IF you DON'T VOTE in this ELECTiON...

 ... DON'T COME WHINING TO ME ABOUT THE SHIT SHOW YOU COULDA HELPED PREVENT!  That said (ahem) Hiiii... hope y'all know how crucial this Cdn federal election is! Mr. Suzuki says it well in the piece at this link - def worth a read... (I'll just add that Pierre Poilievre & his Conservatives - despite claims to the contrary - aLL back Trump's corporate-serving ecocidal mania, i.e. = disastrous 4 us!) K here's link to that David Suzuki article: https://is.gd/aX3kid

& here's a letter to all PM candidates YOU TOO can sign & send:

Make Election 2025 count for people and the planet - David Suzuki Foundation

We must stand strong VS the U.S.'s BS! Here are some motivational resources for you:

1) A past key election throwback: Canada's Green New Deal starts at an old GM plant in Oshawa | Dogwood

2) A REALITY CHECK: The Power of Dumb - In These Times

3) & ANOTHER (WHY NOT): Donald Trump Really Is a Lot Dumber Than We Thought. Like, a Lot! | The New Republic

ps. I'M A STALWART GREEN PARTY MEMBER, BUT VOTING NDP THIS TIME TO MAKE IT COUNT - & CUZ I THINK JAGMEET SINGH IS A GOOD GUY (& we need good peops in govt more than ever now - accountable & responsible - esp. with all the corruption in politics, exacerbated by Cdn Conservative & Liberal parties) We can & must do better!

TKS & PLS VOTE!

An Election2025 commentary by me:

That the Conservatives have any credibility in Canada, after openly expressing their delight at Trump's election win, can only be explained by 2 galling factors: MSM's powerful monopoly of news networks nationwide, & Cdns' passive acceptance thereof..

Of course it's telling that Cons have campaigned hard to shut down the CBC, our sole remaining publicly-owned network - last bastion of democracy besides independents - which Cdns should fight tooth & nail to keep... just as fiercely as we ought to rally to keep corporate America from swallowing us whole, by voting en masse to PREVENT the Trunnp-loving ecocidal manlacs the Cons from gaining a hold in influential govt positions.. AHEM ANYONE??

But I guess even such a basic, obvs strategy of self-preservation is too much to expect of simple mlnded Cdns eh? 

Good grief this isn't rocket science peops! (Think how a certain eviI dlctator won over Germans with his underhanded plans to make THEIR nation "great again"... being the single most-studied 20th-C event taught in schools everywhere!!?) Dare to compare - & you'll be stunned by the similarities...

Turns out Singh is the one candidate who serves constituents & takes time to listen & respond to their concerns - unlike Poilievre, who serves his own interests without shame, spreading his rldlcuIous propaganda via costly prime-time TV ads (even b4 election's called *ahem*)

Add to that Cons' unchecked glee at Trump's election win - & their V UN-Cdn campaign to de-fund the CBC (our sole publicly-owned network/ bastion of democracy f f s !) shows CONS are the real sell-outs, w Singh shining as the only true Canadian of the LOT, whose integrity under fire from all sides remains intact!

And another piece written by me:

Seems the only thing holding Singh back is also what's keeping Cdns tied to same-old last-century industrial oppression by wealthiest multi-nat'ls whose profits too often override all, incl. Eco-threats - eg. O&G: ie. the billionaire MSM overlord$ whose dlslnfo/ endorsements of feebIe mlnded/ greedy mlnlons enabling their cont'd proflteering (eg.by De-Reg'n of harms/ Defunding Science++) - AT OUR EXPENSE - block our ability to create the Canada WE deserve & need..

Even remote Greenland's sparse population has the strength to stand up to U.S. corporate bullying/ resource grabs... Yet we're too addled by MSM's overreach to discern Cons'/ Libs' true intentions VS. refreshing RELATABILITY of a like-minded fellow Cdn who's not afraid to interact face-to-face with real peops in everyday settings!!?

