From the book Deep Green Resistance:

I am reading the book Deep Green Resistance and this paragraph hit me hard. It really is so true that this is where we are heading as a “civilization”.  

Read it and frankly, read the book.

 

It is primarily an urban phenomenon. Civilizations emerge from and promote the growth of cities. Cities offer a pool of workers who, crowded together and severed from land, must labor to survive. Urban areas are densely surveilled and policed. Urban areas are epicentres of strife when civilizations fall; as Lewis Mumford wrote, "Each historic civilization ... begins with a living urban core, the polis, and ends in a common graveyard of dust and bones, a Necropolis, or city of the dead: fire-scorched ruins, shattered buildings, empty workshops, heaps of meaningless refuse, the population massacred or driven into slavery."

 

I've got to get this off my chest...

I've said for years! Deforestation is not 'just' about trees; it's about the survival of every species of animals, including us.

Think about the fundamental thing we were taught in school about what trees do!

TREES CLEAN THE AIR.

FACT: Carbon dioxide (CO2) building up in our atmosphere, is the major contributor to climate change.

FACT: Trees absorb CO2, removing and storing the carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air. In just one year, one acre of mature trees can absorb enough CO2 produced when you drive your car 26,000 miles.

However, we continue to destroy our forests at an alarming rate; and blame other industries for climate change?

I consider myself an environmentalist. However, let’s be clear, I would say that I am a “pragmatic environmentalist.”

I believe there is far too much negative focus on the O&G industry, all the while other industries are going on completely unchallenged and destroying large, sensitive tracts of land.

Let’s talk about clearcutting. So many areas in our headwaters are being destroyed. However, there is nary a peep about the damage done. Why? Because there are companies (people) that profit from all the negative focus on the oil and gas industry, while the destruction of our forests continues unchallenged.

The Alberta governments proposal to build the Maclean and Springbank dry dams are incredibly bad ideas with potentially devastating results. The problem is not the river! It is the rapid drainage from destroying forests upstream!

All the same, Alberta Environment is allowing continued destruction to the watershed upstream! We should be correcting harm, not causing more of it.

So, let's be clear here; bringing the O&G industry in Alberta to its knees is not helpful on so many levels. The revenues that are received by all levels of government go a long way to pay for and support other industries here. YES.. including "green" industries.

( Ok, I will step off my soap-box now )

BC governments gutless approach to Caribou populations

So…lets be clear….the BC government’s approach to the issue of the Caribou’s dwindling population is to blame it on the Wolf. There is no backbone to focus on the REAL issue of the Caribou’s constantly decreasing habitat, caused by increasing pressures from Oil and Gas.

I ask: When will all governments "grow a set" and stand up to the big oil and gas companies and start doing what is right and protecting the habitats of all wildlife and not give it all up in the name of $$?

If they don’t…..very soon there will be nothing to “manage”… It is our responsibility to stand up to our governments and let them know that this approach to "Wildlife management" is not acceptable!!

(via CBC) 

Wolf cull will see animals shot from helicopter to save B.C. caribou - British Columbia - CBC News: 

a Canadian icon is gone....

I am saddened by the passing of Farley Mowat ….Never Cry Wolf was a Milestone in my life and possibly stirred my interest in the outdoors... think I need to re-read it again

Celebrated author Farley Mowat dead at 92

David Suzuki speaks about overpopulation

David Suzuki has always been a hero of mine for telling it as it is....this is a must watch...Warning: Will scare the SHIT out of you!!!

Beautiful night on the Bow River

Today is Earth Day and what better way to acknowledge the day by going for a walk down by the river.
We must remember to protect this resource for future generations. It is already in a precarious position now and we may soon loose this thing of beauty.

Jh

Keep Jumbo Wild

As I have said here before ;Developing the Jumbo Wild area is just WRONG!

Having just returned from the area and witnessing the true magnifigance of the area and seeing how catrosphic a development like what is planned will destroy the it forever.

THIS IS WRONG…and no amount of money will make it right, we all must speak out and have this stupidity put to an end. This is not just a local issue, this is an environment issue that will effect us all.

Let the BC government know that this is wrong and that it will not help the local people and that it will only be a VERY expensive playground for the rich Calgarians, who do not contribute to the local economy.
This is not a good enough reason to destroy an area of such environmental significance.

Just my opinion.

Jumbo Glacier officially becomes resort municipality

Developing the Jumbo Wild area is just WRONG!.

I do not understand why the BC Government is allowing this to continue, given that there are significant environmental issues, not to mention the cultural importance of the area to the Ktunaxa people.It is purely a money motivated scheme that BC politicians are falling all over themselves to pad their own pockets.

THIS IS WRONG…and no amount of money will make it right, we all must speak out and have this stupidity put to an end. This is not just a local issue, this is an environment issue that will effect us all

Jumbo Glacier officially becomes resort municipality

Jim

Stephen Harpers secret Agenda?

