Here's an interesting and easy way to help out the David Suzuki Foundation. Go to www.myentrypoint.ca and fill in the blanks to make your own story about leaving something - calling that girl, giving up carbs, signing up for the Nature Challenge - for too late. When you tell your story, Criterion Investments will donate $10 on your behalf to the David Suzuki Foundation water and clean energy programs.
Of all the human-related threats to our planet, one has received surprisingly little attention given its magnitude. Perhaps it’s because few people see the massive islands of plastic swirling in the oceans.
CBC columnist Heather Mallick described one such island in the Pacific Ocean as “a hideous chyme stretching and pulsing in the sea like an underwater gob of spiky phlegm.”
In “Waves of disaster”, a feature article in this week’s Georgia Straight, Vancouver writer Roberta Staley provides more detail: “A briny Brobdingnagian mass of bobbing fishing line and nets, computers, bags, shampoo caps, toothbrushes, tires, bottles, diapers, tampon tubes, and plastic containers, the Garbage Patch is estimated to be at least 620,000 square kilometres—about 20 times the size of Vancouver Island—and 30 metres deep.”
The article attempts to get to the bottom of questions such as: “How did plastic come to rend the natural cycle of the ocean, the womb of Earth whence all life, from plants to insects to humans, sprang, perhaps four billion years ago? And what are the implications for humans as our oceans are churned into a soup of chemical and plastic?”
It’s a disturbing but important issue that needs to be understood by the public, as it’s something we’ve all played a role in creating, and a problem that we all have a stake in solving.
“Why don’t you guys pop your heads out from behind that tree” says the E! News producer. Sam pipes up and says something along the lines of, is that really going to get the message out? How will that help the owl? Aren’t we here to talk about protecting habitat?
Let’s just say that was music to my ears because it came from a rock star with conviction and an interest in staying on message!
Saturday July 26th, before opening the main stage at the Pemberton Music Festival, Sam Roberts came out with me (and about 10 others) in search of old growth Douglas Firs. Now, this wasn’t just any grove of trees. Last year it was home to one of BC’s last Spotted Owls, a female about 13 years old. And when I say last, I mean there are less than 10 in the wild, with four captured by the provincial government to be bred in captivity. Once upon a time B.C. was home to about 500 pairs.
Sam and the group (his manager, a friend, label representative, E! News producer, cameraman, interviewer, guide from the Western Canada Wilderness Committee, and First Nations hosts) definitely got a sense of what extinction sounds like, smells like and feels like. It seemed quite pathetic and sad to be standing in a forest, staring up at a tree that was once home to an endangered species. It’s that sinking feeling that motivates me to work tirelessly at profiling the stunning fact that BC is without an Endangered Species Law. Sign our petition to get a law at www.lastplaceonearth.ca
So the experience in nature, which everyone must have to remind us of what we’re fighting to protect, was greatly appreciated by Sam. He lamented that he rarely gets beyond the tour bus, parking lot and concert venue when he’s on the road. And although I never delivered on getting him his first bear sighting EVER, we did see a lot of bear scat on the bumpy, boulder ridden, at times cliff hugging logging road east of Pemberton. Next time!
We want to send you to the sold-out Radiohead concerts in Toronto (Aug. 15th) and Vancouver (Aug. 19th). All you have to do is tell us how Radiohead can be more eco-friendly on tour. We'll pick one lucky winner for each concert! Check out our MySpace page for more details and to enter the contest!
David Suzuki was recently in Europe with his daughter to see first-hand all the amazing progress being made with renewable energy. Here’s an update that he sent to us we’d like to share:
We have had a great time with Preben Maegaard, the father of renewable energy in Denmark. The thing that is inspiring is how they are thinking of connecting bits of renewable - power and heat generation, biogas, wind, solar and wave - to the grid. We absolutely loved Copenhagen. If Vancouverites think Vancouver is the best city in the world, well, think again. We spent an entire day cycling, of course, it's flat but the bikes are so great. We see punk kids with pink hairdos, tattoos and chains riding alongside grandparents, business people and women in fancy dresses and high heels. Bicycles rule and the city is closing off entire main streets to cars so bikes can have the whole road. Lots of cargo bikes with three wheels with two at the back or front so they can carry children, groceries or more.