(I'll take the latter over hyped-up super-rallies staged for effect ANY DAY) I just wish every Cdn shared this urge to sift out the SOOT & ELECT to have decent stand-up peops in govt.. for once! What a diff it'd make, bringing hope for a fair future back from the brink of this Trumpian nitemare.. 

(Tks)

And one more:

It's a real shame so many Cdns are duped by the manipulations of corporate-serving MSM 's misinfo that our "hands are tied" & we must vote Libs to ensure Cons don't win etc etc... (with fake polls backing the narrative of a 'close race' between the 2...)

I for one cannot believe so many Cdns support the petulant child harping on his ridiculous propaganda in TV ADS no less, for a parry whose delight at Trump's election win - & V UN-Cdn campaign to defund our CBC - as opposed to jumping on the chance to ELECT a decent, respected fellow countryman who's not afraid to meet real people face to face & LISTEN & RESPOND to their concerns!!!? Singh doesn't even seem concerned that MSM have purposely misrep'd him - in contrast to PP's desperare   

rants that are hard to watch.. (CRINGE-WORTHY!!)

(& what if it turns out that the 'polls' were wrong, & you followed MSM's questionable advice & DIDNT vote for who you'd prefer (the likeable Singh, obvsly) SOLELY to fend off another creepy Con in govt?

This same game has been repeated over & over, so we never get the Govt we want!! (Isn't that a sign of psychosis, repeating the same thing & expecting diff results??) How about we do things DIFFERENTLY, for a different result in such a crucial election??

I.E. FORGET what MSM & their no mlnd followers say: VOTE WITH YOUR GUT / YOUR HEART THIS TIME... & maybe, if enough decent peops vote for other decent peops (instead of creepy Con/Lib corporate panderers who are frankly interchangeable) then maybe well actually get the govt we WANT - not the one MSM wants us to want!!?

& HERE's a glimpse of the world Trump is forcing on us all:

(Also posted @ https://facebook.com/planetsedge )

A Simple Tweak to Drastically Improve Life for Every Single Species on Earth..

Although I’m 'in recovery' from the Comments sections of mass-media sites like ‘Instagram’ & ‘X’, I'm a dedicated 'Deep Green' activist / environmentalist who's always seeking opportunities to broaden my Nature knowledge & disseminate Science-based solutions to the biodiversity / climate / extinction crisis we humans have brought on ourselves..

So far, hands down the most critical component of saving Life on Earth is CONSERVATION - & restoration of Nature's functions AT ALL COSTS. “Giving up” is not an option! Leaving our future up to the evil last-century perpetual-growth leaders, moneymongers, oligarchs & space-travel charlatans already holding us back from making a doable hopeful future is SELFISH & SUICIDAL — & tells our kids life’s not worth saving!

But it’s delusional thinking we can accomplish this & set a better course for humanity while continuing to blindly plunder & rape healthy intact ecosystems just to maintain the illusion that our lavish wasteful lifestyles are flawless ‘sacred cows’ that can’t be improved. They can - & musT - improve.. by deconstructing / laying bare / UPDATING perceived factors of the Good Life, STARTING WITH OUR UNNECESSARY USE OF NON-HUMAN ANIMALS!

Science shows animal agriculture is the 2nd-largest contributor to human-made GHGs after fossil fuels — & leading cause of deforestation, air/water pollution & biodiversity loss, comprising 44% of anthropogenic methane emissions — 34X more potent than C02 — & 44% of nitrous oxide (the most potent GHG) AND is the largest contributor to global water pollution. That’s just part of its heavy footprint..

I.E. We drastically need to lighten the strain animal ag puts on Earth’s finite resources. Replacing dairy/meat with plant-sourced foods would reduce C02 emissions alone from the industry by 96%, to just 73 pounds of CO2e.

Not only that, but plant-based diets are much healthier for humans, with our long winding intestines (opposite of carnivores’ short GI tracts) — ask any doc/naturopath! I switched long ago, & it’s easily the best change I’ve ever made.

