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Newsletter No. 139 - Serving the Vision of a Sustainable Vancouver Island - June 2004

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A DREAM OF NEW GOVERNMENT

So, an election! The chance to elect a new government, and a leader who will steer Canada away from the global ecological meltdown we’re heading towards. Now what did I hear in that party political broadcast last night? Or was it a dream? Ah yes, it’s all coming back to me….

"My friends, and fellow Canadians, this is truly a crucial moment in the history of our world. I know that many of you are concerned about issues such as the price of gas, and the state of our healthcare system, but there is a much greater peril that faces us, not just in Canada, but throughout the world.

I do not refer to the threat of terrorism, though this is connected. Nor do I refer to the crisis of AIDS, and the poverty that can be the breeding ground for both AIDS and terrorism.

No, I am referring to something which threatens the very core of our civilization, and the natural world that surrounds us. I am referring to the grave global consequences that are resulting from the very means we use to grow our economies and build our wealth.

In the early days of the industrial age, there seemed to be no harm in fishing the oceans, and felling the forests. It seemed like a great adventure, from which all would benefit. As a civilization, we were enthralled with the power we could obtain from fossil fuels, which could power our industries, heat our homes, and give us the freedom to travel so widely. We were enthralled by the products that modern chemistry could create, from plastics to pesticides.

But we must be ruthlessly honest, if this great adventure is to continue. Most of the great forests of the world are no more. We are exhausting the oceans. We are filling our bodies and the bodies of our children with unwanted chemicals, many of which contribute to cancer and other disorders, causing our health care costs to soar.

We are harvesting food from the world’s soils without rebuilding their fertility, consuming the world’s freshwater without replenishing our aquifers, and pushing our developments into the habitat of other species without regard for their future, or possible extinction.

Perhaps most dangerously of all, our use of fossil fuels is pushing the global climate into dangerous instability, threatening enormous physical, personal and economic disruption. The world’s climate scientists are almost unanimous in their expressions of concern.

As I stand here seeking your support to lead the government of this great country, I feel in awe at the immensity of the challenge we face, and yet confident that as Canadians, we have both the ability and the willpower to turn our civilization around, and build new foundations for the businesses and industries we depend on, based on the principles of nature, instead of the old-fashioned principles we have been following, which I might summarize, perhaps brutally, as "grab it while you can".

This is a challenge we must all embrace, to build a new eco-industrial civilization in which all waste becomes food for more creation, all toxic emissions are either converted or eliminated, all energy comes from sustainable sources, and every footprint that we make upon this Earth adds to the diversity and strength of Nature, instead of depleting it.

If you choose to elect me as your next Prime Minister, my party will begin immediately to tax the burden of pollution, toxins, and other unwanted "bads", using the income to reduce your personal taxes and pension contributions. We will replace the GST with a Carbon Sales tax. For very investment you make that improves the efficiency of your home or business, we will give you a 100% tax credit. For every bicycle or transit pass you buy, we will do the same.

For every dollar of additional income that the government receives from the increasing price of gas, we will return it to you as a rebate on the purchase of an efficient vehicle. The world’s oil supply will not last forever, and all indications are that it will soon start to become scarce, and become much more expensive.

In future, all federal funds that we dispense will be conditional on clear indications of progress towards social, ecological and economic sustainability, whether by cities, businesses, or individuals. This will be the defining principle of our government.

We will close Canada’s offshore banking loopholes. We will commit 1% of our revenues to ensure that every Canadian has an affordable home. We will work with the provinces to apply 5% of all healthcare spending towards prevention.

We will change our voting system so that every vote counts through a system of mixed member proportional representation. We will give the vote to every 16 year old, since they are our future.

We will take these same principles to the world, and work with other nations to change the very foundations of the world’s economy.

If we do these things, future generations will praise us. If we do not, they will curse us….. and there the dream faded.

