to Brazil’s Amazon rainforest highlights the need to protect rainforests worldwide

/in , , /by

Sierra Club BC’s Mark Worthing surveys old-growth logging near Schmidt Creek. Photo by Torrance Coste

January 14, 2019

When people think about the fate of the rainforest, many have a tendency to worry about tropical rainforests first. Few are aware that many of the world’s temperate rainforests are in similar danger.

For example, did you know that Vancouver Island’s productive ancient rainforests are being destroyed three times faster than Brazil’s Amazon rainforest?

That’s why this month, as Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro acted immediately to remove protections for the country’s rainforest after taking office this week, Sierra Club BC called for increased protection of globally important rainforests—in the Amazon, on Vancouver Island and beyond.

The protection of the world’s rainforests, their spectacular biological diversity and the rights of the Indigenous people living in them is a global concern. So too is their role for clean air, clean water and a stable climate. And now, worldwide concern about the future of the Amazon is growing as President Bolsonaro has declared he wants to open large areas of the rainforest for extraction of natural resources and limit further protection of the lands of Indigenous peoples.

As of 2018, about 80% of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest remains intact (compared to pre-1970). In the last 25 years, close to 10% of the rainforest was destroyed (3.7 million square kilometres remained in 1993 and 3.3 million square kilometres remained in 2018).

On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than 30% of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last 25 years (684,000 hectares or 31% remained in 1993 and 469,000 hectares or 21% remained in 2018).

Bolsonaro’s rise to power is a huge threat for the future of rainforests, biodiversity, Indigenous rights and our climate. It’s also a reminder that B.C. is not taking its global responsibility seriously. Like Brazil, we need to ensure intact rainforests remain standing before it’s too late.

One step B.C. must take is to set a strong example of rainforest protection that respects Indigenous rights and title while creating new jobs through improved management of second-growth forests. The Great Bear Rainforest Agreements showed solutions for healthy rainforests and healthy communities are possible.

Globally, the loss of primary forests is threatening species, carbon storage, clean air and clean water. In Canada, this is mainly through the replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest.

Vancouver Island’s old-growth rainforests are being lost at an alarming rate. Read more about this map and download a high resolution version here.

On average, temperate rainforests store more carbon than tropical rainforests, helping to slow down global warming. When left intact, they are relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests. B.C.’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem, covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass.These big trees provide some of the best carbon sinks on the planet and irreplaceable long term economic value for tourism, recreation and businesses seeking locations with a high quality of life.

Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about 34 soccer fields per day.

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” But the B.C. government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

Sierra Club BC, Wilderness Committee and the Ancient Forest Alliance, along with thousands of citizens, have called on Premier John Horgan and forests minister Doug Donaldson to protect remaining old-growth rainforests in areas like Schmidt Creek, the Nahmint Valley near Port Alberni and the Manning Park Donut Hole on the mainland. The B.C. government has ignored these calls to date.

Without immediate action it will soon be too late to protect remaining intact rainforests and endangered ecosystems outside of the Great Bear Rainforest to safeguard threatened species, Indigenous values and a livable climate.

Please stand with us and make 2019 a big year for the protection of B.C.’s endangered old-growth rainforest, before time runs out. Donate today

Raising kids in nature-focused communities

/in , , , /by

By Kirsten Dallimore, Sierra Club BC Environmental Educator

January 2019

This piece was published in the January 2019 issue of Island Parent Magazine (p. 42). Read it here

 

Working for Sierra Club BC as an environmental educator, I’ve had the opportunity to travel and spend time in many different communities across BC.

Something I’ve noticed just about everywhere I visit is that people in the community have something in common: they’re all looking to find ways to interact and feel a sense of belonging in their own community and connect with nature.

Kids in particular are needing to create that sense of belonging in order to feel like they have the support to build relationships with the places they’re in. Relationship with other people as well as all the other living beings such as the plants and animals that live there too. They’re seeking support and acceptance from their families and friends. And in a different way, they are needing support from elders and other adults in their community, who could be referred to as community aunties and uncles.

This brings me to something I’ve been wondering about: how do we raise kids in nature-focused community?

You can get kids in your community outside in all kinds of weather!