We can’t just IGNORE the Science of CO2's/ ecocide’s/ GHGs’/ pollution’s effects on global warming — & saying “it’s too late anyway” & letting govts get away with murder serving polluters instead of people is a morally destitute way of sabotaging all efforts to ensure a liveable future! We must find ways to organize & get this info OUT THERE to as many peops as humanly possible, so everyone can make a difference for Earth's future... ESP. for the non-human creatures that face imminent extinction if we don't ACT to save their natural wild habitats..

This is basic knowledge that kids should learn at school - yet don't, prob cuz Big Oil & other extractive industries have even co-opted our kids' education (the latest pamphlet touting LNG as a "sustainable" energy source is almost laughable its so chock-full of lies... (We must get back to caring for - stewarding - our natural ecosystems as 1st Nations did for thousands of years.  Tho sadly, much of their knowledge was stripped by Residential Schools per the early BC govt's evil agenda..)

Ironically, our present govt leaders are in many ways much more corrupt than before, pretending to serve BCers' needs while catering to polluting mega-corporations' profits.. 

So it's left to us to galvanize & make the needed changes to prevent the worsening of  catastrophic climate change, together with the scientists who have the answers.    Going vegan en masse is the obvious way to rein in  & shut down exploitation  & extraction of finite resources that must remain alve & intact (protected) if we hope to have a future..

(The alternative is unthinkable)

 Shots of Samullo Grove old-growth forest biôme in Manning Park, which is critically at risk of species extirpation, wildfire spread+++.. - & California's fires warn of what could happen here if we lazily keep pounding the same-old Road to Ruin that's directly led us to this crisis:  without widespread awareness--> proacTion, our kids don't stand a chance..

A TRUMPiAN TRaVESTY (updated poem I began Aug.'20 - last edited Jan.'25)

{WHAT's HAPS in America y'aLL? Welll it's like this..}

a C.H.A.R.A.D.E.

PRoudLy fabRicaTed in the USA

by MAGA-pushing cuLTisT cLones

in whose TRaiLeR TRAP is perched their

ECO-CRASHING KING OF CRAP

LowesT Low-LiFe POTUS..

his GREED PARADE seen TRoLLing streets,

Tweeting Tweets, RoLLing over

Rights of Peops..

& TRaiLing TRash thru

eveRy STATE he meeTs:

a Trumpian cavaLcade of CREEPS.

But that was THEN & this, retardedly, is NOW:

  For better? NO FOR WORSE!

1st TeRM was just a dRiLL to soften

 all the No-Minds of the 50 states

 (while GUTTing eveRy Eco-Law T could lay his greasy miTTs on)

 & he found it'S'EEAZY bein' Top Dog as a wiLLing COG

in a system gone insanely WRONG!

But HOW could any self-respecting NaTioN

LET this MENACE even RUN THE RACE

with all the power & the privilege that it takes?

(Ask an average Joe-Bob & you'd no doubt hear

"Trump is funny!" OR "he's COOL!"

- without ONE SMART REASON offered by those FOOLS)

Either most Americans are LAZY,

or they've Lost the yen (and/or ability)

to distinguish FALSEHOODS FROM REALITY

(Why else would they be HAPPY to be Led like Lemmings

down the Road to Ruin by a vengeful EX with an axe to grind,

who'd stop @ nothing to advance the sick ambitions of his mind?)

Thanks to the GOP, the Orange Fop got his OP under the Big Top

using billion$ from Musk to make the MAGA message POP,

And anyone who stopped to question

THIS old F'ELon's 2nd RUN

might upset the apple-cart & have their iLL-goT gains

DROP THRU THE FLO'..

Seems American minds WERE PRIMED

to bend into submission to the new-age FascisTs

of the modern FAR RIGHT-WING

(the corporate 'elite' of creeps and criminals who run things -

Culprits of the Climate Change that's put us aLL in

ever-deeper periL - WHO SHOULD BE MADE TO PAY!)

