From Common Sense Canadian publisher and award-winning documentary filmmaker Damien Gillis (Fractured Land) and Valhalla Wilderness Society comes Primeval: Enter the Incomappleux, now available online following a theatrical tour and film festival screenings. Filmed on location deep in the heart of BC’s Selkirk Mountains, this 19-minute documentary is the story of the majesty,
Continue readingTag: Logging and Forests
The Common Sense Canadian: Trumplandia vs. Clarklandia: How BC stands to lose on LNG, lumber and trade
Part one in a series by Kevin Logan February 17th 2017 As the faux populist facade fades and the new reality show “Trumplandia” begins to emerge from the ruins of the Democratic elite’s embrace of hedge funds and wall street masters, one thing is crystal clear: Big oil and gas
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Fate of BC’s ancient forests is a question of “values”
Craig Pettitt of Valhalla Wilderness Society in the Incomappleux Valley How do we value wilderness? What metrics should we apply to an 1,800-year-old tree, or the tiny lichens that make their home on it? What numbers do we input into our calculator – ecosystem services rendered, tonnes of carbon sequestered, cubic metres
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Canada surpasses Brazil as global leader in deforestation
Clearing of “overburden” forests for oil sands development in Alberta Read this Sept. 3 story from the Washington Post on a new report suggesting wild fires and industrial activity are giving Canada the dubious distinction of being the new global leader on deforestation. WASHINGTON – The world’s virgin forests are being lost at an
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC govt axes tree farm licence changes over widespread opposition
BC’s botched tree farm licence changes would put large global players ahead of local sector By Peter Ewart – republished from 250news.com It was a victory for the forestry sector as a whole and for all British Columbians. On August 28, quietly and without fanfare, Forest Minister Steve Thomson released
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Study links extractive industries to rise in domestic abuse
A fracking drill near Dawson Creek in northeast BC (courtesy of Two Island Films) Read this July 24 Globe and Mail story by Andrea Woo on a new study which exposes one of the trade-offs associated with expanded resource development, namely an increase in violence against women. An increase in domestic and
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: BC First Nation takes “Great Land Grab” to international court
An interview with Robert Morales, Chief Negotiator for the Hul’qumi’num First Nations Treaty Group, about the E&N Railway Land Grants of 1887 and the lasting repercussions of this massive “land grab” for the Hul’qumi’num people today. Robert Morales represents the six Hul’qumi’num First Nations (Cowichan, Chemainus, Penelakut, Lyackson, Halalt, Lake
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Cortes community forestry offers alternative to industrial logging
In a historic announcement last October, the BC government granted the Klahoose First Nation and the Cortes Island Community Forest Co-Op a Community Forest tenure on 3,700 acres of so-called “Crown” or public lands on Cortes—a deal 20 years in the making. Filmmaker and new Common Sense Canadian contributor Daniel Pierce shares
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: New study shows Canadian industrialization in graphic detail
A visualization of industrial impacts across Canada as of 2010 (Global Forest Watch) A national study suggests that Alberta has disturbed more natural landscape than any other province. The analysis by Global Forest Watch adds that Wild Rose Country also has two of the three areas in Canada where the
Continue readingThe Common Sense Canadian: Historic Haida Gwaii totem raising celebrates protection from logging
A new video from Parks Canada follows the carving and raising of a 42-foot totem pole on Haida Gwaii this past summer. The first pole raising there in 130 years, it commemorates the 20-year anniversary of the creation of Gwaii Haanas National Park. The Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole was raised
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