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Castle Protected Area Update ...
Submitted by Bradford Duplisea on Tue, 2012-01-17 12:56
For the latest news visit the Stop Castle Logging
FACEBOOK page and BLOG. To Take Action CLICK HERE.... Read more »
Groups slam changes to environmental process
Groups are slamming the federal Conservative government's plan to speed up the environmental review process, suggesting it will become a rubber stamp that won't protect the health and safety of Canadians.
"This is about bulldozing things through over the objection of people or without thinking it through," the Sierra Club's John Bennett told CTV's Power Play.
Streamlining the environmental review process was a key plank in the Tories' first majority government budget, released Thursday.
But Bennett, the executive director of the environment watchdog, said the changes will result in weaker environmental assessments, as well as projects being approved without a full understanding of the social, economic and environmental impacts.
... Read more »Green charities clash with Harper conservatives
OTTAWA -- The Conservatives have taken their battle with environmentalists to new levels of lunacy, some groups said Tuesday, after a Tory senator suggested they would accept funding from Al Qaeda.
"Let me ask you this, honourable senators: If environmentalists are willing to accept money from Martians, where would they draw the line on where they receive money from? Would they take money from Al Qaeda, the Hamas or the Taliban?," Senator Don Plett, the party's former president, asked in the Senate.
"It's jaw-droopingly bizarre," Devon Page, executive director of EcoJustice told The Huffington Post Canada late Tuesday.... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://huff.to/harper-lunacy Senate examines foreign funding of charities
The Conservative government has quietly begun looking into the charitable status of environmental groups in the Senate.
Senator Nicole Eaton is sponsoring an inquiry into what she calls "funding by foreign foundations." Eaton began her debate Tuesday by laying out what she considers to be a threat to the Canadian economy.
"This inquiry is about master manipulators who are operating under the guise of charitable organizations in an effort to manipulate our policies for their own gain," she said in the Upper Chamber.
Environmental groups don't see it that way.
"My fear is that they will just try to smear us and then walk away," said John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada. "And that they're hoping to frighten off U.S. foundations from supporting us... And they're going to try to turn off the public from supporting us."... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/02/29/pol-senate-foreign-charitable-d... - Alberta Tar Sands and Mackenzie River Delta
- Climate Change
- Ecosystems
- The Boreal Forest
- Alberta Tar Sands Pipelines
- Energy Onslaught
- Wilderness and Species Conservation
- Toxics
- Trade and Environment
- Government
- Nuclear-Free Canada
- Atmosphere & Energy
- Health & Environment
- Transition to Sustainable Economy
"Mean Girls"
Submitted by John Bennett on Tue, 2012-02-28 19:11
Do we have a principal to set things right?
It struck me the other day: Canada is stuck in a “Mean Girls” high school movie plot. Then the Robo-Call scandal broke and confirmed it.
Twenty years ago a new kid showed up in the parliamentary cafeteria. He was a big deal in Alberta. The son of Premier, but in Ottawa he was just an upstart from the country who needed to be put in his place. The in-crowd had nothing but scorn. They made fun of the way he talked, the clothes he wore, his nerdy glasses, even how he combed his hair. It wasn’t long before his dream of improving democracy was dashed and he was headed home. But he brought a few young buddies to Ottawa who stayed, vowing to teach those eastern kids a thing or two. They chose a new leader who, like Lindsay Lohan, was very talented - but with a flawed personality.... Read more »
Ottawa’s new anti-terrorism strategy lists eco-extremists as threats
After vowing to take on radical environmentalists determined to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Harper government has released a new anti-terrorism strategy that targets eco-extremists as threats.
With his announcement this week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has increased the concern among environmentalists that Ottawa regards them as implacable adversaries to be monitored and battled, rather than well-meaning advocates to be consulted.
“This is just one more step in their attempt to marginalize the environmental movement and to quiet its voice,” John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Friday. “It’s an indirect suggestion that somehow environmentalism is attached to terrorism and that’s just wrong.”... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/shareTweet/article2334975/?utm_camp... - Alberta Tar Sands and Mackenzie River Delta
- Climate Change
- Ecosystems
- Forests
- Forests and Climate Change
- Alberta Tar Sands Pipelines
- Energy Onslaught
- Forests and Biodiversity
- Nuclear Phaseout
- Wilderness and Species Conservation
- Oceans
- Toxics
- Trade and Environment
- Government
- Radioactive Waste
- Nuclear-Free Canada
- Endangered Species
- Atmosphere & Energy
- Health & Environment
- Transition to Sustainable Economy
Are Canadian environmentalists a terrorist threat?
In a report released yesterday outlining the federal government’s new counter-terrorism strategy, Public Safety Canada listed environmentalists among other “issue-based domestic extremists” that could pose a threat to Canadians.
Responding to the report, Sierra Club Canada director John Bennett said this portrayal is aligned with officials’ attempts to silence environmental groups opposed to major energy projects like the Northern Gateway pipeline.
“We are one of the few segments of Canadian society that has continually stood up to the present Conservative government and been able to be effective at raising issues," said Bennett.... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/02/10/are-canadian-environm... Sierra Club Canada calls for closed zones to foster cod recovery
Fred Winsor says he's happy to see vindication from national science panel calling for sweeping changes to Canada's fisheries managment policies.
Winsor, the conservation chair for Sierra Club, said that he's been saying for a while the federal government's efforts to foster cod stocks just aren't working.
"I've lost track of the number of letters I've written to ministers of fisheries, asking to have various areas closed for marine protected areas and, you know, moving away from single-species management and looking at ecosystems," Winsor said. "It's the Fisheries Department itself; they've been given good information and the research is there, but they refuse to acknowledge it."
... Read more »
Scientists call for protection of Clayoquot Sound forests
B.C. scientists are among more than 133 experts from across North America joining the call for permanent protection of old-growth rainforests in Clayoquot Sound.
All have signed a declaration supporting the measure, which stands against a recent application to the provincial government by the logging company Iisaak to cut old-growth areas on the sound's Flores Island. The company is a First Nations-led concern that espouses forestry practised in concert with ecological and cultural values.
According to Sierra Club B.C., only 21 of 282 rainforest watersheds on Vancouver Island remain unlogged. Seven of the 21 do not have permanent protection, including five in the Clayoquot area.
... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.timescolonist.com/technology/Scientists+call+protection+Clayoquot+Sou... Logging in Castle Mountain area stokes fear for grizzly bear population
Logging in the Castle Mountain area could mean the end to an already threatened and dwindling grizzly bear population, says the Sierra Club of Canada.
The area west of Pincher Creek between Crowsnest Pass and Waterton Lakes National Park is home to about 51 grizzlies that roam both sides of the border, and in a couple weeks logging trucks moving in will diminish that number, claims Dianne Pachal, Sierra Club of Canada’s Alberta Wild Director.
“The size of Castle is about the size of the average home for a male bear,” she said.
“From a grizzly bear perspective, it’s not that large so logging impacts that whole ecosystem.... Read more »
Link to source site:
http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/01/02/logging-in-castle-mountain-area-stokes-fear... Connect with us ...
