Happy Wednesday, all! I was all set to write about a completely different topic this evening — and am going to leave this link here so that I’m reminded to come back to it in a future Wednesday — but instead, today I want to give a shout out to all of the steadfast environmental activists out there.
As you know, last week, I told you about the awesome environment-loving group A for Adventure. While they are evidently environmentalists, and are doing a huge part in reconnecting folks to the environment, this week, I wanted to promote a complimentary group of environmentalists — those who are consistently holding our governments to the task of creating projects and policies to conserve our environment.
With an endless number of other stories going a mile-a-minute in our news these days, holding governments focused on our environment/changing climate is quite the task. So, I am so grateful to anyone out there doing this steadfast work. It was drawn to my attention this evening, thanks to a group of environmental activists from Sackville (NB) who wanted to chat with their local MP (and Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard), Dominic Leblanc, about the federal government’s purchase of Kinder Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline. As this pipeline is happening in Alberta and BC, I had been seeing quite a few protests to the pipeline out West, however, there has not been much action out East. The message that I really appreciated from Tina Oh (on behalf of the group) was that, even though it’s being built out West, all Canadians are now owners of it, and we believe the money could be better spent on other priorities*. And in a comment from Shannon in an earlier video: As Dominic is also the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, how could he move forward in supporting this project when it clearly poses such a risk to the oceans and the people’s livelihood in that area.
To keep up to date with this rad group of students and community members, check them out at Divest MTA. And thank you!
*Other priorities such as universal pharmacare, senior support services, etc… but we could also be investing in clean energy. As Elizabeth May pointed out on June 26: The Liberals are buying Kinder Morgan’s old pipeline for $4.5 Billion. The world’s largest solar plant cost $679 Million.
Claire and the World 