The sustainable alternative to the proposed Enbridge pipeline is not twinning the Trans-Mountain pipeline and increasing tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet.  With decentralized energy systems we no longer need to pay the greatest part of the cost (economic, ecological and ethical) of centralized energy: transmission and distribution.  

On-site solar, wind and geothermal systems, added to energy-efficient buildings and technologies, can supply all sectors: industrial, commercial, government, and residential.  Added to the electricity grid, renewables stabilize it, reduce risk of rolling blackouts, and add energy when the owners have what they need.  With renewable energy available at every location—including home charging for your electric car—we can save oil for lubrication, and leave tar in the ground.

A pipeline and more tar sands would cost trillions of shareholder and taxpayer dollars.  Investing these in efficiency (we waste more than half of the electricity we generate) and renewables instead, can supply on-site heat and electricity across the country, while creating countless jobs and industries in every local economy.

Instead of wasting resources on the old errors, we can renew local economies here and in Asia. Now is the moment to start on the win-win path that also leaves something for future generations.

Eagles are swarming to the dumps on Vancouver Island by the thousands. Killer whales are being found dead in Alaskan rivers, never known to happen before, starvation the cause. Widespread deaths of grizzly bears on the central and northern coast occurred last winter due to starvation. It is believed that all of these vulnerable predators have been triggered by the collapse of the salmon runs.

Whatever the cause of the collapse that is being debated, from over-fishing to the ISA virus, sea lice, pollution and the recent leak of million of gallons of radioactive water from Fukishima into the ocean, the fact remains that the salmon are on the brink and very close to extinction. Since they are the backbone of our coastal ecosystem, as well as the lifeblood of first nations cultures, everything that depends on them will die. Including the forests who are fed by them. Then I ask the proponents of Enbridge and the government of Canada, how can we afford a pipeline project that puts this damaged ecosystem at risk of beyond repair? To put it more fairly, given the nature of pipelines, oil spills will happen... In waterways. In fish habitat. Enbridge admits that there will be spills, that they can be "managed" but not eliminated.

The Polaris Institute calculated 804 spills occurred on Enbridge pipelines between 1999 and 2010. How soon can one find the beginning of a leak in this vast stretch of wilderness, a stretch of 1170 km that cross over 800 fish bearing rivers and streams? Three are important for salmon spawning. Enbridge admits that steel can corrode with water, bacteria and various chemicals. How do you clean up corroded pipelines in a distant future? They would have to be consistently maintained or dealt with... indefinitely. Factor in room for human err in their construction.

Factor in that scientists have been saying that the west coast is due for the Big One. From northern Vancouver Island, to the Haida Gwaii, the Pacific plate is sliding to the northwest at about 6 cm/year. The boundary between these two giant plates is the Queen Charlotte fault - Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas fault. The active Queen Charlotte Fault has generated three large earthquakes; in 1929, a magnitude 7 occurred, in 1949, a magnitude 8.1 (Canada's largest recorded earthquake) causing nearly a 500 kilometer long segment of the Queen Charlotte Fault to break and a magnitude 7.4 in 1970. Since 2001, four earthquakes have occurred from 6.3 to 6.8. How would pipelines resist an earthquake? How would a super tanker stand up to a tsunami? It is not possible to clean up a mess of this scale. I haven't heard anyone bring up this specific risk. I can believe it because there are just too many other reasons why not to build the pipeline.

Dear Peter Kent,

I read with interest an article in the Times Colonist about the Federal Government protecting Georgia Strait from Cordova Bay to Southern Gabriola Island and including the Saanich Inlet as a marine conservation area. While I applaud this move, I believe you should protect all of Georgia Strait.

I live in Fanny Bay, midway up the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. We, the thousands of people from the Comox Valley, Denman and Hornby Islands, Qualicum Beach, Parksville, Port Alberni, Tofino and Uclulet, are gravely concerned about the proposed Raven and Bear coal mines planned for the heart of our watershed. Our chief concerns include toxins introduced to our drinking water, the destruction of a thriving and sustainable shellfish industry (which employs 600 people and generates $20 million annually), threats to the second most important Bird Area in British Columbia, highway safety on the route through the venerable Cathedral Grove on the road to Tofino, and perhaps most importantly, a major contributor (an estimated 240 million tonnes of CO2) to global warming.

I implore you to include this area as part of the marine conservation area planned for the Salish Sea. This is a beautiful and delicate ecosystem and is far too precious to be destroyed by short term and short sighted coal mines. WATER is our most precious resource. It is imperative that we leave something for our children and future generations. They are depending on us.

Canada can be a beacon of environmental conservation. I pray that our governments chose the right path. Thank you.

Lynne Wheeler
Fanny Bay, British Columbia

I find it reprehensible that two of the names on the list for the Order of B.C. are people who actively worked to tear apart the environmental and democratic fabric of British Columbia. Gordon Campbell skulked out of his role as premier and one of the most disliked and mistrusted premiers in the history of the province. He lied to the people of British Columbia and set laws in place that stripped away communities' rights to protect their own environment and will likely bankrupt BC Hydro.

