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in his own words

Save the Salish Sea: Respecting Indigenous rights means stopping tar sands tankers

I am, like most of you, a strong supporter of First Nations land and title rights. Increasingly, the international community is waking up to the rights of Indigenous people and their justified desire for sovereignty and self-determination.

This struggle is playing itself out very publicly as First Nations on the west coast of Canada have drawn a line in the sand regarding dangerous pipeline projects. That is the context for the canoe gathering this weekend in the Vancouver harbour, organized by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the the Squamish Nation. 

Protecting the waters is a sacred trust

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environment First Nations Indigenous rights Kinder Morgan Tar Sands
in his own words

Cancun might be a flop, but our environment plans can flourish

The UN climate change negotiations wind to a close today in Cancun, but the hot air has long since gone out the room. This time around, nobody really expected a meaningful new climate treaty to be signed. And yet the urgent task of dealing with climate change remains.

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british columbia Tar Sands Alberta peak oil oil sands Enbridge Kinder Morgan Cancun COP 16
Opinion

After the B.C. election: Big Oil won a battle but they haven't won the war

What makes me sad about Tuesday night's election in B.C. is that I know a lot of folks that really care about the people and the planet had their hearts broken. The candidates and their supporters that I saw at the BC NDP election night party were a group of people who I know wanted to make this province a better place -- it was hard to watch them leave the convention centre with sad faces.

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BC bcpoli BC Politics environment Tar Sands pipelines Kinder Morgan Enbridge greens politics in Canada Ben West Climate Change climate
Opinion

B.C. election: Vote 'yes' to green jobs and 'no' to Enbridge and Kinder Morgan pipelines

Last week Van Jones, the founder of the green jobs advocacy group Green for All, was arrested at a rally organized to protest against a major American coal company. 

What's interesting about this is not just that Van Jones is a CNN correspondent and a former senior staffer for the Obama administration, sometimes called their "green jobs czar." No, what was really interesting is that he was standing shoulder to shoulder with the coal miners fighting to defend their pensions from a hugely wealthy coal company. 

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BC Politics bcpoli Climate Change Elections Enbridge environment green party kinder morgan pipeline NDP social movements Tar Sands US politics Van Jones
Opinion

B.C. election: Christy Clark's position on pipelines is as clear as tar

"We do not believe any proposal should transform Vancouver into a major port for oil export." With these words, B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix marked Earth Day on Monday by explaining his party's opposition to Kinder Morgan's pipeline expansion plans.

 This announcement was welcome news -- a nice Earth Day Kinder (Morgan) surprise. Unfortunately, the B.C. Liberals and Christy Clark have yet to make their position on Kinder Morgan and the Enbridge Northern Gateway proposal clear at all.

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bc election BC Politics bcpoli christy clark Elections environment Kinder Morgan oil tankers pipelines tankers Tar Sands
politics

Obama vows action on climate change -- now it's time to stop tar sands pipelines

Photo: Elvert Barnes

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It's a complicated world. It is of course a huge step in the right direction for the President of the United States to be talking about climate change and extreme weather in such detail in the State of the Union address. 

But ultimately large scale change isn't going to come from the top down. Frankly it's amazing the president wants to do anything about climate change given the aggressive defence of the fossil fuel industries in Washington D.C. and the blatant denial of basic climate science on the floor of the Congress from elected officials these days.

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Opinion

Kinder Morgan's pipeline project: Just as bad as Enbridge

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Kinder Morgan would like us to believe that their Trans Mountain pipeline project in British Columbia is a better proposal than the one Enbridge has put forward, and that they're a more responsible company. Of course, as a climate activist I don't see any oil company proposing to expand oil consumption as playing a positive role in today's day and age. But given all of Enbridge's bungling as of late, some folks may be swayed by this argument.

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BC Politics Canadian politics environment Kinder Morgan politics in Canada Tar Sands
Opinion

Fake consultation process isn't fooling anyone: B.C. doesn't want new Kinder Morgan pipeline

Kinder Morgan's so-called "public information sessions" are little more than a dog and pony show.

Billed as an open forum for dialogue regarding the Houston-based company's proposed Trans Mountain pipeline project, sessions like the one last Saturday in North Vancouver fail to even present residents with detailed community-level maps of the pipeline route. How can you provide any meaningful information about a pipeline project without key information that relates to local neighbourhoods?

Worse yet, Kinder Morgan will likely use these sessions to try and say they have adequately consulted with communities about the project. At best, these sessions are focus groups that we are participating in for free.

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BC Politics Canadian politics environment Kinder Morgan pipelines tankers Tar Sands
Opinion

Election USA 2012: The death of hope and change?

Did you see the U.S. presidential debate last week? For anyone looking to be uplifted and inspired by the Obama the world fell in love with in 2008 it was hard not to be dismayed by what we saw.

This is the same guy who got the Nobel Peace Prize just for his campaign speeches. I think we Canadians actually said we would vote for Obama over any Canadian candidates running for prime minister in one poll that was done. But in the first debate Obama was anything but inspirational. At his best he just seemed annoyed with Romney and the whole thing, but then he appeared to let Romney get away insulting the progressive values he once championed. 

What happened? 

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rabble news

Wake-up call: Time to put climate change back on the news agenda

When was the last time you can remember global warming being the top story on the evening news?

Yeah, I don't remember either.

The United Nations' international climate policy negotiations in Copenhagen back in 2009 was the last time that global warming was consistently front page news.

That seems strange, doesn't it? Particularly given that the United Nations has stated repeatedly that climate change caused by global warming is the "single biggest threat facing humanity today"!

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Climate Change environment
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