The importance of nature in a community is essential to create value for nature in a child’s life. If you live in a place where nature is valued by community members and thought of as essential for their well-being, are you more likely to ensure you’re collectively taking good care of it? Communities play an important role in how they model the value held in protecting nature for future generations who come to live in those places.

When I travel to small and large communities here in BC, a common response parents give about why they moved there has to do with nature. They say they live in a certain place because of the close proximity they have with wild spaces, and they want that for their children.

This gives me hope that if people truly value what nature can provide to communities and children, then maybe we will have a chance to see more communities come together to develop something sustainable for our children and future generations. We have the capacity to build communities that are rich in nature play spaces, protection of local species, outdoor environmental education programs embedded into the education of our children.

Photo by Brittanie Mcnaughton

Nature play time provides a place for being with friends, parents, elders, aunties and uncles from the community. It also provides a place for nature to be part of a child’s development. The benefits of spending time outside include decreased anxiety and depression, improved mood, increased flexibility and even improved vision.

This winter, I encourage you to go out for a nature scavenger hunt or play a nature-based game.

A great game I play with students is the webbing game. It teaches kids about the delicate balance and intricate dependency that all living things have with one another. The game becomes more challenging when there is something missing from part of the ecosystem. For example, if the salmon population is decreasing in a community because of overfishing, then the population of bears and trees and plants in the forest are drastically impacted. Playing this game challenges kids to ask the difficult question, how is my community part of protecting nature for my lifetime and the future generations to come? It also reminds us that we all have a role to play to keep the web within our community from falling apart.

Our “Parents” page features instructions on how to play the webbing game, resources for nature-based scavenger hunts and other interactive activities you can do outdoors with your kids or kids in your community: www.sierra.club.bc.ca/parents

Discernment Day: Priorities for collective action

/in , /by

Sierra Club BC’s Elisabeth Hazell and Judy Lightwater at GVAT’s Discernment Day.

By Elisabeth Hazell, Manager of Donor Engagement

December 2018

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Greater Victoria Acting Together (GVAT), Sierra Club BC is one of 21 dues-paying member organizations that make up this broad coalition. We represent a diverse cross-section of society and our fellow members are comprised of faith groups, unions, nonprofits, charities and community organizations.

Our method of organizing is via “listening campaigns” where we build strength in our own organizations through listening to each other and collecting powerful stories that can help shape the priorities for the larger coalition.

Beginning this summer and continuing through the fall, I personally hosted multiple potluck parties and listened to nearly 100 Sierra Club BC members, including most of our staff. We asked each other four things in order to gather information about what is genuinely going on in our lives:

  • What do you value most about your life right now?
  • What are the most pressing challenges facing you and your loved ones?
  • Can you share a personal story about a specific memory you have about a time when you recognized or identified with the values that Sierra Club BC represents?
  • What issues do you think you would have energy to work on if GVAT were to decide they were a priority?

After listening to many of you, these were the broad themes that I heard:

  • You value your health, your friends and family, the access to the natural world available here, and the freedom and quality of life that comes with living in Canada and on the island.
  • Many of you expressed deep concern about climate change and a sense of climate grief or stress. Many also expressed concerns about affordability and housing; racial, social and economic inequality; a spiritual disconnection from nature and each other; and challenges with health and family.
  • I heard many stories about developing a strong connection to nature as a child, stories of grief and loss over favourite wild spaces, and feelings of awe and wonder at the universe and humanity’s relationship to it.
  • The issues you felt like you could get behind were: climate change and related areas like transit, the urban canopy, renewable energy, and also affordability, inequality, spiritual disconnection and reconnection to nature.

On November 18, 2018 we gathered at the Cadboro Bay United Church to share what we had heard with each other and to vote on which two issues GVAT will collectively tackle together.

A video from Discernment Day. At 4:45, Elisabeth and Judy Lightwater share the stage.

The experience was incredibly emotional and powerful.  The afternoon was spent listening to each other’s stories and building personal connections to individuals across a broad spectrum of society.

Six issues were brought forth to be voted upon. The top two issues – that all GVAT member organizations could get behind – clearly emerged as Mental Health/Addictions and Housing.

It had been pre-agreed by GVAT that whichever issues we tackle, they must hold the same two lenses that Sierra Club BC has adopted for our own work: a climate lens and an Indigenous reconciliation lens.  This means that whatever solutions we propose to these problems, they must also address the issues of climate change and reconciliation.