Jim O'Rourke is a miner, and the chairman and director of Compliance Energy Corporation. This company has an eye on the Comox Valley as the next Appalachia of the North to begin coal mining, both underground and open pit. Their mines would be located in the heart of the Comox Valley's watershed, about three miles uphill of Baynes Sound and one of the most productive oyster growing areas in the world. The coal mines will poison the watershed and contribute over 60 million tonnes of greenhouse gases to an already overstressed atmosphere. The Order of BC recipients are chosen by the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, a President of one of BC`s Universities, the President of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities, amongst others. These two choices tell me which direction our government is looking to. They will sell our children's future in a blind rush to keep themselves in power.

This is a sad day for British Columbia when these two names get put on the same list as great British Columbians like David Suzuki and Rick Hansen.

Tom Wheeler
Fanny Bay, BC

The Union of BC Municipalities is a powerful bureaucracy, forging education, political policies, directives and awards for excellence.  Good intentions have resulted in unintended consequences because 'best practices' and 'excellence awards' are not community based decision making, and the benefactors are not the communities, but chief administrators. 

How?  Can you imagine how much prestige and awe you would accrue, if you could format or implement 'best management practices' and obtain a $10 Million grant for your community?  You might be in demand to obtain millions for other small towns all over BC and possibly across Canada, find yourself receiving 'excellence awards' and happily implementing more 'best practices' elsewhere. 

But wait a minute... 'Best management practices' are in the Request for Decision regarding Cayoosh Creek campground in 2011.  Would anyone put that parched brown and almost empty campsite into the 'best practice' in any category?  The treatment of the previous campsite operators with a promise of a new lease for over a year?  Putting forth District plans to the Chamber of Commerce prior to alerting the operators of their loss of home and livelihood?  The LRA find nothing excellent in this. 

The $10,127,000 'water' tax grant?  We have already published details for everyone's scrutiny in 'Not One Thin Dime', Lillooet News, July 6, 2011. 

The 2010 tax assessment comparisons (available online) show per capita costs for Ashcroft $293, Barriere $256, Cache Creek $112, 100 Mile $281, Oliver $184, Pemberton $284 and Lillooet at $336.  Lillooet  proposes (per the $10,127,000 grant) to increase $250 per year, along with water metering charges.  What is 'best practice' when it chases gardeners away from their growing paradise?  What is 'best practice' when increasing our carbon footprint with more pumps for water delivery?

The intention of the UBCM 'best practices' and 'awards for excellence' with respect to certain matters fall far short of beneficial to Lillooet.  

On another note, the Premier's office is contemplating a new bureaucrat or bureaucracy called 'Municipal Auditor General' and 'best practices' were referenced in conversations.  One comment stated emphatically 'the new municipal auditor general should be at arms length from the UBCM.'  Those on the feedback side seemed to be in accord on that point.

The only way to work for change in any community is by voting in councilors with the entire community at heart.  

Anne-Marie Anderson
Secretary/Treasurer
Lillooet Ratepayers Association

One year later, and still the question stands. What answers we have offer an incomplete image of an event that spanned the largest city in Canada, and directly affected the businesses, homes, and lives of thousands of people in and around Toronto at that time.

The constructed space between those 'for' and those 'against' the g20 summit left little room for understanding; and the violence, looting, vandalism, and indiscriminate arrests that ultimately occurred only increased the anger and strong emotions on all sides.

In response Ouboum is publishing a collection of articles and artwork from passers-by, politicians, police, protesters -- people, whose experiences will paint a more accurate picture of the summit.

This publication responds to the concern that only a handful of perspectives on the g20 have been given due consideration in public discourse, and that these few were presented only in opposition to one another. The narrative that remains is one of protestors and proponents - suggesting that anyone else would have remained quietly at home, away from the site of the event.

But the site of the event was downtown Toronto - home to some 2.5 million people whose experiences may not conform to the language of the media. The purpose of this publication is to document the wide range of perspectives held by participants on all sides of the g20 by providing a space where people can tell their own stories on their own terms and in their own language.

Ouboum is a Toronto-based collective of independent writers, artists and publishers inviting individuals, groups and organizations to share their experience of the g20 for publication in a forthcoming journal of social discourse. They are now accepting for publication any form of written, photographic or artistic representation of the individual’s experience of the 2010 g20 summit in Toronto.

For more information please visit www.ouboum.ca

Legitimate objections to government projects sometimes fall way too short of the mark.

In Narrows Inlet, lower Sunshine Coast in BC, legitimate and serious concerns over silt dumps from bottom draining, ice scoured, high alpine lakes and dumping massive amounts of ice scoured silt into prime fish habitat... were ignored. so, what purpose Environment assessment submissions then?

And now all government officials have evidently been gagged... their silence over environmental degradation and the fish kills - when alevins were migrating to the sea - is deafening.

The Conservation officer? Mr gun touting. environmental protection? "The proponent has invested a lot of money" followed by "I have no boat".