Guy Dauncey

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ECONEWS

A monthly newsletter, funded by your donations, that dreams of a world blessed by the harmony of nature, the pleasures of community, & the joys of personal fulfillment, protected and guided by active citizenship.

Donations can be sent to EcoNews, 395 Conway Rd, Victoria, BC, V9E 2B9. For a receipt send stamped addressed envelope.

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A big thankyou to Mike Boyd, Lois Marcoux, Katey Bloomfield, Doreen Hind, Norah Forrest, Daphne Wheeler, Peter Schofield, Jim Bohlen, Johan Grolle, Diane Mothersill, Colin Graham, T. Macmurchie, Mel McDonald, Brian Pinch, & Baron Fowler.

IN MEMORY This issue was paid for in Memory of Maureen Hosier Fowler (née Smith), 1920-2003. Born in London, England, trained as secretary and drafted into the Royal Air Force during the war. Married a Canadian bomber navigator. Emigrated to Edmonton in 1945, saw the Leduc No.1 oil well 'blow in' from the front window in 1947. Mother, grandmother, war veteran with a medal to prove it, wizard secretary, excommunicated the Catholic Church at 18 and never set foot in one again. Voted Green in the last Provincial election. Yelled across the fence at her Scots pal, "That Campbell is a bad lot! You should have voted for the Greens!". Survived breast cancer for 23 years. Finally succumbed to liver cancer at 84 after a terrific life. The most sophisticated person her second son ever met; only took him 53 years to figure this out. Prevention is the only cancer solution that will work in the long run.

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THE ECO-CORNER
$5/line (non-profits, low-income free)
1" box $40, $2" box $70. Insert $180

* For Sale. 5 acre lot, Duncan area. Pastoral and mountain view, 2 old growth Douglas fir, many beautiful maple, cedar and young fir. 8 gpm well, approved septic. Choice building sites, #195,000. 250-743-4453

* Wanted: Occasional female housesitter. Call 479-9491 for details.

* Volunteers wanted to help the Green Party Campaign. 587 Johnson. 381-2737

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Healing and Celebrating All Life

Marianne Sämann-Wyss, Core-Shamanic Practitioner & Wholistic Counsellor

Energy Work with People, Animals, and Places

382-3582

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THE DYING SALMON

Alexandra Morton writes from Echo Bay, B.C.: "Over the past several years I have felt on occasion that events in the Broughton Archipelago must be witnessed widely. Today is one of those times. Since 2001 I have been studying an unprecedented appearance of sea lice on wild juvenile salmon in these heavily salmon farmed waters. After identifying the epidemic in 2001, a cohort of authors and I looked at pink and chum fry coastwide and found sea lice only on young salmon near salmon farms. Last year 11 salmon farms were fallowed in the Broughton and sea lice numbers fell dramatically. This year the farm salmon are back in the pens and the lice are back with a vengeance. The relationship is undeniable.

In an act of ruthless negotiation, Stolt was given another site in exchange for fallowing one of their sites for a few months last year, and now they have both sites stocked. The DFO did a study at a cost of $1.2 million last year, during the fallow, and held a press conference in mid-May [saying] that I am wrong, there is no problem here, in fact juvenile salmon with lice were more robust than those without lice. The scientific community at large finds this ridiculous. The salmon farming industry is slated to expand upcoast into even more productive wild salmon grounds.

I know the temptation must be great to disregard my work and warnings, but I am certain I am measuring the local extinction of the odd year cycle Area 12 Mainland pink salmon. I have been absolutely correct for two years now on the size of this stock's collapse … not because I am great scientist, but because the damage is so great to any who will see. The number of infected fish accurately predicts how many pink salmon will not return to spawn.

This fall we will see a good pink salmon return to the Broughton Archipelago because these will be the fish who went to sea during the salmon farm fallow. But if their offspring have to swim through a sea of sea lice as this spring's generation is right now, a 5 million strong population of pink salmon will cease to exist. This scenario has replayed world wide, wherever salmon farms enter wild salmon waters. Norwegian scientists do not react to my work as DFO does. They say they expected this to happen to us. DFO has not offered their research to international peer-review.

Tribune Channel is a long narrow channel dotted by four Stolt salmon farms, and at the end sits a large Heritage site. Millions of tiny pink salmon entered the east end of Tribune, but almost none are swimming out the west end. Every morning I pick up the dying from a short stretch of Tribune. Listless, emaciated, so stunned they do not hear my boat or see my hand reaching for them, these fish will never go to sea. Entire schools are only a few days or hours behind these dying fish, allowing me to stop and stare at their ruined bodies. Some tilt and sink, wiggle briefly then sink again. As a young graduate student here tells me every evening, "It's carnage out there."

I am not alone in studying this anymore; a tiny army of young non-government scientists are in the field with or without adequate funding. The outlook offered by DFO will be found wrong. See here for recent photos: www.raincoastresearch.org/witness.htm

Salmon farms do not need to make lice to farm salmon. All that is required here is separation between the farms and the very small wild salmon. There are communities that would welcome land-based salmon farms [which] could continue to offer employment while allowing wild salmon … to thrive. A large public resource is being annihilated by sheer sloppiness.

The salmon farms must be removed from Tribune Channel and the Burdwood Islands by the end of this year for wild salmon to continue to exist in the Broughton. In the near future science will pinpoint the farms’ responsibility for the loss of wild salmon. The only question is what will be left.

I hope the farmers will take this last opportunity to avoid the legal implications and ruination of their industry and try something new and brilliant. Denial of a problem this obvious is not the intelligent move. Please do what you can to stop this reckless, senseless carnage of a fish so abundant and generous it should be held sacred and passed to the next generation."

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CANCER SMART

Say it after me: "2-butoxy-ethanol". And now this: "Etho-xylated-nonyl-phenol". They’re not very friendly words; not quite the same as "rosemary" or "lemon", eh? They’re in regular household products, however. The first is a reproductive toxin which is present in CLR Calcium Lime and Rust Remover, Fantastic Lemon Scent Cleaner, and Tilex Total Bathroom Multipurpose Cleaner. So when you see those feisty CLR adverts on TV, remind yourself that the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says 2-butoxy-ethanol can cause reproductive effects and birth defects in animals.

So how can you tell which laundry detergent, oven cleaner, or flea powder is safe, and which might give you an unexpected dose of carcinogens? It’s tough, since the manufacturers don’t have to indicate the ingredients.

But now to the rescue comes The CancerSmart Consumer Guide. Produced by the Labour Environmental Alliance Society in Vancouver, it’s an easy to follow booklet that lists many common pesticides, household cleaners and food contaminants, and tells you which contain chemicals that could sit in your body before going off in 20 years as a cancer-contributing time-bomb.

And here’s a shocker: cancer is now the second leading cause of death in children, after accidents. Pregnancy is probably the most vulnerable stage in a child’s life, so please buy a copy for any woman you know who’s pregnant, and every young couple. To order, send $5 to Labour Environmental Alliance Society, 1203–207 West Hastings, Vancouver V6B 1H7. ($4 for 5 – 100 copies; $3.50 for 101+). www.leas.ca

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WELCOME, GLENAIRLEY!

The Glenairley Centre for Earth and Spirit in Sooke is a new addition to the geography of hope on Vancouver Island. As a non-profit ecological learning centre, run in partnership with the Sisters of St Ann on their historic 23 acre waterfront property, the Centre’s mission is to nurture a contemporary ecological spirituality, offering an experience and a celebration of belonging to the sacred web of life to all who want to embrace the call to personal and global transformation. They have a full summer programme (see Diary), and everyone is invited to their Summer Solstice Celebration on Sunday June 20^th. "I believe that in this critical time of ecological and spiritual crisis, Earth calls us to recognize and reclaim our kinship, and to honour all as sacred." Maureen Wild. www.centreforearthandspirit.org

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THE GARDEN PATH NURSERY

Organic Plants & Seeds

Specializing In Heritage, Rare &Unusual Plants. 40 Varieties Heirloom Tomatoes

Open Daily 10am – 5:30pm until July 3^rd

395 Conway Rd, West Saanich

Carolyn Herriot (250) 881-1555

www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath

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LEARNING ON THE FRASER

Brenda said, "It was definitely the trip of lifetime." Patrick said he was "blown away with the Fraser’s diverse landscapes." Nathan added, "It was like cramming an entire university semester of learning into three weeks." They are talking about the Sustainable Living Leadership Program, offered by the Rivershed Society of BC. For this year (July 24-Aug 15), the society is looking for 8 young leaders, 19 or older, who have a passion for stewardship and a desire to live sustainably. Last summer, participants met in Mount Robson Provincial Park, and 23 days later they arrived by water in Vancouver’s False Creek, having experienced pristine riversheds in the Upper Fraser, and urbanized riversheds in the Lower Fraser. Interested? Call (604) 941-5937. www.rivershed.com

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RAINFOREST VICTORY

Remember the EcoNews cover story about The Bank that Ran into RAN? Now the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has chalked up another victory. The Bank of America Group, the No 2 US bank, has agreed not to fund any more projects that involve oil and gas exploration, mining or logging in oldgrowth tropical rainforests, or any logging operations in "intact" forests which support many species. They’ve agreed not to finance companies or projects that collude with illegal logging operations, or projects in sensitive forests where indigenous people have unresolved land claims. They have also set specific goals and a timetable to reduce the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions that result from their financing activities. Don’t ever think it’s all hopeless! RAN shows what can be achieved with well-organized persistence. www.ran.org

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SING, GRANNIES, SING!

"Once, we were invisible. Like all older women, we were expected to fade into the background along with our looks, our health, our income, and our importance to society. But not any more." And so begins this wonderful, colourful story of a few Victoria women who took their political passions to the streets back in 1987, and gave birth to a movement. There are now 60 Raging Grannies groups around the world, chasing off nuclear weapons and nuclear powered ships, opposing the arms trade and the wars on Iraq, getting arrested to stop clearcutting, showing their udder distaste for hormone laden milk, protesting the MAI (remember that?) and the WTO, crying out loud against health care cuts, while never losing their faith and their humour. Now they’ve spilled the beans in a book, Off Our Rockers and Into Trouble by Alison Acker and Betty Brightwell (TouchWood Editions $19.95) that tells the whole story. Read, enjoy, and get singspired!

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MINING IN THE PARKS

Here’s one for the Grannies: "If you go down to the woods tomorrow, you may never believe your eyes. (Repeat). For here and there, maybe everywhere, with trucks and flags and guys with jacks, the miners and the loggers are having a party!" Yes, it’s true. In the 72,000 hectare South Chilcotin Mountains Protected Area, 100 km north of Whistler, the BC Liberal government, under the leadership of Gordon Campbell, is poised to roll back the park boundaries by as much as 20%. Teck Cominco, BC’s biggest mining company, is backing the BC Mining Association’s lobbying efforts to open it up. In 2001, they gave $56,590 to the BC Liberal Party; but that was just kindness. The mining community also has its eyes on the Tatshenshini, up by Alaska. See www.saveourparks.ca and www.wildernesscommittee.org

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ACTION OF THE MONTH
THE FEDERAL ELECTION

Action: There is one crisis that overshadows all others, which is not being much talked about: global climate change. So in this election, become a "Climate Ranger", and take every chance at the public meetings to ask the candidates: "What will your party do to reduce Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions?" Then note the result, and pass the word around.

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EcoNews, Guy Dauncey
395 Conway Road, Victoria V9E 2B9
Tel/Fax (250) 881-1304

Author of "Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change"
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