Discernment Day. Photo courtesy of GVAT.

When the voting was done, the individuals who had voted for climate change as their primary concern were clearly upset. For many “environmentalists,” this felt like the first opportunity they had ever been given to “reach beyond the choir” and to have the support of unions, churches, and social service organizations join the call for urgent climate action. The conversation immediately turned to asking if we could tackle climate change directly as a third issue. However, for the sake of unity and strength, it was agreed that we could not take this approach, but should instead commit to tackling one of the two issues in a manner that addresses climate change. (And in the future, GVAT may choose climate change as a top priority itself).

The next phase of action for GVAT is the research phase. I personally made a commitment to volunteer on the Action Research Team for mental health and addictions. I chose to volunteer my time here partly because of my personal experience with mental health and addiction, partly because I see society’s disconnection from nature as a contributing cause of mental health and addiction issues, and partly because I also see reconnection to nature as a solution/prevention for both mental health and the climate crisis.  It has been said that the climate crisis is itself the manifestation of a deep spiritual malady, and I am personally very committed to exploring the intersection of these two issues.

However, after we ended the session, I was approached by a number of members who were clearly dissatisfied and wanted to do more. It is clear that Sierra Club BC has an amazing opportunity to engage not just with GVAT, but directly with these other member organizations who self-identified climate change as a priority for their members. These members are:  BCGEU, Sisters of St. Ann, Camosun College Students Society, First Unitarian Church of Victoria, Cadboro Bay United Church, Victoria Shambhala Centre, Holy Cross Catholic Church, Indigenous Perspectives Society, Congregation Emanu-el, St. Vincent de Paul Society, and St. John the Divine Anglican Church.

Discernment Day. Photo courtesy of GVAT.

To address these concerns, I invited delegates from each of these organizations to meet at my house on December 12. Many of us reconvened along with a few Sierra Club BC members who wanted to join and we began with a go-around allowing everyone to share their feelings about the discernment day. The meeting was an opportunity to reflect on the value of GVAT and our role as members for whom climate change is the most critical issue. It became clear that the top priority is to support GVAT around the “climate lens” so that the broad coalition does not lose its strength.

It may also be possible for opportunities to surface such as sharing important information about the work that Sierra Club BC is doing with the other members of GVAT and that we may invite members of unions and faith groups to join our existing campaigns. Further, it was acknowledged that by supporting the issues of mental health and housing, we free up individuals who do not yet have the capacity to work on climate change because they are facing homelessness or addiction issues.

We agreed that we are all committed to the next phase of GVAT’s action, which is the research phase.  Trainers from GVAT’s parent organization, the IAF, will come from Seattle in January and we all committed to attending one of the training sessions.

Additionally, areas of need that were identified were: 

  • Determining a way to better disseminate information across our networks such as a digital hub;
  • Providing more opportunities for our members to network in person and build connections;
  • Strengthening the core operations of GVAT through financial support and not overburdening our only employee, Lead Organizer Flossie Baker.

Unquestionably, the climate crisis will not be addressed by environmental organizations alone – we do not have the power to make such drastic changes. The GVAT model of organizing is designed to build exactly such power – moving only at the speed of trust by building personal connections across diverse constituencies.

It is my sincere aspiration that Sierra Club BC members will continue to attend and support GVAT in building its power and strength. I have found my experience with GVAT both personally enriching and professionally beneficial for Sierra Club BC. New leaders have surfaced from within our organization and new members have joined us. In 2019 I will actively seek opportunities to invite GVAT members to learn more about the incredibly important work that Sierra Club BC is doing, building both our individual strength, and that of our coalition.

– Elisabeth Hazell

Vancouver Island’s ancient rainforests destroyed three times faster than Brazil’s Amazon rainforest

/in , , , , , /by

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 3, 2019

As Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro acted immediately to remove protections for the country’s rainforest after taking office this week, Sierra Club BC called for increased protection of globally important rainforests and warned that Vancouver Island’s productive ancient rainforests are being destroyed three times faster than Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.

Global concern about the future of the Amazon is growing as President Bolsonaro has declared he wants to open large areas of the rainforest for extraction of natural resources and limit further protection of the lands of Indigenous peoples.