Berlin was a very different experience. [Parliamentarian] Hermann Scheer is a great man and my new hero. He is so popular, he doesn't care what his party says, he just stays true to his commitment to renewables and he's had a huge impact.
What is interesting is that what we´ve seen - bicycles in Copenhagen, biogas, cradle to cradle manufacturing, biodynamic wine making, fast trains - didn´t come about because of environmental concerns. They had to do with economics, energy self sufficiency and quality of life. It is crystal clear to me that the ONLY truly sustainable energy for the future is renewables and that is scientifically irrefutable. The only real impediment to moving to that future is mindset, not technology or economics.
High fuel costs and the rising dollar may have given unlikely protection to one of Canada’s least sustainable fisheries – the longspine thornyhead, or idiot fish. But it's not enough.
DSF has called for an immediate moratorium on the fishing of the longspine thornyhead. And our fisheries expert, Scott Wallace, knows all there is to know about this fascinating species.
The longspine thornyhead is called the “idiot fish” in industry circles, but truth be told this groundfish is a biological genius. It has carved out an existence one kilometre under the sea in one of the earth’s least livable environments, where water pressure is extreme and little oxygen, food, or sunlight can be found. The longspine thornyhead can survive the pressure of the deep ocean but whether it will be able to survive the pressure of human activity is another question.
Beginning in 1996, Fisheries and Oceans Canada endorsed a deep-sea bottom-trawl fishery for this species with virtually no information about its abundance or life history. Most of the catch of this species, 86 per cent, is taken from the continental shelf off the west coast of Vancouver Island by boats dragging massive trawl nets across the ocean floor. Now, about 94 per cent of the seafloor in the depth range of 500 to1,200 metres in this area has been trawled.
Research shows that populations of the fish may have declined by 50 to 60 per cent between 1996 and 2004. In 2007, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada designated the longspine thornyhead as “special concern”. The declines and the COSEWIC designation, along with the known destructive impacts of bottom trawling, should have led to a closure of the fishery. Instead, it continues with no change in fishing practices.
Talk about a school project. As part of the sports and event marketing program at George Brown College in Toronto, students organized the Great Green Challenge - a race for sustainability across the city - and donated the proceeds to the David Suzuki Foundation.
The scavenger hunt/race covered ten Toronto landmarks and challenges at every stop. Team members pedaled on exercise bikes, were quizzed on their Earth knowledge, and even spelled out "green" using their bodies, "YMCA"-style. Our own climate change expert, Jose Etcheverry, was on hand at the cool down reception to congratulate all the teams and talk about renewable energy. Check out our photo gallery for more highlights.
As we reach the zenith of summer and adult salmon are starting their migration up B.C. rivers in earnest, I began to wonder - how are the salmon doing? I went to one of our marine experts, Jeffrey Young, for the scoop.
Over the past 10-20 years we have observed some significant declines in salmon stocks across B.C., including populations from all six of the Pacific salmon species that occur here. Some of these stocks have been scientifically assessed as endangered. Returns of sockeye salmon were particularly low in 2007 and so far Chinook returns in 2008 have been very low. Coho and steelhead continue to struggle, particularly along the south coast of the province. Overall, there is a lot to be concerned about. However, B.C. hasn’t faced the drastic problems that some salmon are facing further south and we still have a lot to work towards.
What can we do? Habitat loss, fisheries mismanagement and climate change have all contributed to salmon declines. We need better enforcement of habitat protection laws – this is in the hands of the federal government. Salmon also need people to ask for more enforcement officers to protect salmon habitat. Fisheries have made some changes to protect salmon diversity, but much more needs to be done. To support sustainable salmon fisheries you can vote with your fork by choosing sustainable seafood options. SeaChoice, which is Canada’s sustainable seafood guide, has all the info including seasonal salmon recommendations. Check it out!
Sam Roberts took some time out of rocking out at the Pemberton Music Festival in B.C. this weekend to hook up with our very own Lindsay Coulter to try and catch a glimpse of the rare Spotted Owl. Check out E! Online for the adventures that ensued.
| 
David Suzuki was recently in Europe with his daughter to see first-hand all the amazing progress being made with renewable energy. Here’s an update that he sent to us we’d like to share:
As we reach the zenith of summer and adult salmon are starting their migration up B.C. rivers in earnest, I began to wonder - how are the salmon doing? I went to one of our marine experts, Jeffrey Young, for the scoop.