Guess THAT's a pipe-dream, now that Team DT is back

to lay Round 2 on all their frenemies the Dems

(who coulda SHAMED the CLown into obLivion, BUT INSTEAD

made K's campaign of All Things Nice the fuel for T's misogyny!)

Her lack of fight - her sudden moral high-ground (?) -

guaranteed the Dems LOST LARGE

So half the States at leasT

now live in fear of 4 long years

with that dishonest PUTZ as Prez, hoping 1 thing only:

that he'll bungle. Big-Time. As before...

(Nothing like experience to teach what to expect!)

But there's nothing they can do to make it right..

Yes Sir/ Sis: a truly Trumpian disaster!

I couldn't make this stuff up if I TRIED

 (now please don't say you weren't apprised!)

--SaZ-C

Evergreen Alliance: the power of knowledge - & the will to change..

Fellow BCers:  It's long past time to revise how natural forests are (over-)managed in this province, & to QUIT allowing irresponsible logging corporations to continue the practice of clearcutting our -- globally rare & threatened -- temperate rainforest ecosystems, which are essential habitat for thousands of species of native biodiversity.  We need to listen to the real experts on exactly what is being lost -- & what to do about it -- for example the dedicated & passionate individuals at Evergreen Alliance (found @ this link:  www.evergreenalliance.ca/protect-more)   Following are direct quotes from that excellent website.

"Clearcut logging on the scale that has been occurring in BC—which is unparalleled anywhere else on Earth on a per capita basis—is contributing significantly to global heating and climate instability. Those mega-impacts are, in turn, contributing to further, widespread loss of BC forests—whether they are “protected” or not—as a result of drought, fires, wind and insect infestations. All of those impacts are occurring with greater frequency and severity than in the past. That added loss, in turn, further worsens global heating and climate instability. So the scale of logging in BC is contributing to a dangerous global feedback loop that, on a per capita basis, British Columbians have been more responsible for than any other population of humans on the planet."

"Moreover, BC is now beginning to experience unpredicted, complex and serious side effects from that feedback loop between growing climate instability and forest loss. Recall the unprecedented flooding that occurred after an “atmospheric river” swept over southwestern BC in mid-November 2021. The flooding occurred downstream from areas that had been heavily logged and were later burned by forest fires. The amount of rain that fell was not unprecedented, but the flooding was. Climate scientists say such atmospheric rivers will occur with greater frequency due to global heating. But the unprecedented magnitude of the flooding was attributable to both the loss of forest cover from clearcut logging and the way that forest fires make soil less able to absorb water. The large area of the forest fires was attributable, at least in part, to the widespread extent of clearcut logging and tree plantations and the unfortunate fact that clearcuts and plantations make forest fires easier to ignite and harder to control."

Also quoted from that EA article:

"When the cost of public forest management is included in a consideration of government revenues, there was an average net loss of about $1 million per day between 2010 and 2019.

The economic importance of the logging industry didn’t justify the damage it was doing in 2003, and since then the industry has shrunk to less than half its former economic importance while the damage it is doing has grown immeasurably.

Another much-touted justification for the vast extent of clearcut logging in BC is that logging can’t be reduced because it provides wood products that are essential for growing and maintaining BC’s own stock of buildings and infrastructure. But that line of reasoning is only 10 to 15 percent true. 

According to Sheng Xie, a postdoctoral research fellow with UBC’s Department of Forest Resources Management, about 85 to 90 percent of the volume of wood logged in BC is exported. In 2016, for example, 88 percent of the volume logged was exported.

If logging on publicly-owned land was limited to supplying BC’s own needs for forest products, the area cut each year could be reduced by 80 to 90 percent. Instead of cutting 180,000 hectares (the Ministry of Forests’ number), that could be reduced to 18,000-36,000 hectares each year.

