Even though I just posted about the dangers of an oil spill off the BC coast, I’m going to now post about the dangers of an oil spill in the Canadian Arctic. It seems appropriate given the situation in the USA. The dark cloud looms….

BP (everyone’s favourite company) has proposed to do some exploratory drilling in our arctic waters. Global warming is already a major treat to this very sensitive and ecologically unique area. A study done to model the effects of an oil spill in the Beaufort Sea showed that an oil spill in that area could even worsen the effect of climate change. After seeing what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico, do we even need further evidence to show how dangerous drilling the the arctic could be? With pack ice shifting around, the dangers are too great.

Here’s the article in the Vancouver Sun that brought this to my attention. I haven’t looked into this issue as much as the Enbridge one, I’m sure there’s lot of more information out there. I was just so stressed about the idea of more drilling I needed to get this post up. Our threatened arctic needs all the help it can get. Do you trust our oil-hungry government to protect it?

I wanted to take the time to sing the praises of one of my favourite green products. The Green Beaver Company’s Make-Up Remover.

I’ve tried a few different make-up removers over the years, and this one really works the best. It has no problem getting mascara and eyeliner off where the other ones I’ve tried have always left some behind that ends up staining my towels. Plus, it has no fragrance or freaky chemicals, which is nice when you’re smearing something around your eyes. And it’s a Canadian Company that started as a green company, and who’s philosophy is green to the core. No green-washing here!

As an added bonus, I’ve been using the same tube for over a year and there’s still some left. I know, I know, you’re not supposed to keep beauty products that long, but I can’t bring myself to throw something away that works perfectly fine. Plus I haven’t gotten any freaky eye infections, so it seems to be OK. I can’t remember what I paid for it at the time, but it’s listed on Well.ca for $15. That’s more than some products you can find at the drug store, but if it lasts this long and works this good, it works out money-wise in the end.

Douglas Channel, where the supertankers will pass through

My friend Kyle pointed me in the direction of this post. Once I did some reading on it, the situation is very intense.

The Northern Gateway pipeline will run from Edmonton to the northern BC coast to carry petroleum to waiting tankers that will head off for America and Asia.

The First Nation bands in this area have said an oil spill in this area of the coast “would be devastating to the environment. It would literally wipe out all of our cultures.” (From the Globe and Mail). They have presented a petition they ran in the Globe and Mail that was signed by 150 First Nations, Greenpeace, WWF, David Suzuki, Margaret Atwood, and Willie Mitchell.

Enbridge responds with: “It’s important to note that the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project will be required to undergo a comprehensive and rigorous regulatory review process to ensure the project is in the interest of the Canadian public,” Ms. Varey [Senior manager of corporate communications for Enbridge Inc.] wrote. “That is the highest level of regulatory scrutiny an economic development project can receive.” (From the same article in the Globe and Mail, March 27, 2010) Right. I’m sure they say that about all oil projects. “We’ll be really careful”. Then the bottom line appears and corners are cut and money outweighs regulations/safety .

Have you seen The Yes Men Fix the World? They give a fake presentation as a representative of Dow Chemical about a formula measuring the cost from loss of human life against profits. No one in the audience really got upset about this. I think someone said it was “refreshing” to hear someone say what they’re all thinking. I personally wouldn’t expect Enbridge to think much different than that guy.

I think I’m justified in my mistrust of Enbridge and the sinking in the pit of my stomach over the very idea of this pipeline. These things have a history of not going well. The Exxon Valdez is often used to illustrate the concerns over this pipeline. What about the ship that just hit the Great Barrier Reef? How can you not know where the Great Barrier Reef is? We can’t risk this on the diverse, but fragile, BC coast.

Public pressure is growing about this issue. That’s the only way to put the brakes on the process. If you’re concerned too, you can go to http://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/ to sign the petition.

With the economic recovery putting along, I’m hearing a lot about the creation of ‘green jobs’ lately. Most recently I read an article in The Coast by Chris Benjamin. It had some exciting numbers. For every $1 million invested in green industries, 18 jobs are created. For every $1 million invested in oil and gas, 3.7 jobs are created.

Huh.

That’s fantastic news. If enough people realize this, governments are going to be forced to put money into green industries. Job creation is a big deal, and if the government runs with this, it’s win win! Well, oil and gas doesn’t win, but we don’t want them to anyway.

The same article uses Germany as an example. Their apartment retrofit program has created 140 000 jobs and saved the government €4 billion in unemployment payments. Those are more impressive numbers.

I feel the strong forces of oil and gas are what is holding these industries back in Canada. We need the government to do what is best for Canadians, and that means investing green industry. The numbers don’t lie!

A real live spirit bear...who's protecting it's habitat? Not Canada

I know, I know. There’s already been a tonne of blog posts and tweets about the environmentalism of the Olympics. However, I believe that when an issue is important, every voice counts. The more voices, the more the people in charge are forced to take notice. So take notice Ottawa!

The Olympic organizers have made a pretty solid effort to make the games “greener”. They built energy efficient buildings, they’re re-using heat waste to heat other buildings, they’re promoting carbon offsets. Super.

But I want to focus on the big picture. There’s the frequently played “Beautiful British Columbia” commercial showing Ryan Reynolds enjoying a campfire in the forest, there’s the high impact images of salmon and old growth forests at the opening ceremonies, there’s the overload of images of mountains, oceans, trees and wildlife around every corner. We’re showing the world just how much we love our nature, how much we cherish what we’ve been gifted by geography.

Liars! We present this image to the world but we don’t live up to it at all. This article in the Vancouver Sun sums things up pretty well.

What a majestic representation of the salmon running at the opening ceremonies. According to the Vancouver Sun, 38 salmon runs in BC are endangered. Yet fishing of salmon runs still gets approved due to their commercial value, even those on the brink of becoming endangered or extinct. These runs are also in danger of genetic contamination by escaped farmed salmon (which are Atlantic salmon) or infection by lice picked up when swimming near salmon farms. Drastic changes are needed in the salmon fishery to ensure this symbolic animal does not go extinct.

Great display of the glory of the old growth forests. Logging of old growth stands is happening right now. The pockets that exist are getting fewer and far between. These stands represent a structure that can’t be re-grown in a decade or two. We’re talking hundreds of years.

And then there’s Canada’s environmental track record in general. Not so good. Just because we have a lot of nature and not so many people doesn’t give us a free ride. We consume pretty much the same as America per capita, produce the same amount of GHGs per capita.

Canadians love being associated with nature. So let’s make sure we keep nature around. Let’s live up to what we project to the world. Let’s tell parliament we want to be a green country!