As of 2018, about eighty per cent of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest remains intact (compared to pre-1970). In the last twenty-five years, close to ten per cent of the rainforest was destroyed (3.7 million square kilometres remained in 1993 and 3.3 million square kilometres remained in 2018).

On Vancouver Island, only about a fifth of the original productive old-growth rainforest remains unlogged. More than thirty per cent of what remained standing in 1993 has been destroyed in just the last twenty-five years (684,000 hectares or thirty-one per cent in 1993 and 469,000 hectares or twenty-one per cent in 2018).

“Bolsonaro’s rise to power is a huge threat for the future of rainforests, biodiversity, Indigenous rights and our climate. It’s also a reminder that B.C. is not taking its global responsibility seriously. Like Brazil, we need to safeguard remaining intact rainforests and the life support systems we all depend on before it’s too late,” said Jens Wieting, Sierra Club BC’s senior forest and climate campaigner.

“The world needs to push back on Bolsonaro’s assault on Indigenous rights and Brazil’s globally significant rainforests. One thing we can do here in B.C. is to set a strong example of rainforest protection that respects Indigenous rights and title while creating new jobs and improving second-growth forestry. The Great Bear Rainforest Agreements showed solutions for healthy rainforests and healthy communities are possible.”

Sierra Club BC is calling for immediate action to protect remaining intact rainforests and endangered ecosystems to safeguard threatened species, Indigenous values and a livable climate.

Globally, the loss of primary forests—forests that are largely undisturbed by human activity—is threatening species, carbon storage, clean air and clean water. In some countries this is mainly due to deforestation; in other countries such as Canada, this is mainly through the replacement of rich ancient forests with even-aged young forest.

BC’s temperate rainforests represent the largest remaining tracts of a globally rare ecosystem covering just half a per cent of the planet’s landmass. Yet the current rate of old-growth logging on Vancouver Island alone is more than three square metres per second, or about 34 soccer fields per day.

On average, temperate rainforests store more carbon than tropical rainforests, helping to slow down global warming. When left intact, they are relatively resilient and less vulnerable to climate impacts such as fire and insect outbreaks compared to other forests.

The NDP’s 2017 election platform included a commitment to act for old-growth, promising to take “an evidence-based scientific approach and use the ecosystem-based management of the Great Bear Rainforest as a model.” But the B.C. government has not yet taken any meaningful steps to protect endangered coastal and inland old-growth ecosystems outside the Great Bear Rainforest.

– 30 –

Editors/Producers:

2018 aerial photographs of clearcut logging on Vancouver Island: https://www.flickr.com/photos/94279740@N07/sets/72157698359993961

Map showing Vancouver Island old-growth rainforest logging 1993-2018:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/VI_25_Years_of_Logging-1.pdf

2018 Sierra Club BC data table showing loss of productive coastal old-growth temperate rainforest and levels of protection on Vancouver Island and Clayoquot Sound:
https://sierraclub.bc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Clayoquot-Sound-Anniversary-Data-Table_SCBC.pdf

Amazon figures are based on estimates by the Brazilian National Institute of Space Research (INPE) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for the Brazilian Amazon, which accounts for roughly sixty per cent of the Amazon rainforest. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/amazon/deforestation_calculations.html

Media contact:

Jens Wieting
Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
(604) 354-5312

Sierra Club BC hails Clean BC as important step forward

/in , , , , /by

Cautions more work needed

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

December 5, 2018

VANCOUVER—B.C.’s clean growth plan is a major step forward in the race to combat the climate crisis and secure a better future for British Columbians, said Sierra Club BC. Moving forward, more will need to be done to build on the strategy’s strengths, namely ensuring our targets are based on science and stopping new major energy projects that increase emissions.

“We welcome today’s announcement as an important step forward and a good day for all British Columbians. This is an excellent step towards defending our communities from climate impacts and building a strong clean energy economy that works for everyone,” said Caitlyn Vernon, Sierra Club BC’s campaigns director.

Since any plan is only as good as how it is implemented, Sierra Club BC welcomes the accountability mechanisms built into the Clean BC plan.

“The plan delivers specific, effective actions with transparent reporting and accountability, which deserves both applause and support,” said Vernon. “We will be watching to ensure that the climate advisory council has sufficient budget and capacity to do its work, can set interim sectoral targets and has the ability to revise pollution reduction targets in future in light of the latest science.”