At that rate, how much land would need to be set aside for logging? It would depend on the rotation period between cuts, but certainly no more than 1.8 to 3.6 million hectares. That’s just 3 to 6 percent of BC’s forested land. That’s all that’s needed to meet BC’s own requirements for wood products.

*  *  *  *  

Before all of BC’s primary forest is gone, citizens need to rise up and demand an end to exports. First the export of raw logs and then all wood-product exports. Let other countries figure out how to meet their own needs.

*  *  *  *  

Unless there is a large reduction in logging, none of the existential threats to BC’s remaining forests posed by the current scale of logging—such as more aggressive forest fires—will be diminished. Any newly protected areas, including temporary logging deferrals of old-growth forest, will be just as likely to become burned forest as they would if they were unprotected.

*  *  *  *  *  *

And from The Great Tree Robbery by Ben Parfitt:

“A crime against the province”

Arnold Bercov, a former president of the Public and Private Workers of Canada, said he is deeply unsettled by the subsidy program’s implications. He fears the credit logging will further deepen problems for already stressed forest ecosystems, community watersheds, rural First Nations, non-Indigenous rural communities, and forest industry workers alike.

“It’s so bad what we’re doing. We’re liquidating what’s here. That’s what’s going on. And that’s just a crime against this province,” Bercov said.

The union is one of three representing forest industry workers in BC and has been vocal about the need to protect more old-growth forests, and ensure that much higher value is added to whatever trees are logged in the province’s forests.

While Bercov says the credit program poses risks to forests and forest workers alike, its biggest victims will be First Nations on whose ancestral lands all the bonus logging is taking place. “Ultimately, it won’t matter about First Nation land claims. In a few years, it won’t matter if they win or lose because there won’t be anything left to win,” Bercov says.

“Here we are speeding down a climate emergency and we are putting holes in our only lifeboat,” says Suzanne Simard, a professor of forest ecology at the University of British Columbia and author of Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest.

Simard said she wonders now how many of the logs “trundling out of the woods daily” near her home community of Nelson in the West Kootenay region may be a result of the credit program, including trees from the interior rainforest, one of the rarest forest ecosystems on earth. 

Thanks to generous BC government subsidies, wood pellet mill yards are overflowing with logs culled from the interior region’s primary or old-growth forests. Photo: Stand.earth.

 

“The BC government is targeting natural hemlock forests in our inland temperate rainforest for pellets even though this ecosystem is red-listed,” said Connolly. “Now we find out that the direct destruction of these rare forests is being subsidized with public money and packaged as a bioeconomy. I really want to know how decision-makers sleep at night endorsing this and calling it clean and green.”

Left completely unsaid is how saving wood from being burned at logging sites only to deliver it to pellet mills that make a product that is then burned equates to a climate benefit. 

Old-growth cedar logs from one of the world’s most unique and imperiled forest ecosystems—BC’s interior rainforest—make their way into a wood pellet mill yard in Prince George. Photo: James Steidle.

Finally, a heartfelt comment that touched a chord (below) found on the Evergreen Alliance public forum @ this link:  EAforum-Clearcut-logging-is-an-immoral-practice:

By Guest Salmon in the Sky

Logging as it is now practiced is an immoral practice that destroys nature. Not only does it destroy nature, it will slowly but surely kill us.

Trees are the “Lungs of the Earth” because they create and cleanse the oxygen we breath. In logging (at least in how it is now practiced—clearcutting) we plunder and rape and kill our very breath of life—it can be no plainer than this.

We also set off irreversible chain reactions and compromise our children’s futures. In the name of Love for our children we will cut down irreplaceable old-growth forests for temporal "satisfactory pleasures"—that all too soon lose their amusement.

We deplete the soil, pollute the water and create landslides that the children will have to deal with. Do you call this love? It definitely is not.

And with climate change threatening us this is definitely not the time to be procrastinating.

