BC's CLimate iNaCTion wiLL BURN us aLL..

Half-baked plans won’t cut it in a #ClimateEmergency! Pls. join me in using #SierraClubBC's letter-writing tool to tell #bcndp that BC desperately needs effective actions to combat #ClimateChange B4 deadly effects worsen.. Click link:

Tell your MLA we need a full climate plan for B.C.! - Sierra Club BC

My (edited) letter using the tool:

Dear [Premier Horgan, Mr. Heyman],

I am writing to you today to express my dismay at the BC Government’s woeful lack of action to combat Climate change, "the Challenge of our times" according to experts, leading financial institutions & the scientific community at large.

Therefore I strongly support Sierra Club BC's Ecojustice-backed legal action against the BC Govt for failing to devise & implement legislation to achieve the targets set out in its own Climate change plan.  And I'm calling on your help to ensure Premier Horgan moves quickly to protect us from worsening Climate risks.  

With the increased frequency of deadly Climate events like floods, landslides & wildfires, anything less than a plan without blind spots & loopholes is unacceptable.  Govt's 2021 report on the Climate Change Accountability Act falls short by failing to include a plan for 2025, 2040 & 2050 targets -- & by omitting plans to cut GHG pollution from the O&G sector.  

The latter is a real worry, due to BC Govt's ongoing support for fracked gas/ LNG projects.  Also missing is the C02 footprint of BC Forestry, which continues to deplete our critically key -- globally rare -- C02 sinks/ wildlife habitats at an unsustainable rate. 

Without addressing these top risks, we have no reason to trust our Govt is serious about taking action to combat dangerous -- increasing -- Climate.catastrophes.

BC brags about being a "Climate leader", yet continues to emit more [cumulative] C02/GHG pollution as Climate effects batter our province.

How many more deadly “atmospheric rivers"/ "heat domes" will it take for the Govt to realize that claims about "bold Climate action" without implementation is an abrogation of its basic duty to keep all BCers safe in an emergency? Claims that "BC's Climate plan is the best in North America" -- if even true -- mean NOTHING without actual emissions reductions.  ESP. if our emissions counts exclude the very industries that continue to make BC a significant material contributor to Climate change!!?

IPCC scientists have warned Canada -- & specifically BC -- are failing by continuing to invest in GROWING Climate-wrecking, ecocidal industries like LNG & Tar Sands pipelines (fossil fuels) & logging.. as well as rewarding them with tax breaks that belong to renewable, sustainable new operations.  Such clear neglect of public duty (Govt malfeasance) -- aided by an equally ethics-light MSM -- keeps Cdns misinformed in endless loops of Govt 'announcements'/ 'decisions'/ 'goals' etc. --> momentary public appeasement/ distraction/ doubt --> exposure of Govt corruption/ inaction/ ineptitude--> helpless hand-wringing at yet another after-the-fact done deal turned deadly resulting from Govt's undying (inexplicable & inexcusable) loyalty to corporate/ industrial status-quo profiteering at BCers' expense, eg. Deadly fires/ mining disasters/ Salmon & Species-At-Risk die-off/ Watershed contamination --> Deafening Govt silence over their utter dearth of trust-buildibg action/ fines --> Public despair --> Back to more Govt plans/ platitudes (& still no actual progress bringing us a Just Transition!!?)

The Green party -- STILL -- provide the only voice of reason, responsibility & sound solutions -- studiously ignored by the vastly inferior duds in office.. (whether Liberal, NDP or -- god help us -- Cons)

Canada's outsize contributions to Climate change NEED to be exposed & curtailed -- INCLUDING exported GHGs via shipped Coal, LNG & pipelined TarSands oil.. as well as raw logs from our criminally CLEARCUT FORESTS -- sold to foreign corps for unsustainable uses, which further lock in global rising GHGs..

Anything less than proactive legislation that restores healthy ecosystems & forests, & works at meeting Paris-Agreement targets in every sector, is bound to fail:  Science says so, & Science doesn't lie..

The stakes couldn't be higher for ensuring a livable & prosperous future for all BCers! 

I expect you, my elected representative, & the B.C. Govt to take this emergency to heart & UPGRADE -- IE. implement effective Science-led Climate actions NOW

Thank you very much, 

Sarah (Saz) Chesterman

CC: Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, George Heyman and Premier John Horgan.