Sierra Club BC is concerned that the plan will not reduce carbon pollution as much or as fast as the climate science tells us is needed.

The government’s continued commitment to LNG remains a matter of deep concern, given the massive carbon footprint of the LNG Canada project alone. The provincial strategy leaves it unclear how much carbon pollution is allowed from LNG terminals, and what binding mechanism will be used to ensure they cannot increase above a certain level.

“The most fundamental measure of accountability for climate leadership is whether it keeps our world below 1.5 degrees of warming,” said senior forests and climate campaigner Jens Wieting. “If we are to support livable communities into the future, we must reduce carbon pollution faster than currently planned, alongside all that is praiseworthy in this plan.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has stressed we have twelve years to turn the tide, keep warming under 1.5 degrees and avoid the worst climate impacts on our health, communities and economy. This plan moves us significantly in the right direction, yet we must do more.

The Clean BC plan details exactly how 75 per cent of B.C.’s 2030 carbon reduction target will be achieved, and sets out a timeline for detailing how the remaining 25 per cent reduction will be met in the next two years. There is no mention of how we will meet our future (2050) pollution reduction targets.

“While we believe this plan should be celebrated today and implemented starting tomorrow, it’s worth noting that we could more easily get to 100 per cent without LNG in the mix,” said Vernon. “It’s counter-productive to act to reduce carbon pollution on the one hand, while on the other hand expanding fossil fuel extraction.

“We are calling on all British Columbians to support this plan, and to work together to strengthen it into the future, in a way that replaces divisiveness with cooperation, and rejects partisanship in favour of our common interests.”

-30-

Contact:

Caitlyn Vernon
Campaigns Director, Sierra Club BC
(250) 896-3500
caitlyn@sierraclub.bc.ca

Jens Wieting
Senior Forest and Climate Campaigner, Sierra Club BC
(604) 354-5312
jens@sierraclub.bc.ca

Event: What’s up in the woods

/in , /by

Wednesday, December 5th, 2018

6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Victoria Events Centre
1415 Broad Street, Victoria, British Columbia, V8W 2B2

RSVP on Facebook

Join the Wilderness Committee, Ancient Forest Alliance and Sierra Club BC  for an update on Vancouver Island’s remaining old-growth rainforests and the movement to protect them!

Come hear what our organizations are doing to address this crisis and how you can get involved. We want to hear you concerns and share ideas on how we can protect these vital ecosystems before it’s too late. So join us, and bring a friend!

Event info:
– Doors at 6:30pm
– Hear from Ancient Forest Alliance Andrea Inness, Sierra Club BC’s Mark Worthing and Wilderness Committee’s Torrance Coste, followed by Q+A and community discussion starting at 7pm

Accessibility:
– The Victoria Event Centre currently does not have an operational elevator, and there is one long flight of stairs at the venue entrance. If you would like to attend the event but require assistance with accessing the space, please contact us at events@victoriaeventcentre.ca and VEC staff will do their best to accommodate.
– More detailed venue accessibility info is available at https://victoriaeventcentre.ca/attendees/accessibility
– Washrooms are for all genders.

***This event is being held on the unceded Lekwungen territories of the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. The organizers recognize that every tree on the coast grows on the territory of an Indigenous Nation and that any solutions that protect forests must centre the rights of these Nations first and foremost

Background Info:
The vast majority of productive, low-elevation old-growth rainforest on Vancouver Island has already been logged. We need to protect what remains in order to insure the survival of these ecosystems and the Indigenous cultural resources, endangered species and tourism and recreational opportunities that they provide.

Every day, more than 34 soccer fields of original rainforest are destroyed, on Vancouver Island alone. At the same time, this industry isn’t sustainable from an economic and community perspective either — in the last decade, BC’s forestry sector has lost six jobs a day on average.

How can we protect remaining old-growth ecosystems before it’s too late? How can we ensure the rights, title and authority of the Indigenous Nations in whose territories all forests grow is truly respected? How can we build a just transition to a sustainable second-growth forest industry that can provide livelihoods in communities in perpetuity?

These are the questions our organizations are looking to solve, and we need your help!

MENU