We have the means and the ability to stop unsustainable forestry and get off fossil fuels. The only thing in the way is our sinful selves with not enough Love in our hearts to really stand up for what’s right, for the whole future of the planet, for everything special to us. Are you willing? Are you going to act? Are you going to act in love, now?

My input on BC's 'B.E.H.F.' draft - Spring 2024

Here's my official input on the draft BC Biodiversity & Ecosystems Health Framework - to be finalized in Spring 2024.  If you care about saving BC's (fast-dwindling, due to clearcut logging & overdevelopment) wildlife habitats -- & who doesn't -- please write to the BC Govt to let them know your views (though the deadline has passed, it wasn't well publicized).  I've included the Ministry's reply below it)

To: biodiversity.ecosystemhealth

Ministry of Water, Land & Resource Stewardship (Ministry of WLRS)

Re:  DRAFT B.C. BIODIVERSITY AND ECOSYSTEM HEALTH FRAMEWORK

.

Please include this letter as my input on your well-intentioned Biodiversity (BEHF) framework currently before us.

I had a whole lengthy, carefully researched & well-worded essay -- on which I'd spent hours compiling, duly including points as recommended by the hard-working eco-orgs of which I am a member & remembering to commend your Govt's upstanding efforts in drafting the BEHF.

But I've deleted it, recognizing my optimism felt entirely false -- & my well-considered arguments were mostly repeats of other heartfelt letters I've directed to your offices 'ad infinitum', ever since your BC-NDP Govt was elected in 2017 on promises of Climate action & --yes-- protection of our invaluable ecosystems against Big-Industry extractive pipelines & projects that your leader(s) vehemently denounced & vowed to oppose "using all the tools available"... or some such pre-election hype from your party's promo toolbox..

And it's been one giant disappointment after another observing the reality of your Govt's non-progress on aLL its avowed plans/ promises on Climate action -- ESP. your constant scathing & very vocal derision of the newly-hated Clark-led Liberals, amid non-stop claims that the BC-NDP were different & would overturn the Libs' reckless pro-pollution policies & champion publicly-clamored Climate action instead, like heroes!

How wrong we've been to keep hoping for a sign that our love of, & pride in, "Super, Natural" BC's clean waters, iconic wildlife habitats & globally-rare ancient forests was shared (& protected) by our new Govt!

Instead, despite overwhelming growing public support for fresh new nature-restoring -- desperately-needed -- paradigms of Climate-balancing/ forest-protecting/ wildlife-conserving laws & policies that brought hope for a better, more sustainable future (bolstered by many letters of encouragement to 'do the right thing') your Govt has squandered each & every opportunity to make good on your promised intentions for ecosystems.

Even as evidence of -- & public demos/ protests/ opposition to -- irreversible harms of your pro-BigIndustry stance compounded (which you are finally -- belatedly -- addressing in this BEHF) your party has violated its own newly-adopted UNDRIP laws by fast-tracking clearcut logging (=decimation of our most beneficial & biodiverse primary forests) & fragmented threatened wildlife habitats.  

Your Govt is also to blame for -- but won't admit -- extinction of our last rare Spotted Owls by permitting logging of habitat that should have been protected at all costs.  You've also backed RCMP-led armed raids against indigenous land-defenders' rightful opposition to CGL & TMX violations of their hereditary rights & title.. to the extreme point of violently arresting them & overturning previously-hard-won legal recognition of their hereditary land rights..

More recently, your Govt had the gall to stand by & do nothing for the Fairy Creek forest protectors who were -- shockingly -- criminalized by a judge for their non-violent & publicly-backed defence of an important & beloved old-growth watershed from being unlawfully wiped off the map:  a crime against these Climate-balancing C02-sinking eco-heroes, the best of which still stand unprotected against loggers, thanks to your inaction..

Notably, one of those selfless Fairy Creek defenders is a member of the upstanding Green party (an admirable org. whose generosity & leadership aided your party's political ambitions by legitimising election promises to save old-growth in 2020).