Spotted owl, endangered & unprotected native of BC

& here's my comment on this relevant article at Falcon calls B.C. NDP economic plan ‘propaganda document’ – Nelson Star

Saz Sarah Chesterman

The fact that BC recently emerged -- not unscathed-- from 2 consecutive climate-brought calamities (last summer's extreme heat-dome that directly claimed 60 deaths + 1,000s of hectares of wildfires accelerated by rampant dried-out clearcuts; AND Nov's catastrophic floods/ landslides that crippled our key agriculture industry) would be #1 URGENT priority in a budget drawn by Greens, the only BC party with the brains, guts, heart & science-backed souL needed to tackle this overriding 'Challenge of our Time' that's hit BC -- smack on schedule, as shown by every scientific study of the last 30+ yrs (which inform the Greens' initiatives..)

ALAS-! My fellow BCers have glibly -- infuriatingly -- decided 'en masse' that we don't DESERVE Greens' carefully-considered, in-depth expertise.. & so by default, THIS 'LACK OF' [EVERYTHING WE NEED TO SUCCEED] is what we get -- in a majority, no less. AGAIN. Only now, it's heating up 4ReaL.. & we need to GET THINGS RIGHT to make any inroads at all reversing these unlivable extremes-!?

BCers' profound ignorance of all but what they read/see on #MSM isn't helping, as unfortch Premier Horgan's BC-NDP is failing hard at every turn -- this budget included++ -- but confidently claims/ looks otherwise: HOW do the majority of BCers NOT SEE THRU this Govt's double-speak, promising all kinds of high-sounding Climate ACTIONS but delivering only more inaction & ineptitude?

EG. Agreeing with scientists in words is 1 thing -- saying THIS should alert most peops we've psychopaths in Govt:
"Science shows fossil fuels burning/ use is a major driver of climate change.. but we're going forward on/ funding massive NEW clean [= dirty: LNG isn'T clean OR renewable!!?] energy 'projects' like LNG/ TMX to RAISE REVENUE FOR THE 'JUST TRANSITION' WE'RE PLANNING FOR.." 

WHEN? 2030?? 2050??? That's too late - esp after locking ourselves & all Earthlings into polluting fossil fuels for another decade or 2!!??

THAT'S NOT A SOLUTION -- it's trying to quit smoking using cigarettes, & BCers' ever-compliant silence at these constant Govt INSULTS [implying our weak-&-easy acquiescence of same-old junk/ inaction] means MORE & WORSE CLIMATE CRISES are coming -- & even scarier, our Govts don't CARE they're leading us like lemmings off the cliff -- rather than improving our prospects for success!!?

At this late hour, only the latter will do - the rest simply deserves NO CONFIDENCE in this Govt's ability to lead us into an ACTUAL 'JUST TRANSITION' (starting with protecting all our intact OldGrowth forests from being clearcut, as our last & only C02-sinking saviours -- our 'Lungs of the North' which BC govts from day 1 have permitted the wholesale destruction thereof)

It's clear this govt has no interest in protecting our best interests or the natural features that make BC 'Beautiful':  we're losing the crucial fight of our lives -- & only the Greens have what it takes to lead us into actual, measurable, real-life success.

My letter to Premier Horgan..

(Via Conservation North's tool - here, so you can write too:  LETTER re. OLD-GROWTH FORESTS)

It's time to act for BC’s primary & old growth forests, some of the world's most important rainforest ecosystems & critical wildlife habitats.  Your govt. won a majority on promises to abide by your OldGrowth Panel's deadlines, & your delay is proving catastrophic..

BC's intact living primary forests have dwindled down to critical levels due to a century & a half of Govts' appropriation of sacred lands inhabited & used by 1st Nations for centuries.  Notably, at inception BC's forests were largely intact & teeming with biodiversity.

What's happened since is Forestry's continual wipeout by logging corps of entire swathes of BC's most precious 'Lungs of the Earth' -- i.e. our oldest living forests -- for the low-balled value of their marketable "timber":   A TRAGIC LOSS of priceless eco-benefits that virtually guarantees BC's failure to mitigate climate change-!?

Only in the last 3/4 decades have the BC govt's dire Natural Resource policies  come to light, & they hardly embody Canada's Constitutional stewardship needs.  But despite steadily-growing heartfelt opposition to BC's disastrous logging practices (ie. clearcutting), successive govts have charged forward in blind ignorance of its public & of science's best info.

Your govt has claimed to  better previous govts re. eco-improvements/ laws that protect BC's best assets & give communities false hope of Climate Action, with vows to "support" our vital forests & nice-sounding words like "decolonization" -- & even promises to implement the "paradigm shift" called for by your own Old Growth Panel -- yet our forests continue to be felled at such a sickeningly sped-up pace (backed by BC's Supreme Court as proof) that makes it clear your govt still supports logging corps' rapacious & unending greed/speed to KILL our ONLY natural climate protectors/C02 sinks.. i.e. FAILURE

Your govt could have begun to 'Build Back Better' by keeping your promises to implement the Old Growth Panel's forward-thinking recommendations - of which protecting Old Growth is KEY to Building Back Better & protecting all BCers' best interests!?

Failing those basic steps is disastrous enough.  But claiming otherwise in the name of reconciliation, WHILE forcing impoverished 1st Nations to participate in egregious clearcut wipeouts of their once-lush & proud great stands (whose pristine abundance had testified to deep native knowledge/ skills  capable of LEADING a renewable industry rooted in nature-based longevity) is grossly unacceptable!  

We will not win unless ALL remaining intact old growth ecosystems are left intact!

The best & newest science agrees:  industrial logging in BC is unsustainable -- & V. worrying, with resultant 'hotspots' causing critical biodiversity loss, droughts & other climate disasters.  Tho less than 10% of BC's old growth forests remain, most are slated to be logged -- which puts aLL of BC (if not the entire biosphere) in jeopardy..

Deforestation exacerbates human errors/weaknesses in this climate Emergency -- eg. Our emissions keep rising & adding to global warming.  In coming months/years, your actions TODAY will define our future -- & being 1 of few 'green' (forested) refuges left on Earth, we wait.. (but the safety-net a Just Transition to sustainability can give us NOW, cannoT!)

Old-growth forests, despite scientists' best efforts/R&D to invent effective C02 sequestration, are still the most -- no, the ONLY -- effective C02 sinks known to humankind. Allowing them to be cleared -- & our multi-billion$ eco-tourist industry to die out along with Old-Growth's threatened biodiversity -- is a sure suicide/ SPECIESCIDE we just cannot afford..

Please SEE how many educated BCers are choosing to be arrested rather than allow our last OldGrowth elders/ lifeboats to be logged like so much wood!? Then fire Katrine Conroy & save our best trees' lives (it's only fair!)

You yourself have said our ancient forests are "worth more standing" -- & you're right:   i.e. Keeping their entirety alive & intact is CRITICAL to mitigating biodiversity loss/ climate change, providing clean air/water, capturing/storing vast amounts of atmospheric C02, regulating ground/ surface water flow, preventing  fires/ floods: the list goes on & on of Old-Growth's uniquely timely qualities:  our living SAVIOURS, which you & (appare only ½) your govt want to deny us/ the world!? 

Right now, BC communities are seeing & feeling the deadly, direct effects of decades of destruction of these MOST IMPORTANT ECOSYSTEMS.  Yet status quo clearcuts & extraction continue apace!!? & Fairy Creek forest defenders are still being arrested -- proving your govt. is stalling on real Climate Action, with an old-school pro-logging puppet of a Forestry Minister dooming us all to a future of fire & Hell & orphaned investments:  WHY!!? 

At this point, clearing our last intact ancient forests equals the stupidity of demolishing the Great Pyramids for the value of their stones-!!?  (Actually worse, given our ancient forests' invaluable benefits that ensure successful outcomes for us all).  It's up to you & your govt. to intervene NOW with actual laws that protect BC's oldest wettest forests:  our globally-unique temperate rainforests, the giants of global Just Recovery, Beautiful BC heritage, Climate Action & so much more..

The world needs these key forests as much as we do, having cleared most of their own indigenous H²0-/ 0²-supplying forests long ago (which they doubtless regret, having become drought-ridden deserts like the others:  Iran, Iraq, Australia, California.. Brazil..?)

Isn't it time you & your govt SHOW US that you actually care, & have the integrity to do what's right -- for our kids' (& their kids') futures, if nothing else? 

Even industry pro's know climate change is real -- with insurance pull-outs from TMX just the start of the REAL recovery from Colonial oppression's ugly hold on our destinies.  YOU & YOUR GOVT. can put us on top (with our friends Old-Growth) oR doom us to the bottom of a bitumen spill -- but either way, change is coming.. & it won'T be kind to the culprits of Climate's/ Nature's downfall:  ie. polluters & their champions..

Thank you Premier Horgan, for hearing input from one whose family's dedication to the NDP ended with me, as I'm young/old enough to see only eco-INaction from your party, which i can't condone.. (I trust you understand)

Sincerely from my heart,

O+G PUSHERs: YOU WILL LOSE..

- cuz SCiENCE aLways wins..

We aLL need to get back to respecting SCIENCE, which just IS -- in a singular category of objectivity, if not its 'last bastion' thereoF..

Science's standardized/ streamlined methodologies exemplify the most efficient/ fruitful/ TRUTHFUL use of human endeavour.. (In an era of artistic license & 'anything goes' -- of random acts & uncertain foes & non-fiction taken for fake news posing as prose (?) SCIENCE PLODS ON, indifferent to traits/ trends & stuck on measured singularities of PLACE/ TIME, in obeyance to its unwavering parameters & consistent procedures that make military regimes seem unhinged..)

Yet for all its unexciting exactitude & unfettered focus on tangible, touchable PHYSICAL REALITY, SCIENCE SUCCEEDS at joining humans in tireless quests for undiluted knowledge & observable overriding truths about our world.. & in doing so, scientists have unearthed the most heartstopping realities & real-life histories that defy the vividest mind of any mortal.. HOW can these epic odysseys of overwhelming magnitude possibly be dismissed with any integrity by self-appointed 'leaders' of whole populations, in favour of paltry fictions & the polluting limitations of ongoing, unchanged use of O&G?

It's taken 1,000s of scientists worldwide working round the clock, using hard-won samples of carefully-measured layers of air & earth & fossils & rock, extracted from physical artifacts/ digs/ dirt/ swamps/ sea-beds/ mountainsides/ cliffs representing different parts of the millions of years embedded therein, then deconstructed & dissected & analyzed & reconstructed & applied to the strictest standards & tested for specific results. The collective consequence amounts to a jaw-dropping Real Natural History of Earth spanning 100s of millions of years -- with ever-accumulating measurements of new finds filling in the blanks, each new discovery illuminating more of the whole, until massive reconstructed worlds are accurately visualized to give us insights into HOW BEST TO PROCEED GOING FORWARD..

[See NOVA TV's 'Polar Extremes']

Point is, WE could be experiencing these ground-breaking discoveries together --shared globally by real [RESPECTED!] scientists sharing their finds as they break them open one by one & unearth the keys to mould our better future-!?  Having this process blocked & downgraded by desperate politicians/ businessmen/ charlatans who profit from polluting systems proven to be the very cuLpRiTs of 100% HUMAN-CAUSED GLOBAL WARMING CONFIRMED BY MODERN SCIENCE is such an obvious perversion to those of us with half a brain who value life beyond constraints of oppression imposed by global leaders profiting from mass consumption of the inefficient, poisonous products they keep hawking, indifferent to the suffering SCIENCE IS SHOWING THEM IN 3-D..

What's gross is the QUACKs/ FoReSTRY HACKS/ FRACKeRs/ O&G cRack LACKeYs & the LiKe  --somehow, against aLL sense of decency/ reason-- have been WINNING, by silencing those of us who are almost hoarse after decades of cLamoRing for JusTice & eco-equaLiTy & future S.U.S.T.A.I.N.A.B.i.L.i.T.y (which is MoRE KEY THAN EVER NOW)..: HOW is indeed a marvel of $$-minded manoeverability of the blind leading the blind, with nothing but personal wealth & obsolete, unETHiCAL [iLLEGAL] eco-destruction mowing down all in their killing paths [furthered by complacent politicians wilfully ignoring conflicts-of-interest/ corruption at the core of lobbyists' non-stop monopoly of their target politicians' sucked-in ears..]

It's exhausting trying to arm everyone with Science + Truth ON TOP OF attending/ organizing rallies to mobilize the general public so your (supposedly Democratic) GovtS wiLL @ leasT LISTEN & mobilize WITH US --as they obviously did during wars-- instead of proving by their underhanded complicity with big-industry polluters that they OUTRIGHT LIE TO THE PUBLIC ABOUT THEIR GOOD INTENTIONS & their PRETENSIONS to 'Climate Action' (<---which however, LET'S FACE IT, reveals that the OVERWHELMING MAJORITY IN FACT FAVOUR CLIMATE ACTION / GREEN DEALS / NATURE'S PROTECTION oveR appeasing the OiL-soaked POWERS THAT BE..)  BuT WHO ARE WE to demand (/politely request) ouR own GovT's attention, having OBSERVED theiR unheaLTHY dynamics enTRENCHed in their daily M.O.s..

