Ben West at the town hall meeting in Vancouver, BC on Tuesday, October 22. Photo credit: Zack Embree.
“I want to go kayaking in the Great Bear Rainforest… it's on my bucket list. I don’t know how they could even begin considering taking those [tar sands] tankers there.”
That was the sentiment of a kindly, silver haired gentlemen named Bob that approached me after our last town hall meeting on Tuesday meeting in southern Vancouver, British Columbia.
It's a good question. Why would you risk such a precious jewel that we all share, like the West Coast, with toxic tar sands oil tankers? We tried to get to the heart of that question by asking is our democracy at risk From Harper's pipeline agenda?
During the town hall meeting, we highlighted some of the changes that have been made to weaken environmental laws. We also discussed tactics that Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, seems to be using to push through unpopular tar sands pipelines, like the Enbridge Northern Gateway.
Here’s one attendee’s reflection on the evening: “It was great to see so many there on such a foggy night! Emma Pullman spoke about what is to be a Petro State--didn't know what that was before--now I do! Carleen Thomas spoke about how important it is to protect our beautiful mother earth and her family history as she has lived next to Burrard Inlet her whole life. And last be not least, Ben West gave us so much to think about and an update on where we can go from here!”
Emma Pullman, a researcher with Canadian advocacy group LeadNow, shed some light on the role oil has played in undermining democracies around the world. She highlighted systematic devaluation, or even obstruction, of science and evidence-based decision making in countries with the so-called “oil curse.”
There are billions of dollars of bitumen under Boreal forest in Alberta. Sadly, recent reports show that as little as one per cent of environmental regulations are being enforced. Is there a connection? Maybe oil is starting to have a negative impact on public policy and governance in Canada, too?
The stakes couldn’t be any higher. First Nations are filing human rights complaints to the United Nations. In communities downwind of the Alberta oil sands, abnormally high cancer rates are being detected, according to a new report out of the University of California. Activists from around the world are protesting toxic tar sands oil at international climate negotiations. Canada is becoming the enemy of action on climate change, which has been called the single biggest threat facing humanity today.
Ultimately we need people to realize that tar sands money is dirty money. We need a better way forward. At our previous town hall meeting in North Vancouver, we partnered with the Tsleil Waututh Nations Sacred Trust Initiative to talk about energy alternatives to reduce our dependence on tar sands oil. An economist and a city planner joined us and shared the plan for North Vancouver to cut its own emissions in half within a decade, and to almost eliminate oil dependence within our lifetimes.
I got this message from a UBC grad student who came to our last lecture:
I felt particularly called to attend this one because it was held in the Tsleil Waututh community. It was heartwarming to see how many neighbours and friends came to listen and to show their support. Ben gave a fantastic presentation about the Kinder Morgan pipeline, including recent revelations regarding Kinder Morgan’s business practices. The facts spoke for themselves.
But the meeting went beyond establishing the case against Kinder Morgan to consider whether there were alternatives to an oil-based economy. Is it really possible or practical to say NO to oil?...Marc Lee of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Patrick Condon, Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC both gave really great presentations that demonstrated that it is entirely viable to live in green communities and create green economies…I found it quite empowering to hear policy and planning experts affirming that it is entirely possible and rational to say no to oil altogether…
Messages like this make all the hard work we do worthwhile. The movement against these pipelines continue to grow.
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