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Stop Open-Pit Coal Mining in Alberta!
On May 15, 2020 the Alberta government announced that it would be removing the environmental protections implemented through its 44 year old “Coal Policy”, devised by former premier Peter Lougheed in 1976, that prohibited open-pit coal mining in vast swaths of the province’s Rocky Mountains and foothills.
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The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance, with about 13,000 British Columbian supporters at this time, would like to suggest several key items to include in an economic stimulus package.
Sustainability analysts around the world all point out that it’s critical that these funds do not provide a life jacket to keep destructive and dying industries afloat, like coal, tar sands, and oil and gas. Rather, the opportunity provided by the brief but major reductions in global emissions, the change in consumer behaviour, and the shift in global markets during the lockdown presents the most critical opportunity to redirect our societies’ path dependencies away from these destructive dead ends.
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The following is the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s submission to the BC Budget 2021, where the BC government is soliciting public input on what items they want to see included.
Please take the time to let them know major funding is needed for expanding protected areas in the native ecosystems and old-growth forests of BC
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The first major, province-wide analysis on the status of old-growth forests in BC has just been released by an independent science team - and the results are dire.
Read the full, independent report from Dr. Rachel Holt, Dr. Karen Price and Dave Daust at Veridian Ecological.
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Here is an online Zoom presentation by the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance’s Ken Wu from May 14 at the Dutch STRP Festival - a European forum on art, technology, nature and society with an emphasis on ecology with presentations from various artists and professors including Antónia Szabari & Natania Meeker, Becky Ripley & Tim Atack (Forest 404), Ersin Han Ersin (Marshmallow Laser Feast), and Ken Wu. Moderated by Puck van Dijk.
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HALT the CLOSURE and/or ELIMINATION of ALBERTA’s PARKS and PROTECTED AREAS!
Take Action DOWN BELOW!
The Alberta government is planning to "de-protect" or eliminate at least 19 Provincial Parks and Natural Areas (10 provincial parks, 9 natural areas), which could open them up to industrial resource extraction or commercial development, as well as eliminating 146 Provincial Recreation Areas, totaling 16,000 hectares (including threatened and endangered grasslands, aspen parkland and foothills ecosystems).
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Here is a new PBS mini-documentary on the old-growth forests of British Columbia and the work of the EEA’s executive director Ken Wu to save them, in the Human Elements series of Crosscuts, a KCTS news program based out of Seattle on science and the environment. In the Lower Mainland around Vancouver, only about 3% of the original high-productivity, low elevation, valley bottom old-growth forests remain, the rest being clearcut and largely second-growth, farmland, or city and suburbs now. While we support the immediate protection of BC's endangered old-growth forests, we also support a sustainable, value-added, second-growth forest industry (as well as protection of high conservation value second-growth stands). This was filmed in early March at the Echo Lake Ancient Forest (of which about 60% is protected but 40% remains at risk) near Mission in Sts'ailes territory:
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See a CHEK TV piece with the EEA's Ken Wu on Aprilb22, 2020 on the 50 year anniversary of Earth Day regarding the threat of environmental deregulation by opportunistic governments during the covid crisis, such as the Alberta government under Jason Kenney, the Ontario government under Doug Ford, and the US government under Donald Trump, who have suspended reporting and/or compliance on various environmental regulations
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A commentary by Ken Wu, the executive director of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance.
“In crisis lies opportunity,” so the maxim goes. As terrible as COVID-19 is, the resulting lockdown has given us a vital opportunity.
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To Ecosystem Enthusiasts!
TODAY, April 22, 2020 is the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day held back on this day in 1970 that touched off the modern environmental movement!
Dinosaur Provincial Park will experience the closure of a campground, while 19 protected areas will be eliminated.
The Alberta government is moving to "de-protect" or eliminate by May 1st at least 19 Provincial Parks and Natural Areas (10 parks, 9 natural areas), which could open them up to industrial resource extraction, as well as 146 Provincial Recreation Areas, totalling 16,000 hectares (including threatened and endangered grasslands, aspen parkland and foothills ecosystems).
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World renowned conservation biologist Dr. Reed Noss and the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance's executive director Ken Wu finished a series of presentations last week in Manitoba on Feb. 10 and 11 speaking on the science and politics of expanding the scale of ecosystem protection in Canada. It was a great tour! Thanks to Dr. Kristen Lowitt for organizing the Brandon talks as well as Dr. Chris Malcolm, the Brandon University Faculty of Science, and Lowitt's colleagues for supporting the Brandon talks, and in Winnipeg to Emily Thoroski for organizing the presentations, and to the Wildlife Society of Manitoba, Dr. Nicola Koper, Dr. Rick Baydak, Dr. Jim Roth and Dr. Jane Waterman of the Faculty of Environmental Science and Studies and their grad students at the University of Manitoba for supporting the events! And thanks to all the enthusiastic conservationists who showed up!
By Justine Hunter. Photos by Melissa Renwick.
Conservationist Ken Wu has chronicled B.C.'s ancient trees and given them catchy names, hoping it will build support to keep them standing. Now, the province faces crucial choices about logging, biodiversity, Indigenous rights and the fate of the forests
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** SEND a MESSAGE Below! (and see new update - Nov. 2020)
BC’s old-growth forests are vital to support many unique and endangered species, First Nations cultures, B.C.’s multi-billion-dollar tourism industry, and to provide clean water for communities and wild salmon. In addition, and they store more carbon per hectare than even tropical forests do.
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A common question that is asked is "How is the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance different than all those environmental organizations out there? Why not just support those groups that exist now?"
The answer is that our mandate has some vital differences from what is done so far by the status quo of the conservation movement - differences we believe that build on the existing necessary work of the movement, but constitute a vital niche for us that must get filled.
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If we want to see the protection of endangered forests, grasslands, wetlands, and native ecosystems across Canada on a much larger scale, it will take:
Expanding the conservation movement to really engage “non-traditional allies” (eg's. businesses, unions, diverse faith groups, scientists and academics, multi-cultural outreach, outdoor recreation groups) to build sufficient clout to change policy.
Major support for Indigenous Protected Areas proposals, policy-wise and funding.
Fighting for places, not just policies, by supporting local conservation champions.
The Endangered Ecosystems Alliance was launched just over one year ago, in the fall of 2018, with an ambitious goal to scale up the protection of all native ecosystems in Canada - from coniferous to deciduous forests, from grasslands to wetlands, from freshwater to marine ecosystems - to reach a target of 50% protection of lands and waters across Canada by 2030. At the same time we aim to set an example to help transform the approach of much of the environmental movement to move beyond primarily engaging environmental activist constituencies to focus much more on “non-traditional allies” to broaden the movement.
Read moreThe following list (with links) are some of the news media coverage of the Endangered Ecosystems Alliance and our campaigns since our launch over a year ago (this is not a complete list). Through the news media we have reached millions of Canadians on our campaigns, and hundreds of thousands more people via social media.
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The Times Colonist has recently printed an opinion piece by the Endangered Ecosystem Alliance’s Ken Wu. For brevity several key lines were cut. We print the original article here in its entirety followed by a link to the online article in the newspaper
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PLEASE SEND a MESSAGE BELOW to the federal, provincial, and territorial governments of Canada to take a pivotal step to avert both the extinction and climate crises by committing to protect and restore 50% of Canada in all types of land and marine ecosystems by 2030. Currently 11.7% of Canada’s land area is protected, and 14% of Canada’s marine waters have some degree of protection.
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