If these caring, committed eco-activists & FN land defenders continue to be shamed for their lawful pro-Nature activism, we'll know for sure just how fraudulent your Govt's BEHF intentions are..

Meanwhile, delaying any beneficial Climate/ eco-measures (& publicly claiming otherwise -- in pricey TV ads touting NON-EXISTENT 'CLIMATE CAPTURE' TECH no less!) has pushed BC's biodiversity/ natural habitats to the very brink of Climate disaster.. & many of your already-approved extractive nightmares have yet to be built!  If/ when they're up & running, if your govt continues allowing these reckless new monuments to rising emissions --  eg. Site 'C' dam, LNG (fracked-gas) development, clearcut logging/ old-growth destruction, Ingerbelle expansion, Blackwater Gold mine, to name but a few -- the colossal damage to biodiversity & ecosystems will be locked in & unmitigated -- ALL ON YOUR WATCH.

So you see, as an informed citizen -- & a Vegan -- I cannot find it in me to commend yet another of your Govt's claims of Climate action/ intentions, since from the start you have repeatedly dismissed/ ignored public calls to action & instead made decisions that:

(A.) SERVE the interests of extractive & polluting corporations, not citizens; 

(B.) DEFY our right to clean air/ water & (govt-pledgd) Climate action; 

(C.) FAIL to meet our Climate goals;

(D.) ADD TO ever-climbing GHGs; 

(E.) DRIVE erosion, flooding, wildfires+++;

(F.) SABOTAGE communities' resilience.

Biologists, ecologists, experts & locals agree:  BC's iconic wildlife is extirpating at alarming rates due to worsening fires/ habitat loss from cont'd clearcut logging & overdevelopment.. as well as the lack of a (promised) proper 'Species At Risk' law.  Science-advised transformative changes are long overdue, yet your Govt's inaction - while siding with polluters - is V worrying. 

I am hoping against hope that this new 'Framework' WILL result in actual, permanent protection of our most at-risk & invaluable old-growth ecosystems with the most threatened wildlife.  But I find it hard to trust a Govt that operates so dishonestly & fails its duties to those who pay your salaries.  That resembles dereliction of your sworn duties, which I cannot pretend to respect or support.

*  *  *  *

One pending disaster in the works I feel duty-bound to mention is the Zincton Resort, proposed for the heart of BC's Inland Temperate Rainforest.  At stake, for starters, is the survival of at least 185 known species at risk in BC’s under-protected Inland Rainforest.

The whole area is prime grizzly bear & mountain goat habitat, which this massive unsustainable development would forever fragment & disable by its sprawling size alone.

At this critical point, ONLY clean-energy/ habitat-restoring/ low-footprint/ off-grid/ renewably-run/ sustainable/ zero-waste projects should even be considered now.  Zincton Resort is none of the above -- its proposal outlines a high-traffic, heavy-footprint, high-profit all-season outfit (1,200+ guests daily!) with NO PLANS to benefit/ enhance/ honor local biodiversity/ ecology/ wildlife:  NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!

The Zincton area is one of BC's few wildlife havens left, home to grizzly bears, cariboo, mountain goats & other native species that NEED large tracts of intact wilderness to survive - & keep away from communities, to prevent more "nuisance bears" from being killed.  Noone wants that.

I - & almost everyone I know - vote for the bears++ to stay, & for projects like Zincton Resort to die before they drive more wildlife to extinction & add more GHGs to our ever-rising emissions (= the very last thing we need now!) 

TXA wildlife impact assessment by registered professional biologist & grizzly bear expert Wayne McCrory has found that the project will significantly diminish, and could eventually wipe out, three provincially blue-listed species: grizzly bears, mountain goats & wolverines. Western toads would also suffer increased mortalities.  This is wholly unacceptable in today's changing climate:  we can, & must, do better!