The Federal habitat management programs will soon be closed around the country….another example of how the Conservative government and Stephen harper are hell bent on tearing apart the agencies designed to protect our environment….whats next?… a NeoFudalist society with Stephen harper as the Lord? 

Ottawa set to gut fish habitat programs, union says:

(Via CBC | Calgary News)

Bring on Spring

Spring is here….

The spring equinox is one of the four great solar festivals of the year. Day and night are equal, poised and balanced, but about to tip over on the side of light. The spring equinox is sacred to dawn, youth and to renewal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Spring

Jim

Government of the people, by the corporations, for the corporations

This article is from David Suziki Foundation, a good read…..

Government of the people, by the corporations, for the corporations: "

In 2008, economics student Tim DeChristopher went to an auction set up by the Bush administration for the oil and gas industry. He bid $1.8 million for the right to drill on 14 parcels of Utah wilderness, much of it near national parks, and drove up prices for other pieces of land that he bid on but didn't win. Although DeChristopher later tried to raise money online and offered to pay for the land leases, the government claimed he had no intention of paying and convicted him in March on two felony counts.

On July 27, he was sentenced to two years in jail and three years' probation and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. He was escorted from the Utah courtroom in handcuffs. Now he's a criminal.
During the trial, the judge refused to allow DeChristopher to discuss his motivation. Because of that, and other reasons, his lawyers are launching an appeal. In his statement to the court before sentencing, DeChristopher said he had wanted "to stand in the way of an illegitimate auction that threatened my future." The leases were later cancelled because the Obama administration found that sufficient environmental reviews had not been conducted.

In his inspiring speech, DeChristopher also spoke eloquently about the contradictions in the law around resource extraction. He pointed out that in West Virginia, where he was raised, a state investigation found that coal-mining company Massey Energy, which often blasts away the tops of mountains to get at the coal, broke the law 62,923 times in the 10 years leading up to a disaster that killed 29 people in 2010. The company, which contributed millions of dollars to elect many appeals court judges in the state, was rarely penalized for those violations.

DeChristopher argued that his mother had tried every legal method to get coal companies to comply with the law. "She commented at hearings, wrote petitions and filed lawsuits, and many have continued to do ever since, to no avail," he said, adding, "I actually have great respect for the rule of law, because I see what happens when it doesn't exist, as is the case with the fossil fuel industry."

The trial, and the relatively tough sentence, hinged on the supposed damage DeChristopher caused. According to the government, oil companies were financially hurt because his actions drove the price up to an average of $125 an acre from the $12 an acre offered for land he did not bid on. That's despite the fact that companies willingly paid the higher prices and were allowed to withdraw their bids after DeChristopher was charged. And the leases were later cancelled anyway.

For his part, DeChristopher argued that "the only loss that I intended to cause was the loss of secrecy by which the government gave away public property for private profit. As I actually stated in the trial, my intent was to shine a light on a corrupt process and get the government to take a second look at how this auction was conducted."

DeChristopher's ordeal exposes the massive power of the fossil fuel industry. Governments, including the U.S. and Canada's, often do far more to promote the interests of this industry than to protect people's rights and health. Those who violate the law and put the lives of citizens and their children and grandchildren at great risk through pollution and destructive industrial practices often get let off scot-free or receive a slap on the wrist, while those who use civil disobedience to challenge this imbalance are hit with the full force of the law.

Tim DeChristopher said he does not want to be a martyr; he just wants people to join him. "If the government is going to refuse to step up to that responsibility to defend a livable future, I believe that creates a moral imperative for me and other citizens. My future, and the future of everyone I care about, is being traded for short term profits. I take that very personally."

We should all take it personally. We aren't out to shut down the fossil fuel industry immediately. That would be impossible as well as impractical. But surely a sustainable, healthy future ought to come before a corporation's right to profit.

Hey! Want more DSF? Join David Suzuki on Facebook "

 

(Via .)

bats in my belfrey? ( I hope so )

We have all been complaining at the huge number of mosquitoes this year...and quit frankly..the HUGE mosquitoes. It is probably the worst Mosquito year in a very long time. At Canadian Tire there is a wide array of mosquito “solutions” yet, the cynical side of me questions the effectiveness of any of the solutions and really what the environmental impact is of some of the “solutions”.

Then it hit me....

did you know?

Some species of bats, such as the Little Brown Bat, can eat 500 - 1000 mosquitoes in one hour. So if we consider the night 8 hours, that can add up to 4000 - 8000 in a night.

With that in mind, I am happy to say that I am now the proud owner of a Bat House. My plan is  to encourage these wonderful creatures to take up residence in my yard. Bats are natures way to control mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus. I am now looking at finding a suitable location to set up my Bat house...

A Wild Year - Banff National Park

 

A great example of the beauty in our own back yard....Banff. Enjoy

 

[ EDIT] Some people have reported the imbedded link is not working for them....click here to view on YouTube