The DFO senior biogist? "No environmental damage" - a claim made from his desk in Nanaimo... as proven after 19 polite email requests - none of which werre responded to... for the date of his inspection, into a project he assessed, and approved and then happily investigated... an FOI revealed he flew in on May 1... fully six weeks after the silt dump occurred .... when, as siltation expert, as any kid in a mud puddle knows, he knew the silt would have settled out of suspension in still water by that time.

And the proponent's team?... the initial biologist? his brother ... who invited residents "... to stop their dissent and invest in this Gold Rush" and since defrocking that multiple conflict of interest, residents have had four successive expert biologist who do not bother to consult with affected residents whose drinking water is to be fouled.

And there are 600 of these IPPs planned province wide. and the EAO... a token assessment... even after accepting a ride in with residents as the "proponent was not objective"!

And the supposedly required Visual Impact Presentation for the Ramona project? Not seen in two years of asking, particularly, not after the massive Tyson Lake private profit power project silt dumps by the same proponent.

And the dolly varden? stealhead? "blue listed" cutthroat trout? huh?

And the mountain goats, shore bears, trumpeter swans, osprey? ... none seen since the inlet was industrialized.

Burning our garbage impacts our future beyond toxic ash. By whatever rebranding, incineration returns only a tiny fraction of the energy it takes, wasting both energy and resources.

Incinerators built today would still be burning our recoverable resources by 2050—polluting environment and residents, accelerating climate change (one ton GHG per ton burned) while fossil fuels and all critical materials are being depleted and world population grows to 9.2 billion people. Our region will to grow to 3.4 million people, while globally, net energy may decline to 40%.

Instead of wasting our tax and fossil fuel resources on the dead-end disposal economy of incineration and ash landfill, we can invest public money in economic renewal. We can fully develop our diversion economy; build resource recovery parks, recycling and composting capacity.

We need to remanufacture our recycled materials locally to prepare for the failure of overseas markets as “the eighteen-wheeler of globalization is thrown into reverse” by the ever-rising price of oil.

Instead of hastening planet Armageddon, our tax dollars can mitigate the impact of peak oil, peak food, global recession and climate change. We can start by buying the Catalyst paper recycling mill in Coquitlam.

Maybe one reason why so many young people have not been engaged in politics much is that adults have wanted to protect them from what had become a rather hopeless and unproductive process. But maybe all that can change.

Briony Penn once said of this riding that it has a "peculiar ability to mimic future national political trends". If this assessment is correct, maybe we can allow ourselves to feel hopeful. Not really because a certain party has elected its first MP here, but because politics has become something we can wish for our children to be involved in. The night Briony conceded victory to Gary Lunn, she urged him to work towards a more civil parliament, respect for democracy and its institutions. When she stepped down from the stage at that Conservative victory party, a woman who was friends with her parents came up to her, to tell her that her parents would have been proud of her that night.

Almost three years later we did something in this riding that almost no one believed we could do: we elected Elizabeth May, a woman who has dedicated her life to protecting the things that are under vicious assault from the consumption-growth cancer of our current economic system.

There is certainly something special about our community, with its hig levels of volunteer involvement, citizens willing to set aside partisanship for the greater good, the highest level of voter participation in all of Canada - and it is being noticed. For intance, read film-maker/activist Damien Gillis' article on "Bottling that magic salt spring formula".

I feel so lucky to live here! What is wonderful about this place was epitomized when I went into the midwifery clinic where the Green party office was on election day. To me, if felt a bit like entering a sacred space. Here were these people I love, who had put their lives on hold to do this amazing thing. They were working to make sure everyone who wanted to, even if they did not have an address to call home or other trappings of "success", got their chance to vote. There was this quiet joy in that office of new birth - and even outside, as I wandered around town, beaming at people as we lived this historic moment.

Where do we go from here? It is tempting to want to grow the Green party. I know many across the country who are inspired by the "Vision Green" platform it has offered us, available not just in time for elections, but 365 days a year. I sense there is huge potential there.

But I know that there is good within each human being, also within the ranks of each of our political parties. I believe Elizabeth has a special gift for bringing out the best in people, and that ought really to be our goal - to connect with what is best in others towards protecting the things that make life worth living. This is something we can work towards across party lines and this is a kind of politics we can be happy to invite our kids to be involved in.

There is a site called MarineTraffic.com and it shows ship traffic all over the world.

There are tankers going in and out of Van. Harbour on a regular basis and Cherry Point [usa]. How come no one is saying any thing about saving the Gulf islands??

Also there are tankers going to Kitimat and Rupert all the time be it tugs and barges or deep sea tankers. the Alaska tankers to Anacortes come surprisingly close to the west coat of Van Isle on the way south from Alaska.

This protest of "keep Tankers out of the North coast" is unwinnable... It's happening all the time... Has been close to a hundred years...

All we can do is regulate the hell out of them so it can be done as safely as possible... Still we all know accidents happen.

Bob Koskela
Houston, BC
Ex commercial fisherman