*  *  *  *

Wolves are another imperiled & unfairly maligned wild species, thanks to misguided (& harmful) 'culling' (= killing) programs implemented by your Govt.  Yet wolves are an important keystone species that help balance ecosystems & biodiversity.  Please watch the documentary 'Return of the Wolves' (2005) which details the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone Park, a landmark conservation project in the 1990s aimed at restoring natural balance in the park's ecosystem.  The film explores the ecological significance of wolves as apex predators & how their presence has benefitted many species & the landscape itself. As most conservationists agree, CULLING IS NEVER THE ANSWER.  I'd add, it's an embarrassment to your Govt's declared biodiversity goals to continue such cruel & unnecessary barbarism - not to mention hypocrisy.

*  *  *  *

CLEARCUTTING has turned vast areas of BC into dried-out fire accelerant, incLuding our globally rare primary forests - which instead of being protected as they should, continue to be logged & exported to provide PELLETS FOR BURNING FUEL OVERSEAS!! (For example) This unsustainable industry violates all eco-laws & undermines our every effort to save irreplaceable ecosystems, & must end ASAP.

Unknown to most, your Govt continues to issue permits & allow proposals for industrial extraction projects deemed (by ecosystem/ wildlife experts, scientists etc.) to worsen the size/ spread of wildfires & further degrade wildlife habitats.  That the threatened Spotted Owl habitat in Spuzzum was logged instead of protected at all costs, is just one example of extreme malfeasance re. Biodiversity's shrinking habitats driving extinction - proof that both fed & prov Govts have been derelict in their duties to uphold their duties as stewards.  In the end, the onus is on honest Govt leadership to enact the proper expert-advised measures - without polluting corps' vested lobbying input - that will preserve & restore our globally-rare natural ecosystems for generations to come.  The alternatives - worsened degradation, drought & extirpation of our most valuable natural sustainers - are unthinkable.  And unnecessary.  We can do this -- but only with your genuine commitment to renewed good stewardship.

*  *  *  *

One more crucial point:  as a result of BC's increasingly disastrous, record fires - eg. last summer (2023) - long-burning & widespread due to clearcut logging/  spraying cutblocks with toxic glyphosate/ replanting monoculture conifers solely for harvest (& largely preventable by policies akin to what this BEHF draft purports to address) there exist across BC MASSES OF NOW-BURNT TIMBER in degraded ecosystems.  New enforceable laws under this plan should require logging co's to prioritize harvest of these burnt stands before any more intact forests are cut.  AND such operations must be carried out within 2 years of those fires to have any effect.  THIS of course falls under the revive/restore part of this new BEHF initiative.

*  *  *  *

To end this input on a (somewhat) optimistic note for the future of BC's biodiversity/ ecosystems, I'll draw your attention to the ironic ease, efficiency & speed with which legislation banning plastic straws was implemented - the widespread success of which surely proves:  our efforts as individuals on the Climate/ extinction crisis are only effective if bolstered by an accountable & transparent Govt that is not afraid to take charge & make the changes needed to dispel corruption & bring about the better future we ALL deserve & desire!?

The alternatives - incl. Honing same-old backward last-decade concepts/ dinosaurs; degrading, ecocidal, extractive, perpetual-growth & wasteful economies - will only bring more destruction, hopelessness & misery.  Please do the right thing & (finally) PUT THIS PLAN IN ACTION, BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE TO SAVE OUR BELOVED NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS & THE BIODIVERSITY WHOSE SURVIVAL IMPLICITLY DEPENDS ON OUR STEWARDSHIP NOW:  let's not let them down! (Please?)

Thank you very much,

Sarah M. Chesterman

AND here's the emailed response I received:

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health WLRS:EX	Feb 2, 2024, 12:50 PM (8 days ago)		Reply
to me

Hi Sarah,

 

Thank you for your email and for taking the time to provide input on the draft B.C. Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework (‘Framework’). The input received will support the work to finalize the draft Framework and inform planning for implementation. Once the Framework is finalized, it will be released publicly along with an implementation plan.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Branch

Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship