Thirteen years ago, I was hired as a consultant to provide expert advice on the impacts of the Digby Quarry. The local community had become alarmed about the quarry when they heard about plans to build a marine terminal at the site. Clearly, the quarry, which was originally 3.9 hectares –the size of quarry that eludes environmental assessment in Nova Scotia –was going to be much larger than they had thought. Turned out, a 120 hectare quarry was planned, located 50 metres from the shoreline.
Sometimes around this time of year, sleep is hard to come by.
As you know, this is when we start looking toward next year and reflecting on how we are going to be prepared to fight for the things we care about.
Almost as an antidote to last week's announcement that the US intends to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, today, June 5th, we celebrate World Environment Day.
Some people have asked for a break from the bad news and the heartache that sometimes comes with caring for our Earth - whether its trying to stop toxic pollution, prevent climate change, or protecting wildlife and wild spaces. For me, a good antidote to the doom and gloom is checking in with our Wild Child programs on PEI and Nova Scotia.
Over the past few weeks, protests about the potential for methyl mercury contamination downstream of the Muskrat Falls development in Labrador made national headlines. Sierra Club Canada Foundation has voiced strong opposition to the Muskrat Falls project for years, and tried to show the damage it will cause to wildlife and the Grande River, and the people who live downstream. We also tried to demonstrate that this type of mega-hydro development was not needed to meet our climate objectives, and there were plenty of less damaging, less expensive alternatives. All to no avail. Till now.