--BUT after trying to URGE EVERYONE I KNOW that VOTING GREEN is the onLy WAY TO GO --the ONLY VALiD alternative to the decrepid ECO-WASTING, U.N.D.R.I.P.-betraying STATUS QUO we've come to SEE RIGHT THRU-- the TRUSTY ECO-DEFENDING GREENS (their Constitution the BEST & mosT egaLiTaRian I've ever seen) go STRANGELY SILENT, & in their election-resultant Minority legitimacy DEMANDING iF NOT MANDATING their NOTED VIEWS on aLL GovT. issues, which oughT to heighten their visibility MORE THAN EVER BEFORE IN THEIR HISTORY, THEY INEXPLICABLY DISAPPEAR FROM VIEW -- on public media, in public events... MISSING this once-in-a-lifetime UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO OPPOSE GOVT.'S NEVER-ENDING, NONSTOP SLEW OF BAD DECISIONS, MISPLACED SUPPORTS & BACKWARD BETRAYAL OF THE PUBLIC THEY CLAIM TO REPRESENT!!??  (But CLEARLY, DO NOT.)  W.T.F.?

LEAVING US, THE PUBLIC --LEGIT TAXPAYERS WHO DESERVE PROPER REPRESENTATION & A PROGRESSIVE GOVT. MOVING FORWARD TOWARD THE HEALTHY, SUSTAINABLE, REGENERATIVE WORLD OUR GRANDKIDS DESERVE & EXPECT-- NO OPTION BUT TO HAMMER AT THE GOVT. WE'VE GOT, TO GET THE JUST ECO-FRIENDLY FUTURE WE DESERVE NO MATTER WHAT..

[But i digress..]

IF Govts. WERE interested in taxpayers' --as opposed to corporations'-- concerns, we'd already be transitioning EN MASSE to science-based alternatives, regenerative farming, renewable energy sources like geothermal ETC. --ALL OF WHICH HAVE SUCCESSFULLY BEEN IMPLEMENTED IN BC & GLOBALLY WITH OUTSTANDINGLY PRODUCTIVE RESULTS!?  Tragically, most govt. leaders are --STILL!!??-- wielding way too much (unwarranted) power & held in thrall (apparently?) by O&G lobbyists who have managed to monopolize their tiny brains to the exclusion of anyone else in their decision-making... WHICH I CAN'T EVEN FATHOM AS LEGAL!!?? SHOULDN'T GOVT. BE LISTENING TO THE S.C.I.E.N.T.I.S.T.S. & SUING THE POLLUTING CORPS FOR DAMAGES WITH WHICH TO FUND OUR CLEANER, COOLER FUTURE??

(AT LEAST WE OUGHT TO BE MOBILIZING TOGETHER TO URGE GOVT. TO QUIT USING OUR MONEY TO FUND POLLUTING OPERATIONS THAT ARE OBVIOUSLY CAUSING/ EXACERBATING THESE PROBLEMS???)

(HELLLLOOOO??? HORGAN?? TRUDEAU???? WE SEEEEE YOU... YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM THIS, SO STEP UP & DO US A FAVOUR.. OR BOW OUT GRACEFULLY & LET THE GREEN PARTY DO ITS THING!)

BREAKING: TRUDEAU JUST APPROVED RUINOUS TMX EXPANSION!!?

[Breaking News June 18th 2019 from Protect the Inlet]

Dear Sarah, Canada just approved the Trans Mountain pipeline and tanker project - so it's time to raise our voices. We're meeting at the corner of Georgia and Hamilton in downtown Vancouver where we will march to show Ottawa that no matter who approves this pipeline and tanker project - it will never be built.  TIME: 5:30 PM Pacific | LOCATION: 700 Hamilton at Georgia, outside CBC Vancouver building Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/453965592084200 This is a Climate Emergency - it's time to act like it. We're organizing for a summer of resistance, check out ways you can join in: https://www.stoptransmountainpipeline.org/ Front Line Defence Door Knocking Phone Banking Community Power Solutions This Saturday, June 22, Protect the Inlet and George will be in Victoria for a 22 kilometre walk where local activists have been building a Tiny House to support the Secwepemc Tiny House Warriors, who are preparing for land defence in the Interior of British Columbia. 7 km of Saturday’s march will occupy the highway, before delivering a completed Tiny House to Island View Beach. To join them, find all the info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/331462934205597/ If you can, it's time to build up our resources, please donate here: https://protecttheinlet.ca/asp-products/donations/ There's a famous saying, "Don't mourn, organize." Take a little bit of time to mourn, then let's work together to beat the Climate Emergency and stop this destructive dirty pipeline. Have faith in yourself and each other -- we can do it together.  Yours in solidarity and love, Sarah, Will, Tegan, Howie and the PTI team